15 Minutes of Fame

Hrrmm, 29th of June. That was the last time I posted. Two and a half months... before I know where I am it will be 2011! The reason for my long blogging absence? Don't Stop Believing!

I have posted about Sing Live a couple of times before. I started singing with the Sing Live North West choir last April and have since sung with them three times at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester and I have also sung at the fabulous Royal Albert Hall in London. Every time I perform the experience gets better, so much so that I constantly ask myself how each performance can be topped. But somehow, it always is. This summer has been no different.

I think it was back in April when a group of singers from Sing Live Merseyside, Sing Live North West and Sing Live North East gathered in a car park in Gosforth (because we couldn't get into the Civic Centre that had been booked for the occasion) to audition for a new TV show to be broadcast on Five. None of us really expected to get through, but we got the 'call' at the end of June, inviting us to perform on and spent July preparing for our fifteen minutes of fame.

I often wondered about the experiences of TV show contestants, like those on X-Factor. In interviews, they all seem to spout wonderful things about how close they are as a group, and how much they enjoy the experience. I used to suspect that it was bluster. Exaggeration. Turns out, it's not.

Performing with Sing Live on Don't Stop Believing is probably the single coolest and most exciting experiences of my life so far. There are something in the region of 4,000 Sing Live members spread across 11 companies in the UK and USA but the eighty-five of us that performed live on TV are part of an exclusive club. We are ambassadors for the company we love, and for the 4,000 members who weren't able to sing with us. We did get to know each other really well, having spent days at a time together, and while there were occasional upsets, everyone was very supportive of each other. It was a privilege and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for which I will be perpetually grateful.

It's impossible to fully explain what it felt like to be part of the experience. Many people have asked if I was nervous - no I really wasn't, I was excited. Standing on the stage, head down, waiting for the music to start, was incredible. Thinking of the millions of people watching at home, including friends and family that were probably just as excited as me, and probably more nervous, was empowering. And if I thought there was a buzz before we went on stage, it was nothing compared to the buzz coming off stage after performing. The atmosphere was exhilarating. I felt a bond with the rest of the group that I have never felt before, and I would gladly give my right arm to do it again. Although I don't think that would make for good choreography.

If you would like to see how I spent my summer, you can watch the show in full by clicking here, or you can watch our main performance and the judges comments by clicking here. I hope you enjoy it. It's also worth saying that we're not a special group of Sing Live members that are better than others; we're not all amazing performers. We are ordinary people.

Anyone can join Sing Live and there are no auditions to sing with us. If you would like to be part of one of our performances, there is nothing stopping you. :o)

Sing Live!

Blog posts have been a bit thin on the ground recently. A busy work schedule will do that to you because there's nothing worse than coming home after ten hours at a computer to sit in front of another computer! So, here I am, wondering what to write about. There's a few things in the news right now that interest me - or irriatate me - but nothing seemed to flow right. Then it occurred to me that I've done some pretty cool stuff recently and not mentioned any of it!

Think back seven weeks (has it really been that long?!?!) what were you doing? I was busy making final preparations to perform at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester: hair, make-up, dress, shoes, hair again, organising water bottles and snacks, more hair faffing... The day mostly involved a lot of hanging around and waiting. Mostly due to the fact that half the band got 'lost' on their way to the Hall. Eventually, however, we had enough brass to get started on the technical call - our first rehearsal with the incredible National Festival Orchestra Big Band. I have been to 'The Bridge' a couple of times with my folks. We heard the BBC Phil performing Beethoven's choral symphony in December last year and then Greig's piano concert and Fingal's Cave (one of my most favourite pieces of orchestral music) earlier this year. But I was totally unprepared to step out onto the choir circle for the first time. Looking out over the empty auditorium from the 'other side' was amazing, nevermind when the band struck up and everyone started to sing. That single moment was almost better than the performance itself. Especially since the second time I stepped out on the choir circle I felt my stomach physically lurch as the empty seats were suddenly filled with bums and eager faces were staring back at us all. Not to mention my looney mates in the back row waving like nutters! Fortunately, any nervousness was relatively short lived. In fact most of the show is a bit of a blur. I remember it being very hot - this was right in the middle of the heat wave - and I remember my feet hurting... a lot! But the whole experience was awesome.

So awesome, in fact, that on July 26th I did it all again on the Bandstand in Kensington Gardens!

