I know that you are only a kiss away

Just by way of a little mini-tribute to John Barry, who died today...

One of the more sublime Bond themes:

Shirley Bassey - Moonraker

John Barry RIP

John Barry - a life in clips

Jam...

It is the 90th birthday today of another of our pantheon of gods here at Dolores Delargo Towers - Miss Carol Channing!

I have blogged about this magnificent lady many times before - check my blog on the occasion of her birthday last year - but I make no apology, on this Tacky Music Monday, for paying another visit to this little work of genius.

Miss Channing - you are indeed a living legend!!

Carol Channing - Jam Tomorrow

Magic beans

We held another of our champagne-fuelled soirees last night at Dolores Delargo Towers, and as per usual a magnificent mix of music assaulted our eardrums. (I like to torture the guests!)



The occasion was to wish Madam Arcati an early Happy Birthday, as we are away in Spain on the actual day. Our friend John-John gave him a truly dreadful musical card, featuring Daniel O'Donnell singing the greeting. Ewwww.

However, it did encourage me to go on a YouTube search, where I found this magnificent piss-take!

Enjoy...

DOD - Flick Your Bean

Come up and see me

Happy 60th birthday today to actress Ann Jillian. Who? I hear you ask...

Almost completely unknown on this side of the channel, Miss Jillian has been a long-running stalwart of daytime TV comedy in the US.

However, on investigation I found out that amongst her other achievements the lady was not only the original "Dainty June" in the Hollywood movie of house favourite musical Gypsy alongside Roz Russell and Natalie Wood, but she also received an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of another of our patron saints here at Dolores Delargo Towers, Miss Mae West - and for that, we salute her!

Frankie and Johnny:

There's a rainbow over my shoulder (Oooh ooh)

The weekend has finally arrived. Hoorah!

In folklore, this week was officially the most depressing of the year. I am only glad it is over, and we can all have a much-deserved rest...

Alternatively, we can grab our embroidered bolero jackets, flares and Cuban heels, and dance our tits off like Tavares - dig that fancy footwork! Thank Disco It's Friday...

Tavares - Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel

Electricity!

Three choons today that fit sort-of-neatly together in the category we call Electro...

First an old fave, back with a new single - the former vocalist with the Chemical Brothers, Mr Ali Love:

Ali Love - Moscow Girl

Next a brand new recommendation from the lovely gorgeous sweetie darlings at The Hospital Club, the wonderfully wittily-named Herr Styler! Definitely my favourite song and video at the moment - Enjoy!

Herr Styler - Snow In Paris

And lest we forget her, here is a young lady whose publicity machine for her new album 21 has gone into overdrive this week (with interviews everywhere, or so it seems!), the sublime Adele:

Adele - Rolling in the Deep

- but here, her soul is somewhat electrified by DJ Keljet, and I love it:

Adele - Rolling in the Deep (Keljet Remix)

It's almost Friday, chaps and chapesses!

Sisters?

Madonna, Christina and GaGa relaxing...

Time is eternal

Twenty years ago the UK charts encountered a (not unwelcome) wave of madness, as dance music leapt to the fore.

British artists took the new House sounds emanating from America, mixed them up with homegrown and European campness and electronica, and threw them right back at the Yanks!

Maddest of the lot (by far) were the fantabulosa KLF, who were at Number 1 this week in January 1991 - I loved them, their "Mu-Mu Land" fantasies, headline-grabbing stunts and downright brilliant music.

Happy memories - enjoy!

KLF - 3am Eternal

A weakling, weighing ninety-eight pounds, will get sand in his face when kicked...to the ground

He'll do press-ups and chin-ups
Do the snatch, clean and jerk
He thinks dynamic tension
Must be hard work...

Spurious excuse for a beefcake video, #457 in a series...

On hearing the news today of the death (aged 96) of a certain Mr Jack LaLanne, pioneer of gyms and fitness clubs across America (a bit of a failure one suspects, judging by the huge numbers of obese people that country harbours!), there is only one thing I could post to be honest! ..

