passport from pimlico

2011-11-30T16:06:00.001-08:00

How wonderful was Devon? I was there last week for 4 dates with Beaford Arts in the villages of Berrynarbor, Winkleigh, Croyde and West Buckland and I was blown away - quite literally on the coastal path on the saturday - by the kindness of the people we met and by the extraordinarily wonderful countryside. North Devon was somewhere I'd never been, so the whole experience was a blank page beforehand. The landscape is dramatic, Lorna Doone country, but the beaches! Jenny Carr - an Aussie ex pat and something of a connoisseur of the wonder of the beach - said of Croyde and Woolacombe - "don't you think these are as beautiful as Noosa?" To which I had to agree.

Berrynarbor was slightly inland and the hall was filled on a Wednesday night - should have been a thursday but that's bell ringing night and apparently "they don't like the competition!" We stayed with Fenella and John on their farm which has holiday accomodation, and all I can say is, stay with them if you are up that way as its glorious and they are superb hosts! They cracked open the port and brought out a cheese feast after the show for us and twenty other friends, and I was glad I had a day off the next day.

We walked Dartmoor on the thursday with my friend the great life coach and acupuncture goddess Sally Blades and later had supper with her partner Massimo, pasta of gorgeousness and champagne.

On Friday morning we headed into Totnes in the sunshine and I did a radio Devon BBC thing picking a bunch of tracks for a programme and then we went shopping - enough said. Why is it that whenever I am out of town I find things......I must ask Mari Wilson about this phenomenon!

Then to Winkleigh and a wonderful friday night audience, and then we hit Croyde. We found a pub and read the papers in peace eating nachos while the wind got up nicely and then we walked out hearts out on Baggy Point, hoovering our souls so the music that night was full of life. Sunday morning we were up and at it at Woolacombe - papers and cappucinos and then walking again, not sadly as far as the spot you get the seals but far enough. Sunday night found us in West Buckland and we stayed at Huxtable Fram - possibly the best farm bed and breakfast I ever knew. Jackie and Tony run a wonderful couple who are doing terrific work, preserving landscape and woods, and looking after people in the kindest way. http://www.huxtablefarm.co.uk/ if you ever need a real respite in the countryside.

Back to London for meeting after meeting and tomorrow to Switzerland for Linn Records but all that air and joy was the fuel of Thor and I am up and at it for Lausanne, Leamington Spa and The BH show on Sunday morning on BBC Radio 4, where I will read the papers like a falcon!

Here's my dressing room in West Buckland - possibly my favourite dressing room pic ever......

2011-09-28T16:17:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous to be in London briefly - Mabel Stark Tiger Tamer is in workshop - the first full professional workshop we've ever done. Jonathan Cooper is over from Australia, and its wonderful to work with him and the fabulous John Paul Gandy on piano, Cathy Jayes MD-ing, Michael Rouse, Hal Fowler, Liza Sadovy, Laura, Mark and Simon Burke, all great singers and performers. To hear them sing the songs - its a dream coming true. Laurie Sansom will be directig next week - its just a massive learning curve.Meanwhile I am in Liverpool, was in Solihull and at Kings Place and the Vortex, and the 606 with Durga Rising, and Goring and the Fleece in Stoke by Nayland. I've seen lots of friends I haven't seen or ages. And I've been loving singing.Soon I head west to the States and to the Rrazz Club in San Francisco, the Metropolitan Room in New York, Catalina Bar and Grill in LA and Austin Cabaret. Its all big stuff.I'm reading Colin Thubron and Deborah Crombie, and listening to James Morton's sax and alot of old soul.

Yoga is wonderful - Sohie Coates is a new discovery, her teaching, anusara based, is gorgeous, and my injuries of earlier in the year are as nothing courtesy of Graham Stones at the Light Centre, who is a wonderful osteopath and healer.So autumn flies in, with lots of sunshine, and promises. I am working with Jim Lawn at Clas managment alongside Dave and Sam, and enjoy hearing Simon and Jenny play almost daily.Music, food, yoga, sunshine.....who could ask for more?

Ah - the Isle of Skye.........

2011-07-30T09:03:00.000-07:00

Last week of July and just about to head on out to The Vortex - tonight. Tomorrow its the 606. The plans for the American tour have been underway for a while and now we have a press release - here it is - very exciting indeed!

