Week In Review - 29 August 2014

In two days GME will be two years old. I am very happy with the success my business has had so far, and as I go into my third year I am focused on growing my business in every way from moving into office space to growing my roster of acts to increasing my customer base. Going into my second year I had four goals and have reached three of them. September is my planning month and I will look at how I've done this year, highlight the things I've done well, identify the areas that need improvement, and set new goals for year three. I hope you'll take the journey with me as I strive to be the best at what I do. Year two has been challenging and exhausting, and as the company grows I know the challenges will too. To be honest, it's dealing with the challenges that really make me feel like I'm running my company. Believe me, I have run my company this year. So here's to another year of providing premium entertainment at affordable prices ... Have we got an ACT for you! Soooooo cheesy, but true! Cheers!

Marley Blandford & Nathalie Gunn

This week Monday was the last day of the five Foodies Festival events I organized the entertainment for this year. We wrapped up in Oxford and a lovely, but rainy day and the entertainment was stellar. In the true spirit of 'the show must go on' each act was fantastic, starting with the very talented Marley Blandford, who was later joined my Nathalie Gunn performing a duo set. The genuine blues sound of 2Blue made me feel like I was back home in Chicago! The uniquely talented singer-songwriter, Bashema, mesmerized with her fantastic set of originals and covers and then the stunningly beautiful Ellie Rose had the crowd standing in the rain to listen to her fabulous songs and pitch perfect voice. It didn't take much for the crowd to go from standing in the rain to dancing & singing in the rain thanks to the classic 60's sound of One 4 The Road.

Bashema

Media Company Publications was one of my first clients when I started GME and they contracted me last year to organize five Foodies events and again this year to do five events, adding a new location ... Bristol, which was great because I had never been to Bristol before, and I discovered some amazing local talent including Bashema who also performed at Oxford, and The Funkinsteins who dropped some serious funk on the Bristol crowd. I never sat down through their entire set.

In looking for acts for the festivals, I ended up connecting with managers, agents and record companies which is allowing me to make really good connections across the UK. I want to extend a special thank you to Danielle Knights of Live & Love Music, Steve Parkhouse of Jelli Records, and Anna Marshall of Regency Artists for providing amazing acts who were not only talented, but also an absolute joy to work with.

On Tuesday, I took a much needed day off and with great difficulty I was back to work in Wednesday. I finished up Wednesday with a rehearsal with Mayfield in our new recording studio/rehearsal space as we prep for a very busy September including a charity event at The Jolly Sailor on the 20th, supporting Craig Charles at The Cellars on the 26th and recording a demo of our latest song, Ready Set Go, on the 13th & 27th. I am selling tickets for The Cellars gig and only have a few left. Please contact me if you would like to buy one. Your support would be greatly appreciated. The tickets are £10. Call me at 07504 611173 to get your tickets.

Finally, I'll be performing Supremely, Diana Ross at the Cosham Conservative Club followed by a high energy party set of Mowtown, Soul & Disco classics on Saturday starting at 8pm. This is a new venue for me and it would be great if you came along to get your dance on! It's gonna be a great night.

In case you haven't heard yet, Diana Ross is in talks to perform at Glastonbury next year! Here's hoping!!

That's it for this edition! Have a fabulous weekend.

Week In Review - 27 June 2014!

It's Foodies Festival time again and I am finalizing the performers for the Bristol event that is quickly approaching on 11, 12 & 13th of July. Despite cancellations and schedule juggling, the list of performers and the developing running order are quite impressive. I've managed to book several new acts for this location including Kick In The Crochet (yes, that's really their name), Bashema, and Elles Bailey! Some favourites from Brighton & Clapham will be returning, and I can't wait to introduce Bristol to Half Crown, Jipsy Magic & RemedySounds.

Mayfield @ IOW Festival

I promised some photos from my band Mayfield's performance at The Isle of Wight Festival. Here's one from backstage. I'm still waiting on more pics to come. We are now gearing up for our next show at The Cellar in Southampton. The event is being hosted by the Soul 45 DJs and we'll be sharing the stage with the legendary Craig Charles. If you will be in the Southampton area on Friday, 26 September, please come to the show. We'll be performing selections from our current CD, Tempo of Your Soul, and we are working on new songs as well, two of which we debuted on The Hipshaker Stage at the IOW Fest. Another new song is in the works, and we hope to have it ready by the 26th! Click here for ticket info.

