Skip to main content
Category

Happiness & Joy

A Magical Evening: British Musical Fireworks Championships at Southport

By Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, Inspiration, Life, Music & RadioNo Comments
southport-fireworks-2015-1

Simon & I, excited for Fireworks and Music.

On an early Autumn evening, as the sun set on a Sunday, Simon and I headed to Southport for British Musical Fireworks Championships. There was something magical about fireworks timed to music being combined that created an awesome experience.

The British Musical Fireworks Championships goes on over a weekend Friday – Sunday, with different Pyrotechnic Professionals competing to be judged as the Winner of the Championships by a panel of judges. The public can buy entry to a large park where fireworks displays takes place in time with the music. In the park are fast food vans, coffee vans, a performance stage (for live singers prior to the main event), toilets and even seated tickets are available.

Here are some photos from the event, but without the music they really don’t do the experience justice:

southport-fireworks-2015-0

The Entrance to the British Musical Fireworks Championships at Southport.

southport-fireworks-2015-2

Fireworks (1)

southport-fireworks-2015-3

Fireworks (2)

southport-fireworks-2015-4

Fireworks (3)

southport-fireworks-2015-5

Fireworks (4)

southport-fireworks-2015-6

Fireworks (5)

southport-fireworks-2015-8

Fireworks (6)

southport-fireworks-2015-9

Fireworks (7)

southport-fireworks-2015-10

Fireworks (8)

southport-fireworks-2015-11

Fireworks (9)

southport-fireworks-2015-12

Fireworks (10)

southport-fireworks-2015-13

Fireworks (11)

southport-fireworks-2015-14

Fireworks (12)

southport-fireworks-2015-15

Fireworks (13)

southport-fireworks-2015-16

Fireworks (14)

southport-fireworks-2015-17

Fireworks (15)

southport-fireworks-2015-18

Fireworks (16)

southport-fireworks-2015-19

Fireworks (17)

southport-fireworks-2015-20

Fireworks (18)

southport-fireworks-2015-21

Fireworks (19)

southport-fireworks-2015-22

Fireworks (20)

southport-fireworks-2015-23

Fireworks (21)

southport-fireworks-2015-24

Fireworks (22)

southport-fireworks-2015-25

Fireworks (23)

southport-fireworks-2015-26

Fireworks (24)

southport-fireworks-2015-28

Fireworks (25)

southport-fireworks-2015-30

Fireworks (26)

southport-fireworks-2015-31

Fireworks (27)

southport-fireworks-2015-32

Fireworks (28)

southport-fireworks-2015-33

Fireworks (29)

Click on any photo for full-size image. Once in full-size image, there is also the option to play a slideshow.

Blog soon,

Antony



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


Share on Social Media:

Wheatus Live: The 15th Anniversary Tour at Manchester Academy 3

By Friends & Family, Gigs & Shows, Happiness & Joy, Music & RadioNo Comments
wheatus-ticket-0

Wheatus Ticket

Recently a friend and I went to see Wheatus at Manchester Academy 3.

The warm-up bands varied in quality. The Hipstones were terrible. Gabrielle Sterbenz as a three piece girlband had charisma and a good stage presence. Mike Doughty I just remember being rather annoying, tall and bald. After about an hour of warm-up bands, it was time for the main event.

wheatus-2015-1

Warm Up Act 1 – Gabrielle Sterbenz.

wheatus-2015-2

Warm Up Act 2 – Mike Doughty

Brendan B. Brown was superb. He hit all of the high notes in the songs with precision, despite a chest cold that he’d apparently caught in Ireland. Rather than a setlist Brown encouraged the audience to shout out the tracks that they wanted to hear.

The audience were not shy, shouted out and Wheatus played. The audience started out with head nodding as the band played. The alcohol flowed, more familiar tracks were played and the audience responded by properly rocking out.

Here are some Wheatus photos from the gig:

wheatus-2015-3

Time For Wheatus!

wheatus-2015-4

Wheatus – Taking song requests from the audience.

wheatus-2015-5

Wheatus – Singing one of their classics (1).

wheatus-2015-6

Wheatus – Singing one of their classics (2).

Wheatus played all of their tracks on their self titled album, including: A Little Respect, Sunshine, Truffles, Hump ‘Em N Dump ‘Em, Hey, Mr. Brown, Leroy, Punk Ass Bitch, Love Is a Mutt from Hell and Wannabe Gangstar.

wheatus-2015-7

Wheatus about to sing the finale – Teenage Dirtbag (1).

wheatus-2015-8

Wheatus about to sing the finale – Teenage Dirtbag (2).

wheatus-2015-9

Wheatus about to sing the finale – Teenage Dirtbag (3).

The finale was of course being their iconic song Teenage Dirtbag. Teenage Dirtbag was released in 2000 and quickly a number one in most of the charts across the world. Since then it has been covered many times, but you can’t beat seeing Brown play it live. My friend and I had a great night. Wheatus are well worth seeing, hearing and enjoying live.

