As Featured on Bonus Track #1

Download "This Night" (mp3)
from "Passion Leaves a Trace"
by Black Lab
Blacklabworld.com

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More On This Album

The Bonus Track
So, complete with unremarkable but functionally tidy name, my new podcast 'The Bonus Track' is now live both in the Libsyn feed and at Podshow. The show will have its own dedicated site at Podshow for those who aren't listening to One Among the Sleepless; those good people who are, will get it automatically.

It features some insight into what motivated me to start writing One Among the Sleepless, plus the first part of a phone chat with Seth Harwood on the subject of Jack Wakes Up. It also features music from Fruitcake Superbeing, Black Lab and Lost Dog, plus my poem, Monster.

I hope you like it. To get it right now, click this link.

As a result of the labour that's gone into the new show, plus the fact that I spent the holiday weekend down in Wexford visiting friends, this week's episode of One Among the Sleepless will be late. It's a bigger-than-usual chapter too, so when it does arrive, it'll be a big one.

Episode 27. Recorded and Ready for Posting

I would've posted tonight, but on listening through once I'd finished it, I discovered 2 little mistakes. I'll fix them tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon and hopefully it'll be live by 6 p.m. (G.M.T.). Oh, and it's a good-un.
M

Indigestion - In More Ways Than One

So we went to the pub and had a good old chat about all sorts of stuff. Inevitably the subject of the new show came up and I aired some doubts about the new title. My wife agreed, and so now Clockwork Toy Box is also in the bin. After the pub we called in at Zaytoon, a Persian kebab house in Temple Bar. They do very nice kebabs and, like a fool, I bought one. If there's one lesson life has continually tried to teach me, it's 'don't eat kebabs before you go to bed'. When you're a young man, you can eat just about anything at any time of the day; but the more mature stomach is more discerning in what it's prepared to digest. I've spent most of the night tossing and turning and gulping down Milk of Magnesia.

And it's not just my stomach that's been working overtime; my brain keeps throwing words together and coming up with myriad name possibilities for the new show. It's a nightmare; it reminds me of when I was in bands in my youth and we'd spend hours trying to come up with a name for whatever new band we were forming; no sooner would one person suggest a name than another band member would shoot it down. This time however, I'm both the suggester and the shooter. Now, at five a.m., after three hours of raging insomnia, my brain is littered with the blasted debris of about two thousand possible show names. It's word carnage; all smouldering adjectives and buckshot blasted nouns. What I should really do is call it something simple, something light and unfettered, something with only one possible meaning. Something like, 'Mike Bennett's Other Podcast'. Hmmm, I'll think about it... probably for the remainder of the night and most of the day.

#27: First Draught Recording Down

Episode 27: First recording draught finally completed after the Quasimodo Chorus packed it in and shuffled off. The episode at the moment weighs-in at about an hour and twenty minutes, though of this about 55 minutes will be deleted as I spend a further ten hours or so listening and deciding which, if any of the lines I've read are suitable or will have to re-recorded (as so often happens). As I said earlier, it may be a Wednesday posting this week, this is going to be a tricky one. Though to be honest, they're all tricky blighters for one reason or another. Episode 28 is probably going be to the toughest one EVER; a serious range of voices, new characters and a new setting.
Hey, but that's a week away, let's stay focused on #27. It's a great episode; the conclusion of Chapter 24, in which Gaz's plans to, basically, f*** Sally are revealed. What's going to happen? (Evil laughter that gradually rises to a hysterical pitch which is followed by an explosion and a bunch of dogs barking. Why dogs barking? I don't know, maybe there's a dog pound nearby). Anyway, I'm going over to the pub for a pint with the Mrs. It's Sunday after all.

Clockwork Toy Box

OK, finally, I've settled on this, I still like the bike image, but I prefer this name. It's more representative of what the show will be about - eclectic, different, odd.
I'm writing this now as I wait for the bells of Christchurch Cathedral to shut up. I was recording episode 27 and they kicked off like a gaggle of manic Quasimodos were hanging on to them. Sunday is a dreadful day to record, but I was busy with the new show art yesterday and Monday and Tuesday are the editing days. Right now it sounds like the Quasimodo Chorus is going to go on forever. It could be another Wednesday upload this week. But hey, console yourself with the knowledge that you can soon also be enjoying The Clockwork Toy Box - hopefully by Friday.

Yeah, but saying that...

I've spent most of the afternoon doing that image and I do rather like it. I'll see how I feel in the morning.

New Show
Yes, I'm still fussing over that new show. I've spent most of Saturday kicking ideas around and writing bits and pieces. At one stage I felt sure I had it: I even made a show logo - see picture. But now, a little the worse for wine at 3.00 a.m. (and listening to my big new music splash-out; The Sisters of Mercy 'Merciful Release' package - O.K. out of some 40 or so tracks I really only like about five, but I get these nostalgia urges and I must obey them. I remember going to the Black October tour at the Lyceum in London in 1984... but hush, now I'm showing my age.

Er, what was I saying? Oh yes, the new show. I've done this artwork for the show, but still haven't settled on a title, 'Podcast Sidecar' is one option, but I'm still not decided.

Winter of Different Directions on Amazon.co.uk

Calling U.K. and Ireland book lovers: Steve McDermott's Winter of Different Directions is now available of amazon.co.uk. If you're up-to-date on the podcast, you may recall the promo for Steve's great podcast of the collection back on OAtS #25. Well, now you can have the actual book in your home collection. Follow this link and order it today!

Finally... Episode 26

So I got home, all gritted teeth and smoke coming out of my ears. I turned on the computer and began the upload and all was going well... until the signal flatlined for no apparent reason after 15 minutes and the upload was cancelled.
After I'd removed from the head from the wall, I began again. After an hour or so it looked like it actually uploaded - the green progress bar went all the way to the end and then went white again. Oh joy! But hang on, the files at Libsyn weren't showing it as present, if it was there, it was invisible. I was just getting ready to run my head into the wall again when a thought occurred to me: why not turn stuff off and then turn it on again? I did so - and good job too: Episode 26 was there. Oh genuine joy!

