Another old/new photo from the late 70s (fourth along). Here is the full, or at least what’s available of the, photo session, of Toyah at Mayhem in, either, late 1978 or very early 1979! Excellent early photos of Toyah – Click below to view larger. (Thanks to Andi who has sent these to Dreamscape as they became available over the years – a great collection)
• Trey Gunn’s The Third Star album, originally released in 1996, was reissued in a remastered/extended edition last year, with six unreleased tracks. Toyah, of course, co-wrote and sings vocals on the brilliant ‘Symbiotic’. More info here.
• The Burbank Leader: DVD review: ‘Quadrophenia’ gets remixed: The visuals have been nicely restored, but the greatest effort has clearly gone into the creation of a 5.1 surround track.
• Toyah @ Twitter: Lots of tweets over the last few days from Seattle, and the recording sessions for The Humans’ third elpee!
• Shapers Of The 80s: Are giving The Changeling Resurrection II a great ‘plug’ at their website: ✱ Sep 19–Nov 3: Expect new sounds and new styles as Toyah Willcox celebrates various 30th anniversaries with her Changeling Resurrection II Tour, roaming the UK from Middlesbrough to Brighton.
• The Official Toyah Facebook is getting ready for The Changeling Resurrection II.
Very sad news. Terry Nutkins, presenter of Animal Magic and bona fide kid”s TV legend, passed away yesterday. Toyah appeared on Animal Magic in 1982, alongside presenters Johnny Morris and Terry, when a mischievious monkey was named after her. Rest in Peace, Terry.
Celebrity Fantasy Homes: BBC Lifestyle (Sweden): Friday 21st September: 12.15pm
The original punk girl has set her heart on moving to the Richmond area.
Celebrity Ghost Stories UK: Bio: Friday 21st September: 11.00pm
Sue Cook reveals creepy encounters with a malevolent nutcracker and a UFO, Toyah Willcox speaks of a spooky apparation, and Alex Fearns discusses sinister sounds he caught on tape.
The issue of ‘Lifestyle’ magazine mentioned a few days ago, with Toyah as the cover star, is now available to read online in digital format.
The entertainment and arts publication is available to buy in the North East of England region.
As well as being the undisputed Queen of Punk, Toyah Willcox is also a celebrated actress and has played everybody from Mad, in punk film Jubilee, to Calamity Jane. Nicolle Thompson chatted to the talented chameleon about her hometown, growing old and the huge impact punk had on a generation.
Just last month you became the inaugural star on the new King’s Heath Walk of Fame!
It’s very, very sweet. The business people of King’s Heath put this together because King’s Heath has this amazing history which I actually didn’t know about. People like The Beatles did their first gig in King’s Heath, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and people like Laurel and Hardy even performed there.
• Read the full three-page interview, Toyah: Still Hot, online here.
Toyah is the cover star of the Autumn 2012 issue of the ‘National Trust Magazine’, plus an interview & great photos.
This season sees the start of our big walking festival, with some 3,000 outdoor events scheduled for our sites nationwide. To help us launch it we’ve asked four familiar faces to reveal where – and why – they love to roam…
Toyah Willcox: Singer, author and presenter, at Croome
The benefits of walking are so underestimed! It’s free and it gives you instant access to the wonderful diversity of the British landscape. I think it’s so important to walk; to explore and to escape your very day routine – it’s so good for your body and mind. I’ve always loved walking as it has proved to be the perfect exercise for me. I’ve had problems with my joints throughout my life, particularly my hips, so I can’t go running…
Croome is a very special place to walk. I live nearby and make sure I come here at least twice a month…
• Continue reading online at the digital edition of the ‘National Trust Magazine’. It is also available to buy for £3.95 as a physical publication. (Photos © National Trust)
Pershore celebrity Toyah Willcox is urging people in the Vale to explore the sights of the countryside by taking part in the Great British Walk.
The actress, singer and writer wants as many people to join National Trust’s new campaign which aims to celebrate the British countryside in the autumn season. In order to celebrate this, more than 3,000 walking events, activities and trails at National Trust places across Britain including the Vale’s own Croome Court near Pershore.
