One of my New Year’s resolutions was to make it to France more often this year, having not been able to spend time here in 2016.
I have a much loved apartment Menton, which looks over the Old Market, the Jean Cocteau Museum and the sea, it is as close to paradise for me as I can get.
Last year I thought I’d look at Antigua or Majorca for possible bases but my heart remained firmly in this historic town where the hustle and bustle reminds me of Worcestershire and the blue sky reminds me of a Hockney painting.
It is the one place I can recharge my batteries and rather surprisingly nothing slows…it is a living, breathing, bustling community, where the day starts with the dawn.
The scenery is so extraordinary I find myself looking at the views all day completely blissed out. The Maritime Alps swoop right down to the edge of town and then the sea glistens back at you.
Robert and Bill Rieflin are home in the UK, Bill returning to work with King Crimson this year is based at our UK home.
At 11pm last night he e-mailed me to ask what time Tesco is open till……..i am in France! He is 75feet from a Tesco.
I came here to recharge my batteries after a fantastic 80S INVASION TOUR. OMG I loved every minute. The audiences where fantastic and I loved winning new fans from those who had come to see either Paul Young, Martika or China Crisis. It felt rewarding from beginning to end.
I had endless fun winding up the China Crisis boys, sewing up their stage cloths so they couldn’t get their jackets on and various other things.
Being in a different theatre everyday inevitably musicians and artist get lost. The first hour of arriving for a show is spent trying to find civilisation among antiquated rooms.
Theatres can be outlandishly spooky. I kind of like it because it means you can jump out on people and they are already wound up like a spring and ready to SCREAM!
At Liverpool a long time friend, John Wynne, came to see the show and when he was brought back after to see me I remembered a particularly tense holiday in Sitges with him where he continually jumped out of wardrobes at me, making me a nervous wreck….. so when the theatre manager bought him back stage I waited in a dark recess and got the bastard…he screamed YOU F—–! Paul Young and Martika popped their heads around the door to see what was going on….fabulous.
As a keen follower of astrological influences we are all experiencing a testing time due to VENUS being in retrograde, it started around the 5th March and finishes its influence around the 9th May, then we have the end of Mercury in retrograde to deal with until the 18th May. I try to love these influences and write during them. But it is testing. I feel as if I am about to drive off the edge of the world everyday.
So whilst enjoying the tour beyond measure, off stage I was dealing with unbelievable technical issues. As I drove home through the night after Edinburgh my relatively new car developed a computer fault so the accelerator wouldn’t work. Home by 4am, I called the garage by 8am who took a week to fix it then once back on the road it did exactly the same coming home from Chatham.
To say I was really bloody hacked off was an understatement so I got rid of the car, ended my 20 year relationship with Peugeot and picked up a new car and new make….. thank you to the local dealer who genuinely helped me….. you now have a customer for life.
AHHHH as I write, here in France, another e-mail from Bill “the massage you booked me today, is it still on?” the massage in question is next door to where we live….. 10ft away from our front door.
There is so much happening, as usual that I cannot talk about. One of the projects I am ending the year with is thrilling beyond belief. I am going back into theatre in November to be in a production I was involved with 40yrs ago…….. it promises to be WILD, outlandish and outrageous…..my role in it this time is just perfect for me today….. I would have never have believed this would happen in a million years.
It is only April and it feels like summer is upon us.
For the next 6 months there are fantastic shows coming up and I am praying for hot sunny weather.
Don’t be confused if you see my diary listing two shows a day, because this is happening a few times over the summer. Also I am off to Gran Canaria, Alicante and Gibraltar to work.
Simon Darlow and I are writing/recording and fingers crossed will have a new material release this year, also Sunday All Over The World’s KNEELING AT THE SHRINE is very close to release.
I love the writing process. It always feels like something alive and alert is trying to move through your fingers and burst out into the world, initially, then the chance to hone and readdress the thought process bonds you to it like no other.
It is a process where you can hate yourself intensely, love yourself intensely, doubt yourself intensely, believe in yourself intensely and discover yourself all over again.
HELLO FROM FRANCE,
