Happy Sunday EQs! Tis the season for reflection isn’t it? 2007 has been nothing short of an amazing year and way more than I could have ever hoped for as a very niche music blogger in the electronic idiom. Having said that I just wanted to share some of my blog highlights and thank yous this year. If you would have told me last year that all this would have happened to me just by spewing out my random rants and strange music taste to the world on a little TypePad blog, I wouldn’t have believed it.
So here they are – my big 10 moments this year in no particular order – please indulge me as when I turn 65, I probably won’t remember this at all and I’ll need a little reminder of how fabulously Electroqueer 2007 truly was.
- Meeting Darren Hayes : Not once, not twice, but three times! I first ran into the legend himself on the street during a lunchtime chat with my friend Claudia. Later that night, I was then invited to an aftershow party where I really got to chat with and get to know all of Team Darren. But the best Darren encounter for me was getting to hang with him, Shave, Antigone and the whole entourage in the dressing room at G-A-Y. on 18 August. Although I was acting all calm, cool and collected – the comic book fan-boy in me was secretly geeking out inside! It was pretty much a dream come true and getting to know Darren this year only made me a stronger believer in his incredible music and I couldn’t be more happier to write about Mr. Darren Hayes on this blog.
- Interviewing Tiffany on the phone : Another dream come true. She’s my teen idol. I’ve been a loyal fan of hers for over 20 years and being able to ask her all the burning questions I have had really was the icing on the cake for me. You can ask Geri, I was a nervous wreck that day. I was prepared and ready, but nothing can prepare you for the feeling you get when your favourite female singer of all time picks of the telephone and starts chatting with you. She even sang a line of ‘I Think Were Alone Now’ for me on the phone. Priceless. Every time I play that little podcast I get goosebumps. I still can’t believe I talked to her.
- New Friendships : You know, music really does bring the people together. If it wasn’t for the blog I would have never met Mandy, Megan, Richard, Adam, Clare, Claudia, Manu, Ema and Maria. Thank you all for being such beautiful souls and I love hanging with all of you. Claudia my darling – don’t worry, you’re the first person I’m calling in New York!
- The Robyn gigs : Going to a Robyn gig is always so much fun and it’s been a pure pleasure to watch this little starlet rise to the top of the charts! I’ll never forget our wee chat at The Scala and I hope that the rest of the world will soon get to hear the wondrous talent that Robyn has to offer! Here’s to ‘Be Mine!’ being a super-mega hit.
- The Incomparable Switch22 : You know these guys are just the coolest guys on the planet. They are so supportive of the EQ and just the nicest guys you could ever meet. They were such good sports when I was putting together my comic book feature on them and let me photograph them doing all sorts of weird things on the camera – hahaha, well not too weird! On top of that, they gave EQ a shout-out at two of the gigs this year which made me all fuzzy inside. Thanks guys!
- POPSHOW! POPSHOW! POPSHOW! : EQ was a bit of a staple at Popshow this past year and will continue to support this wonderful showcase night for new pop and electro talent in 2008. DJ Adamis just marveled me with his flawless DJ talent (he’s my new favourite DJ – sorry DJ Coco Snatch!) and even let me suggest some of the acts that they should approach for the last popshow. More Popshow in 2008 and if you haven’t moved your ass on over there yet, you really should be doing so!
- New Artists Galore! : Discovering new artists is always very fun and exciting to me and I like to think that EQ was the first place you really got to know artists like 4th Child, Antigone, Bim, Bubbles and Cheesecake, Madison, Naked Highway, Nelson Clemente, Sergey, State City Disco and The Ultrasonics. It’s been an absolute pleasure or me to chat to all these artists this year and write the features on them – they are so talented that writing about them was just a piece of cake. You really should be listening to all these artists too – you’ll love them, guaranteed.
- The Wonderful Bloggers and Contributors I Met This Year : If you would have told me that I would have had coffee with Arjan from Arjan Writes, I wouldn’t have believed it. Getting to know Gabriel from Modern Fabulosity was a treat too and I hope to meet him real soon! And a huge thanks to Samuel from The Hot Stuff Files who wrote some brilliant posts for me this year when I was on holiday and got me into a few gigs. All three of you are huge inspirations to me and I’d like to say thanks for blogging this year – I have and will always be a huge fan of yours. Big thanks to Electrowoman, Irene Divine and Pedro Loves You as well for taking time out of your hectic schedules and penning some amazing blog posts for me this year too – I love ya!
- Uberwoman Antigone : She’s like no other. I could go on and on about her, but I won’t do that here. Instead – I will reveal in few days why she is ELECTROQUEER OF THE YEAR 2007. Yes you read that right…
- My Gerilicious : Although it wasn’t blog related entirely, I did meet Gerilicious on my way to a gig on 22 November 2006 and he has been the biggest supporter of EQ and my music musings this past year. I’ve dragged him to countless gigs and promos, some of which have been really rubbish and he always manages to have a huge smile on his face whenever I sit down and blog for hours in front of the computer. Sometimes he has to drag me away kicking and screaming from the blog, but most of all – he’s taught me that it’s all about balance. I’d just like to thank him with all my heart as if it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I would have enjoyed this past year so much. Thank You Geri.