Even in the year three thousand

"Forget all the Disco Sucks bollocks, this was where the creativity was. Many of the qualities of Disco that were so derided were mirror images of those qualities that were celebrated in Punk: an annihilating insistence on sex as opposed to puritan disgust; a delight in a technology as opposed to a Luddite reliance on the standard Rock group format; acceptance of mass production as opposed to individuality. It was the difference between 1984 and Brave New World: between a totalitarian nightmare or a dystopia accomplished through seduction.

...Disco’s stateless, relentlessly technological focus lent itself to space/alien fantasies which are a very good way for minorities to express and deflect alienation: if you’re weird, it’s because you’re from another world. And this world cannot touch you." - writer, broadcaster and music journalist Jon Savage [as quoted in a review over at the ever-wonderful {feuilleton} of his latest electronic disco compilation CD.]

We have a three-day weekend to look forward to, dear reader [it is the May Day Bank Holiday on Monday], and to get the party started in an appropriate manner - with a double-bill of madness, from the above CD - let's dig out our silveriest silver lamé outfits, paint our faces to match...and Thank (Space) Disco It's Friday!

The Droids - The Force

Slick - Space Bass

Have a great (long) weekend, peeps!

We feel the steam as it rises around us

My favourite poster when I was a teenager - I wonder why?

Another mini-timeslip moment is upon us, dear reader - and yes! It's back to the wild'n'wacky world of 1981 again...

In the news headlines at the end of April/early May forty years ago: The trial of the Yorkshire Ripper for 13 murders and seven attempted murders of women began (with the inevitable blanket coverage in the papers for weeks), there was rioting in Ealing and Finsbury Park in London and also at Southend-on-Sea, unemployment in the UK hit 2.5 million for the first time in fifty years, it was Valéry Giscard d'Estaing vs François Mitterrand in the French presidential elections, and Billie-Jean King was "outed" when her former partner sued for "palimoney". In our cinemas: Superman II; Gregory's Girl; Raging Bull. On telly: The Chinese Detective; Clapperboard; That's Life!

And in our charts this week in April '81? Eurovision-winners Bucks Fizz celebrated their third [and final] week at the top, managing to prevent Ennio Morricone's Chi Mai (Theme From The BBC TV Series "The Life And Times Of David Lloyd George") and the annoying Stars on 45 from ever gaining pole position. Also present and correct were Sugar Minott, Madness, The Jacksons, Shakin' Stevens, Stevie Wonder, Landscape and former Rainbow vocalist Graham Bonnet. 

Hovering around the outskirts [its highest position was to be #10], however, was this slice of New Romantic pomposity at its most extreme!

Spandau Ballet - Musclebound

 

We're building fires that will burn until morning
The smell of books and hot stone surround us
Tough is the leather thats strapped to my skin
Strong are the bonds that we make

We feel the steam as it rises around us
Up from the soil that is cracking its back
Tough us the leather thats strapped to my skin
Strong are the bonds that sing

Work til you're musclebound all night long
Work til you're musclebound all night long
Gotta work til you're musclebound all night long
Gotta work til you're musclebound all night long

We're building fires that will burn until morning
The smell of books and hot stone surround us
Tough is the leather thats strapped to my skin
Strong are the bonds that we make

To hear a pulsing from chanter to mountain
Down through the vein and into the grain
Strong is the shoulder that moves to the time
Here is the land it can break

Work til you're musclebound all night long
Work til you're musclebound all night long
Gotta work til you're musclebound all night long
Gotta work til you're musclebound all night long

Subtle. I like it...

A word from our sponsors

[click any image to embiggen]

Nova música para a primavera

Gives a whole new meaning to vinyl flooring!

Time, methinks, for another "Pick of the Pops" - a selection of "newer" choons that have caught my ear of late...

First up, a very catchy little number with a camp-as-christmas video:

Fake Blood - I Think I Like It

Here's a joyfully sunny one from a Brazilian-French combo, to cheer us all up as the skies here begin to turn cloudy and the first rain in weeks is forecast for tomorrow...

PPJ (Páula, Povoa and Jerge) - Primavera

Not exactly new - the song itself is from 2012, and this version of it was a hit in 2018 - but I first heard this on Ana Matronic's radio show last week, so it's new to me:

Dynoro and Gigi D’Agostino - In My Mind

I absolutely adore the video for this bizarre "club banger" [to use the vernacular of the benighted yoof, or at least Pete Tong] - the song's great, too!

