Lopez Blogs

Shayne Ward. Shay. Wardy if you will. I spotted him fairly early on in the X Factor and as the show progressed I started to think that here was a good looking lad, with a strong vocal, nice sense of style and actually could do a variety of styles week in week out on the live shows. This could be one reality star who could follow in the footsteps of William and Girls Aloud rather than Michelle McManus, Hear'say and Steve Brookstein. Who was always really just Will Young's pervy uncle to me...

So what's gone wrong? An interview in this month's Attitude proved that Shayne is a thoroughly nice guy who is aware that this could all disappear in a moment and so is just enjoying it for what it is. Which actually made me want to go and shake him... because Louis Walsh is what went wrong. I got caught up in the hype of That's My Goal as tends to happen when you follow a show like X Factor religiously. But then No Promises came out and the album was one westlife ballad after another. Stand By Me - the new single and video (in which he wears the same white shirt, jeans and blazer he has worn in his previous two videos!) - is yet another ballad that could be sung by Ronan Keating or Westlife. Shayne needs to desperately assert himself (a la Will Young), show a bit of variety in future recordings, bare his chest more and remind us of what made him so entertaining on the X Factor...

Looking more like a bunch of 1880s gay cowboys waiting to jump, hogtie and have their wicked way with you than the smart skinny tie mormon missionary boys we were introduced to a couple of years ago, B-Flo and The Killers talked to NME this week about their sophomore album - allegedly due the same day as Ta-Dah by the Scissters - and of course has attracted lots of bloggy interest...

I utterly adore the Killers. SomebodyTold Me and All These Things I've Done (just incredibly spine tingling live) are two of my favourite songs of recent years. The interview says that this album will not be as indebted to British influences as Hot Fuss was, but will be more of a love letter to America, inspired by wide open spaces and, er, Bruce Springsteen. (Brandon certainly seems to have borrowed his tunnel of love era style....)

The boys love of their homeland comes across in the interview and apparently the album promises to be bigger, more expansive, a little less full of itself and a little more human. Like Keane the recording sessions have been steeped in the band's adjustment to fame and all the baggage that brings with it. Luckily however, its not all serious soul searching...

B-Flo is still a delicate pretty fleur and -despite practising mormon status - the interview contains some delightfully catty sniping at Fall Out Boy/Panic! At The Disco... Can't those crazy kids just wrestle it out already??

Here is NME's guide to the completed album tracks:

WHY DO I KEEP COUNTING? ~ Concerned with Brandon's fear of flying, it's a sprawling mini-epic reminiscent of Bowie as much as Springsteen, opening with a twinkly synth part and culminating in the soaring climax of "If i only knew the answer, I wouldn't be bothering you." (thezapping note: I love a soaring climax!)

BONES ~ Possible first single with a definite Queen flavour running through it. Very catchy summery feel with Brandon saucily urging us to "Feel my bones/its only natural". Topped off by a brass section that will sound fantastic at next years festivals.

WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG ~ The album's most Springsteen-esque moment with lyrics relating to "A beautiful boy/he doesn't look a thing like Jesus but he talks like a gentleman was supposed to/When you were young!." Another possible single.

UNCLE JOHNNY DID COCAINE ~ The closest thing to classic Killers. Its blasted around a relentless dark and twisted guitar riff and almost sounds like 70s era Iggy Pop.

READ MY MIND ~ Almost unrecognisable as the Killers, this is a slow stately 80s mega ballad with Brandon delivering an impassioned vocal - perhaps his best to date. Definitely an anthem in waiting.

SAM'S TOWN ~ A raucous guitar intro gives way to a synth heavy verse before settling into a big singalong mantra at the end. Its a nastier sounding song than the others, but unbelievably catchy. Our ears may have deceived us, but we're sure there is a violin in there somewhere too.

If we're going to talk about summer, i should just say that i have been MISERABLE the past two days by being attacked by the worst hay fever ever (mobile phone predictive text = gay fever). My eyes were practically swollen shut on monday and itched like heck...add that to constant sneezing (8 in a row DOESN'T give you an orgasm) and i was not a happy bunny. But i digress...

