A few hours ago I was on stage with BB King and now Security is giving my toothpaste a thorough once over like it contains cemtex. With furrowed brows and overly keen eyes they handle my ladyshave like it could be the accompanying detonator.
I’m on auto pilot, half asleep, too tired to be irritated by their German efficiency and with due diligence finally done to my soap bag they wave me on back to Blighty.
Touchdown in Manchester, the wee small hours still dreaming of the dawn and I neck a flapjack and wash it down with a gallon of finest French roast before heading for the train to Liverpool, my final destination.
My fiancé Jake and I are graduates of the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts and we had been invited again as special guests to attend the annual Graduation Ceremony.
I arrived on time at The Philharmonic Hall and was met by Jake who I hadn't seen in over a week and following a big hug we were ushered into the green room where there was an assortment of tea and biscuits and the like and much to my disappointment not a drop of anything remotely resembling alcohol!
Not that im an alcoholic you understand, I just like to drink!
I scanned the room intently, on the look out for familiar faces and a roaming drinks waiter and clocked master Will Young and none other than the school’s uber famous patron Sir Paul McCartney.
With no wine to soak my liver and the consequent Dutch courage that follows a hearty imbibe of vino, I found myself slightly reluctant to launch into full on mingle mode and work the room like a proper little inebriated butterfly, so I allowed myself one biscuit knowing I would be enjoying some quality nosh later on that night.
Last year we ended up having dinner with among others, John Hurt and a famous Spanish composer called Luis Cobos who was a total trip and the spitting image of Inigo Montoya from the ‘The Prince’s Bride’.I was about to cram an entire rich tea down my gullet when a tap on the shoulder from behind stayed my hand and so tucking said biscuit securely into my pocket to dunk later I twirled round to hear:
"Sandi come and get in the photo with Sir Paul and me"
So there I was sandwiched in between Macca and his brother Mike, a professional photographer, who im a great fan of and have met before at one of his shows.
‘How cool is this by the way,’ I thought to myself as I gave my best smiling pose.
Which quickly evolved into a feeling of dread as I suddenly felt very self conscious convinced I looked like a bloated, tired hag having travelled for the last 12 hours from a blues tour with 12 men where the only grooming id managed was in a toilet the size of my fridge!
After the photos had been taken Macca turned to me and asked, "How's it all going then”?
“Great, I replied, working on the 3rd album, just supported BB King and Steve Winwood in Germany and getting hitched next year”!
News he seemed genuinely delighted to hear, I'm also very very happy to learn that he's quite smitten with his new beau Nancy. He certainly deserves some hapiness after all he's been through.
And so, after all the diplomas had been distributed and the speeches made, the auditoriums lofty heights were filled with a medley of mortar boards, signalling the end of one chapter and the beginning of another for those on stage. As I watched their bright young faces fill with joy and gladness I was reminded of my own graduation.
It was one of the greatest moments of my life. The world was my oyster and the sky was the limit! Oh bring back those days of sweet innocence!
Last weekend I spent a wonderful evening in North London with my best mate watching my favourite movie of all time; Lord of the rings, accompanied by an array of fruity cocktails and a great host of orcs and men and elves.
A little bleary eyed and still dreaming of Aragon I woke on Sunday morning to a barrage of text messages sent by my good friend from across the pond, the Blues artist Joe Bonamassa.
Rubbing the sleep away from my eyes I sat up straight and read the message again and again. "Sandi, I've lost my voice and can't sing. Can you get yourself on a plane to France in about 3 hours and do my shows with me next week?"
At first I thought it was a joke! But after the 8th message I realised he was deadly serious! Here I was slightly hung over and miles from home trying to figure out whether it was humanly possible to get myself on the last flight out of Gatwick, arrive, rehearse and learn the set before the day was over?
Of course I can!! This is so rock'n'roll, I’m not going to miss this opportunity for anything!
