Friday 18 September 2009

Songs from the Heart - Video

Quick post just to let you know that the show "Songs from the Heart" which was last Friday (11th Sep) was recorded on video in High Definition, so I'll be posting clips on my website and here on the blog when they are edited.

I had great fun performing in "Songs from the Heart." It was a real relaxed evening of live music and comedy, with Kevin Cookson and his band Koo°ler, singer Joyce Kearton and Comedian Don Banks.

Will keep you posted as to when you can see those clips :)


Thursday 17 September 2009

UV Summer Showcase was a hit!

On the 29th August, my choir United Voice North West performed their 'Summer Showcase'. The concert was a mixture of songs they have performed in past concerts and things they have been looking at and working on at weekly workshops (which take place at 7pm, Thursday nights at the Temperance Institute, 65 London Street, Southport... Quick shameless plug there!)
The show was a resounding success and everyone there left feeling uplifted... music just does that doesn't it! (well... some music anyway!) 
The Mayor of Sefton, councillor Alf Doran and the Lady Mayoress, Councillor Gillian Cuthbertson were both present. After the Concert, the Mayor gave an extremely complimentary speech saying "as Mayor, I am invited to attend many events, but I can honestly say that this has been one of the best musical events I have been invited to."
He then went on to thank the choir and request two encores, one of which was a favourite of his "Unchained Melody". (They really did do it well, I loved it!)

The entrance and foyer of the building had a revamp and looked great in "Roasted Red" (I'll put some pictures on of the new look and the concert with this post later)

I was so pleased at how well the evening went. The choir was wonderful, the soloists were wonderful and the acoustics in the Ballroom at the Temperance Institute were just brilliant.


As usual, I'm very proud of everyone involved, well done folks!

(Don't forget... 7pm, each Thursday, Temperance Institute, Southport! - All welcome)

Wednesday 16 September 2009

US trip Part 3... Ghost towns, Lobsters and a whole lot of fun!

Well, it's been such a busy time recently that it looks like I have a few updates to do at once. So firstly, the last part of our US trip... Our last port of call was with the DeFord's in Colorado Springs. It was wonderful staying with the DeFord's, they're such a great family. Sally and I worked on new arrangements and recorded my vocals for my next album, which will be available in the next month or so (Watch this space). It was so nice to be able to spend a whole month there and not just live out of our suitcases, and to know that we weren't moving on straight away to the next place. Fran and I had amazing fun... in fact what's actually amazing is that Sally and I managed to get any work done because we all had so much fun whilst we were there. 

We got to see Garden of the Gods and during a trip to Blanding, Utah where Sally and I were scheduled to do a youth fireside, we all got to see Black Canyon, St. Elmo's (a ghost town) and Mesa Verde, where we saw amazing abandoned ancient Native American settlements, which were actually built into the rock face, sometimes 200 feet up the rock face. That was really cool! One of the best parts of the Blanding trip though, was Daniel (Sally and Dennis' son) having us in stitches of laughter with funny games and conversation. Award goes to Danny for most entertaining traveller on our road-trip! 

I noticed Sally wrote in her blog:
One highlight of their visit was July 4... Independence Day... and to honor, er... honour the occasion, they regaled me with our national anthem. It was something quite out of the ordinary to hear "...and the rockets' red glare... the bombs bursting in air..." done in proper British accents by singers costumed for the occasion... a red, white and blue tiara, bow tie, socks... I have pictures, but I think I'll let James decide whether or not post one lest I leave myself open to retaliation. 
It's true, we did! Below is a picture of the lovely get-up we donned for the occasion (it was first thing in the morning before we were truly awake and showered!)

It was also Fran's birthday the next day and so I planned a surprise trip to a very beautiful hotel complex called the Broadmoor in Colorado. It's a lovely place and the food was fantastic. We both decided to try something we hadn't had before. Fran wasn't so keen on the pheasant, though it was done well, but I loved the Steak and Lobster which I ordered... however I mistook the Price for an order number and won't be having lobster again until our bank account recovers!
But of all the eating places we visited, the most frequent was our new found love... the Rumbi Island Grill, a Hawaiian themed restaurant. We have lamented regularly since getting back home that we don't have Rumbi here... we miss their sweet potato fries... mmmmmmmm

It was a fantastic visit and we're so grateful to Sally, Dennis, Danny and Jen for making us feel so incredibly welcome in their home.

P.S. we also miss being honourary members of the Colorado Springs Academy Ward Choir :-(
We'll be back!


Garden of the Gods and the balancing rock (Held up by Fran!)
In the 2nd Picture also: Dennis and Daniel DeFord



Trying to get a stamp at the post office to no avail 
(At the St Elmo Ghost town)
They also had humming bird feeders outside the gift store, (I managed to get one mid-flight) and you could feed the wild (well... tame now) chipmunks.




The amazing Ancient Native American settlements at Mesa Verde:


Me visiting Boulder... well, actually 'on' a boulder at Arches National Park in Utah.
And my favourite "falling of the cliff" picture which Dan and I staged (Sally was sat in the car, otherwise I don't think we'd have gotten away with it!)



Waiting for the fireside in Blanding:


The beautiful Broadmoor hotel complex and the slightly pricey Lobster tail... Not at all slimey like I thought it would be :)



4th July and all dressed up... (We'd only just got up, so we look rather disheveled!) 
And the stack of games that proves how much fun we had and how remarkable it is that we ever got any work done! :)



Our favourite place to eat in Colorado springs (Rumbi):