Et tu, blue cheese?
Wednesday, 31 July 2019
Tuesday, 30 July 2019
Fun and laughter on our summer holiday
Britons have asked their government if it would mind not sending the pound into freefall right before their summer holidays every bloody year.The Daily Mash
Threats of a no-deal Brexit have once again sent the pound plummeting against the euro, the dollar, the Turkish lira and all other currencies of hot countries where the UK has two weeks booked.
Tom Booker of Derby said: “It might be nice to have one holiday where the government isn’t snatching cocktails from my hand and dashing them to the ground. Just one.
“Instead, ever since 2016, the Tories decide to engage in July-August economic brinksmanship and I run out of spending money four days before my flight, while the Germans watch and laugh.
“I suppose last year they did vary things a bit by sending the pound into freefall at the beginning of December, depriving thousands of kids visiting Lapland of a reindeer feeding experience. So that was good of them.”
Chancellor Sajid Javid said: “Thing is, politics is a bit boring in summer so we play a game of chicken with the Eurozone’s larger economies to keep our adrenaline up.
“If it’s ruined your holiday it serves you right for not choosing a patriotic British break. We’re dynamiting the Channel tunnel next year anyway.”
Of course.
Monday, 29 July 2019
Nothing to do with Trump, gott sei dank
The enormous, beautiful and exquisitely scented Orienpet Lily "On Stage" in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers.
Oh bugger. The weather's been utterly lovely today, while we were in work...
Never mind, eh? It's still a Tacky Music Monday, and I have another treat in store. Those creative geniuses at Soft Tempo Lounge recently posted a perfect video for their particular brand of easy listening - a remarkable "ballet" number with the cheesiest-of-cheesy scores, as only ever encountered in the 1970s:
I think I might just have gone one better. The piece is lifted from a German Saturday night telly extravaganza Musik ist Trumpf ("Music is trumps") hosted by Peter Frankenfeld, which ran from 1975 to 1981. And, lo and behold, I have found the entire segment!
Prepare to be blown away in a flurry of chiffon, unusual hairdos, operetta, shonky sets, schlager music, and some of the least attractive "safety gays" ever [and watch out for the perpetually-bored audience]...
I adore it! I think I am going to have to get a lime-green-and-purple maxi dress now.
PS wherever is Thombeau? He'd love this.
Sunday, 28 July 2019
Wouldn't you think I'm the girl who has everything?
"Quadruple Threat.Having trekked across Regent's Park after work on Friday to the Open Air Theatre box office to book tickets for their forthcoming production of Evita, I felt I was in need of some libations, so paid a visit to our customary haunt Halfway to Heaven down in the West End. I was very glad I did, too, as not only was there a decent smattering of "our gang" (well, Paul, Mark and John-John, anyway) and other regulars in attendance, and a flying visit from our currently residing-out-of-town chum Pretty David, but there was a cancellation among the usual Friday night drag fare; this meant that (at short notice) the stalwart of late night cabaret, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern (RVT), Edinburgh Fringe and - as she took great delight in (repeatedly) telling us - cast member of the new film of the wildly successful West End musical Everybody's Talking About Jamie [alongside Richard E Grant], Miss Myra DuBois ("The Songbird of South Yorkshire") was in residence!
Acts, Sings, Dances, Pours a decent pint.
Rotherham's finest export since Paul Shane."
I have seen the saintly Myra loads of times before, as pub quiz host, emcee, interviewer and general lynchpin of a number of RVT evenings, but this was the first time I'd caught one of her one-woman shows. She's chuffing hilarious, too!
"I make it my mission to personally connect with every single member of my audience. That’s why so many of them leave the theatre as life-long AdMyras. “AdMyras” being the pet term I give to my fans. Like Lady Gaga has her “little monsters” and Kate Bush has the ‘socially inept’. I have my AdMyras. And there’ll be songs, my goodness there’ll be songs! I can’t put myself on a stage and not sing for my people, it wouldn’t be fair. Songs, laughter and a fully stocked bar. That’s what punters can expect from one of my shows!"I laughed till tears streamed down my cheeks at her acidic repartee, her admonishments of misbehaving members of the audience, and, of course, those "songs"...
Now that's what I call an old trouper!!
Myra DuBois official website.
Saturday, 27 July 2019
¡Ándale! ¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba!
