Tag Archives: Happy New Year

Happy New Year 2019

Happy New Year from thoughtsofjustafan – lots of exciting Alfie concerts to look forward to this year, the first one, Animal Requiem in just a few weeks.

In the traditional way, Christmas and New Year is the time when we look back at the previous year and I’m no different; luckily, it’s a delight to look back at Alfie Boe’s career in 2018 and choose my highlights.  In no particular order, here we go!

  • Alfie’s Homecoming concert at Fleetwood – an astonishing concert that will live on forever

  • Fundraising over £2,500 for Trinity Hospice through our Youtubeathon and for Alfie’s birthday.  I saw Alfie recently and he sent us this message:

  • Speaking to and videoing so many lovely fans at the London album signing

  • Chatting to a very relaxed Alfie in London, also at the signing, along with helpers (of the Three M’s), Linda and Cecelia

  • Two nominations and two wins at the Classic BRIT Awards for Alfie and Michael
  • As Time Goes By – love this album!
  • Meeting and greeting with Alfie at Kenwood and getting him to sign a Trinity hoodie
  • Exploring lots of new (to me) music – more about this to come in few weeks
  • Alfie’s video message to celebrate thoughtsofjustafan’s 4th birthday

Thank you to everyone who reads thoughtsofjustafan – your messages of support are very much appreciated.  Last year I reported that we had sailed past 250K hits…we’re now well over 300k!

As always, there are some special people to thank who make this whole thing happen:

Debbie Bannigan for believing in me and helping me go from strength to strength.

Carole Hunt for continuing to allow me the use of her photo for the site banner.

Linda Wellington for the use of her wonderful photos and videos. Thank you to everyone who allows me to use their videos here.

Roberta Kappus, Cecelia Powell, Claire Shorter and Annie Lloyd for being such wonderful guest reviewers.

Linda Anstee, Linda Wellington, Carole Hunt, Karen Rogers, Pat Watterson, Cecelia Powell, Sue Redfern for being there – thanks for keeping me sane with doughnuts.

Linda Anstee, Ellen Rook and Chris Coats for being my top social media sharers.

Cathy Haley, Sue Redfern and Cecelia Powell for being my top commenters.

Huge thanks to Andrea, Penny, Anis and Holly at Vector and to Ash and team at Decca – you’ve been amazing and a joy to work with.

Finally, it’s a massive thank you to Alfie for your unstinting support and generosity – without you, there would be no thoughtsofjustafan!

Have a very Happy New Year

xxxx

Friday Round Up with Alfie Boe: No. 7

With the New Year celebrations over for another year, it’s time for our first Friday Round Up in 2015 and the first since before Christmas.  Luckily for us, there was a new interview aired this week on BBC Radio Cornwall.  Alfie was interviewed way back in September by Debbie McCrory and they held the whole hour long interview back until this week – just the thing to banish the post tour blues. Thanks Marcia for sharing:

There’s a lot of chat about Les Mis as you would expect (Debbie had previously interviewed Alfie after the 25th anniversary) and amusing to hear Alfie struggling to say something good about Russell Crowe as Javert.  Damning with faint praise I think it’s called!  Also, some nice chat about Murray (he’s a Cornish lad) and the recording process of Serenata as opposed to Love Was A Dream.  Both were quick but one was considerably quicker!  A nice selection of music from Alfie’s earlier career too although it would have been nice to hear some of the Lehar as it was referenced in the interview.  Radio interviewers do tend to play a varied choice of music from Alfie’s career but Love Was A Dream never seems to get a look in – wonder why?  Slippers story gets another airing too!

In addition, Alfie was a guest on Bruce’s Hall of Fame on 27 December.  He sang Volare in tribute to Dean Martin which was lovely and had us all singing along at home I’m sure (two words at least, just like the tour!).  Alfie was first on which was great as it meant we didn’t have to watch the whole programme if we didn’t want to, although that would have meant missing a cracking turn from Alfie’s mate Jason Manford in tribute to Les Dawson.  Volare was Alfie’s only song but it was on the whole well received (I’m discounting the audience reaction here as they gave every performer a standing ovation) on social media.  Incidentally, interesting to see Alfie respond to people’s rude tweets; even with provocation he is always polite to trolls.  That doesn’t stop him putting them in their place though!  Again, thanks to Marcia for sharing the clip:

Volare is of course from Alfie’s new album, Serenata (available below) which is in the classical top ten for a sixth straight week!

serenata

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xx

2013 – What a Fa-boe-lous year with Alfie Boe!

So, as the end of 2013 rolls around and before we look ahead to the  delights of 2014, this blog is all about the best bits of the year with Alfie Boe and his wonderful fans, some of which I’m proud to say have become my dearest friends over these past twelve months.
This time last year, I had yet to meet Sally, Janet, and Margie, to name but a few and now these wonderful women have become firm friends, along with The Two Linda’s and Cecelia.  Margie and The Two Linda’s have featured in their very own blog posts and Sally and Cecelia will be seen here very “soon”, to coin a word close to Alfie’s heart but not to ours!!! Pauline and Paul from Jersey also deserve a mention, not least for heroically putting up with my 7yo over dinner on two occasions.  Others, I am looking forward to meeting over the next twelve months.

Best moments with Alfie Boe in 2013…so many, not sure I can do them justice but I have managed to narrow them down to my top 3, so here goes (in no particular order – guess where I borrowed that phrase from x):
Hearing songs from Trust at Alfie’s concert at The Royal Festival Hall in December – did not expect to hear those fabulous songs sung live so soon after the album release. Highlights were Rosie and Glory Glory Hallelujah.
Seeing Alfie at the Classic Brits in October, having the opportunity to give him a birthday card and then seeing that same card tweeted by the man himself with a thank you to “all the beautiful arrows”.  I’m not sure I’ve fully recovered from the excitement yet!
Seeing Alfie perform at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the Storyteller tour and a very special duet on Bring Him Home with John Owen Jones.
All these events and many more were enjoyed with many lovely friends who have become a very special part of my life and given me the confidence to do so many new things, not least to start this blog. To all of you, thank you xx

To round off, I’ve included three photos that make me smile whenever I look at them – my three favourites of 2013. Two taken by Linda Wellington and one by Annie Lloyd on Linda’s camera (she is in the picture!)

alfie me HMV correct sielinda murray

Happy New Year – wishing you all a very happy, peaceful and prosperous 2014 xxx