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My First Kylie Concert - or The Unofficial London Gay Pride Event

22/6/2015

6 Comments

 
I went to my first Kylie concert yesterday. This fact is as surprising to me as it probably is to you.

Why hadn't I gone before? There are two main reasons.

1) I don't like big crowds.

2) I really dislike the whole 'festival' concept – queuing for toilets for hours, crowds – see above, being soaked by rain, covered in mud, losing your friends, etc.

I'd heard lots of great things about Kylie concerts. I'd seen a few when they came round to being televised. I even watched one of her tour DVDs when we were in Australia on Kangaroo Island. When in Rome, we reasoned…And I'd been told Kylie 'put on a good show' so it's so much more than just hearing the songs you've heard so many times, only live. A friend went, with his boyfriend – he was gay, is that a surprise - to the O2 to see in the New Year at a Kylie concert. All I heard from January to March of the new year was how amazing it was and how much me and my BF had missed out.

So basically, this is my long-winded way of saying I decided we'd make it happen.

A bit of research revealed Kylie had two remaining tour dates left in the UK: Hyde Park, London and Newmarket race course, Suffolk. Since it's much closer we went for Hyde Park, London.

Kylie wasn't 'on' until 20.30 but we arrived at 13.00, meeting friends, eating, getting our bearings of the enormous site in Hyde Park. It had, at last count, 4 stages.

The sun shining, having eaten some nachos and put on sun cream, I commented how I thought I'd be find with the crowd since it wasn't too busy.

My friend pointed out it was early yet, and it was going to get much much busier.

My previous calm was replaced with a small inner feeling of panic in the pit of my stomach. But I resolved to not let this show and to go with the flow and enjoy it all. I told myself if it all became too much I could retreat to the back of the park by the barriers and still hear Kylie.

We saw:

Years & Years – new to me, a young bleached blond guy sang to electo music, while wearing an Umbro top and then a loose vest top. They showed Kylie dancing back stage to their music, which was great in its randomness and informality. <3 it.

Chic and Nile Rodgers – We Are Family, Good Times, Everybody Dance. Perfect feel-good disco music. Nile Rodgers said he'd been cancer-free for 4 ½ years and the crowd cheered.

Grace Jones – wore a corset, covering her stomach and bottom half, her bare breasts exposed and covered, along with her body, with African tribal paints. She changed head dress / outfit for every song. I think it's fair to say she was bat sh*t crazy. Pull Up To The Bumper, Slave To The Rhythm – while hula hooping obs.

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Grace Jones.
People can be very dismissive of pop music, especially stuff like Kylie sings. I fail to understand why something isn't as 'significant' or 'important' if it's not got lyrics about self-harming or generally being sad, or includes a long guitar solo. My argument is pop music is significant because it is popular. By virtue of it being that popular it gives people a shared reference point, a place to share joy together, linked by the simple lyrics of a happy uplifting song. That's just as important as other more supposedly 'important' or 'worthy' music. Trust me, I once took on a room of music students at a party who were arguing that any pop music was by its very nature derivative and that the only music really significant was classical music. I hit them with my media studies arguments about Abba and didn't stop until they were all defeated. But any more of that's not for here. I believe there may be a scene to that effect in one of my Best Friends Perfect books.

Kylie. I don't know why gay men like Kylie so much, but I'm going to have a go at working it out ;-) The songs were each about 3 mins long, so you had time to get into each one, have a good dance, before getting bored and wishing it gone, and soon another song came along. She sang, properly sang. No lip syncing for Kylie. It was definitely live as it was slightly different from the album versions, she put her own little spin on it, she was Spinning Around…

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Crown, ermine, Kylie. That is all.
, SShe appeared on a sofa of red Mae West style lips, wearing a crown and fake ermine cape. Pop Princess, can you see what they did there? Thigh high red glittery boots and red glittering mini-dress. I don't need to explain that one do I?

