Hurrah

Merry Christmas everyone, and a Happy New Year. If you're in Rye and fancy a drink or a bite to eat do pop in. Please.

Fingers crossed

Hello there. I hope you are all well. I'm sorry I haven't asked that before. I've been told that I can get a little wrapped up in myself at times. I can't remember who told me that. No word on the advert. i asked Jasper to give them a call but he said he was a bit busy and he'd do it later - this was last Wednesday. I wonder if he's dead. He died once before when he got shot in a bank-raid. DOA at the hospital, the doctors and nurses managed to pull him back from the brink, fix the hole in his heart and sooth the gunpowder burns on his hands. I never did get my money though.

It's been a tough old year in many ways. Dropped by the label, bank manager on my case... at least I've still got my darling Candy. She is a wonder, an absolute wonder. What a twenty-nine year old sees in a silly old sod like me I'll never know. She's a away at her flat in town at the moment and apparently the trains are an absolute nightmare so she may not get back home until... well, New Year was mentioned.

I think I may try to write a new Christmas song as 'Bells, baubles and a broken heart' has gotten less airplay than ever this year. You can't win for losing. Just before I go: does anyone reading this know the home address for TV's Ricky Gervais. I wouldn't mind sending him a card. Or a present. Thanks.

Love hurts

Jasper thinks he might have got me some commercial work. It's for a company that specialises in supplying offal products to high-end London restaurants. Apparently they are going to run an advert on the television based on The Wizard of Oz. It will feature a scarecrow looking for brains, a tin man looking for heart and a lion looking for some guts. They find them all at the end of the yellow brick road at McMillan's Meat Reclamation. By all accounts it's between me and Danny Wilson for the part of the tin man. Fingers crossed.

Before I go:

'A friend of mine had a shop that specialised in selling hot potatoes, but he ran into trouble. Now it keeps changing hands.'

That's a joke. I don't know anyone who owns a shop.

Carry on...

Rehearsals continue. I'm not sure about Jim's position in the band. Six month's ago I was convinced that the tin-whistle could become something of a signiture sound for Lipps & Co (2)but I'm really having my doubts. It is making much of what we play sound like a jig which is fine on sounds like "Belfast boys" and "Make me jig, make you jig" but is less effective on "Damn you to hell, Josephine". Another problem is Jim's lack of progression in learning the tin-whistle; he promised he'd have it by now but, alas, he is still struggling. Essentially all we are getting is a lot of spit and wind. Troubling. We're still trying to line up a gig for the new year. The Turkish Lad is out for obvious reasons but we've got our eye on a couple of places in Deptford and somewhere in Bromley, wherever that is.
On the plus side I have found out the name and address of a chap who writes for The Londoner's Diary in The Evening Standard. I'm in two minds whether to send him a present and a hint or just go around and ask him to put me in the column. I hope he's heard of me.

Glory days

Between 1984 and 1987 I appeared on six episodes of Blankety Blank. Six! My last television appearance was on 'Nevermind the Buzzcocks'. In the line-up. I didn't picked out. Mark Lamaar described me as "Still working in the music industry... Danny Lipp". Still working in the music industry? It makes me sound likeone of the Cheeky Girls. So depressing. Noddy Holder gets to go on the programme properly. They recognise him. He gets to do the intro round. Him and Phil Jupitus are mates. It is depressing.