So, what's the story? Gaz, Jimmy, Glenn, Ted, Kay, Sally and Adam all sitting around the beer garden of Shenanigans. Suspicions, jealousies, doubts, desires and weirdness; and that's all in the first 15 minutes.

Promos: Jack Palms 2: This is Life / The Homegrown Podcast

Tried Again, Crashed. Try Again Later

I tried again, it crashed again. I'll try again later.

Episode 26 - It's Ready, But...

I can't upload it. Pathetic isn't it? Irish Broadband are notoriously slow; it's like trying to suck wet cement through a straw. At ten p.m. our time, Europe is checking its mail, the U.S. is in the middle of it's day and Asia / Australasia is getting up and checking its mail too. Everyone is watching all kinds of on-line video and stuff and the Internet is slow, which is why my FTPs keep cutting out before upload is complete and Libsyn times out through sheer boredom. What this means is: no show tonight. I'll get it up first thing tomorrow while The U.S. is asleep and Europe is trying to ignore its collective alarm clock.
Goodnight.

Episode 25: In the Can: Uploading Tomorrow Night
Episode 25 is finished, I just finished sticking the various bits together and getting volume levels right. I'll upload tomorrow evening: UK time 6 p.m. A day earlier than usual, but then after a two week break, I think that's acceptable.
As for the content; if you think things have been a little tame lately and are wondering when things are going to start heating up again, this one comes with one of those coffee cup warnings on it: Caution - Contents Could be Sick and Wrong. Not that you see that on too many coffee cups, but you get my drift.

Noisy Neighbours, Hangover and Re-write

Almost as if on cue, the warm weather brought a night of riotous noise throughout the apartment building last night. Very loud music and people screaming and 'woo'ing almost relentlessly into the courtyard (why do people do that?) I stayed up with a bottle of wine, resigned to the impossibility of sleep without alcohol.
This morning I had to do some re-writing on episode 25. I managed to do it, despite a dull hangover. I just recorded it. Now I'm taking a break with the remains of my Easter egg and a cup of tea. It's another beautiful day outside. I'm expecting another night of screaming. I'm also looking on the Internet for another flat.

Last Trip to Meredith House
I just finished recording the last trip up the Mississippi to Meredith House. Things between Rick and Leanne have moved on. I don't want to spoil it, but the action takes place in a bedroom and 'Ohhhh!' gets moaned quite a lot over a tray of 'sumptuous breakfast pleasures'.
'Oh! It's hot darling.' I should co-co; now I have to go and take a cold shower to cooool down.

Oh Bollocks!
Well the first five minutes were great, but the next ten or so threw up flaws in the make-up of the new show that means that it's going back into the development box for a while. Sorry to whet your appetite and then not come up with the goods - I will do the new show, just not yet. It's obviously very important that it's good. A show that isn't good is, well... crap; and none of us want to hear a crap show. Am I right? I think so. OK, so all my energies can now go into OAtS #25. I start work tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully the good weather won't mean the neighbours all decide to party hard everywhere and make a damn racket while I'm trying to record.

OK, No Episode This Week, But...
I began recording my new show (still under wraps)today, and so far I really quite like it. I've done 4 minutes so far and I hope to do a double whammy next week with Episode 25 of OAtS and the first programme of the new podcast coming out back to back. I'm being typically secretive about the content, but what I can say is that Seth Harwood will be my first guest. Seth will be talking about Jack Wakes Up, A Long Way from Disney and his forthcoming podcast sequel to JWU: Jack Palms Two: This is Life.
So it should be pretty good if I can master all the new technology I'll be using to make it happen. Keep an eye on the blog for updates.

'Episode 24' and 'Second'

I've just recorded Episode 24. At the moment it's over an hour long, but that includes all the fluffed lines and pauses for sirens, planes and the Monday evening big-wheelie -bin-rubbish-takeout in the building courtyard. Once I edit it, it should whittle down to about the usual 30 minutes. This week we're going to the beach, so bring your bucket and spade.

Promo: Dwight Dunlop's 'Much To Do About Nothing'

In other news, are you familiar with 'Second' from Murcia, Spain? I came across Second while I was living in Spain last year. They're a great band and you can check them out on MySpace or at their homepage. And if you want to stay here and investigate before you go clicking off elsewhere, here are the videos for their classic tracks, 'Behind the Pose' and 'Segunda Vez':

Holliers Done (for now)
Hello mates, I've been off on my holidays to Spain. I just got back an hour or so ago. I went to Seville and Cadiz and all that. Very nice, I got a slight tan too, which isn't to be scoffed at after an anaemic Dublin winter. Will write more soon and get down to the hard work of episode 24 tomorrow.
Cheers. M

Episode 22: Girls' Talk
Episode 22, late but weighing in at a very healthy 35 minutes, delivered this evening (following two early frustrated upload attempts) after two hours crawling up the slimy pipe that is Irish Broadband. Three conversations in three places that reveal character and back story but more importantly - peel further layers off the onion that is 'One Among the Sleepless'.
I just realised as I was mentally back in the pubs that the episode draws upon as inspiration that the Two Brewers doesn't have the garish walls and jazz musos - that was a pub around the corner from where I used to live in Brighton. It had been a typical old-geezer pub (and fair enough, wasn't doing too well financially) but it became a red-walled, jazz musician gallery about seven years ago. I can't remember the name of it, but the description fits so many places in England now that it could be any one of a million pubs. I mention this only in case you're a Two Brewers regular and find yourself wondering why the walls aren't red.

Promo: How to Disappear Completely by Myke Bartlett

The plink, plink fizz of Alka Seltzer.
This morning I have a hangover and I'm deaf. Last night I went out with some friends and then went on to the Howling Bells gig on my lonesome. I had a good time, they're a great band so how could I not?

Yesterday on this blog - before and after the event - I was like a teenager, which was nice, but this morning I feel like a bag of spanners, I've got an episode to get out and the only bells howling are those of my hangover. Needless to say my enthusiastic blog postings of the last 24 hours have been deleted (as I predicted) and we're all very BBC again.
Here's a link to Howling Bells MySpace page. Have a listen. Below is the video for the new single. I have to go now and get on with my episode (I'm not at work this week - I took the week off)(Thank God).
Fade out to sound of low moan and the plink, plink fizz of Alka Seltzer.

