What you can get for Four pounds...

Today I went to this little thing called the Vintage Jumble sale. It is not far from where I live! I was hoping to maybe pick up a bargain and I am pleased to say I did.

This lovely lady had a stall full of things selling each for mostly under £5! I found this gorgeous tea set still in its box. Dates from the 1970s I think. I don't really care I love it. I got it to use but I am not sure if I will! I am on the hunt for a a nice coffee set complete with pot now!

I also got this set of glasses still in their original box.

I am really pleased with my purchases today!

Retro heaven!

Amazing.....That's Kappa alright!

To be honest I used to think Kappa were far too loud for me! When ever I passed the Cavern Pub after leaving The Shakers at the Cavern Club I could hear the music coming up the stairs! Just those few years ago though I wasn't into bands like Led Zeppelin really. It has only been the last three or four years I've picked up on them.

Then last November I decided to check them out and BOY was I impressed! The Cavern Pub was packed as hot as Beatles Week in August. I was impressed by Paul's AMAZING guitar playing and swaying hips, Tony's drumming..I've no idea how he keeps going for 3 hours in one gig and Martin's bass playing is FAB..not to mention the hair! They certainly work great as a band together!

Not only that they managed to do another 2 hour gig across the road in the Cavern Club almost straight after!

The band not only cover; Led Zeppelin and various other rock classics. Paul also plays his own songs which intermingle perfectly with the rock classics. Even I didn't realise he had written them himself they are that good! Just goes to show how talented Paul Kappa is.

The guys certainly have a lot more stamina than I will ever have.

I've also seen them do a full Led Zeppelin tribute gig a few times which has been truly amazing. I even got dressed up for the occasion, and I was about the only one!

Sometimes they have a drummer with them called Laura who is very good too (she also plays in her own band called The Tone Junkies). Kappa are off to America in August. I hope it goes well for them.

I have really enjoyed going to see them over the last year. It has been great fun! The best thing was me and a friend Rosie doing our little tribute videos to Kappa songs!

Now I'm off for a rest..I'm all Kappa'd out! Until next week!

Kappa play the Cavern Pub every Saturday at 7pm and the Cavern Club at midnight

Shakin' All Over

I wanted to write something about one of my favourite Merseybeat bands, actually they are my FAVOURITE! I have been seeing them in their regular spot at the Cavern on a Saturdays since they started there. The date escapes me...perhaps 1963 (LOL).

I love the fact that they play nothing that hit the pop parade after 1964. I LOVE Johnny Kidd and the Pirates and Shakin' All Over it is played by them to perfection.

I just wanted to write a little bit about them as this week is the anniversary of when the Beatles played their last gig at The Cavern in 1963.

The Shakers play songs by a lot of the Merseybeat groups; Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J Kramer, The Mojos, even Cilla and of course The Beatles. They also do songs by the likes of Peter and Gordon, The Rolling Stones and Johnny kidd and the Pirates.

So if you are down Mathew Street in Liverpool on a Saturday afternoon about 3.30pm or a Sunday night about 9pm. Please go and have a listen. Tony, Eddie, Martin and Phil are the real deal and are as close to the REAL thing as you can get pure nostalgia.

Andy Warhol is a significant artist and influenced the decade of the 1960s. He realised and picked up on the boom time after the depression of 1930s America he was born into. The 1950s was the start of the consumer revolution. His work was a comment on the mass consumer culture going on around him. He became obsessed with the celebrity icon. The art he created was using images from supermarket brands such as: coco cola, Brillo and Campbells Soup cans. He also became incapturelated by the link between death and celebrity. He made a strong statement about the times he was living in.

He questioned the nature of art and its need to be original. The concept behind the idea was what mattered rather than the skill it took to make it. His art recycled others work and reproduced it. His work was brash, and irreverent and mass produced, just like the world around him.

His Brillo box focuses totally on the image, which jumps out.

“Warhol’s boxes have comic timing. The humour of the work is that Warhol has bothered to make an object at all- just as it may be humorous to think that we are buying things rather than refined images when we purchase commodities “.

