Charlotte's new album 'Back To Scratch' is out right now in both the U.S. and the U.K.The Klaxons -Twin Flames (featuring Charlotte Church)
Richard Bacon Show,
BBC Radio 5 live,
October 26, 2010
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The first time that I knew that Charlotte Church's talent was more than self-evident but transcendent, was when I heard her interviewed and sing on, of all things, The G.Gordon Liddy Show on WJFK-FM in Washington, D.C.
That was back when it aired just after 11 a.m. following The Howard Stern Show, which I faithfully listened to every morning for years from the moment I woke-up.
Once I left my house in north Arlington by 7:30, I listened to Howard and Robin via my radio earbuds as I walked down busy and winding Glebe Road to the Ballston Metro train station -next to the National Science Foundation HQ- which had among the best selection of out-of-town newspaper vending machines in the Washington area, with machines that were never broken!
Every morning, I could count on seeing The Boston Globe, a few Philly papers, The New York Times, New York Daily News and New York Post, plus many, many others just sitting there, tempting me and the thousands of Metro riders who made their way up and down the stairs and escalators all day.
That was an existence and flexibility so different than my current life, where getting access to physical copies of the the non-New York papers requires great deal of effort, not a good thing for a news junkie like myself, who still prefers the tactile touch of a newspaper in my hand to an online experience.
That experience also infroms you why I am so currently frustrated with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Miami Herald.
Plain and simple, I'm used to better, given that I read the Washington Post everyday, too.
The D.C. version of the Los Angeles Times, which I read just about every day, was usually not there at the Metro station until after 11 a.m., so I'd sometimes swing by the huge office building downtown on Eye Street, N.W. where the Times and then-owner Times Mirror had their Washington bureau, and secure copies from friends and folks I knew there, or if I was short on time, from the nearby vending machines.
The D.C. version of the paper has most of the same articles as the edition in LA -minus the local section- but had zero ads, and was of better paper stock than other papers, and a ridiculous bargain for a dollar, esp. on the days it had an entire section full of stories from their foreign correspondents, back when they had among the best in the business, including Robin Wright reporting on the Middle East.
So very, very different than my current life and existence here in Hallandale Beach, where accessing physical copies of the the non-New York newspapers requires great deal of effort, and not just a trip up to the east side of Young Circle in Hollywood to see my favorite news stand guys; not a good thing for a news junkie like myself.
Once I got off the Metro downtown and had made my way up to street-level, I put my earbuds back in and rejoined Howard & Robin in mid-yuck or guffaw.
But once I was at work, I turned on my Sony cassette recorder, but obviously, lowered the volume at work due to others' sensitive ears!
As many of you already know by now, I was listening to Howard Stern on the morning of 9/11, which is how I came to hear of the first plane crash into the Twin Towers.
I was working in my my office across Pennsylvania Ave. from the Dept. of Justice and the FBI, just four blocks from The White House. See my post on that at my other blog, South Beach Hoosier: http://southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/2007/09/flight-93-national-memorial-sixth.html)
As far as that moment of clarity with Charlotte goes, I was sitting by myself in a law firm's large conference room with a great view overlooking Connecticut Avenue, N.W., and was surrounded by about 50 Banker boxes full of documents I had been reviewing over the previous week on behalf of my firm.
And the combination of my second Coke Classic and my first Hazelnut coffee of the day were not having their usual effect.
It felt like 3:15 in the afternoon already and yet it was actually not even Noon yet.
I felt like spinning around in my office chair until I woke up.
Not that that ever works.
I'd heard of Charlotte, of course -who hadn't?- since she was seemingly everywhere at the time as the adorably cute and precociously talented Welsh singing dynamo.
But I'd never bought a CD of her's because, frankly, her music, amazing as it was, just wasn't all that appealing to me.
I wasn't her demographic.
After listening to the show for a while -I think her mother was with her in the studio- and hear a completely enchanted Gordon probably use the word "amazing" a dozen or so times, not unlike the way you often hear young parents gush about their own infants, he finally asked the then-15 or 16-year old Charlotte to actually sing something.
Finally!
But the cynic in me thought that after having already done lots of news show or chit-chat interviews that morning in Washington, I figured she'd beg off, saying that her voice was sore or something, but she said okay.
A few seconds later...
Wow!!
You just can't deny her talent.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/#two
http://www.klaxons.net/
Charlotte Church - Snow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6IIgDrVT9w
http://www.charlottechurch.co/
http://www.youtube.com/user/charlottechurch
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