New Year's Eve

Went to Kink last night by myself. I wasn't gonna go but I was bored so decided to drive in.

Ended up being a pretty productive night. I met up with that skinhead I saw at ALERT the other week. His name's Ian, but he has a boyfriend... although it was all good. Got my head smacked in by the toilet door though so this morning I feel like I've dislocated my jaw!

Tonight Shaun, Rob and myself are off to Federation with fire-eaters, snakes and naked (hung) dancers!!! Should be good. At £20 a ticket it better bloody be anyway!

Have a good one whatever everyone is doing.

Home truths?

According to my mother I'm a failure. Something that's always nice to know at Christmas!

It's like we've gone back 10 years... they have these periodic outbursts and I always forgive them. I'm fed up of apologising for who I am.

I was accused of sitting back and waiting to take their money when they're gone. If that's what they think I don't want it... Claire can have it.

I'm so hurt by this I can't really put how I feel into words. Suffice to say that I'm so emotionally hard I'm worried there can only be one outcome.

Christmas time... misletoe and wine

Christmas presents I got that were good:

1) Digital camera
2) Money

Christmas presents I got that were rubbish:

1) T-shirt-cum-kaftan
2) Aftershave
3) A book
4) A chocolate orange
5) A pen
6) A jar of marmalade

Do these people I call family even know me?

Having said that the day itself was a good one, Ian made an excellent Christmas Dinner, my Mum got leathered, and then we all went up to Helen and Gary's and watched the kids play with all their toys... and lets face that's what makes Christmas so great.

Reach for the ear-muffs, Albania have picked a song!

It's called Balada E Gurit, which translates as The Stone Ballad... it leaves you feeling not unlike you've spent the best part of an hour scraping a pumice stone across a veruca!

It's sung (read "wailed"), by a woman called Aida (she may be an Albanian opera star) and some old bloke called Frederik Ndoci, who sounds a bit like your Grandad after he's had a few too many.

Having said that, they have got to cut it down to 3 minutes so that's an improvement straight away.

It's all a bit like Zjarr E Ftohtë, but whereas during that, the singer was easy on the eye, there isn't much to even gaze upon during this. Oh well there's always 2008!

Drain yourself (and your ears) by clicking the link below.

http://www.box.net/public/4m6nh269iy

Friday night's ALERT...

So I was bad and rang in sick on Friday so I could go to ALERT on Friday night... so hit me!

It was good anyway... met up with Paul & Paula beforehand which is always good and then headed off to the club. Met up with a guy there called Gav who I've been chatting to recently... not my type, but he seems like a cool guy and he wins brownie points for giving me a lift home.

Also saw Des in the club and it was good to catch up and laugh at the two guys fucking next to us on the dancefloor!! Mind you he did lick me boot so.... ;-)

Plus I wasn't totally leathered when I left ... this is a minor miracle as I'm always totally tanked up when I leave that place.

There was a really horny skinhead there who I quite fancied and we were staring at each other all night, but for some reason fukk all happened... aah well... I'll have to keep an eye out for him.

It's Christmas Eve!

So why are you reading this?

Go and have some drinks, spend time with your family and mates, eat too much food and enjoy yourself.

Alternatively, if like me you're in work today and tomorrow.... look forward to your days off when you're still celebrating Christmas after everyone else has gone back to work!!!

Have a good one...

Georgia on my mind

Georgian Public Television & Radio have announced that some bird by the name of Sopho Khalvashi will be singing Georgia's debut entry in Helsinki.

She'll sing 6 potential entries on 11 February and the one that wins the televote will be the Georgian song. Hopefully they'll give her something more exciting to sing than the song in this vid.... otherwise everyone in Europe will be asleep!

Greek song writer

Allegedly, the song writer of 2007's Greek entry is Michalis Hatzigiannis. It's a shame he's not representing Greece as he's hot, hot, hot and he has voice that melts over you like honey.

He represented Cyprus in 1998 in Birmingham when he was very young and very firmly fixed to his spot on the floor!

Watch some of his vids below.

Finally some news from home

Now then, now then... the BBC have announced that the British entry will be chosen in mid-March. What does this mean?

1) They're gonna select an entry internally. This could work.

2) They'll select an act and let the public choose the song. Possibly the best way we could pick something that might get us out of the bottom 5.

3) Let the public choose the singer and the song. This will be a complete disaster as the UK public are known for voting for a load of old rubbish.