“Despite (Brillo) being a three dimensional object, its functional as nothing more than a label. It is not a container of something else there is no Brillo pad inside it-but a sign complete in itself. “ (Kitnick, 2007, 100)

He used a technique that he would be forever associated with, silk-screen printing it was a way he could produce images many and quickly. These images were garish and brightly coloured just like the advertisements to sell to the consumers the goods they desired to make their lives better.

In his Marilyn prints the ink was layered over a black and white photograph taken by Gene Korman.

“The misprints and occasional clogging of the screen gave each face a slightly different expression. Making the point that although her face is reproduced endlessly Marilyn Monroe is not the plastic consumer good she appears to have become…” (Whiting, 1997, 176).

The Monroe image was reproduced to the point where it wasn’t clear where the movie icon ended and the real Monroe began. Warhol’s comment on at and consumer culture was making the point that everyone could produce art and anything could be art.

“..Warhol exaggerated the appearance and style of both the stars themselves and the mass-produced photographic images by which they were known. Warhol’s silk-screens are not therefore, about Taylor and Monroe as real people at all, but about their public image in its purist form.” (Whiting,1997 148).

A star’s true identity is therefore trapped beneath the public image. They became public spectacles. In the 1950s the press set out to uncover the person behind that movie icon image.

Warhol spearheaded the Pop Art movement in America. His art was a statement on the Capitalist consumer society that had exploded after the hardship of the Second World War and the end of rations in food and consumer goods that enveloped the early 1960s. He created work that reflected this and made art accessible to the masses rather that the high art bourgeois that it was before this.

“In February 1965, Life illustrated an article on Pop fashion, home appliance and advertising with a dress based on Warhol’s silk-screen prints of the Campbell’s soup cans” (Whiting. 1997, 179).

Thursday night viewing

There wasn't much on the TV tonight so I thought I would dig a pile of DVD's out and I decided on Breakfast At Tiffany's. I have never seen it before and I didn't know the story, but I've had the film sat unwatched for at least a couple of years. I am also ashamed to say I have never seen a film with Audrey Hepburn in (not that I can remember). I have only ever seen her famous image in photographs and part of Andy Warhol's prints. The film is a wash with early sixties American glamour. Audrey Hepburn's outfits are truly stunning even her little black dress. My favourite was a bright pink dress with matching shoes and tiara.

The story is of a lonely girl who calls herself Holly Golightly who is searching for a rich man to marry. Her only companion is a ginger cat, who she simply calls 'Cat". Until 'Fred" enters her life (played by actor George Peppard). they become friends and neighbours.

A touching moment is when Holly sits on the window ledge strumming a guitar singing 'Moon River" which is the backdrop throughout the whole film. Mostly it is the instrumental we hear.

She thinks she has found a husband who is going to be president of Brazil and she plans to fly there to marry him, but things take a turn for the worse and she gets rejected by him.

It ends up with her in a taxi with 'Fred' and 'Cat'. the sad bit in the film is when she chucks her beloved pet out of the taxi into the pouring rain. you see him looking from railings all rejected and wet..poor thing!

Of course the film ends happily with Fred declaring his love for Holly..and she finds her beloved Cat again...The end...

The Navy Lark

My grandad William Pratt (top left in the photo) was in the Royal Navy during the Second World War. I've got a photograph of him somewhere in his uniform. I've been looking everywhere for it but I can't find it. I also have one of him with my nan on their wedding day which I also can't find. But I did find one of him with some other chaps from his submarine crew.

He started life out as a stoker on the submarine H M Seal. This even has it's link with Liverpool as it had it's first test run on the Mersey (my grandad wasn't in the crew then though).

It was a mine clearing submarine, deep under the sea. A VERY dangerous job, one wrong move and the whole submarine could blow up and along with it all it's crew.

During 1940 they were on their way somewhere and the submarine got tangled up in somes mines and they could not go anywhere, stuck and running out of air and time.

Their only hope was to be rescued. In May 1940 they were rescued, but by some Germans Officers who captured the submarine and the crew. Prisoners for the rest of war. He was very lucky and survived.

He worked his way up to the best job according to my mum. When he left the Navy though I

have been told he spent all his money on drink. I am not surprised I think the war affected so many people.

