Polly Harvey and the Mercury Prize!!

Here's today's Channel 4 news piece in full - by Anna Doble, and some comments from yours truly. GOOD LUCK POLLY!

Singer PJ Harvey is favourite to win the most prestigious award in British music for the "grand sweep" of her war-themed album Let England Shake, author and critic Lucy O'Brien tells Channel 4 News.

If PJ Harvey walks away with the 2011 Barclaycard Mercury Prize, her triumph will neatly bookend the last decade - she last won it in 2001.

She is in the running for her acclaimed album Let England Shake, a release influenced by war and conflict, focusing on the Gallipoli campaign of world war one.

Author Lucy O'Brien, who writes about women in popular music, told Channel 4 News PJ Harvey's conceptual approach has made her a key figure in modern music.

"She thinks in themes, ideas and grand sweeps.

"So often women are relegated to songs of romance or the domestic sphere, but PJ has a great arc of ambition - hence an album about war and history, traditionally 'male' subjects," she explained.

Harvey, who previously won the award in 2001 for Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea, has been described as "an outstanding artist" by head of the Mercury judges Simon Frith.

Next favourite is another female singer-songwriter Anna Calvi, championed by producer and former Roxy Music keyboardist Brian Eno and praised for her dark, passionate on-stage style.

"She is that Mercury favourite, a musician's musician....guitar virtuoso, textured songwriter," O'Brien said, adding that now is a good time to be a woman in music.

"I think women artists have adapted particularly well to the democracy of the internet. Now they have the freedom to develop artistically without a major label in their ear saying 'show more cleavage.'"

The Mercury Prize - won last year by The XX - is a key event within the music industry. It revitalised the career of Elbow, this year nominated for Build A Rocket Boys!, when they won three years ago.

Rod Stewart, The Faces and...Mick Hucknall?

As a teenager in the '70s, one of my most enduring Top Of The Pops' memories is The Faces, and Rod Stewart kicking a football around the stage. Their songs - 'Stay With Me', 'Cindy Incidentally', 'Pool Hall Richard'- encapsulated the world of the '70s: brash, funky, gritty.

I was suspicious recently when I heard that Mick Hucknall (he of MOR soulsters Simply Red) was going to front the reunited band. The Faces isn't the Faces without Rod, surely? But when I saw them the other week on the Rob Brydon show, Hucknall let rip with a bluesy delivery that was reminiscent of Rod, but still with his own twist. And the band's confident, piledriving riffs and humour completely swept away the audience.

I've always felt that The Faces are one of our more neglected bands, that they played a short yet explosive part in British pop history. Their biographer JIM MELLY gave me some interesting perspectives....

Q. What do you feel about Mick Hucknall: is he a good frontman, or is it destroying their legacy?

Jim: He seems to do surprisingly well. I'm not sure how much of a legacy the Faces had. One of the things that used to upset The Faces was their perceived status as Rod Stewart's backing band. I'm not sure how this will change that perception.

Q. Were the Faces one of the most important bands of the 1970s?

Jim: I don't think they were. Certainly, if you compare them with Bowie or Roxy Music. But they were definitely a major influence on the 'Pub Rock' scene of the mid-Seventies which led directly to Punk. I see them as a bridge from the creative outpouring of the 1960s to the next big thing that was Punk. If you consider 'Prog-Rock' to be turgid, dull and too obsessed with 'musicianship' (as I do), then all there was for you in the early 70s was Bowie, Roxy Music and Rod Stewart and the Faces.

In addition, from the 60s until the early 80s British groups were formed around the idea of playing Rhythm and Blues - Chicago Blues - based music. The Faces were one of the last bands to provide inspiration to new groups in that way. After the late 70s that didn't happen any more and r 'n' b stopped being the way you learned to 'do' music.

It is interesting that Stewart was included on the Vivienne Westwood/ Malcolm McLaren 'Love/ Hate' T-shirt from late 1974 - in the 'Hate' list. His entry was, 'Rod Stewart oh for the money and an audience'. So even then - before Stewart recorded 'Atlantic Crossing' - he was seen as a 'sell-out'. Yet I think Stewart and the Faces played an important role as an influence on Punk and yet they're almost entirely absent from the narrative of Punk Rock.

