All about Eve (and Andy!)

Peter York, Sue Tilley, Rusty Egan, Andrew Logan - more often than not such names, either alone or in combination, are the sort that crop up in some nostalgic Sunday supplement piece about "Shapers of the 80s". Yet there they all were in their finery in Soho's Arts Theatre, in 2014 (on Monday, actually) - assembled to pay homage to the doyenne of madcap camp cabaret and peignoir glamour, Miss Eve Ferret!

As my regular reader will no doubt be aware, Miss Ferret (solo, and in her original incarnation as part of "Biddie and Eve", in-house cabaret artistes at Steve Strange's seminal "Blitz" club) is a house favourite (and budding Patron Saint) here at Dolores Delargo Towers. Monday's show was the fourth time I had been to see her on stage...

Last year, the occasions were ably assisted by Celia Imrie/Fidelis Morgan, and by Adele Anderson/Hazel O'Connor.



This time, however (and Eve could hardly contain her excitement; nor could we), it was the turn of the ever-lovely Andy Bell (of Erasure) to occupy the guest slot! A fantastic choice for the launch night of Eve's first CD, Doolally (and for her forthcoming "Don't Be So Shellfish" tour). And a brilliant (and hilarious) show it was, too.

Miss Ferret - eclectic as ever - treated us to a whole raft of her own songs from the album, including favourites such as Diva's Tea Party, Handbag Girl and (I am the) Diva and previously unheard ones such as Twisted Sense of Glamour and (the rather wonderful) Cheers My Dears, alongside a clutch of bizarre oddities including This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us (Sparks), a medley of reggae songs with filthy lyrics (Push it In, Wet Dream and the like), Scars (Fran Landesman), The Model (Kraftwerk), Rapper's Delight (Sugarhill Gang) and of course her grand finale number Crazy Horses (The Osmonds)!



Here she is in a rather well-compiled video from her previous season of shows. It's Jezebel!

Eve Ferret with Roddy Matthews - Jezebel

Andy Bell - even without Vince and with just a backing tape - still retains the ability to send shivers down the spine with his magnificently powerful voice.



His own solo numbers were simply superb - including his hit Electric Blue, a rousing sing-along version of Erasure's classic Respect, and this this, his new single with maestro DJ Dave Aude:

Dave Aude feat. Andy Bell - Aftermath - Here We Go

But the best moment - the very best - was when Andy and Eve (once she'd stopped twirling her wand behind him) took to the mikes together, to perform a wonderful duet on the Gershwins' finest torch song The Man I Love. The audience (for a moment anyhow) was completely hushed...

Eve Ferret deserves to be far more widely recognised. She is one of the warmest, funniest and most creative cabaret artistes (and indeed singers) I have had the pleasure of going to see - two hours just flew by!

As the lady herself said in a recent interview: “I like to think when I’m performing we’re all in the party together and I’m just at the helm.”

Aye, aye, Cap'n!

Facts about Eve:

• Her uncle Pierre “Baro” Ferret played gypsy jazz with Django Reinhardt in the Hot Club de France.
• She appeared in Absolute Beginners alongside David Bowie, and was also in the great man's Jazzin' For Blue Jean video.
• Among the players in Biddie and Eve's band at The Blitz (apart from Roddy Matthews, who patiently accompanies Eve to this day) were Rowland Rivron, jazz pianist Simon Wallace and (latterly opera director) Richard Jones.
• The duo were the support act for a number of New Romantic and Goth bands in the 80s, including Theatre of Hate, Blancmange and Duran Duran.

Eve Ferret website

Andy Bell website

The Arts Theatre

Eurovision - a "Hotbed of Sodomy"

From Pink News:

Petitions calling for the removal of Austria’s Eurovision entry have received thousands of signatures.

Drag artist Conchita Wurst, real name Tom Neuwirth, is set to represent Austria in two weeks’ time, with ballad Rise Like a Phoenix.

However, petitions launched in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus, all of whom enter the contest, are calling for the entry to be disqualified, or edited out of the broadcast in their country.

According to Reuters, the Russian petition calls on state broadcaster to refuse to air the contest.

It reads: “Austria will be represented in the Eurovision 2014 by the transvestite contestant Conchita Wurst who leads the lifestyle inapplicable for the Russians.

