Almost Alternative

First Week I have never attended the Fringe Festival before. I have always said that I would love to but some how life seems to get in the way. I decided to change that and months ago I booked tickets for 8 performances. In my first Fringe week I have seen 4 of them and every single one has been so different from the rest.  The Dead, Live Night one we went to The Dead, Live by Daniel Thackeray a Scytheplays performance. The strange tale of Lawrence Dodds a fake medium. Slowly his secret unravels in this dark tale that would fit in with all the classic ghost tales I read when I was younger, that's not to say it was predictable because it was full of surprises all the way through. Strangely comedic, eerie and spine chilling. This performance made people jump but more than that it left that feeling of dread and the emptiness of not knowing what lies beyond in the spirit world. It was a very cleverly done ominous piece of theatre. I would recommend it to anyone w...

This Was Going To Be A Blog About One Thing But Turned Into Something Else A Fantastic Gig And Women On Stage I will start by saying the Analogue Trash stage at Sonderfest definitely didn't disappoint. The line up was well put together, the bands were incredible and the atmosphere was electric. The crowd loved every second and it looked like the bands did too. Room 1985 are new to the Trash Family and I am eagerly awaiting there album release. They are a little different from most of the bands I see through trash, not quite as heavily electro and a little more psychedelic rock, they were definitely a nice start to the evening, buckets of stage presence, beautiful music and a fantastic singer.  Then they were joined on stage by the first spectacular woman of the evening. A singer with heaps of emotion, attitude, passion and of course vocal talent. She absolutely stole the stage.  Next up were St Lucifer. Four amazing guys with an interes...

Neil Gaiman And Stephen Fry I have never been to the Hay Festival before. I see adverts for it and hear about the appearances but it's three and a half hours from home so it took something special to get me there.  Neil Gaiman and Stephen Fry When I saw there would be an audience with Neil Gaiman and Stephen Fry I knew I had to go. I have never fawned over actors or models, give me an interesting mind any day, a writer, an artist, a musician, a scientist some one who thinks beautifully. Then I am jelly. I turn into a teenage fan girl, I have now seen/met several of my favourite minds but Neil Gaiman remained top of my wish list.  From the moment I found his work I was enchanted, I would never return to be the person I was before I read American Gods. A book recommended by a friend. I sat down to begin and the next thing I knew it was the end of the book. I didn't move for roughly 8 hours, I completely ignored my partner, I was lost in the world of Shadow....

A4 Studios And Gallery A4 Studios are a wonderful non profit organisation founded by artist's. They are aiming to provide low cost accessible studios for people of all abilities, while raising awareness of disabilities and equality in the arts. I fully support their mission and when I was asked to come down and help out with some fundraising I was more than happy to oblige. They have a funding page please donate if you can.  I spent the day helping to man the awesome A Hat And A beard stall. The lovely man who hand makes the items is so obviously talented, I really enjoyed chatting about his work and seeing people's faces as they looked at the stall. He also produces commission pieces and rents larger pieces out.  My partner in crime running the stall, Dani Scum (not Mr Hat and Beard) The performances were amazing. I really enjoyed the sea shanties played on an accordion by Marina Black. A perfect fun start to the afternoon.  Marina Black Marina...

In the last three days I have seen plenty of hate. I went out in support of my fellow human beings. I went out in support of people having a right to worship without fear. A wonderful friend suggested that we needed to stand with our community and I completely agreed with her. So we looked at what we could do and set up an event on social media. We shared it around and first came the hate.  We were called names and at least one threat was sent to us, but as more and more people showed their love and support the hate was drowned out. I have now received love and support from hundreds of people. I am so truly over whelmed to have been able to stand with all these wonderful people and firmly tell the haters that they only increase my need to and ability to love those they hate.  The haters make me see how truly amazing the people who welcomed strangers with open arms, who cooked for us, chatted with us, hugged us, laughed with us and mourned with us are. These are th...

I am going to be dedicating some blogs to places I love in Manchester, I thought I would start with somewhere beautiful and peaceful that I only found recently.  Church of The Holy Name of Jesus This church is on Oxford Road and I have passed it many times and just not really paid attention, it doesn't seem that impressive but inside is stunning.  On entering you see that it's much bigger than it seems and the stained glass gives the whole place such a magnificent light.  The architecture is breathtaking, the beams, ceiling, arches and windows are everything I want from a Gothic Victorian church. I believe it was built in roughly 1870 and designed by Joseph Hansom. As I walked around I found several little chapels hidden away behind beautiful statues and cut out arch window walls. I really couldn't get over how wondrous the patterns of natural light were in this building.  Anyway St Therese certainly seemed ...