Smash-ing Sunday

If you were a teenager in the 80s you quite likely will remember one of my favourite magazines.

Smash Hits


Now click on that link and transport yourself back in time. Brian McCloskey - an amazing individual with what must be an impressive stack of back issues has made this blog and the best bit is if you click on the image of the front cover of each issue it then takes you over to where you can once again read the whole magazine on Flicker!

Honestly kids now won't have the memories of learning the lyrics to your favourite Top 40 songs or cutting out the posters and taping them to your bedroom wall like we had thanks to Smash Hits. Yeah technology is brilliant and you can find anything you want at the click of a button but man I used to love that magazine. :)

Ladies and Gentlemen

I should imagine by the time I get to my bed this evening I will be one knackered Taz.

A day of shopping followed by a few hours in the company of some lovely young men that I introduced Big One to back when she was a mere 13 years old.

Hearts and chocolates?

Well it is Valentine's Day. :)

Not a chance of any romantic gestures from anyone for me! But today I'll be taking a two and a half (ish) hour train journey down to Glasgow for Big One's 16th Birthday treat.

We're booked into a central hotel for two nights of shopping, fun and seeing My Chemical Romance in concert.


It's going to be expensive and no doubt tiring but it's going to be grreeeeaaaaat!!!



I hope your Valentine's Day is everything your heart needs ((((hugs))))

Hooray for Royal Mail

I do so love to see my postie

Friday I had to sign for my My Chemical Romance tickets for February. I'm taking big one to see them for her 16th birthday down in Glasgow. Their latest album is brilliant, Santa brought it for her and she very kindly stuck it on my ipod for me.


My Chemical Romance was the first concert we took big one too when she was 13 so when she found out they were coming back to Scotland in time for her 16th birthday it was just perfect. I did ask her who she wanted to take with her and she said 'You of course Mum!' Awwwww made me smile and feel all warm inside that did.

Saturday my postie brought me our McFly tickets for March. This will be wee one's first concert, I've already got her some ear plugs to try and take the noise levels down a bit as she's not a fan of loud noises. She must take after someone on her Father's side of the family bless her. But she's very excited all the same and can't wait to tell all her friends at school. LOL
It's going to be fun going to a concert with both my small people plus for some reason McFly is an all seated concert - new concept for me and big one but safer for us having wee one with us. No doubt we will at some point find ourselves up near the stage though LOL

Of course spending out on all these tickets gets expensive but I don't go out, I rarely buy new clothes for myself so this is my treat time. :)

No doubt I will tell you all about the concerts in due course. ;)

Friday night gig

Big one and I went to see Thirty Seconds to Mars
This is the lead singer..

a Mr Jared Leto.

You may or may not recognise him from films such as

Chapter 27
Fight Club
Girl, Interrupted
American Psycho
Panic Room
Lord of War
Mr Nobody

Or the TV series

My So-Called Life

No?

Ok he has dated (allegedly)...

Cameron Diaz
Paris Hilton
Britney Spears
Lindsay Lohan
Scarlett Johansson

Anyway it doesn't matter really. The gig was great, well to be honest the first support act, Funeral Party, were a bit pants - god only knows what they were singing about as the music was louder than the singer and only about five people in the audience worked up the energy to clap between songs. Me and my new pit friend, Chris actually cheered when they announced they were going to sing their last song. Ooops! :)

But then...

Enter Shakri came on



And they totally rocked! They looked like total chavs/neds but their music proved the old don't judge a book by it's cover.

Then the main act came on. Now I'd got myself all excited about seeing Mr Leto in the flesh and in the flesh we did see! He very kindly took his top off even if it was minus a million degrees outside. But I actually had my eyes more on a certain drummer boy. I've always been the girl easily swayed by a man that can beat a skin and sway me he did with just a kilt, several tattoos and the best kit(drum) I've ever seen.



Yep I prefer the big brother. :D His little brother is Jared.

I did have to giggle with big one though when Jared was being all tough and we're against the system man, as I said to big one....he's old enough to be your Dad!(Technically he's 3 years younger than her Dad but we won't split hairs.)

Mind you he's only a year younger than me and where was I? In the pit with the best of them. :D

More swoonage.... oh and big bruv is the same age as me ;)


Oh did I mention it took me over 2 hours to dig the car and drive out of all the snow?

