The adaptation is on your TV screens as we speak.
Thursday, 6 March 2025
Wednesday, 5 March 2025
Tiddy oggy! *
Happy Saint Piran's Day, dear reader! "Saint Who?", I hear you ask...
Patron Saint of Pasties Cornwall - land of legends such as King Arthur and his court (supposed occupants of Tintagel Castle), "Jack the Giant Killer", piskies, mermaids, Tristan and Isolde, pirates and ghost ships - Piran was allegedly responsible for several miracles. Not only did he supposedly survive being tied to a millstone by the Irish and cast into the sea, but also "discovered tin" [the county's greatest export during the boom years of the Industrial Revolution], when a stone on his fire leaked a white liquid in the shape of a cross. Of course.
Leaving all that stuff aside, among Cornwall's "great and good", including Richard Trevithick (inventor of the world's first working railway steam locomotive), Daphne du Maurier (author of the books behind films such as Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, The Birds and Don't Look Now), Susan Penhaligon, Rory McGrath, Winston Graham (author of Poldark), Kristin Scott Thomas, Humphry Davy (inventor of the mining safety "Davy Lamp") and Richard D James (aka Aphex Twin)...
... there is (surprisingly) one Michael John Kells "Mick" Fleetwood - co-founder of Fleetwood Mac! By way of a celebration, of all that legendary band's repertoire [I like a lot of their stuff, needless to say, but they have never been top of my list, to be honest - I must be just about the only person of a certain generation who has never had Rumours in their collection], this is my ultimate fave:
[" tiddy oggy" = a type of pasty from Cornwall]
Tuesday, 4 March 2025
Of butlers, cucumbers, pies, Oscars and Dame Shirl
RIP, Jack Vettriano, prints of whose works, incuding "The Singing Butler" [above], are some of the best-selling in British history.
Another snippets post today, dear reader:
- Oscars news: The culmination of "the back-slapping season" has come and gone, and yet again a load of awards went to people we don't know or care about, and to a clutch of films I have not, and will never see. Yawn.
- More art news: A Brueghel miniature painting has been rediscovered, 50 years after it was stolen.
- Weirdest carnival ever? In La Paz, Bolivia, there is an annual cucumber parade (Farándula de los Pepinos) in the carnival season leading up to Mardi Gras (which is today). I wouldn't want that with my pancakes!
- Thick as a plank news: An 18-year-old woman in Florida was arrested after vandalising the car of her ex-boyfriend's neighbour, rather than his. And Americans wonder why we sneer at their education system?
- Happy British Pie Week! Yes, unbelievably, the beloved comfort food of varying quality meat encased in pastry does indeed have its own "awareness week". Who am I to argue? Yum, yum.
- And finally: Happy 80th birthday today to Dieter Meier, brainchild behind the Swiss oddball synth pioneers Yello! By way of a tribute, these masterpieces...
...and one of my all-time favourite songs, ever!
Utter perfection.
And the weather? Spring, Spring, Spring!!
Monday, 3 March 2025
Oh, don't throw your past away, you might need it some rainy day
The Spring sun, low in the sky, is indeed startling on the eyes. However, the joy it brings is somewhat marred by the prospect that another week of drudgery in the office has begun.
Hey ho. On this Tacky Music Monday, for no other reason whatosever than it/he's a joy to watch, how about a bit of Hugh Jackman to warm the cockles?
Imagine...
Oh, how I wish we'd ever had the chance to see this show!
Have a good week, dear reader.
Sunday, 2 March 2025
Weekenders on our own, it's such fun
Crocus explosion!
Another glorious sunny day in the garden, and things are looking better all the time. Madam Arcati was up far earlier than I and sorted out the pile of old pots that we had plonked under one of the benches, and swept up the clag that had accumulated at that end of the garden. I got some more repotting and pruning done, a task that's always satisfying. Four bin bags filled with old compost, leaves, weeds and crud later, and we're pleased with the results!
Incidentally, today would have been the birthday of the marvellous Lou Reed, so I think this one is most appropriate for our "Sunday Music" today, don't you?
Fuck! That faboo ensemble version is 28 years old!
[I see dead people...]
Saturday, 1 March 2025
Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!
Our daffs have been glowing in the sunshine today!
Happy Saint David's Day, dear reader!
