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**Fri 31 Jan 14** Something of a delicious, wild ride... Bohemian Rhapsody performed by the talented (and funny) Gary Schutt. (We love it) Says Gary: "This was filmed about October 2012 and the audio mix about August 2011. It's an idea i had for this song for a while and finally brought it to life. Yes, i did play all the instruments on the recording. i hope you like my take on this brilliant classic Queen song! (No digital pitch correction! Each harmony line was quadrouple tracked.) Please ase check out my original material at www.garyschutt.com" Bohemian Rhapsody punk style - by Gary Schutt multi-instrumentalist, one man band Enjoy !! © brianmay.com |
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**Fri 31 Jan 14** COVENTRY EVENING TELEGRAPH West End star Lauren Samuels returns to Warwickshire for a homecoming gig. She talks to Catherine Vonledebur about her career highlights so far.
Over the Rainbow finalist Lauren Samuels counts Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Ben Elton and Queen guitarist Brian May among her friends. The 25-year-old from Nuneaton may have lost out on playing Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz to winner Danielle Hope in the BBC 1 reality TV show in 2010 – but has come a long way since. In the last four years she’s won leading roles in two West End musicals, Grease and We Will Rock You, Vampirette at the Manchester Opera House and Last Five Years in London’s Tabard Theatre. Lauren says: “We did a 10th anniversary arena tour of We Will Rock You, which was one of the most exciting times of my life. Being able to perform Queen songs in a 10,000 seat arena was unbelievable. It’s how Queen songs should be sung. I felt like a rock-god. When I was younger I went to see the show with my mum and remember saying: ‘I want to be Scaramouche’; and to play her on a European arena tour was a dream. A highlight for me was appearing at Nottingham Capital FM Arena stage with Brian May playing Bohemian Rhapsody directed by Ben Elton. It was just incredible to have the opportunity to perform with Brian. He’s such a lovely man. It’s so nice that Brian May and Roger Taylor are still so involved with their show and do come to the auditions. But there is nothing more terrifying than singing songs from We Will Rock you to Brian May and Roger Taylor. It’s been an incredible few years for me and I can count Andrew-Lloyd Webber, Ben Elton and Brian May among my friends.” She may have hit the big time, but Lauren has never forgotten her home town. On February 22 she is returning to Warwickshire to perform some of her favourite songs in a Homecoming Concert at Bedworth Civic Hall. She will be joined by former Hear’Say band member Noel Fielding and West End actress Victoria Hamilton-Barritt. “It’s great for me to be doing a concert in a venue close to my home town. During my time on Over the Rainbow everyone was so supportive. I only had to come home and people came up shaking my hand. I wanted to say thank you,” she explains. “Growing up I was taken to see the panto at Bedworth Civic Hall every Christmas and now I am going to do a concert on the same stage. People may know Noel from Hear’Say, but he was my first leading man on the West End in Grease. I was Sandy and he was Danny. Then he became my second leading man in We Will Rock You. We have become really good friends. “Victoria has done so many musicals on the West End, most recently A Chorus Line at the London Palladium. We are focussing on singing songs that mean things to us – pop songs and songs from musicals. I love pop stars like Katie Perry and Lady Gaga but also older singers like Tina Turner, Ethel Merman and Shirley Bassey. Students from Hinckley Speech and Drama School will also be performing a song with me. We hope it will give people a chance to get to know us.” Lauren has not forgotten her TV show colleagues either. All 11 “Dorothy’s” still meet up regularly for lunch. She adds: “We still see each other. We have Dorothy reunions – we recently all went out for dinner. We do get a few stares when we all go out. People tend not to recognise me so much now, as my hair has changed. I went to the open call for Over the Rainbow without thinking anything of it and kept going through. It sounds strange but when it’s happening you just get on with it.