Preston

He said he would be over here early this year doing things but that is not happening. I do think the same as Maria and pip. It is v ery disappointing. I dont believe that he is so busy that he cant post on his my space etc at some time or other. He has been based over there for a long time now and one would have thought that if he was doing any gigs over there there would be some people from over there at some time posting on my space etc but nothing. I think what I find very disappointing is that Natasha is still working but he appear to have dropped out a bit like David sneddon did. On the other hand perhaps he is not getting the invitations to do things because he has been out of sight out of mind for so long.

Oh dear I wish I had booked, he has got fantastic reviews from Nottingham and Manchester.

The new Phantom is to be staged in three countries virtually the same time, one of these is TORONTO. Canada.

Perhaps if we knew the LA papers we might find something. Yes it is funny that it is an australian paper but recently saw Brian mcfadden mentioned like that in which he did an interview saying that his new album had got to no.5 out there and he was invited back to present a football programme over there but then he is engaged to Delta godren another australian.

Thanks Meg, thats great. He is slongside Nigel lythgoe and Len Goodman both from dancing programmes. there i s probably ogther things he is doing over there but how to find out I wonder.

Im just glad hes getting a mention.

WOS mention - thread re What Performers Would You Pay To See In 'what' Shows? Poster says Darius Danesh as Phantom of the opera.

tear run dry is one of my favourites. also love the lyrics. Would love to hear it on the radio and think a lot of people would like it if they got to hear it.

Funnily enough I was listening to the Burns supper songs yesterday as well, do love his voice on those. I do wonder why even now we dont hear Colourblind even occasionally on the radio. I have heard daniel bedingfields your not the one a few times and that didnt I believe reach no.1 and other artistes who also didnt reach no.1. Here in my area the local statrion I think must be un der SC as all we hear day after day are the samed tunes from his artistes. As has been said Colourblind is ideal for summer.

This is the exract I was referring to from a very long but very interesting article froim the Times. The winner leaves the show with a much-hyped £1m contract with Simon Cowell’s label, Syco Entertainment (part of Sony BMG), and a place with Modest! Management, run by Simon’s old mucker Richard Griffiths. This year, 16-year-old Eoghan Quigg (third) and the boyband JLS (second) have each signed to Sony subsidiaries. The others must make what they can, fast — gigs, interviews, public appearances — because as sure as night follows day, when the tour ends, the agents, management and publicists who have supported them thus far will part like the Red Sea. “They’ll realise quickly,” says Andy Abraham (runner-up, 2005), “that the industry doesn’t want them.” What the industry does want, for as long as it can get it, is its share of the booty. Once key management has released its grip, contestants must take their chances with the exotic dancers, psychics and tribute acts that form the clientele of a sliding scale of smaller agents; in some cases, they are artistes with such a fragile grip on the slippery celebrity slope that their various distinctions are listed in parenthesis: Anthony Hutton (winner of Big Brother 6), Ben Ofoedu (singer with Phats & Small and fiancé to Vanessa Feltz). When I request interviews, e-mails shoot back and forth. “What’s the budget? Any indication of the fee?” All the ex-X Factorees are keen to hear what the others have said. Nobody wants to say bad things about the X Factor beast in case it turns around and bites. Recent participants are gagged, signing one contract binding them to Syco if they win and another forbidding them to make comments that may be considered unduly negative or critical of the company and, particularly, Simon Cowell. Nobody wants to appear decimated by the experience either, though some of them were. Of his sudden celebrity status, Tabby Callaghan (third, 2004) says: “For a few years afterwards, my perspective and senses were totally distorted by it. If you’d told me the table was an elephant I would have believed you. I lived in a bubble of delusion from which I only just recovered.” Steve Brookstein (2004) will forever be remembered as the winner who somehow lost. “I’m probably served up as a warning to everyone: ‘You don’t want to end up like Steve Brookstein.’” Brookstein gained the highest-ever number of viewer votes — 5.5m — but Cowell later admitted that he thought “the wrong act had won”. Runners-up G4, a quartet of good-looking boys straight out of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, also signed with Sony that year and went on to release two platinum-selling albums. Their first reached No 1 on Mothers’ Day, a pivotal point in the year for record sales; they completed five sellout tours and released a bestselling autobiography before splitting up in 2007. Brookstein, meanwhile, was dropped by Syco 12 weeks after his first album was released, despite his single, a cover of the Phil Collins song Against All Odds, going straight to No 1. And it still rankles. “If you really want to crucify someone, give them a Phil Collins song…” Fatally for him, post X Factor, Brookstein refused to play the game. He didn’t like the clothes or the cheesy photoshoots and wanted artistic control over the material he recorded. “Simon kept saying, ‘I know what I’m doing,’ by which he meant, ‘I know what sells.’ But it sounded like karaoke to me. I was offered £12,500 to go away quietly, and when I didn’t take it, life got very difficult. My website came down, there was a lot of negative publicity…” He mentions finding tickets for a film premiere suddenly cancelled. “I was basically shunned by the industry. No serious management would touch me because they’ve all got connections with Simon.” Tabby Callaghan, 2004’s token rocker, points out that The X Factor is a one-hour show comprising 10 minutes of music. “I’ve played guitar from six years old; it was incredibly f***ing frustrating to be given an instrument with no strings and be asked to mime, but you have to go in with your eyes open.” Callaghan has dusted himself off and is back in his box-room studio again, and planning to launch himself in America. “I learnt a $h!tload about myself and about life. There’s so much stigma if you’ve been on the show. I was broken down to zero by it. I had to build myself up from nothing. But I’m as tough as old boots. It’ll take more than The X Factor to finish me.” When I ask how he manages, he says: “Hey, I’ve two helicopters out back and an Olympic pool… Everything’s great.” Brookstein just sounds bewildered. “I sing at restaurants and birthday parties, which keeps me ticking over, but I’m scared the minute I do a gig The Mirror will be there to take the p***, ‘Steve Brookstein workingin pubs again.