It's been a beautiful day for the celebration of all things Welsh - and floral - and I have spent it fruitfully in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers. I've dug out and repotted a big Thalictrum and two hardy geraniums, pruned back a few more ferns, and redone the window box that had been ripped out and scattered everywhere by a bastard fox, pottering and tidying as I went along. Now I'm aching - but happy.
Speaking of things to cheer one's spirits - how about a bit [and I know which bit I'd have liked when he still looked like that!] of Sir Tom Jones, Tom Jones? Os gwelwch yn dda!
Fab-las!
Speaking of all things Welsh - "What's occurring?"
Well lush.
Friday, 28 February 2025
Sorry I'm a lady
RIP, Gene Hackman
The sun is rising in a clear blue sky, the weekend is looming, and - after another tedious week in work - we need to start planning the party to celebrate!
As any sign of sunshine always brings thoughts of holidays in Spain, how about an old, old fave [it was in our charts - gulp - 47 YEARS AGO this week!] from one of that country's greatest exports?
Gracias Disco ¡Es viernes!
Have a great one, dear reader!
Thursday, 27 February 2025
Deranged
The AI-generated video of Gaza that Trump shared yesterday was a terrifying glimpse into his mad brain the world was totally unprepared for.Millions of people who watched Trump’s vision for Gaza, which includes bearded belly dancers and towering gold statues of himself, have been driven completely insane by the chilling insight into how his deranged mind works.
Martin Bishop from Woking said: “I thought I’d be immune to Trump’s batshit ideas by now, but no. Watching him sipping cocktails by the pool with a topless Netanyahu pushed me over the edge.
“This must be how he sees everything, weird and tacky with money floating down everywhere while terrible music plays all the time. Why else would he endorse this abomination?
“Seeing a child holding a giant gold balloon shaped like Trump’s head made me realise reality is an idiotic delusion. I used to be a rational man with a career and a family. Now I spend my days shitting in the park like a dog and screaming ‘We’re all going to Trump Gaza!’”Nikki Hollis from Perth said: “I’ve started thinking the gods of Atlantis are talking to me through my toaster, and I only microdosed Trump’s brain for half a minute. Imagine what thinking like that all the time must do to a person.
“Actually you don’t need to imagine. Just turn on the news and you can see a man who thinks Elon Musk is cool.”
Of course.
[The "real" story. Be prepared...]
Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Of fashion, planets, fluffy animals and homosex
"Planetary parade": from Dolores Delargo Towers we can see Venus, Mars and Jupiter - but not a sniff of Uranus! Boom-tish.
Another snippets post today, dear reader:
- Royal news: The ancient and historic St James's Palace - residence of several monarchs over the centuries, and home to the ceremonial Court of St James - is to open to public this year for the first time.
We'll be getting tickets, no doubt!*
- Awwww news: London Zoo is celebrating after a "baby boom" - with a number of endangered small mammals being born. None of them edible, I believe.
- Another piece of Hollywood history is gone: Following the death of Columbia Pictures (now Sony), MGM Studios (now Amazon) and 20th Century Fox (now Disney), there's sad news of the legendary Technicolor - pioneers of the transition of films from black & white to full colour in the early 20th century, and integral to the success of all the classic early Disney cartoons and blockbusters such as The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind - which has gone bankrupt. RIP.
- Fa-fa-fa-fa-fashion news: The madness and the me-me-me generation that tends to accompany London Fashion Week has departed once more in a cloud of pink glitter, taking memories of Florence Pugh, Richard E Grant, Fiona Shaw and a raft of famous (and not so famous) names on the catwalk in its wake... See the gallery here.
- Drugs news: Following last week's fabulous story about a Peruvian policeman in a capybara costume who led a massive drug raid, police in Colombia this week caught a man smuggling packets of cocaine under his toupee!
- And finally: It's almost the end of LGBT History Month here in the UK and, as has been the pattern in recent years, I/we haven't been to a single event! Admittedly, we were away in Spain at the beginning of the month so missed the most interesting ones. Let's make up for that fact, shall we, with a classic? [Historical, indeed - I first posted this way back in 2008.]
The weather? Typical British Springtime - wet one minute, sunny the next.
STOP PRESS:
* Not at £85 per person, we won't!
Tuesday, 25 February 2025
And the moon and the stars were the gifts you gave
[Roberta Flack photographed by Anthony Barboza, 1971. Image ©: the National Museum of African American History and Culture.]
