The Beautiful and the Damned

so we've got a bit behind with the blogs about the gigs! Was hoping for a bit of input from the boys but alas no....

So I guess it's up to us ladies to get on with it!

So the last gig I wrote about was the Bourne and Hollingsworth gig; that seems so long ago and there have been many more since then!

The Beautiful and the Damned and Boogaloo; we have performed this night twice now and it is always a lot of fun! a fantastic venue to play at and the audience are always lovely..

http://www.myspace.com/thebeautifulanddamnedclub

Karen and I have both read the Beautiful and the Damned book by F Scott Fitzgerald and it really helped us to understand the glamourous and decadent times of the 20s and 30s for the young, rich and beautiful. So we try to capture some of that glamour with our look whether it be gold floor length 1930s gowns or lovely lacy 20s numbers.

At the first gig we did there we were approached by a rather interesting character called Dmitry; a big Russian guy with a big character and lots of enthusiasm. He said he loved our act so much that he wanted to help us (said he was big in oil) and would like to back us. But alas the email address he gave me didn't work but it's probably just as well; I think he was Russian Mafia ;)

At the second Beautiful and Damned gig we met the lovely Tricity Vogue who was also playing that night. She plays the ukulele and sings some fabulous songs. We have since been to one of her fantastic Ukulele Cabaret nights where we took along our Ukes and joined in with some of the singalongs, we hope that we can play our Ukuleles as well as her soon so that we can introduce them into our act!

http://www.myspace.com/tricityvogue

The Blitz Party

So now a little bit about the wonderful Blitz party....

We were so excited about doing this gig!

Karen and I know quite a lot about the Blitz from all of the wonderful stories that our Gran tells us. She grew up in the Eastend of London and was there throughout the war she tells us many stories about the air raids; working in the factories making ammunition and life back then. We took her to the Britain at War experience and it was just like stepping back in time; Our gran loved it and had tears in her eyes being reminded of the old times.

So the challenge for us was the costumes; we really wanted the whole band to be kitted out in WW2 type uniforms so we went off to Portobello to see what we could find. There were some stalls selling lovely original WW2 things but there were a little too expensive for us; with 5 guys to dress it adds up! so in the end we managed to find an army surplus store and got some modern khaki shirts and trousers some of which were more of a sand colour so i got some olive dye and dyed everything...

We then managed to get some cool old fashioned braces; the ones with the button holes so I sewed buttons onto all of the trousers and then stitched badges onto the shirts.

We also managed to find some old fashioned army hats on Ebay and also some gaters and at Portobello picked up some original WW2 accessories such as belts etc...

Then for Karen's and my costume I found some khaki pencil skirts which I shortened and some khaki blouses which i sewed badges onto; et voila!

The night itself was fantastic! The venue was set under some railway arches in Shoreditch which were kitted out to look like a WW2 bunker with sand bags and other old fashioned items...

I was amazed at how much effort everyone went to with their outfits, soldiers; sailors, pilots; girls in lovely 40s tea dresses it was just like stepping back in time.

Fantastic Djing by the wonderful Jonny Vercoutre; everyone was dancing (some swing dancing!) and having a fabulous time.

We would have loved to play at the following Blitz party but unfortunately had already been booked for The Last Days of Decadence but we hope to be playing at the next Blitz party so keep your uniforms at the ready!

Max on Sax in The Chap!

Our very own smooth talking, slick dressing, suave and sophisticated sax player, Max Holloway is in Chap Magazine!

You will find him on the "Am I Chap" page, dressed in his Blitz uniform!

We definitely think he make a fine chap! What do you think?