Episode 22: Aaaargh! Two women of the same age from the same part of the same country and of the same class hell!
It happens all the time, every day, people of the same gender, age and class meet in pubs and have conversations. On the printed page it's all so obvious, but on a podcast, one man trying to be one woman is tough, but trying to get two women to talk together is hell. I considered giving one of them a headcold to make a difference, but that's just opening up a fresh can of editorial worms. Arse! Oh, it'll just have to do, I'm halfway through the edit and I want to rewrite things so a bomb goes off in the pub and kills the pair of them. The end.

In other news, Howling Bells are playing in Dublin tonight and I really want to go, but at the same time it's a cold day and it's a long walk and I've seen ten thousand gigs so why do I want to see another one? It's just interminable waits at the bar, a bad view of the stage and tinnitus for the next 24 hours. Yeah, but I still want to go. Ohhhhhhh, Arse!

The Big Podiobooks.com Digg
Boy! Today is turning out to be quite a busy day at the blogface. Following a very interesting article at Mac User by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen, the following digg frenzy has sprung up and it's the perfect opportunity for you to show your appreciation for the One Among the Sleepless podcast. Follow this link to The Big Podiobooks Digg at digg.com and sign up. Then say just how much you love One Among the Sleepless, me, Adam, Dusty, Gaz, Sally, Mick, Jimmy, Glen, everybody and everything. Go, man go!
Thanks in advance, and thanks too to Thomas for including One Among the Sleepless in his list of faves.

Scott Sigler's 'Ancestor'... Free!
And talking of Scott Sigler, as a prelude to the paperback release of his second novel, 'Ancestor' in paperback on April 1st, Scott is giving, yes giving, the text of the novel away for free as a PDF. You think I jest? Click here: ANCESTOR PDF and see for yourself. Why is he doing this? To whet your appetite of course, to give you a taste in PDF of what you'd much rather have in your hands. So come on people, click and download 'Ancestor' now, then if you like it, grab a copy of the novel in paperback from Amazon.com on April 1st.

Wired Pig Notices a Similarity

Blimey! My MySpace friend, Wired Pig, has noticed an uncomfortable similarity between me and Scott Sigler. W.P. has shared his observations with his blog audience, and you can read them here: Musings of a Wired Pig.
Now as far as I'm aware, I have no brothers, but then when you consider the whole scenario in J.C. Hutchins 7th Son Trilogy...?

Episode 22: Ladies' Night

Hello. It’s a public holiday here in Dublin for St Patrick’s weekend and I’m sitting here, surrounded by shop alarms that nobody’s going to be turning off for 24 hours, police sirens, and the sound of pouring rain: so if any of that should filter into the background on the final recording, file under ‘Act of God’: I have to do the recording today or I’ll be late – and we don’t want that do we?
So, Episode 22: another one that I’ve been dreading - this time because I’m faced with the terrible dilemma of having to do two women talking to each other. Why a terrible dilemma? Because I can only do one female voice – and that doesn’t sound particularly feminine at the best of times. Damn, if only I could take my nuts off and leave them in a jar of warm water for an hour or so - I’d be laughing. Hmmm, actually, I probably wouldn’t now that I come to imagine it.
There are two pubs mentioned in Episode 22, both of which are based not on real pubs in Brighton, but in Slough (The Moon and Stars – based on The Moon and Spoon) and Windsor (The Coach and Horses – based on The Two Brewers) respectively. So if you’re in Brighton, don’t go looking for them, because they aren’t there.
The Two Brewers is a pub which I used to frequent at the age that Lucy and Sally are talking about. I went back there about five years ago and it was as described in the episode – changed; all different. And that, as they say, is life.

Episode 21: Delays Expected

Due to heavy character dialogue and associated editing labours, delays on Episode 21 can be expected for approximately 24 hours. Which, in non-shipping forecast lingo means #21's been hard work and, though delayed, should go up on Wednesday by about 21.00 hours G.M.T.

La Cabina (1972) Dir: Antonio Mercero

I saw this when I was a kid and it freaked me out so much I've never forgotten it. It was called 'The telephone Box' in the U.K. and 'The Phone Box' in the U.S.A. I was thinking about it today and it occoured to me that maybe, just maybe, it was on YouTube. And what do you know...

MySpace Poetry Site

I forgot to announce the arrival of my new MySpace site, imaginitively titled 'Mike Bennett Poetry Space'. Here you can listen to four of my poems - read by me - or download them and listen to them whenever. Here's a link: Mike's Poetry Space

Episode 20: Return to The Pavilion Gardens

Episode 20 sees Mick and Sally once again in the Pavilion Gardens. The image here shows the Pavilion from the front, if I still lived in Brighton I'd pop down and take a few photos from the rear - which is where the gardens are located. If you have some pics of the gardens you'd like to submit, please do and I'll slap them up - and give you a credit naturally.

Featured Links
Mike Bennett Poetry Space
Banjo Strings by Larry Winfield
Ancestor by Scott Sigler

Episode 19: The Fox That Likes Jamiroquai.

Episode 19 should be up on time tomorrow. I say should, but you can't be too sure with all the bumpers and whatnots that have to be stuck on to the main recording. Anyway, the main recording is done, I finished it tonight. It's 40-odd minutes long, which is long for O.A.t.S, and when you add the bumpers and stuff it'll be 45 minutes. I actually considered splitting the chapter into two episodes, but I felt it would lose something - namely pace - if I did. So, barring sickness, death or Irish broadband going all weird on me, Episode 19 should be up tomorrow evening (UK / Ireland time).

Episode 18: First Complete Version Done.

The first, but no doubt not the last. There's a lot of mood, tension, fear and desire to get into this little package. Getting this right is going to take innumerable re-takes and endless editing. It might be late, so if it's not there on Tuesday, be patient. It's coming (no pun intended).

