"Even if I got rid of all my problems, I'd just go out and get new ones..."

Greetings from the side
12:43 p.m. on 2004-02-20

Is it just me who has played the 'fictional family' daydream game?

Basically, pick a celebrity family. Mum, dad, siblings, vague relatives. Not neccessarily your ideal family, but just... your celebrity family.

I'm stuck on dad, at the moment. Originally I'd picked Billy Bragg, but then I figured that he spent so much time on tour that I wouldn't get to see him much, and besides which, having such a politically active father would make me feel even more guilty about my apathy than I normally do.

Then came Peter Jackson. Good choice, I figured - fun guy, very talented, loving family man. Plus which, I'd get to hang around the LOTR set and cosy up to certain hobbits.

Except then I'd be the daughter of the director. The very person you are NOT allowed to sleep with if you're one of the stars of the movie.

So now I'm stuck, somewhere between John Peel (musical genius and my dad's idol anyway, so I'm already half way there) and Dom DeLuise, great comedy actor and father to Peter DeLuise, producer of SG1, and all the other DeLuise sons who, I suspect, would be great brothers. The overprotective kind who threaten your boyfriends but also get you writing gigs on their show.

I have, however, chosen my celebrity uncle. Oh yes. His name is Gary Jules, and he will be that 'Crazy' uncle, the one who you think is cool but your parents would rather not invite to Christmas dinner in case he gets stoned and starts playing you unsuitable punk music.

Last night I went to a Gary Jules gig with Craig and Louise. Apart from the great support act (one girl called Polly and her guitar) the rest of the gig was sublime. Gary meandered onto the stage when we weren't even looking, backed by his one 'band' member - a dread locked self-confessed stoner whose name may or may not have been Al, I can't remember. He then plowed into two brand new, upbeat songs, before playing some tracks of his new album, some of his old (whereupon I got to wear my smug, I have this album and no one else does look), and eventually Mad World. He threw out candy to the audience (presumably stuff given to him by the Academy), took a photo of us all, told us various anecdotes of how his original record company screwed him over and how he met 'Al', and got excited when we revealed we knew more than Mad World belonged in his repetoire.

You have to respect a guy who made his first album 15 years after moving to LA, sold it to a record company which three weeks later went bust, taking the record and all rights to it with it, then three years later found someone selling the CD on Amazon, bought it, made 800 copies on his cd burner and then sold them on his own website.

Plus... he's so sweet! Really!

Quote: "I know you're a friend, I can tell by the shake in your hand"

Listening to: Gary Jules. Duh.

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