Today is International Friendship Day and we all have friends we can associate a good tune with whether it's recently or from way back in the day. We tend to associate songs with a lover, a song that starts as a reminder of a first meet and then becomes the first dance at a wedding. Yes our partners may become our best friends but our other buddies have special songs too.
Well I can think of quite a few of my friends and pin a song to them quite easily. I can hear that song on the radio or in a pub and it can ignite good memories of great friends. Some songs are classic eighties numbers as I still keep in touch with quite a few of my school friends and besides it is one of great times in musical history, well that's my opinion. It's impossible to mention everyone but here are just a few friends and their tunes....... Hayley loved Paul Young when we were younger so I'd put 'Wherever I Lay My Hat' with her. Alex reminds of Wham and George Michael so maybe Careless Whisper for her. Deb, now Deb's brother was very into punk so that kind of filtered out to our friendship so I would say anything by Sham 69 and SLF but it would have to pin one song for her it would be Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel 'Come Up and See Me' as I remember listening to it a lot. Kaz introduced us all to Duran Duran so I would problem go for 'Save A Prayer' by them. Rachel and I spent a lot of drunken evenings with each other around our twenties and the Sex Pistol's version of 'Something Else' sits there with her. Oh my goodness I could create Now That's What I Call Friends Volume 1. There would be definitely more volumes as I haven't mentioned everyone and I do apologise but just ask me, if we are friends I bet I can fit you with a friendship song. Just plucking these songs out makes me smile, if it links to a happy memory then it's a happy song. Friendship doesn't mean talking every day, it means that when you do get chance to catch up in this busy hectic life and you can pick up as if it was yesterday..........well that's it, an understanding, a bond that no matter what divides us in opinions and we may disagree in other ways but we still have a love for each other and it's called friendship. Thank you to all my friends wherever they are in the world.....I send my love to you not just today but every day. Thank you for being a friend. Thank you too for reading today, please come back tomorrow for Teapot Tuesday but for now...... Take care.
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I'm quite excited at the moment. What have you done Sue From The Brew you may be asking? Well I'm thinking of going back to studying. I started years ago studying with the Open University and had to stop as life just became a little bit busy and I was unable to carry on.
This is something I've regretted so much. It couldn't be helped as family came first and sometimes you have to prioritise things to be able to allow oneself to cope. Now though I'm thinking that it may be time to pick up those studies again. There are a couple of things on my bucket list and that is that I have always wanted to graduate with a degree, I never really achieved a great level back at school and that was ok but I just have this dream to be able achieve more. One of the other things on my list is to write in some way. No not my shopping list but in a creative way, maybe a novel or a bit of non fiction about life but I know I have an urge to be a writer. My most successful subjects at school were Music, English and Religious Studies so I thought I was destined to be the next Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music 2. Not to be but I do wish I had pursued Music. There wasn't the opportunities in my school leaving days that there are now but get this.....if I studied for a degree in Creative Writing I can include a couple of modules involving Music. I'm so excited as all my 'favourite things' right there in one degree. I struggled to find out at first what I wanted to do but now after some excellent advice from an OU advisor I feel as though I'm on the right track following my passion of the Arts. I can read music and I have played instruments so apparently I have enough experience to include some music studies in there and hopefully it will lead to improving on my writing too. I still have to get out of OU jail yet. I got some work to persuade them that I am ready to study again and can commit as I did end up being on restricted access so I'm going to go for it and see what happens. If I don't try then I'll always be left wondering and I don't want life to pass by without a good go. I will lose the points I have built up as it will be sixteen years next year and thats the maximum time but I'm going to put that behind me and start fresh. I have a dream to write and regretted not pursuing music in some way and as my very wise son says.......'.it's never too late Mum'. He has become my inspiration to study. I'll keep you posted how I get on - fingers crossed. Thanks for reading today......pop back tomorrow for a bit of Teapot Tuesday but for now you all take care and keep cool.......phew it's a warm one today. I bet you thought it was an earthquake eh Nottingham? Well no it was actually Rock Choir Live in concert at The Albert Hall Conference Centre and what a concert!!