Boston Bun feat. DVNO - Spread Love (Paddington)

This next one's just scary - but the song will soon become an "earworm" if you let it...

Working Men's Club - Teeth

And finally, if all that's a bit too exhausting, here's an excellent chill-out for your delectation, which features Mr Pop at his most restrained:

Dr. Lonnie Smith feat. Iggy Pop - Why Can't We Live Together?

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

La musikken gå, la rytmen aldri stanse

We spent a lovely sunny weekend mainly in the garden [I'm getting a bit of a tan!] - one of two new clematis planted, two hefty salvias re-potted, and the forest of seedlings in the kitchen each has its own pot - then whoosh! Back to the grind...

May is nearly here (although with this northerly wind, it doesn't feel like it), and that means "Eurovision season" is almost upon us! We won't, of course, be able to host our usual manic party for the second year running, but at least we can get into the "swing" of it this Tacky Music Monday, with this classy number from Norway's finest back in 1985:

Bobbysocks - La det swinge (Let it Swing)

Fra en radio strømmer gamle melodier
Og jeg våkner opp og spør meg hva som skjer
Er det bare drøm og fantasier
Når jeg føler at det swinger mer og mer?
 
La det swinge, la det rock 'n' roll
La det swinge til du mister all kontroll
Oh hi oh...
La det swinge, la det rock 'n' roll

La musikken gå, la rytmen aldri stanse
Kan du kjenne at du lever her og nå?
Føler du hvor gjerne du vil danse?
Oh... og hører du at hjertet slår og slår?

La det swinge, la det rock 'n' roll
La det swinge til du mister all kontroll
Oh hi oh...
La det swinge, la det rock 'n' roll

Which translates as:

Look at me, I’m climbin’ up a ladder
And I’m halfway, bored with reachin’ for the stars
No, I don’t have time to swing, no time for laughter
But a voice inside my head keeps singin’ loud

Let it swing and let it rock ‘n’ roll
Let it swing and let the feeling take control
Oh hi oh…
Let it swing and let it rock ‘n’ roll

There’s a guy on top who’s sittin’ fine forever
Got the world and everything that’s called the best
Now he don’t say much unless there’s room for talkin’, oh…
Just a sign above the door to his success

Let it swing and let it rock ‘n’ roll
Let it swing and let the feeling take control
Oh hi oh…
Let it swing and let it rock ‘n’ roll

It's probably better left in the original Norwegian...

I'm all "swung out now"!

Have a good week, dear reader.

La Pantera di Goro

It seems like almost yesterday [it was actually in 2018] that I posted of our joy here at Dolores Delargo Towers in discovering (another) "new" diva.

Yesterday came the news that Italy's beloved Milva "La Rossa" [so nicknamed because of her fiery locks; she was also known as "La Pantera [Panther] di Goro"] had taken her ticket in the queue for Fabulon...

In her six-decade career, she sold more than 80 million records and recorded 173 albums. She specialised in the "edgier" end of the "chanson" style, having great success with her interpretations of songs by Edith Piaf and Brecht and Weill, she also collaborated with greats such as Ennio Morricone, Francis Lai, Mikis Theodorakis, Vangelis, Franco Battiato and Astor Piazzolla, and appeared on the great opera stages of Europe including La Scala Milan, Paris Opera and the Royal Opera House. She was the only Italian artist in contemporary times who was simultaneously Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honour of the French Republic, Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Officer of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Phew. What a woman!

Here she is, giving Grace Jones a run for her money in the "tango-interpretation" stakes!

Milva - Libertango

RIP, Milva (born Maria Ilva Biolcati, 17th July 1939 – 23rd April 2021)

The Dolly Sisters?

It's "Double-Diva Day" again! As I said back in 2013...

...when we have two of our Patron Saints sharing a birthday, what can one do but try and make a connection?

There are probably myriad connections, personally and professionally. However there is one notable work that provides the link today between our birthday girls Barbra Streisand and Shirley MacLaine - Thornton Wilder's finest moment, his play The Matchmaker!