In 1961 a book called 'Will Not We Fear' By C.E.T. Warren and James Benson. It tells the story of what happened to them. My nan had a copy so I read it, but I have my own now which I managed to source from Ebay.

My grandad was never able to tell me about what happened to him as I was only 4 years old when he died. All I can remember about him was sitting on his knee, getting piggy backs and knuckle sandwiches. I had no idea what a hero he was and what he went through.

I know he was very ill I remember before he died he looked bad. He was only 58, he died from Lung cancer, due to smoking.

Here is something I wrote for an exhibition at The Cornerstone Gallery earlier in the year.

As you walk into the Cornerstone Gallery at Hope University, the Sutton Taylor exhibition is situated in lit cabinets around the parameter walls of the ground floor exhibition space, rather than in the middle of the room. This gives the viewer the opportunity to view the pieces from different angles, and admire the lustre that glows, shines and bounces all around the spot lit glass display cabinets. They reflect light, sheer gloss, the great splendor of the shiny metallic surfaces of this pottery, which comprises a collection of oversized vessels.

From a distance, the large pieces look alluring, their heights approximately 50cm on average for the vases with the bowls being around 15x 25cm, on closer inspection they show the progression in both style and colour. The journey begins with the more pastel shades of ‘Bowl with flower pattern’ (1986) coming right up to date with the geometric style and bold colours of ‘Dark purple and green bowl’ (2010). These pieces assault the senses with such gusto; the garish bright colours look like precious stones in a jewellery shop or a part of a priceless hoard of treasure. The shine attracts the viewer to them like a magpie and from a distance the surface glistens and looks smooth, but on approaching, the tones, shades and colours change, and also the bumps and imperfections are clearly visible making them all more desirable as pieces to be ‘lusted’ after.

Taylor is a lifelong self-taught ceramicist, who is “attracted to bright and changing light conditions in expansive skies, and moving-water-to light through foliage to patterns and juxtaposition of colour in the landscape to pattern of light and shade in rock faces or individual pebbles”. (www.hartgallery.co.uk/artists/taylor ).

In the middle of the ground floor gallery space is the staircase leading up to the next level, where the first part of the other exhibition collectively called ‘Quartered, Drawn and Hung’, (a macabre pun on the proper name for a death sentence to be ‘hung. quartered and drawn) is displayed. These, unlike the Sutton Taylor pieces, are works by different artists linked to the University. At the top of the first staircase is a collection of small white pottery pieces, and sketchbooks in glass cabinets. On the back wall, various artists have explored their perception through drawing using various media. Two of the art works aren’t conventional. The first, a cross-stitch sample, by Fiona Ward (2010) is framed by its own hoop with a piece of embroidered red writing communicating the message ‘the miserable have no other medicine. But only hope’. A quote taken from Shakespeare’s Measure for measure. “I studied this at A-level and it really stayed with me; there are a good many layers to it and always something new to think about it. The line used seems to fit well with the present way of the world. I chose the medium because I’ve always enjoyed textiles and used to do a lot of sewing and I am also interested in how the use of textiles has been seen through the history of art” (Fiona Ward).

The second work approach to drawing is one which challenges our perception and approach to drawing in a traditional format using media such as charcoal, pencil and line etc., and stood out among the other mainly traditional approaches to the subject of mark making.

Tony Smith’s painterly mixed media pieces are small, brightly coloured, and experimental.

“ I like something which is formally quite under-spoken and subtle like minimalist art, and in particular how minimalist painting is displayed via something bawdy and over the top like a banner. There exists a paradox or contrast between the work and the mode of presentation” (Tony Smith).

Another set of stairs led to the final level. For this part of the exhibition accessing the works was more limited; the balcony forces the viewer to follow the drawings around one way or the other and in a certain order rather than personal choice.

The Drawing exhibition makes the viewer question what drawing is, and the title suggests that the creators of these pieces have each ripped apart this traditional form of visual expression in their own way.

Vintage or New?

I LOVE vintage. Why? I choose to wear vintage (or second or pre-loved) clothes because with shops such as Primark clothes are so mass produced its even harder to create you own personal style.

