Sunday, 20 September 2026

Pictures came and broke your heart


Being adored must be such a burden for a diva

The Madam, John-John and I are off early (for a Sunday) for a most intriguing event this afternoon - a panel discussion at the Southbank Centre hosted by our old friend Rupert Smith titled "Why Do Benders Love Divas?".

Why indeed? We know already, of course, but it'll be interesting to hear what panellists Neil Bartlett, Sadie Lee, David McAlmont and Travis Alabanza have to say about it.

Meanwhile, speaking of "divas"...

...how about a little "Sunday Music", courtesy of our "house band" - and a vocalist who takes on the legendary Freddie Mercury's vocal theatrics very well, but on a most unlikely song indeed:

Enjoy!

Saturday, 19 September 2026

De nouveaux morceaux

It's a gloomy, grey, blustery day here in London, so what better to take our minds off it than a selection of some of the "newer" music that has caught my ear of late?

Let's open with a corker! Courtesy of Mr DeVice, who flagged it up in his own blog just recently, the latest from our current "fave eccentrics" is faboo, of course:

Striking a more mellow tone, the latest release from Soft Cell's final album Danceteria is a melancholic trip down memory lane for Marc Almond, and is rather lovely:

Now for something completely different! A new discovery, courtesy of BBC Radio 3's esoteric Late Junction programme - here's a jolly number from one of Mali's finest artistes:

Another excellent mash-up from the genius Mr Bill McClintock:

From the familiar to something totally bizarre... I love this!

And, saving the best to last [despite the lack of a video] - the 'Boys rip the piss out of a dictator. Brilliantly:


Who washes Putin’s underpants?
Who has to keep them clean
deep in the bowels of his residence
in a top secret washing machine?

Who keeps his secrets secret?
Is nothing or everything true?
Is he fatally ill or strong as a horse
impossible to know or get close to?

When he poisons an opponent’s underpants
does he laugh at his brilliant scheme
knowing he’s got to the root of the problem
deadly but somehow obscene?

Is it difficult to sleep at night?
Does he always sleep alone
with nightmares of a prison cell
summoned to be be judged and to atone?

No, he’ll get away with anything
like Stalin and Peter the Great
He’s the only one that ever matters
He knows what he must dictate

Meanwhile his underpants are washed
by a loyal woman or man
and his secrets will be secret until
that one unfortunate day his shit hits the fan

As ever, I love to hear your thoughts, dear reader...

Friday, 18 September 2026

Going, Going...

Another dire week in work staggers to its conclusion - and we need to get ourselves in the party mood!

How about this unexpected hit from this week - gulp - forty-seven years ago?

Who would have thought that the "King of Crooners" - who is 91 years old at the end of this month - would ever have ventured into the glittering world of the discotheque, to such great effect..?

Thank Disco It's Friday!

Have a great weekend, dear reader!

Thursday, 17 September 2026

The fast pace of technology

At last!

Only NINE DAYS after it broke - the Blogger Reading List is back!

[UPDATE, 17.30pm: Well, I say back... It is indeed now showing everything up until yesterday. This post from this morning, however? Not yet...]

Wednesday, 16 September 2026

Of bloomers, lost rooms, George, a London village, freak mice and Marcia dancing


Our Nerine bowdenii has flowered for the very first time in five years, and has cheered the garden up just as everything else is starting to look a bit tired [click any pic to embiggen]

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

  • Behind closed doors no more news: A gallery at the Natural History Museum has reopened to the public today after 83 years [having been used since WWII as the storeroom for an archival collection of dried plants]! The new exhibition Nature and Us is the first of many new galleries planned to open in the run-up to the venerable institution's 150th birthday in 2031.
  • Will they ever be "Putting It Together"? news: After all the hype that Wicked co-stars Ariana Grande and the gorgeous Jonathan Bailey were to star in the latest attempt to revive Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George at The Barbican Centre next year [for which I had earmarked our Theatre Tokens - a Xmas gift from Mother - to buy tickets as soon as they were released], plans have gone tits-up! First Milady Ariana decided to "take a step back from visibility" after a barrage of social media scrutiny about her appearance and health. Now Mr Bailey has withdrawn from the project, and it has been cancelled! After the ill-fated plan for the previous Broadway production starring Jake Gyllenhall to "cross the pond" was thwarted by the COVID pandemic, we're beginning to wonder if we'll ever get to see a big production of the show in this country at all...

