Congratulations XTR

Congratulations XTR on getting your driver's license. Well Done!

Emirates Just Wanna Have Fun

National Day is coming up on the 2nd of December 2008. It's U.A.E's 37th Anniversary.
I can't believe it that it has been exactly 37 years since U.A.E had been alive for so long.
But now the celebration is about to begin. ALL SCHOOLS & UNIVERSITIES & WORK-PLACES ARE CLOSED FOR THIS DAY. So it's time to Party :D
Then after that it's the Eid Holidays :D
so mostly all the places are going to be closed from the 2nd of December till the 13th of December. It's about 2 weeks off!

Forget Me...Not

Don't forget about me

Don't think I have forgotten about my blog, cause I haven't. So many things have happened during these past few days. It had actually rained in Dubai (Twice to be exact). I also have been busy in university with a lot of work such as a long and tiring research paper for my psychology class, then after that I had some quizzes and I have gotten some really good grades (Thank God XD).

Other than that, on Friday was my mother's birthday. So on Thursday I was busy shopping for her birthday present. Then on Friday I cooked in the morning *lol*
The food turned out to taste really good. I thought my cooking was bad but everyone went crazy over it and when the cake came (the one I baked of course). Everyone went nuts over the cake. I think the cake was that great.

Later that day, my cousin Fuzzyy came over to my house and Fuzzyy, my little brother and I sat down and played Monopoly for 2 hours, then Fuzzyy and I watched some TV. We watched a comedy till 12:30AM in the night. After that he left and I chilled for the rest of the night.
That's basically what I have been doing these few days.

Official Guest list for the Atlantis Opening:

1. Oprah Winfry
2. Michael Jordan
3. Robert De Niro
4. Charlize Theron
5. Start Townsend
6. Lilly Allen (who was strip searched at the Dubai airport)
7. Lesbo Lindsay Loahn
8. Samantha Ronson (Lesbo Lindsay Lohan's Girlfriend)
9. Misha Barton
10. Priyanka Chopra
11. Denzel Washington
12. Petra Nemcova
13. Mary - Kate Olsen (only of the Olsen twins not both of them came)
14. Janet Jackson
15. Jermaine Dupri
16. Nick Lachey
17. Vanessa Minillo (Nick Lachey's lover)

and 2500 other guests. I know, that sucks but this is what I got from my sources!

Latest Dido Q & A

Here are some more of Dido's responses to the questions you've been emailing to askdido@didomusic.com:

Dear Dido. I remember reading in interview you were sitting in you kitchen recording for your new album, Safe Trip Home, and you said you used a computer program. Did you use one particular one or a bundle of programs to make your music?

Dido replies: Just one - Logic 8. It's brilliant

Do you play/listen to classical music and does it have an influence on your music?

Dido replies: I do yes. I listen and play on the piano. I'm sure it has an influence on me melodically although hard to tell specifically how. It was so much part of my life it can't have failed to have an influence and those wonderful melodies become embedded in my brain. I love being able to read and write music and really enjoying learning all over again about orchestration. One of my favourite things is to listen to a beautifully playing orchestra play a song I've written. It's a truly great experience.

I have heard that you play drums now, was it not difficult to learn, I mean in the beginning?

Dido replies: Not difficult to get to the hopeless stage I'm at, no! But yes, I imagine hard to become a great drummer. I am practising...

Dido. You can have any pudding/dessert in the world right now. What will you have?
Pete, Newcastle

Dido replies: A lemon tart/lemon bar made my friend Pete

Dido - White Flag (live in Alice FM)

Dido - Grafton Street Live

what's going on with Facebook ?

OK Facebook is starting to act really gay nowadays. The site is EXTREMELY slow. There is actually no reason why Facebook is slow.
Even with the speed of 1 GB it's still slow!
If anyone has an idea why it's doing that, please comment down bellow.

