Fairytale of New York

Okay, X-Factor was knocked to the number 2 UK chart position for the Christmas number 1 single… beaten by a social networking pushed project – Rage Against The Machine took the number 1 spot as people stood up to the Cowell lead X-Factor machine.

The thing is it needed to be done – but no-one will argue that RATM’s song isn’t exactly “Christmassy”….

As such, just before Christmas I decided to push for a Christmas number 1 that is Christmassy…. and what could be better than “Fairytale of New York”….

FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK XMAS No.1 2010 and @FairytaleNY2010

Fairytale of New York has never been number 1 in the UK, yet is often voted as the best Christmas song out – so I figured it was about time we got it to number 1…

Added to this, it is the 10th anniversary of the sad and tragic death of Kirtsy MacColl, when she was hit by a speed boat in dive restricted waters whilst on holiday. This tragedy has never been properly resolved – and after 9 years of fighting for justice the case has finally run out of anywhere to go as the authorities have closed the door on it.

The day people will need to buy Fairytale of New York to make it count for a Christmas chart release is the day after the 10th anniversary of this untimely passing of Kirsty – so getting Fairytale of New York to number 1 will be a tribute, a return to a Christmassy song for Christmas, and another kick in the teeth to those that set up TV shows to force a manufactured number one.

Fairytale of New York is not a manufactured number one – Sure we will be pushing to get it there, but for over a decade it has been in the Christmas charts and it is a well loved song. It hasn’t just been made up to grab money for Simon Cowell…

This project is still in the initial stages, but much like RATM, we will be making sure Fairytale of New York does good. As such there will be a charity donation system set up. This will all be sorted as the project progresses.

I have contacted various people within The Pogues camp, and also to Kirsty MacColl’s mother. I would like them to be involved as this would be very important to the project.

There is a Facebook page set up : FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK XMAS No.1 2010

I won’t be able to do this on my own, so FTONY isn’t an “I” thing… it is a “WE” project – and I am currently being ably assisted by Phil Karn (met thanks to Twitter). There may be more people called in to help – and we’ll be grateful for any help!

I have started this group early as I want to build up the numbers of followers throughout the year. For most of the year the group will be a little quiet – just general chat and news – I don’t want people to burn out too soon!

As the time to buy draws near come November/December 2010 I shall then kick the group into action with group emails to ramp up the drive to get that number one spot.

You can also follow via Twitter with @FairytaleNY2010

If you want to get involved, you can email me at fairytale@sometimespace.com

Please spread the word!

Let’s get a Christmas song to Christmas number one – a song that has not been there before… and we can all remember Kirsty MacColl at the same time!

Thank you!

Unbelievable!!!

Not last Christmas, but the Christmas before….

I just can’t believe the changes that Alex has gone through in this time. He was a chubby little crawler back then, and now he is a hypersonic little lad who is into everything! I guess as an adult there aren’t many changes over 3 Christmases – but for a little lad in his early years the changes are amazing.

2006

The 2006 Christmas Blog entry HERE

….one year later….

2007

The 2007 Christmas Blog entry HERE

….and another year passes….

2008

The 2008 Blog entry HERE

Next year is going to be amazing! He’s really getting into the idea that Christmas is a celebration and special – so next year I think he’ll start getting much more excited before the 25th arrives!

Christmas Phoenix smiles

Saved by a little lads smiles!

Generally we leave Christmas shopping until November/December, but during our various shopping trips through the year we had spotted items in sales or discounted for whatever reasons that Alex would love (things weren’t bought just because they were discounted, they were bought because Alex would love them AND they were a great deal).

Seeing some of Alex’s favourite things at such good prices throughout the year made it worth snapping them up and putting to one side for Christmas – which was lucky considering the particular position we have found ourselves in.

Chris and I were unable to buy each other anything, let alone any one else, so we were thankful for our early buys for Alex – we couldn’t have him miss out.

We chose correctly it appears, as Alex was so happy with all his little gifts. Over the months we had built up two stockings full of small toy cars.

Chris had wrapped each car individually so Alex would have to unwrap them all. He is into unwrapping at the moment, so he thoroughly enjoyed ripping into these toys.