Many of the important figures in Punk were fans of the Faces - Glen Matlock is playing bass for the reconstituted Faces, the influence of the Faces can be clearly seen in Paul Weller's work - but they just don't figure in the discourse. I suspect this is because in 1975 Stewart chose to leave the country and effectively split the Faces. He had 'sold out'. As a result they could hardly bear to mention his name - he was the ultimate traitor. The Faces - and Stewart - had set themselves up as a working class, beer and football good-time rock 'n' roll band. And Stewart turned his back on it and went to America to make slickly produced pop records. I don't think they ever forgave him. I suspect that in this context the absence of the Faces from the narrative of Punk, the silence in the discourse, actually speaks volumes about how important they were.


Q. What was the most surprising thing you found out when researching your book?

Jim: The most surprising thing was how much they were loved, and the sense of betrayal the fans felt when Rod went to America in 1975. The fact that Ronnie Wood went off to join the Rolling Stones at the same time, or that Ronnie Lane quit a year before, doesn't bother fans at all. But Stewart going to America? People are still bitter about it.


Q. Who would you like to do next? What would be your dream biography?

Jim: When I was writing the Faces book it felt like they moved into my flat for six months, drank all my beer and took command of the TV remote control. So if I were to choose one subject - maybe Ray Davies. I don't think I'd mind if Ray Davies moved into my house for six months.


Thank you Jim. By the way, I completely identify with the 'housemate' theory. When I was writing my Madonna biog, it was like she'd moved in and taken over my life. I thought more about her than my husband and kids. It was a relief when we 'separated'!!

Erupting volcanoes...and AMY WINEHOUSE

I’ve just got back from two weeks in Sicily...we were staying in a little house amid lemon groves just 8 kilometres away from Mount Etna. While we were there the volcano erupted, several times, causing the house to shake. We stood on the roof terrace watching rivers of molten lava fall down the mountain. It was hugely exciting, like a massive firework display. Villagers around are fairly sanguine. This happens quite often, apparently, and rarely does the lava reach the villages below.

A few days later we headed up the mountain to have a look, and were amazed by a landscape of black lava, cracked earth and petrified trees. We walked in old craters and took photos Dr Who style. The smell of sulphur was overwhelming. Later we went to Riposte, one of our favourite seaside places, for supper. By then the wind had carried the volcanic ash and deposited it in the streets, so it felt like we were wading through black sand.

All this somehow got fused with a dream about Amy Winehouse. While we were on holiday I heard about her death. It felt strange being at one remove, away from England, receiving such sad news. Her death was inevitable, but it was still shocking. Such a waste, such huge talent and potential just wiped out. Gone. The world feels a little less without her in it. On an elemental level, the volcano symbolised the fire and passion of her music, her voice and her life force. And the immovable presence of the solidified black lava and the black ash on the streets symbolised her death. I was brought up a Catholic, and I remember as a child the priest daubing a black ash cross on my forehead on the Ash Wednesday before Easter...black ash here, in Italy, echoed my feelings about her death. Back to Black. May she rest in peace.

That women music writing debate....

It’s been a good summer so far for music and writing - first there was Stoke Newington Literary Festival at the beginning of June with ‘the lads’ (see earlier post). Then the Screaming Queens event at Bromley Literary Festival on July 3rd.

Bromley isn’t the most exciting place to be on a cloudy Sunday afternoon (no wonder Siouxsie Sioux felt the need to escape), but a few of us female music writers read to an audience at the Tom Foolery pub. I explored the concept of (rock)girlpower from She Bop (which will hopefully soon be going into a third edition), Zoe Street Howe read from her vivid biography of the Slits, and novelist Sarah Drinkwater regaled us with tales of Riot Grrrl. Jane Bradley from the wonderful For Book’s Sake hosted the event, giving us her flamboyant profile of punk queen Jayne County.

All this is part of breaking the male monopoly of writing about music. Women are included in the debate, but, it seems, more as marginal and occasional voices. As Ann Powers said recently on Facebook:” I was happy to see Rock She Wrote and the SPIN Record Guide on the list of Pitchfork's favorite music books a few things were left out. Like most of half the population.” She points to Daphne Carr’s timely Amazon list of pop music books by women as a more representative guide:

Amazon.com: Daphne G. Carr: pop music books by women
www.amazon.com

Daphne is diligently compiling a follow-up to Rock She Wrote with the forthcoming Pop She Wrote. I’m on the editorial board for this project, and already over 400 women from around the world are on Daphne’s list. All this vibrant writing will form part of an archive....showing women’s crucial role in the development of rock criticism.