Enjoy!

Olivia Newton-John - Physical

Jack LaLanne obituary on the BBC

McEvil Monday

Hey ho, it's Tacky Music Monday again, and today the focus is on the kitsch (as if I would have it any other way) - and fitting that bill magnificently is this bizarre dance routine from none other than Broadway legend Chita Rivera, whose 78th birthday it was yesterday...

I am certain she would prefer to forget this particular segment of her glittering career!

Chita Rivera - Lucretia McEvil

Enjoy!

Talk about, pop music

Even if I am in full Sunday mode, listening to back-to-back showtunes, nostalgia and MOR courtesy of Radio 2, there is room methinks for another Pick of the Pops - some recent music that has caught my attention:

First up, the return of a firm favourite here at Dolores Delargo Towers, the magnificently mad Martin Solveig collaborating once more with Canadian purveyors of excess Dragonette!

Martin Solveig and Dragonette - Hello

Next up, a remarkable choice for me. For despite the fact that the boys from McFly perpetually delight in taking their clothes off (a very good thing in my opinion), this is the very first time I have actually liked one of their songs...

McFly - Party Girl

Always welcome is a new single by the eternally lovely chanteuse Ysa Ferrer!

Ysa Ferrer feat. Perez Hilton - Hands Up

And finally, a recent discovery from the land of tackiness, Spain (where we will be in two weeks!). Here's a very gay little video, courtesy of a group of sporty Spaniard bears...

Barb@zul - I Don't Care

Thoughts?

A change is gonna come?

Had he lived, the pioneer of Soul music and Civil Rights supporter (and downright sexy man!) Sam Cooke would have been 80 years old today.

Possessed of a most beautiful vocal style and good looks, Mr Cooke moved from gospel to soulful popular song at an early age, and caught the mood of 60s America perfectly. Songs such as Chain Gang, You Send Me, Cupid, Keep Movin' On, Only Sixteen, Twistin' The Night Away and of course Wonderful World ensured he was rocketed to stardom.

His pop success gave him a significant opportunity to highlight the struggle for racial equality, and indeed his classic A Change Is Gonna Come became an anthem of the 1960s civil rights movement. Though Cooke didn't live to see its success it would come to be heralded as his magnum opus. The song was covered myriad times over the forthcoming years by such towering artists as Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin. Miss Franklin indeed referred to him as "one of the greatest male singers of all time."

Notoriously, despite his sweet and "squeaky-clean" Soul-boy image, Sam Cooke was a bit of a wild child underneath. His partying and womanising were kept well away from the public eye, until one fateful night. According to The History of Rock site:

With a live LP in the Top 30, Cooke was in L.A. partying when he met 22 year old Elisa Boyer at a club on December 11, 1964. They drove to South Central where they registered at the Hacienda Motel as Mr.and Mrs. Sam Cooke. Later Boyer left the room with most of Cooke's clothing. Cooke wearing one shoe and a jacket broke into the motel's office where he thought Boyer was hiding. There he found Bertha Franklin the motel's manager who shot him three times with a .22, killing Cooke. Bertha Franklin claimed Cooke had tried to rape Elisa Boyer and then turned on her. The coroner's office ruled the death as justifiable homicide. Over 45 years later there remain questions about the circumstances of Cooke's death and there has been talk about reopening the investigation.

Aged only 33, his was a great loss to music. Had he lived he most certainly would have been a rival to the success of the aforementioned Mr Redding, Marvin Gaye, and even Nat King Cole. But his music lives on! RIP one of the greats...

Sam Cooke - A Change is Gonna Come

In a wry observation of the way music has evolved over the years one commenter on YouTube said, "You went from Sam Cooke to 50 Cent. What has happened to you America?" Indeed, where has the Soul gone?

Sam Cooke - You Send Me

Sam Cooke biography at the History of Rock site

"Gurls"? Indeed...

A little treat that Madam Arcati found to cheer us along as we count down to our holiday...