Next up was his big present – and by that I mean largest. It was a work bench with tools and a car engine he can strip and build. He was straight onto the tools as soon as he saw them – he’s seen me use my tools, so he knew just what to do. In no time the car that came with this work bench was stripped and in pieces…and then back together again!

The box this came in was perfect for all the wrapping paper and paper waste to go into (although the wrapping paper still managed to litter the floor – but it is Christmas, so who cares!).

More car toys followed as Alex opened up a couple of small Hot-Wheels (and similar) kits. He also had a Hot-Wheels battery operated race track (cars are launched around a track by rubber wheels). Once more, discounted items due to box damage! A slight tear in the packaging and it was half price!!! As soon as the paper came off it the box was ripped to shreds anyway – so a great bargain… and greatly appreciated by Alex!

His Police Station set has trap doors and ramps all over it – which Alex soon discovered to his happy surprise!

Later in the afternoon Granny and Granddad came over. Alex loves seeing them, as you can see (as do Chris and me of course!)!

They had bought over some more gifts for Alex, from them and some more of the family. Play-doh, water whistles, more cars, toy fishing sets, DVD and…. oh dear Lord…..an electronic drum set…. Really! What have we done to deserve that?!!!

Anything that can make a noise or has wheels and you can gaurantee that Alex will love it – and be occupied by it for a long time… but a drum set…. ha ha!!!! I guess we’ve bought noisy toys for people before, so it is payback time!

After Granny and Granddad had left, Alex carried on playing and running around – right up until he started getting heavy eye lids…. but he didn’t want to quit.

It all ended in tears as the excitement and tiredness collided!!! What didn’t help was his habit of wanting to wash all his cars in the bath when he first gets them! This time there were far too many cars to be carried – so he ended up dropping and fumbling the cars – which just upset him even more (poor lad!). Once he was in the bath though he was a lot happier – after all, he had his water flutes and modelling foam soap!!! By the time he got to bed he was dead on his feet – bless him!

Chris had put on snacks during the day and then did a great Christmas dinner in the evening. Unfortunately by the time we thought about dinner, Alex had burnt out and had gone to bed… so we’ll have to have another Christmas lunch today (ah boo!).

Many thanks to everyone for the well wishing and presents for Alex – he had a great day, and his laughter and big grin gave Chris and myself the greatest present we could have hoped for – a very happy son.

...Alex discovers the mic! CAT CAT PFFFFF CHRISTMAS Ha Ha!!!

Not wanting to miss out, one of the cats gave us a present, at 01:34am…

I was awake (still suffering from the bad back and lack of sleep) and noticed a certain “burning rubbery” aroma in the room. My sense of smell isn’t great, so I asked Chris if she could smell anything…. The next 10 minutes had us looking around the house for the gift… which turned up under the couch in Alex’s bedroom…. Very quietly and carefully, and by the soft light of the iPhone, the “present poop” was cleaned up, whilst a foot away from us was a sleeping Alex!

iPhone Poop Assist….. is there anything it can’t do?

Christmas is “Delayed”

Cancelled is like saying “Failed” – and as many of the blog readers know, I’m not a fan of failure. Failure only happens when you stop trying to succeed. Sure you might be failing at something – but you only really fail when you give up.

As such I am retracting my “Christmas is Cancelled” statement, and instead I am going with “Christmas is postponed”.

This troubled time is one of  the lowest we’ve had as a family. Things are being put in place to ensure things don’t go so bad if the muck hits the fan ever again, but that’s for the future. For the moment we are scratching from day to day to try and get by. It’s “simply” a case of hanging on in there for a while until we sort things out – and not getting dragged down by the whole mess.

So… Christmas isn’t cancelled – it is just being “put back” – so expect some out of season greatings from us in the future!

Deny the X-Factor and choose the greatest Hallelujah

The late, great Jeff Buckley is a great hope for us all! He may well posthumously save us from another commercialised x-factor Christmas…

The Jeff Buckley version of “Hallelujah” is regarded as one of the greatest renditions of Leonard Cohens “Hallelujah”.

Now I like Leonard Cohen – He’s a great song writer, but vocally he but he is very much Marmite – you either love him or hate him. Leonard does make funeral music seem like energetic pop/disco, but that is his style – love it or hate it!

