nov 10th my class performance tiger lounge

Well after 8 weeks of hard work my burlesque pupils were ready to strut their stuff at mondo marveloso, tiger lounge. we had a quick run through backstage then everyone got ready and looked absolutely fab, i was so proud of them! we were alongside other acts, bands and comedians etc but i think my girls stole the show with 4 great routines through night. we started with a little kitty number on chairs before sam did her sexy cowgirl striptease,followed by racheal and lauras very burlesque umberella duet and ending with our big group number that is a tribute of sorts to the film cabaret! we had a full house and massive cheers so i know they did really well! great fun and everything went well except for the lack of space and having to squeeze us all in to fit the chairs in but all in all great fun. emily came down to hang out and we chilled out after show time with a glass of wine and delicious cup cake that was on sale there before running off yet again for a dreaded early morning to the tour bus for the next 6 days on the road!


the sexy ladies from my burlesque course! next one starts jan..

nov 5th bonfire night!!

Meet ben and jordan from vamps and jordan drives us to st.helens to meet pritch and dainton, meet at their hotel for a couple of drinks before heading to the gig at chicago rock. the place was absolutely rammed and the crowd were going mental it was awesome. by the time they hit the stage i was a little tipsy with all the free booze so stood out of the crowd with hudge the dj to enjoy the show. just before it ended chloe and paul her boyfriend turned up just catching the end. the show was amazing, ive seen them god knows how many times and there always good but them plus an amazing crowd made it one of the best ive seen them do! We all had more drinks while the guys did a massive signing, the que was never ending so myself and chloe donned some p vs d tshirts and helped sell them to the que to keep ourselves entertained! after all was done some more partying was in order so we headed to the hotel where ben and jordan treated pritch and daint to impressions of them to everyones amusement(they were more bristol than welsh for a start). Daint and aid wanted to get to bed so jordan and ben left for some kip before getting on the tour bus. If i had any sense i would of got some sleep to but i dont so me and pritch had a late one as usual. Got a bit of sleep and before i knew it chloe was calling me from outside ready to pick me up for the bus at 7am!! i reluctantly got up and headed off for 5 days on the bus like a zombie. awesome night though so all good. felt shattered and starving so got a dirty mcdonalds breakfast before boarding the bus where i smartly put myself to bed for a few hours while we travelled to prepare for that nights show..

pritch(the only man who can look good in a hoodie and top hat!!) guitar gods jordan and ben and daint..rock on!!

on tour with vampires rock til 3rd and 4th then 2 days off

Been busy with the tour and its been weird this week as shereen is away for her wedding, missing her loads but everything has been going well so not to worry! have two days off and feel well down and depressed, go for a drink with scarlet and have a catch up and gossip and feel better thanks to her. i think because im always busy and happy having loads of highs when i stop i suddenly feel low. i tend to dwell on stupid things and get myself all stressed out, i think its my body being tired when i refuse to stop. either way my 2 days off this time were not too great, spent them feeling sorry for myself which is ridiculous because my life is great and i wouldnt change a thing, ah well we all have them days i guess!

october 23rd huddersfield

Take sarah to vamps with me today to bedworth, we got lost though and ended up in coventry.. not a great start! we finally got there and chilled out backstage before the show, we were partying in huddersfield tonight where she is from so thats why she came. that and she cant get enough of the show haha shes seen it about 3 times already and bought a dog tag tonight so she can promote us bless her! After the gig we run off asap to head back to the hudd' as were going out tonight with my bro, his mates from uni there and pritch and the guys as they had a pritchard vs dainton gig there.
we got to the camel club where we were meeting everyone around 12.30am and got stuck into partying!! me,sarah and paddy danced on the speakers while the rest of them partied in the office with the managers who were lovely and really looked after us all. we stayed until the club ended and was totally smashed and loving it so much decided we didnt want to leave so the guys from the club let us have a a lock in until around 6am which was great fun! lots of booze lots of dancing and stupidity continued until around 6am when we thought it was best to call it a night. i was pretty gone but managed to help pritch to our lift to the hotel where i made him and hudge promise me we could play acdc's black ice when we got back to the room, i felt well rough in the car but for some reason that kept me goin haha. pritch went to the garage for cigs and came out with more booze, mentalist that he is. we chilled to black ice as promised for a while before bed. i had a vamps show the day after in birmingham i must be mad and the guys were going to ireland for their tour too so no rest for the wicked and with that party time was over for another night.

me and mathew..still sober

with hudge rockin out!!

sarah and my bro



all that jazz!!

oops..taxi for two..