For indeed, Miss MacLaine starred in the original 1958 screen adaptation of Mr Wilder's play - as the romantic lead, milliner Irene Molloy:

The Matchmaker movie trailer

And of course, in 1969 Miss Streisand took the eponymous "Matchmaker" role in the Ernest Lehman/Gene Kelly adaptation of the Jerry Herman musical based upon that same play, Hello Dolly!:

Hello Dolly! movie trailer

Happy birthday, ladies!

Mega-Babs aka Barbra Streisand (born 24th April 1942)

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

Bye Bye - but Magnifique!

Oh, blessed relief is in sight...

Our "welcome to the weekend" slot is upon us, but before we get to the party proper, a little tribute is in order. Before Disco was invented, before Punk was even a wet dream in Malcolm McLaren's pants, the pop world was a very different place. In the early 1970s Britain was depressed, hit by constant strikes and power cuts; the "Swinging Sixties" and even the supposed "Summer of Love" a distant memory. Then along came Glam Rock - basically an excuse to dress up in faintly ridiculous clothing and have a bop - and, in its wake, the rise of a phenomenon. The "boy band" was born - with the arrival of the Bay City Rollers! Sadly, news arrived yesterday that the band's spunky lead singer Les McKeown has unexpectedly departed for Fabulon, aged just 65...

RIP

Bay City Rollers - Bye Bye Baby

Tributes done, let's continue the party with what is a more customary way to welcome a weekend - a Roller Boogie, of course!

C'est Magnifique - and Thank Disco It's Friday!

Magnifique - Magnifique

Have a great weekend, peeps!

I know it's only Baroque'n'Roll

Every so often, I feel the need to inject a little bit of class into this place - and just such an opportunity has arrived, courtesy of something I discovered this week on a new online radio station we've started listening to - Scala Radio [its blurb: "Classical Music for Modern Life"]

Whoever would have thought a mash-up like this would work? Yet it does...

Peter Breiner and His Orchestra - Beatles Back in the USSR vs Vivaldi Four Seasons: Winter [Beatles Go Baroque, vol 2]

As does this:

Peter Breiner and His Orchestra - Beatles Nowegian Wood vs Vivaldi Four Seasons: Spring [Beatles Go Baroque, vol 2]

Fab, indeed.

The full CD is available from Naxos Recordings.

I bet you say that to all the boys

"I've been called over the top. How silly. If you don't go over the top, you can't see what's on the other side."

The maestro Jim Steinman - who, it was announced yesterday, has departed for Fabulon (carrying a smoke machine and and amp cranked up to eleven, no doubt) - was renowned as the purveyor of the most excessive, high-camp rock odysseys this side of Freddie Mercury...

...such as these (for individuals who were not entirely unfamiliar with the concept of campery: Cher, Meatloaf, Bonnie Tyler and Andrew Eldritch)!

Meat Loaf - You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth

[That's Mr Steinman himself, doing the "Wolf with the red roses" schtick]

Meat Loaf vs Cher - Dead Ringer for Love

Bonnie Tyler - Holding Out For a Hero

The Sisters Of Mercy - This Corrosion

Peculiarly restrained for him, he also co-produced the West End show Whistle Down The Wind with Andrew Lloyd-Webber - and this:

Take That - Never Forget

And finally... I don't care how many times I have featured it over the years - this version of Mr Steinman's magnum opus of camp never fails to make me smile!

Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart (Literal Video Version)

RIP, James Richard Steinman (1st November 1947 – 19th April 2021)

El Rey de los Timbales

Sharing the occasion with another random clutch of "names" such as the gorgeous Ryan O'Neal (who is 80 today!), Jessica Lange, Leslie Phillips (still with us, aged 97!), Nicholas Lyndhurst ["Rodney" in Only Fools and Horses] (60 today), Lionel Hampton, Edie Sedgwick, Luther Vandross, Andy Serkis, Paul Poiret, Elspeth Ballantyne ["Meg Jackson" in Prisoner Cell Block H], Louise Jameson ["Leela" in Doctor Who] (70 today), George Takei, Paul Usher ["Barry Grant" in Brookside] (also 60 today), Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Harold Lloyd, Joan Miró, Johnny Tillotson and - ahem - Adolf Hitler, it's the birthday today of the sadly-missed Tito Puente!

Any excuse really (especially in this continuing sunshine), to play some gorgeous music from the repertoire of "The King of the Timbales"...

Tito Puente - Five Beat Mambo

Tito Puente - Oye Como Va

Ernesto Antonio "Tito" Puente, Jr. (20th April 1923 – 1st June 2000)

Das Mädchen kann es nicht ändern

Whaaattt!!??

