Found this 60s gem today in my record collection... yes, that's right, my record collection! I don't have that many long-players but they have a fond place in my heart for always...

My first job was in a second-hand record store on a Saturday in Liverpool, heard all sorts of stuff they didn't play on the radio, what a great foundation for any 17yr old! Then while at college I got a Saturday job at the more mainstream HMV (Basingstoke branch, I'd left Liverpool by then due to lack of opportunity for ambitious young women like me haha). There I met my first love (apparently lots of HMV romances occur) and extended my CD collection hugely thanks to the generous staff discount...

So a few months ago I went to a record fair on Lark Lane* with my record-enthusiast friend and found an album called Love Loves To Love/ Lulu and since I knew LL2L was a gem I'd come across while working at Smooth Radio WM I purchased for a few quid, played and then forgot about... until today when I dusted it off for a little Sunday eve playtime and wow! I did not recall this one ^_^ #happydays

It occurred to me today that a motivational poster I saw on Friday which asked: What would you do if you knew you could not fail??? Oooh! Well I think a second-hand record store would be just the ticket! What's not to love? If paying the rent wasn't an option, I was some sort of millionaire by accident (cos I really can't see it happening to me any other way haha) what is not to love about getting out of bed for 10am to play great tunes all day?! And a great service to society too, every good town needs a place for new and pre-loved records! And let me tell you my record store would be a cafe too and a place for acoustic live spots... ah it would be QUITE the local record store...

Another fantastic idea to chalk up on the wishlist then comrades...




*quite the bohemian district in Liverpuddle I tells ya ;)

Bathtub Confessions...

On the evenings when I just NEED a hot bubble bath (and tonight was such a night) 2 friends come to mind... no, nothing like that, just two reminders from days gone by and I always think it funny how the memory works that way so I thought I would share my two bathtime stories with you...

I would say prior to the last 3 years I was never much of a 'bath person', I was far too easily-bored- what, wait while it pours??? nah what, just sit there til ya go all wrinkly??? why??? gots places to be (etc etc) haha but then I was having a hard time at the office and I guess a soak became part of my self-medication... I reflected on this with my friend James at the time and he announced that one should always have a nice hot bath when you needed to think about things... and so thereafter every time I was having a bathtime pondering session I always think of James and him approving greatly of my bubble-therapy!

The other reminder I get is from many years ago when I lived in Brighton with my friend Vicky. She worked long hard days in a cafe and would often go for a hot soak when she got home, but HELLO! she had the water sooooo hot she would often make a startled noises while getting into, and come out pink as a raspberry afterwards! I would ask her incredulously, remember not at all a bath person back then, why on earth she took such hot baths and she would mutter something about liking it! Now when I get into an extremely hot bath (well hot by my standards, I've not had Vicky over to tell me if they are up to standard haha) I think of her and her post-bath pink! Another bathroom tale about Vicky - I do hope she doesn't mind me sharing haha - is because she was very strong from lifting up cafe chairs on to tables at the end of her everyday she would turn the taps closed so hard I couldn't open them again! haha but then I am quite a weak-wristed individual in general... but if I find a tight tap, I think of her...

Life is full of these silly little encounters, the memory so packed and yet recalls these unimportant events for me when the relevant trigger is pulled...

Post-bath now I can tell you I'm a total convert and I eye up my mother's HUGE bathtub with the envy it deserves haha but I am very grateful for the tub I have and the hot water with which to fill it...
simple pleasures my friends, are what make my world go round #fact ;)

Beards Are Boss

for more information please go to http://tashwags.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/blog-post.html

excuse me while I emote at you

I am compelled to write this down and yet CANNOT find the words with which to describe the excitedness coursing thru my being !!!

tonight I sing for Todd White

in Liverpool

HE asked ME (as you'll know, if you're a regular reader I ain't shy and I don't mind asking for stuff or inviting myself along, I'm great! haha)

NERVOUS? moi? it's not the right adjective!!! excited kind of covers it but yet doesn't give the measure of JOY I'm experiencing.. I'm guessing some dopamine has been released in my central cortex or some other science speak.. and I am SURE to crash tmw cos I been feeling this way - kind of like screaming inside, screaming in a good way?? yes? - since yesterday lunchtime when I spoke to the exhibition organisers about what time, what's happening etc - THAT'S when it hit me !!! COULD NOT CONCENTRATE AT ALL after that.. I mean he asked me in like February maybe even January.. ages ago, and I was excited and honoured and flattered.. but now that is is TONIGHT I feel like I'm gonna burst something! hahaha

