HELLO THERE!
© Aaron Parsons Photography for Rolling Stone UK
A rare and beautiful thing happened a couple of weeks ago, a romantic meal with the hubby.
We were in Media City Manchester the night before going on BBC BREAKFAST…..and we had an evening off!
It was so lovely to be in that “evening” environment snuggling up, we never eat in the evenings as a rule, my every day eating pattern is 10/14, I only eat between 8am and 6pm, we just hit that 6pm mark! Then we walked by the Manchester Ship Canal…..it was the first relaxing time we have had this year and it was rejuvenating.
I have to say I miss our Margarita. Neither of us have had a single sip of alcohol since January. It’s taken all these months to reach that point of absolute no return but at least we can remember the nights before! There is a replacement offender…..we now eat cake virtually everyday!
The Changeling reissue looks incredible.
A HUGE THANK YOU TO CRAIG ASTLEY, Joel Bogen, Alan Sawyers plus Danny Keene and the Cherry Red team for this epic revisit to this dark album from 1982.
The story of “the making of” is all contained within and so much more.
The imagery is stunning and the re-discovered photos of the exploratory shots taken during the Brave New World sessions and the actual Changeling session are touching and revealing.
It is an album that means so much to so many therefore I am thrilled it is getting all this wonderful attention.
CONGRATULATIONS to the team on the short film WEIGHTLESS…..THREE AWARDS and the film now journeys to other festivals around the world.
It has been an amazing few weeks.
Glastonbury was all I dared wish for. It was a complex day, we had to move through so many security gates, but everyone was helpful and super friendly.
It was an amazing maze of discovery, a Stonehenge made out of cars, rainbow tribes and I am sure I spotted a unicorn watching from the trees!
Since performing last month a huge weight has lifted from my shoulders, I never realised how much the day was concerning me, in fact it had been weighing on me all year, I am used to many types of venues but this was entering the World stage, all eyes on us. I think one of the biggest thrills for both Robert and myself was the picture that appeared in Rolling Stone! (at top of the page)
On the day Robert was super calm and laid back. He sat back stage practicing guitar for three hours. I didn’t leave the area, instead I found a private corner and ran lyrics in my head….not very rock n roll but it conserved my energy. On the only other occasion I’ve been to Glasto I became overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people and their personal power. I found my base chakra going into over load, like a rocket ship blasting off, the sheer intensity of all these people in a concentrated area, their power oscillating and spiralling in the vortex of the valley of Worthy Farm, it was almost too much for me.
The first time I was there, about 6 years ago, was to do a secret gig with Simon Darlow and as we where driven over the hill to the “PRS” TENT hundreds of thousands of people came into view, I was so awed I had to lie down for an hour and try and slow my heart rate……I was scared this would happen again this June, so I closed my eyes as we entered the site so as not to see so many people and you know what? I believe the security fence actually contained the energy, we where driving mainly on the outside of it, the people where within it……I didn’t go into overload!
The Acoustic tent is tucked away. We where informed it is a tent where no modern media was welcome ie: true to the roots of Glasto, everyone there, in the audience, were there not to be seen by cameras, it was to be music only which is why only phone footage has appeared. NME where the first to post phone footage and we where thrilled because we wanted the world to know we where there! AND WE DREW A BIG AUDIENCE!
It is thanks to the Isle Of Wight Festival and Glastonbury that both Robert and I feel we have been repositioned in the eyes of the music world, in a very positive way.
Yesterday I returned from Glasgow, having appeared on the Weakest Link for screening later in the year.
It was eventful and terrifying. There where a LOT of technical issues holding us up, iPads not working, score screens faltering, it all added to the pressure and the nerves. We were all so scared we could hardly banter with Romesh Ranganathan who was superbly cool and critical.
Greg Wallace was in the dressing room area from an earlier record and he told me his main show is moving to Birmingham so we swapped numbers and I promised to show him around this amazing city he has very little experience of.
On my show was Adam Pearson, the actor, who I first discovered in the Scarlett Johansson film UNDER THE SKIN….my favourite book by Michel Faber and a very surreal film. It was great getting to know Adam in the little time we had together. Adam carries a mascot everywhere with him, sadly he wasn’t allowed to have it on his podium, a voice from high didn’t allow it, but the floor manager (who I worked with on BARMY AUNT BOOMERANG in the very same studio) said mascots have the same power wether near or far…….which was lovely.
And it stopped us all protesting.
Now I am off to London, press to do, meetings to have. All gearing up for this months shows then Cropredy Festival/ Wickham Festival and on to TOYAH AND ROBERTS ROCK PARTY TOUR in Sept and October.
Have a fabulous July and see you out there!
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH
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