EUROMOMENTS

Well, after multiple rumour flurries - the latest burst of which involved somebody listening to the last month of Graham Norton Radio 2 shows and noting down all the UK female soloists on the playlist, plus a valiant attempt by Dr Eurovision to bribe a BBC staff member with a glass of prosecco - WE HAVE A REPRESENTATIVE. All-time power ballad heroine and queen of gravel-voiced belting, Bonnie Tyler , will sing 'Believe in Me' for the UK in Malmö. Whatcha gonna do when your ship is sinking,  And you're crying out for help, and just the seagull's listenin'? Not the Lesbian Seagull ? I think she would be a very good listener. You know, I don't mind this song. Yes it's certainly no 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' - but what could even come close? It's a nice, contemporary country ballad, well produced and hopefully will be well sung. I like Bonnie a lot, and if I can allow myself to imagine this as a Venn diagram, I think the overlap be...

But could we possibly have LOREEN singing FRAMLING and CAROLA singing EUPHORIA in this Saturday's Melodifestivalen final??? Thanks to Mr Thompson for driving me mad with the prospect of the latter. And to  this   news item from esctoday  for adding to the hysteria. I now have to contend with the reality that I will not get to watch this live as I will be in a restaurant, somewhere North-West of here, focussing my attentions lasagne + garlics + red wine come Saturday evening. Probably for the best as I'm not sure my nerves could take this moment of MF herstory.

It seems that Camp Euromoments (how very dare you!) is divided on the outcome of the Irish selection. I for one am quite delighted with the song choice and I think that Ryan Dolan will put on a good performance in Malmo. Actually, in stark contrast to Mr Thompson's reservations about qualifying, I think this is a potential winner. Honestly. And the fact that he managed to sing it well in the Late Late studio's anywhere-but-here acoustic was a victory in itself. I also love Strabane. If I can be so bold, dear Momentee (I'm sure there's at least one of you), I will share with you that it's not been an easy day for me as I am struggling with one of 'life's big decisions'. Be assured that there are no Mrs or Mini Carlytimes on the horizon. However, as I returned to my Happy Place - glued to the glow of my computer monitor - this evening, I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders. It seemed that nothing would lift it. And then, the hand of fate l...

Watching the RTE Late Late Eurosong special on RTE player with a cup of tea in bed this morning I thought to myself, can life get much better than this? Last year’s Eurosong achieved something that has never been done before or since by a live Eurovision related programme that I have watched. It induced sleep. I awoke with a jolt at the end of the proceedings covered in my own drool to see Jedward victorious, unsure of what year it was or what I was doing. “Where’s me dinner Avaline???!”. Not being able to watch live last night and saving the show til the morning helped avoid a narcoleptic repetition this year. I was also determined not to see the result before watching the programme on RTE’s catch up service. Surprisingly this was not difficult in Denmark where I am currently living – no news coverage from Donnybrook on DR 1. I didn’t look at Facebook and was careful to bypass the homepage of rte.ie in case the 2013 representative of Ireland would be smiling back at me. Delighte...

"Welome back Noogie!!!" Thank you. Thank you very much. Sit there. So bowled over was I by a certain German missy's winning performance that I have been unable to bring myself to do anything for the last three years other than spin around and work on the timing of the victory speech in my karaoke satellite, making it difficult to read, type and so on. But what a great result 2010 was for the contest, for music, for Germany and for the euromoments team. Looking forward rather than back, the 2013 selection season is already in full swing complete with the inevitable the girls aloud rumour-mill , threats of yet another Ralph Siegel-instigated humanitarian atrocity , incomprehensible belarussian lyrics and more incomprehensible swedish decisions at melodifestivalen semifinals . Yet through all the angst and missed gems, the bêtes noires and even with the sadness of being without Turkey, Bosnia and Portugal this year, I don't doubt that SVT will bring us a great...

The Swedish tabloid machine is cranking out rumours left right and centre this year, and it's almost too much for one Carltime to bear. 1. There was the suggestion that Girls Aloud member Kimberley Walsh would be singing for the UK in Malmo with a song penned by Fredrik Kempe (of "Hero","La Voix","Popular"). 2. More recently, there's  this . Someone dares to suggest that She, The Great One, Dame of the Order of Wind Machines and Gold Lamé, will be taking to the Melodifestivalen stage to perform a medley of her greatest hits. It cannot be. I can't be taken to the brink like this once again, but naturally my mind is running riot on the possibility that Carola will be some sort of wildcard. In my dream, we go through the motions of MF as usual for the sake of all the nice Swedish families who turned up to wave glowsticks in the audience, but then they send Carola to Malmo anyway. Please. At the very least, I expect pyrotechnics, a choir of tho...

Well, it seemed like I'd never see the day, but here I am announcing that Euromoments is OPEN AND READY FOR EUROVISION 2013 BUSINESS. A lot has come and gone in the last 3(!) years, and we've all done some growing up. But some things never change. Melodifestivalen still keeps the global wind machine industry in business, Lys Assia is still being given standing ovations every three seconds, and Linda Martin is still Linda Martin. In our absence, there have been two of the most significant and (to my mind) welcome winners of ESC: namely, Lena from Germany in 2010, and Loreen from Sweden in 2012. I think these victories for high-quality, contemporary pop music have saved the contest from disappearing down the 'it's all political' hole for ever. Anyway, there's little time for nostalgia as the 2013 season is well underway. I'm off now to update the video bar with this year's offerings to date. Nothing as yet is setting the world on fire, but I do h...