While we’re at it - some important links to check out:

www.forbookssake.net
“an intelligent but irreverent website featuring books by and for independent women”

http://thegirlsare.wordpress.com
“UK based independent online music magazine, celebrating and supporting women in music.”

www.thefword.org.uk
Contemporary UK feminism with some great writing about women & music

And of course:

http://wearsthetrousers.com

*Please do send me further suggestions/recommendations - maybe some more from the US?!!

Does anyone know a good cough remedy?

Apologies for not posting recently...LucyOBrien blog has been laid up with flu and a hacking cough. Normal services will be resumed as soon as possible. In the meantime, does anyone have a good cough remedy?

INVITE TO BECOME A FOLLOWER OF LUCY O'BRIEN BLOG!!

* Sign on as a follower and follow Lucy O'Brien regularly for news, updates, reviews and interviews!!!!!

More on that 'female Glasto headliner' issue....

Here's the link to my Mojo blog piece about Glastonbury's headlining women. The BBC claim Beyonce was the first. Skin (and many others) beg to differ!

http://www.mojo4music.com/blog/2011/07/mojo_blog_glastonbury_2011.html

That Skin interview in full....

(photo credit: Jessica Gilbert)

Since reforming in 2009, Skunk Anansie have re-established themselves with a comeback compilation (Smashes & Trashes), fierce live shows, and a new album Wonderlustre , which combines their raw riffs, deep funk, frenetic drumwork and lush vocals with more confidence and maturity than ever before. Skin, Ace, Cass and Mark are an alchemical force - something they were delighted to rediscover after an eight year hiatus.

Earlier this year they were on the soundtrack to Zack Snyder’s film Sucker Punch with a raucous cover of the Stooges’ ‘Search And Destroy’. And Skin rode into the Venice Opera House on a white stallion to collect her La Cavalchina award for contribution to culture in Italy. This summer they are playing countless festivals throughout Europe. NME named Skunk Anansie one of their ‘20 Must See Bands’ at Download, saying that they are “cementing their position as one of Brit’s greats.”

I recently caught up with Skin to get the low-down on Download, Beyonce....and that white stallion....

Q. So how was Download?
A. It was weird. It’s a big metal festival and we’re not that heavy. We played after the guy from Pantera and his fans are real metal-heads. It was a first festival of the year and I felt like we were warming up. It goes like that; the first is OK, the second is great, the third is amazing. Having said that, everyone loved it and the reviews were good!

Q Talking festivals, what do you feel about the collective amnesia surrounding Beyonce’s show at Glastonbury? The BBC said she was the first female headliner at Glasto, but you & the band headliined the Pyramid Stage in 1999.
A. I don't like my achievements being made invisible like that. Hold on, am I Scotch mist? Actually Beyonce you're not the first woman to headline a stage at Glastonbury. What about Bjork? Suzanne Vega? Or Sinead O'Connor?  You're not even the first black woman on that stage! Everyone got carried away at the prospect of a huge American star at Glastonbury and lost their mind. Not one person had checked it. It’s what I call Beyonce’s tidal weave (!)...everyone gets caught up in the tsunami!

Q. NME called you “one of Brit’s greats”. Do you feel Skunk Anansie are getting proper recognitiion in the UK?
A. When it comes to us the British press and Radio 1 have a kind of apathy, but that’s starting to change. There is a huge live scene, and if people don’t hear what they want on major radio they seek it out elsewhere. We’re no longer directing what we do towards radio, we’re plugging into a scene that is a less dependent on three minute pop songs with electronic voices. We’ve conceded it, because in Europe we’re one of the biggest British bands.

Outside England the rest of Europe is interested in new music - whether it comes from new acts or older bands. In the UK it’s almost like a band aren’t allowed to last more than three albums. But you can make music till you’re 80. Every musician knows that you get better, but the industry won’t let you do it. For instance, Kings of Leon - now they’re making great music. For a big rock band it takes time to get your craft together.