This has been a busy week of organizing some private & repeat bookings for some of my acts. I also received some lovely feedback from the private birthday party I performed by Diana Ross Tribute at last week. 

"Gloria's [Supremely, Diana Ross] performance and preparation contacts beforehand were brilliant. We all enjoyed her amazing performance at Tony’s birthday party on Saturday, especially in the heat when she had to wear a Diana wig! The feedback from our guests was amazing, and they wanted to know where I had met her. I think if it hadn’t been such a hot day, more of us would have been up on the floor. I certainly was, as were some of our family, including some of our granddaughters, with whom Gloria very graciously shared the limelight! How can you not dance when she sings?

It helped to make Tony's birthday, unforgettable and he loves Diana even more now."

Joyce Seaman
June 21, 2014, Botley Community Centre, Hedge End

Joyce also gave me and the agency a 5-star rating on our client feedback form. 

I guess that's it for this edition ... have a fabulous weekend!

Weeks In Review - 6 June & 13 June 2014

FranClassic
Foodies Festival - Clapham

Apologies for not getting my 6 June Week In Review out to you. I usually write this blog on the Friday, but last Friday was Day 1 of Foodies Festival Clapham and I jumped right into the deep end of this 3-day event and didn't come up for air until Sunday night! The entire week was really devoted to sorting out all the last minute details for the event. We were so lucky with the weather over the 3-days and had huge crowds at the Entertainment Stage throughout each day. 

On 5 June I went to an early morning BNI networking meeting at the Hilton in Farlington where I gave a 1-minute presentation about GME. BNI is a worldwide network who are looking to launch a Portsmouth area chapter. I was invited back this week, but 6:45am is a bit too early for me, especially since I'm still recovering from Foodies :). Later on the 5th Dominic Elton (Mayfield band leader) and I met with Jeff Powell of Groovefinders to discuss Mayfield Studios, which are in the process of being built. We also discussed songwriting for our next album and development ideas as we take Mayfield to the next level as a band. 

Jerry Williams
Foodies Festival - Clapham

Jeff is a visionary manager who works with several emerging artist, including the very talented Jerry Williams who I booked to perform at Foodies Clapham. She was delightful by the way! There is mutual interest between Jeff and Mayfield to work together and I'm excited to see how things unfold in the coming months.

Even later on the 5th, I was at The Jolly Sailor judging Southsea's Got Talent! It was a very early start and long day, but no matter how tired I may feel when I get to SSGT, I am always energized and amazed by all the untapped talent in the Portsmouth area. This night was no exception. Each contestant was at the top of their game, and sadly only 3 were able to be put through to the next level! That was a hard decision to make!

Now we come to this week ...

Supremely, Diana Ross

On Monday, I had to drag my very tired self out of bed for a meeting at a venue where I'm booked to perform Supremely, Diana Ross for a birthday party. I am triple booked on this date, 21st of June,  so I need to check out the venue ahead to make sure I know how to get there and to see what equipment I will need to bring. I will be on such a tight schedule on this date, so there's very little room for errors like ... getting lost!

Wednesday I had my 1st full vocal coaching session with my new student, Nicola. I am helping her prepare set lists, find the right songs for her voice and music business coaching in addition to helping her fine tune her vocals. We had a great session and I am always thrilled when I see a student learning and growing. I recorded most of our session and played it back to Nicola. She struggled to listen to herself, but doing that helped us identify things she needs to work on, and the songs later in the session were already showing a marked improvement. I'll be seeing her again in a few weeks. 

If you are someone you know is looking for a vocal/music business coach, do get in touch to set up a free consultation.

Move On Up!