Ten years ago this very day, 2 monumental things happened. One would have a huge impact on pop music, the other a huge impact on my life. On June 28th 1996, Ginger, Posh, Sporty, Scary and the other one did their first live British tv performance of Wannabe on GMTV. Now i have searched youtube for it, and can't find it sadly because if the video was marvelous in its dodginess then this was classic if only for poor Geri "I wasn't a natural dancer" halliwell doing some sort of karate kick dance for the camera. Of course they went on to have massive success that i won't bore you with writing about here cos its well documented. And certainly from 1996-1998 they totally ruled the world of pop selling more singles and albums than Girls Aloud could dream of.

Now I totally missed the summer of spice because on June 28th 1996, I flew off to new York to work at Rotary Sunshine Camp in Rochester. To say it was an experience that changed my life would be somewhat of an understatement. I had never worked with kids with disabilities before so coming to a camp run especially for them was somewhat of an eyeopener. AAnd luckily I loved it. Due to someone leaving (a hushed up pregnancy!) I was able to become Musical director for the camp and organise the evening entertainment and weekly play. It was incredibly frustrating, funny, rewarding and unforgettable all in one go. By the time the summer had finished, I had made some great friends, drunk far too much in the field across the road (really my first experience with binge drinking - not pretty. Once I was at a party for Tara Trojanowski's birthday that August, and decided to die my hair blonde. Some other drunk girls helped me and then said to wash it off in the shower. instead i passed out in the shower and was only discovered the next morning when the bleach had caused most of my hair to fall out! Mortifying!!), totally changed my music tastes (somehow before this summer i hadn't realised that there was music that people loved that didn't make the UK or US top twenty!) and made me change my career options from studying English to studying Disability policy - something i still do for work 10 years later. I could write millions of stories about that summer and the two more I went back for, as well as the countless trips i made after 1998 to keep up with friends. But thats for another day...

So i totally missed the summer of spice and came back to Gary Barlow having a solo number one, Robbie Williams doing some drugged up cover of Freedom and of course the Spice Girls ruling England. I didn't succumb to their charms until 2 Become 1 that Christmas and then loved them and got live the summer of spice when i went back to camp in June 1997 just as they were breaking the states...

First up - Lily Allen... I must admit I was deeply sceptical when i first saw Lily Allen being interviewed on tv. Sure it was nice to see a young female singer who wasn't trying to be either Slaggy Aggy or one of the pouting blonde girl group clones. But i wasn't convinced that the music would live up to the hype. What a surprise then to discover LDN (mp3) ~ its a proper summer single that sounds like it was concocted (LOVE that word) in a haze of yellow pollen and metropolitan exhaust fumes. And how delightful that the album lives up to that infectious witty first outing - especially the insanely catchy Alfie which contains my favourite use of the word twat since Brian Kinney said "I'd rather have my tongue superglued to a lesbians twat" on the US Queer as Folk...
MP3: Alfie

welcome back zapping fans and friends... i'm not going to do a huge big post on barcelona like i did on gran canaria earlier in the year because, well it was our homo moon and its a bit personal, but needless to say a fantastic time was had, and its an amazing city steeped in history, culture and stunning architecture... The most famous landmark of course has to be Gaudi's Sagrada Familia - the unfinished cathedral in the centre of the city. Stunning to look at, scary to climb all those steps and venture out onto the ledge for a photo, but definitely worth a visit...

And i have to say that possibly the best way to view the city is on the bike tour, which not only gets you meeting a fun group of people but obviously helps you work off all the beer and tapas too! Our guide max was incredibly informative and it was a great day out...

We also found the gorgeous little fishing village of Sitges which has a surprisingly gay population. There is a street ~ called Sin Street by the locals ~ that is jam packed with gay bars and clubs. Think a classier Yumbo centre in Gran Canaria... we loved it so much we have booked to stay there for a week in August..

so a lovely time was had and its a bit of a comedown being back home. And whats even worse is going back to work on Monday. Yikes and yuck. Still, the honeymoon can't last forever :(

MP3: G4-Barcelona

even internationally renowned superstars love a gay civil partnership


(message reads: To Paul and Darren: Congrats! "For Better or Worse" ~ deborah gibson)

Warning! Warning! this is going to be one incredibly long post so grab a cup of tea/coffee/pint of gin and settle in. And although i always welcome comments, this time i'm actively encouraging them as we want to print them off and keep them as part of the "memento box" for the day...