oct gigs n stuff

oct 6th bristol hippodrome/burnley 8th

i absolutely love this venue for some reason, its massive and on the main road in the shopping area so your right in the thick of. the dressing rooms are nice and i like going shopping so all good, we all got there pretty early so me and the girls head off for food before soundcheck which runs smoothly enough so me and shereen head off to the pub for a quick drink. my friends are coming from cardiff tonight which is brilliant and im looking forward to seeing them, unfortunately the special someone i was dying to see the show couldn't make it as we was busy and just got back from touring too which is gutting but in the business were in you get used to not seeing the people you love, you have to start booking in time with friends and sometimes go months without seeing anyone properly, this is the only major down side to the job that effects me on the road. it makes you feel lonely sometimes which is why were so lucky to have a cast and crew of people that are genuinely friends! anyway we get ready for show time and it couldnt have been better, the crowd were amazing and the show was tight and full of energy, i loved every minute. after we headed to the signing which was great fun as always and i met my friends annie and mag! they were so impressed by the show and seemed really proud of me which was great, i quickly changed so i could go for a drink with them for a good girly catchup before they had to head off back to cardiff. all in all a great night, one of my faves so far!

burnley

drove down with emily and got there super early so went shopping with nickys mum lesley who was here to watch the show. everything was going fine until we found out chloe had been involved in a crash on the motorway in her new car bless her. we were all panicking but luckily she was unhurt just shaken up. she got there late all stressed so we had a chill in the dressing room with her and got psyched up for the show. the venue is quite small so its only a few hundred strong in the audience and its a squeeze getting on and off the stage during the show.
tonight seemed to fly by and before i noticed we were packing up to head home!! im excited about my time off though as i have a big party weekend lined up!! woo!! cant wait!!

after a couple of days with vampires rock i had two days off, the plan was simple, no booze no partying, eat healthy, work out!! well it started well saturday afternoon, i went for a run after doing all my emails and stuff then went home for tea, i even got an early night and got in bed for midnight until my brother who i live with turned up, switched my light on and insisted i go out and party with him. in the end temtation took hold and we headed off out into the gay village until 6.30am. i think its safe to say day one failed. after getting up quite late on sunday i went to my mums again and as some of my family were there a quite drink in the pub turned into an all day/night bender ending with me and my auntie michelle ( shes more a friend than and aunt) getting very drunk and continuing at hers til morning! i think i drank a bottle of jack to myself and she polished off a bottle of baileys. im not gonna plan a detox anymore i do better when i dont think about it, ah well!! it was a rare treat to spend time with my family as im always away so well worth feeling crap for monday!! had a few days to catch up anyway which usually consists of shopping, bills, laundry and emails etc. not the most fun, i did take time out to shop for shereens wedding present too which was fun! hope she likes it!

oct 11th bournemouth- manchester palace 15th oct

get the train to bournemouth on my own from cardiff absolutely broken and shattered but full of good memories and pix from the past couple of nights. i get to the venue and settle down before going for a quick drink with the band. another great night tonight, were doing amazingly well on this tour! we were even ready for 7.30pm only to find out it was an 8pm show thanks to toyah and her pranks!! shes the naughty one on the tour haha she's usually focusing all her mischief on the boys though especially nicky so we tend to just get involved and encourage her as its never directed at us! grab a chinese after the show as i havent even managed to hardly eat today before heading to the hotel for a semi early night and no partying whatsoever!!

norwich

travel to norwich with emily,jordan and ben listening to avenged sevenfold. get to norwich and its a really nice place though a bit too quiet for me, some nice scenery though and on arrival i go for a walk with chloe and a good gossip about our love lives! we chill out in the dressing room watching tv up until show time and toyah bought us some lovely chocolate cakes so we sat and stuffed ourselves for a little while. the show went really well again, unfortunately because i never stayed up to date with the blog some of the gigs are hard to distinguish which is a good sign because if there was anything wrong i would remember.

manchester

manchester palace is awesome, this was my favourite to date along with bristol, maybe because being from manchester i remember going there to watch shows with my nanna and telling her i wanted to be on stage and do that, considering i never trained as a dancer until i was 17 i think ive done pretty well. it was great as i can walk there from my flat in about 2 mins so i got to spend most of the day at home, sarah my friend from the glitter kittens was with me and bought a ticket for the show so we could go out after. this is the 2nd time shes seen it this tour, she loves it! we dropped my stuff at the theatre, did all the routine set ups, hello's and catch up's then went to grand central to meet the other glitter kitten who was coming-scarlet. had a quick gossip with her before running off to get ready for showtime!! i couldnt wait i was so excited as loads of my family were there too, my mum and brothers and sisters, my nanna and uncle and aunties etc so that was great, i think i had 13 coming to see the show. the show was amazing, the crowd was buzzing and we all did really well, it was packed for such a big venue. all my family loved it, henry and arthur's mum and dad were there as were the millers, nickky's parents, steve's wife nicky and chloe's boyfriend paul so it was a nice get together. we did a massive signing that only ended because the theatre started to shut the theatre and started (politely) throwing people out! we all changed and went to grand central to party, me, the girls, the band and everyones partners and my 2 brothers and sarah. we had a few drinks before going to the salisbury around the corner to carry on drinking bumping into some vamps fans on the way! we had a quick chat to them before getting very drunk in the pub! i carried on with my bro's and sarah til around 4 am which was a laugh, we were drunken dancing in the pub and talking welsh the last i remember but i do know it was a good night!! i got given a pint of red wine courtesy of jade which pretty much finished me off haha happy days!! bring on the hang over..

tuesday, 21 October 2008

tour bus part 1....rock n roll?!!

