Jewelry - Julyery - whatever

There was great excitement towards the end of June when Jonny Greenwood tweeted a picture of Adam in a field of rape or mustard or sutin, heralding the news that Adam would contribute to the first of three programmes Colin was doing in Jarvis's 6Music slot.

Adam put the show on his Soundcloud in two parts. It's a joyful bit of ear nice.





There's some more about Here 2013....um....here and a review of BUG from Bristol.

Time Out reckon Adam chose his top five videos for them but I can only see one there.

Sally Grosart made this wonderful poster for Adam's BUG tour.
 
Popcorn Taxi have posted a transcript of the telephone Q and A Joe Cornish did with them a couple of years ago for Attack the Block. Even after all this time, people are still podding about the film.

I stumbled across this pleasing little nubbin again and I thought I'd share it.

This defies everything that is sensible.



but that's not all this guy does



You know Mike Shinks, the best that Fran can get? Well, Fran approved of Mike enough to make a lovely son and here he is with Adam (photographed at the recent Manchester BUG shows). While I'm about it, look at a gorgeous snap taken at Latitude.



Finally, here are some familiar lyrics but the fun is in the circular translations and wonky Japanese spelling.

A Good Year #AdamAndJoe

There's no pretending that the goodness of Adam's year has had a higher profile than Joe's but they're both achieving great heights doing the things they love.

This time last year, BBC Radio2 celebrated the last day with a 'Best of 6Music' episode and the resulting podcast remains available for download. Good times.


January

While Joe's film featured in the nominations for the London Critics Circle Film Awards, Adam drilled a big tunnel through the centre of the earth to bring BUG to the Sydney Comedy Festival.

February

Adam took a more conventional route home, enabling him to slip into LA to present a BUG and also his wonderful Radiohead Restrospective BUG.

In the middle of the month he returned to the Leicester Comedy Festival.

Joe and his Attack the Block had nominations in the Evening Standard Awards, the Black Film Awards, The Orange BAFTA Film Awards, Guild of Music Supervisors Awards and the NAACP Image Awards. He also defended a South London tower block against....the press.

On 21st February Joe helped launch LOVE Film's new streaming rental service by doing a live commentary with Nick and Alex and a brief appearance from Edgar Wright.

The month was rounded off with Adam hosting the Music and Sound Awards.

March

March began with BBC Radio2 doing a couple more 'Best Of Adam and Joe' shows to help celebrate the 6Music 10th Birthday!  Adam and Joe popped in to Western House to record an interview for inclusion in Steve Lamacq's special birthday broadcast and they also recorded a health & safety announcement played to the live audience before the Maida Vale sessions.

On 14th March, the BFI invited Joe to present his Screen Epiphany to members. He chose Over the Edge.

Then he flitted off to the exciting film continent, stopping off to do a little interview with Strombo.

Meanwhile, Adam presented the British Arrows to those odd, advertising types and he did a BUG on his home turf of Norwich. He also presented at the BAFTA Games Awards.

At the end of the month, Joe pitched up in Japan with Nick Frost to attend the Okinawa Film Festival and present Attack the Block at it's Tokyo premiere.

April

After several patient months putting it all together, Adam finally began recording his tv version of BUG for Sky Atlantic, the pilot being on Good Friday which I was fortunate enough to attend without disgracing myself.

Adam made a wonderful jingle jongle for the Thinkbox ad and it's been on air again in December.

Adam's film of himself, Joe & Louis Theroux mentile-ing made it onto The One Show.

May

Adam and Joe's 6Music show won a Silver Sony Radio Academy Award again this year!

Attack the Block was among the nominations for the Sky South Bank Arts Awards  and Nebula Awards this month.

Adam continued to present his regular bi-monthly BUG show at the BFI while recording the tv version and also squeezed in a couple of shows in the Brighton Comedy Festival.

Joe rounded off May by giving a masterclass in Rome.

June

Adam did a couple of baby BUG shows mixed into his usual schedule in London and Norwich this month.

Attack the Block enjoyed it's first terrestrial screening on Channel4 but the big Joe Cornish news of the month is that none other than Kennedy Marshall have entrusted him with writing and directing the um....unfilmable Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson.

July

BBC Radio4Extra dusted off the young(er) Adam and Joe radio play 'Famous Guy' for another outing this month.

Adam finally saw his BUG TV show air on SKY. I say 'finally' but it was originally scheduled for September and Sky loved it so much they brought it forward. Adam featured in a couple of newspaper mags. It's actually repeating on Sky Atlantic right now!

He also took his Best Of show to Latitude and The Cambridge Comedy Festival.

Attack the Block popped up at the Saturn Awards. You can check all the Attack the Block gongs here.

August

In something none of us could have really predicted, Adam was a guest on Sunday Brunch but they didn't seem too interested in his plat du jour - Brilliantly Boiled Broccoli. He also called into Shaun W Keaveny's and Matt Edmonson's shows.

Adam took BUG to the Green Man Festival. I seem to remember that used to be a favourite haunt of Master Cornballs.

