Toyah presents a radio documentary on the story, and history, of the tattoo: To Mother With Love: The Story Of The Tattoo aired on ‘BBC Radio 2’ on 2nd March 1999. This is Part One. I’ll upload the remainder when I’ve converted it from tape to mp3. (Thanks to Seàn)
A slightly strange but funny photo tweet from Toyah this evening: “Since her sex change toyah has been experiencing a little testosterone overload.”
• Maidenhead Advertiser: Let’s Rock The Moor: Family support charity to benefit: Families in need are set to benefit from a fundraising music festival in Cookham this summer. Proceeds from Let’s Rock the Moor, on Saturday, May 12, will raise money for the Link Foundation. This year’s line up includes Billy Ocean, Go West, Heaven 17, Toyah and Modern Romance, and will be hosted by Pat Sharp. Continue reading here.
• View photos of Toyah “at home” in 2010, by ‘Jamie Hughes Photography’, here and here.
• Many Happy Returns to Chris Wong. It’s his birthday today! (Thanks to Sugar Rush: The Humans.org.uk)
• Not exactly earth-shattering news, but it is related to ‘The Changeling’ in “Changeling Month” :) Yesterday Toyah was mentioned in a question at Just Quiz: 23. What links a Jacobean tragedy, an Oscar nominated film starring Angelina Jolie and a 1982 album by Toyah?
Tweeting with Toyah #1: Toyah tweeted a fun photo of Robert (aka Frank Fripp) yesterday morning. Tweeting with Toyah #2: Toyah also tweeted last night: “Small world! Bill rieflin & don gunn (humans producer) are with simon phillips (drummer on the changeling) in seattle!” Tweeting with Toyah #3: Toyah tweeted today: “Talk about synchronicity! Booking seattle recording studio for Humans 3 & steve lillywhite is mixing there!“
The 1-14 April, 1982 issue of ‘Smash Hits’ has just been added to the ‘Like Punk Never Happened – Smash Hits Archive’.
Just a small news article (in Bitz!) on Toyah this fortnight, accompanied by this great photo from the 1982 Rock & Pop Awards: If you haven’t managed to secure tickets for Toyah’s forthcoming tour, here’s a flicker of light on the horizon. The 32 year old has just added an extra show at Sheffield City Hall on June 18th and two extras at London’s Hammersmith Odeon on July 17 and 18. Tickets cost £5, £4.50 and £4.
In addition to the tour she’s recording a new album for release in June. On April 25 she appears on telly in a play called “Blue Marigolds” which kicks off the new teeth-chattering series of Tales Of The Unexpected. This girl deserves a holiday.
View scans of the full issue, and every previous issue of ‘Smash Hits’, here.
The second monthly online live track has been added to Toyah’s official website. It’s the majestic ‘Pop Star’, recorded live at The Regal, Oxford on 2nd July 2011.
Toyah’s official website will be offering visitors exclusive live tracks each month as Toyah’s Changeling Tour and summer festival/concert dates approach. At the beginning of each month an exclusive live track recorded from Toyah’s extensive 2011 tour dates will feature on the Gigs page.
The live tracks will be available to listen to for a limited time only with a new track replacing it each month. These live tracks are a taster for a special live album release planned for digital release in autumn/winter of 2012.
• Listen to ‘Pop Star’, live at Oxford’s The Regal, here.
More new gigs, festivals and PAs for Toyah have been confirmed by the official website.
Toyah plays the ‘Decades Festival’ in Workington on Saturday 26th May, a return to ‘Blackpool Pride’, with a live PA at the North Pier Theatre, on Saturday 9th June. There’s also a return to ‘Manchester Pride’, headlining the Women’s Stage at Sackville Gardens on Sunday 26th August.
• All the details are available on the Gigs page at toyahwillcox.com.