Episode 18: it's only a podcast episode.
So I should be sitting down and getting on with Episode 18, but instead I'm sitting here and checking sites and getting up and walking around and doing chores and going out and coming back and looking at the mic and playing the same Raveonettes song (Black Wave)over and over again like a mental patient and doing anything and everything but starting Episode 18. Why? I don't know.

Episode 18: I should just start it right now. Just stop writing this and get on with it. I should, but hey, it's nearly time for my wife to get in. Maybe I'll surprise her with a nice hot meal. Yes, I'll cook something really nice, really different: something that takes a long time to cook and involves a lot of time-consuming fuss. And then tomorrow, yes, I'll start #18 tomorrow. And just keep repeating, Episode 18: it's only a podcast episode, it's only a podcast episode, it's only a podcast episode...

Episode 17
Episode 17 goes live tonight, chock-full of geezer mysticism and really great pro-hash arguments for the UK legalise cannabis movement.
Hash prices were realistic at the time of the novel’s publication, although they probably seem laughably cheap by today’s high street standards – well, perhaps not ‘high street’, but almost. Not that I’d know of course: I’ve never touched the stuff myself, just like David Cameron, Brian Harvey and oodles of other pillars of the establishment.

Promo News
Here's some news from the exciting world of promos. Last night, Scott Sigler ran my promo on Episode 18 of The Rookie. Then I got an email from Larry Winfield, who told me that he'd run my promo on The Sundown Lounge, his podcast show from L.A.
So many thanks to both Scott and Larry.
My new promo, which alludes to the coming fate of Wayne, is available now by clicking this One Among the Sleepless Promo 2

Episode 16: Mr Benn
In one of those British TV references that sometimes happen in One Among the Sleepless, Lucy mentions the possibility of a visit from Mr Benn were he a reality. Mr Benn was the eponymous character of a 1970s BBC childrens' TV show. He used to go to a costume shop where, every week, he'd try on a different outfit. Once in the outfit, he'd pass through a door that led, not back to the shop, but to an adventure in keeping with the outfit he was wearing on that particular week.
It's probably the best children's show ever made (in my humble opinion).
Episode 16 also sees Mick and Sally on a lunch date, and Wayne go to far when it comes to making neighbourly housecalls. Damn, but he's horrible.

The Old Trout on MySpace

I used to work in a music venue in the Nineties called The Old Trout. It was by the River Thames in Windsor and used to be a very popular stop on what was called (and doubtless still is called) the U.K. 'toilet circuit'. Meaning small venues with basic facilities that bands on the way up all play in as part of their rites of passage to megadom. Among the bands that played there were Oasis, Blur, Supergrass, Suede and hundreds more.

After a lot of bother with the brewery that owned it, the Trout shut in 1995. About six or seven years ago, I built a fairly basic website that chronicled the history of the Old Trout from 1988 to its closure in 1995. The site always lacked a key ingredient, and that was a place where visitors (especially bands and former punters) could sign in, leave messages, updates on their lives etc. I forgot all about the site until recently, when (while adding phoney friends to my MySpace site like 'cheddar cheese' and 'Marmite')it occoured to me that MySpace could provide just that facility for the Old Trout. So I added a new MySpace for The Old Trout. You can check it out here: http://www.myspace.com/old_trout_windsor
My original Trout site can be viewed here: The Old Trout, Windsor

Episode 15: Men Behaving Badly

This week's episode features a whole load of men behaving badly. Firstly, one of Adam's old friends, Gordon, is extremely rude. Then Gaz and Glen are quite odious in the way they speak about Sally. Finally Wayne, well, he's always unpleasant and this week is no exception. If you find all this a bit distasteful, forgive me, but that's the way these guys are. If they went around being something that they aren't, then they wouldn't be true to themselves and so the story would lose its essential truth: namely - the authenticity of its characters. Love 'em or hate 'em, these charmers are authentic.

The conversation between the tramps took hours to record and edit together. Of course, it only takes about three minutes to listen to. I got a touch of laryngitis after all the shouting and throaty huffing, which you can hear in the intro and outro (is that a word?)

Promo this week is Scott Sigler's The Rookie.

I started another video account yesterday, this time with LiveVideo.com. They're very good. My stuff is on this channel:

Mike's LiveVideo Channel

So go there and watch them all over again. I'm going to be posting a new one soon, more details as and when I know them.

You may also want to check out 'Shatner Vision', where the great man himself waxes about, well, himself. This link takes you to 'The Legendary Rocket Man Performance'. Go Bill!

Shilpa to Win (yes, I watch it)

Hi, another week over at work and the weekend has arrived at last. Two more horrible housemates will be ejected from the Celebrity Big Brother House and I for one am hoping that Jo is one of them. I want Shilpa to win, followed by Dirk and Jermaine. The rest can go back to the obscurity they came from.
Oh, well. Time now to don a bunch of strange other heads and begin recording episode 15 of One Among the Sleepelss. New voices this week include a weird collection of tramps, each one will of course have to be distinct from his fellows. Damn! I'm running out of possible voices. Expect the strange on Tuesday.

Episode 14, featuring an exciting return to 'Meredith House'

Previously on, Meredith House.

Leanne Meredith, the lovely and genteel heroine of our story, thinks she has just closed a deal with Harper and Lewis Real Estate that finally makes her the legal owner of her family home, Meredith House. This beautiful old house, with lots of billowing white curtains and stuff, was lost in a card game (probably on a river boat or something like that - we're not given that much detail) a few generations ago. Now, upon entering the master bedroom of what she believes to be her home, she encounters the handsome and thoroughly no-good figure of Rick Galsworthy.
Rick laughs as he tells Leanne that it was his grandfather, Damian Galsworthy who won the house in that card game and that HE is the real owner of Meredith House; the whole sale was a sham! He owns Harper and Lewis Real Estate and engineered the whole thing just to break her heart. Why? Because she once spurned his love and broke his heart (she could never love an Aires).
Now as Leanne weeps, Rick starts grappling with his trousers. But as they fall down around his manly thighs, Leanne notices something frightening about the coiled python in Rick's underwear. Something... wrong.

