Kat Frankie: The Tops

This week's wake up song is by Berlin-based Australian singer-songwriter Kat Frankie [link]. I first heard this song a couple of weeks ago and was immediately entranced by it's beautiful melody and taken by the line 'Everybody said to you they won't do love'. Gorgeous & enigmatic, you never really know whether the song marks the end or the beginning of a relationship. Hope you enjoy, lots of love tt

The attic

The attic is now on my website's home page for easier access. Love tt. ps hope you are enjoying the sun ; )

Podcast 13

Podcast 13 has been added !! If you haven't already just sign up to the mailing list to gain access to the Attic to listen to the podcast. Hope you enjoy, lot's of love, tt

Nocturne

Last week was very exciting musically; I managed to catch both of Elisabeth Leonskaja's London appearances. Schubert in a lunch time concert on Tuesday and then on Saturday she was the soloist in the Schumann piano concerto at the Barbican. In a recent interview Leonskaja revealed that what really concerned her during a concert was not the applause, or length of applause, or even booing but the quality of silence that she could perceive between herself and the audience. I’ve thought a lot about this after seeing her perform this week. I always find her performances extraordinary but on Saturday evening she played a Chopin Nocturne as an encore that one critic noted was ‘transcendental’. I was very aware of the silence during this performance, it felt as if it contained the energy of the audience’s concentration, or commitment or just pure pleasure in Leonskaja’s playing and that this in turn was a reflection of Leonskaja’s own energy. A wonderful exchange! Saturday’s concert was recorded and will be available to listen on the radio all this week but I hesitate to listen to it, as the memory of the feeling in the hall that accompanied the music is so precious to me. I think it unlikely that a live recording can capture that... love tt

Jeane Manson : Avant de nous dire adieu

As promised, this week's wake up song is rather cheesy but it's also sexy, it sums up what I like best in French pop music - even though the singer Jeanne Manson is American. A very famous song in France I first heard it in clubs (obviously not in 1976 I was still in primary school !) some time during the five minutes I spent in Parisian clubs during my mid-20s. I have loved it ever since, and play it when I do the dishes sometimes. The favourite songs that I do the dishes to, are all vaguely European chanteuses expressing some aspects of love that English and American pop just can't seem to reach, but we won't get lost in that as 'Songs I do the Dishes to' doesn't really work as well as 'Wake Up Song'. The lyrics to this are great-here is a vague translation of the opening lines : Let's make love before we say Goodbye, Before we say Goodbye, Let's make love because it's over between us, Since it's over between us, Let's make love like it was the first time...' That's a very classy way to end a love story ! Hope you enjoy, Lots of love tt

Tony Blackburn - Disc Jockey

This week’s TT Test is taken by a voice that most people of my generation in the UK have grown up with, the ever-popular DJ Tony Blackburn. He began broadcasting in the 1960s on pirate radio station Radio Caroline and was the first DJ heard on Radio 1; currently (and because I’m a bit of an old soul girl!) it is his Soul & Motown show on Radio London, which I look forward to on the weekends. He is known for his very warm voice & manner, rather cheesy jokes and a deserved reputation for being a very nice man! I’m very happy that he has taken the TT Test! What is your wake up song at the moment? Alicia Keys ‘Empire State of Mind’ – it really gets me up and going at 3am for my Weekend Breakfast show. If you could travel back in time, which period would you most like to visit and why? Controversially, I wouldn’t want to travel back – I want to go forward to 2060 because I think it will be fantastic to see all the new technology. So much has happened since I started my career and I know it will get even better. I love eating out and discovering new restaurants, can you please recommend one to me? The Ivy [link]– it’s my favourite and they do a great vegetarian menu. What is the best advice you have ever been given relating to your professional/ creative life? Keep your feet on the ground and remember that you can be replaced. My first agent also told me to accept everything that was offered to me as my career might not last that long – that was 45 years ago and now I’m knackered! BONUS QUESTION: Over your career you must have met many talented performers & seen great live performances, can you tell us a little about the artists who have most impressed you? Diana Ross – she is just a fantastic performer. There are so many great artists out there but she is head and shoulders above them. I got Diana Ross ‘I’m Still Waiting’ to no 1 in the UK and she hasn’t looked back since! (In 1971 it was largely due to Tony’s championing of ‘I’m Still waiting’ originally an album track that it went to no 1 in the UK Charts).

Happy Taxi !

Yesterday, I was in the back of a black cab & I noticed that the driver had hung a string of small multi-coloured flags around his window. On the flags I could make out what looked like ancient script & I asked the driver what the flags meant. He explained that they were Buddhist prayers & as the wind brushes against the flags the prayers are also gently blown around the world. We then chatted about meditation and at one point I laughed and said, "Well, I've never met a Buddhist cab driver before" (& I've only ever seen St.George's flags,which represent England , in black cabs !) and the driver who did genuinely have a Cockney accent answered :"Oh, there's a few & I know a few Transcendental Meditation drivers too..." This made me absurdly happy. I don't really know why, I'm not religious but the idea of meditating London cabbies is too cool to resist :) Love tt

Illustration (c) Sylvie Bardet