If you took public transport on Friday you'll have probably noticed that the front cover was taken over by MasterCard and their new campaign, Something For The Fans.

But what is it? Well quite simply, it's awesome.

As an extension of the Priceless London scheme, which gives you exclusive opportunities such as meeting the cast of hit London musical Billy Elliot and VIP access to some of the city's top venues, Something For The Fans is giving music enthusiasts the chance to win tickets to the BRIT Awards 2012 and meet and perform with three of the UK's biggest musicians. It's fair to say that, despite having sponsored the awards for 14 years, Mastercard have never given away a prize this big.

The top prize Mastercard are offering is the opportunity to perform with a modern chart conquerer in the form of either Brit Critics' Choice Award winner (and Breakthrough Artist nominee) Emeli Sandé, JLS and Labyrinth. The lucky winners will get to perform with their chosen act and have the results broadcast on ITV 1 during the broadcast of the Brits ceremony. In the vein of Mastercard's infamous advertising slogan, 'performing on national TV with Emeli Sandé? Priceless'.

If, like me, you're rather keen to take a shot at winning a prime time slot (I'm a poet), all you need to do is register over at the Something For The Fans website. You can keep registering every day to increase your chances of winning – I've been doing this for the past few days – and then, if your name is drawn out of the hypothetical hat, you'll be invited to upload a video of you showcasing your talents.

As you might have already guessed, I've registered to give it my all with Emeli Sandé, her track Heaven being one of my top pop tracks of the year, but I've been thinking a bit about who I'd really love to duet with. Firstly former Brits Critics' Choice Award winner Ellie Goulding. She's duetted with many a famous face, including indie sweetheart Lissie, but it's her 'Erik and Ellie' cover of Robyn's Be Mine with Erik Hassle that really gets to me. I regularly dream of an encounter with Villagers, where Conor J. O'Brien tells me he's in desperate need of my vocals…

Of course, even if I do miss out on the big prize, I'd be thrilled to win one of the pairs of tickets to the event that Mastercard are offering. This year's event is looking to be controversial – critics' darlings PJ Harvey, Laura Marling and James Blake are being put up against mainstream chart titans such as Jessie J., Ed Sheeran and Coldplay. Something tells me the latter will do really well (even though the highlighter costumes and the tired lyrics of Paradise have failed to win me over.) Single-wise it'll be a big battle between Ed Sheeran for The A Team and Adele for Someone Like You. (I'm championing the lady!) Mastercard's Album of the Year Award really has to go to PJ Harvey, with her removed from the catagory you wouldn't be blamed for saying that the nominations have been based around album sales – or that the judges have limited record collections.

Oh and Mastercard, if you're reading this and you really want to do something priceless for me (aside from letting me perform on telly obviously), would you like to hire me the Roundhouse, fill it with people and let me curate a gig of my favourite bands please? Thanks!

This is a Sponsored Post, but don't worry – if I don't like it, I won't write about it!

Viral video by ebuzzing

Anything by Tatty Devine

I’m a massive fan of innovative perspex jewellery designers Tatty Devine. I used to live around the corner from their Brick Lane store, which was lethal for my bank balance and I had to limit myself to window shopping most of the time. My sister loved the crazy glasses I bought for her birthday, and on special occasions I get out my massive mayor’s chain.

My favourite piece of theirs has always been their classic keyboard necklace. It’s as tinkly-looking as the real thing and, being monochrome, would go with anything. Recent designs I’m also lusting after include the ivy vines necklaces and the honesty seed pod stem necklace.

On another note, how cool are their models? Far from the ethereal editorial types, the girls on the website look like they wear the jewellery on a daily basis – I want to be them!

Original artwork

I’ve just moved to North West London and I’ve finally got a room I want to invest a bit more in – it’s large enough, for a start and it’s a lovely size (unlike my former ‘shoebox’ in Shoreditch). I’ve spent weeks buying things to make it into my own space, with a sofa, rug and coffee tables (inspired by the amazing makeover Dad’s wife, Deb, did on my old bedroom in Goudhurst, I’ve even got candles in the fireplace).  The one thing I haven’t done is successfully screwed my new mirror into the wall… there may have been, ahem, an issue with a drill…

What I’d really like to do now is get some amazing artwork to put up on the walls. Currently I’ve got a framed season three Skins poster that I got whilst I was at Channel 4, but there’s so much bare space it needs more! I’d love something by my friend Brendan Kearney (I gave this brilliant cat print to Deb when I moved back down South). I definitely need to retrieve my Get Frank artwork by Kate Hindley too – It’s one of the best presents I’ve ever received – I’ve never had the chance to hang it somewhere because I’ve moved so much in the last 18 months. Hopefully that will all change now! Anything from Girls Who Draw would make me ecstatic – ditto, Lizz Lunney.