“All of us Dorothys lived together. When you are eating, sleeping and breathing the competition it’s really stressful – but by the same token it was the best experience of my life. I learnt so much about myself. We were competitors, but we only had each other who knew what we were going though. It was like one big sleepover – and Dorothy Manor got so messy “Everyone is so lovely. People tend to think it’s so bitchy, but it’s not. Everyone has each other’s backs’.” Lauren, who now lives in Beckenham, south London, says the experience has taught her to “become a bit tougher”. “You get a lot of knock-backs in this industry. If I didn’t love it as much as I do I couldn’t do it. It’s continually hard work but as long as you love it, it feels worth it. Living in London she goes to see a lot of West End shows. “The industry is so small I always have a friend in every show and we are all supportive of each other. It’s important I know what’s going on in my industry. Wicked is a massive favourite. It’s great. My mum and I love that show. I recently went to see From Here to Eternity which was excellent, very different.” Lauren’s parents divorced when she was seven. She and her older brother Sam, now aged 26, were raised by their mum, Susan Marshall, an NHS director of nursing in Solihull The actress and singer cites her mum as her musical inspiration. Lauren was born partially deaf and wore two hearing aids growing up. “My mum is a singer and pianist. When I was young she’d put my hand on the piano when she was playing so I could feel the beats. It’s from her love of singing and music. My mum put me into Hinckley Speech and Drama when I was seven and from there I went to singing lessons in Nuneaton at 13. By 15 I knew that is what I wanted to do with my life,” she adds. My mum was always listening to Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand and Tina Turner – all strong female singers. My mum taught me all about music and took me to the theatre from an early age. She is my biggest influence and we did a lot of am dram shows together in my teens. Mum remarried my step-dad Dave who’s a builder, 14 years ago. He great, very supportive. My hearing has progressively got better, it was a gradual thing but the problem could come back at any time. I love coming back and doing things at my old dance school in Hinckley. I recently did a West End workshop and Q & A session. I know I would have liked that when I was younger.” Lauren’s brother, Sam works as a builder with her step-dad. “They come and see every show I’m in,” she explains. Her brother also came up with her stage name. “It started as a joke. He said: ‘why don’t you call yourself Lauren Sam?’ It didn’t sound quite right so we changed it to Samuels.” Lauren, who trained at Stratford-upon-Avon College and Guildford School of Acting, made her professional stage debut was as Wendy in Peter Pan at the Curve in Leicester. This spring she returns to Curve to play Ellie in Ed Curtis’ new musical, Water Babies based on Charles Kingsley’s classic novel, The Water Babies from April 24 until May 17. Louise Dearman – the first actress to have played both Glinda and Elphaba in the hit musical Wicked – also stars. Lauren adds: “It’s exciting to be doing two show so close to my own home town. The thing that attracted me to the role is that it’s a fantastic new show and the script is so good. We can create our roles from scratch for a world-premiere. But I have been told I am going to get very wet. They are using real water. It’s going to be quite spectacular.” © brianmay.com |
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**Fri 31 Jan 14** WWRY Dublin - 31 January 2010 - http://youtu.be/dXTavmVqsWM In 1969 - Smile played Imperial College, London, UK. © brianmay.com |
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**Thu 30 Jan 14** Created by DW Drum Designer, John Good, to pay tribute to some of the most iconic drummers in the history of Rock, the all-new line of Icon snare drums honors Neil Peart of Rush, Roger Taylor of Queen, and Nick Mason of Pink Floyd. The snare drum sizes and shell configurations are as played by each artist, with one dramatic new design element. The finish is painstakingly laser-cut, then hand-inlayed from a variety of jaw-dropping exotic wood veneers. For Neil Peart's drum, the Time Machine motif is realistically recreated in the wood, while Queen's ornate, Freddie Mercury-designed crest is depicted, as is Pink Floyd's famous Dark Side of the Moon prism and waveform image.
© brianmay.com |
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**Thu 30 Jan 14** Queen live Rotterdam 1979 - http://youtu.be/uNbmt_HbgGo In 1976 - Queen played the Music Hall, Boston, Massachusetts,, USA. © brianmay.com |
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**Wed 29 Jan 14** VH1: In 1967 concertgoers in London got quite a show at the Saville Theatre, where Jimi Hendrix and The Who both performed. A 19-year-old future Queen guitarist Brian May was in the audience. In 1966 - 1984 played the Thames Rowing Club, Putney, UK.
