JOEL'S NOTEBOOK
August 7, 2011
“At Time Goes By”
We'll, I've set a personal record for procrastination on this notebook update. It's been over 3 years since I've made an entry here, but it only feels like yesterday. Which I think only proves that time is not true reality, but merely a concept that we humans have created in order to make us feel guilty for not updating website notebooks.
PEACE,
June 10, 2008
“Good Times, Good Times!”
I despise that saying, “Good Times”. I was waiting in line to order some breakfast on the weekend and the guy standing in front of me looks over his shoulder and makes that uncomfortable eye contact that goes on longer than necessary. I didn’t have anything to say to him, so he breaks the silence and says, “Good times ah, good times”. Well it was until you said that dickhead!
It has been enjoyable to do the local venues around Sydney over the past few weeks. I love doing the theatres, but it’s good for you to get back into the clubs and punch it out with drunks and hecklers. Keeps you on your toes. I’ve got a run of theatre gig’s coming up at the end of the month in Brisbane. I’m doing one night called “The Young Guns of Comedy” (don’t mention the ridiculous poster. Yes that is me, not Charlie Sheen!). The other four nights I’m doing with my mate Akmal. You can grab the details on the tour page.
Oh, and another saying that needs to be stabbed, put in the boot of a car and buried out in the boondocks is, “It was going to happen anyway”. That would have to be one of the lamest excuses I’ve ever heard. “Your honor, he was going to die eventually”….. “Well, when you put it like that, (Clunk) case dismissed”.
PEACE,
May 6, 2008
Sushi "Bullet" Train
Cue the brass band………… this is my first entry for 2000and8. I’ve taken ‘slack’ to a whole new level. It’s not that I haven’t had anything to write about, it’s just……well……. refer to the previous sentence. So what has happened throughout the year thus far? There was the run of gig’s at the Sydney Opera House at the beginning of the year, local gig’s around Sydney, the Adelaide Fringe Festival, the Melbourne Comedy Festival , the Sydney Cracker Festival…….. No wonder I haven’t had a chance to update this notebook.
During the Cracker Festival Arj Barker and I filmed the show at the Enmore Theatre for the new DVD. Arj and I shot hours of on the road footage while on tour last year, which should make for some interesting extras on the DVD. If you haven’t seen the Akmal DVD yet, check out the extras where Akmal and I muck around together on stage at the end of the show.
I’m thinking of becoming a restaurateur. I want to open up a fast food Japanese restaurant called The Sushi Bullet Train, “Here it comes, here it comes, wait, wait, go…. Dam it, Wasabi again!”
I’ll make an effort to write again before the years out.
PEACE,
September 7, 2007
Take the Jump!
It has been great to hit the road for the past couple of weeks with my good buddy Arj Barker. We‚ve been exploring the coast of Queensland from the Gold Coast, up to Cairns. We‚ve had to endure the past couple of days off in Cairns. We‚ve been forced to stay at the Shangri-La Hotel on the marina, play table tennis, kick back poolside with a good book, and this morning we had to take a flight over Cairns then jump out of the plane at 14,000 feet. I tell you, the things that must be endured for ones art.
Thanks to all the people who have sent such positive emails after coming to the show.
PEACE,
August 10, 2007
I’m Back
Ok, I know it’s been nearly 5 months since I’ve updated this notebook. If I was to say I’ve been to busy it would be a lame excuse. Lame as it may sound, I’m still going to use it, yes I’ve been busy. Since the last time I wrote here I’ve done the Melbourne Comedy Festival which was great. The shows with Akmal were incredible and my ‘One Night Stand Up’ show was a lot of fun. Last month I went back to the States and performed at the Sahara Casino in Las Vegas. That town is still as crazy as ever. I was so pleased to catch up with my great comedian mate Steve Byrne in L.A. who was preparing for his next Comedy Central special. After the States I got up to Canada. That Country is wonderful, as are the people. The rest of the year looks to be mammoth. Well, here we go………..
PEACE,
March 15, 2007
Adeladilaide
We did the final show of the Adelaide Festival run last night. They were great crowds in Adelaide with every show selling out, and great reviews. That's too much use of the word great. I apologize if my vocabulary is some what limited. I'm running on minimal sleep at the moment. I got up at 6am in Adelaide this morning and hoped a flight back to Sydney. I then drove straight to the Enmore Theatre for an 11am gig. Who goes to an 11am gig?..............senior citizens, that's who. I then did a gig at the Parramatta Riverside Theatre tonight. It looks like we'll be returning to Adelaide for some extra shows at the end of the month. I've got to get some sleep now before I pass out. What?
PEACE,
March 3, 2007
What's Up?
I had a fun season at the Opera House last month with Akmal and Arj Barker. It was a real pleasure to perform in such a nice venue with my good mates. I’ve got a big couple of months coming up with the festivals. There’s Adelaide this month then Melbourne next month, and if last year's festivals are anything to go by then this year's will be great fun. I’m doing my solo show ‘One Night Stand Up’ at the Melbourne Town Hall on Monday April 23rd, which I’m preparing some new tasty treats for at the moment. I’ve finally updated the tour page for the next couple of months, so now my loyal stalkers can keep track of my every movement.
