Put your game face on, stay strong and sparkle

Carnival may have been cancelled, but we're going to sparkle anyhow!

Oh, thank heavens - this has been an excruciating first week back after my leave, but the end is in sight...

There was some sad news earlier this week, when we learned of the premature death of the very cute "Sir" Ari Gold, New York club kid, DJ, out-gay role model and collaborator with a whole array of stars including Boy George, Cyndi Lauper and RuPaul, who has departed to provide the music in Fabulon, aged just 47.

I think it's appropriate to hand proceedings over to the master (and the lovely Sarah Dash from LaBelle) as we look forward to the looming weekend, get our dancing shoes and feathers on, and enjoy his "gay anthem that never was" from 2011. Thank Disco It's Friday!

Sir Ari featuring Sarah Dash - Sparkle

Crystal
Is it blinding you?
Diamond Studded
Only you can cut it
You shine
From within
Without anything

Don't ask, don't tell?
We gonna flaunt it
Give 'em all hell
Put a ring on it

And when its cold
You better bring your weather with you
Put your game face on
Stay strong
And sparkle
And when it's dark
Remember that the sunshine's in you
You got thunder, lightning, shine and sparkle

Is a star's shining brightly and you like it
Don't just step into its shadow
There's a fierce lion roaring in you and you know it
And he's coming out loud now

Divas
Liza
Chaka
Mariah
Even Gaga too
Sarah
Aretha
Madonna
Diana lives in you

'Cause when you're down
Bring your inner diva around
She will brighten, curtain up and sparkle
And when your low
You gotta just go on with the show
Put your mask on, make-up, smile and sparkle

And when its cold
You better bring your weather with you
Put your game face on
Stay strong
And sparkle
And when it's dark
Remember that the sunshine's in you
You got thunder, lightning, shine and sparkle

When the battery's down
Charger can't be found
All you've got is what you feel
The connection's out
You try to find another route
Life keeps on getting mighty real
No need for special effects
Simply reconnect
To all you can be thankful for
Between the spirit and the flash
Only you know what's best
It's a place you've been before

And when its cold
You better bring your weather with you
Put your game face on
Stay strong
And sparkle
And when it's dark
Remember that the sunshine's in you
You got thunder, lightning, shine and sparkle

'Cause when you're down
Bring your inner-diva around
She will brighten, curtain up and sparkle
And when your low
You gotta just go on with the show
Put your mask on, make-up, smile and sparkle

Have a great weekend, dear reader!

RIP Ari Gold (11th February 1974 - 14th February 2021)

'Cause when you're down, bring your inner diva around

Oh.

Good.

Grief.

It's back to work time again - and after a three-day break in the sunshine, I am just not ready for this.

Hey ho.

At least there's some heart-warming news - Olympic athlete Colin Jackson has [and about bloody time, too!] finally decided to publicly "come out". And here, to welcome him - and to cheer our weary way back to the drudgery of the office - is one of my fave choons of 2011, the [sadly overlooked] classic, Sparkle (featuring the estimable tonsils of one of the stars of LaBelle, Miss Sarah Dash!

Sir Ari featuring Sarah Dash - Sparkle

Crystal
Is it blinding you?
Diamond Studded
Only you can cut it
You shine
From within
Without anything

Don't ask, don't tell?
We gonna flaunt it
Give 'em all hell
Put a ring on it

And when its cold
You better bring your weather with you
Put your game face on
Stay strong
And sparkle
And when it's dark
Remember that the sunshine's in you
You got thunder, lightning, shine and sparkle

Is a star's shining brightly and you like it
Don't just step into its shadow
There's a fierce lion roaring in you and you know it
And he's coming out loud now

Divas
Liza
Chaka
Mariah
Even Gaga too
Sarah
Aretha
Madonna
Diana lives in you

'Cause when you're down
Bring your inner diva around
She will brighten, curtain up and sparkle
And when your low
You gotta just go on with the show
Put your mask on, make-up, smile and sparkle

And when its cold
You better bring your weather with you
Put your game face on
Stay strong
And sparkle
And when it's dark
Remember that the sunshine's in you
You got thunder, lightning, shine and sparkle

When the battery's down
Charger can't be found
All you've got is what you feel
The connection's out
You try to find another route
Life keeps on getting mighty real
No need for special effects
Simply reconnect
To all you can be thankful for
Between the spirit and the flash
Only you know what's best
It's a place you've been before

And when its cold
You better bring your weather with you
Put your game face on
Stay strong
And sparkle
And when it's dark
Remember that the sunshine's in you
You got thunder, lightning, shine and sparkle

'Cause when you're down
Bring your inner-diva around
She will brighten, curtain up and sparkle
And when your low
You gotta just go on with the show
Put your mask on, make-up, smile and sparkle

I try, I try...

The great musical round-up 2011

OK, It's that time of year when all thoughts turn to trying to remember what music "rocked our boats" during the last twelve months.

To that end, here are (in no particular order) the Dolores Delargo Towers Top Twenty Songs of 2011!