BARB JUNGR
Man In The Long Black Coat
Barb Jungr Sings Bob Dylan

"As a Dylan interpreter, Jungr is right up there with Simone or The Byrds." BBC

“brings the same creative capacity for reinterpretation and re-examination that Ella Fitzgerald brought to Cole Porter.” (The Wall Street Journal)

“one of the very best nightclub singers in the world” (Time Out, NYC)

The Rrazz Room at Hotel Nikko
Monday, October 10, 2011 • 8pm
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 • 8pm
Wednesday, October 12, 2011 • 8pm

The Metropolitan Room, New York
Tuesday, October 18 – Saturday, October 22 @ 7pm
Tuesday, October 25 – Saturday, October 29 @ 7pm

Catalina’s Bar and Grill Los Angeles
Tuesday, November 1 and Wednesday, November 2 @ 8pm

Austin Cabaret Theater
Thursday, November 3 and Friday, November 4

The internationally acclaimed performer and recording artist, Barb Jungr brings her acclaimed interpretations of Bob Dylan songs to The Rrazz Room in San Francisco, The Metropolitan Room in New York, Catalina’s Bar and Grill in LA and Austin Cabaret Theater.

The show celebrates Barb’s long association with the songs of Bob Dylan and the release of her second CD of the great songwriter’s work - Man In The Long Black Coat on Linn Records. The album has had 5 and 4 star reviews in the UK, and will be released in the US on September 27, 2011

Variously described by critics as magnificent, mesmerizing and magical and favorably compared to Nina Simone, Peggy Lee and Edith Piaf, Barb Jungr has, in recent years, built a formidable reputation on the international cabaret stage. With her stunningly evocative interpretations of songs from what she champions as the ‘Great New American Songbook’ (includes, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Jacques Brel, Bruce Springsteen and many more), Barb has taken the art of cabaret singing and imbued it with new vitality and relevance for the 21st century.

Widely regarded as “the foremost interpreter of Bob Dylan’s back catalogue” (The Independent), Barb’s new recording, which features several tracks not released by her before (Sara, Man In The Long Black Coat, It Ain’t Me Babe and With God On Our Side) marks the culmination of a decade-long affair with the work of Bob Dylan; as Barb states “Once I had started singing Dylan’s songs I couldn’t stop”.

Barb Jungr is enjoying another busy year of concert engagements throughout 2011, following last year’s release of the acclaimed album, The Men I Love, and a hugely successful series of live dates at home and abroad in 2010, including her first tour in St Louis, Cleveland and San Francisco last December.

Barb is wholly passionate about songs and singing, and this is never more apparent than in her live shows where she holds audiences spellbound with her revelatory interpretations and dramatic style of delivery. Slick and entertaining to the last, she balances these grand gestures with her innate sense of humor and comic timing.

Man In The Long Black Coat will be distributed in the US by Naxos of America, Inc.

www.barbjungr.com

"Empathy is her game, and few singers in any genre extend themselves more deeply into the lives of others." (The New York Times)

“in concert she hurls herself into her songs, breathing fire into every word… This intensity was nicely balanced by such boundless wit and charm as could easily have afforded her a stand-up comedy career” (The Sydney Herald)

BARB JUNGR – I WANT YOU: BARB JUNGR SINGS BOB DYLAN
accompanied in the US by Tracy Stark, (piano)

The Rrazz Room at Hotel Nikko
222 Mason Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: 415.394.1189
Fax: 415.781.0306
Tix: $30
Buy tickets at www.therrazzroom.com
Monday, October 10, 2011 • 8pm
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 • 8pm
Wednesday, October 12, 2011 • 8pm

The Metropolitan Room
34 West 22nd St._Between 5th and 6th Avenues_New York, NY 10010
Phone: 212.206.0440_Tix: $25
Buy tickets at: www.metropolitanroom.com
Tuesday, October 18 – Saturday, October 22 @ 7pm
Tuesday, October 25 – Saturday, October 29 @ 7pm

Catalina’s Bar and Grill
6725 West Sunset Blvd. _Hollywood California 90028_Phone: (323) 466-2210
Tix: $25
Reserve tickets at: http://www.catalinajazzclub.com/
Tuesday, November 1 and Wednesday, November 2 @ 8pm

Austin Cabaret Theater
At Shoal Crossing
8611 N. Mopac
Austin, TX 78759
Dinner available at 7 pm
Tix: $39 each (show only)
Show at 8:30pm
Thursday, November 3 and Friday, November 4
Reservations: 512.786.6121

High-resolution photos for press and publicity are downloadable here:
http://www.barbjungr.co.uk/press.html

Contact:

Park Avenue Talent
1560 Broadway Suite 1100
New York, NY 10036
212-812-6200
syoder@parkavenuetalent.com
iarthur@parkavenuetalent.com

2011-06-27T17:10:00.001-07:00

Gigs gigs gigs - Scarborough a highlight, stayed in a fabulous hotel in the Old Town, opened my window and looked out over the sea to the lighthouse on Flamborough Head, flashing across the inky waves. The town sparkled on the cliff edge, the gulls shrieked, and though I didn't sleep long, I slept wonderfully in that Yorkshire seaside air.