Get up at 5.30 am meet chloe at piccadilly station then i drive us to pick emily up to head to Nottingham to meet evenyone at the tour bus, our home for the next few days!! Emily had put her bed order in already with shereen who lives closer so usually gets there before us, im not bothered where i sleep as long as its not on the top layer, you see the bus we have this year has a row of bunk bed style cabins in groups of 3, i dont fancy climbing in and out of the top bunk especially after a few beers so luckily when i get there i find a bed on the bottom floor, basically lower than floor level so being small i develop a sort of roll in to bed tecnique from the aisle which suits me perfectly and i feel out of it and private-well as private as you can be on the bus! We have the same driver as last year, geordie Andrew which is good news as we already know him and know what we can and cant get away with!! We head to Basingstoke and i go back to bed, im shattered after only 2 and a half hours sleep, when i wake up were pretty much there. We do the usual set up, well the band do while we go for a wander around the town before soundcheck and show time. Have a good show and get ready to get back on the tour, unfortunately i dont have much gossip tonight as after my non stop party schedul for god knows how long i go to bed pretty early considering and miss out on most of the partying this night but i did hear lots of acdc being played and was almost tempted to jump out of bed and go mental when motorhead ace of spades came on but as its not that easy to jump out of my bed and i was trying really hard to be good i managed to contain my urge to rock out! i think everyone watch The Lost Boys to round the night off as Nick had never seen it before. Bit gutted i missed that but i have seen it enough to re enact the whole movie so probably best i caught up on sleep.

Bedford

We climb out of the bus in the centre of town and walk to the theatre, me and chloe in our pjamas with ben and jordan (not in pjamas by the way). you get disolusioned on the bus and any normality goes out the window, i can honestly say i dont leave my house in my bed wear and walk down the street but somehow when on tour this seems logical! we get to the theatre and use the showers, i end up in the boys showers while chloe uses the girls to save time, there was no boys in there with me at the time might i add although ben did keep popping in to shout through the door that i needed to hurry up as him and jordan were waiting for us to go the pub.
we got ready and went into town realising after asking for directions we were down south!!
We had a couple of drinks early afternoon, theres a sort of tour no mans land time of day where theres nothing to do while they set up the stage etc and you feel a bit of a spare part and that time for me is usually filled by shopping and viewing the city centre or popping to the pub for some food and a beer. We go back to work realising we have the best job in the world and do another rocking show. The signing was a little stange this time as there was loads of really young kids there without adults screaming over the boys in the band and saying things to them they really shouldnt know about! we do the signing and pack for the bus, had a laugh tonight and it was nice as all the girls including toyah had a big room to share. Loved the show tonight, full of energy after my giant sleep!! woo, this is the life!! Stay up and have a few drinks on the bus all of us, its nice to have time to chill out and have a laugh with each other. We spend the night parked at the services which is good for me as i prefer sleeping when the bus isnt moving. We party for most of the night before getting some sleep on the way to Skegness.

Skegness

it looks a bit like a ghost town when we arrive to be honest, we sit in the dressing room and i feel a bit like i need to go let off some steam but theres nothing to do and i hate that, we set stuff up then me and chloe go for some food and a 'romantic' stroll along the beach front, its nice to get some sea air and clear the lungs before the show after the partying and living on the bus!
Another fun show, i always feel a panic getting on and off this stage for some reason though as theres loads of corridors but its all good. After the show we all go into town for a drink in a bar called something LA. its pretty dead and crap really especially for a friday night, welcome to skegvegas!! brilliant!! we have a few drinks and its fun enough as the whole cast is out. All us girls ended up dancing on the little stage to dodgy dance music and after a few drinks decided to entertain the crowd with our routines from the show to different songs hahaha, they didnt know what had hit them. Me and Emily decided to have a go on the pole too (why they had one i dont know because the people on there weren't the type of people you want to see on a pole to be fair). We had a little go and i managed to impress by putting my trapeze moves to the test on the pole to much success thank god, i would of looked sexy too if i didnt have jeans a jumper and ugg boots on haha ah well. Everyone headed back to the bus but me and chloe felt like we had more dancing to us, as the bus was staying outside the theatre we decided to run to a club on the way and danced the night away like to maniacs. they should of given us a job cos we got the club back to life and everyone back on the dance floor. Eventually all sweaty and danced out we headed back to the bus and went to bed after a chill out with the band. a good night really, i get back into my little bed, stick my ipod on drunkenly text some mates before drifting to sleep.

Kings Lyne

feel good suprisingly for the last tour bus day and have a really good show, the dread is that on the way back i will have to drive from the bus in the middle of the night home so i sensibly make sure i get some sleep on the way home, sat up for a bit chatting to steve and chloe then off to bed i go. We got off the bus about 4.30am which really messes your head up then me,chloe and emily have the awful drive back to manchester. chloe stayed at mine and we were so shattered when we got back to real life!! a great few days though, i loves it!!