KT TUNSTALL PLANS DOGS AND CARPENTRY IN BETWEEN ROCK AND ROLL

KT Tunstall might have been recording a new album and talking about smashing up TV’s with Suzie Quatro but she says in the future she’d love to become a carpenters and make her own future. 
The Edinburgh born singer who is about to embark on some new tour dates and plays Summer Nights at the Bandstand in August revealed that she’d love to ‘grow a beard, not wear any shoes and get a lot of dogs’ in the future. 
The Black Horse and The Cherry Tree hitmaker laughed: “I’d love to be a jeweller and love to learn carpentry. I’d probably make surround console desks and make stuff for my studio, although don’t sit on any chairs I make. I just like making things. Whatever happens and whoever I am as an old lady I’ll continue making stuff.”
KT moved to LA’s bohemian Venice Beach in 2012 after she ‘woke up and smelled the cheese‘ and filed for divorce just weeks after her dad passed away. 
She was recently in Scotland to perform a series of gigs for Lidl and spent much of her time visiting schools and showing children how to cook. 
She said: “We visited my old school Dundee high school - it was really emotional actually playing for p5 and I did a home economics class for p3 and made them eat veg. The deputy head Rob at Dundee high is the husband of my best friend Ashley Meiklejohn who I’d not seen since I was seventeen or eighteen and her daughter Hannah was there and I was looking at this girl exactly like her and tried not to burst out crying.”
She added: “As I’ve got older I’ve realised how amazing it is connecting with kids and I really enjoyed playing for them. I have definitely, although it sounds a bit saintly, tapped into the fulfilment of what you can give. Community is an important part of our wellbeing. Through your twenties and thirties you are taking and taking and seeing what you can get. In your forties you are seeing what service you can be of to people and it’s really rewarding. I really love being this age.” 
Although she enjoyed working with the primary school children, KT claims she has her eye on a fur baby rather than a human one.  
Having turned forty five this year she explained: “Most of my friends are desperate to have kids and have one G and T and they are weeping about how they have not had babies yet. I’m like that for a mini daschhund. I’m desperate for a dog.  2020 might be my year for my mini doggy. It’ll have to be a tour dog and come in my bag with me, not on a plane. I just think dogs are too good for this world. They are amazing creatures.”
KT is looking forward to releasing her new album with Suzie Quatro with whom she has been writing her new album. 
She admits the singer has taught her some bad habits. 
She smiled: “If I had a devil on my shoulder I’d eat the cookies, drink the whiskey, smash the tv. I’ve never done it. I’ve just finished making an album with Suzie Quatro and she apparently did smash a tv. She is just an absolute legend. She had a biopic movie come out which was really amazing and I sat in her living room and watched it with her. She was the first ever female rock n roller and we really hit it off. I’ve learned a lot. I’m very lucky to find myself opening up on stage for legends.  It’s a masterclass every time you work with these people.”

Excerpts of this article have since appeared in the Scottish Mail on Sunday 

From Scotland with Love - theshowbizlion.com 

CALVIN HARRIS, CAMILA CABELLO, DUA LIPA, BIFFY CLYRO SET FOR DUNDEE BIG WEEKEND

 HE might be wanting to change his name to Love    Regenerator but Calvin Harris is keeping his old name as he comes to Dundee to play Radio 1’s Big Weekend. 

 

The Dumfries born star will be playing the line up alongside Dua Lipa, who of course he had the massive hit One Kiss with in 2018. 

Ayrshire rockers Biffy Clyro have also been announced for the gig at Camperdown Park on May 22-24 as well as the huge Camila Cabello who is currently dating Shawn Mendes. 

AJ Tracey will also play with more acts to be announced. 

Radio 1 breakfast host Greg James announced the news this morning on BBC Radio 1 amid hopes that Scotland would be chosen to host the event once again. 

Glasgow played host to the fest in 2018 with acts like Ed Sheeran, The Vamps and Rita Ora and Perth’s Scone Palace was also a venue in 2013 when Lady Gaga played. 

