Happy Birthday to Me!

There's something slightly unpalatable about having to go to work on one's birthday, but never mind. It will soon be the weekend when we will head to Skeggy for a few days at the seaside to blow away the cobwebs. English brekkie at Beachview Cafe and Fish 'n Chips at 'Linga-Longa'. Cholesterol overdose it may be, but essential nonetheless!

'Singing' seems to have been at the forefront of peoples minds when considering birthday presents for me this year - can't think why! As well as a lovely bottle of single malt whisky and a DVD collection of the hysterical TV series 'Outnumbered', Ruth and the girls bought me a couple of books of sheet music for Nat King Cole and Michael Buble with each including a CD of backing tracks for each song to sing along to. Fantastic!

Caroline is clearly intent in steering me towards some more classical stuff and has presented me with a set of four pieces of music all neatly bound together and entitled "Alyn's Classical Collection". Nice! The pieces are: Ombra mai fu; Silent Worship and Where E-er You Walk, by Handel , plus Caro Mio Ben by Giuseppe Giordani. So those should present something of a challenge I think. As I mentioned last time, I thought I ought to attempt the original Italian versions where possible, but when searching 'Youtube' for examples of Non lo dirò col labbro, the Italian version,  it seems that the song is sung by a female part in Handel's opera, Tolomeo. So I guess I need to sing the English song and leave the Italian to the ladies for this one. My grasp of Italian will be suitably challenged by Caro Mio Ben though.  Sis-in-law Julia gave me a voucher for an hours singing lesson with Caroline to help me on the way! Exciting stuff. I've already got Where E-er You Walk drummed into my head thanks to Youtube, so can't wait to get cracking on them all.

Meanwhile, it's on with the Queens Park gig preparations for May 29th. Tonight we'll see if I've made any headway with When the Saints Go Marching in, which I found virtually impossible to follow last week. Wish me luck!

Cheers for now,

Alyn