Filed under: press

'Sunday Girl' Phillipa Alexander has a Sunday baby - and a hit song from Mail on Sunday Ad (includes free mp3 download)

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She was an unknown session artist until she left thousands transfixed
by singing Blondie’s Sunday Girl on television adverts for The Mail on
Sunday’s You magazine last week.

Now Phillipa Alexander is celebrating the success of the song with a
Sunday Girl of her own.

Phillipa recorded the track for the advert just days before giving
birth to her daughter Priya. And, appropriately, the little girl came
into the world on a Sunday.

‘The song is ­obviously nothing to do with mother­hood, but to have
given birth to my own Sunday girl and to have sung it while she was
still inside me feels like a special and very sweet coincidence,’ said
Phillipa.

Her song is used on a series of adverts whose theme is ‘You time’ –
the precious moment of the day when readers retreat with their
magazine.

The Mail on Sunday was inundated with requests to know who the singer
is – and is now making the complete track available as a free
download.

The musical arrangement to Sunday Girl was masterminded by M&C Saatchi
agency composer Alex Ball. Although not a household name, Phillipa,
38, has impersonated ­singers from Nina Simone to Billie Holiday and
provided voiceover performances for clients including Levi’s, Lynx and
L’Oreal.

‘I am a huge fan of Blondie,’ said Phillipa. ‘Heart Of Glass is my
fav­ourite Blondie song.’

Phillipa moved from Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, to America when she
was seven after her father Colin got an engineering job in San Diego.

Her creative ambitions were encouraged by her mother, Wendy, an artist
and illustrator.

Phillipa enjoyed success as a session singer before moving back to
Brighton with her family at 21. There she met her husband, music
producer Sanj Sen, 35, in 1999.

He suggested a career doing voice­overs for advertisements, and seven
years ago she joined Calypso voice­over agency.

As well as her singing and voice­over work, Phillipa runs a successful
songwriting business, Chicks With Hits, with friend Ellie Wyatt. Their
songs have been heard on hit U.S. shows such as Grey’s Anatomy and
Desperate Housewives, and they are currently trying to secure a record
deal for their latest artist, Larissa Eddie, and her band, Eddie.

But Phillipa’s priority now lies with her gorgeous baby girl.

‘Holding her for the first time was the most incredible experience,’
she said. ‘Priya is adorable, although running my own businesses at
the same time is tough. I am constantly juggling. I am hoping she will
teach me to relax more.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1305022/Sunday-Girl-Sunday-baby--hi...

The Crayonettes with Kathryn Williams

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The Crayonettes
Playing Out: Songs For Children & Robots
[One Little Indian; September 6]

Longtime fans of Kathryn Williams will know that she has plenty of weird and wonderful song ideas of her own (who can forget the early demo ‘Fandango Lasagne’?), but this debut album from side project The Crayonettes – a duo formed with fellow mother Anna Spencer, formerly of punk band Delicate Vomit – takes its inspiration from the imaginative playworlds of their two sons, Louis (4) and Lenny (3). Tired of the unbearably earnest singalongs found on your average children’s CD, Kathryn and Anna aimed to incorporate everything from punk and disco to hip hop and country into their version of a kids’ record.

“We would meet in the evenings when the kids were in bed…and play!” says Kathryn of the making of Playing Out. “It was so much fun creating with a friend. We would be crying with laughter and have to wait for the giggles to go before doing a take. When we’d written a song we would play it to the kids and get a reaction.”

The writing sessions weren’t the only fertile thing – both women became pregnant again during the project’s development; Kathryn’s second son Ted was born in April, and Anna is due in August. And to add further continuity, the album artwork is by Anna’s eldest son, eleven year old Sam.

