Last Weekend...

... I was in Manchester gigging at the fantastic Frog & Bucket and the lovely Opus Lounge, and boy did I have fun!

I was headlining which is a special kind of pressure, but I'm proud to say I rose to the challenge, and loved it! My old mate Tony Burgess was MC'ing - he took a break from the circuit for a few years while he was busy being a writer for telly - Ideal was one of his gems - and it was fantastic to have him back!

The other guys on the bill, Steve Shanyaski and Colin Roche were new to me and both of them had me laughing hard. On Thursday night I even got to meet my namesake JoJo Sutherland. I'd never seen her before, she was wonderful.

I got a pretty decent deal at the Malmaison cos I couldn't face staying at the hotel the club puts you up in, and having a gorgeous room to come back to made everything that little bit more special. As did the wonderful shops in Manchester city centre.

It was the tail end of the sales at most of them, but there was new stock coming in too, so I got a couple of gorgeous frocks from Zara, a divine Bottega Veneta handbag and wallet in the Harvey Nicks sale, and the most glamourous Mary Janes from the Russell & Bromley sale! I could barely close my case when I left on Sunday morning!

Last night I went with my pal Al to see Grace Jones at the Roundhouse and I am still awestruck by the experience 24 hours later! It was one of those things that could so easily have turned out wrong, but Ms Jones is a brilliant example to all of us of the joys of aging! Her voice is better than ever, the staging was phenomenal, the band excellent, the costumes simple yet stunning! Money well spent.

Heeeeeeerrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeee'sssssss Grace!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saw Grace Jones last night at the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm. One word. Faaaaaaaabulous!!!!!!!!!!!

Gigging Again

Soooooo last week I jetted (well trained) off to Leicester to do gigs at Jongleurs and jolly fine gigs they were too. This is partly down to the cracking line-up - Steve Harris, Chris Cairns and Curtis Walker - and partly down to the audiences. Friday night's audience especially. It was just one of those perfect nights which builds and builds and builds. Fabulous!

The week's been pretty dramatic with boob trouble forcing me to cancel my gig on Tuesday night, hopefully I'm on the right road now.

I'd better be, I'm off to Manchester in a couple of hours to do a weekend of gigs at The Frog & Bucket and the Opus Lounge. It's been a while since I've been up there so I'm really looking forward to the gigs, the shopping and the hotel! God bless the credit crunch, I've managed to get a VERY nice room at the Malmaison for practically a Travel Inn price. Woohooo!!

Oh... My... God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Feeling pretty sorry for myself and my post-op infection I decided against wallowing in both bed and self pity and took my first shower for over a week and got all dressed up. I got the bus on the corner and it took me to paradise.

Yes folks, I made my first pilgrimage to Westfield today. I'd vowed to wait till the excess of the Xmas and sales crowds were gone, and today they had. It was fabulous, hardly anyone about and of those that were wandering, very few were yer average inner city mall rats! What bliss, there were other people like me in there. People who think its polite to turn your mobile off when you go to the cinema, you know the kind I mean.

Anyway to the mall itself. It's mahoooooosive!!!!!!!!!! Having seen the site at various stages of development over the years I am still amazed at how enormous it is. It's clean, well laid out, and would probably a week to visit every single shop. I only managed a tiny section, but I put that down to being below my natural fitness level at the moment.

All the usual shops are there, Zara, Reiss, H&M, M&S, House of Frasier, etc., etc., but there's also a branch of Cos, and a branch of my favourite Spanish shop Desigual where I got a fabulous pair of Maharishi-inspired velvet trousers for half price in the sale.

There's lots of little coffee stops dotted here and there and the latte I had at Sacred was one of the best coffees I've ever had in the UK.

The designer section - The Village - is still awaiting the arrival of Louis Vuitton which is a pity cos I was dying to see the Stephen Sprouse collection, and one or two other big names but the shops that have opened are refreshingly lacking in pretence.

I thoroughly enjoyed my little visit, and will be back as soon as I'm fit!

Fripperies

It seems like every time I pick up a paper, listen to the radio or turn on the TV there's just doom and gloom everywhere. Now I could write about the horrors in Gaza, or the plight of the jobless in our massive recession, or even the fact that what was one of my routines about opening up sweatshops in this country to supply Primark has become reality in Manchester, but I won't.

