LEE MEAD and SKEGNESS!!!

Lee Mead and Skegness, not words I'd normally put together.

Lee Mead conjures up visions of a smooth seductive, sexy voice that gives me the shivers on many occasions; a mass of dark curly hair, a body....perhaps I'll keep the rest of those thoughts to myself!

Back to less titillating matters. Skegness. I always thought of it as a Victorian seaside resort, the faded grandeur of a few sea-front hotels, a north sea battered coastline, a rickety pier, fish and chips and sticky pink and white rock. How wrong I turned out to be.

After a pleasant long weekend in Lincolnshire, my friend, her husband and mine travelled to Skegness, arriving in time to grab a drink before the show started at 7.30. For one night only Lee Mead the winner of Any Dream Will Do. The men had planned to find a nice hotel bar, hunker down there and wait for us to finish out Lee fix. They were dressed respectably, as only husbands can on occasions, but one look at the brash resort, filled with bulky men covered in tattoos, wearing shorts and garish 'T' shirts and they were hotfooting it into the theatre to purchase tickets. (Apologies here to anyone who lives in Skegness, and thinks it an utterly delightful resort! It just isn't my cup of tea.)

Of course they were sat way at the back while we were savoring, and somewhat salivating over a central position three rows from the front. I was surprised at how many people there were. I'd been to two previous concerts, the packed Southend, and the almost as packed Basingstoke but Skegness seemed quite a different entity to me, with a theatre catering mostly to the folks who holidayed in the town. Although taking a look around the auditorium I'd guess a fair number of people were locals and not holidaymakers at all.

There was already an air of anticipation and, as the band started playing the intro to Paint It Black, the excitement built. Then Lee bounded onto the stage dressed all in black and belted out the Stones classic - a version more akin to his hot, dark 'Any Dream Will Do' performance, than the violin laden arrangement on his first album. This was closely followed by Gonna Make You a Star (so much better than David Essex's version) and Nothing Else Matters, the title track from his second album. From then on the audience were in the zone and captivate by this gorgeous young man.

He spoke of many things in his life and his career, between numbers, chatting without a script, which is refreshing and makes each concert a new and exciting experience. This time he included a cute remark about how hot he was, and he hoped he wasn't sweating too much. Bless him, he glanced under his arms, then clamped them to his side making the audience laugh. This is a such a different Lee from the shy young man who appeared on 'Any Dream Will Do', and did do one or two quite awkward interviews during his initial tenure as Joseph. Lee has blossomed and grown over the last few years, and his voice as well as his confidence just gets better and better.

My favourite songs have to be the Musical Theatre numbers, 'Anthem' (Love him to record this), 'Jesus Christ Superstar' (brilliant he should play Judas) and of course the crowning epitome of 'Close Ever Door'. You just have to hear him sing this live to appreciate how special he is; he acts the song, you can feel the angst as he sings it and at the end his stunning voice just soars, sending shivers up your spine.

Added to this were songs from his albums, including my two special favourites, ' When I need you the Most', written by Gary Barlow and Lee's dad's favourite number 'Through The Barricades.' He also included in this eclectic mix, some standards. First a song I never expected him to sing 'Kiss'! This guy knows just how appealing to women he is, and he plays on this; his sexy dance moves making the audience scream. 'Beyond the Sea', the old Bobby Darin classic, displayed the smoothness to his voice, like rich dark chocolate- a treat we all crave but only indulge in on occasions. He then dedicated a song to his wife Denise and new daughter Betsy - the melodic favourite, 'When You say Nothing at All.' So sweet and moving.

I should add at this point that Niamh Perry, one of the girls from the Nancy show, who is now appearing in 'Love Never Dies', performed a small number of songs and dueted with Lee singing 'When the Stars Go Blue.'

When Lee mentioned the show 'Any Dream Will Do', he asked very innocently if anyone had watched it. DOH! But his words got a laugh and when he sang 'Any Dream Will Do' he didn't need the children's choir, let alone a backing track, the audience sang the accompaniment perfectly!

All too soon the show was at an end, but we were given one last song, one we recognised from the show - 'Daydream Believer', which had the audience standing and joining in as well. All in all a great night, with still more concerts to come.

My friend's husband, who wasn't a particular fan said at the end "Boy can that young man sing". I think that sums Lee up very nicely.

credit for photo- Lee Mead Music

Awesome Cover

The darkness in his soul could claim her love...or her life.