Celebrity Fantasy Homes: Home: Sunday 15th April: 6.00pm
Celebrity Fantasy Homes: Home +1: Sunday 15th April: 7.00pm
Celebrities hunt for a new home. Gaby Roslin helps punk-pop princess Toyah Willcox search for a second home, in Richmond upon Thames, with a budget of £650,000.
Two brief excerpts from last night’s ‘BBC Radio Shropshire/Stoke/etc’ interview, with Toyah talking about ‘The Changeling’ and ‘The Changeling Resurrection’. See below for info on how to hear the full interview. (Apologies for the noises, they are included in iPlayer’s recording)
The Keith Middleton Late Show, broadcast on various ‘BBC Radio’ stations last night – a “Punk!” special – is available to listen to for the next seven days at BBC iPlayer.
Toyah guested, along with Hazel O’Connor and Annabella Lwin, via pre-recorded telephone interviews. Toyah and Keith’s conversation was recorded on Friday.
Annabella’s interview begins at approximately 1h 09m, Hazel’s at 1h 37m, and Toyah at 2h 13m
Toyah talks The Changeling, The Changeling Resurrection and its set list, her haunted home in Worcestershire and its history, ghosts and the paranormal, punk (obviously) and how unique and exciting it was, her career, living in the present and not stopping working, how she relaxes and more.
There are plays of ‘Thunder In The Mountains’, ‘Brilliant Day’, ‘I Want To Be Free’ and ‘It’s A Mystery’, and Toyah’s interview, including the music, lasts for around 30 minutes.
Steve Riley saw The Power Of Three in Brooklyn last night and, very kindly, agreed to share his thoughts, with ‘Falling To Earth’ and our readers, on the movie:
The Power Of Three is a feel good, funny, moving, motivational and enlightening movie. I am amazed at how women are treated as they age, It’s very different being a man. All of TPOT cast were very believable and Toyah was excellent of course. I would happily see the movie again. The rest of the audience certainly appreciated it as everyone applauded as the end titles rolled.
Definitely a film worth seeing. (A huge thank you to Steve: www.steverileyart.com)
More ‘Changeling’ related tweets from Toyah yesterday: “Fab day plugging in2 The Changeling. Started to really like the songs again. Can c beyond the stresses at the time.”, and this morning: “Pop Star (Live) is online 4 ur pleasure. toyahwillcox.com/gigs. Only 13 days till 1st concert. Can’t wait. The devil in me is excited.”
Welcome to the month of ‘The Changeling Resurrection 2012’… It’s going to be wild (child)!
From Toyah’s Official Facebook today: Welcome to April…the month of THE CHANGELING RESURRECTION 2012 tour which kicks off in Brighton on 14 April. Full details of the 7 tour dates plus lots of additions to Toyah’s gig diary are now online along with a new exclusive live track….. ONLY at www.toyahwillcox.com/gigs
Yes, I’m afraid Frail Pool was my pitiful attempt at an April Fool weeze. As if you didn’t know :)
An interesting article on punk in ‘The Independent’ yesterday. It includes a gallery of great photos, featuring rare shots of Adam Ant, Jordan, Billy idol, Little Nell, Siouxsie etc, plus Derek Jarman at the premiere of Jubilee.
Anarchy in the UK: The Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 was also the year that punk hit
Photographer Simon Barker was there to capture it. Michael Bracewell opens his archive.
Punk lasted in the UK for little more than 14 months, between 1976 and the Jubilee Summer of 1977. Thirty-five years later, in another Jubilee year, how might we regard the intense, chaotic, moody, surreal, futuristic-yet-Victorian aesthetics of the movement? In answer to this question, photographs taken at the time by Simon Barker, also known as Six, go a long way to articulating the ways in which a phase of youth culture attained the impact of a manifesto – while never quite losing the cool allure and faintly slapstick temperament of its confrontational amateurism.
• Continue reading, at ‘The Independent’, here.
