Missed opportunity

I listened to Arlene Philips on Radio 4 this morning. She was talking about her Manchester roots, and her struggle to study dance. A few years ago a good friend invited me to go and watch the recording of Andrew Marr's Sunday morning television programme.Richard Thompson was booked to appear on it and he knew I was a fan. My good friend has a good friend who produces the programme.It was an interesting weekend in many ways, because it was also a time for me to reconnect with people I had been close to in Sarawak in my teens.Early Sunday morning we made our way to the BBC studios in Shepherds Bush, and found our way to the Andrew Marr Show set. There was an outside broadcast, an interview with David Cameron at home, before he was Prime Minister.Arlene Philips was one of the guests. Richard Thompson sang a couple of songs. It was interesting to watch the process of recording. It was much slicker than pre-recorded programmes I have had the opportunity to observe. When it was all over, we went for a BBC breakfast, guests and production team and hangers on.I was disappointed that Richard Thompson had to leave, and therefore couldn't join us, and in my disappointment I failed to make the most of the fact that I was sitting next to Arlene Philips. Listening to her on the radio this morning I thought of all the things I could have chatted to her about. Shared geography, a love of dance, escape. I wondered if she was aware of the dance troupe I danced with in my teens. It was an informal group of hippy dancers, led by Allan Prior an early computer wizard.All mentioned in dispatches on the Manchesterbeat website, especially featured at the Magic Village. It made me realise how important dance was to me in my teens.When I studied homeopathy I learnt about a remedy, Sepia, made from the ink of a cuttlefish. It won't surprise you to hear that patients who suit Sepia often express their mood as being like living under a black cloud.The other main indication for this remedy is that the patient loves to dance. dancing energises them, lifts their spirits, transforms their state of mind.I spent most of my teens feeling like that! The dark misery of boarding school was exorcised by the joy of hippy dancing. I was a shy and retiring teenager, a typical self effacing Catholic schoolgirl who avoided any hint of showing off. But I had no self consciousness or fear when it came to dancing. It still lifts my spirit and shifts my mood now.

Bish Bosch

Yesterday I wrote that Bowie's new single reminded me of Scott Walker. Late Junction have been playing some of his music this week, and tonight they included a snippet from Jarvis Cocker's recent interview with him.There are some interesting reviews of Bish Bosch online, and from what I have heard, it follows themes from The Drift. I don't expect Scott Walker to sound like the pop star I screamed for at the Odeon in Manchester back in the days when I was barely a teenager. I remember the surge of fans pouring out of the main doors and holding up the traffic on Oxford St while we longed for the Walker Brothers to show their handsome faces. I still love those early songs - No Regrets, My Ship is Coming In. I loved his Jaques Brel songs. I remember a few of us singing along to Next in the 5th form common room at school, hoping the nuns would hear how subversive we were.I'm the same as I was then, but also different. So is he - still exploring his creative boundaries and abilities.

Where are we now

It has been interesting to hear David Bowie's new single, released to coincide with his birthday. Radio 4's Today programme reported the news early yesterday morning and seemed to think that it was released at 5 am so they could. I am not sure what to make of the video and the song. There's a Scott Walker melancholy about it. The lyrics seem to be about places he remembers - a new method of exploring psychogeography . The video is disturbing in its imagery - those strange little faces. But Bowie has traditionally been ahead of the game, and his influences have been far reaching over decades. I was lucky enough to see him three times in a few weeks back in 1972, twice in one week in Manchester, and then again during my short stay at Exeter University. Much as I have loved his music and his changes, that was enough. The Today programme followed up their Bowie news item with an interview this morning. Sir John Oldham, described as a senior clinician, and Nicholas Coleridge, MD of Conde Nast, were interviewed as obsessive fans. It was all very light hearted and good natured, but the interviewer seemed taken aback that men of such standing in society were also Bowie fans. I think people forget that there's a generation who grew up with musical heroes who are now pillars of the community, and that the two things aren't mutually exclusive. One of them had seen Bowie Preston in 1973 and life changed for him.There are some great anecdotes about David Bowie on the Manchesterbeat website, concerning his early visits to the Magic Village.With his Arts Lab approach, his love of mime, his cross dressing theatricality and stage presence he would have been a starman even if he hadn't got involved in music.Where are we now, he asks. We are here listening to what you have to tell us. Thank you.