| 13 October : Toyah At The
Tate |
 As previously
mentioned Toyah was at The Tate in London
on Tuesday evening. She participated in a
debate on director Derek Jarman, as part
of .'Derek Jarman -
A Celebration' She reminisced
about wanting to play the part of 'Mad'
in Jubilee because the character
had the most lines, then Mad was written
out due to a lack of finances, before
being included again when Toyah said ahe
would act in the film for nothing (she
was actually paid the princely sum of
£300). Toyah lived in Hornsey at the
time, had no phone and would ring Derek
from a payphone, and he would invite her
over for tea and oxtail soup!
Toyah
remembered that regular visitors to the Jubilee
film set included Malcolm McLaren and
Siouxsie Sioux, who was supposed to
appear in the film but pulled out.
Completion of the film was often in doubt
due to a lack of money, though Derek did
want Toyah to play Joan Of Arc in another
film he had planned. And, of course, she
went on to play Miranda in his version of
The Tempest.
Toyah
said that Derek treated everyone exactly
the same, and that they were in regular
contact from 1978 until around early
1982, then continued to keep in touch via
telephone after that. When he became ill
she invited him to visit Reddish House in
Salisbury but sadly it never happened.
Huge
thanks to Paul Cable, who was at the
debate, for this information.
|
| 13 October : No News Is
Liquid News! |
 Unfortunately
Toyah didn't appear on last night's Liquid
News on BBC Choice. She was listed as
a guest, along with Robert Lewellyn (of
Red Dwarf), on the Liquid News
website and there was no explanation
regarding her no-show. Robert did appear
so the listing can't have been a mistake.
Ah well, not to worry! |
| 13 October : Tales Of The
Unexpected |
 The episode of Tales
Of The Unexpected, 'Blue Marigold',
which stars Toyah in the lead role is
being reshown by Granada Plus on Monday
5th November at 00.30 (so late Sunday
night really).
Toyah
plays Myra, a star who loses everything;
her mind, career, and fame. It's worth
watching for the brilliant opening
sequence alone. The late Ralph Bates
co-stars.
 Toyah filmed
'Blue Marigold' in early 1981 but it
wasn't broadcast until 1982 by the ITV
network in the United Kingdom.
Tales
Of The Unexpected was a very
successful drama series broadcast in the
late 70's/early 80's, each with an
'eerie' or 'unexpected' (hence the
title!) climax.
The
series was originally called Roald Dahl's
Tales Of The Unexpected, as most
of the tales were written by him.
|
| 13 October : Blue Marigold -
A Toyah Club @ Yahoo |
| While
on the subject of Blue Marigold.... There is a Toyah club at Yahoo
with that title, billed as the
alternative Toyah club. Originally
created as a forum for gay/bi/lesbian
fans of Toyah to get together, post pics,
messages, thoughts etc. The founder's
message reads: 'Toyah has an increasingly
growing lesbian and gay following, this
is a club to celebrate Toyah, her music,
films and career'.
However
I'm sure there would be no problem with
Toyah fans of any persuasion joining. Go here.
|
| 13 October : Toyah (On A
Jukebox Near You?) |
 Okay, okay, I
know it'll probably end up just like all
my ideas relating to Toyah, back in the
dark recesses of my brain, BUT at least I
try (what do ya mean, very trying!?) It's the great"Toyah On A
Jukebox" search. Does your local's
jukie have any Toyah songs on it, and if
not, why not? So far I know of two that
do, so the task is to find more and build
up a list of ToyahOnTheJukeboxPubs.
Please email me if you have any
info, this is a serious issue, and could
result in a Toyah pub tour of Britain -
hic!!!
|
| 13 October : Another
'Shagaround' Link |
 Yet another
interesting page dedicated to The
Shagaround. This one from
last month's week-long run at The Theatre
Royal in Brighton. Nothing amazing but
another great pic of Toyah from the show.
Go See.
|
|
| 13 October : American DVD's |
 Anyone who has
taken a look at Amazon or any other site
selling US (region 1) DVD's will no doubt
have noticed their content, compared with
European (region 2) releases, to be far
superior. There are currently three films
with Toyah available; Quadrophenia
(1979), The Tempest (1980) and Anchoress
(1993). Quadrophenia
in particular is bursting with extras
including; theatrical trailers, extensive
photo gallery, film reviews, a Sting
interview, The Who discography & much
more.
 The Tempest
includes; three rare short films by
director Derek Jarman, and text of the
original theatrical press kit. Much more,
of interest to fans, substantial, and
better value than those available to play
on European DVD players.
Thanks
to Craig
Astley at toyahwillcox.com who originally
mantioned this at Angels &
Demons.
|
| 13 October : Here & Now
2002 |
| Rumours
are that some of the other acts joining
Toyah on the 'Here And Now' 2002 Tour
will include, Belinda Carlisle, Spandau
Ballet, ABC and Howard Jones. No
information about other acts, dates or
running order are available yet. |
| 13 October : Eternity |
| 'Eternity',
the follow up album to 1994's
'Dreamchild', the Toyah album that was
never released is probably the most
sought after Toyah item of the moment. 