Episode 13

In which Gaz reassures Ted that his dwindling stash won’t be dwindling for long, then fails to exercise due care and attention when making fiendish plans in the toilet.




Featured Promos:
'The Plitone Revisionist' by Paul S. Jenkins
'The Rev Up Review'
Featured Song:
'Bitch' by Blahfishend

Episode 13: Jimmy references R.White’s Lemonade ad.

In that ad (1973), a pyjama-clad man sneaks downstairs at night, singing in hushed tones...

I’m a secret lemonade drinker.
(R. White’s, R. White’s)
I’m-a-tryin’-a-give it up-a but it’s one of those nights.
(R. White’s, R. White’s)
R. White’s lemonade,
I’m a secret lemonade drinker.

Man goes to the fridge, takes out the lemonade and pours a glass ecstatically.
Man’s wife finds him. He smiles and announces: ‘R. White’s Lemonade’.

The ad is legendary and ran for years. The lemonade isn’t produced any more, but the ad still pops on programmes about ads as one of Britain’s all-time favourite TV commercials. I mention this because in episode 13, when Jimmy refers to the ‘not-so-secret lemonade drinker,’ many listeners will not know what the hell he’s talking about. Well, he is referencing this ad. So now you know.
Incidentally, the man in the ad creeping downstairs for a sly lemonade was, in real life, Elvis Costello’s dad. True.

You can actually watch the ad on YouTube, as some kind and wonderful person has gone to the bother of sharing it with the world. Bless you, sir.

Neighbourly Noise Dispute - Italian Style

Do you think my characters go too far in their pursuit of a good night's sleep? Well check this out.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1989451,00.html

Hey EFL Teachers!
Sign up with One Among the Sleepless, the free downloadable audio novel that you can use in class with your students as a great source of authentic spoken English. It's also the perfect entertainment solution for all you EFL teachers out in far-flung parts of the world with no English TV, radio or bookstores: a free contemporary fiction novel, read by the author, downloadable in weekly episodes.
Below is the text extract, 'Mick's Chopper'. There you have it: why it's almost a lesson plan in itself - the written text for you to cut and paste, and me, the author, reading the text in Episode 6. Go get it! And be sure and set some interesting questions. (And if you do, please email and let me know - I could use them myself).

Goal!

Goal! The third 'One Among the Sleepless' promo video is now live on YouTube:
Click here
It was shot over the Christmas break in Wexford. I managed to persuade my footballing chums to let me score a goal - a rarity at the best of times. The delight you see on my face is real; even though the goal was a set up I enjoyed scoring it.
If you'd like to see a better quality version, go to http://www.myspace.com/themikebennett
Watch the first promo, then click the 'More From User' tag on the video interface to see 'Goal' and 'Windfarm'.

Mick's Chopper: An Extract From Episode 6

Chapter 4

Mick bent down and began to move the small wheels of the number-coded lock that secured the rear wheel of his bicycle to its frame. The underground car park was manned throughout the working day by an attendant, Charlie, but the lock provided Mick with an extra sense of security.
The numbers clicked into place and the lock came apart in his hands. Mick wrapped the chain around the bike-frame beneath the saddle. Of course; if someone were determined to steal the bike, then no chain, nor any number of chains, would make much difference. But then, unlike so many mountain bikes, if someone were to steal Mick’s bike, they’d have a job concealing it beneath anything so transparent as a new coat of paint. For no one else in this town - nor anywhere else he’d seen for miles around - rode a Raleigh Chopper.
The Harley Davidson of the bicycle world, the Chopper was Mick’s single greatest joy in life. Throughout his childhood, he’d pestered his parents to buy him one, but they were pragmatic people. They saw no practical advantages to the strange, hulking contraption that for some curious reason was so adored by their - and indeed most of the nation’s - sons in the 1970s. They felt the racer they’d invested in for young Michael was a splendid machine, and saw no point in buying him another bike. Mick shook his head; how could they have understood the allure of the Chopper? How could they have known that to the young Mick, it was the embodiment of sex, power and freedom.
How he had sullenly sat perched upon his fine, skeletal racer, watching while Chopper owning boys like Malcolm Barnes seduced girls with the prospect of ‘backies’ on those big, padded seats. He recalled now the plastic, beak-like saddle of his racer: how it had felt like the head of an axe between his arse cheeks. No girl would ever want to ride with him on a racer – it wasn’t designed for two.
For one thing, his racer would have been unmanoeuvrable with two people on it, and for another, just supposing he had managed to convince some girl to risk her childbearing future and get on his saddle – where then would he have sat? He couldn’t have done – his skinny arse would just have gone up and down in her face as he pedalled away, and she would’ve had nothing to hang onto – except his skinny arse, and she wasn’t going to do that - not at the tender age of twelve.
How he’d envied boys like Malcolm Barnes, riding around the streets with his black leather gloved hands. One hand on the handle bars, the other dangling casually at his side. His expression said it all: ‘Check me out – I can steer one-handed.’ And he did just that; he used to steer that Chopper leisurely past pubescent young girls who were drawn, moth-like to the colourful iron horse between his legs. They took it in turns to sit on the saddle; their feet dangling on either side of it and their hands on or around his waist as Malcolm took them up and down the street. And then Vicky Rhodes, the hottest girl in the second year, had started going out with Malcolm – not for his looks, but for his Chopper.
Oh, the cruelty. Oh the agonies of burgeoning sexual frustration. He recalled Malcolm, jumping over ramps constructed of planks with one end propped-up on a couple of bricks. How he used to fly for whole inches through the air before the weight of the Chopper brought him back down onto the tarmac. But the distance travelled was irrelevant. It was the spectacle. ‘Put another brick under it,’ cried Malcolm. ‘Prop it up even higher.’ How the girls would gasp. This was Brighton’s very own Evel Kenievel; a daredevil for whom brick quantity was merely an adrenaline barometer.
How Mick had waited, had scrimped and saved the money from his paper round until, at the age of fourteen, he had enough money to buy… a decent cheap stereo; for the times had changed, and now music mattered far more than bicycles. At seventeen, the young worker, he bought a moped. But that had ended in a minor road accident and Mick had gone back to biking it. He’d bought a mountain bike. In some ways, it had reminded him of a Chopper; it had a chunky frame in places; solid wheels, fattish tyres. It was like dating a girl who reminded you of the one you had loved, and lost. Sad really, but then one day, the sadness ended. It was on a drab, commonplace Saturday in May three years ago. He’d been thumbing through old 7” singles in a second hand store when he’d noticed a big red reflector, glowing like the eye of Hal in 2001 – A Space Odyssey, from the shadows at the back of the shop. The singles were suddenly forgotten beneath his fingers as he realised what he was looking at.
Slowly, almost nervously, he’d moved towards it; the classical shape revealing itself to him with every tentative step he’d taken. It was a mauve one, the logo in orange along the crossbar, one word, ‘Chopper’. He reached out and touched the black plastic grips on the handlebars and felt the past wash over him. He’d had innumerable goes on Malcolm’s Chopper, and he knew the touch achingly well. His eyes drank in the details of the bike with the slow appreciation of one who has loved from afar, finally beholding the naked and yielding contours of the adored. The gear shift replete with red grip, the big, chunky tyres with their fine red trim, the kick stand, and of course, the big soft seat with its short, vertical backrest, the silver frame of which continued skyward for another foot or so with no apparent purpose other than simply, looking cool.
He had searched for a price tag and found one dangling from the suspension springs beneath the seat: fifty quid. Bargain. He’d hurried to the shopkeeper and placed a £20 deposit down before rushing off to the nearest cash machine and drawing out the rest of the money. That afternoon, he’d ridden home with one hand on the handlebars and the other dangling casually at his side. ‘Check me out’, he’d thought, smiling like an idiot, ‘I can steer one-handed too’.
‘Check us out,’ Mick whispered now in the gloom of the car park. He ran his hand affectionately over the saddle, giving it a little pat before kicking up the stand. Now in the gloom of the car park, Mick ran his hand affectionately over the saddle, ‘Check us out.’
He mounted the bike and pushed off, heading towards the glow of daylight at the car park’s street entrance. He pedalled lazily past Charlie, exchanging a wave before riding out into the afternoon sun. He reached down between his thighs and shifted up into second gear before turning the Chopper out into traffic.
He had long grown accustomed to the staring of passers-by. Some sniggered, but most, he knew, looked with envy and admiration at his magnificent bicycle. As he had done in childhood, they now pined for the opportunity to cruise the streets on two of the grooviest wheels ever made.