Viva Camp!

California Gays (Katy Perry - California Gurls parody)

A new kind of medicine?

It's Friday at last - and I think most of us will be glad to see the back of such a depressing week...

I think a (return) visit to the doctor may be in order. Thank Disco It's Friday!

Carol Douglas - Doctor's Orders

[It is wonderful to rediscover things I had posted years ago, as I trawl the MySpace archives of Dolores Delargo Towers...]

Just can't get enough...

Today, as we countdown to Spain in earnest (two weeks on Saturday!), it is worth revisiting another of our fabulously camp discoveries...

I blogged this time last year about the lovely Spanish diva Marta Sanchez and her duet with the sexy Carlos Baute.

Now here is the lady's massively popular gay anthem Superstar for your delectation.

Marta Sanchez - Superstar

It cheered me up, anyway!

But above all of this, I wish you love

The campest-of-camp country'n'western singers, the glittering Dolly Parton is 65 years old today!

With her big wigs, big boobs and enormous rhinestones, the "feathers fouf and faff" that is the staple of Miss Parton's photo-grabbing appearance of course belies her incredible talent and business acumen. Born in a "dirt poor" backwoods town in Tennessee, her vocal skills (as with so many other singers, black and white) were developed through the choral style of the Midwest "happy clapper" churches, and by the age of thirteen she was already appearing at The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville! Regular appearances on specialist radio stations and (more effective for a girl with her busty appearance) on TV ensured she caught the ear and eye of the American public, and the rest, as they say, is history...

But it was not just her singing talent and her showbiz chutzpah that led Miss Parton to fame and fortune. Her own musical compositions were also very popular from the early stages of her career - she wrote songs for Skeeter Davis, Hank Willams, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt and many others on the country circuit, and among her billion-selling songs are I Will Always Love You, Jolene, 9 to 5, Love Is Like A Butterfly, Here You Come Again, Joshua, and of course her signature tune Coat Of Many Colours.

Today she remains the biggest-selling country singer in history, has awards and accolades galore (including two Oscar nominations, the National Medal of Arts and a Kennedy Center Honour), and her own business (The Dollywood Company) that invests in property, films and is a major philanthropic trust in the US, as well as her own theme park - Dollywood!

Dolly Parton - we salute you!

Dolly Parton - Jolene

Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers - Islands In The Stream

Dolly Parton - Coat of Many Colours

Dolly Parton website

A year of musical memories...

I am reminded that I haven't yet posted my "Songs of the Year" for 2010!

How remiss of me... Anyhow, before January slips out of the back door, and while the slough of despond is still upon us as we wait eagerly for the first pay day of the year, here are ten songs that sum up my year for me quite succinctly.

This is not (and could never be) a complete and comprehensive list, as there are many more I could have included (and many more I have no doubt forgotten completely in my ditzy fashion!).

Nevertheless, enjoy...

Fergie - Be Italian

Sara Montiel vs Fangoria - Absolutamente

Janelle Monae - Tightrope

Bananarama - Love Don't Live Here

Kelis - Acapella

Newport State of Mind

Scissor Sisters - Any Which Way

Cleary & Harding - We No Speak Americano

Duck Sauce - Barbra Streisand

Kylie - All The Lovers

What a year...

Sara smokes

On this gloomy Monday, as we begin our countdown to Spain (two weeks on Saturday!), and wonder how the smoking ban is going down in the country where it is practically compulsory to smoke, here is our favourite recent discovery from the land of Tacky Music divas with her own song dedicated to smoking...

I cannot get enough of Sara Montiel!

Sara Montiel - Fumanda Espero (2009)

Clear the decks! Clear the tracks! You've got nothing to do but relax!

It's Sunday, I have been listening to Radio 2 all day; showtunes and oldies galore, and I love it...

It is also 103 years since our great earth mother Ethel Merman was born.

So to celebrate the genre we call "Sunday Music" why not feature one of the last performances of the greatest of all showbiz ladies?

Take it away, Ethel Merman!!

