To Edinburgh and Beyond!

I spent a very pleasant weekend just gone in Edinburgh with my friends Frog & Victoria Morris and Mark Quinn. They were up there performing on the Fringe and their shows were going down really well. The main show that Frog & Mark were performing was the Unwrong Quiz (which you may remember from my multiple appearances at the Montague Arms) - now reworked for a one hour slot in a cellar. Between the rounds it's traditional to have some music. For the Edinburgh run this was provided by Frog's brother Theo Morris, and he was doing a splendid job with songs about genetically modified dogs and land enclosure acts. On the Sunday though, Theo fancied an afternoon off so I was very privileged to step into the breach and reprise my old role as the fill-in music. The show seemed to go really well and I think everyone was happy with my contribution. I have to say though, I was very disappointed to not win a marrow, or Pots! The Game, or even a Crunchie on a mop - oh well, perhaps next time.

Whilst up there I managed to catch a lot of comedians, including seeing Robin Ince for a couple of pounds. I also saw Steampunk strippers, burlesque, singers, the mighty Beta Males Picnic in the bunker, a spell-binding one man show called Bane (very cinema noir) and Frog bemusing an audience with existential art wrestling and Dave "Security" (lovely legs, lovely, lovely legs). I also got used as a keyboard stand! Unfortunately I didn't get to see Utter, Gutted the musical or Charlotte Young's show (Aude, Vide, Tace) - but I hear they are excellent - so go and see them to make up for my absence!! I even got a seat on the train home, so that was a bonus.

Some of you will probably know already that I'm off on the road with Katie Melua again in October for nearly three months! So here are the last few chances to catch me live before then. Do come along and hear my exciting (and fun) duo - Dare To Be Charlie or see me playing guitar with the other half of the duo: the excellent young singer-songwriter - Charlie Savigar:

26th August, 8pm with Charlie Savigar
The Enterprise, 2 Haverstock Hill, Camden, NW3 2BL

29th August, 7pm with Dare To Be Charlie
The Croft, 117-119 Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS1 3RW

9th Sept, 9pm with Charlie Savigar
Cowboy Night! @ The Montague Arms, 289 Queens Rd, SE14 5JN

14th Sept, 8.30pm with Dare To Be Charlie
Upstairs @ The Ritzy, Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, SW2 1JG

26th Sept, 8.30pm with Charlie Savigar
Tommy Flynn's, 55 Camden High Street, NW1 7JH

Hope to see you at one of these gigs, otherwise, catch you on the road some time!

Daren
xxx

P.S. The Dare To Be Charlie MySpace is now live, do add us to your friends:

All The Way There And Back Again

It's been an emotional and creative roller-coaster for the past month, and it's been way too long since my last confession. I've been up north to Edinburgh, out east to Thetford(ish) and played and watched a whole variety of interesting performances. Here's some highlights:



Edinburgh Fringe
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Where to start?! It was an amazing few days, lots of flyering on the Royal Mile (mostly in the rain) - late nights with friends, acquaintances and even the odd celebrity (failing to flyer Marcus Brigstock for example). Lots of good shows: I chiefly enjoyed Short Intention Span (especially all dressed up as Wally, and the creepy guy returning the condom), Moon Chavs, extremely sexy poetry with Richard Tyrone Jones & friends @ Utter, Robin Ince losing his mind onstage (downstairs at Negociants where I first played the Edinburgh Fringe in 1994), a mesmeric and intimate performance from Edwyn Collins, the filthy penis-obsessed Kunt & The Gang and, of course, the seminal, unforgettable, unexplainable and utterly unfathamable A Young Man Dressed As A Gorilla Dressed As An Old Man Sits In A Rocking Chair For 56 Minutes (about which plenty has been said already).

