HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for all your well wishes for little WillyFred the wonder bunny. He is the oldest bunny I have ever had. White rabbits tend to live for 6 years but WillyFred is now in his 8th year.
He took a turn for the worse on the 10th May. I was away touring and Robert called to say he didn’t know what to do as WF had become like a rag doll. The only thing to do was to get him to Diane The Rabbit Whisperer. Diane held bunny for 24 hours, through the night!……because she thought he was on his way to bunny heaven…….then three days later he suddenly perked up and ever since he has been a brand new bunny.
It might have been a diabetic episode as he used to eat too many sweet treats. Now he is on a diet that Gwyneth Paltrow would approve of. Simple greens, hey and grass pellets. This is his diet for life. He is off all medication too and he is leaping around the house like a spring bunny, if somewhat sugar starved!
Finally I am over my hayfever, well at least I am for now. It is disruptive when you are a singer. For me I couldn’t get enough air in my lungs for the high notes needed in THUNDER, also I needed to cough all the time. The shows in May were all wonderful….perhaps a little wet!
On stage in Plymouth at Volksfest I had to have a cup of tea on stage to try and stop my coughing. As soon as I walked on stage in the huge event field my eyes started streaming, my nose was streaming, I needed to cough and I was sneezing……ridiculous. Now, four weeks later, my top notes are back and my lungs can fill with air again.
The weather in May was biblical. Just as we were about to sound check in Crick there was a hail storm like no other I have seen in my life, it left about 2 inches of hail stones on the already sodden ground and the noise of the hail hitting the tent was louder than the PA. We all thought the event would have to be cancelled and thank goodness it wasn’t as it was utterly brilliant. The show rocked…..and it was an acoustic show to boot!
So many people turned up they had to open up the sides of the tent because they couldn’t fit everyone in, then the organizers closed the entrances to the site with SOLD OUT signs, as people kept on coming, fabulous.
May was also extra special for me because I have laid all but one ghost to rest. Last year after a virus my ability to walk was effected for about 5 months. This happened when I was on tour with Hormonal Houswives. In April and May this year I managed to visit quite a lot of those towns on that tour and walk them. It affected me greatly last year to not be able to explore but now I’ve managed to re-visit many of the towns and walk them from top to bottom. I feel I have put the ghost of 2013 behind me.
My heart sang as I walked Durham on May 11th. I love this town so much. My main aim this day was to pray at the shrine to St.Cuthbert, in the magnificent cathedral, for little Willy Fred to get through his illness, also for one of my greatest friends and influences to be cancer free after 3yrs of fighting the disease. I must have frightened off sightseers on this Sunday as I sat there with tears rolling down my face, but I always head to this shrine when someone needs divine intervention.
We live in a small world, as I left my hotel in Durham my next-door neighbor from Worcester was waiting for a taxi……we just looked at each other and burst out laughing!
Robert and I spent our birthdays and wedding anniversary in Seattle with Bill Rieflin and his wife Frankie. Robert and Bill were touring the west coast the following week so both were a little preoccupied with arranging their equipment and travel but we managed to have a great week. For me when I had time on my own I walked the city. My ambition on this trip was to walk 5th avenue from beginning to end, then 1st avenue the same. These avenues are miles long!
My head floods with ideas in this city and I always have to rush back to base and write them all down. This is how most of the lyrics to The Humans Strange Tales came about.
Also I never feel alone in Seattle. People constantly stop me to say they like my style! (This happens in France too). People just stop me and say how great my clothes are and they really “dig” my appearance…….at first I thought this was a one off event but when it happened everywhere I walked, especially in this city, I thought it might be because the British high street does dresses so well.
The Humans will be playing the UK in the last two weeks of April 2015. We start writing our fourth album in December this year and we will record over the summer of 2015 in Seattle.
Here’s a little warning to you…..Mercury is in Retrograde from the 7th June until the end of the month. I HATE MERCURY IN RETROGRADE!!!!!!!!!
It means mis-communication and electrical failures for three weeks……….and I am reliant on everything electrical and mechanical when performing
Even my everyday household stuff is being affected. Already my Hoover has burst into flames, the electrics have failed in Roberts new car, the electrics have failed in my car, my recording system died whist rehearsing for Bristol Rocks, my office printer has died ………..oh BLAH BLAH BLAH!!!!!!!
WE HAVE THREE WEEKS OF THIS!
Be warned!
Luckily Steve Oram’s film shoot starts on the 30th June, so fingers crossed all will run smoothly and effortlessly once we get into July for the rest of the shoot.
Steve and I are in regular contact as he sends me test films where he and other cast members have got together and improvised how we are going to deal with the lack of language. He has stripped the language down to the bare minimum of guttural grunts and the way he is shooting the scenes……..all I can say….it makes one hell of a comment about life………I find his idea of there being no language as we know it, very sinister as well as funny. He has struck a great idea here.
Yesterday I talked at SOHOCREATE. This is a new festival about creativity on all levels. Wow! What a fabulous festival. The idea of putting a vast mix of creative people together in an environment where we were able to talk to and with the audience about the creative process was very rewarding. I found everyone has similar blocks, similar experiences and it was good to talk these out openly from so many different perspectives.
Today I play Clacton. The sun is out and it feels like summer.
I wish you a fab June. This is my favourite month of the year!
Remember………
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH
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Photos of Toyah & WillyFred © Toyah Willcox
Phoos of SohoCreate 1&2: © Soops70 / 3: © Tristan Pineiro