Annette Horrocks wonderful group of people doing all they can to bring a smil e surrounded my many Drs respondi Kelly KeaneMatthew NicholsStephenandzena Bakr-WillisDaniel German JarvisCaroline SavageTim RossSee allFairy BricksA little bit sad in Fairy Land this morning as we prepare for our final day of sixteen at the Lowry Outlet. What an incredible time we have had, thousands of happy visitors building our mosaic, playing our tombola and of course enjoying the incredible models built by our friends Bright Bricks. Huge thanks to Charlotte and Emma from the Lowry for inviting us, and to our team of dedicated staff, Andy, Robert, Jim, Jamie, Mark, Fly, Lauren, Abbie, Sally, Sean, Diddy, David, Michael, Cora, Helen, Leanne and Kevin, you were all brilliant! Join us one last time today for mosaic building. No tombola sadly, we have no prizes left! If you have enjoyed this event then be sure to check out Bricktastic which will be back in Manchester July 1st and 2nd.Fairy BricksAnother fantastic design completed at the Lowry Outlet Thanks for building with us everyone!
See allFairy BricksThe mosaic at the # is really getting close!Fairy BricksNearly half way there with the # mosaic!Fairy Bricks added 5 new photos.We have had so much fun with people this weekend at the # Outlet! Mosaic building and lots of prizes given away on our tombola. We will be here for the next two weeks so pop down and see us and the incredible models built by our friends at # Bricks. It really is a fun packed visit which is open daily all over half term and apart from the Tombola, it's completely free!Fairy Bricks shared Lowry Outlet's event.Needing your LEGO fix after watching the new Batman Movie? Then this is the place to be for free half term fun! Help our team create an incredible mosaic and enjoy the wonderful Brick Kingdoms models brought to you by Bright Bricks. Dragons, unicorns, a throne you can actually sit in amongst many more. Click on the event below and we hope to see you there!February Half Term FunLowry OutletFairy BricksRemember last week we mentioned the Channel 4 LEGO Building show?
Well lots of you have been wondering what the show was actually about, requesting more information etc. Thanks to Jan Beyer at LEGO we are now able to share more details with you. Don't forget that your emails of interest need to be sent to build@tuesdayschild.tv The series is being produced for Channel 4 in conjunction with The LEGO Group. It is a competition format that will take place over four episodes, and...Continue readingFairy Bricks updated their cover photo.Fairy Bricks added 6 new photos.We do love a challenge here at Fairy Bricks so around ten days back we decided it would be fun to try and visit four hospitals with a LEGO delivery in a single day. So we planned a route around Greater Manchester that would take us as far south as Stockport and as far north as Wigan. During the planning we realised we would be close to a couple of other worthy places so instead of four hospitals in a day, lets make it six and so # was born! We started at Tamesid (Tameside Hospital) before heading south to Stepping Hill Hospital, part of the Stockport NHS Foundation Trust.
Despite one of us thinking we needed to drive north, it was time to head west to UHSM and Wythenshawe Hospital. We were getting peckish at this point so headed up the M60 and had a pit stop at Sainsbury's before heading to North Manchester General Hospital. Then it was probably our longest drive as we headed further north to Wigan and the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, part of Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust. From there we had one final stop and the school traffic jaunt to the Royal Bolton Hospital, part of Bolton NHS Foundation Trust. Everyone we visited gave us a fantastic reception. In total new LEGO sets worth £4800 were given away that will make the recovery of countless children that little bit easier. Huge thanks to Robert Clarkson who has been quite poorly this last week for driving all the miles. It did mean we had to quarantine him to staying with Roxanne most of the day unfortunately! Also a big hand for David Key who packed the sets ready for delivery. Finally thanks to you our fans for your continued support.
Without your donations of money, sets and volunteer time, we can't come up with these crazy ideas. Below are all the donation pictures in place, and who knows what is next! Eight in a day? for now though, lets just enjoy #6hospitals1day Fairy BricksNumber 6 and we are all done! Time for a cup of tea! #Fairy BricksOne more to go and the clock is ticking! #Fairy BricksOnly two more to go! #Fairy BricksRobert rising from his sick bed for #Fairy BricksHalf way there! #Fairy Bricks added 3 new photos.Playing at the legendary Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on Saturday, July 16, the Monkees were so sensational that I simply can't not tell you about it. As in, "Hey, hey, we're the..." They're unabashedly celebrating their 45th anniversary with a new tour, and it's a brilliant evening of entertainment. I know, I know -- all those preconceptions. The Monkees deliver a dazzling showcase of hits, energy, personality and fun that simultaneously acknowledges its vintage and scintillates with immediacy.