More sad news yesterday - one of the last of the great soul and blues divas Miss Roberta Flack has departed to Fabulon, to join the greatest choir in history no doubt.
Facts:
- In her early career Miss Flack accompanied opera singers at the piano, but was "discovered" a few years later in the early 1970s as a performer at a jazz cabaret club.
- Her big break came when Clint Eastwood chose the song The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face for the soundtrack of his directing debut Play Misty For Me and it became the biggest hit of 1972.
- She was once the neighbour of John Lennon and Yoko Ono when they all lived in The Dakota apartment building in New York.
- She was the first artist to win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year on consecutive occasions – in 1973 for The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and the following year for Killing Me Softly (With His Song).
- Her Roberta Flack School of Music in the Bronx provides free music education to underprivileged students.
We loved her, and her beautiful mellow voice. Here are her two greatest numbers, by way of a tribute:
And speaking of "heavenly choirs"...
Utter perfection.
She's a huge loss.
RIP, Roberta Cleopatra Flack (10th February 1937 - 24th February 2025)
Monday, 24 February 2025
I simply couldn't be bad
Sigh. Another weekend over - and, despite the mildness of Saturday, yesterday's drizzle has turned into rain so the commute's going to be a miserable affair...
Never mind all that. I have a treat in store this Tacky Music Monday; a wannabee-diva that Madam Arcati flagged up to me a while back.
Possessor of probably the biggest hair in showbiz (it makes even Dolly Parton's look like a modest bob!), let's wallow in the - ahem - talents of a lady once dubbed the "Polish Yma Sumac" for her vocal range, Miss Violetta Villas (and her safety gays)!
Have a good week, dear reader...
Sunday, 23 February 2025
Sweet and heady, like my love
It will be the 80th birthday next Tuesday of one of the UK's finest singers, Miss Elkie Brooks!
Originally a cabaret and jazz vocalist (with Humphrey Lyttleton's band), she went on to form the legendary blues and rock band Vinegar Joe with Robert Palmer - earning the reputation of the wild woman of rock 'n' roll, due to her energetic stage performances.
However, it was as a solo singer that she finally hit the big time, with a string of hits in the 70s and 80s - including these:
Perfect "Sunday Music", methinks.
Many happy returns, Elkie Brooks (born Elaine Bookbinder, 25th February 1945)!
Saturday, 22 February 2025
Gettin' tipsy?
Sniff my Sarcococca!
I've been pottering in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers again today, dear reader. The weather's been mild, the sun was shining, and our Sarcococca hookeriana var. digyna 'Purple Stem' has been filling the air with scent and attracting the year's first honeybees!
I continued my mission at this time of year to "banish death" from the garden, so more ferns, salvias, hardy geraniums and verbena have had "the chop" to remove the old, tatty, windswept and browned top growth, clearing the clag of leaves and sycamore seeds off each pot as I went along. Still more to do but it's looking so much better out there, and now I can "see the wood for the trees" (to coin a phrase) which of the herbaceous plants I need to prioritise for repotting/division.
A gardener's work is never done...
However, now I'm sat down with a cider in my hand, so I think this number from our "house band" is in order, don't you?
The original song [video here for the uninitiated (like me)] was apparently the big surprise hit of 2024, spending 36 consecutive weeks in the UK Top 100 (twelve of those in the Top 10), and a remarkable 19 weeks at #1 in the US Billboard singles chart. Quite why remains a mystery to me.
The PMJ version is at least listenable...
Friday, 21 February 2025
Anytime... tonight is fine
My kind of "disco balls"!
How has it only been [almost] five days since I got back to work after the holiday?!! It feels like a month has passed...
Anyhoo - just today to slog through, and the weekend is in sight. Time to plan the party in a most appropriate way, with a complete mindfuck!
When I last posted this #adecadeago, I commented about the spectacle thus: "...outfits that look like a combination of the worst excesses of heavy rock combined with bell-bottoms made out of pedestal mats from someone's Gran's house, performing in front of an audience of weirdos who seem to have absolutely no connection to the music whatsoever... No drugs involved there, then."
It's still awe-inspiringly tacky - Thank Disco It's Friday!
Have a good one, dear reader!