Smelly stuff

As always, I’m craving bits and bobs from Lush – we don’t have a bath in my new flat but their hand creams, shower gels and hair products are still high in my estimation. Perfume-wise, I’m missing my lunchtime trips to House of Fraser with the Channel4.com Lifestyle girls (Abi, Annabel and Emma… oh and Tom as well, if he insists!). We used to casually stroll through the perfume section, spritzing ourselves in preparation for the afternoon – my scents of choice being Lola or Oh Lola! by Marc Jacobs. I do love good old fashioned nostalgia!

Xbox games

Now I’ve set up home with my beanbag and Xbox, I’m in dire need of new games to play on it. I’m keen to get my mits on the latest Tekken, Skyrim and LA Noire.

Drink!

Now, I don’t mean to sound like an alcoholic but… I really want a cocktail cabinet and things to go inside it! Stop judging me – it’ll be for your benefit when you pop round for a mojito or two.

Togs, clogs and face paint

I’m obsessing over Topshop and Zara. One can never go wrong with Mac.

In essence, I want something for my neck, something for my walls, something for occupying my brain and something for my face! What are you hoping for this year?

Here’s my video entry:

If you’d like to spare a moment and give me a much appreciated vote, please click here. Read my original post here.

The competition itself is called Sound + Vision: 35/45. Here’s what the organisers have to say:

“Northern Film & Media in partnership with Generator are looking for the most creative and distinctive filmmakers in the region to produce a music video for leading independent record label Domino Records as part of a new filmmakers and musicians collaboration. Sound + Vision: 35/45 is an exciting evolution of Sound + Vision which last year saw a remixed Jimmy and the Sounds working with filmmaker Villing Chong. For 2011 Sound + Vision will bring together the North East’s most cutting edge filmmakers and musicians to work with Domino Recording Co – one of the most successful independent record labels in the world and home to artists including Arctic Monkeys, Wild Beasts, Villagers and Franz Ferdinand.”

This breathtaking entry – the brainchild of lovely local filmmaker Charlotte Johnson accompanies Wolf, one of my favourite songs of the moment. I could go on about the songwriter behind the white half-mask for hours, but instead I’ll let you watch the video!

Check out the other entries here.

Today at work I saw an excerpt from Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields, a film that has been made over a period of two years by Channel 4 News.

The broadcaster invited its staff to attend a screening of some of the devastating footage present in tomorrow’s hour-long documentary, and to ask questions to Channel 4′s Head of News and Current Affairs, Dorothy Byrne, director Callum Macrae and Channel 4 news journalist Jon Snow (who narrates the film).

We were given warnings prior to viewing the footage, and were told that we were welcome to leave if necessary. Although I knew that staying would be incredibly difficult – both in the moment and in the aftermath – something kept me rooted to the small rostrum I had used as a seat (the cinema was packed).

And so it began. The 13 final, chilling minutes of the documentary that Channel 4 will be screening from 11.05pm on Tuesday 14th June and releasing online to the world (geo-unblocked) shortly afterwards. The brutal footage provides uncompromising evidence as to the atrocities committed after the 25-year Sri Lankan civil war had ended in 2009. It is widely acknowledged that war crimes were committed by both the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lankan government during the war. The first part of the film documents this – and Channel 4 news have always presented this as such.

The end of the film shows what happened to those who freely surrendered, and those who, blindfolded and bound, knelt silently had had their deaths captured on videophones as a prized ‘trophy’ by their executors. Still photographs are also present. Naked bodies – many of raped and murdered women – are filmed by government forces who laugh, gurn for the camera and discuss their victims. One soldier is heard to comment on a corpse; “This one had the best figure”, whilst in a separate film, a militant professes a desire to mutilate the breasts of the body of the woman he observes through his camera lens. During a time of surrender, these are no longer purely war crimes – these are crimes against humanity.

In an article written for the Guardian, director Callum Macrae writes about the necessity of making these images available to the world and what must be done with the footage captured:

These pictures push to the limit every normal rule of what is acceptable on television. You will see prisoners, bound and gagged, being executed in cold blood. You will see innocent civilians dying in agony on the ground in makeshift hospitals, which have been denied medicines and supplies by the Sri Lankan government. But if this is the only way to make people take this seriously, we believe it is the right thing to show these images.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon has been questioned about his resistance to bring the perpetrators of these heinous crimes to account, claiming that he does not have the authority to put mechanisms into place to investigate them. With his intentions to rerun for his title clear, could it be that Ban Ki Moon is eager not to displace the support of Russia and China? This article seems to think so.

For Macrae, who has shown the film to the UN and will see his film screened around the world and at the Houses of Parliament on the 22nd June, the ball is firmly in the UN’s court – and they need to take action swiftly.

