SONGS AND SCRIPTS AND DUNKING BISCUITS

Every day tales of a winging-it creative

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I’ve written bits and pieces on BBC Radio 2, 4 and 5 comedy shows, worked in the script team for two series of Channel 4’s comedy-drama ‘Shameless’ and am currently working with The Royal Court Theatre in Liverpool as part of their script development programme. I am also a songwriter with songs on all major platforms.

Author: Paul Ariss

  • THE MAGIC OF THE MOVIES STILL LIVES ON DESPITE MISGIVINGS

    A couple of years ago I signed up for a cinema pass which for the cost of £16.99 a month allows me to go to a certain cinema chain and watch as many films as I like for as many times that I choose. Given that it costs at least £9.99 to watch a film…

  • ILLUSTRATING THE JOYS OF SURROUNDING MYSELF WITH TALENTED PEOPLE

    Just before Pink was due to perform at the 2019 Brit Awards after winning the Outstanding Contribution To Music Award, she turned to the camera and said “One of the reasons why I am successful is because I surround myself with people that are better than me.” Given the depth of her own talent it…

  • THE DAYS I TURN PIMP TO SELL THE FAMILY HOME

    Today I feel dirty. With my house about to go onto the market today is the day the photographer comes around to take the shots that will go on the estate agents website for all to see. And they will see, for as soon as the For Sale board goes up the neighbours and strangers…

  • ELTON AND THE FIRST CONCERT COVERING FIRST LOSS

    Today I saw that Elton John has just turned 77. Wow. Elton was the first live act I ever saw, at the Liverpool Empire theatre on the 4th May 1976 on the ‘Louder Than Concorde But Not Quite As Pretty’ tour that was essentially the tour to support the Captain Fantastic & The Brown Dirt…

  • DON’T ALWAYS JUDGE A BOOK BY IT’S SHAVEN HEAD

    Anyone who has ever regularly attended a gym knows they are often populated by the shaven headed, tattoo-filled muscle bound types who strut around with ego’s as heavy as the weights they pound away with. And the men are even worse. Sorry, obvious joke. But we all know the type. I comfort myself with the…

  • AN OPTICIANS CHAIR AND SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION FROM THE BOSS

    Paul McGuiness was the legendary manager of rock band U2 from 1978 to 2013. He managed them from seeing them in an arts centre in Dublin when they were known as The Hype, to become the biggest rock band in the world. He negotiated record and publishing deals that would stagger the rest of the…

  • JOURNEYS WITH OLD MEN AND YOUNG HEARTS

    In his early 60’s my father, who had lived most of his adult life working as a lorry driver driving the length and breadth of Great Britain, discovered the blues. The blues of the deep south, people like Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker (below), BB King and Muddy Waters. Having spent most of his life…

  • THE DAILY DULLNESS AND DELIGHTS OF A DAY BY DAY DIARY

    With more excitement than is probably necessary, I have just placed an order for my 2024 Day by Day Diary. It will be arriving with great ceremony, tomorrow. Or more likely I’ll get a text telling me it’s been un-ceremonially left in the garage. Normally I prefer to choose my diary by buying it from…

  • 6 THINGS THAT ANNOY ME ABOUT MYSELF

    We all have aspects of ourselves that irritate, habits that we can’t break or approaches to things that annoy. And I’m not talking about irritating or annoying other people, but our own self. And yet these continue on, week after week, year on year. These may not necessarily be huge character flaws like kicking cats…

  • HELLO YELLOW BRICK ROAD, GOODBYE FEAR AND PANIC

    On Wednesday of this week, October 4th, the rail workers in the UK decided to have a ‘day of action’, an ironic term of phrase for a national strike. Pretty much all the trains in the country didn’t run at all. This post isn’t about the strike, although I do broadly support their issues to…