Q. Do you think the industry here has problems slotting you into a category?
A. I scare a lot of people. I’m not a tiny pretty blonde who’s 18. It’s easier for people to define you as a female artist if you run round in your underwear and use your sexuality to get on. You can fall into that trap, and end up with them controlling your sexuality. I’m sexual in my own way.

Q. What was it like riding a horse onto the stage of the Venice Opera House?
A. That was one of those things where you get on the horse and think ‘Oh my God’. The Italians have great ideas, but they’re not so great in the execution! It was surreal. They forgot to put the curtain down beforehand, so everyone saw me getting on the horse, and that meant there was no dramatic impact! And there were too many people swarming around taking pictures. Still it was fun, and an honour to get the award.

Q. Are Skunk Anansie recording a new album?
A. We’ve written 15 songs that we’re planning to record in the autumn. The last one had to be done very quickly, but we’re taking our time with this. It’ll be a bit heavier than Wonderlustre, with some electronic influences, and very melodic. It’ll probably be out next April.

Thank you Skin. Watch this space....!

Skin talks about Download, Skunk Anansie's new album, and riding a white horse

**WATCH THIS SPACE***

After Skunk Anansie's fierce set at the Download Festival, Skin has a chat with me about the gig, about the plans they've got for the summer, plus a few thoughts about Beyonce at Glastonbury. Oh, and riding onto the stage in the Venice Opera House on a white stallion.
COMING UP!

Are pop videos descending into pornography...?

Here is my other recent C4 news interview in full...

As one of the men who launched Kylie Minogue's music career says pop is now verging on porn, Madonna biographer Lucy O'Brien talk to Channel 4 News about the pressure to "sex it up".

Mike Stock was one-third of all-conquering pop production house Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW), which gave the world Bananarama, Rick Astley and Kylie Minogue. The "Hit Factory" racked up more than 100 top 40 songs in the late eighties and early 1990s, including 13 number ones.

His new campaign is to reverse the music industry's "slow but unmistakable descent into pornography".

He picked out Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry among artists who "have taken sexualised imagery, dance moves and lyrical content way beyond the limits of decency". He also criticised Nicole Scherzinger's performance on Britain's Got Talent, which he said included "overtly sexual content on a family show".

Pop writer Lucy O'Brien talks to Channel 4 News about the "pornification" of music:
Has pop music become more sexualised?
Definitely. Rihanna's S&M, Lady Gaga's Telephone, there is a link with soft porn. Videos have gradually been getting more explicit. Pop lyrics, too, have become more explicit. It's a great way of creating controversy and getting people to download/buy your single in an overcrowded market.
Madonna pushed the boundaries years ago so what's different now?
She certainly did. She's a complicated one. I think she always had an intelligent aesthetic behind the pop manipulation... she was testing taboos with videos like Justify My Love. On one level it appears as if she was just peddling the same old same old "sexy chick" persona, but actually her music and videos contained strong messages about women's empowerment and a female-centred fantasy and sexuality. She created the blueprint, and Aguilera etc followed (and imitated). Lady Gaga is interesting, but she reminds me too much of Madonna. But then again, maybe people older than me might have said, Madonna's interesting, but she's too like Mae West.
Is X-Factor/Britain's Got Talent "safe" family viewing?
I think on the whole it is very safe, apart from the young female artists who feel they have to "sex it up" in order to compete. I don't want to sound like a boring old fart, but my daughter is seven and has been copying the overtly sexy dance moves she sees on TV. That worries me. The relentless sexualisation of female singers sends out a distorted message - that to be successful as a woman you have to turn yourself into a sex object and be evaluated on that rather than your talent. I'd love my daughter to be inspired by women's work and real achievements rather than a digitised, artificial image of femininity.

Beyonce rocks - but what about that 'first woman Glastonbury headliner' statement?

BEYONCE came and conquered Glastonbury last night with a woman-identified set. A backing band consisting entirely of feisty black woman - a really powerful statement in an industry where too often female singers are surrounded by male musicians. All good...but what about that statement that she is the first female headliner at Glastonbury. Ahem. Didn't Skin do that with Skunk Anansie in 1999? Or doesn't it count because she wasn't solo then? The Beeb need to be careful before trumpeting this as unqualified fact.

I'll be asking Skin about this soon, along with chat about Skunk Anansie's set at the recent Download Festival - WATCH THIS SPACE!!