If the UN fails yet again, the message to every tyrant and repressive government will be clear: if you want to kill your own people with impunity, you will probably get away with it.

Around the world, civilians are uprising. But what happens when the dust settles? What happens when more of our troops return to the safety of home? What happens if we do not hold this government accountable, and others around the world feel safe in their own reprehensible actions?

When we left Sri Lanka in 2009, we left the people to die. And if we leave them without justice then we deserve to be left with them in our minds, and their final moments, captured on shaking videophones, at the forefront of our consciousnesses.

One resounding question rang out through the cinema after the screening; what can we do?

This list is by no means exhaustive but you could:

• Tweet your local MP and tell him to attend the screening on the 22nd June at the Houses of Parliament
• Write on your own blogs about the atrocities and share
• Share the link to the film on Channel4.com via blogs, Twitter and Facebook

As I’ve moved to London, it’s taken a bit longer to get this episode out! I’m still learning, but I’m just starting on episode 3 now, which will feature an interview with Jon Melvin of The Union Choir (and I’m happy to report has far superior audio quality to the previous two interviews for the podcast as we managed to find a noise-free room!)

The current episode of the podcast features Matt and Matt of the wonderful Vets in Hong Kong. The London based trio defy expectations with their (mostly) acoustic lineup of instruments, creating brooding, occasionally violent sounding arrangements. Their recent self-titled EP features a mixture of DIY and studio produced recordings and is packed full of memorable melodies that are quite impossible to shake off. Live, the band’s sound comes alive with Matt Reay’s impressive percussion, which is a theatrically rhythmic sight to behold.

Podcast guests Vets in Hong Kong

Also featured on the podcast is the hotly tipped acoustic artist Daughter. Since moving to London I’ve started writing reviews for For Folk’s Sake and once of my first pieces was a review of Daughter’s new EP His Young Heart. I’m going to have to see her live soon as I’ve been a fan of hers for a long time.

There’s also ska-brilliance on the podcast, provided by Birmingham’s Glasto favourites 360, guitar packed epic-ness from North East group Holy Mammoth, a hauntingly beautiful new track from super-sized supergroup (and future guests) The Union Choir and a soothing acoustic tune to wrap things up nicely from Zygmunt Day.

Don’t forget, you can send in your own tracks for the podcast to frankiepromotes@gmail.com. Listen to the podcast here.

I may no longer be working for Amazing Radio, but I want to continue to support new and emerging artists, and I thought that producing and presenting my own podcast would be a good way of doing it.

I’m intending to produce a 30-40 minute episode every 2-4 weeks (depending on the response to the pilot episode). The idea of the podcast is that it will feature a mixture of acts that I have seen live (or am planning to) and will centre around a featured artist who will guest on the show by way of an interview.

The first episode features Wylam five-piece Vinyl Jacket who are currently promoting debut single Painting Stations. The single, which has been released by new Newcastle-based label The Calico Print, has found a home on many a radio station, including BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 Music and Amazing Radio, and should see the boys recruiting a strong fan base. The guys make fantastic interviewees, and I really couldn’t think of a band I’d rather have helping me out on my first episode.

Alongside Vinyl Jacket there’s also mentions for Pandas and People, Let’s Buy Happiness, Grandfather Birds and Pilots, plus plays for Craig Wosahlo, Baskin’s Wish, The Carpels, Toodar and Mammal Club (as remixed by Mr Blazey).

The real challenge I’m currently struggling with is the editing process. This isn’t because I’m inexperienced in using sound editing software, but because I don’t have a professional program intended for the task on my computer. (I miss Adobe Audition greatly!) Currently I’m editing interviews and preparing song extras (with fades/transitions) in Audacity, loading into iTunes and multi-tracking it all together in Garage Band. For the links themselves I’m recording with a Zoom H2 microphone straight into Garage Band. When I was editing the pilot I kept having to rerecord ins and outs because, unbeknownst to me, the clips kept cropping. Once I’m safely back in employment I’ll save up and invest in a copy of Logic Express, and then I can think more about audio imaging and the concept of the podcast itself.

If you have any comments, questions or would like to be featured on the next Get Frank podcast then drop me a line at frankiepromotes@gmail.com. Find out more about the podcast and how to subscribe here.

“It can sometimes make you look a bit arrogant.” They said, not meaning to offend me.

I didn’t take this personally, but went on to explain that I’ll often use the blog to try and promote local music by putting together outfits and ‘style’ ideas for specific events (such as linking to gigs and writing about the performing acts.)

“Why not just write about the music then?” They then asked, raising a fair point – It’s something that I’d like to try and address on a more public scale.