Monday again, you say?!

Bleurgggh...

On this Tacky Music Monday, as I reach for the coffee and the Pall Mall in preparation for another delightful week of inanity [i.e. "work"], thank heavens for today's birthday girl Jayne Mansfield, her wiggle, her chutzpah, and her attempts at miming - in German!

Jayne Mansfield - Snicksnack-Schnuckelchen [from Heimweh nach St. Pauli, 1963]

Have a good week, dear reader.

Pool Party?

Madam Arcati and I have had another lovely sunny day pottering in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers...

...and the summery feel is only enhanced by listening to some gorgeous music courtesy of Soft Tempo Lounge - almost a whole hour of laid-back sunshiney choons, indeed!

Soft Tempo Lounge - The Pool Party Collection

Tracks:

00:00​ Francisca - Angel Pocho Gatti
03:12​ The Eighth Day - Phil Moore
06:24​ Dream Garden - Herbie Mann
11:03​ Flamboyan - Angel Pocho Gatti
14:36​ First Flight - Otto Keller band
16:52​ Send Her Away -Tony Osborne's Three Brass Buttons
19:07​ The Cool Blonde - Mark Duval & His Orchestra
21:27​ Malibu - Angel Pocho Gatti
25:20​ Midnight Blue - Phil Moore
28:02​ Chasing The Sun - Mark Duval & His Orchestra
30:49​ Sunset Strip - Garnett Scott & Lani Groves
32:35​ E' Soltanto Una Parola - Antonella Lualdi
36:24​ U.S. - Jayme Marques
39:55​ Sunshine Days - Alan Moorhouse
42:23​ Tropical Blend - Burnell Whibley
44:51​ Beach Bop - Frank Chacksfield
47:06​ Tiki Bum - Angel Pocho Gatti
49:58​ Hot Daddy - Joe Sherman
53:31 Easy Samba - Norman Dane
54:41 Rio Rhythm - Mark Winter

Ah, summer is just around the corner...

Tubers, black holes and Itt

If any flower screams "Spring", it's the wallflower...

It's been absolutely beautiful today, and I have made the most of it in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers, potting-up our fabulous Dahlia "Bishop's Children" into a trough and a big pot. We've had them for several years now, and every year there are more and more tubers to store over the winter - and they require bigger and bigger pots each summer. However, they repay all the effort in spades; they will be in flower from around the middle of May till the frosts of October/November!

Here's a jolly little choon to accompany proceedings:

Paul Anka - Black Hole Sun

---

PS

RIP, Cousin Itt...

Felix Silla (11th January 1937 - 16th April 2021)

It's all right all right all right all right

Oh, thank heavens - this week has been excruciating, and now the end is in sight...

I feel, to celebrate the impending conclusion of my first week back to work after a lovely extended break, we need a proper party!

What could be a more fitting and enjoyable way to crank up the mood than with an absolute classic of the genre - from a band that, to my surprise, despite the "Noo Yawk" sound, was actually from London - and Thank Disco It's Friday!

Gonzalez - Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet

Pink satin shirts for men and turquoise eyeshadow for the girls never got dated. Did they?

Have a fantabulosa weekend, peeps!

Te mets en joie pour la journée

Just because we heard someone else singing this song on the radio last night, I simply had to revisit an old favourite - by far the best version of La Carioca ever!

As I said back in 2010, when I originally posted it: "I can guarantee that once this gets into your head you will find it very hard to stop singing it all day..."

Sais tu danser la carioca?
C'n'est pas un fox trot
Ou une polka
C'n'est vraiment pas
Très compliqué
Pour la comprendre
Suis bien mes pas

C'n'est pas un tango
Ou un cha cha
Encore moins
Une bossa nova
Quand t'as goûté
A cette danse là
Tu ne peux
Plus faire que ça

Youpi!
Dansons la carioca
C'est bien
Faisez tous comme moi
Youpi
Avec la carioca
Tant pis s'il faut dire
Aux autres danses
"Au revoir"

Maint'nant qu'tu danses
La carioca
Ça tu t'en fiches bien
De la polka
Tu n'en veux plus
De la rumba, du houla hop
Et du cha cha

Tous les matins
Dès le lever
La carioca
Te fais bouger
Et quand tu danses
Chaque petit pas
Te mets en joie
Pour la journée

Youpi!
Dansons la carioca
C'est bien
Faisez tous comme moi
Oh oui! Youpi
Dansons la carioca
Tant pis s'il faut dire
A tout le monde
"Au revoir"

Indeed.