Announcement:

Starting from the 10th of December 2008, there will be NO more updates till the 18th of December.
The reason for this is that my final exams in the university is going to begin during that time and I will have no time to update my blog.
Also starting on the 2nd of December I would like to wish ALL the U.A.E. people living here a Happy National Day!
And to everyone else a Happy Eid Mubarak!

More info on National Day & Eid Holidays will be posted shortly!
Please be patient.

Madonna - Miles Away (lyrics & video included)

I just woke up from a fuzzy dream
You never would believe the things that I have seen
I looked in the mirror, and I saw your face
You looked right through me; you were miles away

All my dreams, they fade away
I'll never be the same
If you could see me the way you see yourself
I can't pretend to be someone else

You always love me more
Miles away
I hear it in your voice when you're
Miles away
You're not afraid to tell me
Miles away
I guess we're at our best when we're
Miles away

So far away, so far away
So far away, so far away
So far away, so far away
So far away, so far away

When no one's around, and I have you here
I begin to see the picture, it becomes so clear
You always have the biggest heart
When we're six thousand miles apart

Too much of no sound
Uncomfortable silence can be so loud
Those three words are never enough
When it's long distance love

You always love me more
Miles away
I hear it in your voice when you're
Miles away
You're not afraid to tell me
Miles away
I guess we're at our best when we're
Miles away

So far away, so far away
So far away, so far away
So far away, so far away
So far away, so far away

I'm alright, don't be sorry, but it's true
When I'm gone, you realize
That I'm the best thing to happen to you

You always love me more
Miles away
I hear it in your voice when you're
Miles away
You're not afraid to tell me
Miles away
I guess we're at our best when we're
Miles away

You always love me more
Miles away
I hear it in your voice when you're
Miles away
You're not afraid to tell me
Miles away
I guess we're at our best when we're
Miles away

So far away, so far away
So far away, so far away
So far away, so far away
So far away, so far away
So far away, so far away
So far away, so far away
So far away, so far away
So far away, so far away
So far away, so far away
So far away, so far away…

Dido - The Day Before

Listen to these 2 songs, one of them is the earliest remix of this song and the other one is the original.


Original Song




Early Remix of the song



It sounds a little weird.......................really weird!

ATLANTIS OPENS IN DUBAI

Atlantis has officially opened in the U.A.E. It said on the news that Atlantis has invited many celebrities such as:

• Oprah Winfry
• Michael Jordan
• Lesbo Lindsay Lohan
  
• Robert De Niro
• David Beckham
  
• Victoria Beckham
• Hugh Jackman (Wolverine from X-Men the movie)
• Richard Branson
• Kylie Minouge
• Lilly Allen
• Shakur Khan
  

and 2000 other celebrities (including Bollywood celebrities).

A special concert was made for the opening of Atlantis. Kylie Minouge came to Dubai and performed at Dubai Festival City for her fans on Friday the 21st of November 2008.
But before she performed for her fans, she did one for all the celebrities on Thursday the 20th of November 2008 and directly after she performed a bunch of fireworks had launched at Atlantis. One of my best friends was at the launch of the fireworks in Atlantis last night and he told me that this opening of the Atlantis is going to be put on the Guinness Book Of World Records. Wow tha'ts a surprise.
Unfortunately Dido wasn't there, I wonder where she is right now? Oh well she must be in the U.S promoting her new album Safe Trip Home!

Dido News:

Dido - Shows No Interest to the Press:

Dido is uninteresting to paparazzi, and she knows why: "I'm classified as being boring, and I'm happy for that", says the British superstar in the "kultur-news"- interview. "They really don't bother me, and I hope, it will last. But I see how the media is handling some people." Fear to get into the focus of the media is very small for Dido, whose 3rd album sice 5 years will be released in mid of November, especially because of her handling of the press: "I've nearly no friends being in the public eye."

Dido is a neat Freak:

Popstar Dido is having a voice like an angel, but she's a real neat freak! The 36-year-old revealed that in an interview with the magazine "Gala". She said: "Sweeping is like meditation, a good chance to think about new songs." Housework is very inspiring for the singer. Dido can relax the best with football, a passion she took over from her dad. "When I was 4 he took me with him to the stadion for the first time. The atmosphere there blew me away immidiately."