There was a troop of very buff, very talented, very brightly coloured mainly male dancers accompanying her. There were female dancers and backing singers, but front and centre stage were the male dancers. Kylie knows her audience.

She performed a great mix of old and new songs, some from her latest Kiss Me Once album, some going as far back as The Locomotion. She sang, Better The Devil You Know, Wow, Can't Get You Out Of My Head, Slow among others. It was a broad spread. She sang Bette Davis Eyes too; as you can imagine, with that crowd, it went down well. If you want a very gay Kylie music video, check out Slow. Just saying...

She was carried off the stage and walked in a fenced off wedge of space between the two closest audience sections at the front. At one point Kylie was really only 4 yards from little old me.

The audience was 65% gay men, but what struck me was the variety of different gay men there. I was expecting them to be all a bit swishy, a bit sparkly, a bit, well like me, and how I'd imagined a typical Kylie fan would be. Oh no. There were bushy bearded base ball capped, vest and baggy shorts wearing gays – sharing a smile and a nod with me as we danced. There were shaved headed, smooth faced middle aged gays in Kylie T shirts and jeans. There were big-muscled bulging tight vest wearing gays. There were smart-shirted, brogue-wearing, smart-jeans wearing trimmed bearded, looked like they worked in an office, gays. And there were large groups of gay men in all variations in between, polo shirts, glittery T shirts, leather jackets, sportswear, anything and everything. There were loads of couples, holding hands, kissing, dancing together; it felt like a gay pride festival, which was great as we're not doing London pride this year.

So my 'stereotypical Kylie fan' did not exist. Which I was pleased about. It was wonderful how all the different types of gays were there together, with plenty of room to dance together. There was no attitude between anyone, just a shared love of Kylie and her music. It was beautiful.

But the best bit was how wonderfully happy, friendly and inclusive everyone was. When the enormous glittery disco balls were lowered from the top of the stage to the middle and while Kylie sang about The Locomotion as pictures of buff men and red disembodied lips flashed on the screens behind her, a woman dancing next to me said, 'It's so gay isn't it?' She shook her head.

I replied, 'I wonder why the gays love her so much!' I shrugged.

She put her hand on my shoulder, clearly anxious to clarify she wasn't being dismissive of Kylie, gays or anything really, and said, 'I love Kylie. Love the gayness, love the songs. Everything.' And then she returned to dancing, with a smile, next to me.

Picture
Glittery short dress, glittering long boots.
I compared close up pictures on my phone with a guy from a group of 5 guys dancing behind us. His picture was better but he conceded mine wasn't bad, and to have been that close to her, was pretty amazeballs.

And it so was.

I got caught up with a jumping dancing row of people during the chorus of Get Outta My Way became too much to resist.

Among the singing there were some moments of magic: the audience sang the theme tune to Neighbours to Kylie, she joined in and laughed; she asked us to do a Mexican wave 'the wave' for Americans out there – from the front to the back of the park; she introduced some of the dancers to us; she was carried right into the audience, then walked back to the stage surrounded by a sea of hands and smart phones.

Throughout I said to the BF I wondered if she'd do one of my favourites, All The Lovers from her best recent album, Aphrodite. I'd seen her close a concert at the O2 with an amazing performance of this song, about love equality, a screen of stars and male, female signs intertwined. At 21.50 she said she was going to close with a song to thank all of us who were here, sharing our love, and the intro bars to All The Lovers started.

Picture
Dancers, video on back screen. Kylie in little sparkly dress.
Oh.

My.

Goodness.

I nearly exploded.

A screen of stars and moons. The globe of the world. Male and female signs intertwined. She had it all going on.

Is there any better feeling, without artificial enhancement, than singing to a favourite song with 50,000 other people who know the lyrics too? I don't think so. At the chorus I was dancing like nobody was watching.

My first Kylie concert was everything I'd hoped, and so much more. It also gave me some ideas for my next gay romance story. But more of that's definitely not for here. You'll have to wait. I'm going to crack open the post it notes and do some plotting for it today.