We also had the wonderful news that Joe has become attached to another project. He will direct Royden Lepp's "Rust"!

September

Adam and Joe featured as an answer in the new Comedy World Cup show.

Adam joined Jonathan Ross's team on The Big Fat Quiz of the 80's and gave his latest Bowie workings their first airing at a BUG Special in King's Place. He finished the month with BUGs in Birmingham and Manchester.

There's a recap of BUG tv here.

October

Adam brought his Radiohead Restrospective BUG to Norwich and also took a special Fat Boy Slim show to the London Film Festival in addition to his regular BUG shows.

November

Adam presented the Music Video Awards again this year and also joined Richard Herring on stage at the Leicester Square Theatre for one of his wonderful podcast interviews.

Film4 aired Attack the Block to start their British Connections series and preceded it with interviews and a short introduction from Joe. ATB was also offered as an iTunes download for a mere 30p!

In the middle of the month, Adam began a new radio partnership with Edith Bowman. This got off to a tentative start but finished last Saturday with listeners throwing tantrums at the thought of it all ending so soon. They both visited Lauren to launch the show. Check the BBC 6Music website for wonderful links to clips, pix and downloads.

Adam also took his Radiohead Restrospective BUG to Brighton.

Joe chatted to some young students at the BFI this month too.

December

On 3rd December, the BFI invited Adam to present his Screen Epiphany to members. He chose The Man Who Fell To Earth and broke the Epiphany mold by introducing it in an hilarious BUG style. Eventually, the BFI will put a little clip of the intro here.

On Christmas Eve Film4 aired Attack the Block plus the interviews again.

Adam featured impressively on Celebrity Mastermind with his specialist subject being David Bowie.

2013

There are already BUGs scheduled at the BFI, Leicester and Norwich.

Joe will be buying some new leads for his propelling pencil.

AOB

BUG launched an iPhone app to commemorate it's 5th Birthday.

There's a proper Adam and Joe fansite here and the forum has a thread with links to download many of their radio shows including Adam's new ones with Edith.

I attempt to keep a sort of calendar here but I'll be honest, it's not easy!

I may not do much decent blogging these days but I do put the odd sound byte here.

Have a ruddy good 2013 if you possibly can

Adam Buxton's BUG Series One Revisited

After a wonderfully successful, eight week run on Sky Atlantic HD Adam Buxton's BUG's first series* has finally ended and to sate any withdrawal sickness, I thought I'd do a little recappitation.



Episode One kicked of with the delightful intro song featuring a lovely monkey as Adam implored us to "stop looking and the monkey as it's time to start the show".

We saw the first of the familiarly fun folders from his desktop suitcase. He showed us the visual mnemonics from his travels to Los Angeles and Australia.

Cool Comment Guy popped up for the first time and we were told to "stop observing small kids eyes". Wine Prone Cowboy prompted Adam to do a lovely, cod, royalty-free reworking of Rhinestone Cowboy in front of his audience but the abiding meme memory from this episode will be the touching "my CONDOLENC".

Garth Jennings kicked off a weekly succession of bespoke BUG videos with his explosive film featuring Adam miming to Guitar Wolf's version of Summertime Blues. There was a cameo from Baaad Dad in there too and Sky made a little extra bit with Garth.

Episode Two suggested that Pluto and Manthea were watching the show. The suitcase that week showed us his Shittier Beatles folder with it's MPoo3 suggestions.

ApplePieIsGoodToEat had a special, cheeky pop up animation for his comment "Oh and dear yellow one, I feel the need to tell you your PANTS are spicy".

MISSGOSH got her famous "I hope this comment is being read out by Adam Buxton" dream realised, and on the telly this time.

We witnessed the misuse of Adam's "Skip this ad now > > >" gag but probably the most memorable Youtube interlude was Gil McRipley's Rifle Burs - "SWAG".

David Wilson gorgeously filthy video for Adam's Sushi Song aired that week and there's a behind-the-scenes film to go with this too.

We learned that Mr Gyllenhaal can provoke a comment of "Meh, with a side order of pfft" but more often some pork-based stabbing is the plat-du-jour. This is also the video for which we saw Adam's elaborate, visual stingy response to Etienne Marvelo's wildly absurd and pretentious comment.

At the start of Episode Three, Adam's folder revealed a photo of his local pub, complete with it's funny spelling.

We met the fella who wants to "marry Grimes. Marry her hard" and learned that Thom Yorke has turrets and looks like Jodie Foster. We also had the confusingly posed "Original? no! Devlhish! ? Maybe! A pleasure for ones eara? Surelly".

Instead of a bespoke BUG video, this week Adam dressed up in heels, gloves and tight black leggins to give us his literal rendition of Pull Up to the Bumper which I was disturbed to see live at the recording of the pilot show. I've not seen a man look so utterly comfortable in heels that high since Terence Stamp strutted the outback.

The suitcase for Episode Four revealed a short video featuring his daughter, Hope in an ad to promote holidays.

This was followed by the joyously depressing video for The Counting Song, directed by Cyriak with illustrations from Sarah Brown.