Theshowbizlion.com has had the pleasure of attending Big Weekend before and it is a festival and a half. 

In Perth we were actually mistaken for Lady Gaga and ended up posing for pics and even got a discount on a sweatshirt we fancied from one of the on-site shops there! 

Dundee is Scotland's fourth largest city, and last played host to the Big Weeekend back in 2006.

Tickets are free and will be made available by application and through competitions on Radio 1. 

KT TUNSTALL HAS SCOTS HOMECOMING AHEAD OF SUMMER SHOW

SCOTTISH singer songwriter KT Tunstall rocked Edinburgh’s Assembly Rooms for Burns night as part of her nationwide tour. 

Theshowbizlion.com and the audience were treated to big songs as KT and her talented friends rocked through a repertoire from Black Horse and The Cherry Tree to Suddenly I See as well as their version of Fairground Attraction’s Got To Be and Erasure’s A Little Respect.

 KT performed the show as part of her food and music tour with supermarket giants Lidl and guests were treated to drinks and nibbles as they raised money for charity. 

Earlier this week KT who was looking healthy after changing up her diet to fresh food officially unveiled Lidl’s 100th store in Scotland in Cowdenbeath. 

The new supermarket forms part of Lidl’s ongoing expansion and regeneration plans in Scotland and has created up to 40 new jobs for the community. Last year, the retailer announced plans to open a further 12 new stores across the country by 2022, creating 500 new jobs.

We got a chance to chat with KT backstage and she told us she’s absolutely loved showing children how to cook with Lidl’s fresh and natural ingredients. 

She also said it was great to be back in Scotland to catch up with old friends from her old school. 

 It’s going to be a busy year for KT who is working on a few secret projects as well as appearing at Summer Nights in Kelvingrove Bandstand. 

Now in its seventh year, the annual concert series at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove bandstand returns with another truly sensational programme of concerts from July 30 to August 15.

 KT said of her upcoming gig on August 6: “Thrilled to share that I’ll be part of the absolutely stellar line-up for Kelvingrove Bandstand this summer. If you haven’t experienced a gig at this special venue before, I highly recommend it and, if you have...I’m betting you’ll want to come again! The girls & I will see you there."

 Legendary singer/songwriter Edwyn Collins is also billed and said: “I spent a lot of time in Kelvingrove in 1978/79, when I was an illustrator for Glasgow Parks. I designed and illustrated leaflets for walkways and nature trails, it was a very nice job for someone like me, the only paid job I ever had. Once, with some schoolkids on a trail, they asked me if I was a punk. “Yes children, I’m Nature Punk!”. I hardly remember the bandstand then, it was disused, but I am delighted it has been returned to its original glory, hosting great music nights and I am excited to be playing my part this year." 

The Birra Moretti and Eden Mill Village will offer up its finest beers and assorted gins along with a selection of fab street food, there will be no better place to relax and soak up the truely amazing  atmosphere before taking your seats in the beautifully restored Kelvingrove Bandstand. Gates will open each night at 6.30pm.

SCOTS REALITY STAR BRIAN MATTHEWS MISSED OUT ON PAIGE TURLEY

SCOTS reality star Brian Matthews claims he missed out on a date with Love Island’s Paige Turley after being warned off by her music management. 

Lovely Paige, who we know well at the showbizlion.com after helping out with videos and media training when she was in pop band G side, is vying for the prize on Love Island. 

Brian said: “I first met Paige when she was performing with her band G side and she certainly turned my head. You could say she was a real Paige turner. I watched her perform at a few places and met her outside my old bar Liqr in Candleriggs when she was walking to Glasgow’s Dhabba restaurant for a curry. She was hot stuff herself.”

Our showbizlion.com chief lioness Bev Lyons was actually there when Brian fired into Paige on a night out in Glasgow’s now defunct Vapiano restaurant.   

Brian said: “We also partied together at Vapiano restaurant opening in Glasgow and we were a bit flirty. 

