Birthday Corby Brighton Chelsea Flower show

Well, May has become life changing. Great reviews, a great party, great shows and flowers. Got a lot of photos for you, and a bunch of news. Got a wonderful review or too about the place, which is grand as the album is released in the US this coming week. Here's one from Seattle. Where, hint hint, I would love to play.

http://blogcritics.org/music-review-barb-jungr-hard-rain-the-songs-of-bob-dylan-and-leonard-cohen/

So - where to start? OK. The big birthday at the 606 club was just brilliant. Habie Schwarz took some superb photos of friends and performers there, and I'm including a couple, here. The 606 was the best host venue in the known cosmos and thanks to the kindness and generosity of my great friend Ernest Hecht we had a superb party. We had curry and prosecco, performances from Mel Harrold, Sarah Moule, Bjarne Norum, John Korn, Claire Martin and Simon Wallace, and Eve Ferret and Ben Bowling spoke, Philip Herbert wrote a poem specially and Rania Hafez read Sufi wisdom. And Mari Wilson, Claire Martin and I had a sing. Ronnie and the Rex blew up a storm and we danced. It was a party and a half and I thank everyone who helped make it so. And there was cake from Megan's in the New Kings Road that went all around London as well.  Here's Ernest having party fun -

Ernest laughing

Steve Ruby Barb and Claire Martin

The Old Girl Talk get together Mari, Claire and Barb

Sally Blades, Barb and Ernest

Phil Herbert getting a big kiss

James Offer brings the cake and candles

Sophie Coats and Amanda Denton Stuart Ongley and Dave Mauchline in the foreground

werewolves of London dancing to Ronnie and the Rex

Then there was a great show last friday night at my lovely second home theatre, The Core in Corby with a fantastic audience of Dylan, Cohen and Barb friends in the audience, before we met with the International Women's Forum weekend. On the saturday we were at BAFTA in the David Lean room (great black and white stills from some of Britain's most celebrated films) and Simon and I got a standing ovation from a fantastic audience of some of Britain's most mover-y and shaker-y women after rocking out Red Red Wine and Forever Young. On the Sunday there was a breakfast debate at King's Place, the sun beat down and we hammered at the way forward for women in the world. We got there in the end. Now we just have to make it so! Inspiring speeches and conversations, on, as Shelley Von Strunckel pointed out, hallowed ground, with Boadicea buried nearby - apparently under a platform at Kings Cross is one theory.

Monday found us in beautiful rural Northamptonshire. I went looking for the grass snake (which resolutely refused to show itself) in Ros's pond, while mum and Ros went to bond with the alpacas in the field beyond. I discovered I have alpaca fear, as they came running towards me and I upped and ran away! I may still be traumatised by the alsatian that ran at me when I was a little girl. But I shall go face my fears and the alpacas again next time I'm at Ros's and make peace with their leader. They kind of look like punk sheep so really we ought to get on fine. Here they are, mum and Ros and the alpacas, all having a super time together.

alpaca fun, Ros and Mum in Brigstock

more alpaca fun for Ros and Mum

alpaca a go go the guys love mum and Ros

After the alpacas we had tea sitting in the late afternoon sunshine in the garden before heading off to a superb rehearsal with Head of Snakes and The Deep Roots Tall Trees choir at The Ark school in Rockingham Road in preparation for the big concert in August. We made for home under a lovely May night sky but no owls and the next day we were up early and off to Brighton, where we hit the pier with a vengeance before I headed off to my shows at Komedia, with Simon playing up a storm and the best audiences in the Brighton festival.

Mum on the pier

Simon - a musician prepares

Mum finally got all of me in on the iPhone

me preparing in dressing room

we love Brighton

Back to London after a couple of great seaside days and then straight to heaven, or Chelsea Flower Show as its also know. I've never been and now I am going to go every year. It brought my latent botanist out, I conversed about carnivorous plants and peonies, cacti and fuchsias with anybody from anywhere who'd care to. What's wonderful is that all the gardeners are more than happy to engage anyone interested, because of the true love they feel for the work they do and the plants they nurture. I embraced the scent of a thousand blossoms. Glorious to be with Aki my sister in law and mum on such a sunny afternoon (after the hail and thunder) and just look at plants (with about ten million other people). We all crawled around in a state of bliss, bathed in photosynthesising artistry. Then we sped off like jet setters to Julian's birthday party, pink champagne and more people. And May isn't even over yet! Just a taster here of Chelsea's marvels and Aki, my mum and I, enjoying them. I'll leave you with the flowers and say - Happy Spring to you all on this gorgeous May Bank Holiday.

