Sai da minha frente, eu quero passar

And so, farewell, Sérgio Mendes - the man who almost single-handedly made the Brazilian "New Wave" sounds of bossa nova into a cool, internationally-successful pop genre in the 1960s - who has packed up his piano, bongos and Cuica and departed for the "Tiki Lounge" in Fabulon. [To be honest, who even knew he was still with us?]

There is only one song to play, really!

Sérgio Mendes and Brasil 66 - Mas Que Nada (introduced by Eatha Kitt)

Mas que nada
Sai da minha frente
Eu quero passar
Pois o samba está animado
O que eu quero é sambar

[which roughly translates as]

Whatever!
Get out of my way
I wanna pass
Because samba is exciting
And I wanna dance [samba]

Descanse em paz, Sérgio Santos Mendes (11th February 1941 – 5th September 2024)

Everybody on the floor

Yay! The end of the week is nigh...

Time for a boogie, dear reader - so, whether you choose to don your biggest Afro, or swathe yourself in feathers from headdress to knicker-line, let's get that party started...

...just like Miss Gwen Dickie and her boys in Rose Royce - and Thank Disco It's Friday!

Have a great weekend, peeps!

Be warned...

...perspiration is acid!

[Source: Ajax All-Purpose blog]

The "Country Bumpkin" composer?

Happy 200th birthday to Anton Bruckner! He looks sooo cheerful on his birthday...

The man himself was rather an oddball, according to The Guardian:

It was only in his 40s in Vienna that Bruckner felt confident enough to embark on the symphonic project that would sustain the rest of his musical life. But in doing so, he had to face the wrath of his critics, who called him everything from "a drunkard" to the composer of "symphonic boa-constrictors" (that one was Brahms). He also had to put up with caricatures of him as a devoutly, credulously Catholic country bumpkin who propositioned teenage girls in his old age, and who once tipped a conductor with cash for getting through a rehearsal of one of his symphonies...

...he had a mania for counting the bricks and windows of buildings, and for counting the numbers of bars in his gargantuan orchestral scores, making sure their proportions were statistically correct...[he was also] "death-obsessed"...

Yet, for all his weirdness, the legacy of his music lives on.

Here's a lovely sample:

Concertgebouworkest (cond. Mariss Jansons) – Symphony No. 4 ("The Romantic") - III. Scherzo [Bruckner]

A touch of much-needed class round these parts, methinks!

Anton Bruckner (4th September 1824 – 11th October 1896)

He's the greatest, he's fantastic! Wherever there is danger he'll be there

Another snippets post, dear reader...

• Sad news: The writer and co-creator of one of the UK's (and our) most beloved cartoons Danger Mouse, Brian Trueman has died aged 92. Here's the theme tune, by way of a trip down memory lane...

• Spanish dating news: A new TikTok-inspired craze has swept Spain - single people head to Mercadona supermarket between 7pm and 8pm, put an upside-down pineapple in their trolly and cruise the aisles looking for pick-ups. Been there, done that. Without the pineapple.
• Science news: Mobile phones do not contribute to brain cancer, according to a new scientific study for the World Health Organisation. Maybe twats will stop holding their damned phoned at right-angles to their face and use them properly now?

• Acting royalty news: Sir Ian "Serena" McKellen has quashed suggestions of retirement, and wants to play "Gandalf" again - "I'm not letting anyone else put on the pointy hat and beard if I can help it."
• And finally: A full-size Xmas tree was spotted on a street in Bromley. In August!

And the weather? Up and down like a whore's drawers.

Se polkka taas menneitä mieleen tuo*

Happy birthday Keanu Reeves, 60 today! Time's a terrible thing...

Oh shit. Here we go again...

After a really pleasant weekend - warm sunshine, a meet-up with the Madam's cousin and his family on a rare vist to London on Saturday night, a bit of pottering in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers - wham! We're back to work, and it's a Tacky Music Monday once more!

Here's something that is almost certain to wake you up out of your stupor, dear reader - even if it's only to switch it off, while screaming:

Swingle Singers - Säkkijärven Polkka

Vodka for breakfast? No, ta. I'll have gin.

Have a good week, dears.

[* "Se polkka taas menneitä mieleen tuo" = "This polka reminds me of the past" in Finnish]

Sunshine and new choons

RIP, Phil "The Collector" Swern, BBC radio producer for six decades, the man behind Ken Bruce's "Popmaster" quiz, and famously the owner of every single that entered the charts since they began in 1952...

On this beautifully warm and sunny late summer day, it seems fitting, methinks, for a wallow in some of the "newer" music that has caught my ear of late...

Let's open proceedings with something suitably sunshiney, its video featuring gorgeous young things cavorting in some exotic location, in various states of undress:

Disclosure - She’s Gone, Dance On

[the song samples Ennio Morricone - Dance On from the film Così Come Sei (aka: Stay As You Are) (1978), in case you were wondering]

By complete contrast - a holiday road trip much closer to home, to accompany another classic-in-the-making from one of our favourite bands:

Pet Shop Boys - Feel

Here's a faboo discovery - weird, indeed:

Allie X - Weird World

Next, the return of not just one, but two house favourites!

Bright Light Bright Light & Ultra Naté - Every Emotion

This track apparently took four years to get finished! It's good, but what took so long?

Clean Bandit, Anne-Marie, David Guetta – Cry Baby

To conclude, saving the best to last - when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object, this happens. Love it!

The Blessed Madonna & Kylie Minogue - Edge Of Saturday Night

As ever, I welcome your thoughts, dear reader...