Are you feeling it? That creeping depression now that Christmas and New Year is over and you’re back at your desk with nothing to look forward to until the summer arrives? Well, actually I have got a wee holiday booked in March to my favourite city, Madrid, but even that isn’t enough to keep the blues away at the moment! It doesn’t help when you see a banner stand in your local shopping centre announcing that it’s not too late to buy your winter boots as there are still two more months of bad weather to come. That was enough to drive me into the arms of my friendly local coffee chain for a luxurious hot chocolate with all the trimmings!

There are always a few things that can put a smile on my face and make winter just that little bit more bearable – Starbucks'hot chocolate being one of them! My favourite music puts a spring in my step too; though seeing as my favourite song changes almost daily, it’s impossible for me to tell you which one I’ll be listening to by the time you read this blog. Right now I’m being a bit educated and listening to Rachmaninov a lot, but by tomorrow I could easily have regressed to Lady Gaga…

However, the best way I’ve discovered to beat the winter blues is to pamper yourself. This doesn’t have to be expensive, though if you can afford a couple of hours at a spa then a long back massage and a session in the jacuzzi is the perfect way to ease away all that tension! The cheaper option is to buy yourself some luxurious bubbles from the supermarket, run yourself a hot bath and lie back and relax. Make sure you lock the door, turn on some chill-out music and float away.

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Beyonce and Jay-Z are expecting their first child since they made their vows in 2008. After her surprise announcement at the MTV awards we have been following her every move to see just what this beautiful and inspirational pregnant woman has been getting up to!

Even though Beyonce is pregnant that hasn’t stopped her making waves in the fashion world! Revealing her first UK line in the House of Dereon collection at London’s fashion week, she made the news again. The line was full of glitter and glamour and the Dress Fabrics were just out of this world, which is a reflection of Beyonce’s own personal style and flair.

There really is no stopping this business mogul! Despite being pregnant she is still full charge ahead with all of her many endeavours. With new singles being released all the time and her awesome new fragrance pulse…we are left thinking is there anything this woman can’t do!!!

We know it can be difficult to keep up with this woman but if you want to try then head over to her official site at beyonceonline.com for all the latest gossip and news.

We would just like to say thank you Beyonce for keeping our news updates more glamorous and exciting than the boring financial and economical issues! You liven up our lives providing us with excitement and enthusiasm. You truly are a star… and we love you for it…!

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With my head filled with the gorgeous, colourful prints of the season’s latest dress designs, I scoured dozens of boutiques and department stores in hungry anticipation. After hours of hunting in vain - too expensive…too long…too short…wrong shape…that colour with my complexion? No way! - I sat down exhausted and depressed, reviving both sore feet and myself with a coffee in a store’s café. The party was tomorrow and I was running out of time.

As I mulled over my disastrous day, I started looking at the counters near the café. Lovely small glints of refracted light caught my eye: it was a jewellery counter with grand eye-level displays and cases. Intrigued, I finished my coffee and went over.

I was bewitched. Fabulous colours and shapes of every kind of jewel-like stone and glass and pearl had been transformed into the most beautiful necklaces, earrings and brooches – some set in gold, some in silver, other metals, and resin or plastic. ‘This is the designer jewellery section,'said the assistant giving me a strange look, probably because my jaw had just dropped to the ground. ‘We have items here from many designers. Can I help you?'I grinned back.

My outfit was more than a success at the party. The new designer jewellery earrings and brooch lifted me, and that old dress, into another dimension. Loads of people kept coming up to ask where I’d got them and how brilliant they looked. Amazing what designer jewellery can do….

