I was actually looking at Christmas songs the other day, must have felt a little in the mood. It's the 1st of December on Friday, its about time we thought about which tunes we like to hear at this time of year. 

They are starting to play the Christmas tunes in the shops now, if you can't beat em' join em' I say. So which songs are our favourites? I'm a bit of a traditionalist, I love a Christmas Carol and the old movie songs. After watching a stage performance of White Christmas last week that song has to be one of my favourites. I love Nat King Cole so The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You) gets me going and anything by Frank Sinatra.....oh the oldies are the best.

But there are the classics which come back year after year such as Slades 'Merry Xmas Everybody' and who could not singalong to Wizzard's 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday', it's just not Christmas without those two.

There are the songs which give you goosebumps and make you feel that Christmas is really here such as 'Fairytale of New York' by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl, the start of Band Aid's 'Do They Know It's Christmas' always gets me every time and Happy Xmas (War Is Over) by John Lennon is just beautiful.

I think 'Last Christmas' will not only continue to be there with the best but feature massively for a contender for the Christmas number one. Be nice in memory of George wouldn't it? There are of course those songs that are not technically Christmas songs but still great for this time of year. 'Stop the Cavalry' by Jona Lewie was never meant to be a Christmas song but it wouldn't be right not have it around and 'The Power of Love' by Frankie Goes to Hollywood is just so breath taking and so deserves it's place at Christmas. I can imagine that being the theme to the Christmas Story. 

One song I do love to hear and it wasn't a massive hit but it appears on numerous Christmas compilation albums. It goes all the way back to 1981 and was a one hit wonder for a group called The Waitresses, yes it's Christmas Wrapping. I still have the 7" white vinyl copy of this and I know all the lyrics. It's my party song and I love it. I can never remember what I go upstairs for or into another room for sometimes but I can remember every word of this song. Weird eh?

So that's a few of my favourites. With Rock Choir we are singing a great mash up (get me, so with it) of The First Noel and Silent Night which sounds great and I'm looking forward to performing it in the next few weeks.

Let me know your favourites, I know I've left loads of songs out and I could go on forever really. It's funny because Christmas seems to come around so quickly and we listen to these songs every year but I never tire of them. Come on sing along............ 

Thanks for reading today, please pop back tomorrow for Teapot Tuesday but for now........

​Take care. 

I haven't been to the theatre for a long time and was so pleased when I heard us Rockies (Rock Choir Members) were getting a little trip together to see White Christmas. This was back in the summer so thinking about Christmas was a little tricky but it has come around so fast.

The Present Company put on a spectacular performance at The Derby Theatre reeling off the classic songs such as 'Sisters', 'Blue Skies', 'Count Your Blessings' and of course.......White Christmas. Poor Bob played by Craig Arme encountered an injury early on on the show but disguised it so well I thought his pain and limping was actually part of the show. Now that's great acting or me who needs to polish up on my White Christmas plot. There were dance sequences which match anything on Strictly, in fact better in some cases. Great singing and a lovely atmosphere.

We as a choir giggled at their choir scene when they all warmed up their voices, we use the exact same method at Rock Choir so if you were there and wondered why we were all laughing that was the reason. We got to join in with White Christmas itself which was fabulous, love a good sing song and particularly a bit of audience participation. A good time had by all I think and the rest of a well packed theatre also seemed to show their appreciation with huge applause. 

It was good to get out and I managed to be on my best behaviour apart from dropping fizzy pop down my trousers which then looked like I'd kind of wet myself. I could just hear Craig Revel Horwood in my head saying    'oh not at the theatre darling'. Could only happen to me, honestly it's a wonder anyone goes anywhere with me. Got to laugh though, as Charlie Chaplin said ..... 'a day without laughter is a day wasted'. I totally agree.

If you would like any information on Present Company they do have a Facebook page at:
www.facebook.com/Present-Company-1607807796182323/

Take care everyone and join me tomorrow for Teapot Tuesday.

Well it's our last song to learn for this year and it's going ok so far. Taking it nice and steady as it's a bit tricky one with it's five part harmonies. Oh get me! I sound like a professional musey person but I think this is going to sound fabulous when finished. 

