A compendium of administrative miscellanea dating back to 2003
Tim’s added a second date in sunny Los Angeles, on the 11th January, at the Largo.
Tickets are on sale now, priced at $20. The box office details and online booking link can be found on the gigs page.
The first LA date sold out in less than 24 hours so if you want to go get clicking!
Think you can handle a second date with Tim?
I’m on my couch. This year has involved very little time on couches for me, due to activities requiring a more upright posture than that which couches encourage. But the work year is over and the inevitable post-tour flu has arrived so the couch is suddenly ideal.
Sofa. The English call it a sofa. Sofa. So good.
I’d love to write a witty Christmas blog, but I think I’ve said all I could possibly hope to say already this year, in various forms, about various things, and I’m too snotty and shivery to think anyway. If you want to read the sort of thing I might write if I were feeling less knackered, here’s a column I wrote some years ago about Christmas.
But what I really want to do is acknowledge debt. I feel ridiculously grateful for the cool opportunities I’ve had this year and the support I’ve received in trying not to bugger them up. I have met and worked with dozens of people who have taught me so much and with whom I’ve had large measures of fun. It would be absurd to name everyone, but the entire companies of both “Matilda” and the Heritage Orchestra Tour are the objects of a great deal of my particular brand of love.
The only names I do want to name are those of Linzy and Shell, who run my online life. Linz started up Angry (Feet).com a few years ago, and has gone on to run my Facebook page and my Myspace page (RIP) and a lot of the content on this site. And Shell appeared in my life a couple of years ago and started doing incredible work to keep on top of it all too. They are incredibly good to me.
And thank you to you too. (< – cool sentence). If you are reading this, you are probably one of the insane, lovely people who keep tabs on what I get up to and do crazy shit like watch my shows and buy my DVDs and generally be enthusiastic and nice so that I can keep making stuff I want to make. I’m sorry that I haven’t got to meet so many of you this year, but I never take for granted how lucky I am to have such cool, thoughtful supporters.
That’s all I guess. My daughter has the flu too – I’d better go stick some drugs in her face.
If you’re interested in an overview of the status of the various things I’ve been beavering away at, read below.
Otherwise. Thank you thank you thank you. Merry Christmas. Peace be with you.
xtim
End of year notes:
The RSC production of “Matilda – a Musical” has got lots of nice reviews and seems to have a pretty good chance of getting to London. And if it gets to London and people like it, who knows, it could get other places too. That’d be amazing, huh? Thank you everyone who has been to see it and has made lovely comments about it and sent me letters and messages. It’s been the most joyous of processes.
My UK tour with the Heritage Orchestra came and went in a massive whirlwind. That’s a metaphor, although there was a snowstorm in Cardiff. It was incredibly good fun to perform, and people seemed to like it. Thanks to all who came. I’ll be performing the same show with the state symphony orchestras of Australia in February-March 2011, and then in Scotland in April, with them Heritage bastards again.
My new DVD, “Ready For This?” seems to have sold a few copies ahead of Christmas, which is nice. I have a heart-warming vision of hundreds of British families sitting down to watch me sing “I Love Jesus” instead of the Queen’s speech.
The animated version of “Storm“, my ranting beat-poem, is pretty much finished. The 10 minute long film, created by artist-animator DC Turner and producer Tracy King, grew from a small project to a huge mission and has now been long-listed for a BAFTA nomination! So we’re holding its release back (again) until next year, when we will upload it so that people can watch it for free.
Oo, and Shaun Tan’s animated short film, “The Lost Thing“, which I had the honour of voicing, has been shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination. Incredibly exciting and thoroughly deserved. Shaun is brilliant.
Just in case you missed it, my seasonally relevant, mildly irreverent love song to my kid, “White Wine in the Sun”, is available on itunes (as ever) and all proceeds until the end of the year will go to the National Autistic Society. The NAS are a good bunch. And it’s a nice little song, I think. Sentimental, I know.
And whilst on the subject of the ways in which I temporarily alleviate my middle-class guilt, we (you) raised over £3,000 pounds for the Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts when I ran a thing in October. Thank you so much for your support.
I’m off to the US in January for a few days. I’ll be taping one or two as-yet-unconfirmed late night shows and doing a couple of dates in LA. And I’ll be back to tour properly in June.
A second Orchestra Tour date has been added in Edinburgh on Saturday 16th April 2011, at the Edinburgh Playhouse.
Tickets are available from Ticketmaster here.
Further information and ticket links for the other three dates in Scotland: Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen can be found by clicking the GIGS tab above or here.
Ah…springtime in Scotland with a somewhat springy musician!
Tim will be flying across the Atlantic at least four times next year (there and back, twice) as we can confirm two appearances in America. Yes, you read that correctly!
