Latitude report

Last night I read at Latitude. Seeing Hanif Kureshi and A.L. Kennedy reading earlier (actually, A.L. Kennedy did a stand-up routine about her uselessness at taking drugs and drinking in order to have more fun because her Dundee-bred calvinism won't allow it, it was very funny) was slightly intimidating. Just before I went on stage, it started raining, so the tent was packed. I was told this afterwards, but I didn't have a clue how many people were in because I couldn't see a thing. It was like looking out into great swathe of black, light-consuming velvet, which suited me just fine. The only evidence I had during the reading was when I mentioned that I had once interviewed Busta Rhymes when I wrote for Melody Maker (or was it Ministry magazine, I can't remember…) and someone whooped and shouted, 'He's cool!' I think I reacted like Woody Allen having an anxiety attack. I Was certainly glad I actually rehearsed before I did the reading, because if I'd have winged it, it would have been a disaster.

The evening was also notable for meeting Hannah, the Jonathan Cape press officer, for the first time. She was very nice, and told me that she won't be at Edinburgh when I am reading (August 15th) because she's going up earlier with Chuck Palahniuk. I managed to extract a promise a signed copy of his latest novel, which I will hold her to.

Other interesting tidbits: We bumped into Neil Innes at the Performers registration cabin. Kaoru (my wife) translated some lyrics for a Japanese issue of an album of his a couple of years ago, so we've met him once or twice before. He passed us today, too, when I was on my knees trying to fix the wheel of our daughter's pushchair which had fallen off due to difficult terrain. He chatted with Kaoru but I didn't notice. I was swearing and getting greasy and harassed.

We saw just one band, Brighton's The Go! Team, who were great. We discovered that their new (-ish) guitarist is Kaori Tsuchida, who used to be one half of a very favourite band of ours called Yumi Yumi.

Not much writing has been done these past few days. This dizzying brush with glamour is over now, so normal service will be resumed shortly.