Sorry about that meg. You can still read it as link is available on Digital spy -forum X factor - subheading - what happens to x factor runners up.It is the first post under that heading.I know you are very busy so dont worry. Dont know why it wont show here.

Still think pop idol, was the best. I dont want you to think Im being negative but thought you might find this article interesting especially the bit about steve brookstein who took a stand for his own material. http://entertainment.timesonline.co....cle6149245.ece sorry should be underlined.

Quote meg - think Darius Danesh would be a name we would have been recognising if he hadn't gone on a talent show. He just wouldn't have all the baggage of negativity which he suffers from now. I did wonder if he might get some support over there as Nigel lythgoe is living there now and surely their paths must cross.

Oh no, I was meaning it was relevant.

Im veering off again on another thing - out of interest what do you think of this singer - this should be underlined and I dont know how to do it. 15 years old.

Living in a seaside resort, it happens with the seagulls all the time here in the town centre if you are sat on a seat, you have to watch your sandwich or whatever you are eating, they are on the lookout all the time.

I struggled with the word pertinant as couldnt think what word I meant, perhaps relevant would have been better.

pip and darius4me posts seem pertinant when you see a post re are there any shows that dont have reality stars in them. This to a degree says a lot about (ot perhaps none at all) re Ds situation. It is a post discussing reality stars in musicals. quote - So by the same token, are you saying that Les Miserables has no class? Obviously you're not a fan of reality-show casting and that's your prerogative of course, but some of the performers plucked from virtual obscurity in this way are actually very talented individuals. Lee Mead, Zoe Birkett, Brenda Edwards and Gareth Gates, for example, have all proved they've got what it takes, in my humble opinion. Didn't get to see Nikki Evans in Blood Brothers unfortunately, but from what I've heard, she was fantastic! So long as they have genuine talent and can do the job they've been employed to do, then I'm happy. It must be frustrating for performers who've slogged their guts out over a period of years to carve a career for themselves, to then witness people fast-tracking their way into the business, but that's just the way things are these days so we'll have to like it or lump it! (I have no idea what that actually means, but my mum used to say it! lol). Even though we may not want the reality tag, in this case praise would have been nice. Its just the fact that he is continually overlooked generally and one must wonder why.

Rumour has it on WOS that GG will play Marius for a limited time in Les Miserables.

I see Duncan James has the male lead in the new musical opening soon in the westend, Legally blonde. I think it ran for l8 months on Broadway.

Bramley, yes the link did work for me, thanks very much. D idnt learn anything though.

Hello Morag, remember you on Sonnets site. Nice to see you here.

Talking about baytrees, where is Baytree, is she on holiday still. I still cant get on Natashas site, dont know why. Wonder wshy she is moving.

I think also it will be unpoppy. I like his voice on From a distance which has made a few people sit up so maybe something along those lines I would be happy with as long as it shows off his range particularly the deepness which wasnt shown off in his pop music.

I absolutely loved the film but D is far more charismatic than Clark gable who I did like. vivien leigh was I thought just right for the role but the music was what I loved AT THAT TIME. however the film wasa made during a different era and style of acting. Since then the clipped english accent style has softened.