After the show, I had to go searching for my socks. The funny thing about the Monkees is that unlike the comparatively short-lived Beatles (whom they've outlasted for over 40 years now!), this is a pop band that practically wrote the book on revivifying themselves and remaining indefinable. Before the brilliant mop-top mockers the Rutles appeared, the Monkees came together quite literally as the "Prefab Four" (via auditions for their eponymous hit TV show), and somehow -- over many years, associated songwriters, session players and power plays -- they've become the unlikeliest of pop institutions: the fake band who got real (onstage, multi-instrumentalist/singer-songwriter Peter Tork openly notes their "Pinocchio complex"). It takes chutzpah, frankly, to be your own opening act -- which the Monkees gave us via hilarious and nostalgic TV and film clips, as well as their notorious commercials for Kool-Aid and Kellogg's. Then their super-tight touring ensemble provided an overture of delicious riffs from the Monkees' potent canon of hits.
Shortly thereafter, the crowd went bananas as Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones and the aforementioned Mr. Tork took the stage ("Hey, hey," accompanied by their own theme song) and proceeded to rock us, pop us, serenade us, showtune us, trip us, joke us and opine at us for well over two impeccably groovy hours. Peter Tork and Davy Jones Overall it was almost shocking to be inundated with essentially all of the Monkees' many hits -- about 40 tunes, no mean feat! Early on, such treasures as "I'm a Believer," "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)" (Neil Diamond returning in spirit for more "Love at the Greek"?) and "Mary, Mary" wowed us with the brilliance behind this band. Wrapping up, we got stellar versions of "Daydream Believer" and "Pleasant Valley Sunday" (the latter a veiled punk anthem by Gerry Goffin and Carole King). In between, we got surprises like Davy "pulling an Elvis Costello" and apparently changing the setlist to sing "Girl" for both his granddaughter and recently-deceased TV producer Sherwood Schwartz (producer of "The Brady Bunch"), plus a salute to Paul Nichols and the inimitable Paul Williams, with "Someday Man."
I was most impressed by the six-strong block of songs from "Head" (the Monkees' gloriously bewildering 1968 art film) -- which was a personal thrill, as the "Head" project and I were simultaneously conceived, and we gestated in tandem, and then (to put it literally) the Monkees' "Head" came out right when mine did (and in the Year of the Monkee, er"Head" is my pop-culture twin, the brother I never had, so to experience its gems live (particularly Peter doing the wild "Can You Dig It," Micky on the sublime "Porpoise Song" and Davy dancing up a storm for Harry Nilsson's magnificent "Daddy's Song") turbo-charged my DNA. Throughout the evening, the band's patter (a mostly forgotten art form, judging by today's über-serious artists) proved delightful. Peter cordially dissed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (which, mysteriously, has still not inducted the Monkees) and also revealed much of the history of the Monkees, from bubblegum to band. Micky gave us the James Cagney, and chided those who'd dare sell his genuine "Monkee sweat" on eBay.
And Davy took the lion's share, from carping about Axl Rose stealing his dance (true) and Justin Bieber stealing his hairstyle (also true), to joking about being mistaken for iconic Los Angeles emcee, disc jockey and trendsetter Rodney Bingenheimer (who doubled for Davy in the "Monkees" episode, "The Prince and the Pauper," and attended the show). "Hey, at least he's got a steady job!" Quite unlike the three corporeal Monkees we observed, Mike Nesmith is now a free-floating spirit who can possess victims at will, as shown. In particular, I marveled at how satisfying it is when well-drawn personalities take the stage at a show like this (not that there is any other show like this). With Peter Tork you get some sillies, but beneath that an earnest and dedicated artist who brings solid musical chops. With Davy Jones, you get a sort of perpetual-motion machine in the form of an incredibly endearing performer (and dream-boyfriend for all the ladies who still scream for him). And then there's Micky Dolenz -- what a voice!