Right on with business... The civil partnership of Paul and Darren! On Friday night, we went out to dinner at the loft lounge with my best (wo)man Ruth and her girlfriend Lou which was just a lovely way to relax and chill out before the big day... the staff at the loft lounge - i think his name was John - were so incredibly friendly and enthusiastic it was hard not to order one of their delicious deserts ;) Darren practically had to role me home! Then we went into our apartment garden and took some practice photos (me and darren above, ruth and lou looking lovely below) for where we would take some more official photos on the day... then it was off to bed for about 4 hours sleep!

Saturday - the civil partnership of Paul and Darren! I was woken up at six am by darren prodding me rather hard yelling in my ear "ARE YOU AWAKE YET?!" repeatedly. It's pretty hard not to be awake when that is going on, so I decided I should probably get up. We were joined by family and friends for a rather chaotic wedding breakfast which just zoomed by as we got our hair cut by our brilliant hairdresser friend Paul Hair (that's not his real name - well his name is Paul, we just call him Hair to differentiate from me!), had showers and got our outfits ready for the day. Before we knew it, it was time for some photos outside before we left for the registry office...

What we didn't realise was that the sun would be directly in our eyes as we took the photos in the morning (as opposed to last night!) so everyone is squinting and grimacing big time, but it really was a happy occasion! The above pic is about the best one and from left to right is my dad, mom, me, darren, darren's mom and step dad...

Now as we walked to the registry office, Darren and I did that comedy moment where we both pretended we had forgotten the rings until we realised that actually neither of us had the rings. Cue an extremely few tense moments of unspoken blame and a very game Ruth running in the sweltering heat back to our apartment to hunt for them. Cue a ten minute phonecall with our other friend Bernice who was rolling round on our bedroom floor in her best dress searching for the rings, which I believe ended up exactly where we said they would be! Ruth then arrived at the registry office, make up and sweat pouring down her face with about two minutes to spare. And we appeared so ungrateful! We just snatched (but ruth likes snatch so its ok!!) the rings off her and ran in to do our pre ceremony bit! How Rude! but really we were incredibly grateful to Ruth - she really helped make the day go smoothly for us :)

Ahh, the ceremony - it seemed to go really quickly so I will have to watch the video back later (which i will YouTube post later in the week...) I remember getting very teary when we exchanged rings and pledged our love and devotion. And Darren's hands were very sweaty. Our kiss was very classy although to be quite honest I was so overcome with love I coulda just dropped to the floor right there and then and made nasty music, but its not the thing to do really is it? The lady in the pic above was the person who performed our ceremony and she was just lovely, put us at ease, made a few jokes and was just very warm and likeable. I really believe she made our ceremony special by being so nice :) PS - we look like extras from Oliver Twist!!

After the ceremony, with my ring feeling very new on my finger we posed for some more pics in the sweltering heat outside and heard all the crowds from the pubs cheer insanely - we thought for us of course, but no, England had scored a goal! Apparently there was some football match on today too. How inconsiderate of Becks!

Walking into the reception to a crowd of about 75 friends and family was way more nerve wracking than the ceremony itself... We came down the stairs to cheers and applause and thousands of camera flashes going off in our faces (love that we posed in front of the ladies toilets and darren had his bar tubos fan in his hand!). We were and still are truly overwhelmed by how lovely people were on the day and how genuinely pleased they were for us. At this point I have to say that the staff and owners of Glamourous show bar went way above and beyond our expectations with what they provided, including a cabaret show and a complimentary bottle of champagne... If you are ever in Birmingham, please pop into this bar, you won't get a warmer welcome and again, the efforts of the team at Glam really elevated our reception from amazing to unsurpassable.

Now the following photos are some of the guests at the party...