So tonight I will perform She Never Sleeps Alone followed by Always On The Run about the paintings of the same name for Mister Todd White.. I feel blessed.. I TRULY love my life <3 p="">
Send me good vibrations Universe !!!

everything ends or nothing can begin

 well now as usuals my life is a rollercoaster, and like a friend told me recently to cheer me up, it's the best ride in the fair so you don't wanna get off, but sometimes it's an uncomfortable ride!


been having to apply some of my peej philosophy to life just recently... every cliche helps you thru... plenty more fish in the sea, what will be will be, this too shall pass! ha I'm eating them up all grateful like this week!

it's my birthday this month and so I tend to get more reflective than usual... I do seem to bound relentlessly from one adventure to another, it's like the reason I don't enjoy soap operas is cos I'm living my own ! but I know I'd rather this than a boring life, and boy does it make for great songwriting material ;)

wearing red for luck today, and remembering that all is as it should be (tho I never really got on with that Leibniz theory, I kinda see that all closing doors lead to new exciting ones... see, I'm being positive over here!) ... I suppose the great thing about days like these is we feel most alive, most aware of the utter chaos of the Universe and that can be no bad thing! xo

So, I like beards...

I made page 23 of the local rag recently!

If you have read this blog before you'll know I have a beardy picture blog not too far away and while I'll admit tis a little quirky to appreciate the facial fur, to call me 'abnormal' is going a bit far... 

such is tabloid journalism! 

However I was pretty pleased with myself for being the go-to-girl for local beardy opinion! haha 

There are worse things to be famous for me thinks ;) 

Read the full article here 

A Very Dry Weekend

Day Seven

Seven days I ago I undertook what I thought an ordinary task. Having been living a quasi-rockandroll lifestyle of late, my diet and general looking after meself has gone a bit to the wayside... upon drinking a bunch of me fav tipple* I noted a distinct lack of drunkeness... now call me old-fashioned! But I like to drink to get drunk... I know, I know, it's tres British of me but there goes it!

Now, then, a good old fashioned spot of abstinence was required. Done before many times for different reasons... but my goodness this dry spell has been quite the marathon! I also cut out white sugar for my 10 day detox cos I'd also gotten into treats-every-day-mode at the office, and while I never used to have much caffeine, I upped the amount of cola in my week lately** so I cut out that too...

Day seven, then, and I'm concerned by how much I miss the booze! This has to be my first non-boozy weekend (other than when being poorly) that I can remember in a loooonnngg time... man tis hard being sober while everyone else has a beer! I gigged open mic last night and the boys on my table threatened to by me a drink more than once much to my pathetic protests haha thing is, tbf to me, cutting out sugar meant no sugary replacements for the wine, beer and rums which meant fruit juice and water *yawns* so I've not made it easy for myself... and Thursday I was close to caving in for a cake... haha but it just goes to show how addicted we become to these legal highs!

The benefits of my mini detox tho have been obvious... yesterday I woke early and went for a run! So unfit am I, that I near to threw up in Prinny Park but it didn't kill me #winning ;) I had a hearty breakfast and a full day! Then today, I again have slept well and woken early, enjoyed some yummy Aussie tea*** with crumpets and hot cross buns for brekkie, listened to loads of music, made scribblings and been generally more productive before noon than any weekend in memory! Still not got around to the hoovering mind... haha

I believe I can make it to Day 10, I think at this time it would be better to go longer like 21 days but I have a full-on rockandroll bank holiday coming up and sober ain't playing no part in it! haha I also been on somewhat of a boy-detox too but again a rock&roll weekend ain't no fun without a boy with a geetar... oh my life! ;)

Wish me luck! haha xo





*spicy dark rum - Captain's Reserve is a good 'un but I'm not very brand loyal ;) 
 **to go with and around the rums you understand haha
***T2 Green Rose

Beards: My Quest Continues

okedoke so you may or not know I am a keen BeardWatcher haha

this is Aaron - find out more about this latest entry for my beard blog here 

if you or someone you know has a beard or moustache worthy of note I am happy to take guest beards for the blog and share the good work of these bearded beauts haha 

as I get older and more bonkers I think it's key to acknowledge and accept ones idiosyncrasies and move on ;) 

My Top 5 Fav Bank Holiday Movies

Bank Holidays are great for watching an old movie you love... 

a movie that is silly, pure popcorn fantasy,  and preferably a movie you enjoyed as a child...
and so here my friends are My Fav Bank Holiday Movies in reverse order...