Instead I will make a huge admission. Dear readers, I have succumbed. For years I've resisted the lure of the Ugg boot. I resisted when the only people wearing em were Pammy Anderson (on the beach with her bikini!) and the WAGs, I resisted em when they exploded onto the high street. I walked behind girls who'd worn them so much that they were going over on one side of the heel, like the slummiest of slippers (which according to an Aussie mate of mine they actually are, explains why they're crap in the rain!). I'd try em on and think '£200 for a pair of slippers that make yer feet look huge, how mad!' Last year I did weaken and bought a pair of silver rip off ones from Shoe Express for £15 but even then wasn't won over.

So what did those clever Ugg people do? Firstly they made em weather-proof for the UK, then they brought out ones with toe and heel supports, then they made a pair that were just soooooooo cute and finally the British weather joined in the conspiracy and went sub-zero.

So last week I made a trip from my sick bed to Kurt Geiger and shelled out approximately a night's earnings for a fabulous pair of black suede 'Mayfaire' Uggs. My god! I see now why women won't give em up, and why even sane-ish blokes are starting to wear them! Mmmmmmm that sheepskin is soooooo warm on my frozen little tootsies! I'm hooked!

While I'm on a shallow tip, I have to admit that I am enjoying this year's Celebrity Big Brother too. They've got the mix just right this time I reckon. The weirdos aren't so weird that they become annoying, the dullest one was the first one out, all of the Americans are really cool, and the one I thought would be a pain in the ass is - step forward Tina. I do love a delusional freak!

Blimey Is It 2009 Already?!?!?!?!?!?

So it's been ages since I wrote owt worth reading, just posted lots of pics including the one above of me and the fabulous Sharon at the Glee. Now where do I start?

Well all the Christmas shows were dream gigs in every sense. The audiences were all fabulous, I didn't even stumble on my heels, and all the acts were so cool both on and offstage. Finishing the season with a week at The Glee Club was one of my cleverest decisions. It was so chilled, everyone did their jobs and we all had a laugh.


Me and the lovely Mr Collins. Look at my crow's feet! Time for more botox I think!

Christmas was nice and quiet, I had a fabulous Xmas Eve lunch with my pals including Mickey Hutton, Steve Amos and Gina Yashere at Balans in Soho - it was great to catch up with everyone and hear Gina's tales of comedy LA style. It sounds wild out there! I'm gonna get my act together this year and go over for a visit.

The night before New Year's Eve saw me going for dinner with Steve at Joe Allen's. Now its been a while since I've taken more than the odd drink, but my god I made up for it with the White Russians! I arrived at 8.30 looking like a lady, and left around 1.30 looking like a sack of crap! What a mess!

This meant of course, that NYE at The Glee Club was a very sedate affair. Even J20 was too strong a drink for me! Luckily I was able to disguise just how rough I felt with make-up and a gorgeous vintage dress that was from the 80's and looked like a Claude Montana, and I managed to have two wonderful gigs. I stuck around for a sip of champagne at midnight, and long enough to wish everyone a great 2009, before wandering back to the hotel.

My first 'normal' gig of the year was at Camden Jongleurs, and it was great to be back. We all had a fabulous time it was really good fun.

Monday saw me cabbing it to Welbeck Hospital at 6.30am (!) for what is hopefully my last bit of surgery. The op was to have my boobs re-lifted and it went like a breeze. So well in fact, that when I first came round I thought they hadn't even started operating yet and was trying to let em know not to cut cos I was awake!

By 11.15 I was having a cuppa coffee and a hobnob - feeling fantastic and by 6pm I was in my jammies at home. What a result.

Check Me Out!!!!!!!

I am gobsmacked at this photo taken onstage just before Christmas at The Glee Club in Birmingham by the lovely Errol Brown. I never dreamed I could look this amazing!

And We're Back!

I've not been able to post a blog for well over a week on here for some bizarre reason, but as if by magic, I'm back on today. How fortuitous!

Happy New Year everybody, hope all your dreams come true x