“The popular international competition that our children will be watching has become a hotbed of sodomy at the initiation of the European liberals.

“Russia is one of the only European countries that has managed to maintain normal and healthy family values based on love and mutual support between MEN and WOMEN.

“That is why we are against the Eurovision 2014 to be broadcast in Russia.”

Wurst will perform in the second semi-final, to be held on 8th May.

If successful, she will advance to the grand final on 10th May.

I hope she wins!

Watch the video for Rise Like a Phoenix below:

Conchita Wurst - Rise Like a Phoenix

Eurovision Song Contest 2014

Missing

A 23ft orange dinosaur.

Answers to "Roy".

Source: today's Metro newspaper.

A fever that's so hard to bear

It's Monday again - and a horrid week ahead, as I face a second interview tomorrow for a post in the new restructure in work. The stress in the office is palpable.

However, we can always rely on the fantabulosa Amanda Lear to offer a bit of a pick-me-up! On this Tacky Music Monday, here she is with her very own "Freddie Mercury-looky-likey" safety gays, and a very bad wig indeed, with her version of Fever:

Amanda Lear - Fever

And, as a bonus - to mark the fact she has a new album out (My Happiness, featuring thirteen tracks originally performed by Elvis Presley) - here's her wonderful new single, Suspicious Minds:

Amanda Lear - Suspicious Minds

At the court of Queen Lear (an article from The Observer, December 2000).

The girl with the big voice

As the spring weather continues playing tricks on us - one minute sunshine, gloom and showers the next - let us mark the birthday today of Miss Ann Peebles with a most appropriate number.

It's the lady's most memorable hit, I Can't Stand the Rain:

Ann Peebles - I Can't Stand the Rain

Ann Peebles (born 27th April 1947)

Read a recent interview with the great lady in The Guardian

Twang, twang, twang

The fact that it is the birthday today of guitarist Duane Eddy gives me the perfect excuse (if any were needed) to dig this one out of the vaults...

From 1986, here's the masterful Art of Noise (one of Trever Horn's pre-Frankie Goes to Hollywood side-projects) in collaboration with The Twangin' One, and the surprisingly fresh Peter Gunn Theme - with its original video starring Rik Mayall (which I admit, I've never seen before)!

The Art of Noise featuring Duane Eddy - Peter Gunn

Yee-ha!

Duane Eddy (born 26th April 1938)

The Art of Noise

All the classics

From The Guardian:

A new work by the Pet Shop Boys exploring the life and work of wartime codebreaker Alan Turing is to get its world première at this year's Proms, the 120th edition of the world's biggest music festival.

Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe will perform A Man from the Future at the Royal Albert Hall in London as part of Prom 8 with the BBC Concert Orchestra and BBC Singers...

Pet Shop Boys' homage to Turing – who played a crucial role in breaking the German Enigma code during the Second World War – comes 60 years after he killed himself. Turing took his own life after he was prosecuted for his homosexuality. He finally received a posthumous pardon on Christmas Eve last year.

While Tennant and Lowe have performed snippets from the new work before, it will be heard in full for the first time on 23rd July. The Prom will also feature new orchestral arrangements of five Pet Shop Boys' songs by the film composer Angelo Badalamenti.

From their symphony, here's He Dreamed of Machines:

Pet Shop Boys with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra - He Dreamed of Machines

Other pop acts making their début at this years Proms two-month season of 92 concerts are singer-songwriters Paloma Faith and Rufus Wainwright. Here's the launch video for the BBC Proms season 2014:

BBC Proms season 2014

Mr Wainwright will also be appearing on stage in Hyde Park in September for the season-closing spectacle that is Proms in the Park - one of our gang's favourite events in our Season Calendar. But the big news is the headline act for that day-long outing... none other than '70s superstars Earth, Wind and Fire! Wow...

So, continuing today's "Thank Disco It's Friday" musical theme, here are the gentlemen themselves (much, much younger of course) with the able accompaniment of The Emotions (whatever happened to them?) and Boogie Wonderland:

Earth, Wind & Fire - Boogie Wonderland

I can't wait!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms

If you've had your fill, get the check pay the bill, you can do it

Yesterday's birthday girl, Miss Mega-Babs Streisand.