Rumours are brewing of a brand new Toyah track called ‘Frail Pool’ that has been recorded to mark Toyah’s 54th birthday next month. Apparently 54 is a significant number for Toyah and she felt she needed to do something special for it. What could be more special than new Toyah music?
As 2012 is significant anniversary years for both ‘The Changeling’ and ‘Desire’ albums the song will be inspired by elements from both. There’s a little more info on this exciting news here.
2012 is a significant anniversary year for two of Toyah’s albums: It is, of course, the 30th since the release of ‘The Changeling’ (1982) and also the 25th since ‘Desire’ (1987).
Aside from this vague connection there’s a more explicit link for the two albums, the songs ‘Dawn Chorus’ and ‘Moonlight Dancing’. In 1982 Toyah performed the former on BBC1’s 6.55 Special (think The One Show with the added bonus of Sally James) and towards the close of the song added new lyrics that weren’t included on the album version. This “alternative” version of ‘Dawn Chorus’ was never performed again, and it wasn’t until the release of ‘Desire’ five years later that ‘Moonlight Dancing’, which the new lyrics were an excerpt from, was heard again.
‘Moonlight Dancing’ probably didn’t even exist as a fully formed song at this point in time, though both were written by Toyah and Joel Bogen. It’s interesting, though, that these few extra lines from 1982 went on to become part of one of Toyah’s finest singles and forged an ever lasting link between two very different Toyah albums…
A post at ‘Catmachine’, by Chris Limb, on Thursday’s free kindle version of ‘I Was A Teenage Toyah Fan’.
The experiment of making the Kindle edition of my book I Was A Teenage Toyah Fan available free for 24 hours under Amazon’s KDP Select scheme was an interesting one and seems to have been a success in its own way – in 24 hours it was downloaded just shy of 700 times and peaked at number 50 in the Kindle chart.
Whether this translates into a greater visibility of the book in the long run is another matter (I would hope so) but even if it doesn’t one thing I can say is that hundreds more people will have read my book than before. And that, after all, is what it is all about.
• Continue reading, at ‘Catmachine’, here.
Toyah has been confirmed as one of the artists participating in ‘The Marc Bolan 35th Memorial Concert’, taking place at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire on Saturday 15th September 2012.
Other artists confirmed, so far, are Boy George, Steve Harley, Glen Matlock, Alvin Stardust, Rick Wakeman, Linda Lewis, Andy Ellison, and T.Rextasy. All proceeds from the concert are going to the PRS (Performing Right Society) Charity, for the music members benevolent fund.
Tickets go on sale from 16th April. Stay updated on the concert at the Facebook Event page.
NB: TOYAH IS NO LONGER APPEARING AT THIS EVENT
Just a reminder that Toyah, along with Hazel O’Connor and Annabella Lwin, guests on Keith Middleton’s Late Show tonight on ‘BBC Radio’ (various stations: Shropshire, Stoke, WM, Hereford & Worcester and Coventry & Warwickshire).
Keith Middleton Show: BBC Radio (Various): Sat 31st March: 9pm
Keith is joined by Toyah Willcox, Hazel O’Connor and Annabella Lwin (of Bow Wow Wow) for a ‘Punk Extravaganza’. Is there a punk track you haven’t heard for a while? Let Keith know and he’ll do his best to play it…
Listen to the show online as it airs, or via ‘BBC iPlayer’ post-broadcast. (Available for one week only)
There are several live dates confirmed this morning on Toyah’s official website: The ‘Rock & Bike Festival 2012’ in July: This is a non-music appearance. As with last year Toyah will compere. ‘The Greatest 80’s Party Ever’ at Audley End in August, and the Marc Bolan 35th Anniversary Show’ at Shepherd’s Bush Empire in September.
Toyah’s Official Facebook posted this morning that there will be another exclusive live track on The Official Toyah Gigs page at 00.01 on Sunday 1st April: “…as we start the 13 day countdown to the premiere of THE CHANGELING RESURRECTION @ BRIGHTON.“
