Madonna Live Clips .... Saturday night!

Borderline
Like a Prayer

The Long Long Weekend

I have been busy!
Friday afternoon we all trotted along to Sing Along Mamma Mia. While I didn't enjoy it as much as first time, its still well worth a trip. Sadly, its not actually karaoke embedded in the print with helpful sing along bouncy ball on the words, as much as as a PowerPoint presentation of the lyrics, projected onto the bottom of the film from a separate projector. And of course, I was lost with the lyrics and needed the words .... stop looking at me like that.
Saturday was then Madonna day .. hang on .. let me go back a bit first .... You may recall I could only afford the one ticket and was going to be sat up in the rafters, yeah? Well, Friday I got a text from a friend who has contacts with Live Nation and he has 90 free tickets to give away..... yes, 90. So of course, I got hold of anyone I thought was in town and for the price of a bottle of booze, managed to get tickets for Dan, Nick, Mark, Matthew, Maria, Dannii and Gabs ... and gave my old ticket to Cath as I was now going down on the pitch.
The concert was BRILLIANT! Much more entertainment and much less political or religious codswallop. Still a bit confused by the Armenian Gypsies doing a song halfway through and not sure including skipping in your act is wise, but good fun nonetheless. Of course, I cried when she appeared through a splitting video wall (there was lots of good video wall usage ... particularly the video wall tube that descended onto the stage and she performed inside it, laying on a revolving piano while the tube displayed water splashing), cried through the entire song You Must Love Me and again just before the end through emotional trauma. I actually managed to record You Must Love Me as an audio file on my phone, for prosperity. Her re-works of Into The Groove and Vogue were stunning. The set comprised of most of Hard Candy, plus a token song from every album she has recorded in full (IE nought from the likes of Who's That Girl, which only had 4 tracks from her and Something to Remember which was a collection of album tracks, things she has contributed to soundtracks with just a few new songs). The main exception was Erotica, as although Rain's intro was played, that was all.
If she has yet to visit your neck of the woods, grab a ticket .. you wont be disappointed.
Sunday was my long prepared for Quiz Night for my Doctor Who Forum chums. All went v well ... pics are floating around facebook and that, if you want a gander. It was an audio based quiz, with rounds where you had to identify reversed songs, lots of TV themes, lyric based questions .... you know the kind of thing ... and a very poor Doctor Who round, just for fun. I called it the Game of Rassilon, which any fan worth their salt knows means to win is to lose and he who wins shall lose .... none of them cottoned on until it was too late though ... so the losing team won the Doctor Who figures and the winners just got champagne.
We then had a trip down the bay on Monday, where I finally got meet the utterly fabberlus Ali Bongo. We had a drift around the Up Close exhibition to check out the series 4 additions. Captain Jacks coat, a space suit with a skull in it (which is a very bad idea as its very low light in there and next to impossible to count your shadows), a crippled Sontaran - really! Its legs look fucked! I think the forgot to fill the costume with foam or something and its stuck on a pole. And a Hath, on a podium, with three angled mirrors, meaning it looks like its standing on a music box. I was waiting for it to revolve gurgling Truly Scrumptious.
So that's me for you. How are you?

They Are Remaking What?

I ask you, is nothing sacred?

Sure, the stage show re-invents itself continually, and quite right too, but no good can come of this, I promise you!

Hallowed Ground

This morning, I had to visit the Millennium Stadium.
Where Madonna is rehearsing.
Today.
She wasn't on site, as we first thought, but her people were and she is due at 2pm today for a rehearsal.
She arrives with six van loads of security. All staff at the venue are to stay at their desks while she arrives and leaves. Nobody is to look at her. Even the security guards, must look away as she passes. The guards in the bowl itself, must face away from the stage while she rehearses.
And yet, I still worship her. I walked through the doors she uses to get to her area (blacked out of course) and my tummy gave a little wobble and I thought I might be sick.
Finally got an e-mail with my tracking number for my ticket ... should have been delivered today, but since I wasn't home, I shall need to go to the post office to sign for it.
I cant quite get my head around the fact that I am seeing her on the first night of the entire tour. Usually, I know the set list and costume changes inside out before the ticket even arrives on my doormat .. but nobody will have seen this show before me. Everything will be shiny and new, like a virgin, you could say.
I cant wait!

Fucknuts

bah!