The BBC press brief mentions the Scissor Sisters and Morrisey so it won't be either of them two. More likely we'll see Michelle McManus or a Scott-Lee or someone from X-Factor.

Could we not just have Jessica Garlick again? Or Claire who used to be in Steps? Or what about Kristian Leontiou? Any of those three and I'll be happy!

Watch Jessica as she came joint 3rd in Tallinn in 2002.

Claire doin' the whole Steps thing!

And sadly I couldn't get a YouTube of Kristian Leontiou so you'll have to make do with this download... http://www.box.net/public/n0ismh4qja

Doğuloo Doğuley

Türkçe Radyo Televizyon have selected Kenan Doğulu to represent Turkey in Helsinki. Having had his first hit in 1993, he's been at the top of the Turkish music scene for over 10 years. His experience will no doubt shine through compared to some of the half-rate acts that are likely to turn up.

Kenan will sing 3 potential entries on Turkish TV in February and the one that wins the televote will be Turkey's entry. All seems simple enough.

Watch the video for Çakkıdı below.

A load of old bobbins

A few days ago the Schweizer Rundfunken Gemeinschaft (or La Société Suisse de Radiotélévision if you prefer.... or even La Società Svizzera di Radiotelevisione if you're gonna be pedantic) selected DJ Bobo to represent the land of mountains and cheese.

He's not really my cup of tea.

He's a "DJ" of the Daz Sampson or DJ Ötzi variety... ie: a load of old cheesy nonsense. He had a massive hit in some countries a few years back with a song called Chihuahua, which was used on a Coca-Cola advert in Spain.

In my opinion, if you're going to make dance music, make dance music and not "dance music". C'mon Cascada and Infernal may not be the best dance acts goin', but at least they know how to produce a banging tune.

Mind you he is a Swiss, which is significantly more than the last 2 Swiss entries have managed to be so maybe it's not all bad. Also, some of the stuff Daz Sampson has done with Uniting Nations is ok, so maybe I'll reserve judgement on this guy until I've heard the song.

In the meantime, kill yourself watching the vid of Chihuahua!

What a day, what a day!

So I drove over what I thought was a puddle, but turned out to be a massive pothole in the road.

My car went BANG! That was supposed to be like in the original Batman series!

So I parked at the gym and it all looked ok, but when I came back the front tyre was flat... ok not too much of a problem, but after jacking up the car and removing the nuts, the wheel wouldn't come away. Bollox!

So I went up into work and got 2 engineers down... even they couldn't budge it so in the end we had to get a mallet to it... it came off!!!!

Then went to the garage and waited an hour for a new wheel. And there went my day when I was supposed to be buying Christmas presents. Aah well...

Download What A Day by Slobodan River
http://www.box.net/public/0jveki0mz9

News from Europe's last dictatorship

So Belarus held their national final for Eurovision on Friday night, but as befits such a corrupt state it was never going to be an easy affair. Fifteen acts battled it out to pick 3 to go forward to an internal selection by Belarussian national television. In this internal selection the singers don't have to sing the same song that they sung in the national final... so beggars the question "why hold a national final?"

Well the winner of the final (in the televote) was Dimitriy Koldun, who is quite famous and pretty good looking so that's ok. Then a jury (oh please God no) selected 2 other random acts to go forward to the next stage. So this must've comletely pissed off the group Litesound who came second in the televote. Anyway the jury selected novelty (oh dear) group The Project and blind (uh-oh) singer Diana Gurtskaya.

Hopefully Dimitriy will be announced as the winner from this bunch, but as Diana has the most money behind her it ain't likely.

Click the links to hear the offerings by...

Dimitriy Koldun - http://www.box.net/public/4r64laq9fp

The Project - http://www.box.net/public/jdxhg0qzfz

Diana Gurtskaya - http://www.box.net/public/luuznk75vx

Click below to hear (in my opinion) the best song of the bunch, which pretictably failed to get anywhere! http://www.box.net/public/7k3pnur87k

And below is possibly the oddest song you'll have heard so far this year if you can take watching through the dreadful reception ... Natalia Tamelo singing So Badly High... never was a song title so apt!

Heaven on Earth

So the Netherlands have selected Edsilia Rombley to go to Eurovision for them.

THIS IS GOOD!!!

Edsilia represented the Dutch in Birmingham in 1998 with the fabulous Hemel En Aarde (Heaven And Earth). Watch her performance below back in the day when everyone had to sing in their national language and there was even a live orchestra... woo!