Thursday, 20 February 2025
Wednesday, 19 February 2025
While it is busy...
Ukraine has begun talks with Panama, Greenland and Canada to settle the US’s petty territorial concerns for it while it is busy.
Noticing that the United States’ negotiation apparatus was all tied up in meetings with Russia, the eastern European nation has kindly stepped in and promised to ‘sort everything out’.Foreign affairs minister Andrii Sybiha said: “The US has a lot on its plate right now, right as Musk’s fired half the government! But anything to help out a friend.
“We’ve put the US argument forward – I believe it’s that they should have whatever they want "because Trump", it didn’t take long – and we’re now hearing representations from the other countries at the table. Some convincing arguments!
“Our key aim is peace, of course, which is worth any price. So with that in mind we’re offering a unilateral withdrawal of US troops and generous reparations.
“I think the US will be delighted when they come out of whatever they’re doing and discover we’ve forged binding agreements on their behalf but without their input. We’ve saved them so much work.
“What, you say? The most powerful side will just ignore the agreements anyway? Oh. How unlike our own situation.”
Of course.
Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Blumenfest!
Just a sample of the delights on show at the Orchid Festival at Kew Gardens, that Madam Arcati, John-John and I trolled off to see on Sunday.
It was, as planned, the perfect way to end my holiday (the Madam was already back at work after our trip to Spain), even if the arrangements were a bit disomfiting in comparison to previous visits - we had to queue in the cold for our ticketed timeslot, much of the Princess of Wales Conservatory (where the event is hosted) was roped-off so we couldn't meander past some of our fave specimens as usual, and in general it all felt a bit like being ushered along a conveyor-belt.
Albeit a very beautiful, colourful and floral one!
Here's something - ahem - appropriate to accompany this floral display, from one of our favourite German eccentrics Fraulein Nina Hagen [who has a milestone birthday coming up next month, so I doubt this will be the last we hear of her]!
I love the looks of shock on the audience's faces...
Monday, 17 February 2025
Fruity, indeed
Aaaaaarrrggghhh!
Back to reality. Gawd knows what utter joys are lined up to face me as I stagger my weary way back to work...
...Never mind, eh? Here - in another nod to our beloved Spain, before our tans completely fade and wash off - is a phenomenon, to serve as a real wake-up call on this Tacky Music Monday.
Laydeez'n'gentlemen, may I introduce one of that country's - ahem - finest trans entertainers, Miss Bibi Anderson!
Good heavens.
Have a good week, dear reader. I won't.
Sunday, 16 February 2025
It's centr- I -fugal motion
Madam Arcati, John-John and I are off to see the annual Orchid Festival at Kew Gardens this afternoon! A welcome break from the grey dankness that continues to envelop us (despite a brief sunny respite yesterday afternoon), and a jolly way to end my fortnight's leave, methinks...
Speaking of jolly - here's our "house band" here at Dolores Delargo Towers, superbly improving (as is their wont) a somewhat forgotten hit from 26 years ago [the year Shawn Mendes, Chappell Roan, Google, the iMac and - erm - Windows 98 were born]:
That mispronunciation still annoys me, decades later.
Saturday, 15 February 2025
O, Canada
Five former prime ministers of Canada, Joe Clark, Kim Campbell, Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin and Stephen Harper have called on all Canadians to fly the flag as a sign of national unity on Flag Day during the 2025 United States trade war with Canada and Mexico.
I have cousins in Canada, but irrespective of that fact I see no reason why everyone shouldn't show solidarity and stand up to such blatant bullying - do you?
Let's hear from one of that country's greatest exports...
Times are gone
For honest men
Sometimes, far too long for snakes
Black hole sun
Won't you come
And wash away the rain?
Indeed.
Friday, 14 February 2025
You got to know that that will never do
Yes, dear reader, "St. Hallmark's Day" is upon us once again. The shops have been groaning under the strain of pink-and-red-themed items - cards, balloons, flowers, chocolates, bubbly; even a prawn medley (how seductive!) - since before our holiday, in the hope that the cash registers will be pinging as lovelorn chavs queue to buy gifts for their beau. Bleurrcchh! All this commercialisation makes me sick.
Never mind, eh? I may still be on leave, but as is traditional at the end of any week [and this is indeed the last weekend for me before the daily grind begins all over again], it's time to start planning that party!