The weather's all back-to-front again - hot and (sometimes) sunny during the week while we're chained to our desks, then damp and mizzly on the weekend. Typical bloody Britain.
Hey ho, here's something to cheer us all up - some perfect holiday music, courtesy of The Mariachis!
Originally assembled as a combo in an advertising campaign for those awful cardboard-with-added-chilli tortilla "snacks" Doritos, they have apparently gone down a storm ever since as the inevitable "novelty act" at a succession of festivals, including Glastonbury!
Being a determined commercial-telly-ad-break-avoider, I had never previously heard of them. Until today, when Our Jen pointed me in the direction of this faboo cover - of The Human League...
¡Está increíble!
Friday, 26 July 2019
It's your time to be a star
Weekend. Payday. Gin. Three little words that make life soooo much better.
As we hurtle into the maelstrom of partying, shopping and other oh-so-stressful activities that will occupy our lives for the next 48 hours, why not let the lovely Miss Gwen McCrae [who I went to see live on stage back in 2011] ramp up the happy mood - and Thank Disco It's Friday!
Everybody that's on the dancefloor
I want you to put your hands together
And just smoothe your hips from side to side
(Keep the fire burning)
Yeah, that's it, you got it, hmmm-mmm
Now, mister DJ (Keep the fire burning)
I want you to countdown with
It's your time to be a star
(Keep the fire burning)
Ooh ooh ooh
Yeah, can you feel it?
You gotta write it, baby
(Keep the fire burning)
(Keep the fire burning)
Yeah, it's good to me
(Keep the fire burning)
I know you feel it somehow
Oh yes, Gwen! We do.
Thursday, 25 July 2019
For you I'd get down on my knees
Yes. People did look like this in the 70s.
The stiflingly unpleasant heat today [I can cope with 38C/100.4F temperatures if the sun is out and the air is moving, but it's been overcast and humid-as-hell - even the thunderstorm just now fizzled out after barely dampening the leaves in the garden] takes us back - as all heatwaves in this normally moist island inevitably do - to the great Summer of 1976.
And so, appropriately, we have a mini-timeslip-moment...
In July forty-three years ago, apart from melting pavements and stand-pipes in the streets (London had fifteen days over 80F, and five consecutive days over 90F), there was also in the news: the raid on Entebbe airport, Nadia Comăneci's seven "perfect 10s" at the Montreal Olympics (and our own gold-medal-winning swimmer David Wilkie in his skimpies setting many a teen-queen's loins-a-tingle), the first photos from Mars taken by the Viking 1 lander, the murder by the IRA of British ambassador to the Irish Republic Christopher Ewart-Biggs, an earthquake in China that killed 242,769 people, three British (and one American) mercenaries shot by firing squad in Angola, and the US Bicentennial celebrations. In our cinemas: The Omen, Bugsy Malone. On telly: The Bionic Woman, The Sky at Night and the Olympics.
And what of our charts that memorable high summer - this week in 1976? The Top 3 remained firmly in place - Elton & Kiki at #1, Dr Hook at #2 and Demis Roussos at #3. Also present and correct were The Manhattans, Tavares, Candi Staton, Dorothy Moore, Jonathan King (masquerading as 100 Ton and a Feather), David Dundas and Queen. But just outside the Top Ten, waiting its turn, was this one [here, in a very strange set indeed]...
It's supposed to be cooler tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
Wednesday, 24 July 2019
Linked
A man has left his full-time job to spend his nine-to-five working week trying to get ahead of his LinkedIn notifications.The Daily Mash
Stephen Malley came home after a day’s work to find more than 500 accumulated messages from the networking giant and realised that something had to give.
He said: “It wasn’t fair to LinkedIn to carry on the way we were doing. And it’s trying so hard to help me.
“I was waking up in a cold sweat realising that I’d forgotten a former colleague’s work anniversary, or that I’d not endorsed my mate Dave’s skills in E-Commerce.
“Now I’m watching recruiters’ stories, reading top tips from CEOs the moment they’re released, and I know the minute someone’s looking at my profile.
“This must be working wonders for my career prospects. Apart from that I’m unemployed now.”
A LinkedIn spokesman said “Nobody escapes LinkedIn. Even if you change your name and move to a cabin in Siberia, we’ll send someone to find you and tell you that your ex-boss has changed their role title.”
Of course.
