A daily video blog documenting my last 20 days in London before I move back to Manchester on Saturday 28 January 2012.
Tuesday 10th January 2012.
If you want to keep up to date with what’s happening, do please follow my blog (there is a button at the bottom of the page).
Thanks to all for your continued support and interest!
Gari x
Oh, and ‘Moving On Up’ is my ‘move’ song, in case you’ve not caught this yet 
.. and THIS is why I think that Cyndi Lauper is fckn FANTASTIC!
LOVE this version! 
60 next year, still as fabulous as ever, and every bit a true legend!
… CD collection!
Prior to the move, I have decided that I need to get rid of most of my CDs in order to free up dead space, and am currently engaged on a mammoth project to try to rip them all to my iMac’s hard drive (I am doing it at the highest possible quality to rip an .mp3 to – we’re talking 50MB a file – so I am also trying to future-proof this massive collection). Thus far, it has taken about 10 hours, and I am around a third of the way through.
Whilst I am keeping anything that relates to musical theatre, or anything with sentimental value, there is an awful lot that I am getting rid of, as I am something of a music buff (music is genuinely one of the most important things in the world to me, and I strongly believe that the concept of ‘music’ is Man’s best creation!). I will probably, and with a heavy heart, chuck my CDs out at the end of next week (around Jan 7), however, if anyone that I know wants to come round one evening and poke through my collection and salvage anything that they want, then you’d be more than welcome to let me know and we can see what we can arrange.
Going through my music collection, there are so many fantastic songs, albums and memories – I have the usual albums, and then quite a lot of singles, and a lot of promo CDs from promoters and radio stations, some of which didn’t even get commercial radio play – so it really is a treasure trove! I can remember back in 1996 getting my first CD and CD player for my birthday and it was a fascination that has stuck ever since.
It’s also something of a time-vortex, as all of the singles and albums are FILLED with inserts begging you to get your WAP (ha!) phone out and download a picture of the star by texting a number, or, worse, to receive a monophonic / polyphonic ringtone – HA!
Liberty X even had their own hotline!! 
@DarkAeon at last! A place that will answer my Liberty X ringtone and logo queries and concerns!—
Phil Mann (@philjohnmann) December 30, 2011
It truly is amazing to think of how far the music industry has come in the last five or six years, and how much more sophisticated both the market and the technology has since become. Never mind the switch from records to tape, or cassette to CD, I would say the shift for survival between early CDs and the CDs we get today has been the most noticeable change in music provision in recent history, and shows just how much technology has exploded in the last few years.
What is scary is that once this is all done, I will have around 50 continuous days worth of music on my iMac (around 1200 hours), and with my Spotify subscription and massive playlists that I manage, that becomes simply limitless! All that I can say is that it’s a good thing that I have eclectic tastes!
Now, where did I put that Vengaboys album…?!
I’m sure many people have already seen the hawt new cover already – however it’s only now that I find myself at home, and in an environment suitable enough to post! 
RAWR!!!!
Of course, Harry is no stranger to the cover / pages of Attitude, having gotten up to lots of mischief with the rest of the McFly lads in the past – however it’s great to see him get a second solo-cover so soon after his last! (Feb 2011).
Click to enlarge ANY of the pictures!
One thing that I will NEVER tire of, McFly’s Attitude Mag covers / photoshoots!
A digital edition of the (ever fabulous) Attitude Mag featuring Harry can be purchased online, via this link.
Perfection.
Nothing else to add!
Absolutely love Patrick Wolf’s latest EP, Brumalia, largely assembled around the time of the English riots in August 2011.
His version of the quintessentially English classic anthem ‘Jerusalem‘ is fantastic, and perhaps my favourite version of this ultimately fabulous song, especially given the context that this was recorded in.
Absolutely *HEART* this version!
Big fan of the lads, and have really been enjoying this since it was posted a few weeks ago:
LOVING the new video for Patrick Wolf’s track ‘Together‘…
It’s one of my favourite songs on ‘Lupercalia‘ (also featuring on the new EP, ‘Brumalia‘); the track has a great sound, and I love the chorus, especially when it transcends over the top and cascades back down again! ^_^
*grabs Patrick’s hand and runs off into the distance with him!* hehe.
ULLLLLLA!
I am absolutely thrilled to say that I am going to the press conference for Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, on Friday morning at a very swanky location in Central London.
In attendance, will be Jeff Wayne himself, and we’re promised a ‘MAJOR international star’.
The press conference will also be streamed online, and there is already a MASSIVE amount of hype about it from the fans.
Many people who know me will know that the composer, Jeff Wayne, is an absolute GOD to me heh! Seriously, last week I met Ugly Betty star, America Ferrera, and the magnificent Joanna Lumley, however, being in such close proximity to Jeff Wayne absolutely eclipses this for me!
To confirm my love of Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds (and the original classic novel by H.G. Wells), I feel the below is true:
No one would have believed in the early years of the 21st century that our world was being watched by intelligences greater than our own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns, they observed and studied, the way a man with a microscope might scrutinize the creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water.
With infinite complacency, men went to and fro about the globe, confident of our empire over this world.
Yet across the gulf of space, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded our planet with envious eyes and slowly, and surely, drew their plans against us.
I found out at 2am on Tuesday morning, and, owing to my sheer excitement, I did not fall asleep until around 05:30 am – it’s a HUGE deal for me 
Working in the industry that I do, I am already aware of a few bits of information, which I think everyone has now grasped (and no, I’m not going to repeat here, just incase, but check out their official facebook), but I genuinely have no idea of who the major international star is – I’m VERY excited to find out!
Here’s a taster of Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds from the first live tour, back in 2006 (the tours get more spectacular each year!):
… and, here is a YouTube of the 1938 radio play adaptation which was reported to cause panic across America (but which, in actual fact, it didn’t!).