© brianmay.com |
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**Tue 28 Jan 14** - http://youtu.be/6ROgYAWETmE In 1967 - The Reaction played the Guildhall, St Ives, UK.
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Taken from the 'Live At Wembley Stadium 25th Anniversary Edition' DVD of 2011, bonus disc item. The Final Tour: Interviews with Brian May & Roger Taylor - http://youtu.be/1u2ZkqHj_uE © brianmay.com |
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**Mon 27 Jan 14** © brianmay.com |
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THIS IS KENT THERE will be a Kind of Magic in the air next month when a Queen tribute act perform in the town. Queen II will be retracing the footsteps of the band's famous frontman, Freddie Mercury, who visited Herne Bay in the 1970s.
His trip is commemorated with a statue behind the bar of the Four Fathoms, where he stayed for one night. A second night was spent a the Prince of Wales. It seems the town had quite an effect on the band, as according to archivists, Brighton Rock, on the Sheer Heart Attack album, had Herne Bay as a working title. Freddie was in Herne Bay as Larry Lurex, a name he used for a musical project with Trident Studios' engineer Robin Geoffrey Cable in 1972. Larry Lurex was a pun on the stage name of glam rock star Gary Glitter, and Cable enlisted Freddie as lead vocals for two tracks, I Can Hear Music and Going Back. At the time, Queen were recording their debut album at Trident Studios, and Freddie suggested bringing bandmates Roger Taylor and Brian May to add percussion, guitar and backing vocals to the songs. They were released on EMI in 1973, before Queen's first album, and did not chart, although the tracks were later included in compilation albums. Queen went on to record 18 number one albums, with sales estimated to total up to 300 million copies. Sheer Heart Attack, the album containing Brighton Rock, went to number two in the UK chart. © brianmay.com |
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**Mon 27 Jan 13** In 1968 - The Opposition played the Country Arms, Blaby, UK.
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**Sun 26 Jan 14** Vote for your faourite Queen tracks at 16TUNES.com: Music Meets The Madness of March matchup poll - HERE
© brianmay.com |
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**Sun 26 Jan 14**
In 1977 - Queen played the Forum, Montreal, Canada. © brianmay.com |
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**Sat 25 Jan 114**
In 1969 - The Art played the Community Centre, Kirby Muxloe, UK. © brianmay.com |
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**Fri 24 Jan 114**
In 1967 - The Reaction played the Penmare Hotel, Hayle, UK. © brianmay.com |
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**Thu 23 Jan 14** A rock music spectacular with international star performers and Sydney Symphony Orchestra:
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**Thu 23 Jan 14** Jeff Scott Soto has some Queen Tribute Shows in Brazil in March - some with Eric Martin... Says Jeff: Heading back to Brazil to do some one-off Queen tribute shows, this is NOT my official tour of Brazil/South America, just some additional dates we added as I was asked to come down and do the tribute thing on a Rock Cruise but didn't want to go all the way there for one show....and as a bonus, the other dates will include my good bud Eric Martin! Mar/08th - JSS Queen Tribute + Eric Martin - Rio de Janeiro @ Teatro Odisséia
© brianmay.com |
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**Thu 23 Jan 14** In 1977 - Queen played the Coliseum, Richfield, Ohio, USA. Queen - I Go Crazy (Remastered Audio 2011- http://youtu.be/pmaxHPZsIok
© brianmay.com |
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**Wed 22 Jan 14**
'Rock You,' which you can listen to below, is a rally cry for fans everywhere of what Excision intends to do as he kicks off his over 55 date tour this January 22nd in Spokane, Washington. With support from Dirtyphonics and ill.Gates, the dominant dubstep pioneer will be bringing his Executioner visual and lighting installation all across North America now through the end of April. Check out sound file:
© brianmay.com |
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**Wed 22 Jan 14** Ruby Lewis, who stars as "Scaramouche" in the North American tour of We Will Rock You, documented the rehearsal process and first few stops on the road. She takes us through a holiday season that saw the company rocking their way across the nation and shares cast adventures from onstage, backstage and some serious sightseeing. Here are a few pictures with Brian - See gallery of 80 or so fab photos HERE.
© brianmay.com |
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