Jump up bubble up, what's in store?

Heavens! Sharing the occasion (as he does) with an assortment of "notables" including David Essex, Martin Gore of Depeche Mode, Gloria DeHaven, Daniel Radcliffe, Jo Brand, Raymond Chandler, Woody Harrelson, Michael Wilding, Haile Selassie, Madeline Bell, Michael Foot, architect Richard Rogers, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Slash of Guns'n'Roses, Graham Gooch, Fran Healy of Travis and - erm - Monica Lewinsky...

[and, speaking of sax] ...it's the 80th birthday today of Mr Andy McKay, the saxophonist and oboist whose sublime talents - and natty dressing - contributed to the huge success of "the coolest band on the planet" Roxy Music.

By way of a little tribute - and also just because... Here is the classic song that he co-wrote for the group [surprisingly, it was going to be an instrumental "filler" track until Mr Ferry wrote the words for it] - in my opinion one of the most magnificent choons in their incredible repertoire:

Roxy Music - Love is the Drug

T'ain't no big thing
To wait for the bell to ring
T'ain't no big thing
The toll of the bell

Aggravated, spare for days
I troll downtown the red light place
Jump up bubble up, what's in store?
Love is the drug and I need to score
Showing out, showing out, hit and run
Boy meets girl where the beat goes on
Stitched up tight, can't shake free
Love is the drug, got a hook on me

Oh oh catch that buzz
Love is the drug I'm thinking of
Oh oh can't you see
Love is the drug for me

Late that night I park my car
Stake my place in the singles bar
Face to face, toe to toe
Heart to heart as we hit the floor

Lumber up, limbo down
The locked embrace, the stumble round
I say go, she say yes
Dim the lights, you can guess the rest

Oh oh catch that buzz
Love is the drug I'm thinking of
Oh oh can't you see
Love is the drug, got a hook in me
Oh oh catch that buzz
Love is the drug I'm thinking of
Oh oh can't you see
Love is the drug for me

Utterly brilliant.

Many happy returns, Mr Andrew "Andy" Mackay (born 23rd July 1946)

Saxy!

Our Lilium speciosum var. rubrum is looking lovelier than ever this year!

And so, farewell then, the implausibly-named Plas Johnson, who I just discovered has died, a week short of his 95th birthday.

Who?! I hear you ask, dear reader!

OK, he was a saxophonist and session musician who played on records by myriad artists such as B.B. King, Peggy Lee, Nat "King" Cole, Frank Sinatra, Duane Eddy, Ricky Nelson and Bobby Vee...

...but it was for this that he is most well-known [well his playing is, if not his name]!

Theme from The Pink Panther [Henry Mancini]

What a legacy!

Manly-flavoured lollies, anyone?

Ice lolly manufacturers have responded to demand for a product that in no way resembles a cock.

A new lolly, the Ice Block Max, has been developed to meet the needs of male heterosexuals who want to enjoy a lolly without feeling they are basically eating a penis.

The new product is a grey cube on a stick resembling a building material, which tastes of bloody steak for a ‘more manly flavour’ and features a picture of Jason Statham on the wrapper.

A spokesman for manufacturers Walls said: “This lolly is so red-bloodedly male it can practically do 200 pull-ups while grunting ‘Hurr!’

“The unique, perfectly cuboid shape means that it doesn’t have a shaft. Research shows that anything taller than it is wide basically looks like an erection when being sucked.

“Of course we will continue to make the classic phallic lollies – Twister, Calippo, Mini Milk – but sales are likely to fall now men don’t need to look as if they’re well-practised at sucking cock.

“Usually when manufacturers try to make a hyper-masculine product it somehow ends up seeming super-gay. That’s why we’re thrilled to have Jason Statham promoting it.

“He’s straightness personified, especially the way he wrestles that other guy in 'The Transporter' in a big pool of oil, with his shirt off.”

The Daily Mash

Of course.

And I've learned to give the well-known witches' curse

Aaaargh! (again)

The eternal conundrum continues to baffle us - why do weekends fly by so damned quickly, yet the working weeks drag so tortuously?

Yet again, we're in need of a bit of a wake-up call.

How fortuitous then, that yesterday happened to be the 86th birthday of one Florencia Bisenta de Casillas-Martinez Cardona, better known as one of our fave divas here at Dolores Delargo Towers, Señorita Vikki Carr!

On this Tacky Music Monday, I think it's appropriate to revisit an old fave of hers that I have featured several times before. Simply because I adore this uber-camp Scopitone clip..!

Vikki Carr - Everything I've Got

Many happy returns, Vikki Carr (born 19th July 1940)

Have a good week, dear reader.

He'll wrap you in his arms, tell you that you've been a good boy

Happy 50th birthday, Benedict Cumberbatch! As I have said before: Magic's come a long way since the days of Tommy Cooper and Paul Daniels...

It's a verrry slow day again today, dear reader. After a mammoth telly-and-film binge (mainly Marvel stuff) at John-John's yesterday [we started at 1pm, and I got home in a taxi at 1am], I didn't even surface today until about 2 o'clock!

At least it's not as searingly hot as it has been of late, so it's quite pleasant to sit out in, and I might, if I feel arsed to, do some pottering in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers.

Meanwhile, some suitable "Sunday music" from our house band is in order, methinks. [The original version of this was used as the theme tune to Peaky Blinders apparently; I wouldn't know, I have never watched it.] .

Postmodern Jukebox feat. Katerina Lomis - Red Right Hand (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds jazz cover)

On a gathering storm comes a tall handsome man
In a dusty black coat with a red right hand

He'll wrap you in his arms, tell you that you've been a good boy
He'll rekindle all the dreams it took you a lifetime to destroy
He'll reach deep into the hole, heal your shrinking soul
But there won't be a single thing that you can do

Those lyrics bring back memories of cruising grounds of old...

Don't believe me, just watch

I'm off to John-John's today for another "marathon Marvel geek-fest", catching up on bits of the MCU I haven't seen yet, like Wonder Man [above].

Here's something appropriate for the occasion, methinks!

Marvel Uptown Funk

Love it.

Queen of the Night aria?

Gratuitous - but obligatory - Coq Galoise

And so we have crawled, tortuously, to the end of another thrilling working week...

...but in all the - ahem - excitement, I quite forgot that on Tuesday, our leetle Froggy chums were enjoying their biggest day of celebration, Le Quatorze Juillet (or, as it is better known here, Bastille Day)!

To make up for it, who better to start the weekend party celebrations than one of our revered, dearly departed, Gallic Patron Saints, Régine?

Vive le disco, c'est vendredi!

Régine - Reine de la Nuit

Have a great weekend, dear reader!