Undeterred by their additional motherly duties, Kathryn and Anna plan to take The Crayonettes out on the road later this year. In the meantime, you can catch Kathryn playing the following dates in support of her recent album, The Quickening:

23.07.10 Trowbridge Festival, Trowbridge
24.07.10 Port Eliot Festival, Port Eliot
21.08.10 Beautiful Days, Devon
23.09.10 The Sage, Gateshead
25.09.10 Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

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Tracklist:
01 Robots In The Rain
02 Disco Teeth
03 Rainy Day
04 Hopscotch
05 Emergency
06 Sweet On The Floor
07 Let’s Dance On The Moon
08 Spooky Way Home
09 How Hot Is A Toad
10 Pirates On The Bus
11 Illegal

Source: Wears the Trousers:
http://www.wearsthetrousers.com/2010/06/incoming-the-crayonettes/

Original article by Alan Pedder:
http://www.wearsthetrousers.com/author/alan-pedder/

Related links:
www.kathrynwilliams.net

exclusive: premiere of new kathryn williams video

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Kathryn Williams releases ‘Just A Feeling’, the second single from her critically acclaimed seventh album The Quickening, on Monday and One Little Indian have been kind enough to give us ('Wears the Trousers' Magazine) the exclusive premiere of the accompanying video.

In this suitably dreamy promo, live performance footage is overlaid with images of the natural world – migrating birds, palm trees, raindrops, autumn leaves, clouds etc. – and the effect is borderline hypnotic as Kathryn’s lulling voice coos and questions, “What if love is just a feeling?”.

You can view the video here:
http://www.wearsthetrousers.com/2010/05/exclusive-premiere-of-new-kathryn-wil...

The digital single comes backed with exclusive non-album track, ‘Timer’, which you can preview here:
http://www.7digital.com/artists/kathryn-williams-1/just-a-feeling/

Article courtesy of 'Wears the Trousers' Magazine and Alan Pedder:
www.wearsthetrousers.com

Follow Kathryn Williams on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/kathryncaw

Or follow 'Wears the Trousers' on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/trsrstweets

Or me!
www.twitter.com/uselessdesires

"Twitter For iPhone" Is Only One Tweetie Update Away & FREE to everyone

Twitter For iPhone Is One Tweetie Update Away and Free to everyone 


He's a tech-geek, net-geek, design-geek, author-geek, photography-geek and of course, a glee-geek. A Gleek. A true, geeky geek.
 And on facebook too ~www.facebook.com/ryanjaprice

Glee: The Music, Volume 3 "Showstoppers" Due May 18th ~ Exclusive Track-listing & Artwork

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Freshly leaked from Sony to day (source withheld), here’s the tracklist for Glee: The Music, Volume 3 – Showstoppers (and Deluxe Edition). Since the Madonna songs were all released on the separate The Power Of Madonna EP, none of them will be featured on this volume. Due for release on May 18th 2010 worldwide. 

1. Hello Goodbye
2. Gives You Hell
3. Hello (featuring Jonathan Groff)
4. A House Is Not A Home
5. One Less Bell To Answer / A House Is Not A Home (featuring Kristin Chenoweth)
6. Beautiful
7. Home (featuring Kristin Chenoweth)
8. Physical (featuring Olivia Newton-John)
9. Total Eclipse Of The Heart (featuring Jonathan Groff)
10. Lady Is A Tramp
11. One
12. Rose’s Turn
13. Dream On (featuring Neil Patrick Harris)
14. Safety Dance
15. I Dreamed A Dream (featuring Idina Menzel)
16. Loser
17. Give Up The Funk
18. Beth
19. Poker Face (featuring Idina Menzel)
20. Bad Romance

(Deluxe Edition tracks are listed in bold.)

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See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Glee#Track_listing
for full info on Music from Glee, including listings and release dates

WRONG ROOMS: Critique by Andrew Hodges: An 'Intelligent' Review of the Wrong Rooms Microfiction (screengrabs)

First, a Facebook app notification (which he deleted):

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Then a text message from Facebook:

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Then an email from Facebook!

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Finally, a brief exchange of text messages between Andrew & I:

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There's a lot more I could post...

* * *

PS. In *less than* 24 hours, around 900 people *chose* to read my first short story, and with around 100 new readers every day, I'm eternally grateful to them all. It might not be that good, but a lot of people are enjoying it.

Playlist: The Very Best of Dixie Chicks ~ Available June 1st 2010

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Legacy Recordings is proud to announce the release of Playlist: The Very Best of Dixie Chicks, the career-spanning collection of chart- topping hits, classic tracks and personal favorites selected by America's top-selling female group, available everywhere Tuesday, June 1.

The latest installment in Legacy's acclaimed Playlist Series of artist- assembled "Very Best Of" career-overviews, Playlist: The Very Best of Dixie Chicks includes key tracks and essential selections from all four of the Dixie Chicks chart-topping studio albums, remastered for this CD release for a state-of-the-art listening experience.

