The Brewgaloo Do

Hello, hello. Whipperty-wo-be-doo-be-do. So, crazy week only the plot thickens! The single has been serviced and Late at Night has gone to 4 radio station playlists already! Woop Woop! So very exciting. It does mean, however, that I am now surviving on nearly 5 hours of sleep every night to get everything done. Luckily, I had Everybody needs a Lucy with me this weekend for the Wild Lily Fete and the wonderful, creative Alice in touringland too. The Wild Lily Fete was enchanting and beautiful and a total dream come true! Thank you to everyone who made it that way.

The Brewgaloo do will be on Friday and is a very different animal to the Wild Lily Fete which was so feminine and dainty. The Brewgaloo Do is all about the B's... Barbie Shop, Billy Buckley, Rockabilly, Blues, Barbie Shop Bingo Shmingo and Bonkers but Beautiful Bunting.

My brand new website will be up and running next week so all those who Tea partied will be able to see their framed selves there next week but for now here's a few sneaky previews... (thanks to Russell Todd and Peter Fay for photo magic)

Musicalitea!

Come out! Come out! Wherever you are,

All those near

And all from afar

To the Wild Lily Fete tomorrow, half three

Come to Midland, eat cake and sip tea,

Learn how to Waltz in a Viennese style

Or sit back and just relax for a while

In the room where Rolls met Royce

and the first tango was danced

We'll bring the strings to paint musical romance

There will be music and dancing and laughing and cake

What more could you hope for, for goodness' sake?

Dress to impress and wear a happy grin

To the Wild Fete let the Tea Dance begin!

Call 0161 236 3333 to book your last minute tickets

Tea Hee Hee

A tea dance, or thé dansant (French: literally dancing tea) is a summer or autumn afternoon or early-evening dance from four to seven, sometimes preceded in the English countryside by a garden party.The usual refreshments in 1880 were tea and coffee, ices, champagne-cup and claret-cup, fruit, sandwiches, cake and biscuits. ^[5] The types of dances performed during tea dances included Waltzes, Tangos and, by the late 1920s, The Charleston.^[6]

The expenses of a seated supper, wine and candles associated with a ball were obviated by the tea dance, when a stiff waxed canvas dancing cloth strained over the drawing-room carpet was considered sufficient, rather than taking up the carpet and waxing the floor in preparation for dancing.^[7] Floral decorations were modest.

Damsel Dusty

So the Nice Cuppa Tea Dances are in full swing (Tea Hee Hee). Here is my Tea dance recipe for the Wild Lily Fete (Sunday the 24th of July in the Midland Hotel):

How to make a Wild Lily Fete

Take:

1. New songs (lots of)

2. A String quartet

3. The ridiculously talented Troubadours (Matt Owens, Tom Davies, Rick Weedon & John Ellis)

3. Damsel Dusty the twinklingly talented poet

4. The Mighty Charlton our ever changing in the flash of an era Master of Ceremonies

5. A lovely Audience

6. All sorts of musical flavours from swing to Bolero, waltz to country.

7. A full set of vibes and a full set of vibes.

8. Tea, fresh coffee, little triangular cucumber type sandwich things, and lashings of cake

9. A whole bunch of beautiful chords

10.Fresh flowers

11. A beautiful room with walls that could tell a century of incredible historic stories.

12. Waltzing, waltzing and more waltzing.

mix them all together in a huge bowl and add one Kirsty Almeida, a beautiful dress, a 19th century Parlor guitar, a Manchester Jazz festival and bake at 37.8 degrees for 2.5 hours this sunday at 3.30pm and then dance forever. MMmmmm MMmmmm

How Tealightful x

Here's a little peek at how beautiful the Trafford room in the Midland hotel is, where we'll be holding the Nice Cuppa Tea Dances for the Manchester Jazz Festival. I thought you might like to see the different stages of the event taking shape. The manchester Jazz Festival have asked me to curate the two events and its so much fun for me. These kind of opportunities, although always hard work are a a great opportunity for me to write lots of new songs and try new things out and work and share with other artists and musicians.

For this one, Matt Owens and I are writing lots of new string arrangements for brand new songs. There are lots of wonderful moments being put together for these tea dances so I am hoping the will be the start of many. I will be dressing the room and the tables and the air will be sented with fresh flowers and freshly made cakes. There will be walzting and beautiful dance displays and the fantastic Barbie Shop will be singing and there will be Barbie Shop BINGO!!!

Here is my blank canvass. Will photograph the work as go along and share. I had the first rehearsal with the Leos String Quartet last week. It was so lovely to hear the parts and songs taking shape. They will be playing at the first Tea Dance on the 24th of July named 'The Wild Lily Fete'. Rick Weedon will also be featured on full set of Vibes. Woop Woop!!!

Will share some video footage as we go along. Get your tickets from here