And the former I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here star urged people to view the surroundings at Croome. “Croome Park is just absolutely stunning,” she said. “It’s designed yet you think you’re in natural countryside. You look out across these gentle rolling hills and you see wonderful monuments, follies and statues and the lake in particular is really lovely. You truly feel you own the whole park while you walk around it.”
• Continue reading at the Evesham Observer.
The ‘Vintage TV’ September newsletter has been emailed to subscribers, and again Toyah is mentioned in one of their updates.
Three is a magic number: Excitement is in the air as we begin our third year of broadcasting. Our audience continues to grow like our enthusiasm for bringing you the best in classic music television programming. Thanks to you, our viewers, our own independent productions continue to swell, giving the artists and celebrities you care about a chance to talk directly about the vintage music that we love. Toyah Willcox, Janice Long, Mike Hurst, Pat Sharp, Nik Kershaw and many others in the coming months will appear exclusively on Vintage TV, here and even further afield as we premiere internationally. The third time is a charm it seems, and we look forward to discovering more vintage music with you in 2013.
• It’s already been confirmed that Toyah will present a new (possibly 12-part) music series on ‘Vintage TV’, beginning later this year.
Over the last, almost, 13 years Dreamscape has been sent thousands of photos of Toyah from the numerous live gigs, tours and PA’s of the late 90’s, through the Noughties and into this decade (the Teenies?). I’m thinking of maybe celebrating the generous photographers by looking back at some of their photos in a new feature I’m considering calling ‘Fotofriends’ (hey! stop sniggering). To begin with… Brian Marsh, and just a few of his great Toyah photos.
These are from: 80’s Weekender, Camber Sands (March 2010), The Faerie Ball, Canterbury (April 2011), The 48 Hour Party, Camber Sands (March 2009), Battle Abbey, Hastings (August 2007), and the main photo is from The Best Of The 80’s UK Tour (October 2004). That’s Brian with Toyah at Target 30: The Quadrophenia Convention (April 2008), bottom left.
Five more amazing, and rare, photos, featuring three icons: Toyah, Hazel O’Connor and Ian Dury. These are from the April 1980 gig by The Stranglers at The Rainbow Theatre, London. View our other related posts here. View the full versions of the photos below at Dreamscape’s Gallery. I’d like to dedicate these great photos to Alec Kelly! (Thanks again to Andi)
10 Things I Learned: Quadrophenia, By Susan Arosteguy
2. Quadrophenia was made in 1979, at the height of the British punk movement, and the filmmakers contemplated casting a punk musician as the lead, to lend Jimmy an authentic air of rebellion. They considered Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols for the role, but the film’s insurance company refused to allow him to be cast. Rotten apparently would have turned down the role anyway, saying he didn’t want to “live out any of Pete Townshend’s fantasies.”
4. Wingett and Phil Daniels, who ultimately played Jimmy, were reunited a year after Quadrophenia came out, in Brian Gibson’s 1980 cult film Breaking Glass, starring Hazel O’Connor as a singer in a new wave band struggling to get to the top. The film was coproduced by the future boyfriend of Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed.
• Continue reading at The Criterion Collection.
• A rare Safari Records promo photo from early 1979, which includes the first and very quickly changed Toyah logo, has recently appeared on eBay.
• Blog Critics: DVD Review: Quadrophenia – The Criterion Collection: There is no question that this is the definitive edition of the film, and if you have a 5.1 system, the sound of it is absolutely incredible.
• DPRP News Blog: Robert Fripp quit music: Toyah is mentioned in this news article on Robert: His last live outings were in 2009 when he performed with wife Toyah Willcox’s band the Humans and toured with Theo Travis to support the duo’s Threads album.
• Themusic.com: Toyah is also mentioned in, ‘Going For The One, an article on Australian band Greenthief: An Englishman in Byron Bay, Steve James produced everyone from The Jam to The Rutles, Toyah Willcox to The Sex Pistols, Cold Chisel’s The Last Wave Of Summer to Skunkhour’s The Go.