Playlist: The Very Best of Dixie Chicks provides access to an exclusive Dixie Chicks pdf including an essay, photos and other bonus features once the CD is inserted in a computer drive.

Playlist: The Very Best of Dixie Chicks- tracklisting:

Wide Open Spaces (#1 Country Single from Wide Open Spaces)
You Were Mine (#1 Country Single from Wide Open Spaces)
Sin Wagon (from Fly)
Cowboy Take Me Away (#1 Country Single from Fly)
Let Him Fly (from Fly)
Long Time Gone (#2 Country Single, #7 Pop Single from Home)
Landslide (#2 Country Single, #7 Pop Single from Home)
Truth No. 2 (from Home)
The Long Way Around (from Taking The Long Way)
Easy Silence (from Taking The Long Way)
Not Ready To Make Nice (#4 Pop Single from Taking The Long Way)
Lubbock Or Leave It (from Taking The Long Way)

With more than 32 million albums sold, and $100 million in concert tickets sold, the Dixie Chicks are one of the most popular live attractions in the world. The group will perform songs from Playlist: The Very Best of Dixie Chicks during their stadium tour with the Eagles running from April 16 through June 24.

On May 4, Columbia Records will release the debut album from Court Yard Hounds, a country duo featuring Martie Maguire and Emily Robison. Court Yard Hounds will appear on this year's Lilith Fair dates.

Visit www.dixiechicks.com for more information.

Kathryn Williams News Update ~ @kathryncaw

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Kathryn has had a very busy month with the release of the stunning first single, '50 White Lines'  from her critically acclaimed album The Quickening, released in February this year. 

She finished her headline nationwide tour supported by label-mate Astrid Williamson early this March, which included a date at London's Southbank Centre on March 6th. She also appeared as special guest of Robyn Hitchcock at The Barbican's 'Songs In The Key Of London', playing alongside Graham Coxon and KT Tunstall on 9th March. 

And most importantly, we are delighted to announce the birth of a bouncing baby boy for Kathryn and are wishing Kathryn, baby Ted, Louis, Neil and all her family all the best!

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Available to purchase from iTunes, Play.com & Amazon

RSC gives Romeo and Juliet the Twitter treatment

Royal Shakespeare Company retelling Bard's Romeo and Juliet with cast of six over five weeks and 4,000 tweets

But soft! What tweet through yonder iPhone breaks? It is the east, and @julietcap16 is the sun.

Actually, Juliet Capulet is probably offline at the moment: being only 16, she has to go to school even on her birthday, where to her indignation Twitter is banned. She'll be back. And there's a big party planned tonight that could change all their lives: does any of this sound at all familiar?

The Royal Shakespeare Company today joined with the cross-platform production firm Mudlark and Channel 4's digital investment fund, 4iP, to launch Such Tweet Sorrow, a drama in real time and 4,000 tweets, very roughly based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

The Bard of Avon's 1597 tragedy of flirty, street-fighting teenagers disastrously caught up in the double trauma of real love and their parents' murderous small-town rivalries is already one of the most adapted of his works. It has been continuously reinvented as an opera, a ballet, a musical, a lesbian love story, a geriatric love story and even an ice show.

This time, Juliet is the daughter of a successful property developer. Her mother died in a car driven by the artist Montague; her father will no longer tolerate any of his works in the house, much less his son. Her brother Tybalt is well on his way to being expelled from his latest boarding school, and their older sister Jess, nicknamed Nurse, keeps well out of the way of their new stepmother.

Juliet ‑ "Totally haven't introduced myself yet! My name is Juliet. I'm 15 and SO proud to be a Capulet!" was how the actor Charlotte Wakefield announced herself yesterday ‑ spends quite a lot of her time in her room, and has helpfully posted a video of it on YouTube, lingering on a photograph of her late mother.

Such Tweet Sorrow is being improvised by a cast of six RSC actors from a story grid, taking in audience responses and real events, with author Tim Wright helping out Shakespeare. At this morning's launch he said he would have to find a way of working the election into the narrative.

The show will run for the next five weeks. The director, Roxana Silbert, described the production as "not very reverential". Or as Tybalt put it: "Couldn't give a crap!"