Category Archives: Music
Impromptu singalong on the London Tube
Don’t you love when an impromptu singalong strikes people on the London Underground?! It’s Erasure. It’s Kentish Town. It’s amazing.
Just as I predicted …
I know – Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston’s break up is no longer new news, but it happened in September during my self-imposed blog break and now I need to shout it from the rooftops … ahem …
I WAS RIGHT! I WAS RIGHT! LOOK AT ME! I WAS RIGHT!
Ah, I feel better now. I just wanted to say that I did predict that she and Tom would only last three months and BOOM! Like clockwork! They break up after three months!
I feel kind of vindicated. The whole world is falling apart and I wouldn’t have predicted the events of this past week … but I was right about Tay Tay’s latest romance. Sigh. That is all.
RIP Terry Wogan
Very sad to hear about the passing of Sir Terry Wogan, BBC broadcasting legend and one of my favorite voices on British radio. š¦ RIP, Terry.
Giving Public Enemy a lift
Photographer Kevin Wells drove the members of Public Enemy to their show.
Photo credit: Kevin Wells/Twitter
When rap group Public Enemy had a no-show taxi in Sheffield, England, British photographer Kevin Wells offered to drive the group in his Ford Focus. Hilarity ensues.
(And yes, that is Flava Flav back there with the glasses and hat. Where’s his clock necklace?!)
Sir David Attenborough’s “What a Wonderful World”
So, I’m very late to the party here (this was apparently posted back in 2011), but I just saw this lovely little video of Sir David Attenborough reading “What a Wonderful World,” featuring some stunning scenes from the BBC’s “Frozen Planet.” I hope it sets what may be a tough Monday morning for you off on the right note!
A song can save your life
This weekend, we watched “Begin Again” with Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo. I hadn’t heard much of anything about the movie, apart from the fact that it was written and directed by John Carney behind “Once,” but fancied getting lost in a movie in the big screen for a couple of hours and am so glad we went.
It was lovely, with a great cast of British (Keira Knightley, James Corden) and American actors (Catherine Keener, Adam Levine), set in New York City. I dare say I enjoyed it more than “Once” and again, John Carney makes a convincing argument that a song can save your life. The soundtrack is playing on repeat at home.
Here’s the extended trailer …
The phenomenon that is Eurovision
So, on Saturday, the whole of Europe was glued to their TV sets watching the phenomenon that is the Eurovision Song Contest, which is kind of a singing Olympics with a smorgasbord of countries from Belarus and Russia to Finland and Germany vying for the title.
I’ll spare you the suspense. The U.K. didn’t win, but the highlights are mesmerizing. Check out Buzzfeed.com’s 24 Most Important Moments from Eurovision and then check out the winning song from Austria’s “bearded lady” Conchita Wurst.
Dan Croll and “Home”
On “All Things Considered” yesterday, NPR featured British singer-songwriter Dan Croll, a native Stoke-on-Trent resident who has since made himself home in Liverpool. After returning home to see his family in Stoke-on-Trent, he wrote this lovely song “Home,” which just oozes comfy, warm loveliness.
Listen to the full story and watch the full video for “Home.”
The end of Gwyneth and Chris
When I heard that Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin were separating after 10 years of marriage, I can’t say that it come as a huge surprise. And yet Gwyneth’s quintessentially Britishness has been so rooted to her marriage to Chris that the idea that that they are “consciously uncoupling” is kind of unsettling.
If there’s anything that I find endearing about her, it is her pseudo-British quality. That properness of her that makes most people haters. I like the fact that she married an Exeter boy and the idea that she became an anglophile and raised her family in England. She is invariably my favorite non-British British person and I’m admittedly a little sad that she could be shacked up in the near future with a non-Brit and unwind herself from the British scene altogether.
Unless she ends up with Robert Downey Jr. because they are just ridiculously adorable together (which is unlikely since he is still married and good for him! Keep that going!) then I don’t wanna know. Certainly, don’t tell me she’s going to Chateau Marmont with anyone on Lindsay Lohan’s sex list. Please.
If you’re looking for me, I’ll be gorging myself on her dad’s recipe for pancakes (which I think are my favorite homemade pancake recipe of all time) with extra maple syrup and mourning the loss.
Best-selling music artists by London borough
Love this London map, which lists the best-selling music artist from each borough! Thanks to Tory for the tip!
BRITRISH.COM 