Thursday, I was with my band, Move On Up at The Wine Vaults and we had a fantastic night! We were worried that we would have a small crowd due to so many events happening at the same time including camper's night at the Isle of Wight Festival, and the opening night of the World Cup. However, we had a great crowd who were already on the dance floor by the third song of the first set ... this is very rare! By the end of the second set, the place was packed to the rafters and the punters were screaming for more ... even after our second encore! Sadly, we were out of energy and out of songs so we left the crowd wanting more, which is not a bad thing!

Speaking of Isle of Wight festival ... Mayfield are gearing up to make our debut at this great festival on the Hipshaker Stage on Saturday starting at 9pm! We had our final rehearsal prepping for the gig on Tuesday and the set is sounding very tight. We'll be dropping some new songs from our next release, and Amy and I will be donning new dresses that she designed and created! I'll have loads of pics to share with you next week.

Gloria Miller Duo

Finally, tonight I'm rehearsing with my Duo partner, Dennis Elvie as we prepare for our next gig which is the first of the three gigs I've got booked on the 21st of June. We will be doing Jazz & Blues originals and covers at The Spring in Havant! 

I've got one hour to prep for rehearsal, so that's it for now! Have a fabulous weekend!

Week in Review - 30 May 2014

Last week I received the news that I've been nominated for a Venus Award for Customer Service and have made it through to the quarter final. I am just under two years being in business and it is quite an honor to have been nominated. My customer service approach is basically the golden rule ... treat others the way I want to be treated, and to be recognized for this feels amazing.  The Venus Awards is a national organization that have just launched a Portsmouth chapter. I am so pleased to be working with this organization and for being nominated in the Portsmouth area premiere year. 

This week's focus in the office has been on sorting out the final details on the next Foodies Festival event being held 6-8 June at Clapham Common in London, as well as finalizing the entertainment lineup for the forthcoming Bristol event 11-13 July. The Clapham lineup is excellent with some new performers to the list as well as a few favourites from the Brighton festival. I'm still filling slots for Bristol, but that lineup is shaping up quite nicely too! If you are in the Clapham Common or Bristol areas during the festival dates, why not join us for what is always a fantastic event, especially if the weather is with us! You can purchase tickets in advance through the Foodies website or on-site at the event. I hope to see you there, and bring the sunshine with you!!

My band Mayfield are in the process of building a recording studio, and the band leader Dominic Elton and I had a fantastic meeting with Gareth Henderson, the founder of River Studios in Totton, Southampton. We toured this amazing facility and discussed consulting with them on fitting out the studio with latest equipment, as well as River Studios providing technical support to help us get up and running. As we are waiting for our studio to be finished, we will be using River Studios to demo some of the new songs we're working on for our second album that will be released sometime in 2015. 

With Tara Howard
Founder of the Venus Awards

Lastly, tonight I will be returning to The Piranha Bar to perform a Motown/Soul Night and to sort out some future bookings for several of my acts. This lovely restaurant was one of my first clients in the early days of GME and have been working with the agency and me for almost two years. The last time I spoke with the owner there, she said how proud she was of me for the growth of GME and she remembered when I only had about five acts that I was booking for. I've got a few more acts and clients now, and possibly this is due to good customer service :)! Do you see how I tied that in to my Venus Award nomination? So sorry, I couldn't help myself. And now I'm gonna be quite cliched in saying ... I don't care if I win, it's just nice to be nominated! LOL!

Okay, I'm done ...

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Week in Review - 23 May 2014

Okay, so I've just got TiVO in my house and it has been terribly difficult to pull myself away from it to get some work done this week ... LOL!  I feel strangely obligated to watch the shows it recommends and there have been some weird ones ... 'Grimm' ... really? 

Besides being glued to my telly, this week has been about paying the man ... yes, it's tax filing time! Through the beauty of networking I have found a fantastic accountant, Lee Scott of Addo Accounting, and he has been amazing at hand-holding me through the process. I barely understood US tax laws, and the British ones might as well be in Japanese! My record keeping is okay, but Lee still had his work cut out for him to get me ready to file, but he's done it and we're ready!! 