We were introduced to someone who knows native people, learned a new insult - "dickehad" and the emoticon representing Owen Wilson :~) followed by a disgruntled appearance from Jareth.

We learned that although a "chopped-up Amen break at 170bpm laid over square bass is prototypical D&B/Jungle" it can be mistaken -  "it's breakcore, you fucknose", and we enjoy an appearance from the shouting poet, MrMrDSWoods including his sublime "TAKE THAT TO THE BANK YOU MUFFIN FACTORY".

Episode Five was the one which brought us "Thumbwhore", "Wot is BUK?" and "knock on the front door and ask for The Fighter".

We had brief appearance from Cool Comment Guy and a visual jingle for Commentary Digest.

Dougal Wilson's vision for Adam's classic "Poo Poo Party Pom Pom" was aired in this episode too and Sky have an enchanting Behind-the-Scenes film to go with.

Episode Six is the one with the intro song that sounds a bit like Louise's blissful Star Trek song. It had the Filthy Fridges folder, a pop-upset from Jareth, a comment that simply read "Bord?" and also the "Jesus Christ, I think I got a depression".

Dragon Metal Man popped up and we saw the Layzell Brothers animated wonder for Tiny Tim's "Living in the Sunlight, Loving in the Moonlight" song from the past.

Episode Seven was the one where we were advised to "calm your tits". Adam showed us the contents of his "Shit Jennifer Aniston Films" folder and revealed that the folder for "Garage Band Jingles That I Haven't Used" was empty.

The video was David Freymond's imagining of Coming Back from Holiday Blues.

Adam made a fragrantly urban opening ditty for Episode Eight and unpacked his 'Previously Unseen Bobbles" folder showing what Bob Dylan's was actually typing while Joan Baez was strumming and warbling in the background.

Adam brought Radiohead's No Surprises video up to the comment reading plate and at the risk of peeving lovely Buxty by linking something with a tiny bit of a Joeness, one of the best runner-ups for the Adam and Joe Video Wars competition was this wonderful likeness of that same video.

Adam directed the final video of the series. The song, Amazing Music Video, is new. The video is everso amusing featuring Baaadad and Sif Agustsdottir with her top off, maybe.

Finally, don't forget you can go behind the scenes with Adam and catch various audio interviews with Empire Magazine, Shaun Keaveny and Matt Edmondson. Adam's YouTube channel has hours of delicious nuggets.

Once you've worked your way through that lot, several times, you'll have to take an Ad(am) break but let's hope it's not a long one.

* Any reference to 'series one' is based on love, optimism and belief in the power of positive thinking rather than any knowledge of a recommission. 

Raising a glass of cheer for the months passed and the year to come

2011 has had more reasons to celebrate than any other in recent Adam and Joe history.

JANUARY:

Even this early in the year, Little White Lies were starting the buzz for Attack the Block by running a competition, the winners of which would feature in their next, March 2011 issue.

Adam returned to the BFI with BUG23 but the big event this month was his Maldives piece in The Guardian's Travel section. Like father, like son.

FEBRUARY:



Ah, the month of Adam's glorious, technical breakdown at The Tabernacle in Notting Hill. This provided bonus hilarity due to an unruly Photoshop munchkin which Adam seemed embarrassed about despite the obvious delight of his audience. Three good things came of this. It was gloriously gigglesome, he touchingly perceived some obligation to perform an amazing free show to everyone who had felt let down and it prompted him to get to grips with Keynote which he uses to such great effect these days.

The following night, Adam presented the Röyksopp BUG Special which spilled over into the Benugo bar until the small hours. I say this with caution and without wishing to devalue any other BUG outing but I enjoyed my pants off at this event. I had to put them through a mangle when I got home.

The team at Attack the Block announced that the film would bow with it's premiere at South By Southwest but that the UK release date would be delayed until May 2011.

MARCH:

The first day of March brought the news that the 6Music Adam and Joe Radio Show would return in April for twelve weeks, which ended up totalling fifteen shows, the glorious creme of which was played out this morning and can be caught on the iPlayer for the next seven days. There will also be two podcasts from it.

The next day, Joe appeared on the live broadcast of Film 2011 talking about Attack the Block and showing a couple of clips for the first time.

Despite getting a little uptight about time, Adam presented BUG24 and played a blinder at The Union Chapel.

Joe took a trip to Texas via some scribbling and leg jiggling time in L.A. setting the fuse wire on the great Attack the Block media machine which had the endorsement it needed to begin firing on all cylinders. The excitement at SXSW fueled the internet within seconds of the house lights going up and kept it's momentum for months to come. There's some waffle from that first night here.

Jon Hamblin, a journalist who freelances for SFX Magazine was kind enough to give me some Attack the Block nuggets that didn't make it to the publication.

APRIL:

The Adam and Joe Radio Show returned to 6Music. They were straight in there with memes like 'Why be Denny Different?', 'Nonsense, nonsense, nonsense' and 'Smarties make me naughty'. It was as though all the clever people on the street had a knowing smiles on their face that would last until early July.