Queen of Disco, the late, great Donna Summer.

All this, and Legs & Co too!

What more do you want?

Thank Disco It's Friday!

Legs & Co - Donna Summer & Barbra Streisand - No More Tears (Enough is Enough)

Have a good weekend, folks.

I deserve this

Bessie Sparrowbrush. Princess Aouda. Simone Pistache. Martha Dobie. Irma La Douce. Sister Sara. Charity Hope Valentine. Aurora Greenway. Ouiser Boudreaux. Doris Mann. Martha Levinson. Just some of the characters for whose existence we owe a debt of gratitude to our birthday girl (and Patron Saint) - the adorable Miss Shirley MacLaine, who is (remarkably) 80 years old today!

"I don't care what birthday you're on. It's all about how you feel. There are days when I feel like 30. The oldest I go is 50 in my mind. The number doesn't matter. But I do have a sense that I have some wisdom now. It's good to be wise. It sure beats being young and clueless."

Amen to that!

I have featured Miss MacLaine here many times before (and as an "exhibit" in the Dolores Delargo Towers Museum of Camp, of course). I think it is safe to say we adore her!

Shirley MacLaine is a phenomenon and an inspiration to us all - even if (or possibly because) she is completely mad as a hatter. As long-serving showbiz legends go, there are very few who can touch her...

To celebrate the great lady, here are just a few musical choices. First up, her triumphal solo moment from Sweet Charity:

Shirley MacLaine - If They Could See Me Now

Gypsy in My Soul at the 1977 Royal Variety Performance:

Shirley MacLaine - Gypsy in My Soul

Closing the Irving Berlin Centenary celebrations with There's No Business Like Show Business:

[2019 UPDATE: gone from the interwebs, unfortunately]

And my personal favourite, once again from Sweet Charity (and highly appropriate given the current restructure/threat of redundancies at work):

Chita Rivera, Paula Kelly & Shirley MacLaine - There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This

Facts about Miss MacLaine:

• She got her big break on Broadway when lead Carol Haney sprained her ankle during a production of The Pajama Game. As her stand-in, MacLaine went on in her place and captured the interest of movie producer Hal Wallis and Alfred Hitchcock, who cast her in her first film The Trouble With Harry.
• It was her suggestion that Bob Fosse, whose musical Pajama Game gave her her first big break, direct her movie Sweet Charity.
• Allegedly during the filming of The Children's Hour, the co-stars made a deal: Audrey Hepburn would teach Shirley how to dress if Shirley would teach her how to swear.
• Shirley has co-starred with many of the greatest names in Hollywood including Paul Newman, Dean Martin, Elizabeth Taylor, Yves Montand, Jeanne Moreau, Jack Lemmon, Chita Rivera, Peter Sellers, Meryl Streep, Robert Mitchum, Anne Bancroft, Louis Jourdan, Jack Nicholson, Clint Eastwood and Olympia Dukakis, and was notoriously the only female member of the "Rat Pack"; she went on tour with longtime friend Frank Sinatra in 1992.
• Miss MacLaine has has been nominated for six Academy Awards, and when she finally won the Oscar for Best Actress in 1983 for Terms of Endearment, she became the first actor to say "I deserve this" during an acceptance speech.
• She has also been nominated for six Emmys (winning once) and 19 Golden Globes (winning four, as well as "Most Promising Newcomer" in 1955, "Most Versatile Actress" in 1959, and the Cecil B. DeMille award in 1998).
• Barbra Streisand and Shirley, who share a birthday, apparently celebrate it together every year.

"Possessions have never meant that much to me... I've never erected a lifestyle that would put possessions in a position of controlling me."

"All you really need in life is some fresh water, a good hat, and a really good pair of shoes."

Shirley Maclaine (born Shirley MacLean Beaty, 24th April 1934)

Start quoting him now

It's Will.i.am Shakespeare’s 450th birthday today (the date is actually unknown, but appropriately enough someone decided the celebrations should coincide with St George's Day - funny, that!).

Whatever the truth, it is (from scant pictorial evidence) highly unlikely that The Bard was anything like as sexy as he was portrayed by the sultry Joseph Fiennes in the hit movie...