Liam Livings xx



Picture
I *think* this is Kylie's new logo. It's certainly the way it's written on the T shirt I bought. You could taste the excitement and anticipation in the air when this came on stage before Kylie appeared. Wonderful.
6 Comments

The Guardian Angel - cover reveal mm romance story

20/6/2015

4 Comments

 
Picture
Isn't it pretty?
This is my second story to be published by Love Lane Books. It will be out during summer 2015.
It is about a man who falls in love with his guardian angel, but he can't be with the angel because, well, they can't touch one another. And what's the point of loving someone if you can't touch them?
Full blurb to follow, but I wanted to share the pretty cover from the lovely Meredith Russell.
Liam Livings xx
4 Comments

Heat Wave Astoria - sizzling mm romance set in America 

16/6/2015

0 Comments

 
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My first story set in America is part of a heatwave series of releases from JMS Books during summer 2015. Each story is set in an American city during the hottest summer in a long time.

My story, Heat Wave Astoria will be out August 9 and here's the blurb to tell you more about what the sizzling story is about:

American shop worker, Brad's known as the most popular tourist attraction in his home town, Astoria, for certain men. Brad doesn't do relationships, why would he? Brad is an unashamed slut, and he loves it.

British IT programmer, James is much happier working with software and computers than people. He escapes from people he has to see at work into his encyclopaedic knowledge of childhood films from the eighties like The Goonies & Short Circuit.

When James walks into a quilting shop in Astoria for some supplies, he decides he'll take his brother's advice and talk to the stranger. That stranger is Brad, melting slowly behind the counter during the hottest longest heatwave America's had in years.

Can a man who thinks in binary code, always plans things to the finest degree, believes you can think your way out of any problem, cope with the twists and turns of his and someone else's emotions?

Can someone who never thinks before he leaps allow himself to leap into the biggest unknown, a relationship?

And how will they cope with everything having an expiry date as James has to return to his home in England?
 
Can two men who never expected love or a relationship learn to embrace the whole messy everything love brings into their lives?


Watch this space for blog tour details. Any review websites who'd like an ARC please email me through this website.

Liam Livings xx

0 Comments

It's Plotting, but not as we know it - how I learned to relax my plotting and do some writing by the seat of my pants/trousers

1/6/2015

2 Comments

 
I like to plan. I like to have lists. I like to tick things off the list. I like to know what's happening in advance. I like to book appointments to see friends on the Mazda MX5 calendar by the fridge.

I am a man who likes to plan. For me, planning is what makes things happen, including my writing.  

Unsurprisingly I like to plan when I write too. I've sort of evolved my own process involving three elements:
  1. character biogs- I add to these while writing as I 'discover' / make up more stuff about the characters
  2. a very rough beginning, middle and end- as in, a few sentences for each of these three bits
  3. scene plans on post it notes – 12 scenes to one piece of paper, usually about one post it ends up being 1000 words when written

This time, with Love U More, I wanted to mix it up a bit, see if I could be more of a pantser – someone who writes by the seat of their pants (or trousers if you're British) – basically writing without plotting. I had a character sheet, and some setting / timing stuff about the location and time frame the story is set in.

I wrote two diagrams for the story, the first piece of paper for the beginning diagram and the second piece of paper for the ending diagram. These were not detailed scene notes, these were words in bubbles linked by lines, all in pencil. (I can't, no matter how hard I try, plot on computer. The thoughts do not flow from my brain to my hands to the keyboard. Who knows why but I'm going with it.)

Here's some examples of the words in bubbles – I'm not giving away too many because, spoilers…
  • Drugs / money / partying / Djing
  • An after party that's at the Monday after the Friday night clubbing, and it's not fun any more. Skin crawling. X character is still dancing.
  • X character works in record shop.
  • Y character works in video rental shop.
  • Trance music scene.
  • Bad influence quote (there was more to it on the paper, but, you know, spoilers…)

This got me so far, then BOOM I stopped. I didn't know what was happening.