The show trended on Twitter and the pod went straight to number one in the iTunes charts within a couple of hours of casting. Later in the month they were at the top of the iPlayer chart too.

The 6Music blog kicked back into action and they acquired a resident artist in the shape of James Hood. Thomas Dolby tweeted about them. Sally Grossart made special Easter Paper People for them.

Adam performed his Technical Meltdown show at the BFI which I believe was the first outing for his helmet-cam countdown film. Adam joined a team of people for a gig in aid of Sod Cancer and whilst relaxing backstage, he was shown (by David Armand and Justin Edwards) a YouTube nugget that would spark Adam and Joe's most invasive meme since Boggins.

BUG Music Videos launched their YouTube playlist showing clips of recent shows including some of Adam's delicious waffle and of course, some comments.

By turn of good fortune and great kindness I attended two preview screenings of Attack the Block but not before enjoying a wry put-down from Joe himself at the Kapow Comic Con. We also learned that Sony/Screen Gems had snapped up the distribution rights for the film in the States and Canada.

The Guardian carried the first, proper Attack the Block based national press interview with Joe from Eve Wiseman.

During the Kapow panel, Joe revealed that he and Edgar had just submitted their second Ant-man draft to Marvel.

MAY:



Attack the Block was finally released in the UK but kicked off with a few previews including the London premiere on 4th May and post screening Q & A's at The Ritzy and The Prince Charles in London's London.

Still giving rise to me smarting my face with a smack, Joe took the time to answer a some silly questions I posed via the internet.

Joe and co. made appearances at Forbidden Planet and The Apple Store and they were generally all over the radio and tv media. Joe Cornish even trended on Twitter at one point. The film was top of the new entries in the weekend Box Office charts and Attack the Block related waffle dominated the podcast chart.

Adam took BUG to Manchester and then returned to the BFI for BUG25. He featured on the radio in an episode of Matt Lucas's "And the Winner Is" which aired on 7th May (no longer available).

The BBC Radio4 Archers Blog included the latest clip from the 6Music show.

Posters and a trailer appeared for The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn this month. This is the film for which Joe Cornish & Edgar Wright took over the writing duties when Steven Moffat's Doctor Who workload made him unable to continue.

JUNE:

Glastonbury came around again and the culmination of twelve weeks hard brand identity work was presented in the final three shows, broadcast live from the festival. The time went so quickly and full of so many memorable delights, the most enduring of which seems to be the Taffin cries. There was an exclusive, local Black Squadron gathering which produced all these photographs.

Adam presented a Moby BUG Special at the BFI where we had our first glimpse of his now famous (thanks to Never Mind the Buzzcocks) Moby guessing game. He also did a show at The Idler, joined the lineup at The Drill Hall and helped the National Autistic Society by manning a stand at their rain drenched Carter's Steam Fair event. Finally, he returned to his country pile for BUG Norwich 07.

JULY:

Joe was celebrated with 41 other young creative poppets at an event attended by Willie and Katie in L.A. under the umbrella of "BAFTA Brits to Watch".

Attack the Block was screened in L.A. with Joe and John Boyega (Moses) joining Edgar Wright to present and chat about it. Then they hopped around various cities with their US Press tour, giving print, radio and tv interviews all the way as the film began it's slow release in the States that month.

They went down to the San Diego Comic Con for a panel.

Film4's wonderful Summer Screen event included Attack the Block this year. It was preceded by David Cox in conversation with Joe Cornish in one of the awkwardly seated rooms at Somerset House. Before the film went on screen, Joe hauled as many of the cast as possible onto the stage to take their bows.

Adam took his BUG Special show to Latitude, also making some unscheduled appearances in other areas of the festival. He also honoured his promise from last year's sickly period by bringing BUG to the Bristol Comedy Garden and then back to London for BUG26 shows.

The first series of Silent Library aired this month, with Adam giving the commentary. It's a bit of silly nonsense but Adam made it fun to watch.

Joe and Edgar submitted their third Ant-man draft script to Marvel complete with some artistic impressions.

AUGUST:

Joe took Attack the Block to Locarno and Berlin (joined by Nick Frost) and it opened in more US cities.

Empire's Big Screen weekend included a special cast attended screening of Attack the Block with Joe & co chatting on stage afterwards. They were also looping the Tintin trailer in the concession area.

Adam did a five night run of BUGs at the Edinburgh Festival. These shows were completely sold out! He popped up at an afternoon Comedy Club For Kids event (appropriately at the Bongo Club) and on the last day he joined lovely Richard Herring for his daily live podcast while he was up there.

Made In Me launched their audio app featuring Adam Buxton reading bedtime stories.

Jude Adam Mason, the lovely, long-suffering, giggly producer of early Adam and Joe radio shows had her beautiful little baby Milly this month.

BUG Music Videos made a Summer Summary.

SEPTEMBER:

Adam kept the BUG train rolling with specials in The Queen Elizabeth Hall (which Joe attended), King's Place and the Greenwich Comedy Festival. The new BFI BUG27 shows were at the end of the month.