Dido Goes To School (no I'm serious)

LOS ANGELES - Dido went to school. For her upcoming album "Safe Trip Home" Dido went to the evening classes. Following BBC Dido took some lessons in a music class of an university in LA. She said: "I just wanted to use my head. I studied some orchestra things ... I was there for some evenings of the week, to go totally stinged to the studio." The didn't notice her being Dido there, so Dido: "No it was great ... no one identyfied me. I did nothing to be non-identyfied, I did not wear any fake beard or something like that."

Dido dedicated a song to her father, who died 2 years ago, on her new album "Safe Trip Home". The CD will be available in Germany on 31st of October.

Dido pays tribute to her father in third album

Dido's latest album Safe Trip Home is more melancholy than previous albums

Family influence: Dido credits her parents - and her unorthodox background - with fostering her creative instincts

Dido: 'My childhood, and the fact we didn't have a TV, gave me a boundless imagination'

By her own admission, Dido's upbringing was eccentric. In a house without a TV or stereo, the youngster and her older brother Rollo were left to create their own entertainment.

The girl who would go on to become one of Britain's most successful female singers - and one of the few to crack the U.S. - was a self-contained child who began playing the recorder when she was four and spent weekends studying at the Guildhall School of Music long before she reached her teens.

Dido was also very close to her father, William Armstrong, who ran the publishing house Sidgwick & Jackson for 25 years until poor health led to his early retirement in 1995.

She may have been, in her own words, 'an odd little kid', but many of Dido's most cherished childhood memories are idyllic, revolving around the traditional Irish songs that her father used to sing to his two children every night.

And, when William passed away two years ago (poor guy), his death at 68 from the auto-immune disease lupus had a profound impact on the multi-million-record-selling singer.

Already working on what would become her long-awaited third album, Safe Trip Home, Dido found herself writing songs that were inspired by her father.Isn't Dido great or what?

The poignant Grafton Street forms a cornerstone of the new record while The Day Before The Day contains further references to her strong family bonds. The dedication on the album sleeve reads simply: 'For Dad'.

'My dad's Irish music was such a huge influence on Rollo and I,' says the 36-year-old singer, speaking in the back of a tour bus as she travels to a small, acoustic show. 'As a child, I remember making requests to him - he would sing a different song every night.

'I used to see the world in terms of the songs that he sang for us. He was a truly kind, gentle and intelligent man, and I was so close to him. I felt awkward putting Grafton Street on the album, but the record had already been mastered by that point. I felt exposed.

'But, then again, I'm a songwriter. That's what I'm supposed to do. I write about the things I feel strongly about.'

Dido dropped all work commitments as her father's health deteriorated, going to see him in hospital every morning and evening, and spending time with Rollo and her mother, Clare.

She says that writing Grafton Street was easy. Talking about it now, she adds, is a lot tougher.

'It is deeply personal, but I'm glad it's on the album. It celebrates his memory and is a testimony to the times we spent together at the end of his life.

'He was a huge influence on me, and the general reaction to the song has been good.'

Dido credits her parents - and her unorthodox background - with fostering the creative instincts that have seen both her and Rollo, a respected producer and founder member of the dance trio Faithless, carve out fruitful careers in music.

Appropriately for the children of a publisher, they were raised in a house in Islington, North London, that was full of books.

From an early age, the pair realised they were different from other children. At school, their packed lunches often consisted of dried banana chips and the previous night's leftovers.

And Dido's full name - she is Florian Cloud De Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong on her birth certificate - made her stand out even more in the playground.

'I feel very warm towards Mum and Dad for giving us the independence they did,' she says. 'My childhood, and the fact we didn't have a TV, gave me a boundless imagination.

'I spent a lot of my childhood in my own head, making up stories. I didn't have a lot of outside influences, so I was able to make my own decisions about what I wanted to do.'

