Dreamscape | The Toyah Willcox Fansite

• Sanctuary Music Presents: The Humans: Live, Up Close & Personal: Sanctuary’s promotional poster/flyer for The Humans’ July 2012 dates. View a larger version here.

• The Press Association: BBC Celebrates Birth Of Punk: Never mind the Jubilee, here’s a punk season … the BBC is to celebrate the birth of a musical revolution with a series of programmes on radio and TV.

• There’s less than a week to go until Toyah’s birthday. In the past Dreamscape always celebrated Toyah’s special day by bringing you a rarity or three from the archives, and why break a tradition? Please do look! back hear! on May 18th for something just a little bit groovy :)

• Thanks to some amazingly loyal Toyah fans, who have stuck by Dreamscape since the very beginning, for the lovely messages over the last week or so. Despite having a degree in Marketing (yuk!) I never really thought, or think, in the terms of “Brand Dreamscape”, as someone suggested I should. I do agree, though, that it’s not a great idea that everything should revolve around Facebook or social networks in general. It is a fantastic way to communicate news immediately but great bands and artists should always be represented by at least a couple of independent/non official websites… FTE will stay, as I think it works well having a seperate site/url for a news (yes, and trivia/occasional nonsense) resource, but there may be a sporadic update or two to Dreamscape’s Gallery (one possibly quite soon!). In archive status the site is still as busy as it was when “active”.

• Toyah plays Let’s Rock The Moor 2012 this afternoon. It’s been officially confirmed Toyah is onstage at 4pm. Great weather up here today, here’s hoping it’s the same for Toyah and all the other bands in Cookham, Berkshire…

The complete four-part radio version of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, with Toyah in the title role, is re-airing on ‘BBC Radio 4 Extra’ this month. This was originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1995.

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of J. M. Barrie’s tale of childhood adventure starring Toyah Willcox as Peter Pan and Ron Moody as Captain Hook. These audio editions, especially dramatised for BBC Radio, are of timeless stories that have enchanted generations of readers both young and old.

Also starring Roy Hudd as Smee and June Whitfield as Mrs Darling, this sparkling production is directed by award-winning producer Dirk Maggs, with an original music score and stunning sound effects.

J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan: BBC Radio 4 Extra: Sunday 20th May: 9.00am/4.30pm
J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan: BBC Radio 4 Extra: Monday 21st May: 5.00am
An Awfully Big Adventure. Captain Hook turns the tables, as the battle between the Lost Boys and the pirates begins. Stars Toyah Willcox and Ron Moody. Episode 3 of 4.

• Episode One (Away To Neverland) is still available to listen to at BBC iPlayer, until early AM this Monday. Episode Two (In The Mermaid’s Lagoon) airs on ‘BBC Radio 4 Extra’ tomorrow and Monday. Full details here.

Tales Of The Unexpected: Sky Arts 2: Friday 25th May: 3.30pm
Blue Marigold. Series 5, Episode 1. Dropped by her agency for her diva-like behaviour, supermodel Marigold’s mental health deteriorates. Years later, she plots a comeback. Director: Giles Foster. Starring: Toyah Willcox, Ralph Bates, Sharon Duce, Helen Fraser, Billy Hamon, Edward Jewesbury. Also airing on Sky Arts 2 HD.

Rajan And His Evil Hypnotists: 4Music: Wednesday 23rd May: 11.35pm
Rajan And His Evil Hypnotists: 4Music: Wednesday 30th May: 11.10pm
Rajan and his evil team make a grown man petrified of Santa Claus, while 80s pop star Toyah has a most unusual chat show experience – with no idea that her host is a hypnotised member of the public.

Good old Photoshop. A great way to pass the time… The famous Dexter Brown Triptych painting of Toyah, used on ‘Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!’ and sold as a fan club poster in 1981. I turned a third of it into “TOYAH 1980” :) Plus some basic artwork for my short Toyah/Doctor Who “crossover” story ‘Elusive Strangers’. Please click on each to view a larger version.

Interesting tweets from Toyah over the last couple of days. Aside from the tantalising (sorry, I hate that word too lol) “Crimson Queen 2” one earlier, last night Toyah tweeted a fantastic photo along with the message: “Just picked my guitar up 4 first time in 20 yrs! Bit rusty, but written UP 4 the Humans“.

Today, via another tweet, Toyah revealed ‘Rebel Run’ will be part of the Let’s Rock The Moor 2012 set tomorrow: “”its just a power game” Just rehearsing Rebel Run 4 Let’s Rock The Moor“.