I’m not one to say the original is the best, and in Leonards case, he wrote a great song here that Buckley really did wonders with.

But once again X-Factor takes a cover of a successful song and runs with it to try and get yet another Christmas number one.

Sure, Alexandra Burke has a good voice for certain songs – but the music and vocals are far, far too powerful for this wonderful song.

Rufus Wainwright did a very good version too – and like Buckley, it is kept simple – and better for it. You may remember it being used in “Shrek”…

Buckleys Version is already getting a lot of sales and is a contender to keep us free from yet another X-factor whitewash Christmas. If you were thinking about getting Burkes version, then think again…try Buckley, and then make your choice.

Please note though – if you are buying off of the net (this from a Facebook site wanting a Buckley Number 1) –

To make this as easy as possible we have posted the download links below:

http://www.7digital.com/artists/jeff-buckley/hallelujah-1/ – unencumbered high quality 320k mp3 89p (that’s what I’m getting next week).

http://www.tunetribe.com/product/index.html?id=604507 – cheaper but semi-crippled WMA (windows file) only 49p

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=254578201&s=143444 – 79p but DRM AAC file from Apple

HMV
http://hmv.com/hmvweb/digitalSearch.do?simpleSearchString=jeff+buckley&simpleSearchString=jeff+buckley&pGroupID=8&searchUID=&btnSubmitSearch.x=17&adultFlag=false&btnSubmitSearch.y=4&primaryID=8#
Near the bottom, 69p.

PLEASE DONT PURCHASE FROM AMAZON AS THEY DO NOT COUNT TOWARDS THE UK CHARTS…

P.S: I hope the links I have added don’t get messed up and seem to imply things other than they were intended…

Before anyone says it – I know Cowell owns the rights to Hallelujah, so whatever one you buy, you put money in his exceedingly high trouser pockets – but at least with a purchase of Buckley’s version we stand a chance of having a non-X-factor, non-commercial tat Christmas.

Picky, but easy.

It’ll be a Christmas for kids this year. Credit crunch and reduced sick pay (Grrrrr) means things are a bit tight. It also means I’m pretty upset – but I leave that for now, as I’m angry too.

Luckily Alex has very simple, but specific tastes. He loves his toy cars, and I mean loves them! He doesn’t care if he has two or three the same, as long as they are realistic. Yup, he’s picky too! He isn’t keen on toy cars that look like toys. Matchbox type cars are top billing for him – and as the supermarkets have own brand cars for low prices, I can’t grumble!

Today after Physio we did a little shopping – Sainsbury’s are doing toys 1/2 price at the moment, so we picked up a half price “Little Tykes” car mechanics set, with bench, tools and engine/car to work on – but don’t tell Alex, as it’s his Christmas present!

Alex was treated to a couple of car sets – under £3 the lot! They kept him occupied whilst Chris did the heavy work and loaded up the trolley with the work bench! Usually on a shopping trip Alex will get one toy car as a treat, and that keeps him happy for the duration – and these two box sets did their job perfectly…. maybe too perfectly, as he held them all the time, even in the car on the way home…where he fell asleep still holding them tightly!

As for my back, I can feel things getting better – or at least changing for the better – so many thanks to Judith. A trained finger pressed in “just the right place” can be a very, very painful thing – so always keep your phsyiotherapist on side! Annoyingly though I hit a set back the other day as I sat up to eat. Whilst upright I sneezed, which has left my lower back aching constantly again, but also tightened up my shoulders and neck. Where I’ve been holding myself a  bit taut to avoid hurting my back, the sneeze jarred me a bit harder than the usual relaxed sneeze. A sneeze!!! Damn it!

If it wasn’t for a few things I’d be going mad! Chris and Alex keep me going (Alex is a real star as he keeps me smiling with his intensity as he plays!). The Nordic Walking gives me a bit of freedom, and physio from Judith keeps my recovery progressing (progressing is the thing here – if nothing was happening I’d be more than a bit worried). The iPhone just keeps me in touch with the World (cyber speaking, that is), with twitterings, textings, Facebook and blogging.