Tuesday, 23 July 2019
Olé Olé Olé Olé
Whew! What a scorcher...
The UK is in the midst of a mini-heatwave, dear reader.
OK, it's not quite on the scale of last year, when it was lovely and sunny from May Day to the end of August with very few breaks. Only around six weeks ago, it was so gloomy here we even put the heating on at night - in June! However, today tipped the scales at over 30C (86F) here in London, and the forecast is that Thursday's temperatures might be as high as 36C (96.8F)!
Bring on the Vengaboys - it's time for a summer celebration!
Olé Olé Olé Olé
Olé Olé Olé Olé
FIESTA!
Me mind on fire, me soul on fire
Feelin' hot hot hot
Party people, all around me
Feelin hot hot hot!
Indeed. Pass me the ice-cold cider, would you?
Monday, 22 July 2019
Rebellion?
Heavens. You know you're getting old when...
...you realise that "Violet Elizabeth Bott" - from the 70s TV adaptation of my fave childhood books by Richmal Crompton, Just William, in which Diana Dors played her mother - is 55 years old!
Bonnie Langford (for it is she) is now, of course, well-respected as a West End hoofer and choreographer - but back in the 80s, she tried desperately to shake off her precocious "child prodigy" persona by appearing in The Hot Shoe Show alongside Wayne Sleep; and, on this Tacky Music Monday, it is to that cringeworthy era we turn for our traditional "wake up call"!
Facts:
- At just six years old, she won the talent show Opportunity Knocks.
- Bonnie began her on-screen career as "Lena Marelli" in Bugsy Malone.
- In the mid-80s, she played "Mel", companion to both Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor and Sylvester McCoy's Seventh in Doctor Who.
- She is the aunt of West End actresses Summer, Scarlett, Zizi and Sasi Strallen.
- Latterly, she appeared as blowsy matriarch of the "Kazemi" clan in Eastenders, before quitting that in order to return to the stage in 42nd Street.
Sunday, 21 July 2019
Upside down you turn me
Our very lovely Fuchsia Lady Isobel Barnett.
As is our wont, it's a bit of a laid-back day here at Dolores Delargo Towers - a bit of pottering in the garden, and non-stop Radio 2...
It also happens to be the birthday today of the faboo Miss Paloma Faith, which gives us a perfect excuse to play one of her jolliest numbers; most appropriate for the mood:
However, while seeking out this choon, I also found this version - which is equally splendid!
Oh, how I spoil you bitches...
Saturday, 20 July 2019
Why ask for the moon..?
We took a little trip out to the northern edge of London today - and not, for a change, to the "horticultural mile" of Crews Hill - to the grandiose pile that is now Capel Manor College, an agricultural campus with renowned gardens open to the public. Our pretext was to visit the Enfield Fuchsia Show - and, to be honest, we can truly say every one of our current collection of 33 varieties is more impressive than most of the prize-winners on show.
Regardless, the trip was definitely worth it, just to wallow in the beauty of the 30-acre site and its sixty different gardens/plots - everything from shady, woodland and wildlife gardens to formal, Italianate and Japanese styles, to meadow, sensory, and prairie-style planting. Wow.
That's the day sorted. However, continuing the 50th anniversary celebrations of the first moon landings, it is to the night we turn for even more sensory delectation - in the company of Miss Anna Netrebko and Mr Antonín Dvořák:
Sigh...
Friday, 19 July 2019
Revenge is sweet
The weekend. Something to shout about.
Happy days are almost here again, dear reader, as we see the end of another benighted week's toil in sight...
Time, methinks, to throw away our inhibitions, and join the madness that is unfolding in this video for the Freemasons' remix of a dance classic - and Thank Disco It's Friday!
Truth be told, I still have a bit of a soft spot for the "original" [in reality, it's a sample from Harvey Mason's 1979 song Groovin' You on a loop] - but hey, it isn't nearly as camp:
Have a great weekend, peeps!
Thursday, 18 July 2019
No ballroom
Unless you happen to be Cristiano Ronaldo, baggy clothing is probably best.
A 32-year-old man has spent the last three hours trapped inside a pair of super-skinny jeans in a changing room.The Daily Mash
Tom Booker tried the jeans on in an attempt to look cool for a date with a younger woman but has now lost all feeling in his left leg and fears his buttocks have become welded together.