• Early bird price tickets for ‘The Changeling Resurrection II’ at Sheffield Corporation (29th September) now on sale!

• Early bird tickets for ‘The Changeling Resurrection: Rewound & Extended’ final gig (3rd November) at Concorde2, Brighton – SOLD OUT! :)

• Raw Promo Derby: A return visit to the Flowerpot Derby is now confirmed for Sat 28th July for THE HUMANS featuring Toyah Willcox. Check out www.rawpromo.co.uk for info and tickets.

• View the RAW Promo ‘Live At The Flowerpot’ The Humans flyer here.

• The Humans: Live, Up Close & Personal: Direct ticket links: Birmingham, Derby, Manchester.

Gulp!! Very exciting news today, via a tweet from Toyah: “Dear Crimson Queen fans, many exciting things happening with Simon Darlow. Watch this space 4 C.Q. 2“. A lot of Toyah fans have been waiting for this. In the meantime, please visit Dreamscape’s ‘In The Court Of The Crimson Queen’ 2009 feature and comprehensive news feed.

Two more utterly excellent photos of Toyah from ‘The Changeling Resurrection’ tour. These are also from The Robin2, Bilston, Wolverhampton, and both have been added to the TCR gallery at Dreamscape. (Thanks to Ray Sears for these great photos)

Renowned and celebrated performer Toyah will step out onto the stage with her transatlantic rock band THE HUMANS this July. Following the acclaimed album Sugar Rush, highly praised international concerts in the UK, America and Estonia, THE HUMANS present their hybrid of haunting and sweet in a trio of intimate, exclusive UK live dates.

THE HUMANS – LIVE, UP CLOSE & PERSONAL

Friday 27 July : BIRMINGHAM Ballroom
Saturday 28 July : DERBY Flowerpot
Sunday 29 July : MANCHESTER Ruby Lounge

Birmingham/Manchester £9.50, Derby £10, on sale now.

• Continue reading at The Humans Official and/or The Official Toyah Website.

A marvellous announcement this morning for fans of The Humans. A trio of live UK dates at the end of July: Birmingham Ballroom, Friday 27th July; Derby Flowerpot, Saturday 28th July; and Manchester Ruby Lounge, Sunday 29th July. Visit The Humans Official for further information, and the Gigs page at toyahwillcox.com for direct links to book tickets.

A couple of news reports on Sunday’s marathon five-hour-plus Dave Lee Tribute Show, at The Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, have been published today:

• This is Kent: Stars shine in tribute show for Canterbury panto star Dave Lee: Toyah starred with Dave Lee in four panto seasons. (Photo: Tim Stubbings)

• Kent News: Poignant Dave Lee tribute show raises a massive £30,000.

• Toyah is also namechecked in a new interview with Paul Hendy, of Evolution Pantomimes. Read Panto production is a family affair for Paul at, ‘This is Kent’, here.

Toyah’s official Facebook confirmed yesterday that Toyah’s set, at this Saturday’s Let’s Rock The Moor 2012, “is all Toyah classics”. Great news for fans attending.

Toyah tweeted: “Weather 4 saturday 15• & sunny. Yipee! Let’s Rock The Moor. I might wear summer clothes at last“.

• View all of our ‘Let’s Rock The Moor 2012’ news here.

The three remaining Saturdays, and final Sunday, of May see Toyah playing three festivals and a live PA in various parts of the country.

This Saturday is Let’s Rock The Moor 2012, an Eighties festival in Cookham, Berkshire. Other bands include Heaven 17, China Crisis and Nick Heyward. This is a full band gig.

On Saturday 19th May Toyah appears at The Stroke Association’s 20th Anniversary Ball in County Durham. The information on this that was previously available at TSA’s website has been removed. There was a tweet yesterday advising that only one table was still available, so this possibly means the fundraiser has now sold out.

On Saturday 26th May Toyah plays another festival. Decades in Workington, Cumbria. This is another PA and Toyah will play at Club Ice, headlining the Saturday night of the event.

There’s another full band gig the following night: The ‘Here and Now’ Weekender at Minehead. Toyah is headlining the final night, Sunday 27th May. Visit the official Gigs page at toyahwillcox.com for more details on all these dates and many others.

• Exciting news for fans of The Humans: “The Humans are stirring. Keep an eye out for an announcement by the end of this Friday”: The Official Toyah Facebook, yesterday.

• Kent Online: Stars shine to honour panto legend Dave Lee.