Episode 11, puffing and panting.

Like a person who arrives late for an important date, puffing and panting and flushed in the face, episode 11 drops into Libsyn courtesy of my workplace LAN connection. Damn those fiends at Irish Broadband - I spent €8.00 last night speaking to a guy who kept insisting there was no problem and that I must have Christmas lights interfering with my signal. I told him we had no Christmas lights, so he tried to blame our neighbours - they must have some sinister electrical generator running or something. He admitted they'd been having some problems, but swore that they were all fixed now - this despite the fact that nothing was working properly and all I could upload was... well, nothing.
Anyway, thanks to my kindly guvnors, I'm back in business. Sorry about the delay.
Episode 11 features Mick Nixon, who begins to wonder about stuff (can't go into detail here for obvious reasons). It also features Lesley - and my Scottish accent. She wasn't written as a Scot, but the need for variety in character voice prodded me to look for something different in the voice department (expect more from around the British Isles in the coming weeks). Consequently the character's speech changed from the original book text. But that tends to happen with characters when they move from page to podcast. For me, it's all part of the fun, and it helps to keep the characters distinct in the mind of the listener.
Spot Brighton
Episode 11 also features Mick's first trip to the Pavilion Gardens. The Pavillion is a must for anyone visiting Brighton. It's beautiful and strange in equal measure - strange only because it looks like it's in the wrong country. But then again, strange too perhaps because it came from the mind of George IV, son of the famously mad King George III. I've never been inside, but there are tours available (of the Pavilion that is, not the mind of George IV - though maybe they could be seen as one and the same... ish?)

Possible Delay on Episode 11
Hi. I had no internet connection over the new year peiod and this morning it was still going nowhere. Apparently Irish Broadband are experiencing technical difficulties that they are currently trying to sort out. I'm hoping that they'll do so before this evening so that I can get Episode up and live. However, this may not come to pass in quite the way I want it to, so if you don't get the epsiode tonight, file under 'Act of God'. Rest assured, I'll deliver as soon as is possible. M

Number One on Podiobooks (today)

Just a quick one. I noticed that I'm number one on podiobooks.com's 'Most Subscribed To Books of The Last 30 Days' chart. This is only because 'One Among the Sleepless' was added in the last month and such a surge of interest is natural under the circumstances, but still, it's nice while it lasts.
If you aren't a member of Podiobooks yet, why not join? (It's free and easy). Then you can go to my page and give me some stars: obviously 5 for everything would be nice. You can even write a review of the book and start a discusion of it, the reading, the whole thing. It's your big chance to break into literary criticism - and a great opportunity to give me a late Christmas present of 5 stars all the way. So much nicer than socks.

Windfarm
Phew! I've had a hard day's editing and swearing at different video editing software programs. My second 'One Among the Sleepless' video promo is now online at YouTube:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-TTQATGj1Rc
My nephews-in-law (though both are grown men and could doubtless thrash me in an arm-wrestling match) and I shot this against all odds - high winds and no thermal undies - on Dec 26th while you were all eating cold turkey sandwiches and watching 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'.
Now remember folks, this is a promotional video, so if you like it (or the podcast) do me a favour and send the link to your friends and anyone else you think may enjoy it. If I can pick up just one new listener as a result of this promo, then all that standing about half naked in a stiff northerly wind was worth it.