  • Farewell to "London's seaside village" news: Gabriel's Wharf [pictured above], one of the quirkiest, most artisanal and unexpected places along the South Bank of the Thames - a collection of jolly hand-painted "shed-like" shops, bars and restaurants, huddled in a sort-of-village-square, complete with bandstand - is to be demolished at the end of this month, to make way for redevelopment (with proposals to build a nursing home on the site) after 40 years of operation. What a shame. Gentrification gone mad!
  • Frankenstein or Danger Mouse? news: Eek! Neuroscientists in the US have successfully adapted mice to have part-human part-mouse brains. "These are not mice that think like humans", according to the scientists. Gosh, that's reassuring. The mouse we currently have under our bookcase [thanks, most likely, to having the back door open to cool down during all the heatwaves this summer] isn't actually reading our books and planning a world takeover! Like A.I. Only smaller.
  • And finally: RIP, Mademoiselle Catherine Ringer. Who? I hear you ask. She was an avant-garde artist, performer and jazz singer, and one of the musical geniuses behind this beloved house fave here at Dolores Delargo Towers! [In fact, she wrote the song.]

Now I have that as an earworm for the rest of the week.

And the weather? Not bad at all - some good bursts of sunshine today. Make the most of it while we can - it's the Autumn Equinox next week!

Tuesday, 15 September 2026

The ravings of an addled old man on a golf jolly

A US president’s suggestion that Ireland should reunify as soon as possible would have triggered riots, terrorism and political crisis if he were not a shite-spouting halfwit.

In any other circumstances than the president being a gaga eejit with no idea what he is even saying as it dribbles out of his mendacious mouth, the statement would have caused a major diplomatic row and significant unrest.

Taioseach Micheál Martin said: “Even the paramilitaries are calling bullshit on this one.

“Imagine if a proper president had said it. It would spark sectarian violence, angry disavowals from politicians, Andy Burnham desperately trying to calm things down. I mean, Belfast. It’s any excuse to throw a petrol bomb up there.

“But thankfully both sides were able to take into account this was nothing more than the ravings of an addled old man on a golf jolly and of no more import than a drunk mumbling in the corner of a Doonbeg bar.”


Emma Little-Pengelly of the DUP said: “And the way he said it? ‘One of the naturals of all time is to put them together’? Are we sure he wasn’t thinking of Sydney Sweeney’s diddies?”

The Daily Mash

Of course.

[As for his latest rant: "The only control or 'guardrails' that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!" (which would have made me hoot - bar for the fact that he's so fucking deluded he really does think that ignoring the experts is wise) - The Mash has something to say about that, too!]


FOOTNOTE:

Speaking of rants, this is my latest missive to the bastard Google gnomes, using the "feedback" button on Blogger...

Congratulations! SEVEN DAYS - and the Blogger Reading List is still broken! SEVEN DAYS - and not one person in the whole of Google has said anything about it! No apologies. No press announcements. Nothing. It's as if people who use your systems are irrelevant. Sad, really.

They won't read it, nor will they do anything, of course - but it makes me feel better.

Monday, 14 September 2026

Let Go

Having heard the very sad news that Mr Bob Mackie has sewn on his last sequin and departed for Fabulon - see my tribute over at the Dolores Delargo Museum of Camp - I just knew I would have to post at least one of the gazillion outrageously OTT outfits for which he was famous in action this Tacky Music Monday...

...so how about one of my absolute favourites?

Miss Mitzi Gaynor - whose 95th birthday it would have been on 4th September - never had a better frock to shimmy in!

RIP, Mr Mackie.

Have a good week, dear reader.