Here's something - ahem - suitably romantic for the occasion:
Thank Disco It's Friday!
Have a great one, folks!
Thursday, 13 February 2025
Of Romans, boffins, whales, hogs and the Sunshine Band
It's another snippets post, dear reader:
- Historical discoveries news: The remains of London’s earliest Roman basilica - dating back almost 2000 years - have been discovered under an office block in Holborn.
- Another festival season we won't be going to news: London rapper Little Simz has been announced as the curator of the 30th edition of the Meltdown Festival at the South Bank Centre. Sigh. It'll be dreadful. Again.
- Precocious teen you love to hate news: Aged just sixteen, a teenager from Twickenham has landed a $1million deal in Silicon Valley for his self-coded AI program. At his age, my preoccupations were mainly Blondie, Tubeway Army, Not the Nine O'Clock News and masturbation (not necessarily in that order)...
- Boffin birthday news: Alongside fellow celebrants Peter Gabriel (75), Kim Novak, Stockard Channing, Robbie Williams, Peter Hook of New Order, Joyce DiDonato, Kevin Bloody Wilson and Sonia, and on the same date as the late George Segal, Peter Tork, Jerry Springer, Oliver Reed, Tennessee Ernie Ford and Emanuel Ungaro, it happens to be the 80th birthday today of the marvellously erudite Sir Simon Schama, stalwart of BBC history documentaries and house fave here at Dolores Delargo Towers; indeed, we have not one but two of his series lined up on iPlayer to watch.
- He made his home in that fish's abdomen news: A kayaker in Chile was swallowed - and then spat out - by a humpback whale!
- Another day, another load of wild beasts on the loose: 20 feral pigs, believed to have been deliberately set loose in Scotland's Cairngorms National Park, have been caught and killed. Hog roast, anyone?
- And, finally... How old?! news: Unbelievably, it is fifty years since KC and the Sunshine Band first dominated our discos and the charts - and by way of a celebration, the faboo DJ Cummerbund has come up with this [almost 15-minute long] slice of brilliance!
Wow!
And the weather? Dankness continues.
Wednesday, 12 February 2025
Everyone looks at me*
Oh, how much are we missing the sunshine of Spain..? Sob.
I've had a productive day, dear reader - first time pottering out in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers since last Autumn! The main thing I always have to clear at this time of year is all that death that winter brings - so out came the secateurs, and I made a start on pruning off blackened and browned bits on the fuchsias, ferns and (some) salvias, tore down the dead Thunbergia vine, and scraped out more leaf-and-sycamore-seed clag from several pots. Loads more to do, but it was a good start...
Right! Back to Spain it is (we wish!), in the company of another fave camp-as-tits fiery diva who is wildly popular over there [she is actually Mexican, but that's merely splitting hairs], and whose birthday it happened to be while we were there - Señorita Gloria Trevi!
And here's her duet with our other "house fave" Señorita Monica Naranjo:
Whew! That was a battle-of-the-tonsils, alright...
Now, guapo! where is that Tinto de Verano?!
[*"Todos Me Miran" = "Everyone looks at me" in Spanish]
Tuesday, 11 February 2025
Death’s bouncers
The Assisted Dying Bill is be toughened by replacing a review by a judge with arguing your way past a GP’s receptionist.
The proposed law initially included a requirement for a high court judge to check each person was eligible, but critics believed this was far too low a bar to clear and instead inserted the immovable object which staffs every local surgery.
MP Kim Leadbeater said: “What do judges know about medicine? They’ll wave every case through because it brings back the halcyon days of sentencing criminals to death.
“But a receptionist at a standard practice will truly weed out the undeserving. With judgements like ‘Doesn’t seem like there’s anything up with you to me’, ‘Buck up a bit’ and ‘Sorry, we’ve no more appointments’ they will act as death’s bouncers.
“You’ll have to be really determined to go to your final resting place to cajole your way past them. If you’re being coerced into assisted dying, all you have to do is sit in the waiting room and they’ll ignore you effortlessly for months.
“They are already the nation’s arbiters of illness, so weeding out those who do not deserve an easy death is a natural progression. And for doing so we’ll pay them an extra 22p an hour.”
Receptionist Susan Traherne said: “There are many out there who death’s too good for. Timewasters, generally.”
Of course.
