London

Wednesday, May 9th, 2012

Music for your ears


The SONY Award nominated Sean Rowley…

Sean Rowley‘s latest radio dispatches from his BBC and Ministry of Sound shows are available for your ears to be indulged with.

Sean is in the running for Music Presenter of the Year at the SONY Awards next Monday 14th May, so if you listen to his shows now and he wins it next week you can be all “Oh yeah, I was just listening to his show last week. I’ve been tuning in for a while” and everyone will think you’re dead cool.

All Back to Mine, on BBC Kent is here

And The Soft Machine on Ministry, this week presented by Dan Hayes, is here

That’s it. Now go and listen.

Monday, April 30th, 2012

Building blocks of FAME


She works hard for the money – Gaga labouring

Lady Gaga was building her own stage on tour last week. There’s a picture up there of her doing just that in hotpants and heels. They must have a fairly relaxed health and safety policy at her construction company or it was dress down / up Friday.

In light of Gaga drill, here are some other stars who have pre-fame done a hard days work involving manual labour and grubby finger nails come the end of the day.


Ozzy in casual, relaxed mode

Before he invented heavy metal in the Midlands with Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne had all manner of jobs where chips are a justified tea every day. He was a labourer on a building site, a trainee plumber and worked in a slaughterhouse. Oh and a criminal. All useful skills, apart from crime; it never pays kids.

Maybe the slaughterhouse was where he got his taste for the occult and biting dead birds’ heads off and that. All that blood could turn you loopy.

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Rod: Now I ain’t saying he’s a gravedigger…

Before he discovered hi-lights, tight trousers and a pop career, the teen Rod Stewart was famously a trainee footballer and indeed a promising one. But less famously, Rod earned his cash by digging graves. That’s some tough work.

Apparently he had a fear of death and the job was a way of facing his fears. Making great big holes in the ground in all weathers to put corpses in probably sorted that fear out. Maybe it developed a hatred of digging. Maybe he has a fear of shovels and spades. Maybe he doesn’t need to worry about that now he’s rich and lives in LA.

Maybe.

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This man can build you a (wonder) wall

Noel Gallagher worked on his dad’s building sites where he just argued with his dad all day in between the tasks required when building. He stopped the labouring when a heavy cap from a large steel gas pipe landed on his foot.

Yeah that would put us off a bit too. No one wants heavy caps falling on their feet. Baseball caps are probably fine though. Can’t see them hurting that much. Unless you have very sensitive skin of course.

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Bricking it: Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg was a bricklayer before she entered the acting world and was in fact invited to join the brick layer’s union. Whether she did or not, we don’t know.

After that she made up dead bodies in funeral parlours. Don’t think she did it to face a fear of death like Rod and his grave digging. Think she just needed a job. But it should have given her nightmares, seeing what her boss did to her on her first day in the “making up the dead” world:

‘Here’s the story of my first day making up the dead. I got a call saying I was wanted in the boss’s office. Which just happened to be where the bodies were kept in drawers. I went down and there was no one there. So I sat down and waited. A few minutes later I heard sort of creaking. I turned round and one of the drawers was slowly opening. Then someone sat up and waved at me. Someone who should have been dead.

‘Man, I was totally freaked out. Turns out it was the boss. He jumped out and said: “That’s the worst thing that could ever happen to you here, and it won’t. So there’s nothing to be scared of. Just think of the bodies as big dolls whose face and hair you are going to fix.” I was fine after that.’

Er thanks boss. I wonder if he had a sign on his desk which said “You don’t have to be mad to work here – but it helps!!!”? GREAT GUY.

That’s the end of the labouring stars blog.

Bye.

Monday, April 30th, 2012

Win Candi Staton Tickets!

We’ve got a pair of tickets for Candi Staton‘s Manchester and London live dates this week for some lucky souls to win!

Here’s Candi singing:

That was the song that launched her fact fans and she has since gone on to enjoy a much celebrated career.

Still hitting the high notes, Candi will be playing the RNCM in Manchester on Wednesday 2nd May and Islington Assembly Hall in London on Friday 4th May and we have a pair of tickets for both shows for an evening of Candi’s music magic .