PEACE,
January 21, 2007
It's Been A While...
It's been some time since I wrote in this thing, or done any updates for this site, but today’s the day. I was thinking about down the line when I buy a home, then I’m struck with the realisation, I can’t even update my homepage, how the hell will I maintain an actual home. I guess I’ll ride the busy excuse on this one. We did have Christmas and the New Year, then I had a week at the Comedy Store, then all last week I was doing Nova radio with my good mate Akmal.
If you take a look around you’ll notice I’ve updated numerous areas of the homepage including the tour section, the photo section and we’ve done some extensions and added the scrapbook section. The scrapbook section is somewhere to put…..well, scraps. I’ve started it off with a few old photos I found and a magazine article. I’ll keep adding little bits and pieces as time goes on.
Thank you to the kind folk who wrote in telling me to get off my arse and update this homepage for you. Hope you enjoy the new stuff.
PEACE,
November 21, 2006
So Much To Say
It's been quite a while since I've written here. Sorry to all the people (well actually, "the person") who emailed me to get off my slack ass and keep you updated. It's been a great couple months on the road with my good friend Arj Barker. We lived up to the real rock 'n' roll comedy lifestyle with bushwalks through Mt. Nebo in Queensland, paper airplane flights off the Poppet Head Lookout Tower in Bendigo, and hanging out with Koalas on Tower Hill in Warrnambool. We finished off the tour last week in Perth just in time for the Red Bull Air Race World Series over the Swan River, which was actually 3 hours of waiting for the F-18 jets to come over and make some noise. Listening to Dave Matthews acoustic songs as I write this, gotta learn some of those tunes.
Gotta get up in 4 hours and catch a flight, so I'd better cut this short and get some sleep. I'll update again real soon, promise.
PEACE,
September 14, 2006
Busy Times
I had a fun time at the Enmore Theatre last Friday with my mate Akmal. We filmed the live DVD which should be coming out before the end of the year. It's been a really busy few months with plenty of touring and taping the TV pilot. I've been really slack with keeping this notebook updated, but I'll make more of an effort in future to keep you updated. So rest assured you'll get even more of these mundane details down the line.
I'm going to "HIT THE ROAD" next month with my mate Arj Barker, so keep an eye on the tour page.
Peace,
July 17, 2006
Up Late
It's way past my bedtime, but I can't seem to stop watching videos on youtube.com. I tell myself, "Ok, just a few more videos and I'll go to bed", then suddenly an hour has passed. I think sleep is more important than watching a guy catch a snake between his teeth.
So whats been going on? I did the Fringe Bar in Sydney tonight which was a fun gig. Last week I was on the road down the South coast of NSW with the Scared Weird Little Guys. I had a great time hanging out with John and Rusty. It was my 5th time back at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre on Saturday night, and the crowd was great as always. August looks like it'll be a big month of travelling. I'm looking forward to working new material over that time.
Peace,
June 22, 2006
Back In Melbourne
I'm down in Melbourne at the moment on tour with my good friend Akmal. We're doing a theatre tour down here which has been a blast so far with the shows selling out. The audiences have been great. I had a fun time last week at the Comedy Store in Sydney. It's one of my favourite rooms to play in Australia. Gotta run!
Peace,
June 4, 2006
On The Road
Hi There,
Got back from the weekend road trip at about 2.00am this morning. We hit the road on Friday morning at 6.00am and drove 6 hours out to the small country town of Trundle for a funeral, then drove another 2.5 hours straight to Dubbo RSL for the show that night. It's interesting when you’re feeling fatigued from minimal sleep and continual travel, once you hit the stage you leave all that behind. On Saturday we stocked up on CD's at the local record store so we could have a soundtrack of Bob Dylan, Harry Connick Jr. and Fats Domino to accompany us upon our travels. We had a lot of fun with the audiences in both Dubbo and Bathurst, especially in the Q&A portion of the show where everyone got really involved.
I just got back from my radio interview with the boys from Dolphin Juice on Triple-M. Check out the AudioVisual section later in the week for the interview.
Peace,
May 23, 2006
Welcome
Welcome to my new website...finally! Special thanks to Grant for all the work he put into getting this thing up and running. It's the first time I've done one of these online notebooks...or as it's commonly called...a "blog". Although, I'm not big on the word "blog", as it sounds to me like something old people do in their pants. So for now we'll just call it "Joel's Notebook".
This has been such a busy year so far with all the festivals I've been doing with my good mate, Akmal Saleh. We sold out all our shows at the Melbourne Comedy Festival, with a bunch more added which was a real treat. It was also a great opportunity to catch up with my friends from overseas, like The Amazing Jonathan and Arj Barker. The year ahead looks like I'll be spending a lot of time ON THE ROAD...which means I should have plenty of updates for this notebook.
So keep checking back and we'll see where it goes. Bye for now.