Flaming Nora

To the David Bowie is exhibition in that London the other week - and I didn't want to leave. The exhibition, that is, not that London.  Hand-written lyrics to Bowie songs, costumes worn on stage and in his videos and an all-encompassing David Bowie experience at the V&A.  If you're a Bowie fan, you can't miss this, even if it means you have to travel all the way to London to see it. Go. Also saw Blondie play live the other week in the same city I first saw them play in January 1980 when I was 15 years old. It was my first grown-up gig .  They still rock -  but I did miss them playing their early stuff.  When I got home I had to put this track on loud as they didn't play it either. And I love it. ______ I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

The very first gig I went ever went to was on January 5th 1980 and I was 15 years old. My friend from school and I were both huge Blondie fans and our parents allowed us to travel the 10 miles on the train to Newcastle City Hall all by ourselves - although my dad insisted on meeting us on the way home. I'm going to share a bit more about Blondie, Debbie Harry in particular, the spell she holds over women like me and the reason she made me want to be a writer. Something exciting and right hit the music scene, the pop charts, call it what you will, when I was 15. It was punk, ska, women musicians in bands without men. I probably first saw and heard Blondie on Top of the Pops, it must have been that show as it was the only one I'd heard of on TV at the time. I wasn't old enough or sassy enough to have heard of The Old Grey Whistle Test, or The Oxford Road Show but it didn't take me long to discover their appeal. Loving Blondie's music and the way that De...

Fellow blogger Old Cheeser has tagged me (ouch!) to reveal my top 10 top albums. I'm assuming CDs are allowed aswell as the vinyl and in order not to bore the gentle readers who have stumbled onto me blog, I'm listing only my top 5 and they're in no particular order. And yes, they're all true. Yes, really. Yes, even Half a Bloody Sixpence, all right? Click on the link under each picture to listen to my favourite track from each album via the magic of YouTube. Blondie: Plastic Letters - favourite track David Bowie: Hunky Dory - favourite track Alison Moyet: Hoodoo - favourite track Half a Sixpence: Soundtrack - favourite track Everything But The Girl: Eden - favourite track