To enter

Answer the following question and email your answer, name, contact details and which city you’d like to see her show to competitions@guiltypleasures.co.uk

Florence + the Machine covered Candi Staton’s You Got the Love, but who did Florence perform a duet of the song with at the 2010 Brit awards. Was it:
a) Dizzee Rascal
b) Dizzy Gillespie
c) Keith Gillespie, the midfielder for Longford Town FC?

Send you answer by Wednesday 2nd May at 12pm for the Manchester gig, or Friday 4th May at 12pm for London.

Don’t forget to include whether it’s the London or Manchester date that you’d like to attend, otherwise your answer will be void.

Good luck!

T&Cs
Over 18s only
Prize includes two tickets for Candi Staton at either the Royal College of Music in Manchester on Wednesday 2nd May 2012 or Islington Assembly Hall on Friday 4th May 2012.
Competition closes 12pm Wednesday 2nd May 2012 for the Manchester date and Friday 4th May 2012 for the London date.
Prizes are non-transferable and there is no cash alternative.

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

BLOG: Circus stars

This circus life can lead to many places – recreational ground in small towns mainly, but for some it was the first taste of performance for a career in the public eye.


Get the eff back lion

Before he became a very good and scary actor and did that dance in Fatboy Slim’s video, Christopher Walken trained to be a lion tamer. Lion tamer. This was a realistic career opportunity for him. What a very different time he must have lived in.


Hey lion. I’m Sly. I’m quite thick, but I could probably take you in a fight.

He wasn’t the only one. Growth hormone lover and actor Sly Stallone also whipped them lions into shape before he discovered creatine and playing violent sorts in the movies. Maybe he tamed them with machine guns like in Rambo. Or punched them in the face like in Rocky. Or neither of the above and stuck to the regular method of whip and that. Whatevs.


Hi girls. Yes. It IS me. Try not to faint.

Dreamy hunk Patrick Dempsey the smooth and suave sort was pre-Grey’s Anatomy, a juggler. Yes. Juggler. That dashing dude that makes the ladies swoon juggled for coins. It’s slightly marred his sheen of man perfection hasn’t it? Juggling’s never really been a sexy type of past time. It’s just elaborate tossing. Never mind Patrick, at least you have your face.


Hi I’m friendly Hugh Jackman! I’m Australian! It’s ok!

And completing our circus line up (ok we couldn’t find anyone else and it’s knocking on for tea time and we’re hungry) Aussie actor and X-Man’s serious sideburn sporter Wolverine, Hugh Jackman pre Hollywood was a clown. A CLOWN. That’s worse than a juggler Hugh. But it’s ok, we won’t hate on you, because you’re ace. And because of them sideburns. And because you sang about excrement and danced at the OSCARS. Clown past forgiven Hugh!

Tuesday, April 24th, 2012

Shake Tiger Shake

On Saturday night at KOKO as part of our Circus party, we’ve got brand new band Shake Tiger Shake performing live on stage for your delectation.

Here’s what they look like:


Shake Tiger Shake. Go on, SHAKE

So now you’ll be able to recognise them when they’re on stage. The fact that they’re playing instruments and singing songs may be a clue as to who they are as well, but we thought we’d get you one step ahead anyways. We’re good like that.

But why do they sound like, you wonder?

Well, the NME described them as “modern yacht rockers”. Whether that means they hang around on swanky boats with Russian oligarchs such is the yachting society des nos jours, we’re not sure. We can’t really see them cosying up to Roman Abramovich.

We CAN however see them cosying up to Kenny Rogers and Michael McDonald and even Steely Dan, just in slightly more modern fabrics than what they were sporting back in the 70s hey day of the yacht rock era.


Michael McDonald: cosy

They say their influences hail from 80s synth, Fleetwood Mac, Prince, Janet Jackson and Bianca Jagger on a white horse.

We say: YES PLEASE.

Come and see them live on the KOKO stage on Saturday night at the Guilty Pleasures Circus!

TICKETS