Although Dido's new album, a reassuringly strong comeback, was recorded partly in Los Angeles, it was completed in London with the help of Rollo, 42, whom Dido calls her 'biggest inspiration'.

The singer initially followed her father into publishing, but she always harboured a desire to make music her career.

When Rollo formed Faithless in 1996, Dido was lurking in the background. She helped out by adding backing vocals to a track on their first album, Reverence, and then sang two songs on its follow-up, Sunday 8pm.

More than a decade later, her working relationship with her brother is as strong as ever.

'When Rollo and I are working together, I feel as if we are two sides of the same brain,' she says.

When she flew to LA two years ago to start work on Safe Trip Home, Dido, who rented a house in the Hollywood Hills, could have become a fully paid-up member of the Tinseltown set.

Having toured the States regularly and sung with U.S. rapper Eminem, she would have been a welcome presence on any movie premiere red carpet.

But Dido has always been a reluctant superstar. While contemporaries such as Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen are rarely out of the gossip columns, she keeps a much lower profile.Which I say is better, we don't want the press to go after Dido like crazy right?

For her, a stint in LA offered a chance to better herself as a musician and take the somewhat unlikely step of enrolling in night classes in English and music. 'I keep things simple,' she says. 'One of the things that excites me most is learning.'

Living in a small apartment furnished with just a bed, piano and bag of clothes, Dido was surprised at how much she enjoyed LA.

She blended in so unobtrusively with her new surroundings that she managed to complete her college courses without once getting recognised in class.

She was also grateful for an opportunity to live a more routine life while she worked, having spent much of the previous eight years 'living on a tour bus'.

She began to play guitar, piano, drums and recorder again, and her dedication to pure, unadulterated musicianship has had a significant impact on Safe Trip Home.

Soft but heartfelt, the album represents a shift away from the electronic moods of old, towards a folkier sound.

If her two previous albums, 1999's No Angel and 2003's Life For Rent, owed a good deal to her dance music roots, Safe Trip Home is a melancholy gem that has more in common with early Joni Mitchell.

'It was good for me to have a break and settle down with some instruments,' she says. 'For the first time in ages, I was playing for fun.'

Safe Trip Home contains some highly personal lyrics. For a guarded woman, Dido is a remarkably candid songwriter.

The singer - who split up with former fiance Bob Page in 2003 - uses one number, Never Want To Say It's Love, to sing of 'gently drifting' while her peers move on with their lives.

But she insists the track is not autobiographical.

'I'm not putting my life down in a diary. If you try to analyze me by listening to my new record, you'll get in a right old mess. My songs don't work like that.'

Saying that she never talks about her personal life in public, she bats back a question about whether she is still single.

'I enjoy life and all it has to offer,' she says. 'And I get excited every day when I wake up. I don't care whether I'm misunderstood or not. I'd rather not have people knowing everything about me.'

Dido Widget from Vkarts & Tina5

Dido Widget

Where Have I been?

Well that is a good question to ask me. I've actually been really busy with university and I had so little time to do things for myself, so I will be adding very few updates on my blog. But for now I have just heard that Dido's album "Safe Trip Home" is finally out worldwide EXCEPT for Dubai - Don't Ask about it. Virgin Megastores is too gay to get it!
Anyways lets change the topic. So I found some new videos of Dido and it will be posted bellow:



Dido CD Review



Dido Radio Energy Interview



Dido Performing "Don't Believe In Love" on Alice Radio



Dido Performing "Thank You" on Alice Radio



Dido Spanish Advertisement



Dido - Safe Trip Home Advertisement in English


Note: There will be a blog update on the 29th of November 2008, but this is only if I have no time during the week.