Not the real CD cover
Tracklist
is as follows:
Eternity
Beautiful
Creature
Healing
Angel
Brilliant
Birth
New
Messiahs
I
For An Eye
Escape
For Liberty
I
Fall
Flight/Pheonix
You
Vicious
Dreaming
Illusion
Recently
while listening to the album I couldn't
help but compare it to Madonna's most
recent album, 'Music'. In general the
music, and in particular the way the
vocals are distorted to create effects.
|
|
Toyah is in this
week's OK Magazine (Issue 288 - November
2 2001). She is featured in the 'Body
& Soul' section which looks at
'Dealing With Dyslexia'. Also included in
the article are quotes from Tom Cruise
and David Bailey, as well as causes and
spotting the signs of dyslexia.
Toyah continues to be featured
in the 'CLEO Collection' advertising
campaign which is currently in many
magazines and newspapers, including OK,
Hello!, M Magazine and others. 
The caption
reads 'the girls having fun at the awards
Toyah Willcox, Jilly Johnson, Nikki
Carter & Vicky Michelle. 
The Grosvenor
cinema in Glasgow's West End have a short
season of Derek Jarman films, including Jubilee,
from Saturday 27th October to Sunday 4th
November. 
The Connoisseur Collection
label, who reissued Toyah's 1981 album
'Anthem' and 1982's 'The Changeling' on
enhanced CD in 1999, have revealed for
the first time the sales figures for the
releases. They say that the CD's have
sold "approx 4000 units",
though it isn't clear if this is for each
album or a compiled figure. Though this
isn't a huge sales figure it has been
achieved with virtually no publicity,
radio airplay or budget pricing. The only
promotion seems to have been online via
websites and word of mouth. These days
some artists who are backed with huge
publicity campaigns to launch their new
albums don't actually sell comparitvely
much more, so we shouldn't be too
disappointed. 
Connoisseur have
also repeated that they have no plans in
the short term to reissue 'Love Is The
Law' on CD, as they feel the 'Anthem' and
'The Changeling' sales don't justify the
release. Nor do they have any plans to
issue 'Mayhem', a Safari Toyah
compilation of unreleased and rare
recordings from 1985. The label do say
they are "considering" the
double CD reissue of Toyah's first two
albums, 'Sheep Farming In Barnet' and
'The Blue Meaning', sometime early in
2002. If this does happen it will be
around the time of the 'Here And Now'
2002 Arena Tour that Toyah is taking part
in. 
"In Kate
Bush's song 'Moments of Pleasure',
there's a reference to her mother that
just touched me so deeply. I was crying
uncontrollably and I crashed the
car!" 
There was a
picture of Toyah in The Saturday
Magazine, in The Daily Express at the
weekend. 
Twenty years ago
this week 'Thunder In The Mountains' was
hurtling towards the UK Top Ten, set to
become Toyah's third consecutive single
to do so. Earlier in the year 'It's A
Mystery' and 'I Want To Be Free' had been
huge singles, and even all these years
later are probably Toyah's best known
hits. 
'Thunder In The
Mountains' was released on 18th September
1981 by Safari Records, on seven inch
single (Safe 38), seven inch picture disc
(Safe P38) and 12 inch single (Safe L38).
The b side track was the excellent
'Street Addict' and the extra track on 12
inch was 'Voodo Doll'. 'Thunder'
eventually reached number four, and spent
nine weeks, on the UK chart. 
The 'Thunder In
The Mountains' video is Toyah's best
remembered and was directed by Kevin
Godley and Lol Creme. In it she plays a
warrior type priestess charging across a
barren landscape on a horse drawn
chariot. 
The 
It is now
definite that Toyah will be a part of
next year's 'Here And Now' Tour taking
place in April 2002. TW.com will be
adding further details regarding Toyah's
involvement, as well as tour dates in the
very near future - stay tuned! This will
be the follow up to the first tour taking
place next month around the UK, and
including Kim Wilde, T'Pau, Heaven 17,
Nick Heyward and Paul Young.
It is sure to be
another great night of retro Toyah
classics. No further details are
available as yet but will no doubt be
posted at TW.com as and when they become
available. The club's telephone number is
- 01604 627766, and their address -
Chicago Rock Cafe, 4-5 Parade, Market
Square, Northampton NN1 2EA. 
To coincide with next April's
'Here And Now' Tour Toyah's first two
albums, 'Sheep Farming In Barnet' and
'The Blue Meaning' are set to be
rereleased on a double CD. Toyah has been
in discussions with John Craig, who along
with Tony Edwards established and ran
Safari Records, Toyah's record label for
the first six years of her career. Both
of these albums are still much sought
after and along with 'Toyah! Toyah!
Toyah!' form the trilogy of Toyah's 1980
album releases. 
Another treat
for fans of Toyah's music is the news
that 'Prostitute', originally released in
1988 and 'Ophelia's Shadow' from 1991 are
to be reissued on CD too. 'Prostitute' is
probably Toyah's most experimental and
personal album to date, and along with
'Ophelia' perfectly highlights why Toyah
should be regarded as highly as female
singer/songwriters such as Kate Bush,
Tori Amos, PJ Harvey & Sarah
McLaclan. 
