A Wonderful Poem for David Bowie

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"... in order to be heard, I must not repeat myself, nor must I depend on anyone listening..."

Today would have been David Bowie's 70th birthday. I have to be honest and say that I only really started opening up to Bowie's music in the past five years or so, encouraged by two friends who are both superfans. I visited the David Bowie Is exhibition with one of these friends and it had a huge impact on me. I love learning about people's stories and their paths to their creative goals. I thought a lot about how Bowie reinvented himself over and over again. How he made it 'ok' to do so. Which is just hugely inspiring for any creative almost in a way I can't even put into words.

This morning Mary Anne Hobbs celebrated Bowie on her breakfast show, including a conversation with Lavinia Greenlaw who wrote a poem for him on the day he passed away. You can listen to the poem by clicking on the link below. The quote at the top of this post is from the poem. It really resonated.

A Wonderful Interview With Patti Smith

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I often listen to podcasts while I travel from A to B and this week brought a real treat from Alec Baldwin's podcast Here's The Thing. His interview with Patti Smith is just wonderful. They talk about her history, from childhood and a pure desire to do something creative, to her extraordinary relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe. I loved how she described meeting her future husband, Fred Smith, as being "like a song" and how her passion for art and music runs so deeply in her. So inspiring. You can listen to the podcast here.

Sunday Song - Kissing A Fool

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"But remember this
Every other kiss
That you ever give
Long as we both live
When you need the hand of another man
One you really can surrender with
I will wait for you
Like I always do
There's something there
That can't compare
To any other."

I chose this song for today's Sunday song because the lyrics of the bridge mean a lot to me but I could have also picked Careless Whisper for being the song me and my sister played endlessly on my nana's Dansette record player... Or Everything She Wants for being the song that me and my flatmate in my first shared house used to sing... Or Freedom for being the song that I played loud and danced round the lounge to... Or... All of them.

Bless you George Michael. Thank you.

Sunday Song - Rescue Blues

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"Everybody wants you to be special..."

Whenever I'm lost for what song to play, I always come back to this. I will never forget the first time I saw Ryan playing at Brixton Academy around 2003 I think and he sang out that first line acapella and that was it...

This is a picture I took when I saw him play at Shepherd's Bush Empire a couple of years ago. Click on it to hear the song : )

Sunday Song - Too Young

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"I knew a time was gone and it took me like ages, just to understand I was afraid to be a simple guy."

I'm not sure what made me think of this song by the brilliant Phoenix. It puts me right in the middle of the feeling that I have when I watch Lost In Translation. A feeling of escapism, connection, adventure... Of being in another country without a friend in the world but somehow that being the most exciting, adrenaline rush in the world. I think I know what the Monday movie is going to be : )

Geno Washington

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Another confession, I had heard of Geno Washington but didn't know too much about him and his story. Until yesterday, when he was interviewed by Lauren Laverne on BBC 6 Music. Geno's sense of joy and love of life was so infectious I had to share the interview here. That man has stories to tell and a laugh you won't forget! I tweeted about how much I loved the interview and had to giggle when the man himself retweeted my tweet and followed me. Life is beautifully random and fun sometimes : )