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Toscha Comeaux (and band) at Matt and Phreds and The Cinnamon Club (25/26 June 2008)

I went clubbing in Leeds on Saturday night: hard electronic dance music, and lots of flirting on the dancefloor.

When I woke up on Sunday morning, I remember looking around the room and upon noticing the oak beams and sloping ceilings, I thought, “hmmm, I must still be in Yorkshire… ow, my body hurts… and my eyes… gnrrgngghhh!”  Rolling over I saw a large person-sized bump in the bed next to me, and beyond that, saw signs of life.  A hand waved to me, and then a face, then a croaked greeting as Mark said, “good morning”.  I’d woken up in a room with two other guys… but before you get the wrong idea, we were all in separate beds!

As neurons started to come back to life I remembered what had happened that I was in this slightly random situation…

Friday night, after finishing at a client’s offices, I headed to the Cornerhouse and caught a film.  After eating there I headed to Jilly’s Rockworld to meet up with Mark (one of the DJs, he runs the Infest alt-music festival I work at, and his day job is band tour management).  I also met Chris “Coreline”, one of the bands playing at Infest.  We chatted, I bought his CD, Mark turned up, we chatted, we danced, it was great.  What was meant to be an easy-going night finished with me getting home at four in the morning.  It was a really fun night.

On Saturday all my plans went to merry hell… and then I got a phone-call from Mark.

“Maaaazz… hiiiii… do you fancy earning a bit of cash?”

“Um, what’s the gig?” knowing full well it would involve music.

“I’ve got a three-piece jazz band that need ferrying around some concerts, and the other driver has fecked off.”

“Oh, ok, jazz… awesome!  Sod paying me, can I go to the gig?”

“Uh, you’ll be paid.  Of course you’ll be at the gigs.”

“Gigs?  Plural?”

“Leeds, then an hour later, Chester.”

“Ok, when?  Shall I meet you in Leeds tomorrow morning?”

“No, we’re all staying near Scarborough, close to where tonight’s gig is.”

“Oh right… um, that’s two hours away from Manchester.  When do you need me there?”

“Ten on Sunday morning.”

“Right.  Well, four hours’ sleep will be enough,” I said, which it just about would be.

“Oh, crap, I forgot, you’re going to Wendyhouse tonight to flyer Infest for me…  You can’t drive back to Manchester and then up to Scarborough, that’s crazy.”

“How about I stay overnight in Leeds?”

“Uh where?”

Of course the “cheap” option would have been to engineer my being taken home with another clubber, but one night flings are not my style, so I suggested I stay in a hotel.

“Nah, there’s no budget for that, Maz.”

“Oh, ok… what about I crash up in Scarborough with you guys?”

“I’ll call the hotel and let you know later.”

“Hang on, back up, Leeds to Chester in an hour!?”

“Yeah, I know, it’s not possible.  It’ll be fine.  Call you back later.”

So after clubbing at The Wendyhouse (and distributing flyers for the “goths with glowsticks music festival” that is Infest) from nine till two in the morning, I found myself driving across Yorkshire.  It was foggy.  I finally ended up in a little village, parked up in front of a pub/hotel, and phoned Mark.  He came out to meet me.  It was a little after three in the morning.

“You’ll have to be quiet, the others are asleep,” he said as he ushered me into a room.  ”You’re in the corner over there. Night.”  I tripped over bags, clothes, and landed on a single bed in the corner of the room.

Five hours later we return to the beginning of the story: the light streaming into the room, the snoring guy in the bed next to me, and Mark saying good morning.  We shower, get dressed and head downstairs (guy in the middle bed still snoring).  I’m introduced to the band.

Toscha: jazz diva.
Anthony: salt’n’pepper dreadlocks, with the archetypical “jazz man” voice.
Brenda: tour/band manager.
Will: keyboardist extraordinaire, upstairs still asleep.

We eat a traditional English breakfast (first one these guys have had — they’re from Orlando).  We throw everything into my car and a white transit van, and set off for Leeds.  We set up, they play their gig.

End of the gig, everything goes back into the car and van and we drive to Chester.  I’ve got Anthony, Brenda and Toscha in the car, and we chat about music and jazz for the couple of hours to Chester.  They play another gig starting at nine and ending close to midnight.  We pack everything up, drive to Macclesfield where the band are staying, drop them off, then Mark heads off to Manchester to drop off the transit van full of hired equipment.  I got home close to two on Monday morning.  I think over the whole weekend I must’ve slept about ten hours, and had a nine o’clock on Monday.  I’ve just about recovered now.