Attack the Block was released on DVD, Blu-ray and through various on-line portals in the UK this month, starting with an exclusive rental at Blockbuster. The hard copies had a variety of special packages and some wonderful extra features. We've recently learned that Germany will introduce a steel case version in February 2012.

The film continued to open in more US cities this month.

Get Darker launched a DJ competition to tie in with the film's soundtrack.

OCTOBER:

The Adam and Joe 6Music Radio Show won a BTDMA!

Adam hosted the most lauded episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks of the entire series. Surely, the only thing stopping him from becoming a more permanent host is the chance of making his own BUG style tv show. Please note that the Best Of aired this week includes one tiny clip not previously shown.

Joe had a wicked and wet time in Sitges where Attack the Block collected four awards! He joined Luke Treadaway at MoMA for a presentation of Attack the Block and then they both went on to meet John Boyega at the New York Comic Con for a streamed interview with Marvel, a roundtable and a panel at the weekend. What is it with me and film conventions? I have skill for self-embarrassment.

Adam presented BUG Specials in Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool and BUG Norwich 8.

Tintin was premiered in London and Joe joined the press junket with Edgar Wright and Steven Moffat. He also did a little Attack the Block chitty chat with Edith Bowman for BAFTA voters.

Joe talked to eager delegates at the London Screenwriters Festival.

Adam finally shared this wonderful home video with us.


NOVEMBER:

Adam had BUG Specials in Hull, Cardiff and the Cheltenham Festival and joined Jon Holmes and Olly Mann for a radio event in Salford. In a slight change of format, he introduced Jon Spiro's excellent Anyone Can Play Guitar followed by wonderful interviews with some of the contributors. It's a crying shame this film doesn't have a big distribution deal. Jon gives Martin Scorcese a run for his money.....well, a speed walk at least.

BUG28 was at the BFI this month and there was a OneDotZero BUG special featuring Björk. Adam also did a small show at this Promax event and presented the UK Music Video Awards again this year, which included another gong given to Attack the Block's Tom Townend for his work with Adele.

All of these were gigs eclipsed by the staggering Radiohead BUG Special at the end of the month. This is an enormous auditorium and not only did he (and maybe Radiohead) fill it but he held the audience in the palm of his hand and made it feel as intimate as a small club. If I have any right to such a thing, I felt so proud of him. He is a truly accomplished performer with a uniquely personable manner that is a rare and precious commodity.

DECEMBER:

Adam gave us this:


Joe gave us zip.
Nothing.
He collapsed in an exhausted, sexy tangle on the floor.

Broadcasting House, however saw fit to give him something. A spurtle, no less.

Adam and Joe must be busy with sutin because they couldn't give us a Christmas show.

Adam might be working hard to get his Sydney show together and maybe he is closer to having something for the tv.

Joe has said he's got all his research done for writing his next film but he may have changed his mind. He has always retained that prerogative, the raving ponce.

2011/12

So there it is.

Adam Buxton presented a record breaking episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks and played to what was probably his biggest audience in the Odeon Leicester Square for the Radiohead BUG Special.

Joe Cornish released his writing and directorial debut film to both critical and audience acclaim worldwide and enjoyed considerable recognition for his part in the writing of the Tintin script.

You can catch The Best of Adam and Joe's Radio Show 2011 here for 7 days and check for any podcasts you might be missing.

Adam is taking BUG to Sydney in January, then returning to the BFI and to the Leicester Comedy Festival in February.

He continues to regale us with tales of his Country Man plus sporadic, joyous bursts on his YouTube Channel and blog.

Joe is sitting at home in his wolf pants watching daytime telly, fiddling with his spurtle and vetting all the awards as they roll in.

Attack the Block has garnered the following recognition thus far:

South by Southwest Audience Award - won
Los Angeles Film Festival Audience Award - won
Miskolc International Film Festival, Hungary - won
Lund International Fantastic Film Festival, Sweden - won
Montreal Fantasia International Film Festival 2011 - won
Writers Guild of Great Britain Award -nominated
British Independent Film Awards - nominated x 2
Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival - won x 4
NY Film Critics Online - won
London Critics Circle Film Awards - nominated x 2 (not yet announced)
Black Reel Awards - nominated x 6 (not yet announced)
Toronto Film Critics Association Awards - won
Austin Film Critics Association nominated x 5 - won x 2

....and the best accolade of all, with something akin to a deadline-free, peoples' award extending into perpetuity, this film has inspired incredible fan art and is currently figuring in many bloggers' top ten films of the year.

For my part, if they've been busy, then to a lesser degree, so have I.
If they've been publicly happy then I've been happy too.
As always, this blog carries the disclaimer that I mean no harm with my waffle. If it's ever misconstrued it's because I'm an idiothole and cannot adequately express myself.
I did man up enough to splutter a couple of words to both Adam and to Joe in person this year but I was so much in awe that I could hardly look them in the eye which probably resulted in them thinking any of the nonsense I clumsily spluttered was not truthful. My mouth dried, my tongue swelled and I failed introduce myself in this guise. Perhaps that implies I should step back a little in 2012.