So literally within 6 hours of that text message I was perched on the edge of a big bed in a hotel room in Nice learning all sorts of blues numbers from Clapton, to BB King to Bonamassa himself!
The first show we played was the Nice Blues and Jazz festival, which was an absolute killer gig as we got to support and then watch the King of Blues himself, BB King accompanied as always by "Lucille".
The festival was a great success and it was such a blast singing the blues alongside an artist as talented as Joe Bonamassa. We departed the beautiful French Riviera and headed off for the first of a few dates in Germany and as I clambered on the tour bus ‘quell suprise’, I realised I was the only girl in this motley crew, the other 12 shared a different chromosome from moi!
Like a proper Thomboy though I threw myself into the macho melee’ and was swearing, scratching and swigging beers with my peers in no time. Only clue I left as to my fem I.D was the classic toilet seat giveaway and my soap bag being bigger than a standard man size suitcase! We ended the week with a storming set in Stuttgart supporting the legendary Steve Winwood, those of you thinking ‘before my time’ might remember the song "Higher Love" which was a huge hit worldwide for Steve back in the mid eighties.
Over the course of that week I noticed a distinct lack of girls at the gigs. Women peppered the audience, few worked behind the scenes and I was the only girl working the stage! It gave me cause to question this unbalanced male/female ratio, to address it and perhaps one day challenge it. The music industry, especially the Blues world is still very much a ‘’Man's world’’ as James Brown used to declare, but with some shrewd foresight the Godfather followed up that line with ‘’but it wouldn’t be nothing without woman’’.
And so, to that end I've been inspired to become the first "chick" that can play the blues like Clapton, BB, Bonamassa, Albert King and all the other great guitarists!
I've already bought myself a 6 string Gibson Les Paul so now I’m just waiting for a rainy day and a general down in the dumps disposition to get me in the mood and feeling kinda blue!
I had such a wonderful time out on the road with Joe and his crew and I'm certain that our collaborative efforts will not end there so watch this space!
Hay there guys! How goes it? Am writing to you from my hotel room in Nice, France. Its lovely here, my first time in Nice and am thoroughly enjoying it. Out of the blue, I've been asked to appear as a guest vocalist at Nice Jazz Festival tomorrow night and three German shows, two of which are festivals this week with Joe Bonamassa, for those of you who don't know Joe he's an absolute legend of a blues guitarist and singer so I'm very honoured to be keeping his company. Tomorrow night BB King takes to the stage after us and I'm so excited to watch his show! All the details of Joe's shows are on his website.
These are the gigs im playing if anyone can make it: 20th July:Nice Blues and Jazz festival, Nice, France 21st July: Karlsruhe Festival,Germany 22nd July: Darmstadt , Germany 23rd July: winterbach festival, Germany. Opening for Steve Winwood.
In other news... Been hard at work this week in the studio and at home working on the album, can't tell you enough how pleased I am with it. I can't wait for you all to hear it.
Be good and have a great week. I'm heading to Liverpool at the end of the week after the shows with Joe so I'll catch up with you all then and let you know how all the gigs went. Big love !!!
I'm sorry I've been a little neglectful of late in blogging but I am twittering away like a little birdy so make sure your keeping tabs!
I'm so happy at the moment, I'm so proud of all the work that I'm doing and the songs that I'm getting together for the 3rd album. Looking forward to being back out on the road again playing all the new tunes!! He he!! Oh what fun we'll have.
Going home to Scotland at the end of the month, Jake and I are re-visiting our wedding venue again, can't wait!
I hope your all enjoying the weather, it certainly makes for good times and lots of beer garden boozing! Will keep you posted on my travels and songs Big love S xxx
Hay guys, lots been going on this week in the world, the continuing questions of MJ's death are still circulating and off course that poor girl in Iran was shot dead. However it would seem that her death has created a bit of a resistance and people are gathering the streets fighting for their countries freedom. So maybe we will see a change out there soon, you can only hope.