I do like to wear new clothes, but I tend to mix them with vintage to give them my own unique style. I do love 1960s in general and the clothes from that era. I would say that I am a bit of an eclectic person in my tastes especially in music and clothes.

I have over 200 hangers with clothes on in my wardrobes, thats not counting all the stuff I have folded up in a suitcase or two.

I do take notice of current fashions and trends and note what other people are wearing and what is being sold in fashion shops. Although there are certain things I do not think tasteful and just look wrong.

Amy Winehouse revamped the fashion of the beehive hairstyle and the black eyeliner that was fashionable in the 1960s, my era. What I don't understand is the need for young girls to go out shopping in town with rollers in their hair? That is so Hilda Ogden or Nora Batty!!! Next they will be wearing pinnys and singing "the hills are alive".

It's that man again..

I've met a few *well known* people in my time, I have even seen Her Madge, The Queen up close when she visited Liverpool. She is a rather small lady it has to be said. I've also got to meet George Harrison. When I've met these celebrities I've never been star stuck.

The person who I've met most times though is Richard Hammond, *the short one off Top Gear*. I have lost count how many times I've seen him, that is not really important now. All I know that it has been nearly a year since I had my last photograph taken and a proper chat with him. I am hoping it is not very long now until I speak to him again or at least see him. I've never really been 'star struck' around him I think it's his easy going personality. Ok a lot of people take the p*** saying oh but he is only famous because of the crash, but I saw him on TV long before this, he wasn't a big part of my life, but he was 'noticed'. He made me giggle on the rather naff 5 O'clock show that he did! When he had his crash I was devastated!

The first time I met him was at a book signing in Kent, I was so nervous! There was loads of screaming teenagers it was mental! I went straight up to him and said "Hello, how are you?..its a shame about Evil Knievel dying isn't it?" (he had died the night before and Rich had just filmed a programme with him about his life). I can't remember what he said to me now, but I said I would see him in a few days for the filming of Top Gear.

Ok I am 36 years old and I perhaps should not be doing this sort of thing, but he kind of inspires me and keeps me on the straight and narrow. He is that little bit of positivity, when things have been rough for me.

Just seeing him in person and his brown eyes sparkle and then he says "hello" and breaks into a big grin..I can't help but be hooked!

I have to say I did go a bit weak at the knees when I got a birthday kiss and I've also had a hug.I just think he is a normal bloke and can just talk to him like I would talk to a friend.

Whatever I do, where ever I am, he will always be a small part of my life and be part of some of my happiest memories

Sometimes It hurts It REALLY hurts!

Just lately I have come to realise that maybe you can't please all the people all of the time. I used to think I had to keep everyone happy and neglect myself. What people thought of me was more important than what I thought of myself (I am trying to get out of this way of thinking). This is in some part because of the way my mum has treated me: 'You will only get rejected in the end then what will you do?", "You can't go out dressed like that!!", "They told you at school you would amount to nothing". etc...etc...I have always tried to please her, but failed because I think that is an impossible dream. she even thought my grade B for my first year of my degree was "average', even though I don't even have a grade higher than a E for my GCSE's

Well I have discovered that some people you give the benefit of the doubt to turn out not to be friends at all. This isn't the first time it has happened to me. I recently met some new people who I thought ok we have one thing in common and they seem friendly enough. I exchanged the odd text message with them and enquire after them as you do with friends, not in a nosey, nasty or vindictive way but just asking in a friendly way. Then in a purely childish way these texts have been passed on to another person and twisted in a way that makes me seem like I hate this person. which I don't in any way. I am starting to have second thoughts about their intentions.
I have never been one to be angry or bitter or hold grudges, not for long anyway! I am certainly willing to give people a second chance, but I am having second thoughts about this.
I asked one of my mates "What is it that I have done to make these people HATE me so much?". I have only know them a short while and they really have no reason to do so!