This is my attempt at pre-cogging these silly men.

BUG Radiohead Special

With the help of a tireless team of behind the scenes content filterers and fixers, Adam Buxton has taken the Antenna format's fragile pupa on a colourful journey through chrysalis to what has now become more of beautiful butterfly than the common or garden BUG described in the logo.

Last night, that robust lepidoptera flexed it's wings and left it's pheromones all over Leicester Square for what I believe is the biggest BUG event thus far.


Demand for a BUG Special featuring Radiohead was bound to be high and fortunately, the organisers audaciously secured the enormous auditorium at Odeon's flagship cinema. Whilst it may not be the biggest screen in town, it packs around 1680 seats, give or take and was so flummoxed by the ticket buying frenzy on the night the event was announced that even the staff in the box office couldn't resuscitate the booking system until the next morning.

If that's doesn't discolour Adam's wolf pants, nothing will.


In the actual event, Adam was at his most warm and comfortably confident.

Regular BUG attenders will be fondly used to technical hitches and indeed, some regulars are so blasé about this that they habitually arrive after the scheduled start time. As I wandered up the beautiful, building-site-themed* approach to the event with only ten minutes to spare, there were long lines of people waiting to collect tickets from those stubborn machines and the charmingly interactive Box Office staff.

Despite that, the show started pretty much on time with most people already in their seats.

A delay of no more than a couple of minutes did sadly mean Adam's helmet-cam cycling-to-the-venue film had to be paused with only about 90 seconds to go but perhaps they had good reason. Unlike most other BUG events**, Adam had devised the dreamy title sequence film himself and that gave way to a masterful entrance only marred by the intoxication of the spotlight operator rendering a reaction delay of some few seconds which continued to punctuate other parts of the evening. Adam functions best under these conditions because his comedy reflexes automatically toddle him off in the direction of verbal cover-up which usually results in his audience convulsing and, in some cases, being hospitalised or sedated.

He was mindful of the potential number of BUG virgins so to avoid any confusion, made a slide to demonstrate his name, severally.





From the lovely Rob McDougall with his kind permission. Please visit Robmac.net





Once he'd dealt with a few house rules, like how to be rewarded with cake for humiliating anyone rude enough to film any of the night's proceedings by shouting and pointing at them, he introduced the first three films, with the helpful note that there is a black space between them carefully placed to allow for whooping and cheering.

I'm not going to embed these because it will make the post lumbering and clunky but the links are all there.

Creep: Directed by Brett Turnbull
There There: Directed by Chris Hopewell
No Surprises: Directed by Grant Gee ***

At this point, Adam showed us some samples of what the YouTube community felt about this work. This is Adam's forte. Many people may look at what he does here and think it's a great idea and ripe for imitation. I don't believe anyone can seek out and deliver these comments with the brio that Adam brings and I seriously doubt anyone else would have the tenacity to trawl through them all.

Weird Fishes/Arpeggi: Directed by Tobias Stretch (One of the winners of the Aniboom Animation Contest For Radiohead's In Rainbows)
Street Spirit (Fade Out): Directed by Jonathan Glazer

I believe it was at this point when Adam introduced Jonny and Colin Greenwood to the stage for some chats. It should be noted that there was a picture-in-picture bringing a close-up of this interview to the very back of the highest of the high seats. Poor Jonny was clearly very ill at ease when he discovered this, with good reason because he is uncomfortably pretty.

Adam has an interviewing style which, like his presentation method, makes his audience feel as though they've sneaked into a private evening with a few friends, a bowl of Twiglets and some mulled wine. Happily for us all, on this occasion Adam didn't even seem to be hung up about time.****

He showed us embarrassing pictures and videos, mercurial nuggets and shared private memories of the days he and Garth spent in Oxford preparing and filming for their Webcast.

A lot of this material is online for those keen to seek it out but I feel bound to link this wonderful piece in which Adam's camera defaulted into demo mode while Ed was reading his moving poem. I can report that last night's audience totally destroyed any poignancy herein with their completely disrespectful and raucous laughter when all the nonsense began. It was feckin' hilarious but I think Adam would have preferred a little more chin fumbling consideration.

Kid A 'blips' for possible tv project: Directed by Shynola (there are several of these if you poke the links)
Pyramid Song: Directed by Shynola
Jigsaw Falling Into Place: Directed by Adam Buxton

Adam finally released Jonny and Colin from their blissful trauma on stage to make way for the charmingly besuited Garth Jennings, a beloved BUG regular and dear friend of Adam's. They continued to talk about the Webcast material and the making of Lotus Flower. If there's one glaring omission to this evening's programming it was no doubt done with humility but I would love to have seen Adam's rendition of Lotus Flower one more time. I'm sure he will never be able to put it on his channel but it's a joy to behold....or did I just dream he made it?

Lotus Flower: Directed by Garth Jennings

Adam read some more YouTube comments from Lotus Flower which, if memory serves is an edit from the time when he showed it at BUG last January, including some turrets and Jodie Foster. You had to be there.