I'm starting to get inquiries for New Year's Eve entertainment, and really, this is the time to start booking if you want the best entertainment possible for your venue or event! Here at Gloria Miller Entertainment we've got some fantastic party bands, solo, duo and tribute acts so contact me today if you are in Hampshire, Dorset, Devon, Somerset, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Surrey, Kent, Sussex or London! Check out some of our Party Bands and get in touch to book your New Year's Eve entertainment!

Glo's Music for the Soul Radio Show aired last week Sunday, and I had a listen to it this morning and got my dance on a few times. This is Vol. 3, the 'Foodies Festival' edition featuring some of the amazing acts I've booked on these events throughout the summer! For those of you who can't make the Foodies events, or live outside the UK, this is a great chance for your to experience what the entertainment at the events is like!

The producers of my show, One World Radio, said that the show rated quite well when it went live on Sunday and I hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed putting this one together. WARNING:  The show is quite eclectic and will make you want to dance ... more than once! Enjoy ...

This week has been amazing for booking some great shows for my acts. And I am thrilled to announce that Supremely, Diana Ross and Move On Up party band will be appearing this summer at the Southsea Show! I performed at this event last year with The Fliks, and I'm thrilled to be returning this year. More details to come ...

Well, that's it for this week ... time to get ready for the first of two Supremely, Diana Ross Tribute Shows that I'm performing this weekend. I need to channel my inner Diva for this!

There she is ... :) Have a fabulous weekend!

Week in Review - 9 May 2014

FranClassic

Foodies Festival Brighton was this past weekend and the combination of great weather, great food and amazing entertainers created a magical three days that I am still recovering from!  We had 18 amazing performers on the Entertainment Stage delighting the crowd with a delicious blend of acoustic, folk, Motown, blues, pop and more! Crowd favourites included Elvis, FranClassic, Jipsy Magic, & Dr. Bluegrass and the Illbilly 8 to name a few!

Dr. Bluegrass

The next Foodies Festival event that I host the entertainment for will be 6-8 June at Clapham Common in London with another fantastic line-up of emerging talent from across the UK. The next installment of 'Glo's Music for the Soul' radio show will feature several of the bands who performed at Brighton. The show will air later this month, but watch this space for a sneak listen!

A special shout out to my sound man Will, and my assistant for the festival, Kayla! They were both amazing during the weekend!!

Later in the year, GME will be exhibiting at the Portsmouth Wedding Show being held on 14 September at The Pyramids in Southsea. On Friday, I had a fantastic meeting with Ric, the organizer of this show and we have agreed that Supremely, Diana Ross will be making an appearance and we've got some fantastic surprises planned for those attending.

I have been added as a last minute judge for the Area Final of Teen Star being held in Fareham on Saturday! I will be judging three age categories, Pre-Teen, Mid-Teen, and Late-Teen with the winner of each category being put through to the Grand Final being held at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham on Saturday, 19th of July! I am so happy to have been asked to be a part of this great competition and I am looking forward to discovering some amazing new talent!!

Week in Review - 2 May 2014

Guess who's playing the 2014 Isle of Wight Festival?? Mayfield!! It's official. Mayfield will be playing the Hipshaker Lounge on the 14th of June hitting the stage at 9pm! We are so happy to be a part of this event along with so many other fantastic performers. Click here to view the full Hipshaker line-up. 

On Tuesday, we put together a preliminary set list and will be debuting a few new songs as well as performing the Mayfield classics that our fans have come to know and love. 

In recent editions I've spoken a little about the goals I've set for GME this year. In January I went to a 'Visioning Day' hosted by Lisa Sturge who encouraged us to put together vision boards for what we wanted to accomplish in the year. This week I've been looking at those boards and of the 7 boards I created representing my 4 goals for the year, I've fully accomplished one, developing my 'I'll be Seeing You' wartime show, and I'm on track to fulfill the other goals too. Having a visual has made a real difference in remaining focused on what I've set out to accomplish this year by minimizing the distractions that can so easily cause me to get side track. 

On Thursday, I was back at the Jolly Sailor judging Southsea's Got Talent, and I have to say, that was by far the hardest heat to judge. It was great sharing the judges table with Andrew Pearce, aka The Fabulous Miss G, Nicole Geddes of Manic Stage Productions and Cheryl Buggy of Express FM, and we were all agonizing over which three of the nine acts would go through. There was an eclectic mix of genres being represented including Opera, Acoustic, Rock, and even Accapella. 

