Midweek Mindgames '08

Following a guest appearance on the LSRfm Breakfast Show last year, I was given a feature, Midweek Mindgames, in which to perform a little something with the other presenters each week. Far from the most amazing, but still my favourite to listen back on was an effect based on suggestion that went out during the run up to Christmas last year. I wanted the effect to have a prize element to it, but to leave those who don't win with something nice, with it being Xmas and all. So here it is for you, thanks to the Producer Jenny Clarke, and to Olly Bradley-Barnard and Nick Wright, the other presenters on the show.

Radio, Surfing, and Aussie Agents

Firstly, thanks to all who have joined the facebook group, Without Borders World Trip - this will be the easiest way to keep up to date with all the best videos during the trip. Also, thanks to Joe Ellis and the rest of the team for plugging the Trip on CSRfm last week.

Something I'll be hoping to use a lot, and something you might want to look into if you're considering travelling at some point is couchsurfing.com - it's a free internet-based hospitality service with over 974,000 members. A volunteer based network, couchsurfing connects travellers with people who live in the counties and cities they plan to visit who offer free accommodation or just to show you around town. Members offer their couch, spare bed, or floor to people for a few nights and in return, when they are travelling, they can take advantage of the same hospitality from other members. The site was started by a guy who bought a cheap ticket from Boston to Iceland, and rather than stay in a hotel or hostel, emailed 1500 students at the University of Iceland asking if he could stay, and received more than fifty offers. Definitely a useful service to have in mind!

I'm currently emailing a number of enthusiastic entertainment agents in Sydney. The plan initially was to be very romantic - turn up in a city with nothing and get publicity and shows from scratch. But I think it would be smarter to have a few contacts in a number of cities, and maybe a few gigs planned ahead to be sure.

I had a great interview with Leeds Student Newspaper last week, I performed one thing with them and ended up being there for over two hours! Should be published in next week's edition - I'll post details when I get a copy.

Facebook Group - join up!

There's now a facebook group for the Without Borders World Trip, so join up by searching 'Without Borders'! This way you'll be able to keep right up to date with all the latest before, and especially during, the trip in August.

In other news, compiling the definitive list of destinations for the trip has brought up the issue of language barriers. Since so much of what I do depends on language, I'll have to limit the number of non-English speaking countries I visit as performing could prove tricky if no one has a clue what I'm saying. Metal bending I think is a great universal spectacle, especially with people's own things like their coins and I can really see people loving this in somewhere like Tokyo where you hear so much about some of the eccentric, often punk, culture within the city. Hong Kong is a strong contender too, but I've heard from some people that the authorities can have a swift disapproval of street performing which I hope to do a lot of and I want to spend as little money on bail as possible on the trip.

Publicity

This month saw the start of my pursuit for publicity for the Without Borders World Trip, and the offers are already coming in. After just a couple of emails to the local media I know off the top of my head, interviews with the Sanctuary and Leeds Student newspapers were lined up. ITV local have also said that they’d like me to write a guest blog on their site with a video to ‘kick off’ the trip in August.

I met with the Arts Editor of the Sanctuary, Abigail Ledger-Lomas, yesterday and performed one of my favourite effects with her after the interview. I gave her an envelope the day before and told her to keep it safe and not to open it, a prediction of tomorrow’s events. On the day, I asked her to choose a page of her copy of The Spectator magazine, then she was to hold the magazine without looking at it and draw a small circle onto her page. Out of the eight or so words she circled, she chose one single word - admirer. This word, chosen from a random page of her magazine, from a circle she drew, from a number of words within was admirer, and she didn't want to change her mind. She opened the envelope that hadn't left her possession for a moment - 'ADMIRER', signed Tom DeVoe x
I'll post the interview as soon as it's published.