In my life things are ticking along really nicely, I'm very excited about my wedding next year, we've chose a date and a venue and I'm getting together with my 6! Bridesmaids soon to talk about dresses and flowers and things.
Brighton is bursting with people at the moment with all the sunshine were having down here so there's a really great atmosphere in the town.
Sadly, I've not been able to enjoy the sunshine as much as I'd hoped since I've been working hard in the studio on new material.
And on monday I spent the whole day indoors shooting a video at a studio in london so I didn't see the sun that day either!
The video I was shooting was a collaboration I've done with a hip hop duo, its really cool and I'm glad to have been a part of it. I can't say too much but I get killed in the video! In an eletric chair no less! It was pretty creepy filming it cos it was a real eletric chair! Yikes, gave me the jitters! Anyway the video will look really cool in a kind of sin city way so can't wait for you guys to feast your eyes on it.
I'm quite nervous today because I'm on my way into hospital in london to have a minor op. I have developed lumps on my head and am having to get them cut out, dont worry its not serious but I have to get little patches of hair shaved off which I'm not looking forward too! I don't mind the cutting and the blood and all that stuff ...but not the hair!!! Anyway it will grow back so I shouldn't get too worked up about it. Anyways got to go, I'll let you all know how I'm doing later.. I'll be twittering!
Wow. What can i say? The greatest pop icon of all time has died. Its unbelievable. I turned on the news lastnight and was so shocked, at first they were saying that he was in a coma and eventually it unfolded that he had in fact passed away. All I can say is that if there was anyone in this world that was an inspiration to every musician on the planet it was Micheal Jackson. He was the greatest star of our times and his music will last forever. His musical legacy will live on forevermore. Let's never forget, despite all the controversy, he wrote the most incredible songs and was the most amazing performer ever and that's how we should all remember him. I just can't believe that he's dead. The world of music has lost an absolute legend.
I'm out here in canada, in toronto at the moment, just finished up in the rehearsal studio for the day, think were all gonna head out and get some mexican food in a bit! Woo hoo, I love mexican food!
Looking forward to the gig on saturday here in toronto, has been 3 yrs since I was here, good to be back. The 3rd album's coming along just great and I've had the chance to work with so many great people in the past 6 months or so. I hope you've all been able to check out the 3 new songs on my space, let me know your thoughts, I'd love to know what you guys think cos that's the most important thing. Well the band and I were up by a lake over the weekend and I got bitten to pieces by mosquitos...no joke I must have about 40! They're driving me nuts! Think I've gone through about 10 tubes of afterbite....I was even considering having my boyfriend pee on them cos ammonia stops it from itching! Desperate measures people!
Anyway I'm gonna go and catch up on some shut eye before we head out tonight, stopping in by the el mecambo tonight which is where the boys and I played the last time we were in toronto and is in fact the inspiration behind the song " ghost of stevie ray". Listen up, I'll speak to you cats later on in the week.
So its been a while guys, I've been mostly in L.A for the past month or so. Its been a very interesting month! Hired a convertable mustang and drove up the coast of califonrnia to san francisco...even drove across the gloden gate bridge...san fran is a beautiful city I urge everyone to go there someday!
As for L.A I must admit its growing on me...when I first came here I was aware of a strangness about the place and the feeling that if you didn't know anyone in this town you weren't going to go far. Its not like london or new york where its easy to get around and there tonnes of stuff to see...you have to most definately have a car and so what better way to drive around in L.A but in a convertable mustang! It took me a little while to get used to driving on the right side of the road but actually it wasn't too bad and I'm pretty proud of my stateside driving skills!
Last week I went to disney/abc to showcase to all the top exec's. The plan Is to get a few tracks from the second record on a couple of disney movies and abc shows before its released stateside. Apart from that I've been working really hard on the 3rd album with some amazing people and I think judging by the sound of it so far its set to be a corker of a record!
