Week In Review: 9-15 February 2015

This week was quite busy with a variety of inquiries ranging from charity events to tribute shows, many of which have turned into bookings! Check out our Facebook page to see a listing of upcoming public shows.

Monday the 9th was just another day in the office tackling my never-ending to-do list. On Tuesday, I attended the Business & Enterprise meeting at The Purple Door in Portsmouth. B&E is a work stream of Shaping Portsmouth, and we outlined our overall mission for 2015 as well as set up subgroups to manage the various programs we are undertaking this year. I volunteered to work on the Business Support Bank project which is a structured program where business mentors volunteer their time and start up companies and existing businesses are able to connect with a mentor.

On Wednesday, I was off to rehearsal with Mayfield as we prepare for some upcoming shows, including our first show of the year at March of the Mods in Reading on the 15th of March! This promises to be a great show with some amazing bands in the lineup. Tickets are still available, so click here for more information!

On Friday, I headed up to Leeds for a gig with The Midnight Soul Sisters. Diana Ross made an appearance along with Beyonce & Tina Turner. This event was for our band leader's mum, Veronica, who was celebrating her 60th birthday. There were tears, singing, dancing and lots of delicious food throughout evening. I stayed overnight after the party in a very posh 4-star hotel. I had to pry myself out of the bed on Saturday morning before heading back to Portsmouth to get ready for my Simply, Tina Turner show on Valentine's Night! We had an absolute blast at Cosham Conservative Social Club. We started the show shaking our tail feathers to Tina Turner, and ended my part of the entertainment with my Disco Diva's set!

This was my second time performing at this venue, and they definitely know how to have a good time. My favorite part this time was when I finished my last encore and the DJ played Thank You for the Music. The guests all surrounded me and started singing this song to me ... I thought, what a lovely Valentine to have all that love and appreciation directed at me.

Speaking of Valentine, my lovely husband surprised me with a dozen red roses. He had two days of travel starting on Friday to get home from Argentina so I was not expecting anything. As I was getting out of the taxi on my way home from Leeds I noticed a box on the front step. My first thought was that my husband had bought yet another magic trick (he's a comedy magician), but much to my delight the box was for me!

Sunday was truly a day of rest and recovery from a very busy weekend. I caught up on my favorite TV shows and had a bit of Chinese takeaway for dinner. All in all, I had a fantastic week indeed!

Please take a moment to like my Supremely, Diana Ross facebook page. And remember to contact Gloria Miller Entertainment if you are looking for star-quality entertainment for your wedding, venue, festival or next event!

That's it for this edition. Have a great week!

Gloria.

Week In Review - 12 December 2014

Random Santas at Waterloo Station

The end of this week was so busy that I'm just getting around to writing this update and it's Monday the 15th! My week started with a cancellation for a solo gig I had booked for Friday, and I didn't have a booking for Saturday so I was quite happy to have a weekend off, especially during this very busy Holiday season. However, by Tuesday I had picked up two last minute bookings! We'll get to that in a minute ...

Besides the cancellation, Monday was just another day in the office doing the mundane office tasks that have to be done. Tuesday was more of the same, in addition to finalizing the two last minute bookings. Tuesday night I attended the Shaping Portsmouth Business & Enterprise meeting at the Innovation Centre in Portsmouth where we recapped the events of 2014 and started looking ahead to 2015.

I am new to this organization and my first few months on this work stream have been a great way to know what's happening in my adopted city, Portsmouth, and to be a vital part of supporting businesses in the area. Admittedly, my presence has been like a fly on the wall, soaking in the information and learning the ropes, but next year I intend to jump in with both feet wherever I can be of service. Watch this space to stay updated on Shaping Portsmouth activities.

On Wednesday, I spent part of the day preparing for the terrestrial version of my radio show, Glo's Music for the Soul, that will be airing weekly on ExpressFM starting in January. I currently do a monthly on-line version of the show for One World Radio.  In the afternoon on Wednesday I headed to the station to learn how to use the equipment and to record the first segment of the show. I was so nervous and had a very restless Tuesday night thinking about what the recording process would be like and how complicated the equipment might be to use. My worries were not totally unfounded, because when I walked into the studio, I was quite intimidated with the microphones, the unending rows of buttons and flashing lights thinking there is no way I'm going to be able to get through this. But, within 15 minutes, Station Manager, Rob James had walked me through the very few buttons I needed to be concerned with, including those on the two CD decks for playing music and the very large mixing board, then I was left on my own to do a few test recordings.

Move On Up Party Band

I recorded three takes of the first segment of the show, would have been four, but I forgot to hit record on one take ... LOL. The process was very straight forward and doable even with my limited knowledge of how it all really works. So next week, Thursday I go in to record the first show. I will let you know when the show will air!