Monday, 10 February 2025
Withdrawal symptoms
I am craving a Tinto de Verano!!
Yes, we're back - and in full recovery mode - after a lovely and full-on week on the Costa del Sol for Madam Arcati's birthday. We went once again en familia; this time with the Madam's sister Carol (again) and nephew Stu (for the first time) - and, of course, everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves...
With only one "off day" - on Sunday night we had torrential storms in the wee small hours, and it remained so horrid there were only a few bars open along the paseo on Monday (all of which we visited, of course) - the sun was very welcome upon our pale British skins. A little shopping here, a lot of lovely food, and - ¡claro está! - industrial quantities of booze, it was a much-needed week of utter hedonism. Bliss!
Now we're back in the truly miserable, cold, wet and dank UK, what did we miss while we were away..?
Not a lot, to be honest. There was endless coverage of the orange madman that Americans voted into power - his threats of tariffs against just about anyone including the EU, his crazy talk of taking over Gaza, and, in fact any of the shit that pours from his mouth. Speaking of crazy, our current government appears to be presiding over a remarkable crash of our economy - flat growth and rising inflation all round - which has served to cheer everyone up no end, as one might imagine. Especially if Chancellor Rachel "Nanny Stern" Reeves is genuinely [the screaming headline appeared in The Mail (aka Mein Kampf), so should be treated with extreme caution] considering axing or significantly reducing the annual £20,000 cash ISA (Individual Savings Account) tax-free allowance - my preferred way to save!
In other news...
- Not being a user of F**book, Tw*tter/"X" or any of that stuff (except Blogger, which is hardly the same), I remain ambivalent to the fact that social media has been compared to cancer by the UK's head of counter-terrorism.
- Our local council Haringey has (ha ha!) failed in its intention to
introduce a new money-making scamtinker with its resident parking scheme, as more than 95% of residents who responded to its public consultation objected. - When personal items belonging to the late, beloved, "national treasure" comedian Eric Morecambe went up for auction recently (after the death of his widow last year), his trademark dark-rimmed glasses were won by none other than that more modern "treasure" Robbie Williams!
Meanwhile, at Gobbler's Knob this Groundhog Day, "Punxsutawney Phil" predicted that the US will get six more weeks of winter this year; a woman flew from Cornwall to Malaga in Spain and then up to Manchester to collect her car because it was £250 cheaper than it would be to get the train; and the whole country of Sri Lanka was plunged into an electricity blackout - because of a monkey meddling with a power station!
We missed celebrating the centenaries of both Jack Lemmon and our Patron Saint of Booze Miss Elaine Stritch, the (gulp!) 95th birthday of Robert Wagner, the (double-gulp!) 70th of John Travolta, the 50th of Natalie Imbruglia and the 40th of the ultra-sexy Cristiano Ronaldo...
...and we also missed marking the death of television favourite Brian Murphy (the eternally hen-pecked "George Roper" in both Man About the House and George and Mildred [the original series behind the US hits Three's Company and The Ropers]; he later featured in Last of the Summer Wine).
Finally - did I bring anything back for your delectation, dear reader? How about Spain's entry for Eurovision 2025? It's still (just about) Tacky Music Monday, after all:
[Yes, the singer is the same Melody (minus her "Vivancos" but with another set of safety gays altogether) who was responsible for our regularly-featured earworm El Baile de los Gorilas]I may still be on holiday all this week, but...
Is it good to be back? NO!!
Saturday, 1 February 2025
Vamos, de novo!
By the time you see this, dear reader, we should be in the air heading for another well-earned week in the sunshine and hedonism of the Costa Del Sol!
As is traditional, here's our send-off song...Vamos a la playa, oh oh oh oh! Indeed.
"Normal" service should resume in about a week from now!
Friday, 31 January 2025
Ambiguo?
Just a few more hours to go, and the laptop can be snapped shut for another sixteen days - we're off to Spain at the crack'o'doom tomorrow morning for a (hopefully sunny) week on the Costa del Sol, followed by another week off just to potter... Yay!
To round off the countdown nicely, here's an old fave. Miguel Bosé (for it is he) is so amazingly popular in Spain he has produced not one, but two albums of his hits, re-recorded in duets with estimable international superstars such as Shakira, Ricky Martin, Fangoria, Ivete Sangalo, Michael Stipe from R.E.M. and even Penelope Cruz. When he started out, he was a heartthrob teen idol - in the same vein of David Cassidy or Leif Garrett - and, like so many pretty poster-boys, has subsequently "admitted to being bisexual". Cough. Cough.
