Glam Goes Rustic (The Sequel), Snake Accessories & Meeting Bill Bailey

So looking forward to heading up to East Riding of Yorkshire for my second rural mini-tour on Friday.  Kate and I will be "Celebrating the Divas of Jazz" on:

Fri 23-Mar 7.30 Village Hall  Etton  HU17 7PQ
Sat 24-Mar 7.30 Spotlight Theatre  Bridlington  YO15 3DS
Sun 25-Mar 7.30 Village Hall  Swanland   HU14 3QR

On Saturday I had a lovely chat with Tony Barker from Vixen 101 radio to promote the tour.

Just heard today that the first show is already sold out -  woo hoo!

Looking forward to getting out into the countryside again and will be packing my walking shoes.  Took a bit of an unexpected walk on the wild side last weekend when I peformed at an event hosted by Bill Bailey (acclaimed comedian and musician).  There was another entertainer present whose act included several wild animals including a beautiful snake that I just had to try on!

Mr with my gorgeous (live) snake scarf

Bill Bailey was a wonderful host and is a very lovely man. (He also said very nice things about my singing.)  Here we are together.

Me with Bill Bailey

So all I need now is for the sun to shine on Yorkshire this weekend and I will be a very happy bunny indeed! :-)

Moscow Radio and Perm's Ice Festival

My latest trip to Russia a week ago as quite a whirlwind.   I arrived in Moscow in the evening and then had a rehearsal and performance (with a fabulous Moscow band) the next day, a live radio performance and second performance on the third day and then an early morning flight to a city called Perm in the Urals followed by a rehearsal, final performance and TV interview.  I was supposed to fly back to Moscow and then London the following day but the first flight was cancelled which meant me staying an extra evening at the airport hotel in Moscow which turned out to be a Soviet-style hotel and quite an experience.   And guess what - the weather was absolutely beautiful.  Pretty cold (-17 in Perm) but bright and sunny with gorgeous blue skies.  I love Russia - always full of surprises!

Being interviewed at Silver Rain Radio (Moscow's equivalent of London's Capital Radio). We were there for an hour during the breakfast show and also performed 4 songs live.

I was in good company as photos on the wall showed previous guests included Liza Minnelli...

And the wonderful Cesária Évora who sadly passed away last year

Official photo (to be added to the wall maybe?) by photographer Pavel

Performing in Perm

Relaxing with a glass of champagne before the TV interview

Due to the delay I was given a short sightseeing trip around Perm and I loved their Ice City.

A whole park is taken over and there are so many structures all built completely out of ice - awesome!

Absolutely beautiful

Even a children's playground and slide built totally out of ice



And this was the view from the hotel on my last morning in Moscow - breathtaking!



Ronnie's, Russia and more Rural Touring

I've really enjoyed a relaxing January but things will be kicking of again soon as I'm back at Ronnie Scott's on 13th Feburary. I'll be a guest of the wonderful Renato D'Aiello Qt who has a residency every Monday in the bar upstairs and I'm planning to perform lots of romantic songs on the eve of Valentine's Day. Yay - I just love those mushy ballads! :-)

Then I'm back in Moscow at the Union of Composers once more for two nights on the 16th followed by my first performance in the city of Perm on 18th Feb. Looking forward to visiting another new place in Russia but rather nervous as the temperature at the moment is minus 24 degrees! Perhaps thermal leggings won't be enough and I'll also need to wear a thermal balaclava.  Do they even exist..?

Ooh - just found this:

I might just be able to pull the look off if I sew some sequins around the eyeholes... ;-)

And I'm also looking forward to more rural gigs at the end of March in East Riding of Yorkshire. Kate Williams and I will be going to Etton, Swanland and Bridlington. Woo hoo!

Out with the Old - In with the New!

Happy New Year!

2011 was quite a busy year for me.  Highlights included:

• My first UK tour (from Cornwall to Northumberland) with new Celebrating the Divas project with my band in February was a great success with several sold-out dates and quite a few radio and newspaper interviews
• In March I performed at a charity event attended by Prince Charles
• In March I also gave a speech (sharing the stage with MPs and the actress Maggie Steed!) for the Lost Arts initiative - extremely scary but a very worthwhile event
• Four sell-out dates in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia were the highlights in April
• Two licensing deals for music from my album Licorice Kiss - the first for Spain/Portugal and the second for Singapore/China
• Four festival appearances for a Greek Islands tour with Dimitri Vassilakis Qt in July and August made for a blissfully sunny and beautiful summer
• Five wonderful gigs with Kate Williams at village halls in the rural north of the UK also saw some beautiful hot weather at the end of September
• My debut performance at an historic venue in Moscow in October
• Two gigs at the London Jazz Festival with a new European Journey project with Jonny Phillips
• My debut performance in Hong Kong and a return to Moscow in November
• Finally December saw me return to Greece with two gigs in Athens over Christmas where I also managed to finish 8 new songs!