The first Foodies Festival is happening this weekend in Brighton! The entertainment stage will be the place to hangout all day long because the line-up of performers over this three-day event is outstanding. Now I'm just hoping the weather will be on our side. It's forecast to at least be dry, with possibly a few sightings of the sun! Here's hoping!  If you haven't done so already, follow me on twitter @gloriamillerent for festival updates throughout the weekend including pictures and video clips!

Me & Kayla!

This year I'm getting some much needed help from my God-daughter, Kayla who just finished her first year at Richmond University in London. Yesterday was her last day and I picked her up this morning. I'm looking forward to be her surrogate mom until she heads back to the states sometime in June! She's going to be my assistant for the Brighton and Clapham Common events. For the other three, I guess I'm on my own. Any volunteers??

Well, that's all for now! Have an amazing weekend! 

Week In Review - 18 April 2014

Sunshine, Sangria, Spain!  I am on holiday in sunny Spain and loving every minute of it! It has been a slightly working holiday because I am still sorting out the first two of my five forthcoming Foodies events.  The Brighton event was 100% sorted last week, but due to a few last minute issues, it's now about 99% sorted ... LOL!  I'm just waiting on final confirmation from a couple replacement acts.  The Clapham Common event is quickly approaching, 6-8 June, and I am presenting the performer list to the Foodies organizers next week for their approval.  I hope to have both events done by the end of next week, but I think I'm dreaming a bit regarding Clapham!

Volume 2 of 'Glo's Music for the Soul' Radio Show, which airs on One World Radio, was released last weekend and I know I'm risking being thought of as vain when I admit that I've listened to it about 10 times already! The radio show is all about showcasing music that feeds the soul, and I'm really enjoying the song selection. Click here to listen and please let me know what you think. Also, if you have any song suggestions, that would be awesome. Next month's edition of the show will feature 'Foodies Festival' performers. Most of the acts I've booked on these events perform original music, and I'm looking forward to sharing their amazing music with you!  

I'm happy to announce that I'm working with a new venue in Southsea, 69 Wine Bar & Bistro and have booked the fabulous Marlene Hill to perform two R&B and Disco infused sets of music on Easter Sunday from 7:30pm! Marlene is the first act GME has booked into this venue, and I know she will set the bar high! If you're looking for something to do on Easter, join Marlene at 69 Wine Bar & Bistro and get your dance on!!

I mentioned last week that I'll be debuting my 'I'll Be Seeing You' wartime music show on Easter Sunday at an event at the Hayling Island Sailing Club. I've had a couple run-throughs of the show while on holiday, and it has come together quite nicely! The only potential problem is fitting into the cute little military number I purchased to wear for the event! Pitchers of sangria and pans full of paella seem like a good idea when you're indulging, but not so great when you're bulging!!  I barely fit into the outfit before I left for Spain, so I'm glad I sorted out a 'back-up' outfit just in case!  Here's hoping ...

That's it for this week ... have a fabulous weekend and ...

Week In Review - 11 April 2014

For as long as I can remember, I have always been quite goal oriented and this year I set four goals for GME. One of those goals was to develop two new shows ... 'I'll Be Seeing You,' a wartime show and 'Totally Tina Turner,' a tribute show to the rock & roll legend.  On Easter Sunday, I'll be debuting I'll Be Seeing You at the Hayling Island Sailing Club, and on the 4th of July, I'll be performing Totally Tina Turner alongside Supremely, Diana Ross at The Exchange in Bournemouth!

Andrew Sisters

So, this week has been all about fine tuning the wartime show and I have sooooooo enjoyed researching the songs from WWI & WWII and I'm finding that I love the purity of the vocals on these songs. The Andrews Sisters' musicianship is beyond words with their intricate harmonies and pitch perfect vocals on such delights as 'Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy' and 'Chattanooga Choo Choo'! Vera Lynn seems to have captured the hearts of the entire country with her heartfelt vocals on 'Bless 'Em All' and 'We'll Meet Again' among many other WWII favourites.