Let us celebrate England's finest writer today, not with poetry, but with music. From Cole Porter's classic, "Shakespeare the Musical" Kiss Me Kate, here's Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore with Brush Up Your Shakespeare (of course):

Brush Up Your Shakespeare (Kiss Me, Kate! - 1953)

The girls today in society
Go for classical poetry,
So to win their hearts one must quote with ease
Aeschylus and Euripides.
But the poet of them all
Who will start 'em simply ravin'
Is the poet people call
The bard of Stratford-on-Avon.

Brush up your Shakespeare,
Start quoting him now.
Brush up your Shakespeare
And the women you will wow.
Just declaim a few lines from "Othella"
And they think you're a heckuva fella.
If your blonde won't respond when you flatter 'er
Tell her what Tony told Cleopaterer,
And if still, to be shocked, she pretends well,
Just remind her that "All's Well That Ends Well."
Brush up your Shakespeare
And they'll all kowtow.

Brush up your Shakespeare,
Start quoting him now.
Brush up your Shakespeare
And the women you will wow.
If your goil is a Washington Heights dream
Treat the kid to "A Midsummer Night Dream."
If she fights when her clothes you are mussing,
What are clothes? "Much Ado About Nussing."
If she says your behaviour is heinous
Kick her right in the "Coriolanus."
Brush up your Shakespeare
And they'll all kowtow,
And they'll all kowtow,
And they'll all kowtow.

Brush up your Shakespeare,
Start quoting him now.
Brush up your Shakespeare
And the women you will wow.

Brush up your Shakespeare
And they'll all kowtow.

Will Shakespeare's birthday celebrations

10 things you didn't know about William Shakespeare

Across every ocean

Timeslip moment again...

Thirty years ago today, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) were a force to be reckoned with, and not least for this marvellous creation - as we scramble ourselves for a return to the daily commute, appropriately enough, it's Locomotion:

I love it!

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Locomotion

Crossing every ocean for the sake of Locomotion
Crossing every ocean for the sake of Locomotion

Across every ocean
For the sake of Locomotion
But I wouldn't have a notion
How to save my soul
I walk down the sidewalk
Run down the boardwalk
Stop and make small talk
But I can't say no to you

I can't say no I can't say yes
I can't even write down my own address
I can't touch Heaven it's a little too far
It's the only way to travel
Got dreaming on a par
I'm staring through the window
Wondering where you are
Moving through the landscape at a million miles an hour

Across every nation
From the harbour to the station
It's a form of inspiration
It's a power to the state
They run down the railways
Sail across the seaways
Fly through the airways
But they can't say no
To you

I can't stand up I can't stand still
I know you wouldn't like it if I told you how I feel
I just want to say that it's only common sense
But the words always fail me at my own expense
I'm staring out the window
Wonder where you are
Moving through the landscape at a million miles an hour

Across every ocean
For the sake of Locomotion
But I wouldn't have a notion
How to save my soul
I walk down the sidewalk
Run down the boardwalk
Stop and make small talk

OMD website

Queens and Chickens

Sharing a birthday with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II - beautifully captured above in a delightful photographic portrait by David Bailey for her 88th today - is that stalwart of the Broadway stage, Miss Patti LuPone (who is, amazingly, 65!).

So it is to her, rather than the Queen (who to my knowledge has never done a song-and-dance number on stage) that we turn to bring us cheer on this Tacky Music Monday. Accompanied by her "Mermen", Miss LuPone emphatically suggests that there Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens...

Patti LuPone - Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens

Have a great Easter Monday, folks!

Patti Ann LuPone (born 21st April 1949)

Au courant

It is time once more for a little snippet of the newer music that has caught my ear...

Let's open with the first single release from the widely-anticipated (not least by me - I adore the woman!) new EP Mi Senti by Róisín Murphy, a collection of innovative cover versions of standards by Italian singers - icons of ours including Mina and Patti Pravo, as well as Gino Paoli and Lucio Battisti. This is her version of a classic by the latter, it's Ancora Tu:

Róisín Murphy - Ancora Tu

An utterly beautiful track I heard recently on BBC Radio 3's fantabulosa Late Junction show, here's the Thievery Corporation featuring Lou Lou Ghelichkhani and Décollage. Cocktails, anyone?