This is the awesome cover for my new book Savage Kingdom to be published by Samhain on 25th August. I have never had any input as far as my covers were concerned before, so to be asked exactly what I wanted was wonderful and then the fabulous Kanaxa came up with this wonderful cover picture!

Loving you all guys, and my editor Linda most of all.

Lee Mead

It's some time since I've written anything about the delicious Mr Mead but he's never far from my heart! Last year we had many Mead free months after Joseph finished. Lee was busy getting engaged, getting married and making a baby in between fitting in 3 months in The Big Apple to study acting at the Lee Strasburg Institute. Can't complain, as before this I did manage to fit in a fair few trips to Joseph- a musical I adore. I always used to come out from that show on a real high, even disregarding the fact I had to endure the sight of Lee in a loincloth for 2 hours, plus for a short time seeing him in chains for some of the time as well ladies!
Winter came, and close to Christmas I made a trip to Lincoln cathedral for a charity concert. Hearing Lee's beautiful voice soaring through a medieval cathedral was something else, warming my heart, despite the fact my feet were near frozen to the stone floor. Then this year Lee Mead amazed the critic by not returning to the West End but by starring in his first play instead - Lord Arthur Saville's Crimes, based on a story by Oscar Wilde. Lee played the sweet, slightly naive Lord Arthur who is led to believe that in order to marry his sweetheart Sybil he must commit a murder. Lee rose to the occasion magnificently, posh accent and all, with so much dialogue I couldn't believe he was even able to remember it all, proving that not only can he sing, he can act as well.
Then, after he'd finished the play during a busy nine days Lee became a dad, and did all the rehearsals both for both his upcoming concert tour and his part of Prince Fiyero in Wicked. How he managed it all at the same time, I'll never know.
I first saw Wicked only 7 days after he'd started the show. To be honest I'd never fancied seeing it before because I never liked the Wizard of OZ, but Wicked is far removed from the story of Dorothy and Toto. It is the story of the two witches Elphaba, supposedly the bad witch and Glinda, supposedly the good witch, and their love for Fiyero. I loved the show from start to finish, and the amazing performances by Rachael Tucker(A contestant in the Andrew Lloyd Webber Nancy show) and Louis Dearman, as well as lovely Lee of course. Lee first appears dressed in incredibly tight white breeches, with no VPL that shows off the rear of the year to perfection, and long boots. I'm a sucker for a man in boots and breeches!
He sings 'Dancing Through Life' and performs an athletic, somewhat balletic dance, as he springs around the stage. I never knew Lee could dance like that - is there anything this guy cannot do? Fiyero's part is big enough but not as large as the two girls but he makes a very believable prince and he looks so damn handsome you can well understand why they both fall in love with him. His romantic duet with Rachael is perfection- you could well believe he's in love with her, and when he swings heroically across the stage on a rope, rifle in hand, the audiences' roar of approval is understandable. All in all an amazing show I would thoroughly recommend. Wicked has a cult following and I do hope it brings a younger audience to appreciate the perfect talents of Lee Mead.
In May Lee also opened his concert tour in Southend his home town in front of a rapturous audience, singing songs from his album, some standards that I love and a few musical theatre songs. He bounded onto the stage to sing 'Paint it Black' and from that moment on I was undone. I wasn't so sure he'd handle all the chat between songs but he rose to the occasion magnificently and held the audience in the palm of his hand. Talking about himself, parts of his life, his wife and his baby daughter Betsy. Then there was his singing - his rendition of 'Kiss' not only sounded brilliant but his sexy dancing turned every woman in the theatre on. That guy sure knows how to work an audience. 'Close Every Door' was as ever magnificent (no one sings that song better than Lee) . 'Anthem' was hauntingly beautiful and then we had a song he sang with Keith on 'Any Dream Will Do'. I've always wanted to her him sing 'Jesus Christ Superstar' on his own, and that was worth the cost of the ticket alone. 'Beyond the Sea', better than Bobby Darin and 'When You say Nothing At All', dedicated to his wife, was awesome in contrast to Ronan's rendition of the song. Lee puts his own stamp on every song he sings. A standing ovation at the end was to be expected and even though he had to return to London to star in Wicked the very next day, he still took to time to talk to and sign autographs for the hordes and hordes of people waiting at the stage door.
I was lucky enough to catch his concert again when he appeared in Basingstoke and this time it was even better. Long may he continue to tour....please