• Toyah Playlisted: ‘Good Morning Universe’ was included in Dark Night of the Soul with Julie (8 May) on WFMU. Toyah is being played all over the place at the moment. Twitter seems to update by the hour with info on Toyah on another playlist.

• Coming Soon: Toyah: Thru A Photographer’s Eye – A new FTE Toyah feature.

Derek Jarman’s 1979 film The Tempest, with Toyah as Miranda, will be part of a study day, focusing on Shakespeare on film, at The British Museum later this year. This role gained Toyah a nomination for Best Newcomer at The Evening Standard Film Awards in 1980.

Tony Howard, University of Warwick, introduces extracts from Macbeth films made in Britain, Madagascar, Japan, Australia, Brazil and the USA, exploring how they have mapped the play’s politics, psychology and ethics. The afternoon session will place Derek Jarman’s 1979 reimagining of The Tempest in the context of other film adaptations. Producer Don Boyd and actor David Meyer will relate their experiences of Jarman’s version.

Filming Shakespeare’s Magic
Saturday 17 November 2012, 10.30–16.30
Stevenson Lecture Theatre, TBM, London

I Love 1979 is repeated on BBC2 this weekend. Toyah guests in this retrospective documentary, which originally aired in September 2000, talking about Gloria Vanderbelt (!!) Jeans and the ‘film phenomenon’ of 1979, Quadrophenia, in which she of course starred.

I Love 1979: BBC2: Saturday 12th May: 9.00pm
Bo Derek, star of the film 10, presents a look at the last year of the decade, including reminders of classic TV series The Dukes of Hazzard and Monkey, which was a kung-fu favourite in the playground. The must-have toy was Holly Hobbie, and Gary Numan made the ultimate picture disk. As far as fashion went that year, stretch jeans and crimped hair were essentials, although film of the year Quadrophenia saluted Mod style.

Tallulah, in Stephen Poliakoff’s American Days, was Toyah’s second theatre role, two years after Tales From The Vienna Woods. The play opened at The ICA, London on 12th June 1979 and also starred Phil Daniels as Gary, and Caroline Embling as Lorraine. American Days unfolds in the sterile London offices of an international entertainment conglomerate. Three would-be punk rock stars audition for a record company executive…

• The complete issue three of Grinding Halt fanzine has been made available online at the fanzine’s Facebook page. This includes great retro Toyah content: a review of a gig from the ‘Bird in Flight’ tour, at Bulmerche College, Reading, plus an interesting interview with Toyah. She talks about meeting Joel, forming the band and a lot more. This issue dates from February 1980.

• Toyah, Shaun Williamson, Bradley Walsh, John Altman, Richard Digance, Bobby Davro, Jim Davidson and numerous others, including 10 panto dames and circus performers, paid tribute to the late Dave Lee at The Marlowe Theatre on Sunday night in a celebration of his life and career. The comedy gala raised money for Dave’s Happy Holidays charity.

• The Blitz Kids: Toyah by Richard Sharah: “I look like a bushbaby!”. View another shot from this 1981 photo session here.

• The Toyah Timeline has been rebooted. A visual reference guide to Toyah’s career. Not everything, as that would take until the end of time, but all the key moments: music releases, tours, theatre, television, film, books…

• A trio of ‘The Changeling Resurrection II’ dates, for Manchester, London and Newcastle in October, were included in “Today’s Top Tour Announcements” in The Guardian last Thursday.

• I feel like I’ve been moaning a lot recently (not like me atall lol), sorry! One last word: There are a zillion and one fan websites populating the internet. The www would be a dull place without them. Some of these offer tittle-tattle and intrusion into an artist’s private life, and some offer relatively intelligent, respectful career coverage in appreciation of a band, artist or actor’s work… I’d rather chuck, Quadrophenia style, my computer off a cliff (He runs to the water’s edge…) than be thought of as the former!

Toyah’s debut single ‘Victims Of The Riddle’ was released in April 1979. A brave choice as the first release as it was hardly a commercial sounding, radio friendly, song. The single reached number one on the Indie Chart in the UK and spent many months of 1979 there. The sleeve featured an intentionally disturbing image. At the time of release few knew the gruesome story behind the photo and assumed it was a doll. ‘Victims Of The Riddle’ was also released later in Spain, with the far more appealing ‘Sheep Farming In Barnet’ artwork. The beginning of an amazing music career and a brave choice to get started with.

An incredible photo of Toyah, taken during ‘The Changeling Resurrection’ gig at The Robin2, Bilston, Wolverhampton the weekend before last. This has been added to the TCR gallery. Click below to view a larger version there. (Thanks to Ray Sears for this great photo)