Just a few observations...

Kids
If it's your first concert please either take an adult with you or at least someone who is strong enough to keep you safe in the pit. I spent some time at the gig looking after someone else's child (a very small 16 year old) who had got seperated from her friends and was getting further and further way from them.

Mini skirts and very very high heels
have no place at a gig. Maybe they do at a JLS, The Saturdays or Peter Andre show but definately not at a gig which involves serious moshing. You may have no intention of entering the pit but you're still going to get mighty uncomfortable.

The Pit
* You will get pushed, shoved and squashed more than you ever have in your entire life. this is normal deal with it. DO NOT take it out on the people right next to you, they are not the one's pushing you on purpose they are being pushed just the same as you are. DO NOT jab your elbows or kick at these people, they will get annoyed with you and if while you may be lucky and have me standing next to you who only growls and looks menacing next time you might be stood next to the person who jabs, kicks or worse punches you back. It happens so don't be too shocked the next person isn't so peaceful.
* Pit etiquette dictates that if those around you are falling you help them, then they will return the favour when it happens to you.
* You will sweat more than you would in any sauna - please be wise, take a bottle of water with you. They will try to pass water out but it's very rare that it will ever get to you.
* Speaking about sweat, you will go home awash in not only your own sweat but every person that comes into contact with you in the pit. There is no point moaning. You come, you sweat, you go home, you shower.
* If you find yourself behind someone who is taller than you do not moan, bitch and whine about it.
* Firstly they have paid exactly the same amount of money as you and it's not their fault if you didn't get there early enough to ensure you got near the front.
* Secondly if you hadn't of been so rude and obnoxious they may have let you stand infront of them. Your bullying tactics may work for you at school but trust me in the pit you're on your own.
* Do not take a handbag that is the size of a small suitcase in the pit with you, it will get trapped between bodies, you will spend too much time trying to pull it back towards you and people will get fed up of getting banged by your ridiculous appendage.
* Wear sensible clothes that is mostly a tshirt, your clothes will get as pulled about as much as you, buttons pop off, loose things get pulled off. Yes it's hot but you don't want to get THAT friendly in the pit.

Alcohol
* Getting so drunk you can barely stand before the gig is pretty much a total waste of money. Exactly how much of the gig do you think you're going to remember with your head down the toilet? The fact I know you're underage as well hmmm enough said.
* Alcohol may make you feel more confident but apparently it also plays it's own soundtrack in your head and makes you dance when there is absolutely no music to dance to. Yes that's you mature lady with the very sober boyfriend, trust me love it wasn't a good look and I've been some pretty bad looks myself. ;)

The End of the Night
Do ensure everyone knows where you're supposed to meet up if you get seperated or if you're not planning on staying together all night. Wandering around on your own, exhausted and worried because you don't know where anyone is, is no fun.

Mobile phones
Marvellous technology, brilliant for that one in a lifetime chance of getting a photo but a sea of them up in the air is bloody annoying. Take the picture then put the bloody thing back in your pocket...please! Plus it will save your battery so you can find you friends at the end of the night - BONUS!




Aahhh that feels better.
Right the concert was fantastic, Paramore totally rock! Hayley has THE most amazing voice! She bounces around the stage like a lunatic and her voice stays pitch perfect, never falters or wavers, god I can't even go over a bump in the car and my voice wobbles. The guys in the band were equally amazing, loving the drummer!!!
They put on an amazing show, love their fans and and and and well lets just say when they come back over I'll be buying another ticket. :)

I woke up Sunday feeling like I'd had my body swapped for a very old lady, everything ached, even bits of me that I didn't know I'd used ached. Worth it though and I'm doing it all again on the 3rd Dec when me and big one are off to see Thirty Seconds To Mars.


This is the lead singer...



Mr Jared Leto. Yum Yum. Actually, I'm starting to see a few similarities in the fellas I like. LOL

Tonight Matthew

I'm going to be.....

Well actually I'm just going to be myself but I'm going to be the Taz that forgets she's a 40 year old Mother of two and instead be the music mad teenager Taz that likes jumping around to really really loud music at gigs.

Big one and I are off to see Paramore tonight. Well you have to show these young one's how it's done!!!