5 Superman (I or II) starring Christopher Reeve as the flying superhero, what's best about movies like this is the dated special effects haha and Zod was a great baddie fo'shiz!!!

4 BIG starring Tom Hanks as the big kid we all wanted to grow up to be, and some of us did ;) haha (who doesn't want an apartment with a trampoline inside???)

3 Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure - word that a third Bill & Ted movie is on the cards fills me with delight, let's hope it's a gem - the original teen adventure was viewed over and over by me and my bestie to the point where I still pronounce Beethoven 'Beet-Hoven' and  in the Americano way of Keanu Reeves haha #excellent ;)

2 Flash Gordon starring Sam Jones - oh my - words can't express how much I love watching this 80s movie, I recall seeing it for the first time in a Saturday morning kids cinema club and I remember swooning as a teen over the leather short shorts Flash sported half way thru the movie haha (note to self: must meet Sam Jones ;) we can dream...)

1 Labyrinth starring David Bowie as The Goblin King CAN'T be beat for sheer joy on a Bank Holiday... the ace songs, the puppets, those trousers!!! haha and is today's choice :)

Enjoy this classic clip and let me know your favourites too :)

Piggy Bank Holidays

times they be hard... but nay worry lad and lassy, the piggy bank to the rescue! if you don't have a piggy bank right now you certainly will have had one growing up... and let me tell you, the thrill of the booty inside doesn't lessen when you're all grown up! I have 2 piggy banks, this Genius one and a more traditional pink piggy... I decided since cashflow is currently being fkd by 'austerity' and the general increase in cost of living outside of any rise in wages *sob* to raid ones piggy banks for the Bank Holiday weekend!

A Piggy Bank Holiday, as it shall henceforth now be known, is a great way of celebrating the long weekend! The taxi driver who picked me up on Good Friday was NOT happy to get £5 in silver but tis money!!! haha I got a total of £30 in change this weekend - not to be sniffed at in these hard times, not hoping for as much of a haul the next Bank Holiday cos it's only at the end of the month but August I reckon will surely garner me a few drinks worth ;)

I recommend you turn your Bank Holidays into Piggy Bank Holidays - they rock! haha

She Loves You

To say I am a Beatles fan is the understatement of the century... haha I am a militant Beatles lover who will seriously question our friendship should you turn out to not appreciate the Fab Four!

So it was with trepidation that I embarked on choosing a song of theirs to cover for my SheBeat music project!

First of all I needed a song simple enough to play cos I ain't no Jimi Hendrix (or Paul McCartney for that matter haha) and I also wanted to bring something new to something old - cos really if you're just doing it like they did, why bother? Just listen to the original! So I stripped this song right back to the simplest form and sang it like SheBeat might if I'd written it myself...

Hope you like :)

I Told You I Was Sick (And Other Excuses)

So I've been near death. Seriously! That's how it has felt! But lucky for me I live in a society that chooses to medicate this kind of sick... and I have been dosed up since Saturday last, with light at the end of my sickly tunnel... but my oh my do I wanna know what's in them drugs! I have been high as a flippn kite this last few days... my fever finally subsided today (after an impressive 6 days holding) but still the anti-biotics were making me feel like a space cadet! And I mean it about being lucky! As I lay dying in my bed pre-docs I honestly felt like this was how poor people died in the old days... the common cold saw people off! Turns out I have a chest infection too, that defo woulda been the end of my peasant ass in the olden days... But thankfully we live in 2013 and for a few quid a global pharmaceutical company will kiss it better #happydays

What's been interesting about this last few days is the things that have stood out for me... I was reading an old copy of New Scientist, in particular an article called Who Are You? and apparently reality is an illusion created by our own brain... (I haven't finished the whole Who Are You? section I'm classic at taking a little information and running off without listening to the ending haha) but how can I feel so poorly if none of it is real?! And do I have to go back to the diseased office if reality is an illusion???