New Beginnings Old Friends

Just finished a heap of edits for Savage Kingdom. I really love revisiting the fantasy world I created. I've never written about the two main characters Nerya and Jaden before, but if you've read my previous books Savage Surrender and Wild Kingdom then you will recognize Rianna and her handsome husband Tarn of Kabra. Also Sarin, once Tarn's greatest enemy reappears. In fact a number of characters from my other two books crop up in places.
This will not be Jaden's and Nerya's only outing together. If all goes well their tale will continue in Dark Kingdom.
Speaking of continuing stories I also hope to revisit the characters from Barbarian Prize at some time in the future.
Keep watching for further news.

Deanna

Ad in Variety today Legend of the Seeker

There is a full page ad in today's Variety asking for a new network or TV station to think of airing Season Three of Legend of the Seeker. For whatever reason, money or otherwise, ABC/Disney have so far failed to find US stations to air the show in the fall...autumn to my UK readers! As I've said before this show is epic, exciting and sexy. The chances are it won't get renewed unless it gets more viewers and more publicity. I can only emphasize, the male lead Craig Horner, who plays Richard Cypher, the Seeker, is seriously cute, has a great body
and I have no wish for him to disappear from my TV screen. Not only that he'd a great actor.....so how can you resist him? What we need to do is raise the profile of Legend of the Seeker in the US and get more people to watch the show.

Link to save the seeker as on my previous posts about the show.

Don't disappoint me folks, how can I keep writing without having Craig to look at to give me inspiration?

Deanna

Save Legend of the Seeker

As I have mentioned before my favourite programme of all time has to be Legend of the Seeker, now it looks very likely the show may be cancelled. It is a long complicated story that I won't bore you with, but if you haven't seen the show, please make an effort to do so. It airs on SyFy in the UK and on various TV stations in the States and about 100 countries around the world. There has been nothing like it on TV before and the two gorgeous leads are buff, handsome Craig Horner and the beautiful, elegant Bridget Regan.
It is filmed in the beautiful countryside of New Zealand, with may of the same stunties, crew and locations as Lord of the Rings. The music has already won an Emmy and the story is epic... there is a hero on a quest, great swordfights, magic and mystery and one of the greatest love stories ever to appear in fantasy, with amazing chemistry between the two lead actors. In fact I could go on and on about it forever. You can catch many glimpses of it on U Tube and if you are in the USA you can watch it on HULA.
You just have to see the Mord Sith, sexy women clad in red leather who torture and kill for the evil villain Darken Rhal. Talk about S & M! The hero almost gets tortured to death in the First series episode, Denna, but the Mord Sith, Denna is so sexy you've got to admire her and it is clear that she fancies her captive. I love the hero, Richard in that episode even more, Craig Horner's acting is just wonderful.
The series is based on the best selling Sword of Truth Books by Terry Goodkind, and produced by ABC/Disney.
I have enjoyed shows before and been disappointed when they were cancelled but I have never actively fought for a show before, but I am fighting for this one to continue.
Deanna

Go to http://legendoftheseeker.org/ to see how you can help save the show

Viva Las Vegas

Just got back from Las Vegas. Stopped off there for five days on my way home from Hawaii. Everyone told me it was big, but I never expected it to be that massive! My hotel was the Bellagio and it took ages just to walk from reception to the lifts/elevators up to the room. The hotel was way bigger than Terminal 5 at Heathrow - and that is megga big guys. Haven't walked so much for ages, just to get from hotel to hotel.
The white lions and tigers at the Mirage were beautiful creatures...the Forum shopping at Caesars Palace- amazing. Five days isn't really enough to see even half of the place, but we managed Freemont Street as well - which has to be seen to be believed, and then there was the helicopter!!!!!
As it took off I realized what an insane idea it had been to fly by helicopter to the Grand Canyon, especially on such a windy day, but at least the pilot was tall, blond and reasonably good looking . I was forced to sit next to him, so it was easier at times to keep an eye on him...just to make sure he looked at ease as the helicopter bumped its way over the Nevada desert. We landed "MASH" style on the rocky shore of the Colorado river, deep within the canyon and I immediately downed two glasses of champagne, just to settle my nerves of course.
Now I'm home and it is back to work on my edits for Savage Kingdom and my new book set in ancient Rome.
Deanna