Sursedey chnam thmey!

I coud do with a tasty Thai dish right now...

It's lovely and sunny today, but nothing tropical.

It is, however, New Year in South-East Asia! Apparently, the historical Hindu calendar is based upon the movement of the sun in relation to the stars rather than (like ours in the West) the length of day, so their new year starts with the sun's entry into the constellation of Aries, and festivities known as Mesha Sankranti and Songkran are celebrated across the region - in Nepal, parts of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and China, and in Burma/Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand.

So let's don our fancy gold hats and practice those pointy-dance moves and get moving! Strike a pose; there's nothing to it...

Khmer Apsara Dance

I need a lie down now.

I'm a classy honey kissy huggy lovey dovey ghetto princess

Oh! The relief...

I have finally had my hair cut - the first time in five long, long months!

Because I am in such an ecstatic frame of mind, how about an old favourite from an appropriately-named band to whip up the mood a bit more?!

Scissor Sisters - Filthy/Gorgeous

I am filthy. And I'm gorgeous.

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap...

Oh, shit. After a lovely, fulfilling fortnight's break, it's time to switch on the stupid laptop and to get subsumed in the random, pointless crap that will inevitably await me as I log back into work...

On this particularly excruciating Tacky Music Monday, thank heavens for today's birthday girl - Miss Ann Miller, dancing with what would appear to be an entire orchestra buried in sand!

Ann Miller at her best!

A bizarre, if fleeting, distraction. Now, on with the grind.

Have a good week, dear reader.

I won't.

All the right junk in all the right places

We've broken the back of the "Spring refresh" in the garden - now roll on summer! [click to embiggen]

The final day of my holiday. It's still a bit nippy out there, so just pottering today in the occasional bouts of sunshine, listening to "our kind of music"...

...and here's our resident orchestra and chorus to provide a bit more!

Postmodern Jukebox ft. Haley Reinhart, Morgan James, Kate Davis and Ariana Savalas - All About That Bass (Meghan Trainor)

Perfect.

Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox website

The perfect holiday

Having spent most of my fortnight's leave slogging in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers - just about every pot and trough of perennials and every one of our (surviving) fuschias has been lifted and planted into brand new compost; we've got through at least six bags of the stuff - the weather today is really quite grotty, so I'm having a "rest day" in preparation for the horror looming on Monday, when I'm back to work.

Needless to say, all our dreams are pinned on the vagaries of winning the Lottery, and jetting off to somewhere exotic and fabulously stylish...

....in the company of a (dearly-departed) Dame and her E-Type Jag, perhaps?

Soft Tempo Lounge - Holiday With Diana

Ah, that's better.

[Music: Vast Resources by Jan Kimberly. Original film: Minikillers (1969)]

Soft Tempo Lounge

Come on, come on and join us please

The hardressers are permitted to open next week, and I'll be banging on their door!

My last weekend of freedom beckons, and despite the sad news today, we still need to gee ourselves up for a party...

...and who better to assist than three ladies who have no fear about possessing "big hair" - Thank Disco It's Friday!

The Three Degrees - Year Of Decision

Have a great weekend, peeps!

Farewell, the Grand Old Man

RIP, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, Baron Greenwich, Royal Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Extra Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Member of the Order of Merit, Grand Master and First and Principal Knight Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Knight of the Order of Australia, Additional Member of the Order of New Zealand, Extra Companion of the Queen’s Service Order, Royal Chief of the Order of Logohu, Extraordinary Companion of the Order of Canada, Extraordinary Commander of the Order of Military Merit, Lord of Her Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council, Privy Councillor of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada, Personal Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty, Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom.

Totty of the Season

Gregory Peck (5th April 1916 – 12th June 2003)

Michael Fassbender (born 2nd April 1977)

Duncan James (born 7th April 1978)

Marlon Brando (3rd April 1924 – 1st July 2004)

Miguel Bosé (born 3rd April 1956)

Anthony Perkins (4th April 1932 – 12th September 1992)

John Schneider (born 8th April 1960)

[not-so-] Li'l Nas X (born 9th April 1999)

Dennis Quaid (born 9th April 1954)

Robert Downey Jr. (born 4th April 1965)

John Gavin (8th April 1931 – 9th February 2018)

What about elephants?