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I’ve discovered a new obsession of mine - Desert Island Disks. For anyone who hasn’t heard of it, it’s a legendary BBC show in which people (”celebrities” seems to narrow a term) are invited to pick eight records that they would take with them to a desert island. In a way it’s kind of old-fashioned - after all, now we could take our iPods and MP3 players to the desert island - but that seems reasonable given that the first edition of the programme was broadcast in 1942.
I suppose since then the desert island we imagine might have changed a bit. The 1942 version was probably a beautiful change from a grey, war-worn England; the 2011 version might be rather more updated with internet access and biodiesel storage tanks for power. But essentially the idea remains the same - the “castaway” is asked to imagine being cut off from the contemporary world, from everyone and everything they know, and they are asked to take eight pieces of music with them that will provide them with comfort. Often therefore the castaways choose pieces of music that remind them of places or people, or a time in their life; other times there’s another reason why the piece of music is important. And the interviewer guides them through these choices, asking them to expand and explain why they’ve made particular choices. It’s a great format. In a way it’s a glorified parlour game, but it’s such an interesting way about learning more about people - not just celebrities, but people. Check it out!

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Festivals Festivals Festivals! There are just so many to choose from these days it’s hard t know which ones to attend! You’ve got Glastonbury, Reading, Leeds, V Festival, T in the Park, Download and loads more. Which that many choices how do you ever make a decision?

Well I finally made a decision to check out Glastonbury this year as I have never been and it is meant to be a festival like none other. The festival is set on a huge site offering music on an enormous scale which isn’t like any other festival in the world! How could I say no to that?!? There are over 50 stages offering every kind of music imaginable. That’s not the only entertainment they offer either there are an array of other things to see and get involved in such as green crafts that you can make and take home as a souvenir , poetry and healing groups, and performing arts groups offering cabaret and theatre shows.

The line up looks amazing as well, headlining the stages are U2, Beyonce, Coldplay, Mumford and Sons, Queen of the Stone Age and loads more. It looks set to be one of the best festivals this year. All I need now is to get myself sorted for the trip, I need some new outfits to show off and I definitely need to buy some new jewellery online and I need to buy it quick to make sure it all arrives in time. And note to self don’t forget the wellies this year!

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I remember so clearly the day I bought my very favourite pair of shoes in the whole wide world, I’ll never forget the feeling of walking out the shop itching to wear them as soon as possible. I was walking past the Kurt Geiger store in a Bristol shopping mall and this gorgeous glimpse of colour caught my eye as I aimlessly crossed the window shop display. I turned to see what had unusually managed to catch my glazed view and then I saw them, somehow managing to standing out from all the other beautiful shoes. A sling back court shoe with a just perfect platform and cut out sections along the upper section. Yet the real beauty of these shoes was the colour, the gorgeous salmon shade, unlike anything I had ever seen before… I HAD to have them. As I went in to the store I prayed they had them in my size and when to my delight they did I just knew instantly that they would fit as perfectly as they looked. They did as predicted and i purchased these little gems with the biggest smile on my face you could imagine. Now some would find it difficult to comprehend the sheer delight one can acquire from such a purchase were as others will completely understand where I am coming from. For those that do, I am very sure you to will remember perfectly the moment you fell in love with your most favourite pair of shoes….. share it with us J

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I asked a good friend of mine out recently while she was looking at dance Fabrics, and we were going to the Experimental Cocktail Club. She told me she had never heard of the club so I filled her in, having been there some weeks ago.

The Experimental Cocktail Club is a successful Paris brand that recently ventured into London’s nightlife. The interior is decorated with mirrored ceilings that portray ancient Paris architecture; with tiny couches and armchairs the room embraces the feeling of intimacy.

The waiters in the bar are dressed in waistcoat and bow tie will greet you as if you are a French King and offer you a royal service. Visitors are catered with vintage drinks from the 60s, for a price that can exceed £200. The upstairs bar has a Piano which is the inspiration of a popular French waiter who used to play piano and mix cocktails as well.

The bar’s General Manager, Vincent says t hat he enjoys the entertainment given by his customers, when they drink and engage in fun activities. He wants his customers to have fun and anything that makes them go crazy. But right now the bar is opened to visitors on weekdays from 6 pm to 3 am and as per Vincent even Sundays will join the feast soon.