Episode 10: It’s Erotica, Jim: But Not As We Know It.
Already live on Podiobooks.com and due to click into life on Libsyn at 6.00 pm Tuesday December 26th 2006 (GMT), Episode 10 kicks off part two of One Among the Sleepless.
Obviously I can’t go into story content here due to the fact that some of the blog readers haven’t heard episode 10 yet, but I can say that it’s the first episode with a ‘sexually explicit’ warning slapped on it.
What does this mean? Well, I personally don’t think it’s going to set pulses racing: the presence of Wayne completely puts the kibosh on that. But one has to warn people all the same; there’s the real possibility that some people may be offended. There’s also the more likely possibility that they may be listening in public, and that may cause certain… responses. Clothes are shed and various bits of the human anatomy are mentioned in a somewhat perky condition. I don’t think anyone is going to find themselves in a perky state as they listen to it, but you never know. Obviously if you’re listening at home, this shouldn’t prove too problematic either way. However, if you’re intending to listen to this on the train or on the bus commuting to or from work, be warned. I don’t, as I say, think that gentlemen will need to discreetly place their bowler hats on their laps, but you may feel a certain reddening of the cheeks. After all, it’s not every day that you find yourself on the 7.30 train to Paddington listening to a bizarre sexual entanglement. Or is it?
As the waiter says with a sly wink as he plonks a plate of oysters in front of you… ‘Enjoy.’

And by the way, the Christmas pudding was delicious.

Christmas Day 11.00 am

'It's Christmas!' as Noddy Holder screams from the radio so often at this time of year. I'm sitting at my brother in law's computer in Wexford while my wife struggles downstairs with a home-made Christmas pudding she started work on about seven weeks ago. Neither she nor I have ever had a home-made Christmas pudding. In fact I don't think any of the people coming here later today have. Have you? I don't even particularly like Christmas pudding; it's too rich, so sweet it's almost bitter. I usually drown the thing in about a gallon of custard or cream or whatever neutralizing liquid happens to be lying around on the table. Still, my wife's a good cook and she's followed Delia Smith's recipe, so I'm optimistic that it'll be nice.

My brother in law is also a good cook. He loves cooking, and he loves sixties-type garage punk too. He's downstairs right now listening to the Garagepunk.com Christmas Podcast and fisting a dead bird. What better way to start the day?

As for me, I've phoned my parents over in England (they're very well and having a jolly time). And now I'm sitting here writing this and wondering what to expect later. I think about five more people are coming: my brother in law's parents, my other sister in law and her daughter, and another brother in law. Add to that my father in law and you have quite a table full. I don't know what time the drinking is going to start, but I imagine that by the time the Christmas pudding hits the table, we should all be in a fit state to enjoy it - whatever it tastes like.

OK, I'm going downstairs now to loiter around the drinks cabinet looking both innocent and thirsty at the same time. Merry Christmas

Oh Brilliant! So I noticed that gaffe on ep 9 last night at about 2 am, I was consequently up till 4 am fixing it and uploading the fixed version. I didn't have time to listen to the complete thing, just the bit that had the mistake. Now, the mistake was, in my opinion, significant to the story. It was important that it be fixed and it is fixed. Good.
So we left Dublin this afternoon to come and spend Crimbo down here in Wexford in the south of Ireland with various branches of my wife's family tree. I'm on the bus and I decide to listen to the 'fixed' version of ep 9 that I uploaded at 4am this morning. What do I hear about two-thirds of the way through? A mistake! OK, this is only a typo, a flubbed line, but for Christ's sake! What I've done - I realize - is fix an early mix with the flubbed line that, ironically, is repaired in the first version of ep 9 that made it online.
Now what this means is that, since I can't get back to Dublin for a week or so, I can't fix it. So you have a choice of the episode 9 that was there - the one with a genuine error in it; or the one that's now - the one with a flubbed line. Of course, if you're a real enthusiast, you could have both and just rename them so they sit differently. But if I were you, I'd go with the one that's there now. My wife thinks I'm mental because I actually give a s***. She says I should just forget it. I think she's right, the problem is... I am mental.
(Sigh), oh forget it. I'm just sharing my madness with you... and I don't want anyone emailing me and saying 'Oh, Mike, actually you've flubbed a line...'

(Update January 20th 2007: all errors and flubbed lines etc are now fixed and #9 is as it should be)

Episode 9 - Editorial Slip

Hi there, Mike here. I noticed last night an editorial error in Episode 9. I've fixed it and it's now as it should be. It's a line of dialogue, but I feel it's an important one. If you downloaded Episode 9 before Saturday morning (4.30 am GMT), you may want to delete your existing '9' and download it again - especially if your podcatcher got it automatically and you haven't listened to it yet. If you have listened to it, no worries, but I'd still delete and download again, just so as your collection is as it should be.
Sorry for any inconvenience caused. Have a good Christmas.
Mike

(Update January 20th 2007: all errors and flubbed lines etc are now fixed and #9 is as it should be)

Episode 9

Episode 9 is a turning point for the central characters and is the episode that the story has been building up to. It marks the end of Part One of the novel and sets up the events of Part Two. At the end of the episode there's a promo for Jack Wakes Up by Seth Harwood.

Since creating the promo video mentioned in the previous blog, I've discovered that MySpace has a video showing facility for your homepage that allows WMV files, so I've uploaded it there too. I've also uploaded some pictures of me to my MySpace page, which it displays in a groovy slide show, again on the MySpace page. So if you'd like to see those, or even if you'd like to be a MySpace friend of mine, click here.

I start recording episode 10 today; it'll go up on Dec 26th. Fortunately I can preset that release time so I don't have to hang around here in the flat while all my chums are off stuffing themselves with Christmas leftovers or down the pub swilling back the pints. I know that a lot of you will be doing that too, and not in the slightest bit interested in One Among The Sleepless. But for those of you who really are what Scott Sigler calls 'Junkies', episode 10 will be released on schedule.
Until then, have a Merry Christmas. Cheers for now.