I must also mention TWINLESS by Charlotte Young - which was, after all, the reason why I was up there in the first place. Charlotte's piece was a combination of video and performance that certainly wasn't to everyone's taste. It concerned the death of her twin sister in a hideous tandom bicycle accident and how she dealt with the loss of a sibling and comedic partner. The performances all took place in the Crypt (very apt) below the Jekyll and Hyde pub in Hanover Street, after the comedy and before the eclectic A-Band. It was good to have a late evening slot as the subject matter was quite dark. Despite our efforts to warn people (my flyering technique of "It's about death, it's very funny" seemed to go down quite well) kind of, it was clear that the few people who had come expecting stand-up comedy or the like were to be very bemused as Charlotte shuffled in in her pyjamas and stood mostly in silence whilst the video ran. Those of us that got the humour though, found it utterly hilarious and wonderful, and this encouraged an initially nervous Charlotte to add extra lines during her raffle sections. The, totally ad-libbed, line of "It's that time again" spoken dead-pan made me laugh so much I nearly had an injury. The quietest night (just three people) was also excellent as they all won a prize and it was the only time that Charlotte almost lost it with laughter on stage... priceless.

It was with great sadness that I was unable to complete the run due to a family illness, but I just want to say many thanks for Richard Soames for stepping in to complete the run. It was a fabulous experience and it only remains for me to say THANK YOU and CONGRATULATIONS to Charlotte for a fantastic first Edinburgh Fringe run... may there be many more.

Oh, and also there are still t-shirts available for £7 if anyone would like one (pictured above).

After spending time with my family, I slowly managed to get back into playing and seeing shows. I fitted in a short performance at the Kiss Of A Lifetime (by Mike Chavez Dawson et al) and a trip to the Tate to see a Pil & Galia performance. Next stop:

Frogstock
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Frogstock is one of those sublime english traditions that has survived in various formats for many years now. Last year I played at the acoustic, cut-down version and was regaled by Frog and Victoria with stories of fields full of stages, giant campfires, stalls selling all kinds of wonderous things, and young love (ah sigh). Frog swept his arm in front of him describing a marvellous field with a trailor mounted main stage, dance tent and many other wonders... ah how I envied experiencing these hedonistic delights...

...fast forward a year and there I was, walking into just such and arena of dreams (am I building this up enough yet?). This year the Swan pub in Coney Weston took up the mantle and lo! there was the main stage, lo! there was the acoustic / comedy stage, lot! there was the dance tent, bouncy castle, giant bonfire, stalls, food vans, t-shirt stand, impromptu performances, REAL ALE BY THE BARREL-LOAD and glorious english sunshine to cap it all.

It was a day about which only good things will be remembered. Young Henry playing on both the acoustic and main-stage, all the t-shirts selling out by mid-afternoon, impromptu Saxa-boom jamming, the Blo' Boys back to their best (pictured below), glasses of beer with friends in a field... what could be better? My own performance (at about 5pm on the mainstage) could not even be mired by a few sound glitches in the first song, or my glasses nearly falling off due to sweat (the stage faced directly into the setting sun). It was nice to revive All I Want Is Stu for another year, and songs like Lightkeeper were made for a festival atmosphere.

I even got the train back home after Deference Engine's performance, so was able to cap the whole experience by sleeping in my own bed rather than in a tent. Roll on next year, when I'm hoping I will have a band to perform with!



Well that's the major round up, off to catch up with a few Blogs now. Make sure you check out some of my up-and-coming gigs below and I hope to see you soon.

Daren
xxx

19th September 2009, 2 - 5pm
Nunhead Festival, Nunhead

21st September 2009, 9pm
RAW GEMS @ The Camden Head, 100 Camden High Street, NW1 0UL

28th September 2009, 8pm
Liquid Nation, 161-165 Ladbroke Grove, Notting Hill, London, W10 6HJ

1st October 2009, TBC
Nine Bar, 146 Tanner Street, London, SE1 2HG

8th October 2009
Frog Morris Presents:
DAREN CALLOW + FRIENDS @ The Montague Arms, 289 Queens Rd, London, SE14 5JN

11th October 2009, 8pm
The Phoenix, 37 Cavendish Square, London, W1G 0PP

18th October 2009, 8pm
15 Minute Club @ Prohibition, St Katherine's Docks, East Smithfield, E1W 1AA

24th October 2009
Faith! charity album launch - limited tickets BOOK NOW
The Lido, Ethelbert Terrace, Margate, CT9 1RX

1st November 2009, 8pm
15 Minute Club @ Prohibition, St Katherine's Docks, East Smithfield, E1W 1AA