Author Will Hodgkinson and actress and director Caroline Catz join Andy and John to discuss James Young's Nico, Songs They Never Play on the Radio, first published in 1992. This is the story of Nico, former model, film actress, erstwhile singer with the Velvet Underground and darling of Andy Warhol's Factory. After a decade of heroin addiction, by the early 1980s she was living in Manchester, concerned mainly with feeding her habit. A local promoter persuaded her to play a few shows in Italy. Hired straight from university as her keyboard player, James Young was both witness to, and participant in, this tour and those that followed. Fellow spirits including John Cale, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and John Cooper Clarke are among those who appear in his classic memoir of this period, a comedy of tragic proportions and vice versa. As the author of a recent highly acclaimed memoir of an errant would-be rock star, Street-Wise Superstar: A Year With Lawrence, Will offers his insights into the challenges presented to the writer by such a mercurial subject; while Caroline, who directed and starred in a film about neglected composer Delia Derbyshire, discusses the obstacles faced by female artists then and now. Please be aware that this episode, just like the book it describes, contains both strong language and scenes of a sordid nature; fortunately, it is also very funny. 

Books mentioned
James Young - Nico, Songs They Never Play on the Radio 
William & Jim Reid - Never Understood: The Jesus and Mary Chain
Will Hodgkinson - Street-Wise Superstar: A Year With Lawrence; In Perfect Harmony: Singalong Pop in ’70s Britain; Song Man: One Man's Mission to Write the Perfect Pop Song; Guitar Man: A Six String Odyssey;

Other links
Nico records mentioned - Chelsea Girl (1967); The Marble Index (1968); Desertshore (1970); Camera Obscura (1985)
Nico Icon documentary (1995) - watch here
What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank - Marylebone Theatre until 4th November 2024
The Extraordinary Miss Flower (2024)