Plans for 2012 include:

• A return to Russia for 3 performances in February
• Another rural tour with pianist Kate Williams in March
• A new duo project with pianist Kit Downes
• Recording one (or maybe even two!) albums

Phew!  After all that I think I deserve a quiet, relaxed January... and that's exactly what I have planned.

Here's hoping 2012 brings us all lots of love, luck, laughter and lolly!

A Very Creative Christmas in Athens

I was really looking forward to going to Athens at the end of December as I only had a couple of gigs and most of my time there would be spent relaxing in a very nice hotel.

I brought along my laptop to be able to keep up-to-date with emails etc and thought I might take a look at some old song ideas if I felt in a songwriting mood.   Well, once I arrived at the beautiful hotel in the suburbs of Athens and saw the breathtaking view from my window, instead of relaxing (as was my intention) I felt totally inspired and got straight down to work.  I went on to finish almost 7 new songs which along with one I'd written earlier, makes 8 new songs for my next album.  Very excited!  There's something about the sea that makes every part of my body just go "aaaaahhhh".  I don't know what it is but it makes me feel relaxed yet full of energy all at the same time.  I went for a walk along the beach one morning and wrote an entire song in 30 minutes.

I moved to central Athens after a few days and interestingly the feeling left me almost immediately.  I touched up a few lyrics but it felt nothing like the burst of creativity I'd had.  Something about the sea just does it for me.

Hopefully it won't be too long before I get some of those songs recorded but until then, here are some photos of that little corner of Greece that filled me with so much inspiration.

View from hotel in Central Athens.  No beach but still breathtaking!

 

Syntagma Square - Not sure what he's protesting about but he was very dedicated to his cause.



Trees decorated with cans for Christmas in Syntagma Square

A Tale of Three Cities: Hong Kong, Moscow and Athens

It's been a very busy month!  Three cities in 3 consecutive weekends.  Felt like a resident of Heathrow Aiport but luckily I quite enjoy flying and I absolutely adore travelling.  It was my first trip to Hong Kong and a welcome return to both Moscow and Athens - two places I'd visited earlier in the year. 

I'm going to back to Athens in 3 days and returning once again to Moscow in February.  What a lucky girl I am!

Hong Kong

View from the window of my hotel room - spectacular!

The first meal ended with mango pudding.  Was very excited to receive my first Asian fortune cookies...

... and loved the fortune I was given.  Hope it's true!

Hong Kong is shopalicious - but sadly there was no time for shopping.

Occupy Hong Kong!

View from the hotel's roof top terrace at sunset.  The HK skyline is absolutely stunning.

The final meal.  My pianist ordered frogs legs!  There was no way I would eat them but I was informed that they tasted like "chewy chicken".

Moscow

View from my hotel room.  A grey day but not as cold as I feared.

The venue in a very upscale area in the suburbs of Moscow. Very plush!

The very imposing Ministry of Foreign Affairs building.  Just looking at it made me break out in a cold sweat at the thought of some Kafka-esque nightmare

Just opposite my hotel is what used to be the "Golden Palace Casino" but as all gambling is now banned in Russia, it's been transformed into a nightclub.  Tacky but I love its kitsch design especially the palm tree streetlights!

Athens

View from my hotel room

This suburb of Athens is by the coast and is absolutely beautiful

Sunset view from my balcony

A brisk afternoon walk by the sea - aaaah so peaceful

I love trees and thought these looked especially beautiful

London Jazz Festival 2011 - Countdown!

Only 8 days to go to the start of this year's London Jazz Festival!

I've got two performances during November's London Jazz Festival with Jonny Phillips on guitar (Southbank Centre @1pm on Fri 11th and artsdepot at 1pm on Sun 13th) and we'll be performing arrangements of songs by a wide range of artists including Tom Waits, Michel Legrand and the Beatles.  The only condition is that they must have a connection with or feature the name of a European city or country.  It's been fun choosing the songs and there are even a couple that we've written specially.  It's also going to be quite a challenge because I'll be attempting to sing in French and Italian.

  

At the moment, I'm frantically trying to finish lyrics for one of the new songs - yes, I know I've left it very late...   I'm also trying to choose my outfits for the shows.  I'm wondering whether to go for a burlesque-style corset but am thinking it might be quite difficult to breathe wearing it!