Thievery Corporation - Décollage

From the sublime to... How about something gayer than Elton John and Freddie Mercury in the back of a pink mini? Balancing queeniness with sleaze, here's Naked Highway and their cover of the late, great Laura Branigan's gay anthem for the poppers era, Self Control - it's camp-tastic!

Naked Highway - Self Control

Much more classy is the New Order-tinged sound of Client, with a rather mysterious video for their new single - Refuge:

Client - Refuge

Miss Neneh Cherry is back (having recently celebrated her 50th birthday), complete with a critically-acclaimed new "left-field artistic project" (that's music-journo-speak for "new album") Blank Project, which promises a departure from the familiar "Buffalo Stance" type pop for which she is remembered. Here is her new single, a collaboration with the equally nuts fellow Swede Robyn and Out Of The Black, complete with its odd "home video". The song is quite good, actually, if your eyes can stop watching the sub-Reynolds Girls action:

Neneh Cherry ft Robyn - Out Of The Black

As exciting is the return - with her first ever solo album Stockholm [and she, alongside Miss Cherry, is one of the artists appearing at this year's Meltdown Festival] - of the legendary Miss Chrissie Hynde! She's wearing Dark Sunglasses:

Chrissie Hynde - Dark Sunglasses

"Lost" tracks by ground-breaking artists always make the news (and of course boost sales), but when it's Grace Jones covering Gary Numan's dystopian anthem Me I Disconnect From You [released as part of the newly-remastered re-released version of her seminal 1981 Nightclubbing album], then it is very special indeed:

Grace Jones - Me I Disconnect From You

Speaking of "comebacks", it seems like ages since we heard anything from the pioneering Brighton dance music combo The Freemasons, but apparently they've been keeping themselves busy producing music for others, such as this sublime piece. It's Pegasus featuring Chloe Wolf and Gorecki:

Pegasus featuring Chloe Wolf - Gorecki

This song is simply brilliant! Many thanks again to the lovely Henry at Barbarella's Galaxy for highlighting it - it's the magnificent tonsils of Miss Kimberly Davis and the Dave Audé remix of her single With You:

Kimberly Davis - With You (Dave Audé radio mix)

But to finish, this may possibly be my weirdest discovery yet from that land of mystery, Japan - famously described by Dom Lawson in The Guardian as "a collaboration between Slipknot and Aqua", it's Babymetal and (fortuitously on Easter Sunday) Gimme Chocolate!! Bizarre...

Babymetal - Gimme Chocolate!!

As ever, enjoy - and let me know your thoughts!

Wo ist der Geschäft?

Reasons to be cheerful, part three.

It's another sunny day (a bonus on a Bank Holiday weekend, when we inevitably expect rain).

I am off shopping with the gang.

And it's Jayne Mansfield's birthday!

Here she is singing - in German, for a change...

Jayne Mansfield - Wo ist der Mann?

Wunderschön!

Jayne Mansfield (19th April 1933 - 29th June 1967)

I believe in miracles

Convoluted connections #973 in a series...

It is Easter weekend - four whole days off work (yay!).

It's traditionally also the time of year for a celebration - of all things chocolate!

This gives me a perfect excuse to play another classic from the era of glitter, satin and flares from a highly appropriately named band.

Here's Hot Chocolate and You Sexy Thing. Thank Disco It's Friday!

Hot Chocolate - You Sexy Thing

You can most definitely tell where Errol Brown's keeping his Easter Eggs in those trousers...

Have a fantabulosa break, sweeties!

The age-old traditions are the best

At this time every year since I began this blog, I have always showcased this enduring family favourite - and I see no reason to change that now...

Tiger Lillies [with the Thirteen Jesuses] - Banging in the Nails

Bang, bang, bang, bang, indeed.

Happy Easter.

Hands up, who still has a Walkman?

One in 10 young people has bought a music cassette tape in the last month, a new survey done to coincide with Record Store Day suggests.

The research suggests that physical formats are still more popular than digital downloads.

"There's definitely a novelty value with cassettes at the moment, particularly as we suspect a high proportion of them are collectibles sitting on a shelf and never played," said Maurice Fyles, who worked on the research ahead of Record Store Day.