Ethel Merman - Everything's Coming Up Roses

I had a dream, a dream about you, baby.
It's gonna come true, baby.
They think that we're through, but baby,

You'll be swell! You'll be great!
Gonna have the whole world on the plate!
Starting here, starting now,
honey, everything's coming up roses!

Clear the decks! Clear the tracks!
You've got nothing to do but relax.
Blow a kiss. Take a bow.
Honey, everything's coming up roses!

Now's your inning. Stand the world on it's ear!
Set it spinning! That'll be just the beginning!
Curtain up! Light the lights!
You got nothing to hit but the heights!
You'll be swell. You'll be great.
I can tell. Just you wait.
That lucky star I talk about is due!
Honey, everything's coming up roses for me and for you!

You can do it, all you need is a hand.
We can do it, Mama is gonna see to it!
Curtain up! Light the lights!
We got nothing to hit but the heights!
I can tell, wait and see.
There's the bell! Follow me!
And nothing's gonna stop us 'til we're through!
Honey, everything's coming up roses and daffodils!
Everything's coming up sunshine and Santa Claus!
Everything's gonna be bright lights and lollipops!
Everything's coming up roses for me and for you!

A triumph of art over nature

Our house favourite here at Dolores Delargo Towers celebrates her 60th birthday (or is it her 70th?) today! I know I have featured her here many times before but...



How does one describe in mere words the triumph of art over nature that is Charo?

Born María del Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Gutiérrez de los Perales Santa Ana Romanguera y de la Hinojosa Rasten in Murcia, Spain, she had to go to court in the US to declare her official birth date as 1951. We forgive her.

Anyone who still has the temerity to behave today like the "sex kitten" she was in 1966 - when at the age of fifteen she married 66-year-old bandleader Xavier Cugat - has our vote!

Simultaneously hilariously bad and yet remarkably talented (she is a classically trained Flamenco guitarist and fluent in Japanese), Charo blossomed under Cugat's guidance into a cult TV star - from Rowan & Martin's Laugh-in in the 1960s, through The Love Boat in the 70s and myriad guest appearances on chat shows and variety shows right up to Dancing With The Stars today. And we love her!

Charo - Sexy, Sexy (on the Wendy Williams Show)

Yorkshire carrying-on

We went with my sister and History Boy to see JB Priestley's When We Are Married last night - a rare thing for us, to go and see a West End production that isn't a musical!

Hilb had given us this as a Xmas prezzie, knowing as we all did that with a cast that includes Roy Hudd, Maureen Lipman, Michelle Dotrice, Sam Kelly and Susie Blake in it just has to be good! Another fave Lynda Baron was unfortunately replaced by her understudy, but good it most certainly was...

The plot is a twist on the traditional "comedy of manners", in that the setting is pompous nouveaux riche society in Edwardian Yorkshire rather than genteel aristocratic drawing-rooms, and centres around a party being held to celebrate three couples who married on the same day twenty-five years previously. Of course, nothing is quite as simple as it seems, and when the young "lah-de-dah Southerner" church organist, about to be sacked by the dreadful old bigots of the Presbyterian chapel, drops a bombshell - the three working-class-made-good couples were never in fact legally married due to the lack of qualification of the minister!

Having well and truly pricked the bubble of their brusque pomposity, farce ensues... All the couples begin to feel the wind of freedom now they are no longer bound by law to each other. Hen-pecked Herbert Soppitt (Sam Kelly) reveals his long-standing passion for Annie Parker (Michelle Dotrice), and begins to stand up to his domineering "wife" Clara (Maureen Lipman) for the first time.

A newcomer Lottie Grady (a "tart with a heart", played brilliantly by Rosemary Ashe) calls in, on hearing the news (from the gossipy housekeeper) that all the individuals are now "free", in the hope of running away with Alderman Helliwell (David Horovitch). She reveals they had a "fling" in Blackpool, much to the horror (and slight relief) of his long-suffering "wife" Maria (Suzy Blake).

