T h e E u r o v i s i o n a r y

Wednesday 13 May 2009 OK - Mission accomplished!  MALENA FROM SWEDEN IS IN THE FINAL!!!  - Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! I was almost hoarse from screaming after Sweden came out of the second envelop last night.  Fab.  She can finish 22nd now and I really won't mind.  I just wanted the most fantastic song in the contest to be sung in the final, and it's there - so I can (partly) relax now. I correctly predicted 9 out of the 10 qualifiers just before the show last night, and the only one I got wrong was that I thought Switzerland would go through, and that Portugal would loose out.  Completely delighted to be proved wrong on that one, though, as the lovey Daniela and her group, Flor De Lis, have gone WAY up my rankings since hearing it live here in rehearsals. At the press conference after the show, each qualifier had to draw their number in the running order for Saturday and Malena drew to sing 4th.  Not brilliant, but hey, she's there! ...

Tuesday 12 May 2009 OK folks! Semi 1 is upon us.  12 hours to go and counting, so I thought I'd better give you some thoughts on what might (and might not) happen this evening... First of all, I'm REALLY worried that Sweden may not make the final!   The reception it's been getting here is lukewarm at best.  Of course I still love it, but Malena may well find herself on a plane home tomorrow if the televoters don't get it either. Bosnia, on the other hand, is going to win this semi easily. (7/4 with Paddy Power to win Semi 1 if anyone wants a fly bet).  Their performance is slick, polished and powerful - plus it's on last.  A dead cert for Top 5 on Saturday, if not Top 3. Armenia, Turkey, Romania and Malta are the other certain qualifiers tonight, which leaves room for 5.  I expect these to be Iceland, Switzerland, Finland, and then 2 from either Macedonia, Israel, Sweden or (surprisingly) Belarus. Can't see anything other than ...

Monday 11 May 2009 So - here are the best pics from last night's soiree. Yes, I cried when Dschinghis Khan came on stage (loved them for 30 years - have all their albums - and here were the three remaining members live on stage about 10 feet from me in Moscow, singing "Moscow"). Carola touched my hand while she was  siniging!!!  Then got a pic with her later. The party was absolutely fabulous - and a real challenger to the infamous Istanbul one. Did I say how much we completely LOVE Moscow?   It's just mega!

Sunday 10 May 2009 Hola Just  quick note, as we're just about to head off out to the grand opening party, which takes place at Euroclub tonight. But I wanted to share the big news from the past couple of days... Yesterday we were sitting in the Hungarian press conference when there was a slight commotion at the door to the conference room annd we suddenly saw about 20 guys in suits walk in - followed by Vladimir Putin!!!! OH. MY. GOD! Probably the singular most amazing moment for me in 20 years of coming to this thing.  He asked the assembled journalists if they were enjoying the facilities and having a good time in Moscow - 100 voices shouted "yes!" in unison.  Well, no-one was going to say "no", were they? So, as if that wasn't enough excitement for one day - we were out at the Greek/Cypriot party last night and all of a sudden there was a flurry of journalists and photographers flocking around someone - I couldn't see who it...

Friday 8 May 2009   Good Afternoon from a very hot and sunny Moscow.   Friday already! - were is the time going?  Well, we're still going strong with the rehearsals here at the Olympiyski Arena.  Lovely Chiara from Malta is sretching her vocal chords on stage as we speak - and as we all know, it ain't over till the fat lady sings...   Now, the opening of Euroclub was a fabulous affair on Tuesday night.  How fab and groovy does it look in the attached pic?  They sell Irn Bru there - so me, Elaine and Andrew decided to have a wee Scottish picture.   Ani Lorak and Sergei Lazarev were singing, and the wine was flowing in very copious quantities.  After 3 or 4 glasses of red I was taken over and introduced to little Sacha Son from Lithuania who asked us to sit at this table along with th delegation (free cds all round!).  What a jolly little fellow.  I told him how fabulous and contemparary his song was (which was a blat...

Tuesday 5 May 2009 "The tanks are coming, the tanks are coming!"  The words of one of my highly strung fellow reporters last night as we set off down towards Red Square in search of some local cuisine. Turns out they were having a run through for Saturday's forthcoming Victory Day celebrations, so all the main streets were cordoned off so that the Russian Military Might could parade it's wears down the street.  Have to say it a tad unsettling standing taking photos of tanks, missile launchers and lorries waving red flags, but - if they've got to flaunt it, who are we not to look impressed at the size of their Kalashnikovs? Mid way through the parade I got the best pic of undoubtedly the star of the whole thing anyway - who happened to be sat on the windowsill of the Louis Vuitton shop with her owner. FAB!!! After the soldier boys had finished showing us their weapons we carried on our  search for local cuisine - which tuned out to be a Chi...

Sunday 3 May 2009 "Before you can disembark, a couple of Russian officals are now going to board the plane to check for pig flu..." the Captain reassured us just after we landed in Moscow. At that point two officious ladies wearing face masks came onto the plane and began walking up and down the isle pointing a gun at vairous people and firing!  Thankfully this was only a guage to test body temperature, but it was a bit worrying to say the least! No one was escorted off, and with that we walked into the terminal at Moscow, Domodedovo airport, and we had officially arrived in Russia. Visas were stamped, luggage collected and within minutes we were on board the airport express and on our way into the city. The appartment is very nice, and it's clean.  It's about 20 mins walk up from Red Square.  It has all the mod cons - running water, electricity - that sort of thing!  Oh and it has a toilet too, so that's useful. We were told to be at the Arena...