Hi everyone,
Happy Thursday. Hope you're all well.
I have just been to Westfield shopping centre (again) but this time it was to return some of the items we didn't end up using for Monday's album photo shoot - although I did buy a few new things with some of the money I got back. Tee hee!!! So I thought I'd start writing this weeks blog whilst sat on the tube. I'm heading for a quick swim before going into work for a rehearsal with our musical supervisor who's here from New York. Speaking of which, next Thursday, guess who's flying to New York?…..Yup…ME! It was quite a last minute thing and i booked it last week so I will try and post a blog next Thursday from Heathrow airport before getting on my flight! ULTIMATE SH-BOOM!!!
So it has, yet again been a very busy week.
Last Friday I met a friend who I hadn't seen for ages for a catch up before heading into London Town (said in a cockney accent Landun taaaaan) for a rehearsal for a new musical I have been asked to be involved with. It's called My Land's Shore and it is written in the English language by fellow Welshies, based on Welsh history and so they wanted West End artistes who were Welsh to be involved from the beginning. It's very patriotic and I am delighted to be associated with it but it's also broadly accessible and I believe, providing they manage it in the right way it should deserve global success from what I've heard of the music so far. We were rehearsing for a demo which I'll be recording in August (about 4 songs) alongside John Owen Jones, Francesca Jackson, Jon Williams and many others, then next summer we will record a fully orchestrated full album of the entire musical after we workshop it for a couple of weeks. So it is great to be involved with something at such an early stage and of course, you know me, anything that has a Welsh connection is always a bonus!
So after the rehearsal I went shopping for a few extra bits for the photo shoot before having a good work out at the gym and then work.
Friday night I got to bed as soon as I could once I got home as I was up at 7am on Saturday morning to teach a 3 hour workshop before the matinee. It made Saturday seem like the longest day that ever existed but it was a good workshop.
The matinee was good and then in between the shows I joined some of the girls for a sainsbury's shopping trip and we bought a feast of nice healthy food, which ultimately resulted in me eating far too much which made Saturday night's show VERY hard work! Still enjoyed it though!
I'm now sat in my dressing room, post swim and rehearsal (just so you know!) I'm also eating a chicken caesar salad and it is goooooood! (Again, just so you know!) anyway........I digress....
So Sunday I woke up and had deliberately not planned anything to do all day, as it was my first day off in ages what with recording my album etc. This was such a novelty for me. Literally forcing myself to do nothing for a day. My friends were calling to invite me out and I was literally saying "I'll see how I feel later" and i didn't answer the phone to anything work related all day and didn't check my emails because my life is ruled by my schedule and diary and so I thought it would do me good to experience doing nothing! I went through the day hour by hour being spontaneous whilst being lazy - what i mean by that is that i at one point decided to pop to the cafe to buy some cake! Isn't that exciting?! Pah! I made myself lovely food and also enjoyed a walk in the local park in the evening and snoozed on the sofa. It was a treat!
HOWEVER….The next morning when I had to wake up at 7am to get ready to head across London for my album shoot I literally felt like I had the flu. My whole body was aching and I was sweaty but cold and it hurt to stand in the shower but then I didn't have the energy to get out of it once I was in….proper 'feeling sorry for myself' man flu!!! Ha.
So I did what I do best and made a decision that it wasn't going to get the better of me and started thinking positive. Clearly, me giving by body and mind 'a rest' on Sunday was more a case of me giving it the opportunity to go into shut down mode! I took a couple of flu tablets and a large Berocca drink and then the rest of the day turned out like this……(watch the VLOG)
http://vimeo.com/25485446 (Just copy and paste this if the embeded video doesn't work for you!)
<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/25485446?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&autoplay=1" width="398" height="224" frameborder="0"></iframe>
So that was the photo shoot. I was exhausted once i got to work. It's hard work being a poser for the day!
I slept really well on Monday night and woke ready to head into London for a meeting which ended up being very productive and very exciting. Now, I apologise because I feel like I'm always doing that thing were I tell you something but then say 'I can't give any details yet'…and it annoys me when people do that too, but it really is out of my hands most of the time, and I have to keep everything confidential until things actually happen. The only reason I mention the meetings at all is because my blog is very much 'a log of what i've been up to'. I've also learnt through experience that a lot of things in the entertainment industry fall through at various stages so until I'm certain things are going to happen I won't ever announce anything to you. But I shall asap!
After that I was very motivated which was good as I had a personal trainer session at the gym. We couldn't understand why my wrists started hurting at one point when I was lifting weights and then my PT asked me what I'd been up to in the last couple of days and I suddenly realised that it was because I'd lugged the majority of my bloody wardrobe from one side of London to the other on public transport the day before for the shoot! Didn't stop me ploughing on though!
Then it was show time!
Yesterday (Wednesday) I woke early to sort out all of the clothes after the shoot. A lot of them needed washing, or ironing, or returning to the stores as we didn't wear them. So I needed to get that done as I'm a bit of an OCD tidy guy and couldn't bare the lack of organisation in my flat!
Then i headed in to do two shows. After last night's show I went to meet my good friend Ashleigh (who's duetting with me on my album - check out that VLOG from the studio if you haven't seen it) and my friend Scott Alan who I'm sure a lot of you know of. He's a composer from New york (did i mention I'll be going there next week? Oh I did? Well, guess what, i'll tell you again - I'M GOING TO NEW YORK CITY NEXT WEEK!!!) Anyway…. Scott is over for a few days and so it was great to meet up with him and Ash and we were also with our friend Stuart Matthew Price.
Scott wrote a song for my album called 'Until Then' and it will actually be the first thing I ever perform from my album live as i'm joining him for a very intimate concert for just 70 people after the show this Friday night at the Jermyn Street Theatre which I'm really looking forward to. it'll be Scott and I and 4 others very informally sitting near the piano singing and chatting and having fun! The evening sold out within 4 minutes of going on sale…and i quote from Scott last night "I'm like the Take That of Jermyn Street"
I'm also doing a Welsh language T.V show in North Wales on Sunday where I'll be singing a couple of songs from the album and next week's VLOG will be about that day and what I get up to. I'm thrilled so many of you are enjoying my VLOGS. I started them so that I could keep you 'in the loop' with the preparation for my album amongst other things especially as i do so much work in Wales - I like to show what I can so you see what work I actually do!
So the end of this week is when the album promoting through gigs and appearances officially begins. We have some more great things coming up so keep your eyes peeled.
By the way….DO YOU WANT A FREE DOWNLOAD? This was launched last night. You get an exclusive picture of me from Monday's shoot and a track (which is not on my album) if you simply pop your email address in. We can also then in future send you information on what I'm up to and possibly more free stuff too! So what you waiting for? Copy and paste this into your search bar now and you'll see the FREE download!
http://onstagenow.blogspot.com/2011/06/blog-post.html
http://onstagenow.blogspot.com/2011/06/blog-post.html
So that brings me up to date to today really doesn't it. Been a busy week but this next one is going to be even busier! Bring it on!
Thanks so much for reading and for your continued support, (and tweets, and Facebook comments, and cards, and gifts, and letters to stage door)
I really am full to the brim with gratitude for the three important 'F's in my life - Family, Friends and Fans. I know that sounds really cheesy but I actually mean it! Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have a great week guys! Love your lives and keep smiling.
Massive SH-BOOM heading at ya
Mark :)