Bluebells in Richmond Park and short stories on Radio 4

May burst into sharp focus and the lovely Lena arrived from Australia. She compiles the bi-monthly newsletter and does a superb job, and as, when she visited me,  the day was glorious - Bank Holiday weekend - imagine, good weather on a May Bank Holiday weekend! As it was gorgeous, we headed to Kew Gardens along with half of London, to see the bluebells and walk the treetop walk. Parking proved something of a challenge, and involved sitting in the car eyes peeled like a metal bird of prey ready to swoop into a space when someone else vacated. Once parked though, heaven awaited. The Treetop Walk is quite something. I have suffered form vertigo for some time (couldn't walk across the Carrick Rope Bridge in Northern Ireland) and conquered it by going climbing with John Paul Zaccarini at the Ladbroke Grove Indoor Climbing Wall. If you want to conquer vertigo go to a climbing wall with a circus professor who can scale a rope in 3 seconds. Thats my advice. I managed quite well on that wall and surprised myself. So I had a flying lesson. Near Shoreham there's a small flying centre and you can take a lesson and you fly over the sea in what I can only describe as something thats one step up from a paper plane. The wind bats you about like billyo and you essentially live to face another day, very slightly braver and less scared of turbulence. Recommended. I shall try that rope bridge again when I get the chance - which wasn't when we played Newtownabbey last week, to a glorious audience who couldn't have been nicer. After the gig we met up with John and Dorothy Morrison at Bill and Ed's after show and generously thrown party. Back to Kew. The Treetop Walk takes you in a circle through a bunch of treetops. Thats the general concept. And as the horse chestnuts are in blossom right now, and all the trees are bursting with new life in a million shades of green, it was stunning. Felt like a bird. Bird on a mesh walkway, at any rate. Then to the bluebell woods. Heaven is probably like Kew bluebell woods in spring. Walking through a scent laden sea of tremulous blue flowers, I thought, I could stay here forever.

First flash of the bluebells

The path leads through the blue.

The blue goes on and on…….

Midsummer night's dream could happen here so easily

There's still time to catch the short story Sunset to Break Your Heart, which is set, not as the BBC announced, on Shetland, but on the Isle of Skye, and Barra, South and North Uist in the Outer Hebrides. It was written as part of the Songwriters Write Short Story series for BBC Radio 4, and was a joy and a challenge. Mine is the Sunset to Break Your Heart story in full and words rather than song - though a it of the song tops and tails the piece. It was read by Suranne Jones, and was my first short story to be aired. You can hear it here till Sunday the 11th.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b042l2xw

And Sunday and Monday we sing the Dylan and Cohen songs with Dudley Phillips on bass, Simon Wallace of course, on piano, at Pizza Express Jazz Club Soho. Then to Corby on the 16th at The Core at Corby Cube, and beyond that The Brighton Festival, Komedia, on the 20th and 21st of May. All the dates and booking details are here  under Live Dates.

http://www.barbjungr.com

So, see you there, between bluebells.

Till then……..

Fleece Jazz, Crazy Coqs, Easter, The Verb and April's end

The month began with a gig at Fleece Jazz which was recorded for BBC Radio Suffolk, so Hard Rain was rendered live with Dudley Phillips on bass and Simon on the upright joanna there in Stoke by Nayland Golf and Spa hotel which is where the gig is held. We were in a sort of ballroom with a view across a paved patio over the links. Is it only me thats amused by people driving around an area that even my mum with a sore foot could walk around? I thought the entire purpose of golf was the walking and so on. Clearly I know nothing about golf. And everything I do know I know from Larry David, so obviously, its not much at all. The gig was magic, however, and the drive there its usual vile friday afternoon Dartford Crossing Tunnel nightmare. Nightmare at Dartford Tunnel. Its right there. Driving back under a waxing moon was beautiful, with the scent of blossom in the night air. No owls though. Always a disappointment.

Then there was a slight sojourn in Stockport which involved driving across The Forest of Bowland, which is a high moor to the right of the M6 as you drive north with the Lake District to your left. Few people bother with this bit of the country and it really came to some sort of notice through the first series of The Trip, as Steve Coogan and Rob Bryden talked and ate their way across it, on camera. Its a beautiful and curiously remote spot and we managed to cross the moor on the single track road meeting maybe 6 other cars in the entire journey. From the top you can see the North Yorkshire Dales and the mountains of the Lake District and out over to Morecambe Bay and Lancashire. Devastatingly beautiful if, like me, your thing is barren treeless places with a lot of wind and space and not much else.

from the top of the Forest of Bowland looking north to Yorkshire

Mum took this, I'm in my element on the moors. 

On arriving back in London I went to Crazy Coqs to see Ann Hampton Calloway with my mate Claire Martin. Ann was backstage and we popped in to do "darling have a fab show" and she said "shall I get you two up for the improvised song?" and we said "uh oh" and went out to watch the show.