In the absence of Adam's film, please do seek out the multitude of fan homages to this piece. Adam showed this one.

He finally eased Garth back to his seat and wound up this triumphant evening with these last two videos.

Karma Police: Directed by Jonathan Glazer
Just: Directed by Jamie Thraves (yeah - he of The Low Down and Treacle Jnr. fame)

I do hope Mr Knight and the people of BUG don't mind me displaying a reproduction of their lovely programme notes below but I'm sure they're too busy celebrating the success of the evening to pop them at their own site for the time being. Do take a minute or two to read them.


I don't usually review the work of Adam and Joe in any great depth because I assume and believe that my unashamed adoration of the pair would render any comment impotent but I felt this event was such a milestone in BUG's history that it warranted documenting. I am fairly sure that I was not viewing the room through rose tinted goggles when I say that everyone from the furthest reaches of my peripheral vision was enthralled by the entire programme and delighted with Adam's presentation. In my capacity as his self-appointed, in no way related Aunt, I was so proud of the way he handled this massive room. It's enormous. Have I said that before? I hope everyone heard him clearly and saw as much as they were expecting. He was utterly magnificent. Oh no, now I've gone too far.

I think that the brief sortie into three BUG BFI shows last year will need to be reinstated for the Spring sessions.

I'm shamed to note that it is more than a month since I waffled in this blog. I am diligently keeping notes to interesting bobbles in my link locker and will address this oversight at my earliest convenience. Given that it's the season of far too many films to see, I have no idea when that might be.

* I have no idea why they picked this theme for such an event. *****
** Usually created by Miland Suman whose work can be found here and around here.
*** Is it rudely inappropriate of me to link a runner-up fave video from the Adam and Joe Radio Show Video Wars competition? It's a thing of beauty.
**** Previous BUG and 6Music Radio Show reference.
***** You know that's my feeble attempt at a joke through gritted teeth as I loathe the time these works are taking and the tedium they thrust upon a film goers most beloved of London squares?
...and please excuse the Attack the Block reference. While I was writing, I did think it was apposite.

Adam puts an enormous amount of effort in everything he does. Turning up on the day is not something this man can countenance as his recent hosting of Never Mind the Buzzcocks will attest.

However, BUG is devised and curated by David Knight of Promo News etc with the help of Phil Tidy, Ballistic, Locomotion and the BFI.

Every other month, BUG looks at the most weird and the most wonderful music videos to emerge recently, thrusts them up on a big screen which is bookended by two delightfully ponce-laden bars. Each event has at least two versions, the first one of which normally invites a guest director onto the stage for some insightful chat, giggles and degree of embarrassment.

Adam's status as a dedicated family man also ensures that he gives a quarterly version of BUG closer to his golden mansion in the Norwich Playhouse and over the last year, since Joe released him from the burden of non-stop radio shows, he has had the opportunity to take a Best Of version all around the British Isles and beyond. His next run of shows takes him all the way down to that special place, AUSTRALIA.

If Radiohead brought you to your first encounter with BUG and Adam Buxton you may have thought you were imagining things when you detected the faintest hint of a catch in Adam's voice when he bade us a happy festive season and gave his goodbye. No, that was not your imagination. He loves his audience and it breaks his heart to leave us. Well, he loves me. He's not so keen on you over there with the funny hair and the strangely tainted breath.

You've been privileged enough to be introduced the perfect blend of music, visual joy and warmly served giggles. I hope it brings you to the next London BUG at the BFI on February 9th & 16th or one of the many other shows.

Tickets always go on sale to BFI members on the first Tuesday of the month prior to the show and non-members can book a week later. There are usually a small number of last minute seats available on the night but this event always sells out online.

Programme Notes


Since originally putting this post together, several more photos have come from the lovely people of Twitter. I hope Buckles and the boys (or indeed the photographers) don't mind me gathering these here. I can take them down again but they're all on FB and Twitter. There are almost too many to post here but some links follow:
Great stuff from Ian Davies
One
Two
Three
Four
Jessings pictures:
Dr Buck's Suitcase
YouTube comments
Greenwoods Picture in Picture

Dominic Yard has a shot of the helmet-cam film, as does Humphrey Walwyn and Ross Matthews.

From Michael Rosser:
Interview
More Buckles In Rainbows

Another interview picture from Rachael Irwin on the far right. She has this one too.

Buckles from Christopher Mahon and Euan McGrath's view from the back of the circle.

Scott Rowlan took these:
One
Two


...and I just found this lovely thing from Petra.

Buxom Blogging and a fiddle zone

This is bound to be a bit Buxton-heavy again. Is it my fault that he's as ubiquitous as John Barrowman and Joe is being so bloomin' precious about his little video drama?

The 6Music concern is still keeping a high profile and Steve Lamacq added his voice to the cause last week. The BBC Trust page is here and to make it even easier, this is a really helpful page.

If you want to join in a friendly meeting of supportive minds, there will be a gathering at the end of the month. Details are here but I'm quoting in case you don't use the Facebooking.

