BasiaWeb

UPDATED: European dates changed

2010-03-15T20:47:00.002-04:00

Some shows added while others are "to be confirmed."
These are the only concerts scheduled - no US dates yet but they are working on it!

Mon May 3 London The Pigalle Club
Tue May 4 TBC
Wed May 5 TBC
Thur May 6 Krakow Kino Krakow
Fri May 7 Poznan Teatr Wielki im. Stanislawa Moniuszki
Sat May 8 Wroclaw Wytwórnia Filmów Fabularnych
Sun May 9 Katowice Górnośląskie Centrum Kultury
Tue May 11 Gdansk Centrum Stocznia Gdańska
Wed May 12 Warsaw Palladium
Sat May 15 Salzburg Republic
Sun May 16 Vienna TBC

Basia between shows in Tokyo last year

2010-02-18T21:59:00.001-05:00

Another really fun, upbeat interview but this time, backstage at the Blue Note.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-12T16:24:00.001-05:00

Have a great Valentine's weekend with this card from Dutchmarc:

"A Gift" is JazzTrax #5 Song of 2009; ITGA #10 album

2009-12-28T20:16:00.001-05:00

The syndicated and internet contemporary jazz radio show JazzTrax has named their best of the year. "A Gift" gets Art Good's nod as his number 5 song of the year. Congratulations to Basia and Danny on this!

(I am surprised we didn't see a single rollout of "A Gift" as originally announced. It would have been a good one. Perhaps it's being saved for 2010?)

Also, he has named It's That Girl Again his #10 album in his Top Ten albums countdown for the year.

You can listen to this show on his site.

Zabrze photos

2009-12-21T20:14:00.001-05:00

Here's a great set of photos from the Zabrze show taken by Adam Benek. Loads of personality in this set!

Also some small details and set list from Katowice in '94.

Come away with me to Empik

2009-12-07T13:07:00.001-05:00

Anyone else dream of a world where you go to your local entertainment emporium and see Basia promoted with gusto? Well my friends, that world is Empik. Piotr snapped some shots of the Basia stuff throughout the Polish retailer, so come with me to the BasiaWeb Collectors group for some wish fulfillment. Krysia has also uploaded photos of the Empik exclusive It's That Girl Again special edition.

Translated interview from October

2009-12-07T12:57:00.002-05:00

Rzeczpospolita did an interview a couple of months ago where Basia was asked some pretty interesting questions- and one answer included having her dressing room descended upon by Danny DeVito and Rhea Pearlman. Huh! Anyway, Krysia translated this fun interview into English for us, and you can read it here.

Happy Barborka!

2009-12-04T13:14:00.000-05:00

Poland celebrates name days (imieniny) in honor of each saint and those named after him or her. Today is St. Barbara's name day, and as we know Basia is the nickname for Barbara, so to all the Basias of the world, especially our Basia ;), Sto lat!

Barborka is well-celebrated in the mining region of Silesia (though the industry has decreased recently) because St. Barbara is the patron saint of miners. Here's more about Barborka in Poland and the name day tradition, which is celebrated in many other countries, too.

Phil Harding- new book out

2009-12-04T12:00:00.000-05:00

Renowned mixer Phil Harding, who mixed Time and Tide, London Warsaw New York, parts of Whose Side are You On and several remixes of that era during his tenure at PWL, has just penned a book. Called PWL from the Factory Floor, it's about his years at the UK pop powerhouse which was best known for the loads of hits from Kylie, Dead or Alive, and buckets more from the Stock Aiken Waterman stable. It's unknown if there's any Basia content (he's said that his work with her were among his favorites, even though she may have had other engineers pulling their hair out from time to time!), but it sounds like a win for any 80s junkie.

It's available at his site, and while nearly sold out there should be another print run early next year.

Basia in the first person

2009-12-02T22:08:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Piotr. This is a gem of a piece from Dziennik in Basia's own words ("as told to.." type of thing) about her life and musical interests.

Polish and English via Google.

There's also a traditional interview from the same paper- in Polish and in English via Google.

(they also had a curious feature- who will be the "next Basia"? Several acts are put forth as contenders. Hey, I'll root for any other Pole to do it too, it's been far too long.)

Also, from a different, American Dziennik is an interview with Basia (narrative, not Q&A) published prior to It's That Girl Again release. English via Google.

Even more stuff from Polish concerts

2009-12-02T13:38:00.005-05:00

Thanks to Marcus Some more photos from Zabrze
And some more.

Video bit (in Polish)

Unfortunately TVP has instituted some kind of lock on people watching their videos internationally (why do this?) but if you are in Poland you may be able to see this segment.

Polska Times bit, pre-Warsaw-concert.(In English via Google)
And a similar piece in Gazeta (way to find the worst picture you could, Gazeta)
(English)

BasiaWeb on Twitter

2009-11-18T11:52:00.000-05:00

I've started a feed on Twitter- this is very new to me!- but follow us while I figure it out:
twitter.com/basiaweb

Fan-made Basia ad!