I was asked by someone several times if I was ok? I said no not really and I didn't want to stick around. I mentioned that someone had 'pissed me off" and their reply was rise above it, which was a hard fight let me tell you. I think I just about got away with it! They asked if I was ok again at the end of the night I said 'yes', but of course this was a lie. I spent the whole night trying to hold back tears even the drinking was no consolation! I REALLY know I should not let these sort people affect me as they are not really my friends, I guess I have to learn the hard way! No doubt this will reach those people somehow, they can draw their own conclusion, I really don't care. I am not going to waste my time on them anymore! I will try and move on from it, but it will be hard! I've been through enough. So if I talk alot about myself it's nothing to do with "loving myself too much". It's the opposite. Don't ask me to explain I don't really understand myself..Yes I REALLY don't understand MYSELF, ME!
I know I probably do get on my real friends nerves sometimes and I am grateful they have stuck around for me. I HOPE I am there for them too! Even if it is just a shoulder to cry on or a nice coffee and cake!!

In My Liverpool Home...

As I begin to write this BBC6 music are reviewing the very thing I am going to write about.

I didn't feel like going all the way to London today, long journey and not feeling to good I decided against it. Instead I thought I would take a look around the newly opened Liverpool Museum. it only opened a couple of days ago so at least when I got there to look around it would all be new and hopefully everything working and nothing missing, like alot of museums after they have been visited my numerous groups of tourists and school children. The Billy Fury statue is to the side of the building and seems to guide you in the right direction. Billy was a pop star before the Beatles made Liverpool famous. The Mersey river was strangely calm today, but the crowds not.. That was the only thing that let it down today the amount of people. It has opened just in time for the start of the school holidays. The cafe and shop was packed with people. There wasn't a spare table to sit and eat cafe purchases because people saved the table for themselves which really isn't fair at such busy times. so people who had queued and paid for food had no where to sit. The shop was also busy. It is small and stuffed with tacky items to purchase.

The building was designed by a Danish designer. It has replaced a much smaller building that stood in the very place that the new muesum stands. The shape is very modern, but in a strange way it fits in with the existing buildings the three graces and the waterfront in general. It is very noticeable but not in an out of place way.

Inside there is a spiral very wide staircase, which I did not even attempt to climb. Instead I took the lift to the 2nd floor. The first floor gallery space does not open until later in the year.

My favourite part was the Wondrous place gallery. Covering the creative minds of Liverpool. For example, writer, poets, and musicians. I was glad to see they have the balance right only a small part about the Beatles (if you need Beatles there is the place a few yards away for that). It was far too crowded today to take in all the exhibits today.

I think it is very important for the next generations to see all that makes Liverpool great. It's a multi media experience, full of film archive and music. Of course alot of the pieces are behind glass but with little hands about it is only right.

There is a lovely view of the Liver building through one of the windows. It is framed and looks like a clear stained glass window. The only colour the blue sky and fluffy white clouds.

I really enjoyed my brief look around today, but I didn't stay too long as it was so busy. I guess I will just have to go back and see it in a few months. By the sound of it there is alot more to see that I missed. The building is amazing inside very bright and airy and it supposed to be the biggest museum built outside of London for 100 years. Opened just in time to celebrate the anniversary of the Liver birds. They have seen a lot of people come and go over the years.

Having A Bash!!

I am now reading my third Stuart Maconie book, Cider With Roadies. It is definitely the best book of his that I have read. I won the book on the local radio station a few years back but never got around to reading it until now. I have recently converted to listening to Stuart and Mark Radcliffe's show on BBC6 Music, far better than Radio 2 is of late in the afternoons.

Cider tells of a life lived through music and it starts with his first experience of attending a concert with his mum as a small child. It was The Beatles (what a place to start!). He interviewed his mum about the night and all she can remember is being in the queue and the chippy after. Nothing about the Beatles appearance on stage. Which made me laugh, that seems typical of mum's, they always remember the most important things.

When growing up in Wigan and attending the famous Wigan Casino he became a Northern Soul boy, and then as he calls himself 'the only Punk in Wigan' .