Best of all is the reaction of Annie to the news she is finally free of her overbearing skinflint husband Councillor Parker (Simon Rouse), as she tells him with scathing honesty just what she thinks about him!

But of course, this wouldn't be a proper farce without the comic turn - ably provided by the fantabulosa Roy Hudd as the drunken Henry Ormenroyd, photographer from the local paper, who has come to take photos of the "celebrating" couples and remains a witness to the whole unfolding melodrama. With a couple of rousing Music Hall sing-songs and a bravado bumbling performance, his character often provided the "gel" that kept the pace of the whole play together.

All in all, this is a lovely evening's entertainment, despite the ignoramus audience with their rattly sweet wrappers and loud whispering, and the sound of the Piccadilly Line and the police sirens penetrating the lovely Garrick Theatre (sited as it is right next to Trafalgar Square). We thoroughly enjoyed it!

Garrick Theatre

RIP a remarkable lady

Sad news today that the lovely Margaret Whiting, magnificent singer and gay pornstar-magnet, has died at the age of 86.

Hers was indeed a colourful life, as I have written before - read my previous post - and she will be sorely missed.

A little sweetness has gone from the music world... RIP.

Margaret Whiting - The Gypsy In My Soul

Margaret Whiting obituary in the Telegraph

Hey people! - weekend...

Ah, revisiting old blogs unearths some real gems...

It is indeed Friday, and despite the lashing rain today it is predicted to be a sunny weekend. We are off tonight to see the new West End production of J.B. Priestley's When We Are Married tonight, and it is three weeks till we are in Spain!

All the more reason to rediscover the "charms" of the lovely Arabesque...

Arabesque - Friday Night

Please look after this bear

It's nostalgia time again... For, happily, I find that the author Michael Bond is still alive and well and celebrates his 85th birthday today.

Who? I hear you ask...

Mr Bond, a former cameraman on Blue Peter, evidently had an affinity with the minds of children - for in 1958 he introduced the world to the adventures of Paddington Bear, the first of fifteen books in the series!

To celebrate, here is the opening episode of the animated series about the bear from "Darkest Peru", whose Aunt Lucy sends him to England, carrying a jar of marmalade. This was a programme that brightened my, and many other people's childhood. Enjoy!

Paddington Bear - Please look after this bear

NB Mr Bond also wrote another favourite children's TV series The Herbs, but I'll save that one for another day...

I find the things that you do will make me feel alright

A little slice of fabulosity today, courtesy of the ever-wonderful Thom at Chateau Thombeau blog.

Is the world quite ready for the sublime talents of performance artist (and pal of the much-missed Klaus Nomi) Mr Joey Arias?! Enjoy...

Joey Arias - A Hard Day's Night

Joey Arias website

The lovely Sal

One of the most gorgeous men to grace a movie screen, Sal Mineo would have been 71 today. Best known (of course) as the sidekick (and love interest?) of James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause and again in Giant, he struggled in the studio system of the time to escape stereotyping as either the angst-ridden teen or the underworld hoodlum. It couldn't have helped much that Mr Mineo was well known as a gay man in an era of witch hunts and celibate marriages.

He went on to become a stage actor and producer - notably of the homoerotic play Fortune and Men's Eyes (starring a young Don Johnson) - and made several cameo appearances on TV, but never re-captured that moment of success he had in the late 50s.

Returning from rehearsals of his latest play in 1976, he was stabbed to death in an alleyway behind his home. He was 37. A tragic end indeed for such a gorgeous man...

Here he is in one of his lesser-known roles, during a period in his career when he was still trying to sell the "heart-throb" image:

Sal Mineo in Who Killed Teddy Bear?

Here is Mr Mineo singing (during his very short-lived musical career):

Sal Mineo on Shindig

And here is a fab tribute video to Rebel Without A Cause:

[Yes, the video does work, despite there being no thumbnail picture]

Sal Mineo website

It's behind you!!

