A little music.

Last night I had something of a revelation. I had spent the afternoon at the wonderfully lush Park Regis Hotel in Birmingham, networking and chatting to a variety of people about my recently released book,  Ascension, so I was tired but also a little revved up by the evening.

I was looking forward to a night out in a local pub which has live music. But my two most local pubs were doing the type of music I don't enjoy, so I was forced to look a little further afield.

A few miles from my home, a pub was hosting an Irish musician called Brendan O'Brian. Now even though I was raised in Scotland, I don't have  a particular penchant for Celtic music but it seemed the best option. Needless to say that when I arrived I was expecting a lot of hookity-tewekity music as my grandmother would have called it, and a fair sprinkling of the ilk of Donal where's yer troosers?

But that's not what was on offer. When I arrived, Mr O'Brian was already a little into his show and his audience was clearly lapping it up. Playing a soft rhythmical Irish lilt, I watched him pluck delicately at strings whilst crooning with a good strong voice.

But when he finished the song he changed instruments, tempo and  musical genre and this was a theme he continued all evening, switching effortlessly from guitar to piccolo, electric guitar to drum. Indeed the breadth and range of his musical accomplishments was breath-taking as was the variety of music he produced on them, from Irish Folk songs, through Country, Popular and even Rock, singing songs as varied as traditional Celtic songs of the sort sung in Irish pubs I imagine, to Brown Eyed Girl and I'm A Believer.

And to top it off, he had a wicked sense of humour which he worked on the audience during the lulls when he changed instruments.

So if you're ever in the vicinity of one of the places which has booked this amazing musician, make sure you go - It'll be a night out and a half!

For more information about Brendan contact him on Brendan.sharon@hotmail.co.uk and tell him the Scottish author, Carmen, sent you, and you're sure to get a warm welcome.

Until then, happy reading! x

The sun will come out tomorrow...

Tomorrow I shall be attending the BritAsia TV World Music Awards...I am rather excited.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Stars in my eyes...

I bet you didn't realise that all the biggest stars are now reading my book, did you?

Here are just two of them, Neil Diamond

 

and Rod Stewart.

 

 

 

Don't you think they both look really pleased?

 

;) Happy Reading!

I try to write Monday to Friday. I don't always manage it but I try nonetheless. As Meatloaf says in his song, "some days it don't come easy, and some days it don't come hard..." Today I am fully in my flow.

Here is the paragraph I have just written:-

She walked briskly, not really seeing the scenery or noticing the people who passed her on the path, their polite hellos not denting her thoughts. For so long her life had been average – perhaps less than that even. It had been mundane. She had slept and risen, cooked and cleaned, worked and relaxed to the singular beat of a lethargic drum.

Now it seemed as if some fiend had snared the instrument and beat instead on it with manic glee, thrashing a new rhythm out with wild abandon, building to a crescendo, a symphony of notes cascading from on high and being propelled back upwards by the sheer force of the tempo.

And she was being hauled alongside it.

 

If you would like to know more about how and why I write, then why not come along to one of my author talks? I will be posting details of the next venue shortly. As always you can contact me on carmen.capuano@ymail.com if you would like to arrange a talk for a school or group you are involved with.

Until then - Happy Reading!

 

 

About time to write my review about About Time

I went to the cinema yesterday. Now I state that as a bald fact to ensure that you understand what an occasion that is for me, to go to the cinema to see anything!

A friend of mine had gone to see the exact same film at the sitting directly before mine and had texted me to say that it was slow to begin with. This was also the view held by my viewing partner, who thought that the opening scenes and first third of the film dragged.

I have to say I disagreed. Whilst I did find the exposition of the concept a little heavy-handed at times [you almost felt that they explained it in such a painfully slow way that even a learning-impeded five year old would have understood it] it somehow fit in with the quaint Britishness of the film itself.

What I mean by this, is that it had neither the pace of the ideal American offering such as 24, The Bourne conspiracy films or even the speedily delivered witticisms of the average Big Bang Theory episode. But instead there was a sweet meandering to the plotline.

This was only enhanced by the simply brilliant acting of Bill Nighty and the gentle but inevitable fall of the character Kit-Kat, who I found mildly reminiscent of the character Mary Steenburgen played in the tv adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is The Night.

But I won't tell you more and risk spoiling your enjoyment. All I will say is if you like quirky British films you will like it. If you enjoy bitter-sweet ending you will love it and if you like your tales to have a moral at the end...well then, you will simply love it!

Either way...give it a try and let me know what you think.

Sweating the small stuff.

Have you ever hear the saying 'don't sweat the small stuff'? It refers of course to panicking over the little things in life, rather than letting them pass over you in a gentle breeze.

Well today I want to take you on a tour of that small stuff, from a very different angle.

The reference to the 'small stuff' came in the form of a wedding reception I attended recently. As everyone who has ever been married knows, there is almost no end to the plans which need to be made, from the biggies such as where and when to get married, to the smaller stuff such as who sits where. And sometimes in the middle of all this, the detail can be lost. There is simply too much going on.

And I am sure that for this couple there were just as many headaches to account for, as with any other couple making wedding plans. But it was in the attention to the detail of the small stuff, that they elevated their reception beyond what was the norm, turning it into an almost magical event.

The ceremony was not a lavish affair nor was the venue for the reception afterwards but the couple's attention to detail was truly breathtaking.

The word 'buffet' did not do this sumptuous spread of food justice. It was a feast, a banquet of foods that both in volume and scale had required not four but a veritable army of ladies to set it out.

But even that is somewhat par for the course. What really set this fayre apart from all others, was that when the deserts were finally cleared away, the profiteroles, the cheesecakes and all the gateaux, the little army of helpers loaded the table once more...with £350 worth of pick-and-mix sweets for adults and children alike.

Little paper bags were provided, all labelled with stickers of the bride and groom's names and scoops were set across the table, encouraging the guests to fill their little bags to the very brim.

The atmosphere was no longer that of a wedding, formal and stuffy but was instead more like a fiesta or carnival. Everyone loosened up and joined in the fun.

All the tables had been decorated with confetti and glittering ornaments, balloons hung from every table leg and rafter and little filigree cardboard boxes filled with chocolate, adorned the table-tops.

And I can honestly say it was the best wedding reception I have ever attended [my own included].

And all because the bride had sweated the small stuff. She had paid minute attention to every detail. And it showed. 

So sometimes it pays to sweat the small stuff. So to Adele and Kevin, I can say this  in complete honesty:

Your reception was the absolute best EVER! And the fact that I got to dance, drink and be merry...well that was just the topping on my cake.

Congratulations and I wish you every luck for the future!