Paige was asking me what it was like to be on reality TV because I’d done quite a lot of it myself. We wanted to carry on the party somewhere else but I was warned on the night not to go there by her manager Kasey Monroe at Monroe Management.”

He added: “I got another chance when she was at the panto in Glasgow’s Armadillo at the same time I was and she went to get  an ice cream and realised she didn’t have any cash on her. Being ever the gentleman I offered to get her one but realised I had no money on me either. I blew it and I regret it to this day. I look at her as one of the only few that got away.“

We hope Paige does really well on the show because she’s a lovely girl with great singing talent. 

ITS CHOCOLATE COVERED IN ANYTHING DAY AND GLASGOW IS CEELBRATING

WE’VE heard a lot about unusual food days but we absolutely love the idea of Chocolate Covered In Anything  day which takes place this Monday. 
After all, in this season of festive indulgence, what better excuse than to have to dip into some of the sweet stuff as a matter of national duty. 
Indeed Scots admit to eating sweeties at least once a day, compared with just 30 percent of their counterparts in England and Wales - no wonder the average annual per capita consumption of chocolate bars is estimated at 200. Supermarket chain Marks and Spencer also admit its sweeties sell in far greater numbers north of the border.

Here’s some other fascinating chocolate facts to celebrate the big day. 

1. Scotland became a nation of chocolate lovers when sugar cane or white gold as it was known came over from the Caribbean. There was so much sugar coming down the Clyde  that the first town you came to on the river, Greenock, was nicknamed Sugaropolis. 

2.  Dark chocolate (with 70 to 85 percent cocoa content), contains different nutrients. In 100 grams of dark chocolate, you receive almost 100 percent of the daily recommended intake of manganese, nearly 90 percent of necessary copper intake, and about 67 percent of your needed iron intake.

3. Scotland boasts a number of independent chocolatiers with Finlay MacDonald being one of the youngest. Finlay established Chocolates of Glenshiel in 2016 in his Highland kitchen by Loch Duich. His chocolates are flavoured with Talisker whisky, Misty Isle gin and sea salt – all from the nearby Isle of Skye, heather honey and raspberries from Blairgowrie and marmalade from Dundee.

4. The Spanish Conquistador Don Hernán Cortés first realised the  commercial value of cocoa beans which he took to Spain in 1528. Very gradually, the custom of drinking the chocolatespread across Europe, reaching England in the 1650s.

5. Gluten free Indian restaurant Dakhin in Glasgow’s Merchant City is celebrating this Monday’s occasion with its specially created Chocolate Dosa. The South Indian crepe has been specially coated with chocolate with a rich chocolate and coconut filling and will be available for £4.95 on the day. It’s similar to a crepe without the wheat flour.

6. The creation of the first modern chocolate bar is credited to Joseph Fry, who in 1847 discovered that he could make a moldable chocolate paste by adding melted cacao butter back into Dutch cocoa. By 1868, a company called Cadbury was marketing boxes of chocolate candies in England.

7. Studies have shown that eating dark chocolate has the same effect on the brain as falling in love, thanks to a release of the chemical phenylalanine. Maybe that’s why us Scots will do crazy things to get our hands on a chocolate bar. 

8. Some studies suggest that colder, dark climates—during midwinter, in Scotland, the sun might rise for barely seven hours per day—the human body craves more sugary foods to offset Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD.

9. Drink it or eat, melt it or freeze it, have it bitter or have it sweet. Chocolate is such an exciting ingredient to include in dishes and can add a sweetness or bitterness to an otherwise acidic or spicy meal. It can even  complement nicely the salty notes of crisps.
There’s plenty of room for creativity on National Chocolate Covered Anything Day.
This is a sponsored post by Dakhin restaurant in Glasgow. 