DIDO'S ALBUM IS OFFICIALLY OUT

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's true, Dido's album "Safe Trip Home" is officially out in both America & the U.K. but it's not available in the U.A.E. , since dubai is tooooooooooooo gay to bring it. They think Madonna & Akon are better than Dido. Thats bull sh!t. That is wrong. Dido is a billion times better than the billion old hag guava and that cheap gay singer akon.
So I called Virgin Megastores and guess what they told me" we've heard about the album.....but it WON"T be out till 2-3 weeks"!
So I was like wtf, instead of me waiting for 2 weeks for the album, I should just order it online. It's way better than having to listen to gay old virgin megastore!

COUNTDOWN ALMOST OVER

Yes, 1 more day left till Dido's new album "Safe Trip Home" is released. It will be released in London on the 17th of November 2008 and it will be released in America on the 18th of November 2008 and it will be released in the U.A.E. later this year.

Do you remember any of these TV Shows?

THE NANNY

ALIAS

ROSWELL

ROSWELL

CHARMED

CHARMED

Dido - London Fan Event (October 2008)

This fan event was done last month. This was also the worldwide competition ONLY 5 people won. Plus each of the 5 people brought a friend!
Dido had posted it on her site, but fortunately www.fordidofans.net added it on youtube :)
The current song playing in the video is Dido - The Day Before The Day.

Dido Live On The Ellen DeGeneres Show

No More Interruptions

Dear Guests,
I will not be blogging for the next few days. Since I will be extremely busy doing some things during the weekend. I will also need to take a few days off from blogging :P
In other news there will be NO MORE INTERRUPTIONS made for me because starting from Thursday the 13th of November 2008 till Wednesday the 18th of November I will be having a few boring quizzes and I wish NOT to be disturbed. Is that Understood? Of Course it IS!

Dido Answers your Questions

Here are some more of Dido's answers to the questions which you've been emailing to askdido@didomusic.com (keep 'em coming!).

Hola Dido!! When I listen for the first time your song, Look No Further, remind me the old films with Humphry Bogart or Audrey Hepburn. Did you do it on purpose?

Dido replies: It was a bit of an accident of how the strings came out on the day. A combination of microphones, the brilliant Jon Brion arrangement and the way they were playing. Not intentional but yes, I hear it too! I love that about it.

What is your favorite brand and kind of chocolate?

Dido replies: Twix, or Green and Blacks mint (but kept in the freezer), or a Cadbury's whole nut.

Why did not you clean your shoes after leaving the beach?

Dido replies: Because my mum told me not to

Dido Performing "Don't Believe in Love" On Jay Leno's Show

M.I.A. - Paper Planes

Here is the request from Mario. He had requested this song to be put on my blog :)

New Internet Browser found

I have just heard about this new internet browser that google made. My friend Mario told me about it a few minutes ago. I highly recommend you download this program. I think it requires a lot of ram and u know things like a high graphics card but not so high. because then it will be too slow. But I have to admit it's really nice and 3D :)

So if you're interested in downloading it, just search for it on Google.

It's called "Google Chrome".

My day was like...