Experimental Cocktail Club London also caters dishes such as a cheese board or charcuterie. After a long day’s work, this bar is an ideal place to listen to the DJs who will charge you with vintage rock and hip-hop music. Experimental Cocktail Club London, no doubt is an ostentatiously rich bar.

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Thank GOD that in recent years I have had work from home jobs as it gives me the chance to listen to music as much as I want. I came across a 10,000 Maniacs album recently and listen and was blow away.

Almost everyone who is into rock-music will have heard the name 10,000 Maniacs. The band was formed in 1981 and still continues to rock today with various line-ups.

In 1981, the band was originally called Still Life. It was Steve Gustafson (bass), Dennis Drew(keyboards), Robert Buck(guitar), Chet Cardinale(drums) and Teri Newhouse(vocalist) who were the original members of the band. Later, Natalie Merchant was invited by Gustafson just to do a few vocals. Natalie soon became the main singer of the band when Cardinale and Newhouse left the band. Natalie was 17 years old when she joined the band.

After that, many drummers came and left the band. The members chose the name “10,000 Maniacs” after a movie called “Two Thousand Maniacs!” Some of their famous singles are: Like the Weather, What’s the Matter Here, Trouble Me, These are Days and Because the Night. This band is planning to release their new album this year and a tour on their 30^th anniversary. They will be visiting Alpine, CA, Uncasville, IL, Chicago and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Ramsey, Erickson, Augustyniak, Drew and Gustafson are the current members of this band. Even if the bankd is popular, there are many debates about including 10,000 Maniacs into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

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Just about everyone, no matter whether they grew up in the 1990s or 1920s, has at some point had a parent object to the choice of music blaring out of their speakers (or gramophone). “What’s this rubbish?"they’ll protest, “this is nowhere as near as good as what it was like back in my day"(an old chestnut, to be sure.)
It doesn’t take a genius, the likes of which who work for Galvan research and trading, to tell you that obviously this trend can be put down to the fact that no generation likes the next generation’s music.
So clearly, there’s no better or worse generation for musical greatness… Right?
Entirely wrong. The reason we can say that the current wave of pop really is dire without being overly subjective is that even the current generation despises the kind of music which is kicked out now. Never before have so many consumers, who were previously happy to support pop, openly declared that they are sick of the genre and the plastic-ness of it (and this is the first time that so much of the charts has been filled with the results of talent contests.)
When even fans of an artist feel the need to state on YouTube that yes, their favourite singer can’t actually sing without an auto tuner (we’re looking at you, Kesha) then we know we are in very dark times indeed.
We’re certainly not trying to be puritanical about music or say that everyone should listen to Led Zeppelin - people can listen to whatever the hell they please - but the moguls need to stop pretending we’re idiots who can’t see through fakers. A Milli Vanilli style lynch mob, anyone?

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If so, I want to know about it!

I’m a singer in a band who performs both original material and covers. Without blowing my own trumpet, I’m not half bad - unlike my sketchy (at best) guitar playing, as a singer I can pull off a range of styles and I’d like to think I have enough stage presence to be a good front man. But if I have a failing, it’s that I really struggle to keep lyrics in my head. It can be a song about unrequited love or catering van insurance - it doesn’t make a jot of difference. If there’s words involved, I’ll mess them up.

Usually it’s not an issue. If the crowd are in the zone, it’s easy to get them to yell along the lyrics for you if it’s a well known song. However, if they’re not, you end up looking very silly indeed. Similarly, suddenly going silent and looking blank halfway through a line isn’t just awkward but it makes things even worse - once you lose it, it’s very difficult to pull back. Repeating a line from a previous verse kinda works, but it still makes you feel like a complete amateur.

One time, I even forgot the song title. I wear glasses usually but not on stage - during a particularly good gig, upon yelling “this next song is called…"I realised I hadn’t a clue. I looked down at the set list sellotaped to the floor, but the bassist had printed it out in what looked like size eight font. My solution? Pause mid-sentence and pretend to tie my shoe in order to get a look at it.

Smooth.

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