This was the scene we were greeted with when we first walked into the Main Hall, yes confronted with a huge big organ (so many jokes, so little time), our stage for the evening. The Derbyshire Choirs performed on Saturday (14th) and the Nottinghamshire Rockies performed last night (15th). Two years ago we all performed on one night at The Royal Concert Hall but this was so much better, a little less hectic shall we say. We were not just randomly chucked into our places here, oh no there was a plan. Time was taken to get us all in our harmony parts and in a position we could all see our choir leader and be seen by our audience. That's important, we need to show off our beautiful singing faces and show off our moves we've worked so hard to perfect. After all this was done there was a chance to soundcheck a few songs, get the levels right you know.....oh get me - I am not just a gal talking about tea, I'm now a performer (who loves tea). Next came the rehearsal of everyone coming off stage and then everyone leading back onto the stage. We had this fabulous walking on routine, singing as we go which just worked with perfection (well done Jennie). What a way to enter.....this was just getting so exciting beyond belief. An hour to go until we needed to get back into position so now was airtime to eat our tea and then get into our Rock Choir uniform ready for the big show. Now I'm not going to tell you that we had a bit of a panic before we lined up because that would be daft, no one in the audience knew so why mention it, well I fear if I don't tell you my friend Lesley will. When we rehearsed this line up thing we got used to the person in front of us and who was behind but then when everyone changed into their uniform they all looked the same. So there was a bit of a ka'fuffle about where in the line me and Lesley were, well after a dash panic up and down the stairs we settled in the right place but for a moment I had visions of having to sit on someones knee, completely ruining the logistics of all this carefully choreographed routine because I had got in the wrong line up. Phew it was ok in the end........we laugh now. Boom the lights went down and off we went. My heart nearly pounding out my chest but once we got going it felt just awesome to be on that stage doing everything we had learnt, practiced and put together. With added extras from choir leaders Jennie and Kat, the solos from the very brave Rockies who stepped up to that challenge and the magnificent poem read out by two of our members it was night to be so proud to be a part of Rock Choir. We were also joined by two volunteer representatives from The Alzheimer's Society who talked about the charity and how it helps people with the condition. There were also collection buckets there to raise very valuable funds. I can't tell you how great it felt to take part in this show. To some it may seem no big deal but for me and a lot of others it is. Rock Choir is not just a bunch of people turning up to sing every week, we have become great friends. We socialise together, we help each other out when times are tough and I suppose you could say we have become one big family. To get up on stage and sing these songs for some takes a huge amount courage and confidence and we had a lot of members who were taking part for the first time and guess what? We were all there to help the newbies pop their performance cherries .......as it were. I would like to thank my fellow members because you mean so much to me. I would like to say a big thank you also to Jennie our choir leader who is just amazing, without her we would never have done this. She gives us confidence but keeps us relaxed to believe we can do great things. Jennie's mum Sue is lovely and her organisation makes us look as good as we did that night. Just don't tell her I lost my place!!! Jennie's dad takes photos for us which we all appreciate when we have all calmed down and able to look back on our time here and also choir leader Kat who gave us beautiful piano accompaniment to some of our songs. I still need to come down from this experience and will do eventually but I will, like most other Rockies look back on this as just one of the best experiences ever........what World Cup? Who won Wimbledon? Who blooming cares now............we are Rock Choir and definitely ROCKED!!!! If you would like to join in the fun then why don't you come along for a free taster session in September? Go to www.rockchoir.com for more information and to find your local session. We also have a Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rockchoirderbyshireandnottinghamshire/ so if you want to see what we actually got up this weekend then do feel free to take a look. Take a look at some of my Music Monday posts as they do feature Rock Choir a lot. I do try to give to an idea of what goes on and a taste of life as a Rockie. Thanks for reading today, please join me again tomorrow for Teapot Tuesday but for now...... Take care. I know!!! This is how I feel when our sessions break up for the summer. All is not lost though as we still have our Summer Concert to perform on Saturday, yes this coming Saturday!!! So although our weekly sessions have finished we are now ready for rehearsal this week and onto The Albert Hall, no not that one......the Nottingham one. Blimey give us a break......we've done Abbey Road, lets not get too carried away.
For those who do miss Rock Choir over the summer there are also the Summer of Rock Workshops where Rockies can have a go at singing out a few tunes such as the Guns n' Roses classic 'Sweet Child O' Mine', Tina Turner's 'Simply The Best' and Europe's 'The Final Countdown'. Do do do do do do do do........sorry got carried away there. We can also invite our friends and family too so wake up granny on the sofa and take her to a session near you. For details of your nearest session got to www.rockchoirsummer.com There are also some tickets left for our Rock Choir Live Concert.... for details of those and to be a part of the evening go to: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rock-choir-live-tickets-44324646210 Not so bad eh? There is hope for all of us addicted to Rock Choir and we have some cracking new tunes to look forward to learning in September. No I'm not telling you what they are until later.......keep reading - watch this space. If you fancy joining us come along for a free taster in the new term. I don't think the free taster will include the upcoming concert which would be a bit daft and immense pressure. Here you go.......nervous newbie - straight in with fourteen songs you don't know. That's why it's good to start with a new term and new songs, starting fresh with everyone else. It's great, there's no audition and you don't have to have any previous vocal tuition, you just come along and sing for fun.....that's all there is to it. For details of your nearest session go to www.rockchoir.com So there we leave it.......I'm sure I'll keep you updated on how the concert goes and anything that pops up in the meantime.......but take care for now. Join me tomorrow for Teapot Tuesday. Bye for now. Where is my song to sing? The one that I need to sing when we win the World Cup. Someone just hasn't thought about this have they? What happens if we do win - what are we gonna sing then?
Well we can result back to the classics such as World in Motion, a bit of Vindaloo or the classic Three Lions which seems to just be the official anthem anyway........whatever the year. I did like that little ditty that Shakira sang to be honest 'Waka Waka' (This Time For Africa) which was the FIFA official tune back in 2010. Now I know she's Columbian and we play her home team tomorrow night lets just welcome her into the bosom of England, I mean why not she's a total babe. There are quite a few tunes on You Tube claiming to be the official England song but they are no match (ha ha see what I did there) for Three Lions. There is 'Don't Take Me Home' by World Cup Buster which just gets me singing Achy Breaky Heart after hearing it. Is that the idea of it? Is it a sample of the Billy Ray Cyrus hit? Maybe. The Official FIFA song this year is apparently 'Live It Up' from Nicky Jam featuring Will Smith & Era Istrefi and I wouldn't of known that unless I had Googled it. I've not heard it on the radio or anywhere else really so I think the World Cup song thing has been a complete let down. You know me, I like a good song as well. I mean if no one else was going to come forward and Gary Barlow got dumped well I would have stood up to the mark. I suppose I've got four years to pen the next one. I'll carry on humming Three Lions then if that's the way it has to be. Some say you won't be singing anything after tomorrow as football will definitely be coming home, well the players anyway. You see no one wants to spend the money creating a fantastic song because it may only be short lived, well we've done it before. We might win!! I'm remaining optimistic. Thank you so much for reading today.........which song are you going to be singing if any? You might not like any singing at all in that case tell me why!!!! I'll be back tomorrow for Teapot Tuesday but for now......... Take care. |
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