We're not exactly in Yip Harburg territory here...

Music fan? Ever listened to the lyrics of a song you love and thought ‘wait – what the f**k’? These songs are, on close attention, completely deranged:

Yellow by Coldplay

"I swam across / I jumped across for you / What a thing to do / ’Cause you were all yellow"

Yellow is a hard colour to sell in a love song, associated as it is with piss. Chris Martin gets off to an okay start, saying that stars are yellow, which kind of, and that the song is called Yellow which is tautalogical but accurate. But when he starts hinting his lover might possibly have jaundice, that’s weird.

Earth Song by Michael Jackson

"What about elephants? / Have we lost their trust?"

Lost their trust? Did Jacko borrow a fiver from a pachyderm and not pay it back? In the wider context of a song about perpetual human suffering and a ravaged earth bringing up one specific animal and questioning whether it would still vouch for us is mental even for him.

Buck Rogers by Feeder

"We’ll start over again, / Grow ourselves new skin / Get a house in Devon, / Drink cider from a lemon / But I don’t wanna talk about it anymore"

The lyric that makes most sense is not wanting to talk about it any more, because it’s incomprehensible. Why would you put an apple-based drink in a lemon? Literally any county/food combination would fit better. ‘Get a house in Surrey, drink cider with a curry’. There, you guitar-thrashing muppets.

Happy by Pharrell Williams

"Because I’m happy / Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof"

Having already claimed to be like a "hot-air balloon that could go to space", which is a "no", because of "physics", Pharrell goes on to assert that a roofless room is his happy place. Really? A room where the rain comes in? Where the sun beats down? A room that quite frankly isn’t much of a room at all? And you expect us to clap along?

Stayin’ Alive by The Bee Gees

"Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk / I’m a woman’s man, no time to talk"

Coked-up helium-voiced nonsense. If some twat with a stupid walk asked if you could tell it meant he was a ‘woman’s man’, you’d honestly be left wanting for any possible reply.

Human by The Killers

"Are we human? / Or are we dancer?"

Repeat offenders, because "open up my eager eyes / I’m Mr Brightside" means bugger all when you think about it, this lyric is not only lunatic babbling but ungrammatical. We are human. We are not ‘dancer’. Glad that’s settled.

The Daily Mash

Of course.

I'd humbly add to this list the following embarrassments:

You Gotta Be by Des'ree

“I don’t want to see a ghost/It’s the sight that I fear most/I’d rather have a piece of toast/Watch the evening news”

Rhythm Is A Dancer by Snap

“I’m as serious as cancer when I say rhythm is a dancer”

That Was Then But This Is Now by ABC

“More sacrifices than an Aztec priest/Standing here straining at that leash/All fall down/Can’t complain, mustn’t grumble/Help yourself to another piece of apple crumble!”

New Moon on Monday by DuranDuran

"Shake up the picture the lizard mixture/With your dance on the eventide/You got me coming up with answers/All of which I deny"

Your Song by Elton John

"If I was a sculptor/But then again, no/Or a man who makes potions in a travelling show"

Nonsense, each and every one...

Now what are your suggestions, dear reader?

Something in my heart told me I must have you

I am still clinging onto the "attempted-meme-that-no-one-actually-bothered-much-about" that Ms Scarlet started then abandoned a while ago - #adecadeago - and so "here's one I made earlier".

Ten years ago on this date, to be precise:

"There’s only 110 pounds of Frank, but there’s ten pounds of cock!" - Ava Gardner

From the BBC today:

An original version of 1951 novel From Here to Eternity is to be reissued digitally, with previously censored references to homosexuality restored. The uncensored version will be made available online from 10 May.

It will include a scene in which Private Angelo Maggio - the character played by singer Frank Sinatra in the film - reveals he is paid to have oral sex with another man.

I thought this appropriate in the circumstances...

Frank Sinatra - Strangers in the Night

Strangers in the night exchanging glances
Wond'ring in the night
What were the chances we'd be sharing love
Before the night was through.

Something in your eyes was so inviting,
Something in your smile was so exciting,
Something in my heart,
Told me I must have you.