She came a very respectable 4th in the year that Dana International (Airport) won! This was the last time the Dutch have come in the top 5. They've only made it out of the semi-final once in the last 3 years so they'll no doubt be pleased just to get to Saturday's event.

Tom'll be spitting feathers now he's not coming to Helsinki!

Moldova come out fighting

So Moldova are the first country to select an entry for the gayest show on Earth. They're going to be represented by a red-haired beauty "with slightly slanting eyes" (not my quote, but from Tele-Radio Moldova!!).


The song's called Fight and is sung by Natalia Barbu if you care...

It's all quite rocky and a half cross between Christina Aguilera and Kelly Clarkson. I quite like it actually... listen to how fantastic this song is at the link below courtesy of TRM.

http://www.box.net/public/l7unf5aadn

And while I'm adding pics....

Here's some from Manchester Pride, way back at the end of August.

Pics from left to right...

A lovely pic of Stephen looking like a stunned rabbit and me! Ben and me pretending to be Phil & Grant from 'Stenders at Federation. Me, Chris, Ben and Stevey bein' classy with our cans at the Airport Train Station. Chris, Ben and me in Cruz.

Is it me or do I have the same pose in every picture?!

Real Manchester

A pic of me looking a right numpty on my birthday weekend with Paula who is about to eat the photographer.... photo courtesy of www.realmanchester.com

This pic is on the first page of the website, which is surprising as I thought they be wanting to attract people to Cruz rather than put em off going... I don't even remember em taking it!

I look a right dick! Enjoy a laugh at my expense...

However, here's Tom and his new boyfriend on the same night.... hehehe...

Moral question

Should you sleep with someone (using protection) even though you know they are HIV positive if you are negative?

My own opinion is that if said person is that honest to tell you then you can trust them. Obviously even using protection there's still a risk of the condom splitting and you becoming infected, but then this could happen with someone who you don't know is positive and they don't tell you and so you have no idea that you yourself are infected.

Or you could just be stupid enough to go around barebacking and not asking anyone their status, which is foolish.

Should you avoid someone with HIV like the plague? I think not... this is just shallow.

I'd appreciate your thoughts...

Swinging London Town

So I thought I should say something about last weekend's trip to London.

I had to stand all the way down due to train cancellations the day before. Mind you I saw Aaron from Chesterfield on the train so the trip was cool as we had a good chat down to London.

Got there and met Charlie and Keiron then checked into the hotel, which was ok actually.

Friday night we went out for some drinks and met up with Luke from uni... he'd just come back from New York on some press trip with ITV... not that I'm jealous or owt. No I just love sitting in my dark office in rainy Manchester for 12 hours!!!!! Anyway after an abortive attempt to get into Heaven, whose staff so far up their own arse they can see daylight, we ended up in G-A-Y. Hmmm not my club du choix, but a good laugh none the less. Especially so as I was in my 20 hole rangers n braces, although some gays seemed to think it was ok to pull my braces back hard n let go... yeah whatever!

Charlie pulled twice the dirty ho!

Saturday daytime, we were very cultural and went to the Tate Modern! Then I met up with Björn for some extra-curricular activities! Was good to see him. It's all so easy yet so hard. Sigh...

Saturday night and Fiona's surprise party was excellent... like Natalie said, it was just like we'd been at rehearsal the night before even though we've not seen eachother for years. One person I didn't expect to see there was Laura Mugridge who's now working as a stand-up comedienne... how rock 'n' roll is that?

All in all a great weekend.

Oh and as for my train back... it was cancelled! And they say privatisation equals progress!!!

Au-revoir encore une fois

So Télé Monte-Carlo have withdrawn Monaco from the 2007 edition of Eurovision. All I have to say about this is that it's a great shame. While I support new countries entering the contest, it's always good to have a balance between East and West and Monaco, however small, played some part in that balance.

Monaco first entered the contest in 1959 and participated regularly up until 1979. They won in 1971 for the first and only time (so far). They then took an extended break, but returned to great surprise in 2004. Like Andorra, Slovenia, Estonia, Belarus and Bulgaria, Monaco has suffered the curse of the semi-final and has never made it to the Saturday night in their 3 years of trying so far. Having said that, they've entered 25 times, making them amongst the most prolific Eurovision nations.

Part of me thinks ok, so they didn't enter great songs the last few years, and their 2006 effort was very off-key, but if the likes of FYR Macedonia can qualify every year, I can see why TMC have got pissed off. Possibly the biggest injustice was 2005 when Monaco came 2nd from last with one of the best songs and singers on the night, whilst FYR Macedonia sailed through to the final with a man shouting a load of old nonsense!