The Purcell Room was fabulous - sometimes the spirits are with us. And the Girl Talk shows have been joyous. But the revelation for me has been Durga Rising. Playing with Kuljit again has blown a door that had been closed wide open, and I can see ahead again. So now we're working on the next album, Stockport To Memphis, which will have percussion, and who knows what else, and some songs I've been working on for a while, with some songs we're writing now.

There's a bit of Durga Rising at Pizza Dean Street, here - /www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1_UIzn7TRA

Wonderfully exciting is that this week I head up to Billingham to see The Ballad Of Norah's Ark premiered by the fabulous Billingham Players. Bless them for making the first ever full scale production of this piece that I worked on for years with Russell Churney and Andy Goldberg. Sadly neither of them can come and see it, but Chris Manoe is joining me, and as he was at the first ever workshop, and has been with us in the States singing in it and in London, it feels really special. More on this when I've seen it. Till then - Namaste! The dance continues.........

2011-05-04T07:46:00.000-07:00

So the new remastered re released Durga Rising is on its way out into the world, only slightly ahead of the new collection of Dylan songs. Its a full on month, May, with the Purcell Room launch of Man In The Long Black Coat, looming.

The bank holiday - the second one - weekend was tremendous, as I managed to hook up with friends and also see Pina, the remarkable Wim Wenders film about Pina Bausch's extraordinary work, and Clyborne Park, the Pullitzer prize winning play, which had both Ernest and I roaring with laughter.

The new gym has the advantage of being 33 pounds a month cheaper than the Queen Mother's Sports Centre and is a nicer walk, across Vauxhall Bridge - where at low tide there's often a heron to be spotted. Its also got many more machines a lots of tattooed men who look like either bouncers or edgy criminals and are rather handsome. Couple of big plusses in my book. The look-at-me-in-my-lycra lot are happily absent, just hard at it runners and rowers and cross trainers and muscle pumpers.

Yoga continues to bring endless surprises, and the blossom is out all over Pimlico. May is busting out all over

2011-04-26T15:37:00.001-07:00

A weekend in Devon with my friends - beach in the sunshine after a walk through the valley from the carpark....

wonderful food and champagne, prawns and laughter, and so many bluebells, campion, orchids, stitchwort, primroses, wild garlic and more......

Sunshine, friends and nature - oh, and singing along to Carole King's 'Tapestry' in the car - magical moments - thank you Sally and Massimo.......

2011-04-07T14:59:00.000-07:00

Just back from Belfast - Newtonabbey The Mill Theatre - up on the hill beside a trout stocked mill pond, a fabulous theatre, state of the art and one of the best singing experiences I've had this year - lovely piano, superb sound systems making every little thing I sang audible.....gorgeous.

Stayed with Bill and Ed in their mansion of colour and comfort, just superb. Bill's fish pie may be the best in the western world......

Then a surprise courtesy of Michael, who got the Mayor, who he'd met in a bar in town, to throw a pre show party for us, and she - Paula, was the best advert for a mayor I've ever come across. After the show we were joined by John in black with bootlace tie who'd come down from Coleraine and after the show - totally wonderful audience - we wound up at Bill and Ed's having a ittle post show party, so it was craik up the wazoo and no mistake.

2011-03-23T17:41:00.000-07:00

superb day out in Whitstable with lunch at The crab and Winkle - catch of the day and mushy peas, pinot noir, sunshine on the sea and fishing boats unloading below us.

The black wooden fishing huts are gorgeous, the lanes of shops - sweeties and greengrocers, old style barbers and glorious funky clothes, delightful.

Then across the Kent countryside, a dusting of green on the forest branches, daffodils waving in the breeze, for tea in a real English garden, with ducks and chickens, dogs, scones, cream, jam, sunshine and friends.

2011-03-04T16:58:00.000-08:00

Coombe Bisset (in the pictures) was the first of our village hall shows - part of the Rural Touring scheme - I did 4 Wiltshire Halls last year in spring and had a superb time driving all around that lovely county, so this year am doing 4 more and another 5 in Nottinghamshire over the coming couple of months. There's something wonderful about driving through the spring nights on the way home after the shows - rabbits at the side of the road and the occasional owl. Each event's promoters feed and look after us. The halls are all very different, some incredibly modern and some like something out of the Ealing film archives.....but all are linked by the common factor of really lovely people, coming together, through the arts. There is a huge TUC march this month on the 26th against the massive cuts we are facing in the music and arts community and which the Musicians Union and other arts organisations will join. I hope to be there, to keep things like rural touring schemes and all the other funding that goes towards making our lives brighter and better, and illuminate our spirits.

2010-12-18T15:04:00.000-08:00

San Francisco - glorious in every way - and after the brutal -7 temperatures of St Louis, warm and inviting - the day I walked the bridge with Beate, it really looked like this. Iconic, fabulous to walk and quite a long way, 1.7 miles across apparently, its pretty big, and below us a man in a small rowing boat battling the currents and winning, and several frisky dolphins. Result!

