Now before you accuse me of sensationalism all of those things did feature in my night out in Brighton. It's strange, believe me I agree, but its true!
Following the filming this week I got a chance to see Professor Elemental on stage and so I took it. It meant I had to miss much of the F.A. Cup final (which was tough as I'm a Chelsea fan) but still we set out from Base camp to the train; myself, my older brother and his lovely daughter (L) (who appeared in the Chronicles Of Professor Elemental with Mamacrow) all heading for adventure.
On the way we discussed my hatred for audience participation, how I want to watch and not get involved. We agreed I was perhaps a stuck in the mud-killjoy-assclown but that my redeeming feature was my self awareness of such a disposition. Upon arrival we had to wait outside for the station for little brother and his lovely girlfriend to pick us up and walk us down to the club. Oh, but well was he worth the wait.
When his taxi pulled up he stepped out decked in sharp grey smart trousers, shirt and waist coat. He would have looked fantastic if not for the huge brown fake fur coat he was wearing over the top of it. I stared and I know him, other people were less kind.To say this was a situation I found mortifying would be fairly accurate. We walked across Brighton with him drawing many a 'IT'S A PIMP' comments from our fellow human beings. For a guy that likes to blend in generally it wasn't a lot of fun for me.
We landed at the Marlbourgh Bar (I think that's what it was called) and were told we needed to come back in a hour or so as the upstairs theatre was busy with the event before the Professors and the bar was full. Off we headed and landed in the Mash Tun, located a mere five minutes away.
The Mash Tunn has a celebrity death board, as I understand it you pay a fee, put a name of a celebrity you think is going to die and if they do indeed snuff it you get the takings from the board. This may not be very politically correct, polite or nice but it did make me laugh.
The drinks flowed (not for me, I don't drink, I had coke) for the others. It came time to return to the scheduled event and so we took a short walk back, some looking more worse for wear than others.We got in, pitched tent in the corner and got some more to drink. Game on...for everyone else.
Finally the time came to head up to the small theatre and when we got up the stairs most of the back rows of seats were taken. Big bro & L took a good look around and sat down in the front row. 'Oh no! No! I'm gonna get asked to join in in some way', thought I as I sat down against the wall and attempted to blend in again.
The gig started and Professor Elemental introduced his warm up act for the night 'Sanity Valve' a comedic hip hop duo. They started up and to be fair I saw two blatantly southern guys in silly bobble hats rather than what I was about to be introduced to, two guys that could throw some seriously funny lines out!
'Gish and Chips' and his mate (no I cant remember his partners name) were really very funny. They rapped about shopping in ASDA and what they do to people that dont like them. It was decidedly English and with the small theatre setting it was pretty damn impressive. I can imagine how brave these guys are to leap up on the stage with such a tough act to sell and win a crowd over and I personally think they probably have that Royal Marine Commando mind set.
Not only did they make me laugh, but they impressed the hell out of me, were thoroughly charming and a perfect warm up to an act like Professor Elemental's. They even had a battle rap (this didnt go quite as well as the main act as Gish's mate forgot his second round put downs and so dried up a fair bit) and to be fair Gish was robbed! I was shouting for him to win, yeah, even I joined in.
With Gish and his pal done on came the main event and it was great. Really enjoyed the opening introduction and into Cup of Joy we went! Huge reaction from the seventy or so people in the room and through the set he flew. He looked knackered and yet he hit every phrase, rhyme and never lost energy on the stage, a place he owned unquestionably.
It was great and come the end he did a improvised rap using words the front row had written down. The only problem was that L and I had decided to try and be clever. She chose an animal; A Bintarong, sort of a small cat bear crossed creature. She explained what it was and he charged off, sadly I picked the word Defenestrate, which is the act of throwing someone out of window. Without time to explain my obscure word he flew into his improved rap and hit all the words, even mine. It was a fabulous torrent of rhyme's and I was extremely impressed.
Come the end of the gig we filled out and down the stairs. I'd chatted with him earlier and he'd explained he'd have to head off straight after the gig and so I went out the door, we all agreed to head back to little bro's and got a taxi. The night didn't end there but the rest was all T drinking and smoking fags really. Nothing to report bar that I took the floor as a bed but was very comfy due to lots of cushions n covers.
It wasn't what I would classify as a standard night for me and that's what made it great.It was different! Not only was it different though, it was also a conscious effort to go somewhere and see something I normally wouldn't. I feel good and Now I look for the next challenge. The next thing to do. The next 'un-Edd' thing to do.
Perhaps its coming soon...
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