Lanterne Rouge

Unnecessary question mark?

Tumblr’s bizarre thinking means if I want people to respond to my blog posts, I need to put a question mark in the title. I’m an attention whore, so of course I do, which is why I’ll likely be moving to Wordpress just as soon as I can work out the baffling complex set of things I can do to customise my blogging experience. As long as I get dozens of witty response, and thousands of unique visitors, I’ll be happy to churn out any old crap.

Last night I went to see excellent band Royal Treatment Plant play a charity do at the Cobden Club. They were great, of course - it’s such a rush when you hear a band you like play new songs and they’re brilliant. Some of the newies were quite understated, softer and more mournful than usual, but there were also a couple of anthemic tunes, which would be equally at home on Match of the Day and over the climactic scene of a mid-budget Hollywood movie (starring, let’s say, Hugh Jackman). Very exciting.

On the downside… the charity event was woefully, embarrassingly underattended - there probably weren’t two dozen paying punters, and most of them (including me) left after RTP came off stage. They still had a charity auction to go, which included some genuinely top lots, but I couldn’t face it. I get so sad for people in that situation. I’m cringing just thinking about it.

There were also two tolerable singer-songwriter chaps, and one dreadful comedienne. I won’t name her but while she seemed likeable enough, she just wasn’t funny. Deathly silence from the audience for most of her set, and a good 15 minutes without as much as a snicker. I was sitting there just wanting it to end, and was pathetically grateful whenever there was anything to even chuckle about. At least she had a group of friends to look after her when she came off stage. I think I now understand why clowns are so sad.

So, if you’ve got some spare cash you’d like to give to a good cause, but don’t know which one, can I recommend actionaid - they’ll be feeling pretty low today, I reckon, and they seem to do genuinely excellent things.