It seems I am destined to write a blog about once every year. It’s through no fault but my own, but things DO get in the way – like life, for instance. Anyway, I wrote the last blog in the month of February, 2018, & I thought it would kick-start a whole year of ‘bloggery’, but it didn’t…So why fight it? Ah well, the best laid plans, & all that.

What has happened since my last foray into the written word? Quite a lot, actually, including yet another album, numerous gigs & a national TV appearance (or two)! Not much then, I hear you say. Well, the start of last year, before I even wrote the preceding blog, ‘things’ were happening…In the form of a certain ITV show, ‘BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT’. Up until that point, I’d never even contemplated being on such a programme. In fact, I didn’t contact them – they contacted me! Things just seemed to escalate from there, & before I knew it, I was dressed-up & performing at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens in front of the largest audience I’d ever seen (3,000 people!). Playing a medley of my songs, with a ‘medley of stage props’ too, I got buzzed off by the panel of judges. David Walliams (one of the judges) said, ” Even by my standards of weirdness, I found that very weird”, which I took as a compliment. An interview later, with BGMT’s host, Stephen Mulhern, went okay-ish, & meant that it was broadcast on ITV2’s ‘BRITAIN’S GOT MORE TALENT’ a few months later. Local newspaper coverage followed, but no-one would recognise me, unless I had a cardboard head on! The phone never rang..(Sigh.)

Later in the year, after several gigs & recording/mixing sessions, there was a new album to promote – ‘NO GIGS ‘TIL FILEY‘. I launched it in grand style, with a few invited guests at my house, or rather, the back garden. Since it was November 5th, the CD was attached to a couple of rockets, & sent off in an un-glorious fashion – as only one rocket lit, causing it to shoot into next door’s garden. The second attempt saw the CD/rocket head towards a startled crowd, & it landed in friend & photographer Jerome Whittingham’s mug of…wait for it…Gunpowder Tea!! It made for a lively video, if nothing else.

We move forward to this year, 2019, & I move up to my studio, which was now in the newly-constructed loft (I’ll not mention about the disruption, early mornings, noise, mess…& cost). During this time – late January, I had another call from BGT, asking if I’d like to take part in the programme again. This time, the ‘live auditions’ were down in London…At THE LONDON PALLADIUM! I couldn’t believe it, so it took me all of a second or two to say, “Well, yes!” There was only a week to prepare, & I knew I wanted to play the last song that never saw the light of day last year – because I was buzzed off before the medley ‘climaxed’. It was, ‘ACTION MAN WITH A GIRAFFE’S HEAD‘. At last, I thought to myself, this’ll do better…& it DID! Only TWO BUZZES this time, with a standing ovation! Even though it didn’t get beyond that performance/initial round, I felt really good about it, & the reaction was far better than the previous experience I’d had. If anything, it was quite overwhelming, & even the interview with Stephen Mulhern went much better. It all seemed very positive (apart from the two buzzes cast by the judges panel).

The broadcast aired three week’s ago (at roughly the same time I was playing at FILEY FOLK FESTIVAL, in The Belle Vue, which was one of those strange quirks of fate, I suppose). Anyway, it appeared on ITV2’s BRITAIN’S GOT MORE TALENT, again, but with a longer screen time with Stephen Mulhern. Everything seemed to ‘click’, & was just much more enjoyable. Maybe I’m getting used to it, who knows?

As you can see from the above, it all came together (for once). What next? Well, there are more gigs on the way, & the glimmerings of another album for next year, with the tentative title, ‘SWITCHED-ON BECK‘. The title implies a more-electronic/dancey direction, & do you know(?), that’s what it’s going to be!…& I’m still waiting for that phone call.