"As anyone who tried to form a teenage band will know, drummers are gold dust. Tone-deaf , troglodytic gold-dust maybe, but gold dust. Drumkits cost a lot of money, especially when compared to a guitar from the Grattans catalogue. they are a bugger to transport , taking up the entire back seat and obscuring all the rear window of the average Seventies saloon car. Assembly and dismantling the kit takes hours. If you rush home from MFI salivating at the prospect of spending a weekend putting together a flatpack bookshelf with poorly translated instructions then the drums are your instrument. worst of all you can never practise. Not unless you possess your own small Scottish island or underground silo anyway. No one in their right mind wants to listen to a trainee drummer..."

Cider with Roadies, Stuart Maconie, 2003, Ebury Press

That is about where I am up to at the moment with the book. It made me laugh as I recently acquired a drumkit and had a go at playing but I decided against it as my flat is too small and I was quite frankly rubbish!

The place you get a perfect butty...

Skinni Malinx is situated at 21 Castle Street in Liverpool. The heart of the city centre not far from the town hall. I love this place as it's tucked away and small and quiet and the food is really satisfying.

I discovered it as it was mentioned at my Weight Watchers meeting, i just had to try it for myself.

They serve freshly made food including cakes..yes CAKES! All the things they sell are counted with calories or (like me) on the Pro Points plan. So no need to worry about feeling guilty. They do the most perfect sausage and bacon toastie, complete with sauce if you want..I couldn't have one without ketchup! The toast is perfectly crunchy granary bread and the sausages are named no syn ones...It's not dripping with fat but tastes like a proper (as much as you can have) butty. Washed down with a coffee or tea I would recommend this place to everyone, if you are on a diet or not!

A Bright day in Manchester..

I like to think I view all art with an open mind. It hasn't always been so. I'd stick to the safe options like; Van Gogh, Picasso and Andy Warhol. It's not that I am not influenced by these artists, but I feel there is a lot more out there to discover and I'm ready to look for it and the journey has begun.

I must admit though, I recently went to the Lowry in Manchester to see the exhibition of Andy Warhol works which is traveling around the country.

I've seen his trademark screen prints in books on a smaller scale and the odd ones in galleries but it was finally great to see a show solely of his work. Walking through the gallery dedicated to the work of L S Lowry who spent his life to painting the street and scenes of Manchester. Warhol was a different character all together. He was obsessed with celebrity culture in America and was a far cry from the North of England that Lowry painted.

There was a room in the Warhol exhibition that reflected his personality and that of his subject Marilyn Monroe. It was painted a bright pink and one wall was covered in animal print paper. I was quite disappointed it wasn't actually 'furry" when I touched it! In the centre of the room was a huge black velvet sofa and from the ceiling hung a huge chandelier. All very brash and maybe even tasteless, but i liked it.

I am a big fan of Warhol. because I think he sums up the 1960s. I like the bold colours and simplicity of his screen prints. the highlight of this exhibition for me though was the 1960s design chair that was part of the gallery space. It looks like an oversized cue ball its inside black the outside white. i sat there and relaxed looking at a book about Warhol's portraits. I think passers by thought I was part of the exhibition as I was wearing one of my vintage outfits.

I came away with a book of Andy postcards (which I intend to put in frames, eventually) and a book called 'Andy Warhol and Pat Hackett POPism' .

"This is my personal view of the Pop phenomenon in New York in the 1960s.." Andy Warhol

Leafing through the pages


As a child I loved it when my mum used to read to me in bed before I went to sleep. Some of my favourite reading material was; Stig of the dump, Fantastic Mr Fox and The worst witch. Since a child I have collected and loved reading books. I borrowed all the books in the local library about the Beatles. Bognor was actually quite well stocked with books on the subject.

I enjoyed reading biographies, auto-biographies. I loved to dig in a good history book and leafing through the pages of a book was very satisfying. At school I loved learning about history, the Romans and how they lived was

appealing to me.

My books shelves have always been stocked with books on a various array of subject matter some of them..music, art, photography, history, motor transport. A lot of them relate to the 1960s and the Beatles as it is something that I have been passionate about for the last 20 years.

The first book I read from cover to cover in one day was the last Harry Potter. for some reason I wanted to read it all in one go. I got the book at midnight on the day it was published and didn't go to sleep until it was finished. I think it took 23 hours to read in the end.

