Projecty Goodness

I've realised that I very much enjoy being part of little projects with like minded people. I've noticed more and more of these types of things cropping up online; whether it was just me not noticing, or that there are more people doing it now I'll never know.
But anyway, here are some of my favourite things to be involved in at the moment.

1. Pledge Music. You hand over money for some exclusive items by particular artists, you get little video or textual updates throughout the course of the project. It means that they don't have to go through a record company and you get something interesting, but one of the things I like is that you feel involved throughout the process. I'll be getting some lovely Madina Lake signed goodies. On top of that, a portion of funds raised is sent to charity. How fab!

2. Kickstarter. A much more all encompassing site where you can fund/get funding for a project. They do music, but also business startups, and all sorts of other things - you name it, it's on there. Each project sets a date by when to receive funding. When the date rolls around, if the target is reached, the project is funded and you get whatever you signed up and paid for, and if not then that's the end of it and you aren't charged any money. Again, you get updates through the life of the project, which is nice :o) I signed up for the TikTok/LunaTik projects which look like one of the most successful projects on the site, and it's exciting to follow the progress.

3. Lovedrop. This started only this month, but I love the idea. Not a registered charity, but a bunch of people looking to help one person each month. Lots of people give a little money, and that can make a huge difference. The team are motivated and focussed, they are easy to like, and having watched their progress for a few months now, I have every faith that this project is going to be really successful. The main thing I like about it is that you see where the money is going, who it is helping and it doesn't just disappear into a big pot. Seeing where my money goes and how it can change someone's life is something I really like, but more than that, there's a whole forum where people can discuss other ways to help, so the project really can go a long way if everyone chips in time and ideas as well.

Happy New Year!

I'm a tad late with this, but we're now firmly into 2011.

I was supposed to be being made redundant on Monday, but that has now been pushed back until the middle of the year, which is great news for me. I felt pretty happy about that, even thought I had been looking forward to some time to myself, I was also pretty glad to get back into the office and a routine after the Christmas break.

2010 was pretty good for me all in all, I did well with the cross stitch, not quite as well as I'd have liked, but still I stayed focused on it all year and didn't do too badly. I saw some really amazing gigs - I saw 4 of my top 5 bands more than once during the year, which I thought was pretty good going, and a whole heaps of others as well. I kept the blog going, built up my network on Twitter and just caught up on a lot of stuff that I needed to.

I hope that 2011 will be even better. Again, I intend to finish 4 cross stitch designs, see a lot of live music, keep up with my blogs and be more active on a couple of things I really like the sound of - It Starts With Us, Lovedrop and Lovebomb. I'll be leaving my job in the middle of the year, so I hope to be doing something new and interesting by September - I have a few ideas for that in mind but more on those later in the year.

Oh and I'm also getting married to the much hen-pecked and nagged Rob! 2011 is going to be pretty packed, but a lot of fun I hope.

I hope your 2011 is wonderful.

Hello.

Hello blog.
It's been a while. I haven't forgotten about you, or stopped writing here.
The truth is, the last two months have been pretty quiet, pretty gig free and not much has been happening except for work and sleeping. I promise to pick the pace back up.
From me.

Pooh Watercolour finished!

So, early in October (only slightly later than planned), I put the final stitches to my Pooh Watercolour cross stitch. This year is going well for stitching so far, I'm on track to finish the 4 pieces I had in mind by the end of the year, although with the dark evenings, it's a little trickier.

I think it turned out pretty well, it's going to a work colleague, so hopefully her daughter will enjoy it.

Here's a little piccie of the finished piece.

Showcase:Live, Queen of Hoxton

My first time downstairs at the Queen of Hoxton, and what a super little venue!

This was my first time at Showcase:Live, and I'll definitely be going back. We had the pleasure of seeing Polar Night, The Pictures and finally Steve Appleton.

First on, Polar Night had that lovely full band sound, and to say this was their first London show I was mighty impressed. The room was already packed when we arrived, and I could feel my feet tapping along as I stood at the bar, I could happily listen to this music anytime, I look forward to seeing what's next for them.

The Pictures played a two person acoustic set. Apparently these guys were well known from the TV show Must Be The Music, which I have to admit I never watched, so really, not a clue what to expect. Bizarrely, the two people who played the set were the lead singer and the one who appears to be the drummer in the full band setup, but here was playing guitar. I have to say that the three of us were TOTALLY mesmerised by the drummer's cheeky grin...this was lighting up the room with his smile territory, not many people can do that. The lead singer was a bit nuts, but they were really excellent, so I'd love to see them as a full band. Here's the video from Must Be The Music.

Finally, Steve Appleton. You'll see that we saw Steve Appleton earlier in the year, and he was the main draw for us to this gig. A little bit different to last time, and without a full band, he played a couple of older songs, but mostly demo'd some new ones, which were really great. This man has more talent in his little finger than I have in my whole body, and between the guitar, the keyboard and using his new loop station, the sound was full and interesting. He even managed to pull off Twist and Shout out at the end for an encore. I very much look forward to hearing more from him.

Gotan Project, Troxy

And now for something completely different.

I really don't know how to describe the Gotan Project. They make sexy, sultry Tango music. I wasn't sure how this would translate to a live show, but with the Troxy as a venue, and a packed house to play to, it worked well.

Gotan Project are a band that I hear a lot, Rob likes to play this as music to relax to, and this works well for both of us. Their sound is distinctive, chilled out, and people at the gig moved to the back of the standing area to dance with each other...the type of live music where you're able to do that, despite being in a room with well over 2000 other people, well, that's a bit special.

I was worried that it'd all sound a bit samey, but thankfully the songs all sounded sufficiently different. The background projected visually interesting videos, a feast for the eyes and with the guys and ladies on the stage radiating sexiness, the Tango 3.0 show was enjoyable from beginning to end.

If you're not familiar with these guys, check them out... here is the new video Rayuela.

McFly

I had a lot of comments and eyerolling from people when I said I was going to see McFly. This I do not understand, because I think secretly some of these people guiltily like them. I think there was some jealousy going on because I was openly able to admit that I like them and I was going to see them live.

There's a bit of a backstory here... In the place where I work, there also used to work a grown man, we will call him M. On Fridays, M would get woken up by the radio wishing him a Happy McFly Day and with the playing of the McFly track 'Star Girl'. M would then make his way into the office, and pass on Happy McFly Day with the playing of the track out loud to the office and singing along with it. This reminded me how good and fun and silly they actually are, and that I really enjoy their music. Therefore when the show came along, we got tickets to see it, but sadly M couldn't come along with me, so I took my cousin instead.

So... the gig!

The boys kicked off with the track 'Party Girl' from the new album (Above the Noise, released 15th November 2010). Now, the video for this track is rather a lot raunchier than the McFly that I'd seen before. Interesting for me that they are taking this new direction, McFly are getting sexy. They are also releasing their first mini-feature film, which has 7 of the songs from the new album. More information on that is on their website, but it seems that they've been very busy boys!

The live version of Party Girl sounded pretty close to the recorded one, and I'd say that most of the audience knew it, so from the first note, everyone was up and jumping and dancing around and singing their little hearts out. The vibe was one of pure entertainment, and that's the reason I love bands like this, it's a complete pleasure to be at their gigs, and the audience ranged from pre-teen kids all the way to people my age, older and a few with white hair! Fun for all the family :)

The band played through a number of the tracks from older albums... I felt especially giddy at hearing them do Star Girl live... but they also tried out some of the material from the new album. I very much liked it, and I'm sure it'll only grow on me... a little bit older and wiser but still with a polished sound and lights show that makes you feel on top of the world, these boys really do know how to throw a concert.