Let us open with the very cool Eastman ft Neve - Greedy Eyes, from July:

Eastman featuring Neve - Greedy Eyes

Even cooler, Jessica 6 - White Horse, from March:

Jessica 6 - White Horse

Herr Styler - Snow in Paris was toast of the town here at the Towers in January:

Herr Styler - Snow In Paris

The beautiful Sound of Arrows - Nova, first featured here in April:

Sound of Arrows - Nova

A very welcome return for a gay pioneer, Darren Hayes - Black Out The Sun (here in its remixed form), from September:



Speaking of gay, gay, gay - the anthem that never was, Sir Ari Gold featuring LaBelle's Sarah Dash - Sparkle, featured here in September:

Sir Ari featuring Sarah Dash - Sparkle

Duran Duran - Girl Panic was a fantabulosa return to form for a long-standing favourite group in November:

Duran Duran - Girl Panic!

Continuing the theme of "welcome returns", Mari Wilson - O.I.C, released earlier in the year, was a discovery here in December:

Mari Wilson - O.I.C.

Not something I am proud of, but I still love Selena Gomez - Love You Like A Love Song, from September:

Selena Gomez & The Scene - Love You Like A Love Song

The sleaze-tastic Traci Lords - Last Drag, from November:

Traci Lords - Last Drag

A song that was shockingly ignored by everyone, Beth Ditto - I Wrote the Book, from February:

Beth Ditto - I Wrote the Book

For once my taste and that of the great unwashed collided, as Example - Changed the Way You Kiss Me became the big chart-topper of the summer, featured here first in March:

Example - Changed the Way You Kiss Me

A chart could not really be a chart without at least one from the UK's "great white hope": Adele - Rolling in the Deep, as featured here way back in January:

Adele - Rolling in the Deep

One of my fave discoveries of the year, The Young Professionals ft Uriel Yekutiel - D.I.S.C.O, from July:

The Young Professionals - D.I.S.C.O

The magnificent Will Young - Jealousy, returned to our arms in style in August:

Will Young - Jealousy

A song (and an artist) that is indeed very popular round here, Eric Saade - Popular, who wuz robbed at Eurovision in May:

Eric Saade - Popular

Speaking of "we wuz robbed", our own Euro-contender Blue - I Can, was first revealed here in March:

Blue - I Can

A close contender, and thus in the Top Three, is Martin Solveig ft Dragonette - Hello, featured here in January:

Martin Solveig and Dragonette - Hello

Snapping at the heels of the top slot is the anthem of our last holiday in Spain: Luciana - I'm Still Hot, which I first played on our return in February but seems to have been around for the whole year (including the infamous Betty White version):

Luciana - I'm Still Hot

And finally, there has to be a winner, and so at Number 1 is (of course) the irresistible Sak Noel - Loca People, which first featured here in September, and has been buzzing round our eardrums ever since:

Sak Noel - Loca People

There will be plenty of omissions, and songs that have completely slipped the memory no doubt, but that is the nature of any Top Twenty.

However, as always, enjoy!!

Greetings, Pop-Pickers!

Time once more to inflict on you another selection of the newer songs that have pricked up my ears of late...

Opening this week's show is a gay pioneer and owner of one of the most "Marmite-like" voices in pop (you either like it or you hate it - I like it), Darren Hayes. Having been rather unimpressed by his last effort Talk Talk Talk (I preferred the bonus track, his cover of Madonna's Angel), the lovely Mr Hayes has a new, and rather fabulous, single out - Black Out The Sun. With its swooping orchestration and its anthemic melodrama, this has a feel reminiscent of some of Take That's recent material, and I love it!

Darren Hayes - Black Out The Sun

From swooping to spooky, this is a real discovery. Majiker (alias Matthew Ker) is a long-term collaborator with the first lady of cool, French singer Camille (of Nouvelle Vague fame). His solo album House of Bones is apparently inspired by "ghost stories, haunted house movies from the 1940s and Norse mythology" (and indeed Neil Tennant, I guess), and from it the new single (free to download from his website) is the strange but compelling The Struggle:

Majiker - The Struggle

Taking more of an electro curve, here's a new collaboration between the incredibly cool SirPaul (who I featured back in June) and Noo Yawk DJ Alex Lauterstein (who has worked with everyone including Danny Tenaglia, Peter Rauhofer and David Guetta). Calling themselves Simulover, this is their new number, the rather kinky and rather brilliant Tourniquet:

Simulover - Tourniquet

From the sublime, etc, etc... This is a bit of a "guilty pleasure". For as much as I tried to hate this new song by some juvenile called Selena Gomez (apparently another Disney Channel "star" a la that Bieber creature; she reminds me of one of those awful child beauty pageant entrants from the inbred American Midwest), Love You Like A Love Song has unfortunately crept into my consciousness...

Selena Gomez & The Scene - Love You Like A Love Song

And, finally - "When you're down, bring your inner diva around!" What better an uplifting message do we need from a song? This anti-gay-bullying demi-anthem Sparkle is the latest production of the splendid Sir Ari Gold, featuring guest vocals by a genuine diva - Sarah Dash who was one of the original members of 70s superstars Labelle (with Patti Labelle and Nona Hendrix)! The rather cute Sir Ari (when exactly was he knighted?) continues his sterling work to bring awareness to gay rights issues - and more power to his efforts!

Sir Ari featuring Sarah Dash - Sparkle

[Thanks to the lovely JD Doyle over at the magnificent Queer Music Heritage for the heads up!]

Enjoy!