• Toyah on TV: The Most Fertile Man In Ireland is airing again on Sky Movies Indie (& HD), Sunday 16th September @ 9.45am.
• University of Bristol: O Brave New World: This devised performance by final year students is inspired by Derek Jarman’s 1979 film of The Tempest, shot during the winter of discontent, and Jubilee, the punk musical he made a year earlier. View the trailer.
It isn’t included in ‘The Changeling Resurrection’ set lists, but ‘Street Creature’ – which could/should have been a single back in 1982 – is still a huge fan favourite. Probably the “poppiest” track on ‘The Changeling’ and a song Toyah had an absolute ball performing on Get Set For Summer, Three Of A Kind and Razzmatazz in ‘Summer ’82 (For Michael :))
Toyah’s 2011 UK tour, From Sheep Farming To Anthem, was a huge success and is already looked back on fondly by fans.
The tour saw Toyah wear an array of her legendary Melissa Caplan outfits and perform songs she hadn’t played live for decades at numerous venues through the UK. A true indulgence for diehard fans.
Relive the entire tour at Dreamscape’s comprehensive From Sheep Farming To Anthem section: Detailed news coverage, reviews, press articles, video clips, fan art… Plus a huge gallery of photos from almost every concert.
Following a successful song vote for Toyah’s one-off homecoming gig at the Hare & Hounds, King’s Heath in Birmingham, fans are being invited to help shape the set list for the autumn tour.
Vote for your favourite from a selection of eight classic Toyah songs for the tour date you are attending at the links below. Two song slots are reserved on each of the night of the tour and the top 2 winning votes will be performed that evening.
• Visit the news page at www.toyahwillcox.com for the full list of voting links.
• Listen to the Alternate Mix of ‘Be Proud Be Loud (Be Heard)’, view amazing Toyah 80’s memorabilia or just browse some iconic imagery… all at Fuck Yeah Toyah, the new Toyah photo blog at tumblr.
• Cinema Sentries: Quadrophenia Criterion Collection DVD Review: Dressed Right For a Beach Fight: Quadrophenia is a great coming-of-age story and a wonderful period piece of an era long past. The restored picture and sound make the Criterion Collection a must own for fans of the film.
• National Trust: A letter from the Magazine Editor – Autumn 2012: We’d asked Toyah Willcox, Coast presenter Miranda Krestovnikoff and the novelist and poet Ben Okri – to talk to us about where they like to roam and why, to help us launch our big autumn walking festival. ‘I love the views, the lake and cakes,’ said Toyah of her favoured ramble site, Croome, in Worcestershire…
• The Humans are in Seattle. Recording and… eating!! View the photographic evidence @ Twitter.
• RockURadio: Restored Version of Film Based on The Who’s “Quadrophenia” Arrives Today on DVD and Blu-ray
• Hampton Roads: Criterion hits all the high notes with ‘Quadrophenia’: Has alienation ever looked or sounded so grand?
You probably do as it was only a year ago. In fact exactly a year ago, Toyah’s collaboration with Yomanda, ‘Fallen’, was released in September 2011. In retrospect it was quite a big deal, with the premiere performance at ‘Manchester Pride’, a great promo video, press articles, ‘Vintage TV’ interview, a live PA at Wig Out, and even a Dreamscape fan advert…
There’s a fantastic photo of Toyah, with Never The Bride’s Nikki and Been at last week’s ‘Manchester Pride’, over at the band’s website. Click below to visit.
More great photos of Toyah in 1983. These were taken when Toyah was recording the Love Is The Law album while, simultaneously, starring in Trafford Tanzi at the Mermaid Theatre in London. Click on these to view larger versions. (Thanks to Andi)
Toyah is the cover star of the September 2012 issue of ‘Lifestyle’, the North East arts, leisure and entertainment magazine, with a three-page interview inside. Toyah previously appeared on the magazine’s cover back in June 2009.