Today my day was like a movie gone wrong. I just can't explain it. Here is what happened.
I woke up at 6:15AM, then I had my breakfast and went to drop my little brother off to school, then I go to university. So I left at around 7:00AM and I reached to my university at 8:30AM because of the traffic in Al Barsha. But I did manage to get some beauty sleep on the way. Then as soon as I arrived to university, I went to see my friends who were waiting for me in the library (our meeting place on Sundays and Tuesdays in the mornings). After we met, I had to go to class. So me and my other friend were in the same class and we started heading to the class because by the time I looked at the time it was 9:00AM and class had already begun. So we rushed upstairs and when we entered the classroom NOBODY was there. Not even the teacher, nor the students (except for my friend and I). That was a little strange because class was supposed to begin around 9:00AM and the teacher arrived about 9:30AM then the students arrived between 9:45AM - 10:00AM. The reason why they came late was because of the horrible accident on Sheikh Zayed Road. What happened was a crane that was working on the metro that was close to the Trade Center fell down on to the Sheikh Zayed Road causing many accidents and traffic. Trust me, the traffic was so bad that they closed the road. So about 60% of the people from my classes were absent and that includes the faculty. So since most of the people were absent, my class had ended at 10:45AM instead of 11:00AM (because most students had other classes at 11:00AM). So then my friends and I decided to go to the Dubai Mall (my new replacement mall :P ) and have lunch at Taco Bell (a really nice mexican fast food shop). So I didn't really order much because I had lost my appetite for some strange reason. As soon as I finished eating, the whole mall was cold. Literally speaking. I was so cold, so my friends decided to have some Baskin Robins Ice Cream I didn't bother having some because I was extremely full. (I didn't even eat that much in the morning, so I was like wtf, I cannot even finish half a bowl of food). Now as soon as my friends finished having their desert, we had to start heading back to the university because I had a Psychology class at 1:30PM so we left at 1:00PM by cab, then khalas, it's time to go to class. We ended up watching a movie. But I swear to God I felt so bad before I entered the class. I had a bad migrane (even though my mobile was away from me) and I had been having a constant runny nose since God Knows when and to top things all the movie was also SO boring. I felt as if I was wasting a part of my life. lol
While I was at the mall I ended up getting a new Soundcard for my pc. Ok so back to the main topic. As soon as my class was over, I had another one but I just felt so bad. I felt like I was going to pass out and sneeze like hell. So I told the professor that I couldn't stay for the lesson and he said "but I will mark you absent" and I'm like "ok, fine but I'm not feeling well". He then asked if I had ever been absent from his class because of the rule. You cannot be absent more than 5 times or else you will FAIL the term. So I told him that it's my first time that I'm going to be absent and he was like yeah it's fine.
So then I left university and went home to sleep but I didn't because once I arrived my mom's banker came over to our house but my mother was close to the house so I had to talk to him until she came. Lucky for me my big brother saved me and he took over because I was feeling very sick today. Come on it's only like once in a billion years I get sick. So it's ok for today ONLY!

While my brother was talking to the banker, I went and slept for about 2 and a half hours and even though I slept for quite sometime I still had a bad headache. Why? I don't Know the reason. So as soon as I woke up, I drank some tea and I still had a bad headache. WTF!
What am I supposed to do, so I thought maybe if I eat something I will feel better but I was incorrect. So till now I have a headache but I cannot sleep because my phone kept ringing off the hook. First I spoke to XTR, then to Mario, then my small brother, then my big brother, then my father and then my Aunt. It was a never ending story with the phone and if I turned off my phone then everyone would have been angry at me. The middle - child syndrome still kicks in.

Now I'm sitting down and listening to some music on my pc with my new soundcard :) and I'm happy but I still feel sick. After a while I'm going to go and sleep as soon as I finish blogging and checking my Facebook. Man, I can't wait till tomorrow. I am going to be so happy. Tomorrow morning I am going to be installing my sims (at last), then my Spore, then do my boring reasearch paper and get it over with. Oh yeah and finish my English homework.

Dido - All You Want (Rio Klien Remix)

New Dido Picture FOUND

Surprised?

All of these types of food have been taken from The Sims 2 itself. I know it looks so good but guess what, it's not. Sorry to disappoint you but not to worry, I'm sure just looking at it will satisfy your hunger :P or just go to the shop and by it or else make it from scratch

Dido - My Lover's Gone (Valush Remix)

This song has a good beat to it, it's supposed to be a remix of her song My Lover's Gone. When I say her, I meant Dido that is.

Dido Paints A New Sonic Landscape (review from Billboard)

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Dido counts herself lucky. The British pop singer has two homes: one in Los Angeles and one in London. And by "homes," she doesn't necessarily mean houses -- she means places where she feels comfortable and creative.

"London is still home -- but I feel real love for Los Angeles," she says. "It's a city built on people having an imagination."

Sitting at the dining room table at a house in L.A.'s Laurel Canyon, Dido says that in the five years since her last album, "Life for Rent," she spent time reconnecting with family and friends -- and gaining confidence to explore new kinds of music.