Over half of the people who do this bought a vinyl record, 48% a CD and 23% an audio cassette tape that they have no intention of ever listening to.

"Perhaps it's a reaction to the digital world, but physical formats that we might have thought were relegated to history are being revived as fans and collectors opt for limited editions and promotional copies of their favourite music across a range of formats."

Read more on the BBC

And here's an appropriate song from the marvellous Avenue Q - it's Mix Tape:

Avenue Q - Mix Tape

By way of coincidence, Avenue Q - which we went to see back in 2007 - returns to London for a limited run next week at the Greenwich Theatre.

Another battleaxe is gone

"She swore like a trooper, smoked like a chimney... and didn't suffer fools".

That is an epitaph we can only hope to achieve.

RIP Edna Doré, stalwart of repertory theatre, film and TV for eight decades; the eternal "battleaxe".

Vocal ecstacy

Dusty Springfield.

Mel Tormé.

Two of the greatest voices, ever.

Dusty Springfield Mel Torme - Can't We Be Friends? and Let's Get Away From It All

Happy Birthday, Dusty! She would have been 75 today.

RIP, both.

It's today...

...my interview (for a job in the new restructure at work).

Talk Talk - Talk Talk

Talk, Talk.

Indeed.

Marriage vs pub

Britons who prefer weekends without expensive social obligations have opposed gay and straight marriage.

The legalisation of same-sex marriage has left many without a single weekend that isn’t occupied by some friends’ costly and time-consuming matrimonial joining.

32-year-old Tom Logan said: “By the end of Friday I just want to dick around for a couple of days, maybe go to the pub, not dig my suit out and get on a train to Kent.

“I was struggling to cope with the volume of heterosexual weddings. Now all the gay people I know are suddenly getting married, it’s like a tsunami of inconvenience and cake consumption.”

He added: “I am happy for them, I suppose, but Jesus Christ I’ve not got a free Saturday until 2017.

“Can’t we just ban all weddings except for one Saturday a year, when they all happen simultaneously and you can just stay home and watch them on the internet?”

Stephen Malley is to marry his boyfriend next month: “We considered a modest civil partnership thing in the local registry office, then we thought fuck it, we’ve had to spend a fortune attending straight weddings over the years.

“So it’s going to be in Florida, I’m afraid.”

The Daily Mash.

Of course.

Una tristezza così non la sentivo

News that our eternal fave Miss Roisin Murphy is finally going to release her long-awaited EP of interpretations of Italian classics by the likes of Patty Pravo, Lucio Battisti, Gino Paoli and Mina reminds me that we haven't featured that "Patron Saint" from the land of pasta and Pinot Grigio, Signorina Mazzini in a while.

On this Tacky Music Monday let's redress that and cheer ourselves up as we head back to work, with the lady Mina herself - complete with snappy camerawork and those outfits...

Mina - La Banda

Have a good week, sweeties!

Mina on Wikipedia

More Mina

Thought for the day

Can you squeeze in one more?

But life still goes on

Timeslip moment again, folks - as we hop into our Tardis for another trip back to the heady days of 1984.

Thirty years ago this week, Freddie and the boys caused a sensation when they threw on the drag and camped it up hilariously in the video for their massive hit I Want To Break Free. And it remains a classic to this day...

Queen - I Want To Break Free

I want to break free
I want to break free
I want to break free from your lies
You're so self satisfied I don't need you
I've got to break free
God knows, God knows I want to break free.

I've fallen in love
I've fallen in love for the first time

And this time I know it's for real
I've fallen in love, yeah
God knows, God knows I've fallen in love.

It's strange but it's true
I can't get over the way you love me like you do
But I have to be sure
When I walk out that door
Oh how I want to be free, baby
Oh how I want to be free,
Oh how I want to break free.

But life still goes on
I can't get used to, living without, living without,
Living without you by my side
I don't want to live alone, hey
God knows, got to make it on my own
So baby can't you see
I've got to break free.

I've got to break free
I want to break free, yeah
I want, I want, I want, I want to break free.

Time flies, etc., etc.

RIP, Freddie.