We went along to the penultimate evening of the now traditional "adult panto" at Leicester Square Theatre - Snow White and the Seven Poofs. With a title as unsubtle as that our gang went well prepared for an evening of filth, innuendo, campery and rowdiness.

What we were not prepared for was the audience! They were dreadful, and at times the players themselves were visibly angry as time and again "audience participation" descended into anarchy, as a couple of drunken women were determined to shout and talk over the punchlines.

Despite the level of tension that created (and the condensation dripping of the ceiling that kept raining icy blobs all down our row), we still had a rip-roaring time. The jokes are (as ever) obvious, random interpretations of familiar pop hits provided the hand-clapping interludes, and the cast remained brilliant through the whole thing.

Halfway to Heaven's very own Drag Idol winner the fab Tanya Hyde was the squeaky-voiced "virginal" Snow White, abused by all and sundry (including the filthy slag Hilda and her muff) in her quest to marry Prince Donkey-Dick [I said it wasn't subtle!] - and was consummately professional in holding it all together. West End drag stalwart Bette Rinse played the most evil of evil queens with a vehemence brought on partly by nature(!) and partly by the audience, and the show's creator Simon Gross was suitably vile as Hilda.



And what of the "Poofs"? The rest of the cast were excellent, each called upon to play several roles in the performance - in particular Paul Shears as the Magic Mirror (every time he shouted "All right me lovers?" in his best Plymouth accent, we all had to shout "Fuck off, mirror!") and Victoria Hopkins as the Butch Dyke, who explained to the straights in the audience such gay mysteries as "cottage", "queen" and "fish"...

Some of the scenes were truly hilarious. I almost wet myself laughing at the array of dreadful costumes assembled on stage for the "woodland animals" scene - I don't recall Tigger, two gorillas, a kangaroo and a grotesque giant robin in the original - and when Snow White killed the "vermin" (“Can someone get this fucking fox out of here?”) I nearly fell off my chair. The ensemble number (traditional panto fare) that involved the whole cast imagining what job they would do if they weren't working for the Queen - "A nurse I would be - pants down, needle out, it's just a little prick", "A postman I would be - lick it once, lick it twice, stick it in the box" etc - each with different actions, was superb!

With a sing-a-long finale and the traditionally incomprehensible pairings-off in the closing wedding scene, it was truly wild and brilliant evening's entertainment - in the true spirit of panto. Definitely not for the kids or your gran! As the opening announcer said (sounding suspiciously like Dame Judi), the easily offended should “kindly fuck off” and leave the rest of us to it...

Worst video ever?

As is my wont, I scour the web for the most kitsch and tacky wonderments.

Sometimes this tackiness brings great joy - we regularly revel in such delights as The Cambodian Funk Yodeller, Sorelle Marinetti, The Bran Flakes, weird mash-ups, hidden secrets of the rich and famous, or the glittering careers of such luminaries as Wing, Pia Zadora and Charo.

Here however is a discovery of such awesome awfulness that I just felt obliged to share it with you, dear reader.

Contender for perhaps the worst song and video combo in musical recording history, here is an example of the long and illustrious cultural history of redneck America... Enjoy! (If that is the word!)

Bobby Mackey - Hero Daddy

There are obviously other contenders for the throne of "worst video ever", and as always I am delighted to receive your suggestions...

Quiero bailar la salsa!

As we look forward to the weekend and all that it will bring (in our case, Snow White and the Seven Poofs panto - "It's behind you!", etc, ad nauseam), so our thoughts turn to the most appropriate outfits, disco wear and dance moves for a party.

Here at Dolores Delargo Towers, we always heartily recommend primary colour sweatshirts, white trousers so tight you can see a pulse, and afro wigs!

So let us celebrate the ultimate stylists of that particular fashion, the Gibson Brothers, as they gaily shake their maracas for the camera... Thank Disco It's Friday!

Gibson Brothers - Cuba

Pick of the Pops this week

After the sad couple of blogs recently (RIP Gerry Rafferty and Mick Karn), I think we are overdue a little jollying-up in this New Year.