So then - back to the UK and last night it was Margate after a day writing with Chris Eaton in the gorgeous rural idyll of the midlands - there's some deep countryside that way that's simply beautiful - and I saw a hawk settle on a branch and then fly down into the undergrowth.

So then - back to the UK and last night it was Margate after a day writing with Chris Eaton in the gorgeous rural idyll of the midlands - there's some deep countryside that way that's simply beautiful - and I saw a hawk settle on a branch and then fly down into the undergrowth.

Margate was The Harbour Cafe, run by David Mossman and Lesley. David used to run the old Vortex Jazz Bar in Stoke Newington High Street - a now legendary venue. Gone - but far from forgotten. We all head down and play there for our supper, because David booked us all right at the start. You never forget it.

Now there's only the Vortex and it'll be Christmas - or solstice - or whatever it is we celebrate.....and then onwards into 2011. But before that happens I want to thank everyone who made this last year so wonderful - all the friends and supporters all over the world who come to the shows and help and buy records and are just gorgeous. Thank you.

2011 looms behind the snow and winds - meanwhile please have a superb time and see you over the bridge, in the New Year,

namaste,

barb xxx

meet me in st louis

2010-12-03T14:06:00.000-08:00

Its late afternoon and I'm sitting in my hotel room at the very glam Chase Hotel on Forest Park corner, with the heating blasting full beam and the night gently falling bringing temperatures of -7. Very soon I will take my lovely black patent bag that I bought in Noosa while touring Australia in September and which contains: my makeup, stage dress and shoes, hair and teeth stuff, lyrics, perfume and jewellery, down to the lobby where I will meet the indomitable Simon Wallace and we will ask the nice valet man to get the car and I will drive like a little old lady to the venue. We have been given a car, I am good with automatics and have driven all over the world, but it always takes a bit of time to get the hang of stuff being on the other side of the road. Luckily Simon bellows "not that way" for me which is a jolly big help.

We are performing in the Kranzberg Arts Centre, which is next to the most extraordinary theatre - The Fox - which was built by Mr Fox to put his films in when the country's cinemas were under the Hollywood stranglehold. He made it - its 4200 seats - into a sort of Egyptian/Roma/Hollywood film/stained glass/sheik's tent affair which has to be seen to be believed. Our theatre is quite ordinary by comparison, but the people running it and us, here, are terrific. Give it up for Pat and Mike at Cabaret St Louis for working their socks off and being brilliant people. Here's a taster in a piccie.

Tonight its fab salad night at the Kota across the road from where we play - a pinot noir and that will make the show zing with a zinger.

One more here, tomorrow, then we head off and out to San Francisco, which may provoke another missal. Cleveland, which was where we were before this, was also fascinating - the best thing was my audiences who were gorgeous and meeting Gordon on the plane - he produced Fugees and much much more and introduced us to a programme he's doing there using music to inspire and empower deprived teenagers.

But now the clock calls and its car key time and the open road down to tonight's extravaganza. Adios amigos, till San Fran, barb xxx

november on the motorway

2010-11-23T14:23:00.001-08:00

Well, I'm standing on a fire escape in freezing Crystal Palace with the wonderful Steve Ullathorne making me laugh and Joey Choy making me look as good as is possible, and I'm thinking, golly this year has gone bloody fast!

In November I was in Totnes singing the anti war collection to raise money for the Helen Bamber Foundation. It was rainy at that time but the day I spent in Devon with Sally, my friend from school in Stockport, walking the banks of the Dart as the trees glowed in the sun, couldn't have been a more perfect autumn experience. The light on the golden and orange leaves, the swirling darkness of the water, that sense of Christmas creeping upon us.....The concert that night was lovely, though the material's obviously challenging, and quite an emotional 'sing', but afterwards we retired to a pub with a roaring fire and caught up with friends around a huge wooden table, scarves and coats piled around us. Then it was off to Liverpool on the train and Simon and I stayed, courtesy of the Philharmonic, at a boutique hotel with stained wood floors and a really brilliant shower - one of those ones that's like something from a space, with perfect jets of perfectly temperature water, and no discernable curtain or glass, just magically disappearing water into a tiled floor. The Roman's probably had showers like that. I'm always astonished by underfloor heating - but then, I'm from Stockport. It was called The Hope Street Hotel. After the show - which was a really good evening - Simon of course was in heaven with 90,000 pounds worth of piano - Dane and Gemma took us for drinks in our hotel bar which is all massive angles of glass for no reason at all pointing up at the ceiling - and pink champagne took us over. Grand! The breakfast was hilarious - a massive plate with delicately positioned vegetarian sausage and a very few mushrooms - I love hotels. I love them all - the boutique ones, the Premier Inns, the Olde Worlde ones and the Fawlty Towers. I love 'em all. We trained back to London and I ran into the consultation about our estate being sold and listened to the schtick and then it was car to Hemel Hempstead and a good curry and a gorgeous crowd of fans and a lovely night. The following day it was Leicester Square, which came on Remembrance Sunday and I thought might be difficult, but again - had some sushi and then the concert and what a lovely lot of people came along to that! A couple of days later it was up to Newcastle and another lovely curry, and The Sage, where the staff treat you like a queen and there are mince pies and herb tea and the audience had a really excellent heckler who made me, and the audience, laugh alot. Garry appeared with his friend, Steve, who makes conceptual art with filing cabinets, for drinks afterwards after which Simon and I walked back to the hotel through the rain-stained streets and then it was time for bed. I really enjoyed seeing a bit of Newcastle, its a city I don't know well, and I fell a bit in love with it.