No doubt tomorrow I will be sore, knackered and feeling 40 plus a few decades. LOL

It's all in the distraction techniques on a wet Monday

The ex finally thought to let me know that they'd arrived safely sometime mid Monday morning - they flew Sunday evening. But at least I could breath a bit easier.

First full day and I knew it wasn't going to be good so I stuck my Ipod in my pocket, plugged in my ears turned up the tunes and set about doing some housework

Beds were stripped, dirty dishes from small people's rooms were collected and washed.

Well that didn't seem to be stopping the occasion eye wetness so I sat and wrote a huge to do list - man that was a bad idea! If I wasn't feeling sorry for myself before well I was now.

Then I remembered I had bought this on our wee camping holiday so first I had to clean the fridge....yeah ok maybe I didn't do such a great job of the cleaning bit.




Aren't they cute. I do love owls. Home Bargains the shop was, they have all sorts of lovely ones and the black bit is an actual chalk board. I wanted the robot one too but that one appeared to be all gone. Ah well.

Then I got back to finding things that no longer served their purpose, looked beautiful or were needed and I came across this.

An old memo board that had seen better days.

So I gave it a helping hand in its own demise and reclaimed the metal board from its innards.
Gave it a good scrub to remove the glue and what not.

Debated covering it in fabric and attaching hangers. But as I do have a bit of a thing for shiny silver I ended up just sticking it on the wall and covering it with all the latest little pictures the smalls have given me recently.

And yes then I sat and had another wet eye moment.

Then I had the joy of trying to source a reasonable car insurance quote, oh what fun that was. NOT! Drives me crazy that I have been a named driver on my ex's insurance for a million years with no claims but now I am back down to only one year's no claims. Cheers for that!
Anyway got fed up of very expensive quotes so attacked a huge pile of papers that needed shredding and sorting instead. Very theraputic

Thank you to everyone for your words of support and understanding. I know the girls will have a lovely time and their Dad will look after them and it won't be long before they home with all their news. I'm off down to Wales later in the week so my pals down there have a few plans to distract me further. And there is a possible meeting of two mad women from the blogsphere happening eh wifey? :D

Put on your dancing shoes

I don't know about you but I LOVE music. I have music on at every chance I get. My alarm in the morning is set for the radio. Probably not one of my better ideas as I tend to just incorporate the music into my dreams but I have my mobile with annoying buzzy noise as back up ;)
Then it's down for breakfast and the radio is straight on in the kitchen. Every trip in the car is accompanied by either a CD or the radio. When I worked in the pub I had the tv constantly set to a music channel until the punters came in and wanted the news or.....boring sports on.
My ipod is full and rather than take any music off it I just need a bigger memory one :)

I'm always buying CDs, my kids think it's great as inevitably I buy one's that they like to. In fact not so long ago I noticed a huge chunk of my CD collection missing. I discovered it in big one's bedroom where she had been putting them all on to her Ipod. :)

Anyone looking at my collection will instantly see I have a bit of an eclectic taste, that is I don't just like one sort of music. But I had to draw the line at Miley Cyrus's album. I did the nice Mummy thing and bought it for wee one but it's not going anywhere near my ears thank you very much. But I do have to admit to quite liking a couple of Selena Gomez's tracks - reward for having a good school report. ;)

Big one told me about Spotify a while back. Well i say told me she actually downloaded it for me, showed me how it worked and it's great. A great way to check out an album (if it's there, not everything is) before you go the whole hog and buy it. Or if like me you only like a couple of tracks well there they are, no bother. I do have to warn you though, for this free service there are constant adverts but I just mute it while they're on, you can pay to have a premium account and then you lose the adverts but hey we're on a budget right?

Good old youtube is great though if you really want to get in the mood with the music and see the video too. It was during an evening with nothing much else to do that I came across this cover.



The Gossip - Careless Whisper (Cover)

I hope you like it as much as I do.

Thanks to youtube I had a great evening last week reminicising. The first concert I ever went to was Erasure in 1990 in Manchester. I loved them, had all their albums on cassette and even had quite a few of their tours on video. After spending an evening listening to all their old tracks (yes they are still going) I now want to get all their backlist on CD, damn shame I've already had my birthday and it's 7 months till Christmas.

Not how I remember school choir

PS22 Chorus "I AM NOT A ROBOT" Marina And The Diamonds



I think we might have had a few more members if we'd been allowed to sing Top 40 hits :)