The first appearance is in a matter of weeks, on the 12th January at the Largo in LA. Tickets are on sale now, priced at a mere $20, which is a bit of a bargain if you ask me. The box office details and online booking link can be found on the gigs page.
The second appearance will be in May at The Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey. Weekend tickets are on sale now and day tickets will go on sale on the 4th Jan. Again, links can be found on the gigs page.
Yes, this is all that’s confirmed and no, we don’t know if or when other dates will be added. By all means though, do “demand” Tim to play in your area on Eventful.com as it’ll help prove that you guys want to see Tim as much as the rest of the world!
Can’t wait a couple of months to see Tim playing with you local symphony orchestra? Well fear not because ABC2 are showing ‘Ready For This?‘ tomorrow night, 21st December, at 8:30pm!
I know you probably all have the DVD but this is the perfect time to grab your grannies, aunts, uncles and favourite pastor and introduce them to the world of Tim. Who could ask for a better Christmas present than that? I know I certainly can’t think of anything I’d like more!
You will be watching, right?
If you missed it last time or once was not enough, you’re in luck, as there’s another chance to hear ‘Strings‘ the brand new comedy Tim wrote and starred in, for BBC Radio 2. It was first aired in May this year and will be broadcast again this Saturday 18 December 2010 at 22:30 on BBC Radio 2.
The BBC blurb describes it thusly and can be found here:
Another chance to hear Tim Minchin play Jonny, lead singer of rock band Perspex…
Blasting onto the music scene with their hit single Shag With The Stereo On, Perspex are on the cusp of becoming famous. A garrulous Glaswegian A&R man will make sure of that. But Jonny is haunted by a terrible suspicion that he’s not emotionally unstable enough to be a proper star.
A chance encounter with Verity, the beautiful lead singer of Christian pop band, In-X-Chelseas, ignites Jonny’s interest. Worlds apart but undeniably drawn to each other, will their connection lead Jonny to redemption, or supply him with the suffering he craves to create great rock.
Strings contains original songs written by Tim Minchin and performed by Perspex. It also stars Peter Serafinowicz, Will Adamsdale, Rosalie Craig, Emily Watson Howes, Dan Antopolski, Lizzie Roper and Lewis McLeod.
Strings was part of Radio 2’s ongoing Comedy Showcase series…
——
It should also be available to listen again via iPlayer here for 7 days once it airs.
So set up that reminder on your phone or prominently place that post-it note… Who’s gonna be listening to this for the first time then?
Yep, it’s as exciting as it seems! Tim will be recording a new CD at his gig on Tuesday at the o2 in London, featuring the 55-piece Heritage Orchestra and a couple of others.
The deluxe double CD is available to pre-order online, as well as being available to buy immediately after the o2 gig itself! Yes, you did read that correctly.
The CD will hopefully also be available to buy on the subsequent UK tour dates as well, if you don’t want to wait for it to be posted. That said though, there will also be a digital download version available, which will also cut out your postage time too!
And for those not in the UK, yes it can be shipped internationally.
While all this is very exciting, if you are going to a forthcoming show, I’d hold off buying this CD until you’ve seen it as, in my experience, the songs are always better seen live!
Update: The o2 live recording was a limited run and has now sold out.
A new tour means new merch! If you’re in the UK, you can now order the new merchandise online. If you missed out at the show, you’ve got no excuse now!
Products include a large selection of new t-shirts, a hoodie, badges, yes, a canvas bag, a mug and, the perfect stocking filler for your aunt, a tea towel.
To get a look at what’s on offer, click through to the shop page and take a gander to see what tempts you!
The tour’s starting soon (tickets are still available). For those wondering the best place to discuss it excitedly with others, may I suggest the excellent fan site, Angry (Feet)?
It’s another website all about Tim, except it’s a place to revel in the company of other Tim fans! What better place could there be to talk about the tour, post your reviews and share your memories? I can’t think of any, that’s for sure.
Obviously, there are other benefits to joining up – though why you need them, I don’t know – such as the obligatory free virtual food upon your introduction and oh, the exclusive mp3s and on top of that, if you contribute enough you’ll have access to exclusive Tim news before anyone else (recent examples include pre-sale info for ‘A Conversation With’ and the two Cambridge warm up dates)!
What, you’re still here? Head on over there now and sign up!
Linzy
x
Are you in Australia and sick of all the UK press announcements? Well here’s a little something for you. Well, if you live in or around Sydney anyway.
A fourth date has been added to the run with The Sydney Symphony!
The extra show will be on the 27th March 2011 at the Sydney Opera House. Tickets will be available tomorrow from the Opera House website.
What’s your excuse for not going?