In between all of that Jonathan and I have been skyping like crazy on Mabel Stark, and writing - I think - some brilliant songs. And Girl Talk had their first rehearsal. And we are all really excited about the new shows in the new year. And now I am packing for New York, Cleveland, St Louis and San Francisco, and thinking, wow, this year has gone bloody fast!

2010-10-29T14:22:00.000-07:00

Back in London again and just home after a delicious meal at Tas in Bloomsbury with Ernest. Not that I was in need of food by any means as I had the most superb time in NYC - arrived and stayed with the wonderful Jane Buchanan last friday and ate our bodyweight in sushi whilst watching Facejacker - which Jane has a yen for - then slept like a log. Didn't wake up in the fireplace, though, awoke in the East Village to a gorgeous autumn morning with sunshine and left for Kristine and Jason's wedding at The Lighthouse on Chelsea Pier. Such a treat, they shared the most personal and beautiful vows - I wish I'd been that mature at their ages - I was a punk then marrying a punk rock drummer - how times change - there was champagne, I sang, and we all did wedding dancing, which might be the best dancing in the world - you suddenly find yourself rockin'n'rolling with a small - and I mean 3 year old - boy, who might just be the best dressed male in the room! The next minute you are doing the rumba with an octagenarian.

Then a fabulous sunday morning yoga session at Sonic with its marvellous new studios with my lovely friend, Andy, Johanna was at a the helm, Andy and I had a diner lunch and did some good work on Norah's Ark, then had Italian dinner with Chan Polling of the New Standards, and sleep....then a wonderful Monday and dinner with Laurie Sansom at Pam's Thai in Hell's Kitchen where they have the best vegetarian duck and papaya salads in the known universe.

Tuesday was a wonderful day with a party at Terry and Jerry Shargel's after a lovely time with the wonderful Irvin Arthur, and a sit down with Liz and Peter Gallagher - all just terrific.

Tomorrow is a 4 hour yoga session - I know, I know, I am just a crazy yogini. But the good bit is dinner with Amanda afterwards. How noble will I feel then? How much will I deserve a glass of pinot noir?

Meanwhile planning for the November shows in Gateshead,London's superb Leicester Square Theatre, Liverpool Philharmonic and my old hunting ground - Hemel Hempstead.

Namaste and a fab autumn to all,

barb xxx

2010-09-26T07:51:00.000-07:00

Its been a wonderful week of spontaneous work avoidance - Mabel Stark calls constantly but I snuck off to Robin Hood's Bay and Whitby with its superb ruined Abbey - the Goth's delight - last week with my mum for a spontaneous seaside day - glorious, as it happens, sunshine and warm air, a gentle sea lapping below, great ice creams and finally, mushy peas with chips - what more could anyone want from a spontaneous seaside day?

Due to circumstances beyond my control my trip to New York in early October has had to be postponed, and now I'll be back at Joe's Pub in late November, which will be wonderful. I haven't played there for ages, and they were very happy to have me back. Heartwarming. From there I will go to Cleveland, St Louis and San Francisco.....all very exciting.

And this coming tuesday Mari Wilson and I rehearse for the first time with our potential Girl Talk third singer, who will join us for our week long run at The Pheasantry for our relaunch in early February. In spring we are also re-releasing the Durga Rising album I made with the wonderful Kuljt Bhamra and Russell Churney in 1995. Norah's Ark is getting a run by the Billingsgate PLayers, The Jungle Book is back on the road, and the Fabulous Flutterbys are touring. So 2011 looks very svelte and toned already!

Now all I have to do is master the handstand in yoga and learn how to dive, and I'm away! Look out world.

Namaste!