Other things that have stood out during this sick period... KINDNESS is underrated! This is a footnote perhaps to my earlier theories on NICE is underrated... my brother offering to pick me up from the docs, my mum taking me on a supermarket drugs & fruit run in the rain, a sympathetic tweet from a stranger brought warmth to my self-pity party haha ;) #allgood It's been quite emotional actually... I am usually only a few ideas from tears this last week... the human body is a complex machine alright!

Before I started my course of anti-biotics I was warned off them. They don't understand that my fragile being finds it nearly impossible to fend itself despite being a 'healthy adult'. Who knows what I'm lacking. Probably (according to my mother) sleep and the right food, but you know what? I eat pretty healthy! I confess I do little/ no exercise at this time in my life, whereas before I used to work out regular but I live on the top floor with no lift (that's a lot of stairs in heels!) and I'm sure I used to get ill then too... LOTS of people -- too many in fact -- tell me this is all because I'm vegetarian, because with conscience comes ill health? haha this argument makes no sense to me - I take vitamins and eat a heck of a lot more fruit and veg than most people... hell I guess I need to drink more Guinness ;) haha if only it were that easy...

Meanwhile I am a third of the way thru my over the counter bug-killers and to bed I must go...

The Alchemist

No not the book... though I'm pretty sure I did read it about 10 years ago... but here I wish to talk People Alchemy...

A friend of mine, who I only met recently and pestered (just about within reason) to give me guitar tips, popped round to say hi and hassle me about my guitar homework... while he was here we stumbled onto a mutual love of People Alchemy!

This has all the signs of being a recurring theme for me this year... but I'm embracing it since I'm pretty good at it!

People Alchemy is simply mixing together people you know and seeing what happens! You have no idea what a thrill it gives me... I wonder if others are equally thrilled when they make a connection in this little universe of ours...

I was meeting a gal in the pub to talk about Beerdfest - the first one I organised last December and plans for the next one this coming November... this girl was someone I had met through a social off-shoot from the first Beerdfest called LiverBeards and she had to talk to me for part of her studies... no problem, a quick half of Guinness in a nice pub in the Georgian Quarter and we'd be all done... or so I thought!

She explained before we chatted about my beardy ambitions that she was also part of a project to bring about a Jacaranda Reunion.. oh. my. The Jac pub in Slater Street Liverpool is currently closed for business but has long been a fav watering hole of mine and my friends, and The Beatles before us! I was immediately in alchemy mode! How could I help?!

She said one of the most frequent fond memories she was hearing was of the Open Mic night ran by Col & Fieldy, that she had tried to get in touch thru the new venue they took the night to when the Jac was no more but alas no luck... but wait! Jodester knows Col & Fieldy! I called Fieldy* on the spot... I hadn't spoken to him since October 2011 when I'd bumped into him outside the Smithdown Asda but here I was making the connection for my new friend! haha I got Col's number from Fieldy while talking and explained they both needed to be a part of this reunion, both chaps eagerly agreed it was not to be missed. I gave the deets to my new friend. I felt the universe had given me a reason to be there that night. Then we talked beards and my new friend offered to join Team Beerdfest. Good girl!

Alchemy to me is second nature... and I genuinely get a thrill from it so it must be what I'm here for! I can heartily recommend it as a past time ;)



*Fieldy has known me since I was about 5 years old. He is friends with my mum and apparently in the 80s we all went to London on a CND rally! Fast fwd to the early 90s. I'm in Liverpool city centre handing out leaflets for one of my 3 part time jobs and a guy comes up to me: "Hello, is your mum Babs?" well surely it is sir, who are you? Fieldy explained he recognised me from when I was a babygirl and he'd carried me on his shoulders that day in London!!! How is that possible? My cheeky face is once seen never forgotten clearly! haha LOVE that story... xo

the importance of being earnest

ask anyone who knows me, I am a very earnest girl... if I'm on your team, boy! am I a great champion for you and everything hope to achieve!

