Strictly Sparklers
I’m still excited about having been part of the audience for ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ on Saturday 24 October. Apparently I was one of a lucky few whose name was drawn at random from around 250,000 applications and given 2 golden tickets which entitled us to spend 2 hours queuing outside Television Centre in our finery. It would have been worth a far longer wait to see Bruce Forsyth work his magic, all the dancing and to catch glimpses of the inner workings of Strictly. But of course a particular highlight for me was the music. Harry Connick Jnr made me all nostalgic for the old ‘When Harry Met Sally’ soundtrack, whilst hearing The Strictly Come Dancing band’s rendition of ‘Superstition’ was groovetastically awesome. Could that be the best music job in the world?
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Anyway, back to more mellow, acoustic music… It’s been a Willow-y month. Anna and I recorded 4 tracks for a ‘Willow’ EP with Charlie Luffrum a few weeks ago. It features our original, jointly penned songs ‘Melodies’, ‘Writing on the Wall’ and ‘Eagle’, as well as our cover of the traditional ‘Long Time Traveller’. With an incredibly short turnaround, we were selling copies at Vic Cracknell’s night at Propaganda on 25 October. That was a great night of music from a range of very talented musicians.
On 28 October, Anna and I supported Kathryn Williams at the Cellar Bar. Another top night in a venue which now feels like a home from home. Kathryn drew a large, enthusiastic and respectful audience, and we were supported by friends and family. It’s always such a joy to play those types of gigs, and it was made even better by the fact that Kathryn and bassist Simon Edwards were absolutely lovely and played a beautiful set. Kathryn gave both Anna and I a copy of one of her albums in thanks for supporting her, whilst we passed on a copy of our EP.
Last week I recorded a solo session on Premier Radio. An interview and a live track with presenter Lizzie Crow on the ‘Unsigned’ show, which is due to go out tomorrow.
In October I was also involved in a music project where I performed as part of an event for World Mental Health Day. I find it humbling to be part of those types of projects because of the reminder of how music really does connect us all.
Upcoming Gigs
Anna and I are hoping to play a set at Goring Unplugged on Friday 20 November, and we have a gig booked in at the Half Moon in Putney in February. There’s also talk of us doing guest vocals with El Camino on a cover of The Eurythmics’ ‘Sweet Dreams’ at the Global Cafe in Reading on Friday 4 December. For more information on that, check out www.myspace.com/elcaminolatinband.
EPs
‘Sooner Or Later’ is available to download from Itunes and Amazon mp3, and you can get hard copies of ‘Sooner Or Later’ and our Willow CD from me at gigs.
Happy Bonfire night-ing.
Philippa
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