Hello Blogladytes,

I had a very exciting night last weekend. I was asked to be on the judging panel at The Door’s Undiscovered Youth Talent Contest in Stroud. It was a real honour and very humbling as my expectations were exceeded ten-fold. Here is the review I wrote for After Dark Magazine:

“Stroud’s got talent! This was proved beyond any reasonable doubt at the Door Project’s Undiscovered Youth Talent contest. Twenty six young people aged eleven to twenty took part in the ninth annual competition having been whittled down from over sixty applicants. There were singers, dancers, bands and even a ventriloquist (Kieran Powell who won audience favourite).

Talent contests traditionally conjure up images of bad karaoke or knobbly knee contests, for meanyway. This was definitely not the case tonight; in fact I was blown away by the incredibly high standard of performance.

Thirteen  year old Ellie Higgs(winner of best original composition-pictured left) truly stood out as a singer and songwriter with individual character and  enormous potential .She’s  already nailed the elusive skill of being able write and perform with an emotional honesty that almost moved me to tears!(I said almost I’m not Cheryl Cole.)There was a wealth of talented female vocalists and a few really good bands particularly indie-rockers The Envy(pictured right) who won Best Band, and Inkerman Street who performed a rousing cover of a  BB King song (all aged between fifteen and eighteen).

The ‘Best in Show’ award went  to eleven year old Penny May who also won the best vocalist aged 11-14 category .By this point I’d clapped so much my hands were seriously chafed and some of the audience had taken to stamping their feet in appreciation instead.  Mary Jess Leaverland, a winner from two years previous, returned to do the honours of presenting the many deserved prizes. Having just won The Chinese X-factor, she’s flying the flag high for Gloucestershire as a hothouse of international talent breeding. Some of the contestants from tonight will undoubtedly go on to bigger and better things. I left the event feeling inspired, enthused and very grateful to live in such an exciting, creative part of the world .Who needs the X-factor when you’ve got the Stroud-factor?”

I also managed to get some quick interviews (at the end of a long night) with Inkerman Street and The Envy, which I’ll be playing on my new radio show on Monday.

My new radio show is on Tone Radio on a Monday morning from 10.30-12 noon and I’ve decided to call it Milly’s Marvellous Monday Morning Music Mix! M.M.M.M.M.M for short. The main premise of the show is me playing loads of music- electro, punk, funk, indie, rock, dance, rave,  new wave, no wave, Chas and Dave, actually no Chas and Dave but a real mix of styles none the less. And what better way to start the week than with a positive smorgasbord of underground, independent and alternative music? Here’s a taster of tracks I’ve got lined up to play tomorrow morning:

Camera Obscura: French Navy (My Maudlin Career)

Joy Orbison: Hyph Mngo

Delphic: Doubt

Hot Chip: One Life Stand

These New Puritans: We Want War

Teenagers in Tokyo: Talk To The Fire

Chew Lips: Salt Air

PiL: This is Not a Love Song

The XX: Crystallised

Yeasayer: O.N.E

Sky Larkin: Smarts

Future Sound of London: Papua New Guinea

And loads more. . .

I’m also presenting drive time on StroudFM on Thursday between 5pm and &7pm. So it’s a busy week ahead.

Have a good one,

Moo xxx