Date: Saturday, March 27, 2010
Time: 12:00pm - 2:00pm
Location: Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London
Description: On Saturday 27th March at 12pm, we will gather together outside Broadcasting House to protest against the closure of BBC 6Music.

We have lined up some well-known speakers and live buskers to create an air of festivity. This is a celebration of our beloved station; a demonstration of support for the staff, musicians, and a collective show to the Consultation team that we do not want to lose our station.

What the BBC proposes is unacceptable. 6Music is the only place that caters for our diverse tastes; the only station where you will hear Howling Bells played back to back with Seasick Steve; The Isley Brothers leading into dEUS, Delphic, Yeasayer and all topped off with dash of Half Man Half Biscuit.

The DJs play the music they love for people who love music. It is valuable showcase for new bands and artists, and regardless of what the BBC thinks, we will not find this on Radio 2.

So please join us on the 27th. Come along to show your solidarity and support; bring a flask of tea and have a sing-along all in the name of saving 6Music. Invite everyone you know who might not have been invited through the Facebook group and let’s make this a protest to remember!


**Please note that this is intended to be a friendly, peaceful and safe protest. **
------------------------------------------------------------------

Further details

Broadcasting House is Located on Portland Place, W1A 1AA.
The nearest station is Oxford Circus although it can also be easily reached from Great Portland Street.

See here for a map of the area:

Adam has enlisted 6Music's own Tom Robinson to help make a version of Bowie's Changes as part of the 6Music support campaign.
It would be too much to hope he'd perform it during the above meet-up but more excitingly, people will be invited to make videos to go with the song, just like the old days of video wars. I'll bet the Emmett family can hardly contain their creative juices right now.

Keeping with the 6Music news, Adam has made a pilot show based on one of his long standing passions, the mix-tape.
Read more about it in a post at the BBC 6Music blog. That post has had a record number of responses and everyone seemed excited to know that Julian Barrett joined Adam. Won't it be satisfying if this gets commissioned?
There's more about the show and some priceless remarks in a wonderful three page interview with Adam at Shortlist. John Plunkett swiftly brought the pilot news to the mass media.

Earlier today, the same lovely John Plunkett organised a webchat with Adam! How enjoyable was that? It was flagged up on Monday and the webchat is here but you can cut to the chase and just read the responses here.

I've got quite a bit more Count Buckules stuff to post but I'm going to take a brief moment for Dr Sexy.

Recent updates on the Attack the Block IMDB page add a frail piece of substance to my musing about some of the prosthetic and puppeteering work being done Stateside but it's all good stuff. Still no news about who the cinematographer is.

For some reason, the lovely people at Playlist decided to post something about the casting tweet we saw last month. I don't know if it's genuinely to do with them only just stumbling across it or if they have some privileged information that prompted today's post. Nick Frost's tweets imply that he is not shooting it at the moment but for that matter, neither is the loose-lipped tweeter.

If the apparent two moons bleaching the streets of South London were anything to go by, night shooting continued last week. Joe must be looking pale and weedy.

I really can't manufacture any more Cornballs news so it's back to Buckles. 4OD have put Ladies and Gentlemen on their YouTube Channel. It has an age advice warning so I'm linking rather than embedding.

Adam brought BUG18 to town last week and there was an added frissant in Twitterland due to the amazing work of @WickWox (see last week's post) and her incredible collection of well-wishes which she presented in scrapbook for the great man himself. @Monastico made this beautiful felt sleeve for it. You may have read in the webchat about the joy it brought to Adam.

The BUG evening itself had some technical problems and Adam had intended to play his version of Changes (see above) to us but he just sang a couple of lines instead. It was completely wickles. He also showed us this project and once you've got the hang of what that's about, click here to see Adam's contribution. I'm not going to embed that one because it's totally out of context if you don't visit 'In B Flat' first.

I also saw Adam in a beauooootiful little short film the other week, directed by Matthew Walker and Arthur Cox. The quality of all the films was very high but Little Face stands a very good a chance of walking away with a prize on the 8th April Awards Night.

Adam has appeared in the line-up for Latitude again, bringing a special tent-based version of BUG to the country folk. He sounded unsure about it earlier but he was probably just being modest. I'm sure Corin Hardy will cover for him if he can't make it. This festival gets bigger every year but I hope it doesn't loose it's charm.

So finally, Adam made a small but worthy contribution to BBC Radio 1's broadcast about making fan music videos. He mentions lots of his work so I'm going to put them in a little fiddle zone below.

It's a shame there is nothing more to say about Joe. If he's lucky, he'll be having a lot of fun and I'm sure there are plenty of lovely young assistants tending his needs. I'm secretly quite pleased there's not too much information about his film out there. All the better to enjoy when it's released. I do hope he's not too jealous of Adam's lovely scrapbook. Surely, he'd have had one too if there was a public appearance in the diary but that's not his scene at all. Any seemingly bitter comments made here about him can be instantly ignored. It's my coping mechanism because I miss his stupid voice and lanky bones. Thank goodness Adam has so much energy to share.

=====================The Fiddle Zone=====================