He said: “I’ve tried everything. Wiggling, rolling, lying on the floor and inching them down, but nothing works. They won’t budge.
“How do the young get out of them? With a couple of fish slices and assistance from friends? My legs look great but it turns out I’ve got a rather larger arse than I ever realised.
“I tried banging on the cubicle walls to get help from other customers but they told me to piss off, and obviously the assistant out front of the changing rooms is uninterested and ignoring me completely. This is Top Shop, after all.
“I can’t walk out without amputating a knacker and I’m not calling a fire crew to cut me out. These jeans cost £35.99.
“I can’t feel anything below the nipples now. I should never have strayed from my Burton’s bootcuts. I love you, bootcuts. It shouldn’t have ended like this. I’m sorry.”
Of course.
Wednesday, 17 July 2019
If I lay here. If I just lay here...
Courtesy of the brilliant mind of Stuart Heritage, writing in today's Guardian:
So, you want to write a record-breaking radio smash. Bad news: Snow Patrol beat you to it. Their song Chasing Cars has just been named as the most popular UK radio hit of the 21st century. But don’t despair, because we can still learn plenty from the song’s enduring success.Speaking of which - how about a remix cover version of this timeless classic, courtesy of the ever-to-be-remembered Holly Lang..?
Play the long game
Fun fact: Chasing Cars was never a No 1 record in the UK. On its release in 2006, it enjoyed a slow climb to No 6, during which time it was outsold by Paris Hilton’s Stars Are Blind (which got to No 5). It was the 14th best-selling song of the year, which sounds OK until you learn that I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in My Hair) by Sandi Thom was the fifth. But now we can prove definitively: slow and steady wins the race.
Get it on a big TV show
Or any TV show – every one helps. Just before its release, Chasing Cars was used in the season-three finale of One Tree Hill. Then it was used in the season-two finale of Grey’s Anatomy, exposing it to a further 22.5 million US viewers and for ever entwining it in popular culture with the fates of lovelorn and preposterously attractive medical professionals.
Keep it basic
Chasing Cars is simple: it is based around a two-note guitar riff, while the verses consist of three lines, each containing just three or four syllables. It suits rock, pop and easy-listening stations, while the lyrics are so oblique that listeners can project their own meaning on them, for any situation. In 2016, Chasing Cars topped a list of “most requested indie funeral songs”, prompting the disquieting mental image of looking at a corpse while listening to a song where someone asks you to lie down with them “and just forget the world”.
Be anonymous
Be honest, can you picture any members of Snow Patrol? Any of them. Even the singer? Of course you can’t. This is the real key to Chasing Cars’ success. Snow Patrol are so completely generic that Chasing Cars will always exist as a song without context, rather than as the work of identifiable humans.
So memorable.
Tuesday, 16 July 2019
Giant steps are what you take
A view up my back passage [click to embiggen].
Fifty years ago, as a little five-year-old on a family holiday in heatwave-hit Cornwall, my interests were in making sandcastles, singing, and writing silly little stories. In the middle of the night (nobody slept very well because of the heat), I remember I had just finished one story about a bear who pushed down a tree to make a bridge across a river, and I was so proud of it I ran into the living-room of the rented cottage where I could hear that my parents were still up watching telly, scribbled notebook in hand, to show them my achievement.
I was a little upset that they both shushed me up, and could not understand what was so much more important then me - until my father took me outside to look at the moon and to tell me that there were men walking up there. He then took me back indoors to stare at that now-historic grainy black and white footage of Neil Armstrong in a spacesuit planting a flag in the dust. All thoughts of bears building bridges were forgotten, and a long-lasting memory was ingrained...
As the media goes to town on commemorating the half-century since that momentous occasion (just about every UK channel, TV and radio, has some moon/space-themed programming going on, and there's even a Sci-Fi Prom next month), it is a happy coincidence that today also happens to be the birthday of one Stewart Armstrong Copeland. And thanks to him, with his erstwhile band The Police, we have the perfect song to play:
Moon landings 50th anniversary
Monday, 15 July 2019
Czech mate
Sigh. Monday again.
Worse, I had not only a disturbed night due to the screaming rows of our new next-door-neighbours, but the man who will be replacing our guttering was arriving at 8am, so I had to rush to get awake, showered and ready for the office before that. Double sigh.