If you are a performer with original music, please get in touch to be included in my 'Unsigned, But Should Be' segment where I will showcase emerging talent. If you want your songs considered, email me an MP3 or a link to where I can download your music. I'll also be interviewing emerging talent during future shows so do get in touch if you would like to be considered. gloria@gloriamillermusic.com.

Athena Network Luncheon

Thursday, began my four-gig weekend starting with an afternoon Christmas luncheon at Languish House in Petersfield for The Athena Network where I performed a short set of Christmas and other classics and the ladies even joined me for a bit of an afternoon boogie! Thursday night, I was with my party band, Move On Up at The Wine Vaults in Southsea. We absolutely love playing this venue and the crowd were well up for a wild night, and that's exactly what we had! We look forward to playing this venue again in the New Year!

Friday, I was up to Doncaster at The Earl of Doncaster with The Midnight Soul Sisters (MSS), for a night of Motown/Soul! This was the first of my last minute bookings and we were well received by the guests and the staff of this lovely, art-deco venue. Finally, on Saturday I took what was left of my voice to The Hotel Celebrity in Bournemouth for a Christmas fundraising event where I performed a set of Jazz & Blues with a few Holiday favs sprinkled here and there, finishing up with my 'Disco Divas' set of fun party classics.

I was rewarded on Sunday with a lazy afternoon spent with family on the Isle of Wight where we had a lovely, four-hour meal with mulled wine and American-sized food portions ... LOL! I am still full from that meal.

I also had two fantastic GME acts out this weekend ... Ubermeister at The Plough & Barleycorn in Waterlooville, and Peach & The New Beats Duo at The Piranha Bar on Hayling, both on Saturday night!

Well, that's it for now ... I do hope you had a fabulous weekend and I'll speak to you next week!

Week In Review - 14 November 2014

My week started with a bang with a Supremely, Diana Ross Tribute Show at the Woodmancote in West Sussex. The venue had a very unique layout requiring me to roam around to three different rooms. Thankfully, I was able to plug my sound system into theirs which played my backing music in each room. What was so interesting was that each room seemed to have its own personality. Admittedly, it was exhausting roaming from room to room but also invigorating because of the unique energy in each room. By the middle of the second set I got trapped in one room because people started filtering in from the other rooms. Then it turned into a right party with everybody singing and dancing along to their favourite Diana Ross tunes and more. I ran out of Diana Ross tunes for encores, so I then performed Tina Turner, Gloria Jones and Pharrell all while dressed as Diana Ross ... that was fun!

On Tuesday, I attending a meeting with the Business & Enterprise workstream of Shaping Portsmouth where we discussed some fantastic upcoming events including the Shaping Portsmouth Conference being held on 17 November being held at The Pyramids in Southsea. This event kicks off Globel Entrepreneur's Week where Entrepreneurs Unite will be offering a host of workshops and discussions.

Also on Tuesday I had a songwriting session with Dominic Elton band leader of Mayfield working on music for our forthcoming second release ... Keep On! We walked away from the session with two new songs, one with a Gospel feel reminicent of Edwin Hawkings, Oh Happy Day and the other a soulful dance tune complete with a bit of choreography! Can't wait see how these two develop.

Wednesday was back-to-back appointments starting with a meeting at the Central Library with Elizabeth Caush, Business Support Officer with Portsmouth City Council to learn about the support being offered by the council to small businesses. Elizabeth is a great resource and sign posted me to funding sources, gave me access to some marketing tools, as well as set up a free 40-minute consultation with a Intellectual Property attorney to discuss copyrights and publishing.

Then I was off to meet Sue & Helen at Creative Click marketing company to discuss them handling my social media.  After a very exciting discussion with them, I am happy to announce that they will be building a new website for GME, branding my Facebook & Twitter pages and running the social media through these sites and sending email campaigns. Watch this space for the unveiling of the new website.

Lastly, I attended a workshop at the Innovation Space in Portsmouth sponsored by Entrepreneur's Unite on Branding. Lizz Clark of LCM and her associated gave the attendees valuable information on branding our businesses and this couldn't have come at a better time seeing how I'm in the process of reinforcing the GME brand with Creative Click.

Midnight Soul Sisters (Selfie)

Today I'm prepping for gigs performing my Diana Ross Tribute Show with Move On Up at the Jolly Sailor tonight from 9pm. Then Saturday it's up to Newcastle with the Midnight Soul Sisters performing our Motown Divas show.

Marlene Hill

And finally, this month's Artist of the Month, Marlene Hill will be entertaining at the Oxford Venus Awards. Marlene was the perfect choice to support this great organization that honours women in business!

Well, that's it for this week. Have a fabulous weekend.