Back Massage

I spent a very enjoyable hour in a Chinese  herbalist store today having acupuncture. Massage and ‘Hot Cupping’ on my back in an attempt to relieve some of the pain in my back, neck and shoulder.

All in it cost £40, and not sure how much good the acupuncture has done (yep, I am a bit of a sceptic) but it was damn relaxing!!  The hot cupping was ‘weird’ and has left a number of circular bruises on my back, but was not unpleasant.  The massage, however, was to die for!!  Really deep powerful work on a couple of really tight muscle groups left me feeling great afterwards.

Overall verdict: Well worth the cash! (I really want my new mattress!!)

JMJ – In Concert 2009

I have Tickets to see Jean Michel Jarre in concert at the NIA Birmingham on 24th May 2009

From http://www.jeanmicheljarre.com/

With his forthcoming "IN-DOORS" World Arena Tour, Jean Michel Jarre invites the audience to journey into his singular universe; to immerse themselves totally in his world of timeless music and vision, in place and time. He promises with this unique and brand new super production to share the energy of his macro concerts with the emotions of an arena experience.

With the fusion of analogue synthesisers, cutting-edge digital technology, oversize HD video projections, spectacular lasers design and lighting choreography, Jarre has conceived a show that encapsulates his signature expression and talent for creating milestone events.

Jean Michel Jarre is an innovative artist who has entertained and thrilled millions of people live and has broken several world records with attendance figures. His electronic music and singular performances have travelled the globe and left their imprint on major landmarks from Houston's Skyline, to China, to London's Docklands to the Pyramids of Egypt, to Moscow and...

He has just concluded a sell-out tour of Europe celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the release of his break-through multi-million selling album, Oxygene.

For his upcoming "IN-DOORS", World Arena Tour, he has conceived a spectacular high-tech production especially tailor made for arenas where he will perform music from all of his best selling albums.

Jarre revolutionised the out-door concert format with his city-scale events. For this "IN-DOORS", World Arena Tour he aims to break new ground and deliver yet again a unique concert experience.

Katherine Jenkins 2008

Not long got back home from the NIA in Birmingham - Public transport really is shocking for a major city on a Friday night - it took over 1 hour to get a bus 5 miles home! - Anyway...

Really enjoyed the show, not as much as previous shows, not Katherine's fault, I just don't think the NIA is anywhere near as good a venue as Symphony Hall.

Blake were as good as I expected them to be - but a bit louder!!  (One of the joys of a front row seat in front of a speaker)

Faryl Smith was an unexpected, and very welcome surprise - she really is a VERY good singer - but needs some work on 'chatting to the audience' - she forgot the name of the 'Big London Show' she attended last night (It was the Royal Variety apparently)

Finally, William Joseph was a pleasant surprise that should well find at least some of his work on my iPod before too long

Finally special thanks to the nice gent in Block A Row B Seat 2 for the sweets he handed round during the interval ;-)

Will have a look at my photo's in the morning and see is any of them are worth posting.

Good Month For Music

It’s been a good November for New CD’s this year:

Dido : Safe Trip Home ***
Katherine Jenkins : Sacred Arias ****
Hayley Westenra : River Of Dreams ****
Alesha Dixon : The Alesha Show ****
Enya : And Winter Came ***
Anastacia : Heavy Rotation **
Jewel : Perfectly Clear ***
Seal : Soul ****

Plus, Three new Audio Books from http://www.wholestoryaudio.co.uk/

Dune by Frank Herbert (21 Hours)
Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs (9.2 Hours)
Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs (9.5 Hours)

I had forgotten just how good Dune was, pity they don’t have ‘Children of Dune’ or ‘Dune Emperor’ on there too…

Unfortunately, the concert with Hayley Westenra was cancelled at short notice due to illness, so we will have to wait till early 2009 to see her again, but should still be OK for Katherine Jenkins at the NIA in a couple of weeks time.

Katherine Jenkins Tour 2008

Tickets on sale this week:

December
1st Sheffield City Hall
2nd Glasgow Clyde Auditorium
4th Newcastle City Hall
5th Preston Guidhall
7th Oxford New Theatre
9th Royal Albert Hall
10th Plymouth Pavillions
12 Birmingham NIA
13 Bournemouth Intl Centre
15 Brighton Center
17 Nottingham Royal Centre
18 Manchester MEN Arena
20 Harrogate Intl Centre
22 Cardiff Arena

Looks like Birmingham NIA on the 12th December it is then, shame it's not at Symphony hall this time.

UPDATE: Two tickets purchased today on the pre-booking fans link... Unfortunately, the location of the seats is not available at this time. I am really waiting with baited breath for my tickets to be delivered so I know where I will be sitting...

Very Moving

Seems that the song "Requiem for a Soldier" was the main title music for a mini-series called 'Band of Brothers' - personally I have never heard of it.

But in the course of searching for a bit more information on this really moving song I came across this video clip on YouTube filmed at this years 'Festival of Rememberance'...  It really touched me, that woman's voice is truly a very special thing.

Whilst you are there check out a live rendition of 'Time to Say Goodbye' or 'Music of the Night'

Almost Over

Hehehe, Humbug eh?

It's almost lunchtime on Christmas day, and almost over for another year.  Just the trip to both Mom's to do now, a few more pressies, and then we can relax.