Bey Bey at Glastonbury

Here's my Channel 4 news piece in full...considering the luscious BEYONCE at Glastonbury

There is controversy again at Glastonbury as critics wonder whether Beyonce’s appearance means the ‘popification’ of the Worthy Farm festival. What with Stevie Wonder, Shakira and Kylie last year, and the negative response that Beyonce’s hubby Jay Z got before his Glastonbury show three years ago, some people are wondering whether the festival has strayed too far from its hippy folk rock roots.

You have to remember, though, that Sunday is traditionally crowd-pleaser day, with past acts including Tom Jones, Dame Shirley Bassey, David Bowie and Al Green. These choices are generally driven by nostalgia and a camp sense of irony - with perfect singalong sets for a completely chilled-out and mashed-up crowd. Beyonce is different. She is the first full-on current global R&B pop star to headline the Pyramid Stage, and in that way is a surprising choice. Will her state-of-the art ballads and rigorous, pneumatic R&B really woo the predominantly rock crowd? Festival organiser Emily Eavis recently defended her decision to invite Beyonce saying, she was keen to keep the festival as "diverse" as possible. “We really want the people who are the masters of their fields, and that's what she is.”

Beyonce is certainly the ‘baddest’ sister on the R&B pop landscape, but is there a ‘ker-ching’ element to this? Her set will ensure Glastonbury a massive worldwide (and more mainstream) audience. I recall a few years ago talking to folk singer/songwriter Roy Harper in the Avalon Field. “This is still the real heart of Glastonbury, unlike Babylon out there,” he said, gesturing to the Pyramid stage. For him, Beyonce would probably constitute ‘Babylon’.

However, let’s look at this a little more closely. Beyonce is not Cheryl Cole. Nor is she Celine Dion. Or Britney, or Christina. She has an earthiness and intelligence that goes far beyond the pop gloss. She is not just a stylist, she’s not all affectation. From the stuttering energy of ‘Bills Bills Bills’ to ‘Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)’, she has shown vocally inventive singing genius. She pioneered that funky, staccato phrasing over robust beats; she hauled the ‘80s power ballad out of its bland lethargy and created something of might and passion. She’s not content to do showboating vocal gymnastics; she likes to jolt expectations sometimes, bringing in intonations from hip hop, from Arabic music, and reggae.

I remember interviewing Beyonce in 2000, when she was in the Destiny’s Child line-up with Kelly and Michelle (the one rumoured to be reuniting for a medley on Sunday). She spoke with rapid-fire intensity and emphasis about her life and her singing. She has an incisive intelligence, but also humility. Maybe this is part of her religious upbringing, but she knows her talent is a gift that she needs to treat with respect. She’s the channel for the soul music that rips through her. "I'm pumped just thinking about that huge audience and soaking up their energy,” she said recently. In that respect Beyonce truly is in the spirit of Glastonbury, and part of its continuing evolution.

Now the dust has settled...whither new music writing?

Now the dust has settled it's time to reflect on the Stoke Newington Literary Festival on June 5th, and Juke Box Fury, the panel of rock writers I was on with Charles Shaar Murray, Paul Morley and Simon Reynolds (more of them to come). Our esteemed host was Richard Boon (ex-manager of The Buzzcocks and founder of the New Hormones label) who smoothly steered the debate through a range of musical choices. We all had to talk about tracks that first inspired us to write and then vote on whether they were a HIT or MISS. As follows:

Charlie: The Who 'My Generation' (everyone agreed this was a seismic song, not least for the amphetamine-fuelled stutter and John Entwistle's bass solo).

Simon: Sex Pistols 'Bodies' (a song about Pauline, the unfortunate Pistols fan, and her abortion. It provoked an interesting discussion about Johnny Rotten's fear of women, and punk attitudes towards women generally. As I wrote in my chapter in Roger Sabin's Punk Rock, So What? "...while there were men wrestling with questions of masculinity and feminism, there were just as many content to leave it unreconstructed.")

Me: The B52s 'Planet Claire' (this was partly a tribute to Poly Styrene, a celebration of the 'day glo' aspect of punk. I remember her saying, "we started that whole bright colours, plasticky, whacky fashion as opposed to the black bondage stuff". With their two-foot high beehive wigs and florescent colours the B52s were a perfect embodiment of the day glo aesthetic. Also 'Planet Claire' is one of my favourite tracks because it inspired me, not just as a writer, but also as a keyboard player. As I said on the panel, it's the sound of keyboards showing off).