Above are Sweet and Sour Lizzie Maguire and I (top) and michael and Jackie - some of the people and friends I used to work with at Penderels where I was for four years and was a great place to work... which may beg the question why don't i work there anymore. Well I ask myself the same thing recently... but i was thrilled that so many of the penderels gang turned up and thanks to Lucy for being unofficial photographer :)

Best dressed apart from darren and I went to Matt and Claire (top) and Leona and her hunky new beau (bottom) Claire had this gorgeous red number on and Matt I think excelled in the smart casual look with his vaguely David Tennant Dr Who inspired ensemble with converse trainers that weren't converse trainers but actually from New Look! Well done that man! And Leona and her fella made a very stunning couple :)

Ruth and Harona did amazing speeches that made us laugh, cry and cringe with embarrassment (how dare Ruth reveal that I used to make her practice Steps dance routines with me!!) but were ultimately very lovely and touching. My dear friend Kirsty did a gorgeous reading for us from Captain Corelli's Mandolin which got a collective AWWWW and was extremely well read :)

Then Glamour (Pedro - co~owner of the bar with Paul) did some great cabaret for us and was gracious enough to pose for a pic with me and my very drunk friend Sue. Guess which one is Sue...

This post in no way can encapsualate the emotions and laughter and joy that made this day memorable for me, darren and our friends and family. The two pics above I think says a lot - our handsome couple-friends Simon and Mark (top) sat in traffic for hours to attend, threw themselves into the preceedings with their and now our new friend Quick Finger Melanie Felony and just radiated warmth and enthusiasm throughout the evening. We were so glad they were there :) And Darrens friend Mark and his new boyfriend Craig bought that new exciting relationship vibe to the preceedings which i think is so romantic at weddings. Craig is a lovely guy and we had fun chatting to them throughout the day!

But all too soon the day came to an end. It was truly an amazing day and I can't thank enough all the people that made it so, and the many many messages I had from friends who couldn't attend, the random but lovely strangers who bought us champagne and the hotel for upgrading us to a suite! You all made a great day unforgettable :)

EDIT ALERT!

• this is the link to glamourous show bar!
• and click here and here for two lovely shout outs from bloggers who are just too smashing for words :)

Two songs came on a mix cd today in the car that totally sum up my feelings to the lovely Darren... God Only Knows (sung by Mandy Moore) and I'm Yours by Jason Mraz. The refrain of the former sung over and over again "God Only Knows where i'd be without you" totally grips me everytime i look at my little dazpanteloons and as an added bonus it is of course the track that finishes off my favourite movie of all time ~ Love Actually (which is not only fabulous but introduced me to Maroon 5. Fact!) The latter by Jase is a gently strumming number that tells us all "its our godforsaken right to be loved" and the great line "i tried to be chilled but you're so hot that i;m melting". Even after six years together, i cannot wait to get home to tell Daz about my day. Saturday can't come quick enough...

MP3: Mandy Moore - God Only Knows
MP3: Jason Mraz - I'm Yours

Check out new(ish) band Switch 22 here and here. I really want an electro boy band in our charts and although i'd take Veto Silver first, I quite like the track Electric Girl on their myspace site...and the erasure/eurythmics sampling Sweet Dreaming is pretty fine. Anyone who describes themselves as such is ok by me:



"Stefan was created in a Swedish laboratory in the year 2022 to become the ultimate in pop pleasure. Swany crash-landed on a meteorites tail whilst cruising the galaxy in search of another superhero of pop. Together they have traveled in time gaining musical knowledge and strength to show the people of the new millennium that there is another hope."

Coming soon...

well, i was all excited that i could post Nelly Furtados live lounge track and every other blogger has beaten me to it! Which is ok - be sure to go and get it cos its pretty bon.

But there have been a few live lounge appearances recently that I have kinda liked in varying measures. First up - Patrick from Fall Out Boy doing a cover of Ne Yo's So Sick, very minimalistic, acoustic and who would have thought a gentle rock cover would suit this song?



MP3: Fall Out Boy - So Sick

Next up are Orson, who i tried to like but to be honest can't be bothered with. No Tomorrow is ok, but it in no way deserved to be number one. Their version of Sugababes Push The Button adds nothing to the Starsailor version from a few months back, but here it is anyhoo...



MP3: Orson - Push The Button

We Are Scientists recently did an acoustic set at the Live Lounge and choose to cover Hoppipola by Sigur Ros so points there for ingenuity and i find it strangely soothing...



MP3: We Are Scientists - Hoppipola