Never mind, eh, it is a Tacky Music Monday, and I have a perfect pick-me-up!
Yesterday was the 80th birthday of the legendary Czech serenader Karel Gott, so what better way to kick off than with one of his - ahem - faboo routines?
All together, now!
Páni a paní, vím, jak se ruší žal.
Já tíhnu duší jen k Lady Karneval.
Já kdysi pannám, já ba i vdovám lhal.
Teď v srdci chovám jen Lady Karneval.
A s ní vchází do mě hřích nepoznán.
Tančí v bílých kamaších, je můj pán.
Život já bych za něj dal, ó, má Lady Karneval.
Mám tě rád, mám tě rád!
Šalalalalalala, šalalalalalala.
Šalalalalalala, šalalalalalala.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
Have a good week, peeps!
Sunday, 14 July 2019
A bit of French oral
[Gratuitous pic of a shaggable hunk playing with his tricolour.]
C'est le quatorze juillet - or "Bastille Day", if you're nasty...
On this most Gallic of celebrations, France's national day, who better than a Patron Saint here at Dolores Delargo Towers to lead proceedings?
It's been a while since we've featured our beloved Dalida (for it is she), so let's make up for that fact with an extravaganza!
Ooh la la!
Bastille Day explained
Saturday, 13 July 2019
Friday, 12 July 2019
Chill, chillin', chilled
It may only have been a short one, as I had Monday off, but lordy! This week has dragged.
A (hopefully) quieter weekend than recently beckons (time to give some TLC to the garden, methinks) - but not just yet!
We need to celebrate the end of any week with a bit of a party choon... So get your sequins on, your bowling shoes at the ready, your glitterball (ahem) attached to your head, and party on down with Modjo - and Thank Disco It's Friday!
Have a good one, peeps.
Thursday, 11 July 2019
Back to the here and now, yeah
Another timeslip moment...
Our trusty De Lorean has deposited us once again thirty years into the past - to that most significant of years 1989: the year the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, with revolutions in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, the Baltic States and Romania; and the year of Tiananmen Square, Like a Prayer, Hillsborough, The Satanic Verses, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the IRA bombing at Deal barracks music school, Rain Man, the plane crash onto the M1, Frank Bruno vs Mike Tyson, George Bush Sr, Challenge Anneka, F.W. de Klerk, democratic elections in Brazil, the Marchioness disaster, Shirley Valentine, Solidarity, ceasefires in Afghanistan and Angola and Lebanon and Vietnam, "Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes!", the ban on chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), Manuel Noriega, Voyager 2, 1300 deaths from a tornado in Bangladesh, Colin Powell, and the world's first same-sex civil partnerships (in Denmark); the year Daniel Radcliffe, Taron Egerton, Taylor Swift, Joe Jonas, Avicii, The Simpsons, the Poll Tax, Jess Glynne, Lily James, Brie Larson, Sky TV, Gareth Bale, Elizabeth Olsen, Time Warner, the Nintendo Game Boy and HDTV were all born; and Sir Laurence Olivier, Bette Davis, Irving Berlin, Lucille Ball, Graham Chapman, Bea Lillie, Dame Daphne du Maurier, Anthony Quayle, John Cassavetes, Robert Mapplethorpe, Samuel Beckett, Sir Peter Scott, Henry Hall, Diana Vreeland, Harry Andrews, Emperor Hirohito, Gilda Radner, Lee Van Cleef, Ayatollah Khomeini, Salvador Dalí, Herbert von Karajan, Nicolae Ceaușescu and Ferdinand Marcos all died.
In the news headlines in July '89? Princess Diana shook the hand of a man with AIDS while opening the Landmark Trust Centre in London (changing attitudes to HIV positive people in the eyes of the media and society forever), Panorama accused Conservative Leader of Westminster City Council Dame Shirley Porter of gerrymandering, P. W. Botha met Nelson Mandela in prison, UK unemployment was at its lowest in nearly a decade, General Jaruzelski came to power in Poland, Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest, and French air traffic control was on strike (again); in the ascendant (literally) was the Stealth Bomber (which made its inaugural flight), and Charles Haughey (re-elected Taoiseach in Ireland after a hastily-assembled coalition), but we bade a very sad farewell (at the age of only 28) to the gorgeous Michael Sundin (The Blue Peter presenter who was controversially "sacked for being gay", and whose death was suspected to be AIDS-related). In our cinemas: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade; Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; Married to the Mob. On telly: ITV started showing Home and Away twice daily, Robin Day chaired his very last Question Time, and Cherie Lunghi starred in The Manageress.