Blog soon,

Antony



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


Share on Social Media:

A Night of Improv Laughter – Nina Conti, In Your Face Live at The Lowry, Salford Quays

By Gigs & Shows, Happiness & JoyNo Comments
nina-conti-live-ticket

Nina Conti Live Ticket

Comedian Ventriloquist Nina Conti has recently embarked on her first fully improvised tour, entitled In Your Face. No script what so ever. For any performer this is brave and no doubt requires a lot of courage.

It also means that each show in the tour is a totally unique experience. Simon and I went to see her at The Lowry, Salford Quays. Nina did exceptionally well and had the audience laughing aloud often.

Manchester audiences are notoriously difficult on an audience participation front, generally having the attitude that they’ve paid for the ticket now want to be passively entertained. Audience participation is an essential component of all of Nina’s performances and she demonstrated her skill at engaging audiences by engaging and involving the audience from the off.

Nina’s longstanding puppet Monkey was the only puppet to come on to the stage with Nina. Monkey says what he thinks, which makes him and Nina hilarious. At one point, he even put Nina in a bag on stage, so that he could talk to the audience alone.

I missed Nina’s Daughter and Inner Child, mainly because of the ‘My Face Hurts When I Play Guitar’ song. But I wasn’t to be disappointed as Monkey did a rendition. Simon missed Gran, I think it was just because of her perky attitude. These puppets, along with others that Nina has used in the past were replaced with more face mask/moving mouth puppets for audience members.

nina-conti-live-0

Nina Conti Live at The Lowry, Salford.

nina-conti-live-1

Nina Conti Live: The Set.

nina-conti-live-ticket

Jumper Puppet, Me and Simon during the interval.

What I loved about the show, was that even Nina herself didn’t know what direction the show would go in at times. It was an evening of fun, good humour and childlike play. I loved the childlike play and I think it something we all need more of in our lives. So Thank you, Nina for allowing us an evening of playfulness.

Simon and I were both inspired by the first half of the show, that during the interval Simon created a puppet using my jumper. This resulted in even more laughs.

Nina missed an opportunity, by having no merchandise being available to buy before, during or after the show. I would have liked to have bought a mug.

Unfortunately Nina’s tour is limited and in most places she is only doing one date. But if you’ve missed her this time round, make sure you catch her next time round. You can find information around Nina’s live dates here.

Blog soon,

Antony



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


Share on Social Media:

Review: A Marvellous Massage by a Masseur found using GuysWay

By Gay, Happiness & Joy, Health, ReviewsNo Comments
guysway-website-screenshot

GuysWay – The Ultimate Male Masseur Directory in the UK

Being a Reviewer has its perks. Like being offered the opportunity to review the experience of finding a Masseur on GuysWay and having a massage. Naturally, I jumped at the chance.

Within two clicks on GuysWay I had found a professional, gay-friendly massage therapist local to where I live. It couldn’t have been easier.

On GuysWay my first click was to select my geographical area, which resulted in a list of local Masseurs. The second click to select a profile of a Masseur that took my fancy. I had the option to make a quick phone call, text or email to book.

I booked with a gorgeous Moroccan named Saeed via email. As well as having a profile on GuysWay he has his own website where he offers his massage services. Saeed happens to be the Owner of GuyWay. On my arrival at his house, I felt instantly at ease with Saeed. We spoke a little about GuysWay.

Saeed was quick to reassure me that the order Masseurs are displayed on local listing pages are always random, meaning that no Masseur gets preference over another. He explained that he had set up GuysWay because he had seen a gap in the market. There were directories that were slightly sleazy and seedy offering additional services to massage, but no gay-friendly Professional Masseur Directories out there. I had to agree with this, prior to GuysWay, I had always found it difficult to find a good Masseur.

massage-room-saeed

Saeed’s Massage Room

Saeed led me upstairs to his massage room. The room had an air of comfort to it. Candles, low-lighting and background music created a calming atmosphere. I undressed, leaving my underwear on to maintain my modesty and climbed on to the message table. I had opted for a deep tissue massage.

Saeed started on my shoulders, working his way down my body using massage oil liberally. His hands were like magic. They were warm, muscular, applied the perfect amount of pressure and moved in rhythm with the music. The feel on skin-on-skin contact was stimulating, sensual and very relaxing. I found myself being transformed into a blissfully calm and carefree state. Throughout the massage, I had the option to talk or just lie there and enjoy.

The message was just what I needed. It left me feeling both relaxed and energised. It was fantastic and left me wanting to take Saeed’s hands home with me.

Afterwards I thought about the experience. I decided that massage is essential for everyone’s wellbeing. Massage has so many benefits. For me this massage helped to reduce my stress levels, enabled me to unwind and get a goodnight of restful sleep.

I’ll definitely be booking another delightful and marvellous massage with Saeed in the future. Hopefully making massages with Saeed a regular thing.

Review soon,

Antony

mental-health-wisdom-banner

Share on Social Media:
×