Paul: The Buzzcocks 'Boredom'(brilliant example of punk's gift for creatively expressing the mundane. Until that point, so much pop music had been over-ornamented and over-romanticised. This was uniquely British, and funny. Particularly like the phrase, "B'dum, b'dum."

After we debated the tracks, the key question of the day was - whither music journalism? We agreed that so much print journalism is consumer-orientated, that as a writer you tend to be subsumed within 'the brand'. Eg "Mojo says this, NME says that". There is much less room for ideas-driven writing, it's much more functional. As Charlie so aptly put it: "the music press now promotes the Culture Hut view of things. Eg, 'on the menu today at Culture Hut we have a taste of vintage Boz Scaggs, and you can also try The Vaccines, or a bit of Loudon Wainwright.'" He also went on to say that in the '70s and '80s we were "getting away with it", basically. Publishing companies like IPC didn't look too closely at the content, because sales were good and the 'weeklies' were making them a lot of money. Writing about the ideas inspired by music as well as the music itself. And exploring politics, literature and subculture in the process.

The answer, as evidenced here and a myriad of blogs, is to grow your own. Blogging is the way forward for strong, independent and more personal music writing. The only thing we have to work out now is revenue streams!

More links: www.stokenewingtonliteraryfestival.com

plus reviews: http://mccookerybook.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-06-06T22%3A40%3A00%2B01%3A00&max-results=15

http://www.eastlondonlines.co.uk/2011/06/stokey-lit-fest-weekend-reviewed-in-full/

http://edgewaysart.co.uk/2011/06/14/edgeways-at-stoke-newington-literary-festival/#more-891

Nurse Jackie: those programmes that creep up on you

Hello, welcome to my new blog - where I write about music, culture, life, and...tonight's TV. Nurse Jackie is on BBC 2 tonight at 10pm. It's Series Two, and I've only just discovered it. I came across it by accident one night when I couldn't be bothered to change the channel, and was taken by Edie Falco (formerly in The Sopranos) as Jackie Peyton, the no-nonsense emergency room nurse in a frantically pressured NYC hospital. She's not perfect. She's not an angel. In fact she's had an affair, she has a 'complicated' home life and is addicted to painkillers. Yet somehow she is a breezy, brisk, humane survivor - played with a down-to-earth honesty by Falco.

Nurse Jackie reminds me of that great '80s cop show Cagney & Lacey, with those two ballsy female detectives running amok in New York. Actresses Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly weren't made pretty for the camera - they were playing strong woman leading demanding lives. Too often American TV gives us the Hollywood version of femininity - even if it's tough forensics on violent cases (CSI), or businesslike lawyers (The Good Wife), they look impossibly sleek, glamorous and groomed, and come out with banalities. But there is another strand to American culture and women's history. The USA was built on strong, independent pioneer women. Martha Graham represented that in her modern dance pieces like Appalachian Spring. It's there in Frances McDormand's performance in the Coen brothers film Fargo. Women who get by in difficult circumstances with strength, humour and all the best lines.

So I'm addicted to Nurse Jackie. It only lasts half an hour, but it brightens up my night. It doesn't get a lot of attention and hype, but it has quietly established itself as one of the best dark comedy dramas on TV. It also reminds me of that '90s series Northern Exposure, about the lives and eccentricities of a small town community in Alaska. Again, Northern Exposure was one of those series that crept up on you. I didn't 'get it' at first, but one night its slow pace and gentle, subversive humour insinuated itself into my brain. I still remember that hilarious episode when the hapless young city physician Joel Fleischman encounters the midnight sun and stays awake three nights on the trot, babbling furiously.

Nurse Jackie doesn't have great hair-dos, but it has a fast, funny script, some brilliantly quirky characters, and suppressed mania that bubbles under the surface. Last week Jackie's best friend, Dr Eleanor O'Hara (Eve Best) got bad news about her mother, went out clubbing and came to work still high on ecstasy. Jackie straps Dr Eleanor to a hospital bed, attaches a nutritional drip, draws the curtains, and every so often brings her files to sign. Now there's a good friend!