Guided Tour

Well, of sorts.
I am dealing with Rustie Lee's agent on possibly using her for future radio campaigns (don't have one in mind, but think she'd be great for the right client) and thought I'd just remind myself of her voice .. and laugh .. so had a quick YouTube... and found a channel called Luton Today!
Sweet lord its local news at its dullest, but enables me to show you some sights of my home town, without me driving all thew way there to film them.


Wardown Park. This is the place I genuinely believed was Narnia when I was 7.
It was also the place I had a lot of casual gay sex around the age of 28


Alan Crosby .... taught me video production for GCSE Creative Arts in 1988/89


This Sainsburys is on the estate where I had my morning paper round. Most of the estate was still being built back in 86 though....


A few glimpses of the town centre. Shithole that it is.


St Patricks Day is a big deal in Luton.... they cordon off a whole area for it.. right by where I lived before moving to Wales


Ooh look, inside the Arndale. As shit as it looks you know. And never that quiet ...


And they finally shut the Home Stores. About bloody time. Been on its arse for donkeys years.

And finally.

Stockwood Park. Another great cruising ground.

Take a Letter, Maria

Dear Duffy,

I am somewhat confused by your request of a meeting.
While I totally appreciate your sentiments, of a meeting on Warwick Avenue, you haven't really stated which town.
I did a search and streetmap gave me 51 different Warwick Avenues in the UK.
I am sure I could easily find the one in Bedford, as I am reasonably capable of finding my way around there.
However, if you mean me to be in attendance in Huddersfield, Liverpool, Quorn or Wednesbury, for example, I really think we should re-schedule as I have never been to those towns and might have trouble finding it. Unless I can borrow a sat nav from somebody, in which case, can you possibly release another single with an actual postcode in it?
Now, i did also Google Map it, and it actually pinpointed Ashworth Road, Maida Vale. I cant say I am totally au fait with the entirety of your request, but did think you mentioned a tube station and this is just around the corner from Maida Vale tube. Shall we meet there?
yours
Paul
x

This Ought to Carry a Health Warning...

Look and drool

And ... have been told secret that may or may not come to pass/be true ... in fact, its about something ages away that might or might not happen and lots could change and it could be utter bollocks.

But I need to be ready for the day.... just in case.

My my, How Can I Forget You?

Time seems to be something I have less and less of these days. And what i do get, tends to be last minute, leaving me really not being in touch with my friends half as much as I'd like.
But you know, its all worth it. I really enjoy other job a lot and its all helping me to give Dan the most amazing Christmas present I can give. Well, without major breakthroughs in medical science, and even then I'm not sure Id want to be the one to give birth. I mean, sure it would be a beautiful experience, but frankly, I don't think my ass is ready for it. But I digress.
Was back at Kylie last week. Sadly not front row this time, but smack in the crowd - it was like being in a huge nightclub but with Kylie playing live. The atmosphere was AMAZING. It wasn't quite as good as The Big Prince Night Out - but to be fair, I doubt any gig I ever go to can be, for the rest of my life. (Rach, I will be paying some cash towards it .... I just keep bloody forgetting!!).
Pictures of both trips to Kylie can be found on my facebook page (complete with Kylie balloon kindly given to me by a lady who liked my Thundercats tee)
And speaking of dear Rachel, she sent me a Wizard of OZ poster as a gift. Its fabberlus! I need to get a nice frame for it.
I am hosting a quiz night for a lot of my Doctor Who Forum chums over the upcoming bank holiday weekend. The same weekend I am seeing Madonna in Cardiff. Of course, we are very excited by this prospect as its the opening night for the whole fucking tour!!! Nobody anywhere will have seen it until I do! That's ... um ... fucking huge! Cant quite process this thought yet.
But yeah, this quiz .... its the Sunday night and is mostly audio .... with a few other bits thrwon in there. I spent a lot of yesterday sourcing the material and now need to edit it into actual questions and rounds n shit. I'll let you know how it goes.
And holy-mother-fuck-a-nun-up-the-shitter ..... from 20 August a sing along version of Mamma Mia hits cinemas! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. I am going to propose we do it with a warm up and stuff at work, but they'll never go for it. Might see if Mark wants to do it at the Broadway for one night and go there instead. Sure, its a six hour round trip, but worth it I feel. Any excuse to don my platforms.