Barb xxxx

ps

here's another good blog

http://love2travelwrite.wordpress.com/

2010-09-08T23:15:00.000-07:00

Arrived back in Sydney after two fabulous days in Canberra and a glorious time in Noosa - albeit brief. Noosa was sub tropical, and my apartment room looked out over the river, up and down which jazz boats would trundle every hour or so through the day. I walked the headland with Gaynor, and a shark was feeding in the water below us beyond Dolphin Point. There were bush turkeys everywhere, with bright yellow necks and scarlet heads, blue black feathers and proud demeanour, and parakeets in the trees. Canberra by contrast was all rows of cherry blossom and imposing buildings. Street Theatre, where we played, was funky and fabulous, and we couldn't have been treated more kindly anywhere. Dean and Caroline made us so welcome, plying us with shiraz and crisps. And Pat and Bill took us, courtesy of their son, Tim, to Parliament House on the auspicious new parliament day, for a buffet lunch of superb food alongside the new Green MP's!

Now we're back in Sydney to play the legendary Basement, tonight, then tomorrow to the fabulous Katoomba for a free day before our last show on saturday.

How wonderful this country is.

Namaste from the other side of the world - unless you are here!

Barb xxxxxx

Abu Dhabi or bust and the irony of autotune

2010-08-26T06:31:00.000-07:00

Abu Dhabi is unbelievably hot. Heat shimmeringly, hot air hair dryer, sweat pouringly hot. There's some azure water glinting in the distance, and all around the hotel embankment swivels of tiny teardrops hurled into the blistering sunlight desperately try to keep the flowers and palms from shrivelling into nothingness, arid rolling sand all around, just waiting to engulf everything again, when the oil disappears.....

Ah, Bedouin riders, where are you now? All the romance of the tents and the golden faced Sheikhs, the thick kohl eyed, bejewelled beauties.....Fry's Turkish delight, essentially that's the ghastly truth, everything I know about the Middle East comes from a Frys Turkish Delight ad of 30 years gone, and Lawrence of Arabia. No wonder I am baffled by Abu Dhabi. Shan't be here for much linger, Melbourne calls. I'm reading Peter Temple to get in the Australian frame of mind.

Meanwhile, as I was returning to the world of the living after a particularly hot bath, I had Dusty Springfield on singing 'Son Of A Preacher Man', and it occurred to me that Dusty didn't need autotune. Nor did Solomon Burke. Or Jackie Wilson. And I am enraged by the notion that people come and see me or indeed any of the singers I love thinking they are being autotuned. The beauty of the true art of singing is the human voice in all its imperfect glory, moving us, to tears, to joy, to some bloody thing. Autotune doesn't help it do that, and if the current music industry's output is anything to go by, it has positively damaged it. Why is no-one making the anti-autotune argument? Ah, here's the airport shuttle......

Abu Dhabi.........

2010-08-20T02:28:00.000-07:00

Edinburgh - city of wondrous views and vistas which unfold around every corner - suddenly you can see nearly to the Highlands, or across the Firth of Forth - up to the wondrous Arthur's Seat or the follies. The New Town is my home for a week, and I am loving the long streets and the glistening pavements, pools of streetlights at night. Last night a fox streaked across the road as I walked home, wildness so near, always, in this ancient city.

I love Edinburgh. Whenever I am here I think how easy it would be to live here. So close to those fabulous mountains and my beloved Isle of Skye. I am yearning more and more for wilderness as life goes on. Recently, having spent a week at Sennen Cove, I wondered how different writing might be is the sea and land were that much closer.........

The shows each night are fabulous. Lots of lovely people coming and great to sing the songs nightly. The apartment is large enough to practice my yoga, and my flatmates Tina and Robert buy the most superb bread from Hendersons - which is luckily around the corner - so it is health and beauty daily, here!

Next week I travel via Abu Dhabi to Australia - from which I will write.

For the meantime - namaste!

barb xxxx

2010-08-09T15:59:00.000-07:00

Just back from a weekend in Germany, visiting Naumburg, primarily, where my cousin and her daughter live. Beautiful mediaeval town, walking around the Dom - where there's a magnificent statue that was apparently the inspiration for Disney's Wicked Queen - its as though time could have frozen in the 1600's. Cobbled streets of red tiled, dipping and sloping roofs, houses in subtle greens and pinks and creams, gables and small windows, time has forgotten these parts of the former East Germany, and there's alot of charm in that.

Visited Freyburg - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freyburg,_Germany - where there's a lovely wine makers, fizzy wines - my fave - and Leipzig Zoo which is quite spacious and - like Regent's Park - is trying to be modern and animal friendly, educational and preservational.

Edinburgh beckons, meanwhile. www.assemblyfestival.com/webpages/whatson_music.php

More on that in the next blog. Suffice it to say I am looking forward to playing the Men I Love songs, nightly.

Cornwall was a blast and my suntan prevails from one and a half days on Sennen beach.