And in our charts this week three decades ago? Soul II Soul were at the top slot for the fourth week with Back To Life, and the lovely ["Liverpool - erm - Mersey - erm - Sophisticated"] Sonia was at #2 with her debut single You'll Never Stop Me Loving You. Also present and correct were The Beautiful South, Pet Shop Boys, Miss Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan, Bobby Brown, Bette Midler, Prince, and the fabulously camp London Boys. But, hanging around outside the Top Ten, waiting its turn, was one of the earliest and most influential Acid House records of the genre. I wonder whatever happened to Gerald?
Acieeeeed!
Wednesday, 10 July 2019
The lyrics and the melody don't even rhyme
Gay Pride on Saturday was a bit of a carnival at times.
Another little piece of news we missed amongst the mayhem of last weekend was one of those peculiar existential moments when you hear about the passing of a famous individual, and only at that point realise you never even knew they were still going...
Thus is was when I found out that Senhor João Gilberto - the "father of bossa nova" - had departed for Fabulon. The songs he brought to the fore (many in collaboration with his contemporaries Antônio Carlos Jobim and Stan Getz) were, and remain, absolute classics; notably The Girl From Ipanema, One Note Samba, Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars (Corcovado) - and this one!
And, for your delectation, here's the classic version by the legendary Ella:
RIP, João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira (10th June 1931 – 6th July 2019)
Tuesday, 9 July 2019
More monsters
Convoluted connections, #568 in a series...
Still basking in the afterglow of the faboo time we had being the "alternative element" at Gay Pride on Saturday - we were the ones NOT covered in rainbows, the ones NOT on the march, yet the ones getting more than their fair share of attention nonetheless - on returning to the office this morning with particularly foul resentment flooding through my veins, I was cheered up somewhat when I came across a new interview with John Waters [courtesy of the ever-fabulous Feuilleton, bien sûr], in which he reminisced about Divine:
"People thought Divine - they always think wrong - was trans. Divine never dressed as a woman except when he was working. He had no desire to be a woman. He was fat. It was too hot to wear all that shit. He couldn’t wait to get that wig off. The tits were so hot. He hated it. He didn’t want to pass as a woman; he wanted to pass as a monster. He was thought up to scare hippies. And that’s what he wanted to do. He wanted to be Godzilla. Well, he wanted to be Elizabeth Taylor and Godzilla put together."Amen to that!
To close the circle quite nicely - I have had a certain song [that might well have been a tribute to the erstwhile Harris Glenn Milstead] going through my head as an earworm over the past few days.
It also happens to be a choon that brings back happy memories of a much, much earlier Gay Pride event in London: 1999, in fact - the year I started a Mexican Wave upstairs on a double-decker bus from Finsbury Park to Camden by singing this to a (ahem) larger lady as she was teetering up the stairs in heels to try and get a seat...
I see you baby
Shakin' that ass
Shakin' that ass
Shakin' that ass
Ah, memories.
Monday, 8 July 2019
One. Great. Day.
Six-and-a-half hours stood waiting for/watching the parade, with champers, family, friends, and photos galore (pic#5 was from The Telegraph, and #6 with the Mayor of London made the website of none other than The Sun!); the feeling that we were being applauded more by the parade than the other way around - and, despite all the fucking corporates hogging the limelight, and despite the fact we never got to march because of the childish and restrictive rules on wristbands and registration, we had one of the best (certainly the most stress-free) Gay Prides ever!
On this Tacky Music Monday, let's have something in the camp-Gothic style that was our costume theme this year - from a lady who was actually in attendance on Saturday (on the Amazon float), Miss Saara Aalto!
Monsters? How very dare you.
Sunday, 7 July 2019
Saturday, 6 July 2019
I've gotta go and taste Saturday's high life
Happy Gay Xmas, dear reader!!
It's feathers, foof and faff from here on in...
Before the parade passes by
I've gotta go and taste Saturday's high life
Before the parade passes by
I've gotta get some life back into my life
I'm ready to move out in front
I've had enough of just passing by life
With the rest of them
With the best of them
I can hold my head up high
For I've got a goal again
I've got a drive again
I wanna feel my heart coming alive again
Before the parade passes by!
