;)
On Sunday 18th August I woke up slightly too late for a shower, poked my lenses in and bundled my guitar into my Nissan Micra, off on an early morning voyage to Manchester. A few months back I entered myself into a competition called 'OPEN MIC UK' of which previous winners include Birdy. The competition looks for originality and I saw it as more suited to me as a singer-songwriter than competitions such as 'X Factor' and 'The Voice'.
After jumping out of the car at Crewe station, I managed to get on a train and sat on a table diagonally across from an elderly Rabbi. He was listening to his IPod, seemingly lost in music. After a time, he asked me if my guitar, sat on the seat next to me, was a cello, to which I replied, 'no but I do have a cello'. From there we had a charming half hour discussion of music during which time I was advised to listen to Puccini and Andy Williams and given a whistled recital of the works of renowned Jewish composers, much to the am/be-musement of surrounding carriage-dwellers. I arrived at Manchester Piccadilly with 5 minutes to spare before registration at The Palace Hotel.
When I arrived at The Palace Hotel, it felt just like the tense behind-the-scenes footage of X Factor: nervous caricatural individuals of every subculture. Looking down the corridor, the cocophany of various instruments and voices rehearsing, coupled with the visual menagerie made a rather bizarre impression. I wasn't sure if my music was really going to impress the panel of judges as I heard everything from Opera to Mancunian MC's being rehearsed...
After 3 hours watching people go in and out of the doors to audition, it was finally my turn. There were four in my group and we had to line up and wait our turn to stand on the gaffa-taped X. The panel of judges were all taking notes as we each came forward for our one minute recital. I played a bit of 'GIRLFRIEND' and a bit of 'Number Song' — hedging my bets you see. The man on the end cut me off as the minute was over and we were dismissed.
Waiting again.... Then finally a cheeky chappy with a clip board came over and told me I had got through to the Regional Finals....
If you would like to come and support me:
you can get in contact via the 'contact' link on my website. Tickets are £8. There will be approximately 20 acts, a panel of judges and a guest act... Last year's was Lucy Spraggan...
SUNDAY OCTOBER 6TH
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC
MANCHESTER
7.30PM