BAY CITY ROLLER STUART WOODY WOOD SAVES LIFE

Exclusive  
BAY City Roller Stuart Woody Wood has been hailed a hero after rescuing a lost dog that was trapped down a hole for three days.
Stuart and his wife Denise were on holiday in North Berwick when they learned that black Labrador Kruger had gone missing whilst on a walk with his owner.
Stuar,  who was taking a break after a sold out performance in Canada at Casino Rama with his band The Bay City rollers said: “My wife Denise saw online that Krueger had gone missing and she thought that we would be able to find him. She just had a feeling. A search party had already combed the area where he’d run off at the side of the golf course, and had had no luck. We went out at 9am the following morning and made a point of searching every nook and cranny.”
“We were out for just twenty minutes and I couldn’t believe it when I looked over into a very dark corner on waste ground with old buildings around it and saw someone eyes looking up at me from three foot down. Kruger was inside a drain than didn’t appear to have any cover over it  and he was terrified. When dogs are in distress they don’t make a sound and Kruger had been there for two nights. I kept my distance and shouted out that I had found him. If we hadn’t found him he would’ve been a goner.”


Kruger’s mum Janette Murray couldn’t believe it when the eleven year old family pet was found. 
She said: “It was so stressful. It had been nearly three days and we were so close to him and it was heartbreaking because he didn’t make a noise. I’d had him out for a teatime walk and he was running behind me. It was still daylight on the golf course but I turned round and he had just disappeared. All the neighbours and their kids went out with dog biscuits and walked the golf course and beyond to find him. I’d called the drone rescue people in Perthshire and they were about to send out a drone to try to detect his body heat. We thought he wouldn’t be far from where he wandered and we couldn’t believe it when he was found by Woody in the old council yard. There was broken fencing all round and a hole there. We’re so happy we got him back and I’m eternally grateful.”
Janette admitted that she had no idea who Stuart initially was. She said “I initially thought he was from a Bay City rollerstribute band and then realised he was an actual Bay City rollers band member. His wife and him were wonderful and helped to get the dog out of the hole. We can’t thank them enough.”
Kruger was wrapped in a thermal blanket and taken to the vets where he was put on a drip. 
He is now happily at home and enjoying all the extra attention from his family.

This story has since appeared in the Daily Record. From Scotland with Love Theshowbizlion.com

MOËT MAGIC WITH MAMMA LION AT KIMPTON BLYTHSWOOD

CHRISTMAS is almost here and the corks are already popping to celebrate the magic at Kimpton Blythswood Square Hotel.

Theshowbizlion.com was recently invited to the very special launch of the Moët & Chandon Bar in the swish hotel and we decided that mamma lion needed a night out too. 

We were treated to a lovely night of songs from the Glasgow Gospel Choir along with Moet by the glass, delicious canapés and specially made Moët pretzels. 

Founded in 1743, a bottle of Moet champagne opened every second around the globe so we were in excellent company. 

From the iconic Moët Impérial to the Grand Vintage Collection, the extroverted Moët Rosé Impérial to the innovative Moët Ice Impérial, each champagne dazzles and delights with bright fruitiness, an enticing palate and an elegant maturity. 

At Kimpton Blythswood, for those who feel a bit Naughty, Moet are offering their new cocktail, Fairytale of New York; Solerno blood orange liqueur and orange and clove syrup topped with Moët, and garnished with Moët-branded orange peel for sparkling splendour.

 Of course, with mamma lion there we fell into the Nice camp so we can’t wait to go back and indulge in some Moët Champagne Afternoon Tea, offered daily 12pm to 5pm. As well as a classic combination of finger sandwiches, there are  scones served warm with clotted cream, sweet pastries and freshly baked cakes. The centrepiece of afternoon tea is, of course, a chilled glass of Moët. Cost is £46 per person with Moët Brut Imperial, £47.75 with Moët Rose Imperial served until the 30th of December, 2019.

 Moët moments are best shared with loved ones and clinking our champagne proved to be the ideal pre theatre treat before a brilliant night at Glasgow's Tron Theatre where we enjoyed the launch of the brilliant Cinderfella.