Ann Hampton Calloway and I being lovies.

Ann was brilliant, she played A Case of You and had both of us blubbing within minutes. Seconds, actually. So with tear streaked faces we took to the stage when she called us up and together we improvised a song made up from stuff our lovely audience chucked at us. Ann's a dab hand at this, Claire acquitted herself well, and someone kindly filmed the entire thing from the perspective of my backside. Its here….

We were Divas and I sand possibly the highest notes I've managed for many a moon. I may be turning into an opera diva………I'd be perfectly happy to do the Opera House Covent Garden - there's a hint out there - right there……

Then it was Easter and I walked out all over Kingston and Richmond Park with Sue Hart and Jane Pettingell, in a blustery sunshiny day. Isabella Plantation was packed with blossoming azaleas and lilac and wisteria and camellias - extraordinarily beautiful, it was like being in Japan - those glorious Japanese gardens - peaceful and contemplative.

flowers a go go at Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park

The Still Pond at Isabella Plantation

Blossom reflected in the Still Pond at Isabella Plantation

And from there to the cinema with Ernest to see We Are The Best and Locke. Both were worth the afternoon and the tenner in the Gate at Notting Hill, on a cold, wet Easter Sunday.

And then to Manchester to record The Verb with Ian McMillan at the helm and John Carey, Maria Hyland and Ross Sutherland as the other guests. Ross cracked us up with his poem, and I sang Who By Fire and tiny bots of Blowing in the Wind and Sara. Its on inlayer for a week, maybe more, here -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04154dy

So we come to the end of April, and the first third of the year is gone, and I don't know where or how. The Making of Hard Rain video is picking up hits and I'm hoping Matt Lynch and I can make another this coming month - watch this space……meanwhile, in case you haven't seen it yet -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tssuy8Y5YrE

Till we speak again, gather ye blossoms where ye may……happy spring!

Hard Rain hard road Chester Corby Totnes and more…..

Its been a wild time of travel, workshops and travel, joy and reviews and blog writing and all sorts. I don't mind any of it as the blossom's coming and spring is here and I mediate on life and the universe as my birthday - gasp - approaches - and so much is happening and so many wonderful people pop in and out. Tonight as a for example, the fabulous Gary Williams dropped by for wine and chat and catchup and as always, he was inspiring. Last night I was with Sally my old friend from Stockport and her husband Massimo in South Brent, eating toast at midnight on the edge of the moor and hearing about Simon's annual vegan egg eating departure, last weekend it was Corby…..but lets start at the end with blossom from South Brent this morning.

South Brent on a soft rainy morning

Two pinks together, magnolia and something else. Note to self - listen to Gardener's Question Time more often.  I parked just opposite them last night without even noticing they were there under that sliver of a moon after the show in South Devon Arts Centre. We had all eaten at the Riverside Bistro in Totnes. Here's Sally, Massimo and Simon, just before the dinner arrived.

Sally, Massimo and Simon Wallace

Beside the Riverside Bistro at dusk…...

Last weekend saw the first stage of our big Made in Corby session of Deep Roots Tall Trees with the Royal Philharmonic musicians and team with James Redwood. We worked on songs we've been crafting for the last two years and also, very recently, with musicians from Corby and the orchestra, and tried new structures and choral parts. Gareth Fuller was with us, too. We had a total ball, and lunchtimes were a treat with home made soup from Kate Dyer and cakes made by Anne in the breaks. Good food and new music. Couldn't be/have been, better. (Thanks to Lola, Carol and Deep Roots for the photos)

working in Corby

I had, in between all of that, written a blog of High Fifty, about my trip to Blackpool to see Bob Dylan last November with my mum. That's here -

http://www.high50.com/culture/barb-jungr-the-things-i-do-for-bob

There have been a ton of recent reviews which are all on the website or on the Facebook pages - here

https://www.facebook.com/HardRainBarbJungr?skip_nax_wizard=true

and now its time to catch up on some sleep before the show in North London tomorrow. Chester, Corby, Devon and North London……we get around……The Beach Boys - always joy……….till next week…….lets get around……..

Sheila on the keyboard James conveying harmony

March 24th and the album's out along with the daffodils!

I walked back though St James Park today and there were so many daffodils. I thought of the Lakes and the way daffodils make the heart sing. Make poets write…..They're so cheery. And they were cheering on the Hard Rain release which is today! Joy of joys. The record on my own label comes out! So, here's bags of news about it all.

We had a wonderful show at the 606 with Simon Wallace on piano and David Mantovani on double bass and Max Petrossi took some wonderful pictures.