We did a selection of music from the Bridgewater Hall and this time around it wasn't just people from Greater Manchester, but we were joined by fellow choir members from Merseyside and the North East. It was a long day and we spent most of it on a very uncomfortable coach, interspersed with walking. We had a bit of time in London before the performance so Steve and I went for a wander around Harrods, which is only a 20 minute walk to Kensington Gardens. Needless to say, we didn't buy anything, but if it was possible to get a mortgage on a £135,000 set of speakers we would have! Steinway apear to make some stunning audio systems as well as stunning pianos! If anything, I enjoyed the performance at Kensington Gardens even more than the Bridgewater hall, simply because I was much more relaxed and we could see the enjoyment on the faces of our audience. But this show was special to me as well, because the 26th of July would have been my brother's birthday. He brought music to my life as I was growing up because he had an infectious passion for it. Plus his stereo, TV and keyboard were always turned up full blast so the house constantly shook. When he died our house became oddly silent. This concert on his birthday was a great way for me to celebrate and remember his life.

One other cool thing about the trip to London was seeing the Royal Albert Hall in the 'flesh'. The R.A.H. looks out over Kensington Gardens and it's the venue for my next performance, which will be on September 27th, and will be hosted by Judith Chalmers. The choir will consist of around 800 people from the UK and America and we'll be performing songs from the musicals of the stage and silver screen. I can't wait! Tomorrow we're having a big rehearsal in Halifax, so it will be an early start for me.

So as you can see, I have been bitten by some sort of crazy singing bug. But what makes all this possible is the fantastic group of people behind Sing Live. The company motto is "Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things In Exciting Places". I am just about as ordinary as anyone else and I'll soon be singing at the Royal Albert Hall. If that doesn't fulfill their motto I'm not sure what will... maybe St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican next year!

ID Please...

On the news this morning, I discovered that Manchester will be the trial city for the government's hair-brained ID Card scheme. What joy!

Identity cards will cost anywhere between £30 and £60 and, according to Jacqui Smith, will 'increase protection' against crime, illegal immigrants and terrorists. The Home Office press release claims the benefits of ID Cards as:

• a universal and simple proof of identity that brings convenience for organisations and individuals –ending the disorganised use of photocopied bank statements, phone bills and birth certificates;
• control over who can see your personal details – this means no longer revealing details about your finances or personal life just to prove who you are and where you live;
• ensuring that foreign nationals living, working and studying here legally are able to easily prove their identity and preventing those here illegally from benefiting from the privileges of Britain;
• and convenient travel in Europe using the identity card.

Seems great, doesn't it... until you start to really think about it.

Just like any form of identification, it will be possible to clone and forge these cards. They will be stolen and they will be lost. No security system is completely unhackable - a truth that has been repeatedly reasserted, most recently with the banks' certainty that 'Chip & Pin' and 'Verify by Visa/Mastercard Secure Code' would reduce credit card fraud instances of which continue to increase. It might make it more difficult for forgers and fraudsters, illegal immigrants and terrorists - for about five minutes - but like Star Trek's 'Borg', they will adapt and if we rest too much faith in such a system I fear that we will ultimately leave ourselves and our nation fatally exposed.

As for the so-called benefits of the scheme, I keep wondering if the Home Office is trying to be funny. We already have two major forms of identity in this country - the passport and the driving licence. Both of which we have to pay (through the nose) for every time we need to renew or change the details. The passport now contains biometric information and the driving licence has your address on it. Why do we need a further proof of identity? (Which we would also have to pay (through the nose) for every time the details needed to be changed). Convenience and 'control' of my information are paltry reasons to introduce a scheme as such massive cost. I will still have to have a driving licence in order to drive and I will still need to have a passport for travel outside Europe, so why is having extra ID considered to be convenient. Furthermore, I fail to see how this will give me more control over my personal and financial information than I already have. As things stand, I don't need to hand over such information to prove who I am. This seems rather like grasping at straws to me!

I don't agree with the argument that says carrying an ID Card is an infringement of civil liberties. I think it's important to be able to prove who you are and frequently those who try to conceal their identity when requested, are precisely the people who are up to something! What does concern me here is that this will be a huge waste of money - a colossal white elephant. The government will waste billions of pounds (even with the public putting in fistfuls of cash themselves) just getting this scheme off the ground and the most important aim of the scheme (to increase our national security by preventing fraud, illegal immigration and terrorism) is unachievable through this scheme. Introducing a further form of identity does not properly address any of these problems. Fraudsters will be able to forge, clone or steal the cards, if not immediately, then some time in the not too distant future. Illegal immigrants will still arrive here and will just continue to do what they do now: present no form of identification so that they cannot be deported, end up being released, and then disappear into the population without a trace. And terrorism is a far greater problem with far more complex issues than can be solved by a bit of plastic - after all, those identified as guilty of or suspected of terrorism in this country in the last decade, have all been here legally.

At the end of the day, an ID card does not tell anyone what you are doing or planning or what your moral, legal, religious or fanatical beliefs are (neither should it). We need to be smarter than this if we want to combat the problems in our society. This is yet another sign of Labour's inability to approach anything with a modicum of common sense or originality.