Queen official website

That's right

Another weekend hoves into view, thank goodness - a chance to forget the tensions of work for a moment [I have to be interviewed for a position in the new departmental restructure next week, and I really don't want to think about that...].

What better way to let our hair down than to head back 38 years to this week in 1976, fling on an eminently practical white jumpsuit with marabou trim, and throw some (odd) shapes - in a set that looks like a pile of chitterlings?

...just like the eternally cheesy Silver Convention!

Silver Convention - Get Up And Boogie

Thank Disco It's Friday!

Have a good one...

A surfeit of xylophones

This is rapidly turning into "Retro-Cocktail-Exotica Week" here at Dolores Delargo Towers, as we celebrate the birthday of one of the masters of the genre, Mr Martin Denny, born 103 years ago today.

Here he is, as ever performing in the tropical paradise of Hawaii, with a bizarre version of "a traditional French lullaby" - accompanied in this film by two clearly stoned youngsters and their lei. It's fab:

Martin Denny - Dite Moi [Exotica]

Martin Denny at WeirdoMusic.com

La Primavera

Yesterday's Perez Prado outing prompted the lovely "Ayem8y" from Mean Dirty Pirate blog to point us in the direction of a Lounge radio show The Retro Cocktail Housr in the States.

Needless to say, this was already a firm fave here at Dolores Delargo Towers - as is the ever-wonderful Soft Tempo Lounge, from whence this rather lovely musical interlude originates:

Soft Tempo Lounge - Primavera

Ah. That's better.

[Music: Bruno Nicolai and Primavera]

Meanwhile, in the gardens of Dolores Delargo Towers...

...the pear blossom is giving us the joys of Spring!

Here's an appropriate number from Pérez Prado to celebrate:

Perez Prado - Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White

Cha, cha, cha, indeed!

Pérez Prado on Wikipedia

A little bit more

A "coming-of-age" today.

Eighteen years ago this week, my late partner Garry and I took what was to be our last holiday together - to the garden island of Madeira, an idyllic place. It was in the market of Funchal that I purchased a single bulb of a Cymbidium orchid. It thrived, and grew, and it multiplied, but only ever produced a profusion of leaves.

Until now!

So, on its eighteenth birthday, we (finally) have the most gloriously OTT show of exotic lime and crimson flowers at Dolores Delargo Towers.

And, to lift our spirits on this Tacky Music Monday, here is a magnificent song that entered the UK chart this very week in 1996 - it's Gina G and Ooh, Aah... Just A Little Bit!

Gina G - Ooh, Aah... Just A Little Bit

I still love that song.

Gina G on the Eurovision Song Contest website

About Cymbidium orchids

Forty years of satin and spandex

"In my honest opinion we looked like nuts in those years. Nobody can have been as badly dressed on stage as we were." - Björn Ulvaeus.

Today marks 40 years [how scary!] since Abba stormed the previously stuffy old Eurovision Song Contest (held in 1974 in the UK's gayest city, Brighton, aptly enough), and embarked on a world-conquering musical journey in the process. Suffice to say, nothing quite like them or their song Waterloo had ever been seen before...

I did do a tribute to Abba around the time of the 35th anniversary, so let us just play the music:

Abba - Waterloo

My, my, at Waterloo Napoleon did surrender
Oh yeah, and I have met my destiny in quite a similar way
The history book on the shelf
Is always repeating itself

Waterloo - I was defeated, you won the war
Waterloo - Promise to love you for ever more
Waterloo - Couldn't escape if I wanted to
Waterloo - Knowing my fate is to be with you
Waterloo - Finally facing my Waterloo

My, my, I tried to hold you back but you were stronger
Oh yeah, and now it seems my only chance is giving up the fight
And how could I ever refuse
I feel like I win when I lose

Waterloo - I was defeated, you won the war
Waterloo - Promise to love you for ever more
Waterloo - Couldn't escape if I wanted to
Waterloo - Knowing my fate is to be with you
Waterloo - Finally facing my Waterloo

So how could I ever refuse
I feel like I win when I lose -

Waterloo - Couldn't escape if I wanted to
Waterloo - Knowing my fate is to be with you
Waterloo - Finally facing my Waterloo

Read more on the BBC

Abba official website