2 gigs, a clown and some monkies.

A bullet point list of things of interest in the last week (because I'm too lazy to write much):

* I played in front of 2,000 people at the Astoria, supporting Jack Penate. Joe, our cellist, was the clear star of the gig. Having not taken his huge outdoor coat off until after the first number, he quickly gained a lot of attention. Loud chants of 'Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe' from the crowd were followed up by more outrageous claims: 'Joe is the new Messiah', and so on. The gig was fast, fun and flippant - a half an hour set to charged-up indie teens who didn't know our stuff. Quite fun.

* I saw Joanna Newsome at the Royal Albert Hall. Incredible. I think she's maybe the best on the circuit at the moment, both in terms of performance and material. 'Emily' was my favourite thing she played - heart stoppingly good.

* I said a farewell to my friends Zimbler, who is off to South Africa for a year, and Donal, who is off to Clown School in Paris for a couple of months. The latter is going to film his pursuits. The results should be pretty odd but compelling viewing, as Donal is pretty odd and compelling himself.

* I met a girl yesterday, at my girlfriend's sister's birthday party, who lives with and documents the behaviour of 180 monkeys in Texas. She told me that one of them has a sort of wonky small leg. He is called Gimp. No joke. I asked if I could adopt Gimp. She said yes. I asked her to set up a facebook page for Gimp to facilitate contact between me and him. She said yes. I will keep you updated.