Newsletter

January 2010

I’m looking back over 2009 and looking forward to 2010.

People might say, ‘bet you’re glad 2009’s over,’ but it wasn’t so bad really – I survived the cancer and the chemotherapy and enjoyed touring all over the country with A Funny Valentine - our show about the life and music of Chet Baker. Colin Steele, our trumpet player, counted up the tour dates and tells me we did 72 one- night stands. I wonder what the highlights were? Colin may very well pick different ones from me. They were all red hot but for me there two that were white hot – The Brunton Theatre in Musselburgh on July 5th and The Purcell Room in London’s Southbank for The London Jazz Festival on November 21st. A Funny Valentine has played most theatres in the UK and yet there’s still a lot of life in it. Compared to Captain Corelli’s Mandolin which has done nearly 700 performances, A Funny Valentine is a mere puppy. Where’s left to go with it? Jazz Festivals in Europe and all over the world is the answer. If you are the artistic director of a jazz festival and you’re looking for something that’s slap bang in the middle of the mainstream but completely different from anything you’ve ever seen before with quality guaranteed then get on the phone to us right away. If you live next door to an artistic director – please print this out and slip it through his or her letter box!

And thinking about Captain Corelli’s Mandolin we had a white hot night with it in Cambridge at the end of November. Me and Ali (mandolin) spent the year raising money for three cancer charities and we asked Louis de Bernieres to present the cheque to Mr Huguet (the surgeon who operated on me). We raised just over £23,000 so we had a big cheque, a wonderful show, and a great night out.

One of the ways that we raised money was a journey to Rome and back on a bright red Vespa. I drove the Vespa and Ali stayed in the UK and managed the project. I promised to send a postcard from Italy to everyone who gave us £50. I had to write a lot of postcards. The trip was great fun. Once I got to Italy the temperature never dropped below 30 degrees – not even at night. Me and Rosie (that’s the Vespa) slept under the stars. There’s a blog I sent back to Ali every day and she posted it online – you can find it on www.ccccc-mike.blogspot.com

And now I’ve got this crazy idea to write an account of my journey from the diagnosis of cancer in June 2008, to the first operation in July, to the second operation in November, through the chemotherapy and the Chet Baker tour, to the thrills and spills of learning how to ride a motorbike. Yes, there were spills. I had a Suzuki 125 to learn on and I came off it 4 times. Ali refused to publish the picture of the bruises I sustained in my last accident – the time I fell off during the emergency stop in the test. She said it would discourage people from supporting the ride to Rome. Potential supporters were more likely to feel like accessories to suicide rather than fund raisers. Oh, and by the way, I failed the test so had to ride to Rome and back with L plates. No one in Italy rides with L plates. An Italian admiring the brand new Vespa looked at the L plates and asked if I came from Luxemburg. One big bonus was that I had to programme the Sat. Nav. to avoid motorways and I went to Rome on the back roads. What a beautiful wonderful crazy journey it was. I took six days to get there and three weeks to come back. I wasn’t in any hurry. Rosie’s in the garage now waiting for the weather to improve – but where will we go next? I’d like to go to the Umbria Jazz Festival in July. I know the way to Perugia by Vespa. But I don’t want to go on my own this time. To take a passenger I will need to pass the test! To pass the test I will need a miracle! To find someone who’d like to ride on the back of my Vespa will need another miracle!

Apart from writing a book and riding the Vespa to Perugia what else is in store for 2010? There’s A Funny Valentine at the Citizens in Glasgow and there’s Captain Corelli’s Mandolin at The Central Theatre in Chatham. And there’s a trip to Tblisi to start work on co-producing a show with a Georgia Puppet Theatre Company. More news about that later.

Philip Conntini and I have taken Italia ‘n Caledonia down from the shelf and blown off the dust. It’s 17 years since we celebrated everything that was good about Italy and Scotland in our Edinburgh Fringe show at Valvona & Crolla (I wonder what age Paolo Nutini was in 1993?) and we want to do it again. And I thought I had retired from the Edinburgh Fringe? I hope this will be the first of many comebacks!

Ciao!

Mike