I left books for a while except for the odd book by Richard Hammond, which were FAB and VERY funny. In the last couple of weeks I've had lets just say a lot of spare time, too much time to think. So I picked up a book again. I heard author Kay Burley talking about her latest attempt at writing.."full of sex" it was described. I thought I'd try that to get me reading again. It was certainly an attempt at writing, but not a good one, boring and certainly no sex. After a few chapters..well nearly half the book I gave up and moved on to far better things.

I met Stuart Maconie who was telling tales of his new book *Hope and Glory*. I decided this was going to be my next read. It's about a day in the 20th century from each decade, that shaped Britain. He visits those places..drinks coffee and eats toasted teacakes. I then read Pies and Prujudice..it got better! Now I am in the middle of Cider with Roadies. All books by Mr Maconie. Thats my third book in 2 weeks, not bad going, but also a lot of coffe

e and tea being consumed. I don't know what I will be reading next. I have quite a few to choose from..Caravaggio, Michael Caine, Keith Richards, Caitlin Moran or a book on Popism..Umm can't decide right now, back to Cider with roadies and my coffee!

I was having a look in my display cabinet..

I came across this postcard. It's from Andre Barreau. Perhaps most well know for being George Harrison in the first big tibute band The Bootleg Beatles. This was to do with his other band Those Magnificent Men, a country band. I can not remember if i went to this party for his album or not. Me and a couple of mates actually started a fanzine for the band. At the time I thought it was very funny and witty and was a hand *stuck together* job. I had a pen name Ms Femme Fatale, not appropriate really but thats another story.

I also have to say the Bootleg Beatles were ALL to me from 1993 when I first saw them at the Empire in Liverpool. In the end I saw them 57 times. I travelled the country as far as Cornwall, Bristol, Stoke, Birmingham. Manchester, Croydon, London..and various other

venues! We even got to know the band and they became friends. We got into the sound checks, which at the time was very exciting. At the time I didnt get bored of seeing them all those times. Even thought the show was exactly the same. We even threw jelly babies at them for some of the shows to recreate the Beatles concerts, trying not to hit them! We made banners, and wore red trousers and had special t-shirts made. It was all very amusing at the time. We certainly got ourselves noticed. The funniest thing was when me and my mate dressed up as John and Yoko for one of the gigs! The audience just stared..I was Yoko complete with long black wig!

I actually had quite a collection of letters from Andre but they are long gone

. I do still have the demo tape of his album somewhere, which he sent to me. i last saw Andre in 2008 and it was nice to catch up with him but I wouldn't go and see the Bootleg Beatles now as there are far too many other Beatles bands, but I enjoyed the good times I had seeing them.

Well I thought about starting up the blog again after my friend Rosie started her sixties blog. I love reading about her love for the 1960s and the Beatles. I am also a HUGE sixties and Beatles fan. My main love is collecting and wearing vintage (or as they used to be called second hand) clothes. My collection has somewhat some might say become obsessive. There is probably one big...yes BIG reason for this.

In 2007 I weighed 17 stone 8 lbs. That is a lot of weight to carry around when you are only 5ft 4 inchs tall. I had not always been that size but a lot of things going on at the time made me put on weight through eating too much and not doing anything much. This seriously affected my health.

I joined Weight Watchers on 2nd January 2007 the weight came off , I thought a stone or 2 would be fine. But in June 2008 I weighed in at 10st 6lbs and had reached Gold membership.

I had gone from a clothes size 28 to a size 12. I was so pleased to be able to walk in any clothes shop and buy anything I liked. I loved all the bright colours.

In the last year I've got back my love of Vintage clothes (I did wear them in the past but looking back now I didn't look that good in the stuff). Now I feel a bit more comfortable in the dresses I love to wear so much. I can't resist a dress if I see one. With new clothes there is the opportunity to think about it. With vintage its a case of buy it or loose it! I must have well over 200 dresses. Although they are quite organised in my wardrobe(S). It does not take me long to decide what I am going to wear each day thankfully!