I'm really chuffed with the way things are going and its been nice to get out of the uk for a bit but I'm missing it now, wana go home. I'm writing this from LAX which is L.A's airport, sitting watching the lakers game drinkin makers mark. I think california's rubbing of on me. Anyway I'm excited to say that I'll be making an appearance in a movie soon performing a ballad from the second album called "ungrateful heart", the director saw me play it at a gig and thought it was perfect for the scene so back out here in june to film that.
Anyway guys I hope life is treating you all well, I promise to get my photography site back online soon, just been making some adjustments and I'll put up all my pics from L.A as soon as I get home. Thanks for sticking by me. Big love
Hay guys, i'd like to respond directly to those people that seem to feel the need to comment on this site about toot's tragic death.
Let me tell you something, I would not and could not use that as a way to get me in the paper. I am absolutely heartbroken over her horrible and cruel death and am using the press to appeal for information. You obviously don't like me very much but believe me I am not that sort of person. Please would you stop saying these horrible nasty things because you don't know me and don't have the right to come on my website and say such nasty things. I am a human being just like everyone else in this world, I have a heart and I am in fact an incredibly emotional person, I am dealing with the loss of my most treasured beautiful little darling of a cat and I think that its just dispicable that you think its fare to make me feel even worse than I already do. All I ask is that you stop commenting on my site, I don't deserve that kind of treatment, you don't know me personally, you can't make such sweeping judgements, I certainly wouldn't do that to you.
Please, whoever you are....have a heart and stop what your doing.
Please see below the statement made by animal search uk with regards to the case, a statement by the chief of police will also be issued in the next few days.
Thanks
Sandi
--------------------
Tom Watkins founder of Animal Search UK said ''As a result of information received at the headquarters, police have taken action and have spoken to a person that they believed to be involved.
The alleged person has denied any involvement in the disappearance of Toots, but we are confident that with our ongoing investigation and thorough enquiries we will uncover more evidence to support our theory that Toot's was shot and killed.
We have established a confidential free post address for members of the public to write to. Any one with any information, however insignificant it might seem can write to FREE POST Animal Search UK. No Stamp is needed. They can include details of any information that they would like us to act upon.
Alternatively people can call our confidential free phone number 0800 4 320 340 quoting the reference number LD5800. We will treat any information in the strictest confidence and would encourage the community to help us with this case''
Hay guys, so were slowly but surely making progress on the case, can't divulge too much into the details but were getting results which is great. Now hopefully we can finally get him prosecuted and he'll come clean about where she's buried and we can bring her home. I can't believe how much grief I'm carrying around with me, its weighing me down like a tonne of bricks, its like waking up every morning and for that split second your still half asleep then it all just comes to you again and suddenly your heart sinks. That's how I feel right now every day, I know some people may think its silly because she was a cat, but she was my friend and I loved her like she was my child and she treated me like her mother, if she was scared she wouldn't leave my side but when she felt adventurous and stayed out late I would sit up in my dressing gown and worry like I had a teenaged daughter or something, but she was only 7, so young and such a beautiful happy little creature. Oh so many of my friends and family have died throughout the years, only recently 2 of my friends died from school and I felt the pain of that but I think this is so bad because, in effect, she was murdered. There were 3 shots heard the morning of her disappearance and I can't get the images out of my head, did he injure her first? Did he miss the first time? I just don't know but I won't stop until I do. I have to bring this person down and get justice, its not just for toots but as a stand against unlawful violence that so many people get away with these days, this isn't just about my cat, this is about finding that you can get justice, that our system of law won't let us down and will make guilty criminals pay for their crimes. If he walks free and doesn't pay for this, how can that be justice?? He took someone I loved from me and just because it had paws and it was covered in fur doesn't make it any less of a crime, he took someone I loved with all my heart and he broke mine and my families heart in the process, doesn't that deserve punishment? I'll forgive him in years to come because I won't live with anger but I'll never forgive what he's done and I hope it haunts him for the rest of his life. Peace Sandi