I am not a stylist, a respected ‘fashionista’ or particularly known for my style knowledge. If anything, I am far removed from this world. But it’s a world I’m increasingly growing to love.

With my lack of expertise I am hesitant to describe this site as a fashion only blog. I have written about music for many sites, and also as part of my job at Amazing Radio. I do love to write about new bands but again, It’s my job! This blog, however, is not. It’s a space I can choose to do what I want with. I can post what I want, admittedly leaving myself vulnerable to criticisms, speculation and appraisals.

When I took my first ‘style’ photos for this blog I didn’t have a camera or tripod. I literally had to balance my macbook on top of my wardrobe, angle the screen and use Photo Booth to take the outfit shots. Cue me lying on a beanbag trying to squeeze my boots and miniskirt into the same snaps! Eventually I got a camera and tripod, but there’s still not enough room in my bedroom to have a photo with an entirely white background so I have to set my camera onto a timer and run into the corner of my room! It’s such a ridiculous way of doing things that it makes me giggle.

Unfortunately I haven’t worked out a suitable ‘camera face’ yet! This in particular leaves me open to ridicule. I’m called a ‘pouter’ at work although it’s honestly not a conscious decision on my part! If I keep the photos up I’ll try and smile more.

Some of you may wonder why I should even put myself in the photos anyway – why not use a hanger or lay them on the floor for example? Well one of the reasons that I so admire many style blogs out there is because the people who write them tend to be the people in the photos. They are ‘real’ individuals who can honestly talk about their clothes and present us with visual evidence. Editorials in magazines are often out of my reach in terms of budget, occasion and body shape. These ‘normality’ gives me a sense of hope – why shouldn’t I join in?

Dress by Peacocks, shoes by Schuh, headband by Stone Bridge

Writing this blog has also given me the confidence to take ‘braver’ decisions in what I wear. For the photo above (taken by Faye Green as a promo shot for my band Get Frank) I went into ‘hyper girly’ mode with a floral dress, sheer pink polka dot tights, turquoise flower detailed shoes and an elaborate and beautifully handcrafted alice band (sent to me by the lovely people at luxury hair accessories store Stone Bridge who noticed my troublesome tresses and offered me possibly the most comfortable headband ever to rest behind my ears).

In the photo I’m also the proud owner of an imperfect arm! (Bingo wings ahoy!) Would you ever see that in a fashion magazine? I’ve posted this picture not because of my body, but because I love the clothes I’m wearing. Sometimes it’s not about what is flattering, but what makes you happy. And writing this blog makes me happy, no matter what jibes I get at work, or the preconceptions being fabricated behind my (occasionally) fabulously attired back.

I urge you to do what you love. If you still maintain your misgivings about this blog then those are your thoughts and opinions to keep. The fantastic thing about the World Wide Web is that you can always read something else.

• Male/female friendships aren’t as common here. At least not as they were at uni in Birmingham. The other day I was walking home with some male friends and some boys biked past and yelled ‘FOUR ON ONE!’ Despite this theory, I’m very much lacking girly friends! The music scene is rather male dominated, but when I go out it tends to be for a gig or a post gig drink, so I’m mostly around men.
• The aforementioned music scene is delightfully strong. There’s a fantastic sense of support between bands; local gigs are often packed out. The instrument of choice is the guitar – pedalled up with minimal distortion and lashings of reverb. I’ll be posting about local bands soon.
• Clothing is less fussy here. Unless you’re on a night out (huge heels and tight dresses are the uniform of female choice it seems), people tend to make practical style choices. In Birmingham the fashionistas come and go with the Summer, but I’m hoping it’s the opposite in Newcastle.
• I’ve been told it’s ‘cold but doesn’t rain much’ up here in Newcastle. I think I’ve been lied to.
• Housing tends to be fairly priced. Admin fees, however, are sky high. In Heaton (where I live), most properties are upper and lower maisonettes (three bedrooms.) I like living in my upper flat – I feel like I’m less likely to shut myself away when I’m at home now.
• Morrisons in Byker is the world’s worst supermarket in terms of layout. It’s nonsensical.
• All the landlords must be using the same bed shop. Everyone has these strange 3/4 beds. You can’t get sheets to fit them, although my double duvet drapes nicely over the top…
• There’s a convenience store on every corner. In town there’s a Greggs bakery on every street.
• Every shop window seems obsessed with the price of milk. I’ve seen so many convenience stores with ‘Milk, 2 pints – 79p!’ handwritten on stickers.

Milk

Milk

I like it here, but I’m still getting to know it. Town’s not as disorientating as it once was, but I’m not sure it’s sunk in that it’s my home – quite possibly because I have no set time for being here. It’s not like uni. I knew I’d be in Birmingham for three years, but with Newcastle I don’t know!