Wet Spot

Saturday night working in a sweaty dark basement club packed full of rowdy up for it Leeds folk? It must be the Wet Spot club, and indeed it was. Great show, topped by local heroine Anna Fur Laxis doing her "Prestige" act, which recently won her first runner up in Miss Exotic World - the big Las Vegas burlesque competition. This was kinda her homecoming gig after that victory, and the crowd loved her, as they should, for she is great.

I've played the Wet Spot once before, about a year and a half ago, when I shared the bill with the wonderful Tricity Vogue. We had a meal together before the show back then, and she, in passing, said that she knew of a spot going on the fringe in Edinburgh, and that I should think about doing it. I'd had one cocktail, so I basically said, "Yeah, alright, fuck it, ok", and then set about putting together a show. Perhaps more decisions should be made after a cocktail, because that was a good one, and it set me up for a year of fun stuff. As I write this, I'm in the middle of the first day of a week of refresher rehearsals for this years Edinburgh show, and have started to experience the predictable anxiety dreams and flashes of excitement, bravado, and sheer off-the-cliff-edge panic that only a one man show can bring.

I remember getting massively lost on the way to the venue when I played the Wet Spot last year, and not only did I get lost again this year, but I got lost in the exact same way. I found myself standing on the side of a dual carriageway, suitcase in tow, realising that although this wasn't anywhere near where I wanted to go, I had been here before. I had learnt nothing.

At least this year my hotel was nice. Last year I stayed in the Leeds Etap. A hotel that has bunk beds. All Etap hotels seem to have bunk beds. I do not want to feel like I am staying in a young offenders institution. Maybe that's just me.