It is of course U2's 'With or Without You' taken from one of their best albums ever, The Joshua Tree. Way back from 1987 and a class tune me thinks. Ah I was only 17 years old when this was released, yes 30 years ago!! Where did that go, only seems yesterday I was playing this on my hi fi in my bedroom. I even had the poster from this album on my wall as well. Memories!!

I'm looking forward to performing all these new songs, it's always a bit nerve racking at first but when we have sung them a few times it just becomes second nature. We performed one of our new songs on Sunday, yes 'Don't Stop Believin' got an airing at Pride Park in Derby for the 10 Mile Run. Airing???? More like a freezin'. Us Rockies looked like we belonged in Blue Planet 2, I half expected David Attenborough to sneak up behind us with his commentary. It was a little cold on the corner of Pride Park Stadium but it was a great honour to be able to cheer on the runners to the finish line and give them a sing song too. 

I can't remember feeling that chilly but blimey I have never wished for the moves that go with our Rock Choir Songs, normally we can take them or leave them but I was taking them and doing them like never before. It's only a bit of swaying, clapping and diva arms now and again but we so needed to keep the blood pumping around our bodies. Well done to everyone who took part, congratulations to everyone who took part in the run and a huge thank you to Jennie our choir leader who sees us through, whatever the weather.

It's so much fun and I'm going to say it again as there will be a new term in the new year. A good time to join us, That's when I started, fresh year, a New Years resolution maybe, it will be two years for me in January so if you fancy a free taster go to  www.rockchoir.com you'll have so much fun. 

Keep an eye out for a Rock Choir performing near you and go and support them, take them warm drinks and mince pies!!! They will love you forever but mostly just have fun listening. 

Thanks for reading today, why don't you join me again tomorrow for Teapot Tuesday, for now though......

Take care.

Awww look at them, you can't really choose can you? I can't, they are still amazingly talented even though they are not together. It doesn't mean they have to be together anymore, maybe they are those type of siblings best kept apart but I think it's sad they don't talk to each other. Liam has stated its not a publicity stunt and they have really fallen out but they still love each other surely.

I don't like people falling out, makes me sad, with anyone not just these two but I do find there little sly comments to each other quite amusing. It mainly comes from Liam taking a dig but we've got used to their brotherly fall outs even during the Oasis days. They have always been together one minute and fighting the next. I think Oasis split up and got back together more times than any other band I've known.

You can criticise their attitude and behaviour but I quite like that they were rebellious, I think it just goes to show you can break the rules and still be a huge success. I haven't seen Noel interviewing just lately which is probably his strategy of dealing with all this by staying out the way. I have seen Liam interviewed though and I can't help but like him. He's funny, intelligent and can write the most awesome lyrics and makes music which everyone knows, you all know an oasis song surely?

I'm not choosing, I'm sitting on the fence and demanding dual custody of these two. I love Noel's recent single with his High Flying Birds 'Holy Mountain'. it's really catchy and great to sing along to but I do have to stop myself from singing 'she bangs' instead of 'she fell' what's that all about?? I was probably having one of those misplaced lyric moments when I first heard it. My hearing is not that good to be honest, I may have been listening to a lot of music with the volume up way to high but hey - no regrets.

Liam's 'For What It's Worth' is just class, love it! You can say classic Oasis but I think it's just Liam and brilliant lyrically. That's the thing with these guys, you can listen to their lyrics and think 'yep I get it'. We all lose our way and we all make mistakes, it's a 'yes I'm a bit of a silly person' and I'm saying sorry song. Love the strings in the music too to just give it that drama. It's a masterpiece again. 

So keep going guys, together, apart or whatever. If you want to appear together again for the public, do it but only do it for yourselves not us because we're alright 'our kids'. I'm sure they've had massive amounts of cash offered to get together but there would be nothing worse than to see them unite for that reason rather than doing it because they genuinely wanted to. I do like how Liam thinks about his mum and how she would feel. It is hard as she would want her boys to be the best of buddies, we wish that as parents from the moment they are born but fate takes life down a different road. I'm sure if anything happened to either one of them I feel they would be there like a shot. Leave them to it I say, just keep making great tunes and 'Definitely Maybe' (see what I did there?) - just one day, you never know. .

Thanks for reading today, pop back tomorrow for Teapot Tuesday. 

Take care for now.