I don't really know where this conviction came from, this 'why not' attitude that has seen me through many adventures, but I have come to realise today that it is the secret of any success I've had in this life... and by success I mean in the task of being a great human being! cos even though I struggle to make the rent and feel sometimes forlorn that I don't have all the trappings of modern life, being a greathuman being is all I am interested in... the amazing friends and family I have, the music I'm making, the life I'm enjoying, goddamn I feel blessed!!!

it occurs to me that everyone you meet, cross paths with, fall in love with, fall out of love with, all leave  you with something you didn't have before that helps you join the next dot in life... I have written some kickass songs about heartbreak and without that experience would I still have any songs? hard to gauge but other examples abound...
an ex love of mine helped a friend of mine publish his book, still reeling from that sweet story!
a really old friend of mine came to see me play last night for the first time, he probably doesn't realise it but his encouragement of me over the last 18 months has been priceless!
also at that same gig a guy who picked me up in his taxi couple of times lately turned up to listen to my songs, he is a lapsed teacher and I'm putting him in touch with someone who can probs give him some work, all this just because we were chatting in his cab... ! <3 it="" nbsp="" p="">
but what is also key, everyone who is leaving me with a little something, is getting a little bit of earnest from me! think about what kind of dog you'd be... I'm a Jack Russell! haha energetic, excitable and supercute! ;) haha

the universe delivers everything we ask for, so make sure you're asking for the right things! and if you see me in the street say hi because you never know how we can make each other's life better or at least more interesting!!!




www.shebeat.co.uk  

follow your dreams

This is a book written by a friend of mine... 

I know it's been a long time coming and I'm so happy for him to have finally achieved his dream of being published! It just goes to show that perseverance sometimes pays off... I've been a fan of Gene's blog since 2006 I think -- the years fly by and it all gets a bit fuzzy with so much sleep & red wine since then... but approximately you understand... ;)

Aristotle said one time "We are what we repeatedly do", good and bad habits maketh the man! 

So Gene stuck to his guns and wrote. And wrote. And wrote some more. And now he has a book to show for it! You can buy it here ;) 

I am using this soundbite of Aristotle's myself this year with regards my musical efforts...

I gig therefore I am a musician! #simples altho Descartes gets a nod for delivery ;)

And you know what, it's working! The simplest strategies are oft the most effective in this life...

Hear my sounds at www.soundcloud.com/shebeat if you please :) 

lippy power

This is me... 

I'm sporting a hat my mum abandoned in the 80s and somehow I managed to keep hold of it (lord knows how I managed this since I've moved about 20 times since then, which sounds like a blog entry waiting to happen!)... I'm also working a newly trimmed fringe having felt overgrown for a couple of weeks, feels great to see my brows again... and the pout is for the new lippy I purchased today from MAC... It's called Pink Nouveau and oh how I love it!

To me this is a perfect example of how simple pleasures can make your day :)

A fabulous hat, a fringe tidy and a new lippy made me smile and how lucky am I to live such a life? And don't think I'm not being serious, I am a big believer in the little things in life (for example did you see my post about Be Lovely Day?!)

Another thing that made me smile today since you asked ;)

my mate Chi wrote this ace song with a lyric that lingered in my head since I heard it on Wednesday... "what's the use of living in the past/ it ain't ever gonna ask you to come back" #wow

love it so much hear it here... 

Be Lovely Day

12.01.2013

Remember Remember January 12th because you're about to witness something lovely!

Well if you choose to take part and spread the word among friends family and colleagues that is, because Be Lovely Day is recruiting!

A friend and I concocted our lovely plan a few weeks before Christmas... wouldn't it be lovely we mused, if on one day we got everyone together to be lovely to each other and send a lovely ripple into the Universe! :o

So simple and yet so effective - no cost required, just word of mouth and a helping hand from our friends on social media - making something happen that could really make a difference!!!

And here we are - preparing for Be Lovely Day a week on Saturday - get involved! tell your friends and your mum's friends and your son's friends cos this is going GLOBAL! haha

Pay a stranger a compliment, make dinner for a friend, call a long distance relative for a chat, bake a cake for your class, so many little things that can put a smile on so many faces and send a ripple of lovely-ness into the atmosphere - pay it forward darlings!!!

Find out more via www.twitter.com/belovelyday