This year there is a definite 'Golf' theme to my collection of received goodies:

• A Digital Golf Pro electronic Caddie
• A Golf Mug / Coaster
• A Golfing Book - "Play Like a Pro"
• A Golf Towel to attach to my bag
• A Box of 12 Srixon AD333 Golf Balls
• 12 Month Locker Rental at Halesowen Golf Club
• A Greg Norman 'White Shark" Tee shirt
• Two tee shirts from 'Golfino'
• "Long Way Down" The Book
• Chanel Allure Homme Stinky Stuff
• A Bottle of Wine
• A "Magnetic Therapy" Bracelet
• A Long sleeve shirt
• The obligatory pair of slippers
• and not forgetting: The pack of pants!

Kid's are happy watching "Mr Bean's Holiday" on DVD, Amanda is in her element organising the lunch, and I have spent a pleasant  morning on the PC listening to Katherine Jenkins & All Angels between assorted Xmas songs.  So far quite a good day.

Viva La Diva

Last night, we took our now annual pilgrimage to Symphony Hall in Birmingham to See Katherine Jenkins.  This year was however a little different, she was starring with Darcey Bussell in an original song and dance show called Viva La Diva.

To quote from the shows website:
Tonight we will take you on a journey about inspirations and pay tribute to all the divas who have inspired us to do what we do today. So Judy, Maria, Doris, Marilyn, Shirley, Barbara, Grace, Edith... I salute you! You transfixed and transported me. You captured my heart and gave me my dreams. Viva La Diva!

Amanda really enjoyed it, my reaction was a little more mixed: Katherine was as fantastic as ever, and it was a joy to hear her singing in different styles. The 'Song and Dance' routines were fun and well staged, but the Solo Dancing routines were - quite frankly a bore.  Don't get me wrong, technically superb, but not what I enjoy.

Ah well, here's to next years show ;-)

Weekend of Entertainment

Dateline: Friday Night
Location: NEC, Birmingham
Event: Jeff Wayne's "War of the Worlds"
Conclusion: Fantastic!

As magnificent as last year, but with improved visuals for Richards Burton.  The guy playing Nathaniel was fantastic, everyone else was as good as you would expect them to be.

Dateline: Saturday Afternoon
Location: Her Majesty's Theatre, London
Event: Phantom of the Opera
Conclusion: Bravo!!

This is the 5th time I have seen this show, and it's as great as ever.  The 'Phantom' was probably the best I have seen, and although see was good, Christine was the weakest I have seen.

Katherine Jenkins

I have just taken delivery of "Rejoice - Special Edition" by the very lovely Katherine Jenkins.

I have to say it's my favourite album of hers to date... My iTunes rankings for the tracks are:

• 3 x 2 Stars
• 10 x 3 stars
• 2 x 4 stars

and that's not bad by anybodies reckoning!

Musical Discovery

"Raising Sand" by Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

From the Amazon.co.uk Description:
American bluegrass star Alison Krauss and Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant team up for one of contemporary music's most unlikely partnerships, and in doing so create a memorable and diverse collection of lovingly crafted songs.

The MusicOMH review expands on this:
It's a curiosity that, just as the Led Zeppelin revival is reaching fever pitch, Robert Plant is sneaking out this album of reverential duets with Alison Krauss. What it does, though, is show the singer's softer, sensitive side - something not all that apparent when atop thunderous Jimmy Page guitar riffs.

In his recent solo career Plant has tended to keep an open book, as last album 'Mighty Rearranger' testified, with its variety of loosely world music-influenced songs. Raising Sand narrows the parameters a little to concern itself with lightly bluesy music, but at no time does either singer sound restricted.

Quite the opposite. Krauss is an ideal vocal foil, and at times the two really do sing as one. The real revelation is Plant's ability to sing quietly, with exquisite tenderness, for long periods of time. Whilst there were occasional hints of this with Zeppelin this is uncharted recorded territory, and the accompanying textures are parted in respect of this.

Finally, the BBC review:
The first thing you notice about Raising Sand is how the pair's vocals compliment each other. Krauss’ honey-sweet chords can be saccharine on her own work at times, but here she's balanced by the mature grain of Plant's almost whispered delivery. On "Killing The Blues" or Gene Clark’s "Polly Come Home" they nudge up against each other, buoyed up by Greg Leisz’s floating pedal steel. And this from a man renowned for going ‘baybeeee, baybeee’. Phew...

iTunes Ratings

I have decided it's about time I actually tried to get some sort of order to my iTunes music collection, and step 1 of that process is to 'rate' as may of the tracks as I can.

Stage 1:
Decide the definition for each of the 5 star ratings.

• No Star - Not yet rated
• 1 Star - If I never heard this track again, my life would probably be better, but certainly no worse for it!!
• 2 Star - I wouldn't change station on the radio if this track came on, but I would never request it either!
• 3 Star - The base "I Like It" level, it's not a 'Great' track but it is 'Quite Good"
• 4 Star - If this track came on the radio, you sing may well sing along to it, you would almost certainly feel a little bit of pleasure upon recognizing it.
• 5 Star - A 'Desert Island Discs" contender, a real favorite.

Stage 2:
Create 6 'Smart Playlists' based on each of the above ratings

1. 218 Tracks, 13 Hours
2. 416 Tracks, 1 day
3. 319 Tracks. 1 day
4. 146 Tracks, 10 Hours
5. 22 Tracks, 1.5 Hours

That only leaves 9067 Tracks (27.5 Days!) to be rated!

Katherine on Strictly

Katherine Jenkins and Andrea Bocelli on BBC One's "Strictly Come Dancing", performing "Time to Say Goodbye"