Sub-Ed and Eddie Perfect

Missed the Matt & Ben play the other night (Angelina was late from her new job) but did a last minute Q&A and the producer has put aside tickets for next Tuesday night. I now have a theatre partner (play-friend?) ready to fill in as back up in case Angelina is late again, which will happen given the nature of her new job. Had dinner with friends on Wednesday, which my play-friend described as perfect blend of silly stories and delicious food. It was fun.

Saw a bloody funny performance at the Opera House last night called Drink Eddie Bitch. Hilarious. I met the publicist who sends the invitations. Then this morning I did what I haven’t done before and sent her the review as soon as I had finished it, rather than letting her wait until Monday when the magazine comes out. My god she loved it. I kind of knew it was good. Made the tone similar to the tone of the show and had a lot of fun with it. Sometimes the words just fit together like stickle bricks.

Then I did something else I haven’t done and told her that I freelance and that if she ever needs someone for publicity or profiles or whatever, I can do straight as well as light. She wants all my details to add me to some list, so that is good. Worth mentioning here that she has been in the job a shorter time than I have been writing the arts page under my own name, which is about a couple of months. All this time I’ve been writing stuff as Grumpy, and in a short period of time writing as me and the invitations are flooding in. If I can get enough work as a freelance theatre critic I would be very happy. I'm just finding it as difficult to get into other magazines as freelancers find it to get paid work in ours.

Anyway, at Drink Eddie Bitch, Angelina had to leave at intermission, so I walked home after the show by myself. I wanted to get the star, Eddie Perfect, to write an Acid Tongue column for today’s deadline. It would have been a nifty bit of marketing. He can do acidic all right, it would have been a celebrity guest columnist for free and I could direct readers to the review further along in the magazine. He was hanging around for drinks, but the crowd was largely gushing fans so desperate to get his attention that they made lame attempts at heckling from time to time through the show, and the kind of person I’m guessing he is, he would have been... I just think he would have said “Oh yeah? Sub-editor and staff writer huh? Humorous column huh? In a dance music mag. You want me to write one for nothing? By tomorrow morning? Sure sure, no worries.” And dropped my card as soon as I’d walked away.

In a different mood I might have done it. But I was not in the mood for jostling for the attention of a performer like some gushing groupie. Fuck that - although Eddie’s a shrewd guy and he probably would have seen the opportunity for some extra publicity.

I hope the show sells out because it’s a good show. And I hope my review contributes in some small way.

I also kind of hope that the publicist uses the advance copy of my review for publicity, because more and more I am becoming a shrewd guy who sees the opportunity for a bit of extra publicity. Well not shrewd. I will never be shrewd. Just less aloof, maybe.

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