Indeed.
Friday, 5 July 2019
Gotta do your thing, and let it all hang out
It's Gay Xmas Eve!
I have a half-day off this afternoon, and so from 12.30, let the party commence...
We'll let the Soul Train Dancers, and a most appropriate song, start the festivities - and Thank Disco It's Gay Pride Friday!
Everybody's startin' to pick on you
Just can't let them tell you what to do
You've only got one life, so live it cool
In this world of strife, you can't be a fool
Don't let nobody tell ya what to do
You gotta be your judge, and your jury too
Don't let nobody tell ya what to do
Gotta be your judge and jury too
All right
Gotta do your thing, and let it all hang out
Gotta really show them, what it's all about
Move on up, don't look around
People will always try to put you down, down, now
Don't let nobody tell ya what to do
You gotta be your judge, and your jury too
Don't let nobody tell ya what to do
Gotta be your judge and jury too
Have a faboo festive weekend, dear reader.
Thursday, 4 July 2019
Everybody look what's going down
Which merit badges have you earned?
The countdown to this weekend's Gay Pride/Gay Xmas continues - and tonight, I am off to a panel discussion event all about the state of play where that is concerned, in the UK and the world at large, with participants Our Hero Peter Tatchell, lesbian Labour MP Angela Eagle, trans activist and Britain's first Muslim drag queen Asifa Lahore, and Tory MP Crispin Blunt. Should be interesting - in particular since I and my sister have been battling the organisers of Pride in London for years to get them to understand how it is not, and cannot be, right to cut down (and restrict with tickets/wristbands/barriers) the number of individual members of the public who want to take part in the march, in favour of massively-funded floats and walking groups organised by corporate bodies and groups whose actual real-life involvement in/understanding of gay lives and gay rights issues is nominal (to say the least).
I'm sure I'll have plenty to say :-)
Meanwhile, on with the campery!
How about a technicolour nod to our favourite decade the 80s, as interpolated by a "band" that was very much of the 90s? That fits the bill nicely...
NB the man behind the make-up is none other than Stuart Price - the genius behind Confessions on a Dance Floor for Queen Madge, as well as producer/remixer for The Killers, Pet Shop Boys, Scissor Sisters, Kylie and Take That, among many others.
Wednesday, 3 July 2019
The season cometh
An impressive visitor to the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers - a Southern Hawker dragonfly, apparently.
You know it truly is high summer when the music festival season is at its height, Wimbledon's on the telly and the Proms season is about to kick off.
We, of course, are counting down to Pride - and the sun continues to shine. Yay!
Perfect conditions, really, for blond gay chickens to throw off some clothing and go cruising...
My, my, indeed!
Somebody hose me down...
Tuesday, 2 July 2019
'Cause you like it like this
A countdown to Gay Pride in London this Saturday would not be complete without an appearance by Our Princess Kylie - and her triumphant "Legends" slot at Glastonbury on Sunday (hers was, by many accounts, the single biggest audience of the whole festival, even beating those for the headliners Stormzy, The Killers and The Cure) provides us with the perfect excuse (if any were needed)!
After a set that covered her entire three-decade career as Australia's (and her adopted mother country the UK's) greatest ever pop diva, with an array of hits from I Should Be So Lucky and Locomotion through Confide in Me and Better the Devil You Know, her duet with Nick Cave (who appeared with her live on stage) Where the Wild Roses Grow to Can't Get You Out Of My Head (with another guest Chris Martin of Coldplay), Slow, All The Lovers, Dancin' and many more, came this one - with which she ended the show on an incredible high:
Even the normally po-faced "serious muso journal" the NME loved it!
It was a triumph.
[...so much so, her new greatest hits compilation Step Back in Time is heading for the #1 slot in the UK charts this week!]
Monday, 1 July 2019
Definitely no zero
After a beautiful sunny weekend, reality hits, as we embark on yet another week in the (ahem) delightful atmosphere of the office...
Bugger that! We're continuing our countdown to Gay Pride this weekend - and what better way to do that on this tacky Music Monday than with the most bizarre, most outrageous discovery we've had in ages?
Lords, ladies and gentlemen (and everything in-between), meet Renato Zero!
Wow. Now that's what I call a wake-up!
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