When I first featured this particular number back in 2010, I said: "...one of the campest dance routines in the world! Madam Arcati reckons he reminds him of Anita Harris." Ha! I'll let you be the judge of that, dear reader - Gracias Disco ¡Es viernes!
That could just as easily been one of our "Tacky Music Monday" treats, to be honest...
Have a good weekend, peeps - we certainly will!
Thursday, 30 January 2025
God is Dead
“Never apologise, never explain - didn't we always say that? Well, I haven't and I don't.”
And she never did!
The saddest-of-sad news has reached our ears - one of the greatest of our Patron Saints, Miss Marianne Faithfull has departed to claim her rightful place at the top of the podium in the Fabulon Hall of Decadence. Black armbands all round, methinks...
There was never anyone else quite like Marianne - she simply oozed style and class, and indeed was for many years one of the most desired women on the planet!
Her glamorous background, her bohemian lifestyle, her relationships and her battle with drink and drugs and ill-health were all tabloid fodder for decades, yet she bounced back from it all to become a revered singer-songwriter with her own cult following - among whose number were Madam Arcati and I.
Indeed, I was thrilled to have an "Audience With God" [as Eddie Monsoon portrayed her in AbFab] way back in 2013! She was superb. Of course.
A very sad loss.
"Rebellion is the only thing that keeps you alive!""Maybe the most that you can expect from a relationship that goes bad is to come out of it with a few good songs."
And here's one...
The morning sun touched lightly on the eyes of Lucy Jordan
In a white suburban bedroom in a white suburban town
As she lay there 'neath the covers dreaming of a thousand lovers
Till the world turned to orange and the room went spinning round.
At the age of thirty-seven she realised she'd never
Ride through Paris in a sports car with the warm wind in her hair.
So she let the phone keep ringing and she sat there softly singing
Little nursery rhymes she'd memorised in her daddy's easy chair.
Her husband, he's off to work and the kids are off to school,
And there are, oh, so many ways for her to spend the day.
She could clean the house for hours or rearrange the flowers
Or run naked through the shady street screaming all the way.
At the age of thirty-seven she realised she'd never
Ride through Paris in a sports car with the warm wind in her hair
So she let the phone keep ringing as she sat there softly singing
Pretty nursery rhymes she'd memorised in her daddy's easy chair.
The evening sun touched gently on the eyes of Lucy Jordan
On the roof top where she climbed when all the laughter grew too loud
And she bowed and curtsied to the man who reached and offered her his hand,
And he led her down to the long white car that waited past the crowd.
At the age of thirty-seven she knew she'd found forever
As she rode along through Paris with the warm wind in her hair
"Bad behaviour makes men more glamorous. Women get destroyed, thrown out of society and locked up in institutions.""I haven't got purity, and I don't think I ever did. I have always been, even as a child, a very decadent little person."
This song might well be her epitaph...
The family tree was chainsawed Wednesday week
So now I have to mingle with the meek
Hey mister, you have finally met your match
Now everybody wants to kiss my snatch
To go where God knows who has gone before
I am a muse, not a mistress, not a whore
Oh, suburban shits who want some class
All queue up to kiss my ass
And I was only trying to please
I never got any royalties oh no, not me
I'm still sliding through life on charm
Sliding through life on charm
If Marianne was born a man she'd show you all
A way to piss your life against the wall
Go ahead why don't you leave me to these thugs
And creeps who want to fuck a nun on drugs?
Is it such a sin I never ever tried too hard?
I had to know how far was going too far
In proper homes throughout the land, Fathers try to understand
Why Eunice who is seventeen aspires to live her life like me
Oh no, can't ya see, Daddy?
She's just captivated by my charm
Sliding through life on charm
Sliding
Sliding
Never
I wonder why the schools don't teach anything useful nowadays
Like how to fall from grace and slide with elegance from a pedestal
I never asked to be on in the first place
Sliding on charm, sliding on charm
Sliding on charm, sliding on charm
Sliding on charm, sliding on charm
Sliding on charm
RIP, Marianne Faithfull (29th December 1946 - 30th January 2025)
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