I plotted 5 Post it scenes about the first kiss, the first time they slept together, and some other stuff then BOOM I stopped. Ran out of plot. It was still too far from using the second rough piece of paper for the ending part.

I plotted another 11 post it note scenes – more detail about some of the stuff on the first piece of paper. I wrote those, then, you guessed it BOOM I stopped. I plotted another 17 post it note scenes, wrote them.

And then, and only then was I ready to write the second of the two diagrams I'd done at the start. Only, when I sat down to write there were two problems:
1) the words didn't flow
2) this ending I'd sort of planned was totally wrong for the story I'd by this point actually written. In fact I'd go as far as saying it was an omnishambles.

I cracked open a pack of Post it notes and started to work out how the final ¼ of the novel should end. You guessed it, BOOM, nothing.

I went for a walk, I read a bit, but still nothing.

I left it from then, Monday to the Friday without consciously thinking about how the story should end, just allowing myself to think about it if it popped into my mind, but not sitting down and thinking my way out of the problem.

Then, Friday evening after I'd finished the week of life, I sat on the bed - I think sitting in a different room and position from where I'd been before helped - and flicked through some of my favourite books involving clubbing / music and drugs – Rachel's Holiday, Disco Bloodbath and Sharking in case you're interested. I've read them all a long time ago so I reminded myself how each of them ended, reading the final 15 pages or so. Smiling, laughing, gasping along the way. I didn't take any notes, i just immersed myself in the world of these stories.

And then, I turned over the old ending sheet of paper so I couldn't see it anymore, so it wasn't taunting me with its omnishambles-ness on full beam, and on a new piece of paper I wrote words in bubbles, linked them to other words in bubbles and after about 45mins I'd filled the paper. I won't blog a picture of it, cos, you know...spoilers...but here's some of the words in boxes:
  • X loses himself, and Y does too.
  • The Friary.
  • X gets a letter from Y, isn't sure what to do so they… - spoilers, sorry…
  • Epilogue – the final scene appeared to me, so I quickly scribbled it down in a bubble.

Then I watched two rom coms, ate a curry and chocolate cherry ice cream, and went to bed.

Saturday morning and, you guessed it, BOOM, I woke, naturally, before 7am. I am a morning person, but at the weekend, this is not something I do. I felt as if I was bursting with words. I sat at the laptop – no internet, dance music in the background, character biogs to one side and the new ending page to the right and I wrote from 7am to 12.30pm. I had a walk, accidentally bought some more books, but any more of that's not for here, then 4pm to 6.30pm I wrote more and finally reached the end.

That final sheet of bubbles, words and lines ended up being 17,363 words, with no post it notes, it just flowed from the one sheet of words and bubbles.

So what have I learned from this?
  • I don't think I'm ever going to be a complete pantser, I can't cope with a blank screen without some comforting scribbles in pencil on post it notes or loose paper in bubbles with lines. I just can't even…
  • But for someone who thought he was a firm plotter, this gives me some comforting flexibility. And I welcome that.
  • It was a new technique for me, plotting, writing, plotting, writing, etc. I normally prefer to do things in batches, get all one thing done, then move onto the next. But this worked as it meant the ending suited the story I'd actually written better than the original ending which didn't make sense then. So I've learned to mix up the technique, the process, even if you think you've got it all worked out, it's good to mix things up a bit.
  • Originally, I had plotted the ending right at the start and was sort of plotting in the dark. I don't know why but I often leave plotting the final part until I've written nearer to it. I think it's because I want to close things off, tie things together, give the happy ever after I always want to read. And when I'm starting out on a project I'm not sure what the happy ever after needs to be until I've got to know the characters better, until I've told their story...or something.
  • It means I can start writing something without knowing how it's going to end, and for someone like me who likes things planned out, at the start, that's really freeing. So that's what I'm going to do when I plot my next story out.
2 Comments

    Liam Livings

    Gay romance & gay fiction author

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