That search, with the assistance of producers Jon Brion and Dido's brother, Rollo Armstrong, led to "Safe Trip Home," due November 18 from RCA. While the songwriting is classic Dido, with haunting, personal lyrics about life's bittersweet turns, the musical accompaniments are unusual, featuring everything from Swiss hand bells to strings and woodwinds.

Dido's sound has evolved on lengthy, reverb-laden tracks like "Northern Skies" and "Let's Do the Things We Normally Do," which show a Brian Eno influence. But it won't come across as jarring to a massive fan base that snapped up 4.2 million U.S. copies of 1999's "No Angel," thanks in part to Eminem's use of "Thankyou" for his smash hit "Stan." After its 2003 release, "Life for Rent" went on to sell 2.1 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Dido's U.K. sales numbers are astonishing. "No Angel" is the No. 2 album of the decade so far, behind James Blunt's "Back to Bedlam" (3.2 million vs. 3 million). "Life for Rent" was the top-selling U.K. album of 2003; sales stand at 2.8 million, according to the Official U.K. Charts Co.

"Safe Trip Home" is Dido's first album release since the Internet conquered the music industry. As such, RCA is developing a social networking site based on the creation of user-generated short films inspired by songs on the new album.

The site (http://www.youtube.com/safetriphome) encourages amateur cineastes to showcase their work and for Dido fans to respond to those videos.

"Because she is a global artist, we reached out to different directors in different parts of the world and asked them to create films based on what their concept of 'home' might be," Dido's manager Peter Leak says.

In some cases, there are literal travelogues of a hometown; others are esoteric depictions of what the filmmaker finds comforting.

As for touring of the nonvirtual kind, Dido is planning listening parties in London and L.A. before street date, but she hasn't yet committed to a full schedule of roadwork. "It's been something that has been important to her, that this record is presented to her fans first," says Aaron Borns, RCA Music Group senior VP of marketing and Dido's domestic product manager.

Inevitably she will hit the road, says London-based Nigel Hassler at Helter Skelter, who books the singer globally outside North America.

"On her last tour she played mainly prestigious open-air venues -- amphitheaters, castles and stately homes -- plus a run of arena shows," Hassler says.

Outside the United Kingdom, France is one of her strongest territories in terms of sales and touring, Hassler says, recalling a "truly magical" 2004 show at the ancient Roman amphitheater Nimes Arena in front of a sold-out crowd of 12,000. Hassler also reports "a lot of demand" from markets where Dido has yet to tour extensively, including Australia, China, South Africa and Southeast Asia.

Of course, you can take the girl out of London, but you can't take London out of the girl. "I drank an enormous amount of Guinness during the course of the album," she says. "We had a Guinness tap in the studio inside of a kegerator. It is a food group, in my opinion."

Dido Live On Regis & Kelly

More Dido Pictures

Dr. Tran (it's not a transvestite)

Dido Pics

DIDO CONTEST (NOT IN THE UAE)

On November 12th, Dido is doing a special intimate performance for KLLC Radio in San Francisco. And we have 25 pairs of tickets to give away.

If you'd like to bag a pair, then send an email to didomusicdotcom@gmail.com explaining why YOU deserve to see Dido perform. The best 25 answers (as picked by our US office) will receive tickets for you and a guest (but please note this prize does not include travel).

There is a one in a billion chance of winning this contest and there are going to be about a million people trying to win this contest.

Note: This contest doesn't include travel and it's not for the people living in the U.A.E.

Dido On Regis & Kelly On Friday

Hey folks. Dido is now over in America, promoting the album's release (not long to go now!). There was a nice 4-star review of the album in the New York Daily News which you can read here.

Following radio appearances today and tomorrow, Dido will be appearing on Live with Regis and Kelly on Friday morning, to perform a song from the album. Click here for more info on that.

Dido's Rehearsal In The UK During 2008

Here are some pictures from Dido's Rehearsal, They were taken from her site.