One Among The Sleepless: Promo Video 1

So I decided to throw my anonymity out with my dignity and freak out in a pair of jim-jams on YouTube.
I got the camera - and the jim-jams - at the weekend.
Then I freaked out and my wife filmed it all. The result is at the end of this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pepBMmd6wM

If you like it , do me a favour and share it with someone by copying this link into an email and spamming everyone you know.
The pyjamas cost €10.00 at Penny's (Primark), so if you're really taken with them, you know where to go to get a pair.
I had a mad job getting the editing done, the stupid software that came with the camera (Ulead video studio 8) didn't recognise the video it had just spent all day editing. After five hours of f******* about with that and 'Movica' (free download), I looked kind of like I do in the photo. Today I downloaded Windows Movie Maker and finally got a result. OK, so it's not smooth as silk, but it works. Stupid Ulead! Grrrrrr!

Episode 8: Half Bricks, Hancock and Vincent Price.
I've noticed that my blogs come up when I do random searches on the book title. Consequently I've been wondering about what phrases I might include in the text of the blog to draw in completely random web searchers. So if you see the odd completely unrelated
'hot pics of Britney Spears'
statement in this week's blog, don't be alarmed.
This week's episode features a trip to a recreation ground and some speculation about half bricks (see? Sentences like that like that last one don't bring anyone in. Who wants to read about 'half-bricks'?)
'Naked half-bricks - hot photos'.
For a while back in the mid-late nineties, I worked a string of jobs for agencies that specialised in supplying gardeners, refuse collectors and street-sweepers. I worked contracts in Slough, Brighton and Haywards Heath.
The half-brick thing was totally true in the Slough area: half-bricks everywhere all over recreation grounds and council estates. 'Why?' Good question. I could never figure that one out.
'Free anti-virus protection'
I remember I used to work with a gardening crew maintaining various cemeteries around Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath. I'm one of the gardeners that Dusty sees when he gets up in the morning as they start their machines and start mowing and stuff. I enjoyed that job: I got to listen to about a million audio books while I was working.

'Increase the size of your penis by inches overnight'.

Lots of old BBC tapes too: Hancock's Half Hour especially. I bought a load of Hancock's HH cassettes. The Poetry Society has to be my favourite, that and The Sleepless Night. Another BBC cassette I practically wore out was an audio drama with Vincent Price called The Price of Fear. Fantastic.
'Mike Bennett - hot naked pics xxxxxx'

Couple of technical gaffes this week with sound levels. Everything sounds fine till you upload it and then listen to it on an iPod, then you can hear the great surges and dips of volume every ten seconds. I had to re-edit it after uploading and then re-post again. If you got one of the first thirty or so downloads from libsyn, congratulations - you've got a collector's edition with genuine sound surges. Be happy, not sad, someday it might be worth something. Er...

'Naked cows - hot pics - Manchester United'.

Episode 7: Not Quite Gone With The Wind

This one took a long time. The ‘Meredith House’ story was written using a different font when the novel was published; this gave it a ‘not of this text’ look. But how was I going to do that with the podcast?

I felt that the most important thing was to find a different piece of music to intro-outro the text. In this episode, we start with Meredith House, but in later episodes (there will be another two visits to Leanne’s world) we’ll possibly arrive mid-episode and so a whole new segue would be needed. Something romantic beyond the stuff my mates have thus far contributed; something full of desire and mystery. Now where would I find that? I thought about trying to sweet-talk a busker on Grafton Street in Dublin - you see the occasional harp-player or violinist plucking their catgut. But it was all too vague, too conditional. Instead, I went to the Podsafe Music Network at Podshow.net. I searched under ‘romantic’ and I got Jim Richmond’s piece first time. I immediately knew I had what I was looking for. But surely there must be a fee for this usage? I checked with Podshow, and no. Just acknowledge the artist and the site. Artists like Jim want to share their work with the world; and podcasters – who have the same motivations – are able to help them achieve that. It’s symbiotic, innit? As Glen might say.

Thanks again to Jim and to Podshow. And to any podcasters who find themselves in a similar dilemma – you now know where to go.

Also, I’ve put a ‘guestbook’ on my homepage http://www.oneamongthesleepless.com . So you can go there, leave a comment about the podcast, and leave. You don’t need to sign up to Blogger or anything, just leave a message. So what are you waiting for? Go now.

Files Re-named
I had to rename my files on the Libsyn site following my gaffe of earlier on today. I've spent the last few hours re-loading the lost files, then, since I was using a proper FTP and not Propaganda (which names your files by the date you upload - that's right, it wasn't me that came up with that dumb naming system) I uploaded the files with a proper naming system 'Sleepless-01' etc. Of course, I now had a mixture of sensibly-named and Propaganda-dated files. So to prevent further confusion, I renamed the lot. I now have no stats on PodcastPickle. Arse! It also means that when you get the next episode, it'll be named 'Sleepless-07', which might confuse your iPod or whatever. Sorry about that. But it's all for the best, I needed to get that sorted out anyway. So, from now on, we have an agreed name format. So, you can relax. I mean, I can relax. For all I know, you aren't even reading this. Are you?
In other news, I can't believe David Gest got the heave-ho from 'I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!' I really thought he had that in the bag. Tonight's show is just starting, so I'm off to watch the final.

Disaster Strikes The Tired Driver

OK, well here's a blog entry! Today, while half asleep, I managed to access my Libsyn site via an FTP that I rarely use because my usual FTP device was being weird. However, I was trying to get into my website (oneamongthesleepless.com), not my Libsyn site. Now if this is all sounding boring and nonsensical, let me rewrite this in English...

I accidentally went into the place where I store my podcasts online.

Then, when I got there, I thought (I stress again that i was half asleep) 'what's all this stuff?' and don't ask my why, but I then thought, (add Homer Simpson voice) 'Stupid crap, what's this doing in my homepage?'. I then proceeded to delete about two thirds of it before I noticed exactly where I was. Then, Homer-like, I shrieked aloud. Too late. It was all deleted. So if you tried to download episodes 2, 4, 5, or 6 today, you may have had some problems. Sorry about that. I was really pissed off to see that all my podcast pickle stats are nuked: my libsyn stats are nuked, and my files now have different names. Terrific. I'll try and mend what I can, but it'll never be quite the same as it was before.

The moral of this story is, don't drive - or mess with FTPs and website files when you're half asleep. Doh!