Now its back to work on Mabel Stark. Martin Lacey the lion and tiger trainer, kindly gave me some insights into what its like to walk into the cage with big cats and I got - courtesy of ebay - a photo of Mabel with Mae West, so I think fortune is smiling on us. Lets hope she smiles throughout August, on us all.

Namaste,

barb xxx

2010-06-15T10:10:00.001-07:00

Letter from Pimlico and beyond, June 2010

Gardening is fun – hold the front page – I never got it, Dillie Keane told me gardening was her yoga, and I said ‘yeah yeah’ but suddenly yesterday it all came clear. I’d come up to Stockport to see my mum, and she had asked me to help her with the back of her garden where the trees were overgrowing, and I got stuck in and pruned and gathered and sweated and strained, and the end result was wonderful. So now I am thinking, maybe allotments are the secret of life in the city, maybe a garden is the road to happiness. It will probably pass, along with most of my enthusiasms, within days.My main joy is a rescued plant from the garden centre, that, re-potted, seems to have sprung to voluptuous, flowering life.

But, enough about gardening – and back to shows and yoga and song and music. I’m back into Mabel Stark at the moment and reading and writing, after a fabulous week at the Metropolitan Room in New York. It was a superb run, with friends and sunshine thrown in for good measure. Jane made me feel so at home in the East Village, and Thelma kindly picked me up from and took me to the airport. I went to a play reading of Kristine Reyes new piece for Victor Lirio’s Perl Project, and saw my friends Andy,, Gaby and David, and Hal and Alaine, and managed to fit in some yoga at East Yoga on 13th Street. It was gorgeous. Lovely audiences and a wonderful time. It passed by too fast. Simon played up a storm and I think had a ball too, hanging, as he does, with the ‘jazz cats’.

Back in the UK I went back and saw The Fabulous Flutterbys at The Little Angel with a unch of friends including Claire Martin and Mari Wilson, my God-daughter, Amelia and Mari’s daughter Lili. The cast have gotten so tight, Seonaid and Johny are precise and brilliant and Arran has blossomed into a puppeteer and plays and sings and plays like an angel. Gorgeous.

And now summer beckons and I’ll research and write and I hope to swim in the sea and catch some rays in Cornwall and see family and friends and relax, before Edinburgh and Australia in August and beyond.

And do some yoga!

So please do have a fab fab summer, and I hope to see you somewhere soon,

As always - namaste!

Love,

Barb xxxx

2010-05-03T10:10:00.001-07:00

Letter from Pimlico and beyond, MAY 2010

I am sitting on my new sofa looking at my new chairs illuminated by my new lamp standing on a new stand inside a new lampshade – life feels very surprising! Let me explain – Ernest was moving some things from his old flat and suggested I look at his chairs – which I did – and discovered he had those kind of chairs that swivel rather like the ones that the old Prisoner Number 2 used to sit in – blue velvet, very sixties – fab – and he had a matching sofa – so I said ‘Yes’ to all of them and also to a superb wooden coffee table the size of my living room. Luckily my mum was with me for a couple of days and she was able to supervise the arrival of said furniture. Of course at that point you couldn’t actually move in my flat for the excess of chair. But I put the things I had into my communal hall and let it be known they were all up for grabs and they were grabbed fast. Suddenly I was thrown into a whole new world. You see, for years I have had really uncomfortable chairs and sofa – and I had noticed that other people had sitting-on things that were gorgeous and comfy-wonfy, it wasn’t that I didn’t know that – but for some reason all mine were – well, to put it kindly, it was nicer to sit on the floor. But since I have had my new stuff I swip and swop of an evening, this chair, then that chair, and indeed I am writing now on my lovely sofa and feeling like a million dollars. But I needed a new lamp, and Amanda and Lisa took me to Heals, and now, on my sofa, I am lit by my lovely lamp. So, I am now queen of furniture.

The Fabulous Flutterbys has been my main focus for the last few months since the album came out – because now I am touring around singing my fab album songs and that’s all lovely – but right now, we are opening at The Little Angel Puppet Theatre in Islington. We had previews over the weekend and now in 6 days time it is our opening afternoon. The cast and team at the Little Angel are so wonderful I feel like I never want this period to end. The entire process of doing this piece has been – a bit like the last album actually – a total joy. Puppeteers are the kindest most creative people. They not only act and sing and contribute ideas but also do all the scene changes and manipulate the puppets and do several characters inside one scene! Its an amazing feat to watch. I have massive admiration and love for Jonny, Seonaid and our wonderful musician, Arran. And working with our director Pete Glanville, has been such a learning experience. That man deserves major prizes.