So how about a brand new Dolores Delargo Towers "Pick of the Pops" for this first week of 2011..?

First up, a rather summery collaboration between the French DJ Antoine Clamaran and Spanish trashy club queen Soraya. Perfect for dreaming about our holiday in Spain in a month's time...

Antoine Clamaran feat. Soraya - Live Your Dreams

Next, one that I heard last month but is rather growing on me - the new one from Duran Duran:

Duran Duran - All You Need Is Now

Now here is a real treat - one of the BBC's lauded new talents of 2011 to look out for. Laydeez and Gentlemen, I give you the powerful tonsils of Mr James Blake!

James Blake - Limit To Your Love

Then of course there is this very bizarre effort from Mr Sam Sparro, who I think may have been inhaling a bit too much of that day-glo makeup...

Sam Sparro - Pink Cloud

And finally, one from the archives, yet most welcome to brighten up our day. Ex-Alcazar singer and all-round camp icon Miss (unpronounceable) Annikafiore!

Avatar versus Eve (feat. Annikafiore) - I've still got the highest heels in the room

Quiet Life ended

Another sad loss to report, as we learn of the death of founder member and bassist for the fabulous Japan, Mick Karn.

A very important influence on my teenage life is gone.

Once more, RIP.

Japan - Quiet Life

Article in The Guardian

The sun is shinin' it's a new morning. You're goin', you're goin' home

And so, farewell Gerry Rafferty - writer and singer of many a folksy song during the mellow 1970s.

Two absolute classics remain forever associated with him, however, and remain an enduring and timeless legacy. RIP.

Stealers Wheel - Stuck in the Middle With You

Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street

Gerry Rafferty obituary

Paris with Tony Curtis - mmmmm!

Back to work this morning after a fabulous extended seasonal break, and I feel soooo miserable!

I fear that only the vision of loveliness that is Tony Curtis and his chums dancing around in their pants can save the mood! Enjoy...

Carefree

Another Bank Holiday, another Tacky Music Monday!

Here with a very wise anthem for 2011 is another of our patron saints here at Dolores Delargo Towers, Miss Mitzi Gaynor... Enjoy the madness!

Mitzi Gaynor - I Don't Care

Neither do I, Mitzi.

Spectacular, spectacular

If my previous blog was too dour for some, let's lighten the mood somewhat with some stylish fabulousness appropriate for a Sunday - what better than Busby Berkeley?!

Gorgeous.

RIP 2010

Another year begins, and we remember those who died in 2010:

Jean Simmons
Patricia Neal
Mitch Miller
Eddie Fisher
Tony Curtis
Tom Bosley
Dame Joan Sutherland
Jill Clayburgh
Leslie Nielson
June Havoc
Captain Beefheart
Bob Guccione
Ian Carmichael
Teddy Pendergrass
Elizabeth Beresford
Christopher Cazenove
Alexander McQueen
Bobby Farrell
Johnny Dankworth
Ari Up
Lena Horne
Frank Sidebottom
Alex "Hurricane" Higgins
Erich Segal
Rue McLanahan
Dick Francis
John Forsythe
Dorothy Provine
Malcolm McLaren
Cyril Smith
Beryl Bainbridge
Harry Carpenter
Kathryn Grayson
Lionel Jeffries
Lynn Redgrave
Egon Ronay
Simon McCorkindale
Dino De Laurentiis
Norman Wisdom
Gloria Stuart
Gregory Isaacs
Gary Coleman
Jack Parnell
Harold Gould
Blake Edwards
Kristian Digby
Peter Graves
Robert Culp
Zelda Rubinstein
Dennis Hopper
Eric Rohmer
Kate McGarrigie
JD Salinger

RIP

BBC audio slideshow

In 2011, make an entrance!

New Year would not be New Year without dreams of Amsterdam...

And so without further ado, here's Holland's greatest (and campest) super-group, the almighty Toppers! Now that's how to make an entrance...

Toppers in Concert 2010 intro