HELLO THERE!
HAPPY PRE-CHRISTMAS.
It has been a mind blowing six weeks.
The Adam Ant Tour has done so much good in my life, it’s lifted my spirits and given me a lot of inner self-belief, especially after the pretty brutal experience of Strictly. The tour has made me feel as though I’ve come back home and I feel in place.
Asking me to open for Adam Ant was a streak of genius because we have a shared history.
We were in the movie Jubilee, we’re from the same circle of punk innovators and we’ve been on a similar journey with our musical creativity for decades.
Both of us are fiercely independent, love energy and have a distinct image and sound.
Adam’s audiences were welcoming and accepting of my creative drive and music.
I will forever be grateful.
This has been an incredibly special tour that has Verified and proven that my past has a special place in this audience’s lives. It’s been a joy looking out over the audiences singing along to my more obscure punk songs, seeing women identify with me being a strong independent female pushing forward through time determined to be seen, heard and be proud.
The venues have been extra extraordinary for me. To go back to Hammersmith Odeon where I have a very strong history, we recorded Warrior Rock there when we launched The Changeling album on a blistering summer tour 1982. Even Quadophenia had a screening at the Hammersmith Odeon in 2018. It was a magical night. With all the cast and stunt men reenacting the stunts from the film in the auditorium.
And this tour took me to very special venues in my heart.
The venue that really brought me back home to happy, formative memories was The Roundhouse. When I first moved to London the scene was very open and welcoming. The Clash would let fans sit in on their rehearsals in Camden. At this time I was on a fast track into musical discovery, thanks to the punk movement.
Discovering Patti Smith, Lou Reed, Velvet Underground, Devo, Kraftwerk made me feel totally alive.
It was an incredibly exciting time for music. The Roundhouse in 1977 had an industrial chic and to be part of it in 1978 and 79 was an honour, so to go back there 10 days ago was remarkable, we were made so welcome. The audience were incredible and it allowed me to remember really happy events in my life.
I don’t know about you, but I remember the knocks more than I remember the good stuff, it may be we are programmed for survival more than we are to find pleasure and sometimes I have to dig deep to remember those happy moments.
On the Adam Ant tour every single moment was a happy moment and I will never forget that, it’s a lesson learnt that I must remember happinesses.
Three weeks ago. Something very weird happened to my body. I’m 67 so I know I’m in a rapid ageing process but very suddenly I put on 12 lb in weight and no one knew why, so the obvious is under active thyroid, which I seriously doubt, I am running around the same as ever.
The other is potential was a virus but I felt well, nothing had changed but one thing…………….. I’ve been incredibly busy in the last eight weeks and I’ve tended to get home and just pass out in bed, resulting in the fact I hadn’t flossed or cleaned my teeth till I wake up at four in the morning. I’m a great believer in gut health and as soon as I realise that that was the missing link in my usual routine I made sure the first thing I did when I got back, even driving from Glasgow for five hours to get to bed at 3am that I floss and cleaned my teeth. As soon as I did this my body reacted positively and rebalanced. I lost 10lbs within a week. Lesson learnt…… cleaning our teeth helps our body take care of everything else.
This is the only time I have ever forgotten to practice that and my body instantly started to age.
This coincided with a well woman examination, my blood pressure was high, my heart rate up and I’m now having to persuade my doctor I don’t need to go on statins and I don’t need medication to control my weight, I would far rather go the lifestyle route. I’m terrified at the thought of taking weight loss jabs.
I believe I can take control by healthy lifestyle and monitoring how my body changes. For the week I did cut out my 4pm sweets, I cut out the wine, I cut out the butter and the dairy but the fact my body returned to normal so quickly shows me that the body remains miraculous no matter what age we are.
Robert is on statins and they have saved and will prolong his life……I am simply trying to ward of the need, especially if I can keep my blood pressure down. I am really looking forward to being on the road with Big Country. I will have two guitarists, it’s going to be punky and very energetic and a great way to see Christmas.
We met the Queen last week. Robert was a right chatterbox, I knew he was nervous, but he handled himself perfectly, I am so proud of him.
This week I managed to complete all my Christmas shopping. Robert has a pile of presents on his sofa but there’s one I wanted him to have early and that was a snow globe with a train running around the outside of it. Robert has a thing about trains at Christmas because he was always away on tour up until about the 22nd of December each year. I’d get phone calls from him in Japan or in Europe and he’d be standing in the reception of the hotel crying because there would be a Christmas tree with a train going round it and he wanted to come home.
When he opened this snow globe last night he burst into tears and said he was so happy to be home. Christmas is very special to us. It’s always been a time of going home and I cannot wait for this Christmas.
I hope you manage to catch the shows that are coming up.
It’s been a fabulous two months,
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD.
LOVE TOYAH
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