2009-11-18T10:41:00.001-05:00

What if Basia had been the spokesmodel for L'Oreal? This is a fan-made video mashup by Dutchmarc and while it's not real, dang could it ever be.

Put me in for a case of this stuff.

Long lost Parco (Japan) TV ad

2009-11-18T10:38:00.000-05:00

Parco. Yes.

Thanks to dutchmarc.

Matt Bianco in Holland, through the noughties.

2009-11-18T10:31:00.001-05:00

All this via our fantastic contributor Dutchmarc:
First, a 2000 singalong type show from Holland "The sense of.." which was about 1984 and who better to represent that year than Matt Bianco. Mark Reilly makes an appearance and the whole band represents frozen in videoclip time.

A radio interview with during the 2004 Matt Bianco era with Basia, Danny, and Mark. Nice video accompaniment!

Incidentally, "Whose Side are You On" is #288 on this Jazz countdown list. And finally, the "Wrong Side of the Street (Can't Sleep remix)" which was in very limited quantities on vinyl in 2004.

Downloadable Basia interview

2009-11-18T10:06:00.003-05:00

Via basiasongs.com. Basia always gives a good interview but she's really in her groove here. It was conducted by Mark Watkins for a radio station in the UK before the London shows and he asks her about the new album and the good ol background too. Enthusiastic memories of early Matt Bianco as well.

What's fantastic is that you can download this and listen anytime! Read here for details.

Basia in Perfect: a song surfaces!

2009-11-12T21:10:00.001-05:00

Whoa! Thanks to marek for this one!
"It's early and unknown recording called "Obłęd w podmiejskiej dyskotece" (Insanity In The Suburban Disco / Madness In The Out-of-town Disco) from "Historie nieznane 1971-1991" (Unknown Stories 1971-1991) album. It was recorded when Basia was singing with Perfect band."

YouTube

Download directly.

No one will ever claim this as part of Basia canon but it's neat to see something like this surface.

Dee Anthony, 1926-2009

2009-10-27T23:59:00.002-04:00

Dee Anthony (second from left) was Basia's manager briefly in the 90s during The Sweetest Illusion era. He passed away this weekend of pneumonia at age 83. Mr. Anthony was best known for managing Peter Frampton at his peak.

Obituary from the New York Times.

(thanks to Piotr for the photo, from a 1994 presser in Warsaw)

Manila clips!

2009-10-22T21:00:00.001-04:00

Blame it on the Summer

Promises and people lose their minds.

New Day for You
Reward Not the greatest vid but the vocals say it all.
Time and Tide
Time and Tide again
Yearning
Half a Minute, Cruising for Bruising and Miles Away

I LOVE YOUTUBE!

Benefit concert, more Filipino press

2009-10-22T20:43:00.001-04:00

An article and an interview with Basia and Danny.

Basia also performed a benefit for typhoon Ondoy victims. Attendees didn't have to pay, but instead had to pledge either to give blood, 1,000 hours of house-building sweat equity, or goods for typhoon victims.

I told you Basia was awesome.

Basia in Manila tomorrow night

2009-10-20T21:50:00.001-04:00

Whoa, they love them some Basia! According to Annick's Facebook they've gotten the full-on VIP treatment complete with paparazzi! We say it's great to know there's a place where they get their due (though here's hoping the paps are harmless, ergh!)

EDIT: For example (by the way this is the first and last time you will probably see "Basia" and "Akon" in the same segment of anything)

EDIT: Another rather epic promo!

So, some press:
Small interview on Inquirer.net
Info on the opening act, The CompanY. (sic)
A frankly gorgeous page from the sponsoring radio station.

Fascinating to read about how much they love her there!!

Basia in Tokyo, Milan

2009-10-20T13:42:00.003-04:00

Tokyo performance:

"Baby You're Mine" in Milan:

Basia in Tokyo

2009-10-16T13:11:00.000-04:00

The Blue Note Tokyo has the setlists from this week's shows! There were two each night.

Also, Basia was brought there also by the Polish Embassy. A link to the listing and their other amazing events- I'm also drooling at the illustration and Poster Bienniale listings!

Nasza Basia Kochana

2009-10-13T12:30:00.003-04:00

It's a pun that Polish press likes to use a lot so I'll do it too. ['Our beloved Basia'- also the name of an unrelated group that was popular in PL.]

Here's a video from the Zabrze show that captures a strong "It's That Girl Again" and a minute of a slightly tentative "Drunk on Love" that shows one of the reworkings. DOL has a bit of a samba feel. Also, Jaworzno represents.
EDIT: Another angle.

This is a review of the concert in Poznan.

And an interview before all the concerts. I have to say that the press there is coming up with even more interesting interview themes for her. It's awesome. (translation forthcoming)

Warsaw report and photos

2009-10-13T12:04:00.001-04:00

There's a newly added Warsaw '09 page in the Live section with a report, yay! There are also photos from the concert here and at this link as well.
EDIT: and more with Marek Niedźwiecki