Strangers in the night, two lonely people
We were strangers in the night
Up to the moment
When we said our first hello.
Little did we know
Love was just a glance away,
A warm embracing dance away and -

Ever since that night we've been together.
Lovers at first sight, in love forever.
It turned out so right,
For strangers in the night.

Did it ever get published? Did anyone ever read it?

Questions, questions...

How could I ever refuse; I feel like I win when I lose

For a change, I am "not bovvered" that it's Monday again, as I am off for another week! Unfortunately, it's getting a bit nippy out there - just the other day I was in the garden with my top off; now, despite some glorious sunshine I think a comfy fleece may be in order.

Hey ho.

Last Friday, the lovely Miss Keren Woodward of Bananarama turned - gulp! - 60 years old! Today it's Miss Agnetha Fältskog's birthday - so, on this Tacky Music Monday, let's have a little combined celebration/wake-up call, as one beloved diva pays homage to the other...

Bananarama - Waterloo

Have a good week, dear reader.

Avant-garde, never fade

Easter. If the shops weren't still closed thanks to the continued lockdown, they'd be shut anyway today. And it's getting colder again, so the garden's a less-than-enticing prospect.

There's nothing for it, but to entertain ourselves - how about a little round-up of some of the "newer" music that has caught my ear of late? That'll do nicely...

First up a little apéritif courtesy of Mr Boy George! He was there. Where were you?

Hot Since 82 & Jamie Jones feat. Boy George - Body Control

Here's someone from RuPaul's Drag Queen UK [I wouldn't know; this bloody Drag Race thing seems to have been going for a hundred years and I have never watched it] with an "amusing" name, and a rather good choon:

Tia Kofi - Outside In

Courtesy of Ana Matronic's Dance Devotion show on Radio 2 [again!] is this very weird little number from a band from... Totnes:

Metronomy - Salted Caramel Ice Cream

From the ridiculous to the sublime - an oddity from Brazil:

Carolina Lins & Os Planatos - I Predict A Riot [from Kaiser: The Greatest Footballer Never To Play Football]

A cool little number from one of our favourite Ukrainian hunks, with a most magnificent video:

Max Barskih with Yulia Zivert - Bestseller

and finally...saving the best for last [and speaking of Drag Race, a bit of a team up between our beloved "house band" Steps and RuPaul's "right-hand woman"!

Steps & Michelle Visage - Heartbreak in This City

Enjoy! And, as ever, let me know your thoughts...

I don't wanna wind up being parted, broken-hearted

She hated Easter too, it seems.

Hooray, hooray - it's Doris Day!

Without further ado, let's celebrate that much-missed angelic voice (as featured in a rather sexy extract from Strictly Ballroom):

Doris Day - Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps

You won't admit you love me
And so how am I ever to know?
You always tell me
Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps

A million times I've asked you,
And then I ask you over again
You only answer
Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps

If you can't make your mind up
We'll never get started
And I don't wanna wind up
Being parted, broken-hearted

So if you really love me
Say yes, but if you don't dear, confess
And please don't tell me
Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps

If you can't make your mind up
We'll never get started
And I don't wanna wind up
Being parted, broken-hearted

So if you really love me
Say yes, but if you don't dear, confess
And please don't tell me
Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps
Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps

Doris Day (born Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff, 3rd April 1922 – 13th May 2019)

She's such a loss.

---

Miss Kappelhoff shares her birthday with another odd assortment of "names", including Marlon Brando, Eddie Murphy (who's 60 today!), Mistinguett, A. C. Grayling, "Fat Lady" Jennifer Paterson, Leslie Howard, Marsha Mason, the recently-departed Charlotte Coleman, Helmut Kohl, notorious lesbian diarist Anne Lister, Tony Orlando, primate concervationist Jane Goodall, Alec Baldwin, Leona Lewis, Dooley Wilson, burlesque queen Sally Rand, David Hyde Pierce, Tony Benn, Miguel Bosé, the very sexy Matthew Goode, and - erm - Nigel Farage...

Got a feeling that I will be leavin'

click to embiggen

Oh, dear - shock news has reached us of the unexpected death of one of the great "Queens of Disco", M. Patrick Juvet, aged just 70!

Without further ado, let's pay the man due homage - and Thank Disco it's (Good) Friday!

Patrick Juvet - Got a Feeling

RIP, Patrick Juvet (21st August 1950 – 1st April 2021)
[Click M. Juvet's name in the labels below for more...]