Help Me Go Deaf

I didn’t think this Going Deaf For A Fortnight thing through. To which every responds “You think?” And so I elaborate.

I knew this is going to be a tough thing mentally and physically and I was prepared for that. I’m not working for this fortnight so I can do the writeups properly and get a reasonable amount of rest but even so this project is taking up nearly all my waking hours. I leave for the gig about seven, get back around midnight, spent four hours or so writing it up usually getting to sleep around six am and then, on waking, figure out where I’m going to next. It’s become a full time job. Which is not a problem – I quite like intensity of it all and at the very least hope my writing improves under the pressure.

But what I didn’t think through was the money side. When I first had the idea I figured most gigs would cost three or four quid to get in. It’s looking more like seven or eight quite often rising to ten. This wouldn’t be a big deal if I was going to one a week, but with a gig every night they’re starting to add up. I’m cycling to the gigs as much as possible (looks a bit wet tonight) and not drinking to keep the costs down but even allowing for that I’m starting to run out of cash.

Of course, if I’d thought this through and planned everything meticulously I would have contacted the promoters and tried to blag guest list status, but I didn’t and to be honest I think throwing myself at random gigs this way is more in the spirit of things, as well as forcing me to judge the performances as a paying punter.

But it costs cash and on the whole I don’t have much of that.

Here, then, is a PayPal button:

[PayPal button removed]

When all this is over, and once I’ve regained my sanity, I will be producing a zine containing these gig reviews edited and reformatted for print. Anyone who donates over £5 will get a copy of the zine. Additionally, I’ll be getting some prints made of the photos. Anyone who donates over £10 will get a reasonably sized (probably 6×8 or 8×10) print of their choosing as well as the zine. There’ll also be an additional exclusive-to-donators free thing that I can’t really mention here. This stuff will be sent out around December / January time.

(If you don’t want to use PayPal contact me by email and we’ll figure something out. And above all, don’t feel obliged or nothing…)