I must run out now and catch some spring sunshine, and head on over to the wonderful Jo Good’s show on BBC Radio London, to plug The Fabulous Flutterbys and the new album.
Via Con Dios!
Namaste!
Barb xxxxx

2010-03-11T05:40:00.000-08:00

Just got back from a walk into Homlestrand through the ice and snow to see the frozen fjord close up - it is amazing - just a sheet of solid metres thick ice spreading off into the distance. Around some of the boats in the marina there were patches of unfrozen water on which a few dejected looking ducks swam listlessly. But the walk was wonderful - there's a sense of spring even through all the ice and snow, there is birdsong and lots of magpies boinging about. The snow is blindingly white and the sky gloriously blue and the sun a pale but strong yellow. Fabulous. Am waiting to see what the Times make of the new album tomorrow but already know its a 3 star review, personally I prefer 4 and 5 stars but that's a Catholic nun school for you because I was on the hockey ad the netball team and to say we were competitive is an understatement as big as that frozen fjord out there beyond the ice covered branches of the bare, silver barked trees.

2010-03-10T12:12:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting backstage in Larvik, the audience are clapping and the show is winding down, just checked my email and trying to work out how to post our tenant's campaign newsletter onto my FB and Twitter and this site. The Crown Estate continue to behave like China dynastic lords disinterested in the care or lives of those they seek to manipulate to their own ends. Earlier this evening we sat, Jenny Carr and I, overlooking the iron grey icy Baltic sea and had a very odd but surprisingly delicious Larvik interpretation of a pizza. The sun was going down and these northern frozen skies gave the most gorgeous, delicate and subtle changes of pale pinks, lilacs and greys as the temperatures plummeted and the thawing snows froze over again. Tomorrow we are in Horten - an ancient Viking place, which always feels somewhat special to me. Meanwhile - shame on the Crown Estate and Paul Clark and his dark Lord minions of destruction - we shall win! May the force be with us!

2010-03-03T09:46:00.000-08:00

Brilliant news here, we had a great lot of press at the weekend for the CD from the Independent on Sunday and Desmond Carrington played the new cd on his show last night which you can hear on iplayer - he is on BBC Radio 2, so that was marvellous. Its raining outside and I managed to buy some new walking shows for 30 dollars in the sale this morning after a coffee on Lexington Avenue, because my MBT's are walked into the ground and I can't even get them on and off anymore without a battle of some kind. Then this morning there was a Huffington Post article by David Finkle which was wonderful. But aside from that my news is that today I am attempting my first full length yoga class since the lurgi got me. The reason I am going for it is the teacher is a Brit called Charlotte nicknamed Jimmy - I don't ask - who works at Jivamukti uptown - I am not keen on the downtown studios, but I love the Jiva uptown. Its a long room facing onto the street, huge old velvet curtains, flowers and statues, wooden floors, old building with creaky heating and grumbling pipes. But there's a lovely atmosphere to the place. And Charlotte is one of those teachers who bring out the best in your practice, no matter where you are with it. Then I shall come back and get myself decent and go to dinner at my favourite Italian restaurant here. It is just a tiny little place on 9th Avenue, with maybe top 20 seats, tables all crammed together, and the nicest staff and simple food. I love it there, and its my little Hell's Kitchen pilgrimage - that and Pam's Thai, which I had lunch at yesterday with Andy Goldberg. The thing I still have to do is visit my favourite clothes shop, Lululemon, opposite the Lincoln Centre. They are a yoga clothes specialist shop but I buy all my day clothes there, they're the best, easiest wearing day clothes, they're funky and fab and you throw them in the wash and never need to do a thing. This is what a blog should be. Shoes and yoga clothes. This is a blog that can take off. Shoes, yoga clothes and peace! Namaste lil guys and gals everywhere!

2010-02-25T13:19:00.000-08:00

The snow is falling thick and fast and I think I am on the mend - I base this on two things, firstly I can't face room service again and can face trudging two blocks for a decent pasta and a glass of red wine, and secondly before I do that I have the urge to take out my yoga mat and do a practice, and both of those I have had no inclination for since I arrived. Tonight the show is cancelled, due to the weather, but we had a run through in the room and it was fabulous - so I am looking forward to singing - and opening the show tomorrow night. And friday is a gorgeous night for singing. So, I am crossing my fingers.....and toes.......

http://www.ourhomesarenotforsale.co.uk/

2010-02-24T19:35:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Jonathan's 'Reluctant Sydneysider' blog I am writing from my hotel room on Manhattan's Upper East side whilst back home my compadres - seen here - are on the front line of our campaign to stop our homes being sold from under our feet. Obviously not from under mine since I'm currently elsewhere. And that's why I've named this blog 'Passport from Pimlico' - my little flat is the reason I can go all over the world. Its my trampoline from which I spring, panther like, across motorways and continents, fields and rivers. At the moment I'm on a sofa. But all blogs have got to start somewhere...........