The CD's on all kinds of media - for example super duper hi fi freaks who spend more on their equipment than I do on shoes, can download the album at super duper levels from Linn Records High Definition site here
http://www.linnrecords.com/recording-hard-rain.aspx

and that's wonderful.

I finished my short story and now the BBC will find someone to read it, (I had some fabulous ideas so I keep my fingers crossed) and there'll be a date in May when the radio'll go on and there it will be. Unfortunately I couldn't think of why George Clooney should read it, sadly. Believe me if I could've I would've.

Today I did one good and one bad direction. I directed the lovely young man in a wheelchair who was en route to the Nigerian Embassy which for some reason is in New Scotland Yard unless he was having me on which is always possible as I've always been incredibly gullible, to the right road. That direction was good. Then some French people - quite old - wanted Twinings (who knows?) and I sent them by accident down the wrong road. So, one good and one bad. The other week I was walking home in the rain and a young couple stopped me looking for a particular hostel nearby - the weather was so very bad (cold cold cold) and they were so wet I couldn't bear it so I walked them there. They were, it transpired, students from Spain and Italy and in love and I always think of all the times I've been in foreign places and people have been brilliant to me. You have to give back. I hope the elderly French people see it that way…..

You can get the new CD on Amazon and its on Spotify and a thing called Deezer and another called Digital 7. Its a whole new world.

This coming week we're playing in Chester at Alexanders, and then I'm in Corby for the weekend. And for anyone who wants to know what I'm doing in Corby - which is tremendously exciting - its this -

http://fingerprints07.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/choir-notes-from-fridays-rehearsal/

So have a great week, and remember, if giving directions, try to think first before you send elderly French people down the wrong road. I have to go because the Archers has started and I shout at the radio when Helen comes on.

Happy spring!

Aloha. Ciao and Namaste.

Spring, Stockport and short stories…..

Last week I had a call from the Beeb asking me if I'd like to write a short story for their week of singer songwriters writing short stories series. As, unless I have a serious kick in the backside or a deadline the size of Paris, I'll do almost anything to avoid writing - including cleaning the fridge or doing the car tyre pressures, I said "yes", because I thought, well, that'll be one chapter nearer my biography ever starting. So I got cracking and managed to do a bunch even on the train yesterday en route to Stockport to see my mum and "do things", as she mysteriously puts it. The "doing" means looking through old family photos and deciding if anything can be thrown away. As my hoarding genes come pretty much pure straight from my mum, most of what was in the cupboard has, having been examined and oo and aaghed over, gone back into it. How do you spell "aagh"? I'll stick with what I had though the red line's gone under it.

Mum is watching "Call the Midwife" or something similarly titled.You'd have to pay me to watch that. That's why I'm writing this. Every so often I glance up and think, no, there's not enough money in the world to make me watch this. It'd be like Clockwork Orange where they had to pin his eyes open to keep him from looking away.

Had nice news here and there about the album, and various interviews and so on. Its coming out in the USA at the end of May, and I'm writing a short story.

Today we drove past Jodrell Bank, spring blossom and daffodils, snowdrops and lambkins. Spring has sprung even in the Northwest.

Corby songwriting group and Head of Snakes rehearsals continue apace as we hurtle towards our wonderful workshops at the end of March.

Now the midwife is sat chatting to a nun. Who writes this stuff? We had nuns at my school, and they were quite good value, unlike the cheerless lot on this show.

Last week brought 2 extraordinarily fab nights working with Julian Clary, Sarah Travis and Philip Herbert, aka Hugh Jelly. St James Studio was packed to the rafters with old JC fans and friends and generally lovely people. We did some of the old songs, too, including Mincing Machine and Uncanny and Unnatural.

Here we are back in ye olden days…..

Rehearsals took place at Julian's earlier in the week, with quite a lot of laughing and some good food and a little wine. I love St James, as I can walk back from it to Pimlico in the moonlight along my quiet streets. Here's a backstage madness photo…..

The gang reunion and music brought back so many glorious memories for us all. It was a total joy. David McGillivray factoted us - I know thats not a word but its what he did, and great fun was had by all.

Next weekend on friday March 14th I'm in Norwich -

http://www.norwichplayhouse.co.uk/whats-on/detail/barb-jungr-hard-rain

and I'm at Cheltenham Playhouse on saturday March 15th, here -

http://www.beyondeternitypromotions.com/Venue-Jazz-Club.php

and on sunday 16th March at the fabulous 606 in Lots Road, Chelsea.

http://www.606club.co.uk/606club_Pair/whatson2014/march.html#sun16

So we'll see you there I hope!

Spring - gorgeous - whatever you are doing, wherever you are - enjoy every minute of it……Namaste, Barb