My weight is now around 10st and I've kept the weight off since 2008. I have clothes in lots of sizes from a size 6 to 16. I find that clothes vary some much with sizes vintage especially.

When people have seen a picture of me at 17st they can't believe its me..someone even used the phase F***** ell LOL. Someone else said Oh you must have been so unhappy. I have along way to go with my confidence..small steps will get me there..one day!

I am so grateful for the people who always stick around through the bad a good times as it sure isn't easy being me. I am also happy that I have made a few good friends in the last few years. I hope they stick around too!

One Of My Favourite Places!

I was thinking today about places that I like. Not cities, but I thought of one place I like in Paris. I've not seen much of the city. I have been to Paris twice now. I like it for its buildings and I must say the Eiffel Tower is amazing. When I visited there last time I went right up to it and walked under it. I felt very small as it towered over me. It was quite scary. It was more scary than the policemen that carried guns walking around underneath it.

I sat on the grass making little pen sketches of it. I lay on the grass on a rather hot July day so I could take the height of the whole thing. As I looked up at it I was wondering how it was still standing after all these years, but I didn't feel as though it would collapse at any moment.

This great landmark is the most iconic

symbol of France to me. My friend Nikki even made me some earrings from little pink Eiffel Towers.

I hope to go back and visit again really soon. I need to see the galleries that I have yet to see.

With a little help from my friends

There have been plenty who have come and gone for different reasons. My friends from childhood are long gone. My closest friend Nicki, who was only 9 months younger than me I was shocked to hear died from cancer when she was 28. We *fell out* as teenagers do just as we finished school. We had grown up and grown apart I think. It is still very sad. I know that she had a good, but short life and did everything she wanted and got married. She only lived across the cul-de-sac from me and her parents still live there. they moved there just after we did in 1979.

There was a big gang of kids that *hung out* on our estate..more about that perhaps another time.

Liverpool V Bognor Regis (North V South)

I've been inspired to write a bit about where I am from, well I would prefer to say *where I was born*. I am currently reading a book a VERY interesting, funny and thought provoking book by Stuart Maconie called 'Pies and Prejudice. in search of the North'. In only a few days I am half way through it. I can't put it down. I've read his other book Hope and Glory and still have Cider with roadies to read and I believe there is another book too. I recently went to a talk he did and got to meet him and he signed my book! I have to say I came away with a slight crush on him. Anyway I've been spending many hours in coffee shop drinking too much caffeine.

Friends and people who I have met ask where I am from I

say Sussex (because I am slightly, dare I say embarrassed to say where I was actually born and spent my childhood and teenage years). Then they ask "but where in Sussex?". I say "oh Bognor Regis". Its seems every Scouser I've met has heard of it and seems to have visited there!

When I explained I've been living here since 1998, they sound surprised I've still got my Southern accent. I have to say this is one thing I would love a scouse accent. Can you have Scouse lessons?

I now admit to hating Bognor Regis? Why? It is a sleepy little seaside town, not much going for it except Butlins and that isn't for the locals. They've got a huge Tesco and if I remember one nightclub on the pier!

I really don't have any happy memories there school was hell and I spent nearly all my teenage years in my bedroom listening to music! My only escape was the start of a love affair with the Beatles in 1992. I always knew some of their music and my parents were teenagers in the 1960s so it goes without saying they playing the music of the era when I was growing up.

My first visit to Liverpool was Easter 1993 when me and my mum came up to visit. It was also the first time I stayed in a hotel. The Moat House (gone Liverpool One is there now). We visited all the Beatles places and I was so excited! We went

on a Ferry Cross the Mersey, I remember the moment I told my mum (on the Ferry). "I am going to live here one day". her reply was "No you won't".

To cut along story short in 1998 I got accepted on to a course at Wirral Met college to do a degree in Media Studies. I packed my bag and I've been in Liverpool ever since (well apart from my first 6 months when I lived in Oxton near Birkenhead).

I absolutely love Liverpool and its people and when I've been asked "Don't you ever go back to Bognor?". I say "No because there is nothing there for me. My last visit was 2008. my family have never been close and my mum now prefers to come and visit me".

This lands the place I love and here I'll stay.....