The real fun was in finding WWI songs like 'Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag' and 'It's A Long Way to Tipperary'!  I've included a few of the videos I used for research in choosing the set list for 'I'll Be Seeing You' in this week's newsletter. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

On Tuesday, I had a meeting with Martin Bargent, the Director of Brown Sugar Events to discuss working together on future projects. Their next event is 'The All Woman Show' being held on the 22nd of June at the Mountbatten Leisure Centre in Portsmouth. Having met Martin at the launch of the Portsmouth Venus Awards reinforces how important networking is in business. 

Next week I am having a mini-holiday with Neal at our place in Spain, but I will have to do some work finalizing the entertainment for Foodies Festival, Clapham Common. I've still got a few slots to fill for Clapham and I'm looking for solo performers, duos and bands who perform folk, soul, pop and/or Jazz. Please contact me if you're interested in performing for any of the Foodies events.

Neal & Me

Click here to view final running order for the Brighton event being held on 3, 4, & 6th of May. The Clapham Common event is the 6, 7, & 8th of June. 

That's it for this week. Have a fantastic weekend!

Week In Review - 14 March 2014

Not much to report this week because I've only had a two-day work week! I spent Monday through Thursday on a little getaway to Spain with my god-daughter Kayla and my friends Marlene & Cate. We had a lovely few days in Murcia, mostly drinking sangria, eating and laughing! A fab way to unwind and regroup before heading into my very hectic time of year ... Spring & Summer!

Friday was spent finalizing bookings for the upcoming five Foodies Event for which GME is managing the entertainment stage. My immediate attention is on filling all the slots for the Brighton event on 3-5 May! Here's a sneak preview of some of the fantastic performers I've already got lined up:

Tiger Lilly
Kyle Parry
Half Crown

Watch this space for more performer announcements. If you would like tickets for any of the forthcoming events, visit the Foodies Festival website!

Friday night I performed a short 'Supremely, Diana Ross' set at a charity event for Jack's Wishes at the Hilton in Portsmouth. It was great to invest my time for such a worthy cause.  Click here to learn more about this event. A special shout out to Stuart Ives of 'Entertainment Scene' for booking me and all the other fantastic performers on this event!

Next week Thursday, 'Mayfield' will be making our first appearance at The Wine Vaults and we've got some fantastic new music to share with our fans. If you are in the Southsea/Portsmouth area next week we would love to see you at The Vaults!

I don't normally do office work on a Saturday, but today I am playing catch up which is always the down side from having a few days off :)!  The sun is shining in the UK for a change so I think I'll work in the conservatory today. But first, I've got to work off some of that sangria and yummy food so I'm hitting the gym. Then tonight I'm off to Mike Preswell's Portsmouth Soul Club at Moneyfields in Portsmouth!

A special happy birthday to the love of my life, my hubby Neal!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Foodies Festivals 2014

Gloria Miller Entertainment is pleased to announce that we will be organizing the entertainment for several Foodies Festival events for the 2nd year running. We are thrilled to be working with Media Company Publications again to bring together some of the best entertainers from across the UK to perform on the Foodies Entertainment Stage. 

Here are the events GME will be organizing:

Brighton Hove Lawns - 3, 4, 5 May

Marble Hill London - 24, 25, 26 May

Kenwood House London - 30, 31 May, 1 June

Clapham Common - 6, 7, 8 June

Bristol Harbourside - 11, 12, 13 July

Battersea Park London - 15, 16, 17 August

Oxford South Parks - 23, 24, 25 August

 

As you can see from this video, last year's Brighton event was a smashing success. The weather was gorgeous, the food delicious and the music was fabulous. Fingers crossed that we'll have good weather again this year! Click here to check out some pics of last year's performers at Foodies Brighton.

We are looking for cover and original artists who perform reggae, folk, jazz, blues, acoustic, swing and pop genres to book for these events.  If you are a solo performer up to 6-piece band and would like to perform at one of these festivals, please email me at gloria@gloriamillermusic.com and I will send you all of the details of participation.

To find out more about the 2014 Foodies events, please visit their website.