Anyway, I hope TMC are doing an "Austria" and that they'll return next year, with a much fresher approach to the contest than their last 3 entries.

Come back Monaco.... I'm missing you already.

Märyon - Notre Planète (Our Planet) 2004

Lise Darly - Tout De Moi (All Of Me) 2005

Séverine Ferrer - La Coco-Dance (The Coco Dance) 2006

Helsinki here we come!

Yes yes yes... I am officially brilliant!

I got me, Craig and Markku tickets for the Eurovision Final today even though they had supposedly sold out yesterday... wicked!

Also two tickets for me and Craig to the semi-final so we can cheer on Andorra as they come last again...

Força a nosaltres!

Kinky cruising

Had a wicked birthday weekend with Shaun, Craig, David, Steven, Gary, Rob, Tom, Paul, Paula and Jamie...

Friday night we ended up in Cruz, which was a laugh. Not sure about the "live" act Beyond, although they were very good at miming. Just one thing, if somebody seriously requested Cliff Richard - I Just Don't Have The Heart, I may require heart surgery!!!

Last night we ended up at Kink, which was ok, but as tame as ever. Even so we had a bit of a dance and Craig n Shaun seemed to enjoy it. Most comical moment of the weekend was me walking into Glam under Queer dressed in full skin gear with 20 hole boots on... was fukkin hilarious!

Hell-singing

These are the forty-three (yes that's right 43!!) countries that should be taking part in Eurovision 2007... it's gonna be a big'un!

1) Andorra will no doubt enter a classy song, but have the most bizarre staging you'll ever see...

2) Albania will be fraught, it'll be ethnic, it'll involve a screeching woman...

3) Armenia will be an ethno-stomper involving some light bondage, whether male or not, the singer will have major facial hair issues...

4) Austria will have the pretense of being serious, but will come accross like a complete novelty act...
5) Bosnia-Herzegovina will live up to its reputation of being the campest country in Europe...
6) Belgium will enter some durge sung in French...
7) Bulgaria will have a scandal in their national final, but despite the entry being quite good, they'll end up near the bottom of the scoreboard...
8) Belarus will rape the English language...
9) Switzerland will scale new heights of the mountain known as cheese...
10) Cyprus will enter something guarranteed 12 points from Greece and nowt from everyone else...
11) Czech Republic will be an unknown quantity, but could turn out to be quite credible...
12) Germany will enter something credible that no one will vote for...
13) Denmark will have props and gimmicks a-go-go...
14) Estonia will have a banging europop number that bombs on the night...
15) Spain will have tits and hair flying in all directions...
16) Finland will return to form and prop up the scoreboard come the end of the night...
17) France will enter a woman singing a ballad that ain't in English...
18) United Kingdom will cry foul-play when a half rate act comes almost last...
19) Georgia will be another unknown quantity, but we're guessing it's gonna be ethnic...
20) Greece will enter a hot favourite and be gutted when they don't win...
21) Croatia will have a rocking national final, but plump for someone singing a ballad in a trouser suit who'll come 12th...
22) Hungary will enter some turbofolk on speed...
23) Ireland will enter a ballad based loosely on "Pan-Pipe Moods Vol. 6"...
24) Israel will all hold hands, sing about peace and walk sideways accross the stage...
25) Iceland will see fans shocked when they don't qualify for the final...
26) Lithuania will be a load of old rubbish...
27) Latvia will continue yo-yo-ing around the scoreboard and will be in the top 5 this year...
28) Monaco will enter the same thing as France did 8 years ago...
29) Moldova will leave you thinking 'what the fuck'...
30) Montenegro will enter a boyband with No Name...
31) FYR Macedonia will inexplicably qualify from the semi-final, but come nowhere in the final...
32) Malta will enter the most twee entry of the night...
33) Netherlands will leave you wondering why they even bothered...
34) Norway will enter whatever Sweden did last year...
35) Poland will come 11th in the semi-final...
36) Portugal will enter something that would have won in 1985...
37) Romania will be represented by a banging dance track...
38) Russia will be shite, but harvest votes quicker than Stalin deported folk to Siberia...
39) Sweden will enter something sounding nothing like ABBA...
40) Slovenia will take hairdressing to new limits...
41) Serbia will enter a half dressed woman screamin some Balkan ethnopop at ya...
42) Turkey will enter some woman well past her sell-by-date dressed in lycra...
43) Ukraine will have cossacks, whips and chains-a-plenty...