Viva la Diva(s)!

It's another Betty White Day today!

There's a huge cornucopia of birthdays today, including the remarkable and beloved Betty White, Our Patron Saint of purring Eartha Kitt, and (Lord) David Lloyd George, Muhammad Ali, Vidal Sassoon, Jim Carrey, Paul Young, Calvin Harris, Shari Lewis, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Neville Shute, Andy Kaufman, Susanna Hoffs, Mack Sennett, Chris Montez, Benjamin Franklin, James Earl Jones, Michelle Obama, Tiësto, (Lord) Keith Joseph, (Sir) Compton Mackenzie, Al Capone, Shabba Ranks, Richard Hawley and Sheree North, and today marks the centenary of the birth of Moira Shearer...

...but it is to our most regularly-featured Patron Saint (of Hair-Swishing?), stalwart employer of every safety gay in France, and (another) "birthday girl" Dalida to whom we turn for respite today, dear reader! Enjoy...

Dalida - Je Suis Toutes Les Femmes

Dalida était l’une des plus grandes de toutes les divas!

C'est vrai que j'aime bien les beaux garçons

Fuck! Monday again?!! So soon..?

It's back to reality time, after a splendid Gay Pride weekend, and I am not looking forward to it whatsoever.

Media whores? Us? How dare you.

Hey ho. On this Tacky Music Monday - let's bring on the safety gays!!

Dalida - Comme disait Mistinguett

Thank heavens for Our Patron Saint Dalida, I say!

Have a good week, dear reader.

Party like it's 1978

Zut alors! Our fave Gallic Patron Saint of Sparkly Frocks and Big Hair Dalida would have been 90 years old this week!

She's perfect on any occasion, of course, but for a pick-me-up at the end of another cold, drawn-out and tiring week, there's nothing like an all-wiggling all-posing performance by the grand dame and her safety gay (singular) Bruno Guillain to start the party - and Merci Disco c'est vendredi!

Dalida - Génération 78

Dalida (born Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti, 17th January 1933 – 3rd May 1987)

Have a great weekend, dear reader!

Do as you darn well pleasey

Sigh. After what has turned out to be quite a reflective weekend, it's time to steel ourselves to open that laptop and see what joys the world of work is going to bring us...

Among the "revelations" about the late Queen's musical tastes - I covered her "pash" for Duke Ellington on Friday, and the Beeb did a whole programme for her 90th that "discovered" (shock horror) that her preferred choices included songs from several musicals, some hymns, miltary marches, and Gary Barlow, Vera Lynn and George Formby. There was one rousing sing-a-long number mentioned, however, that she liked to dance to in particular.

"Nobody thought it was odd after dinner if we put on a record and all sang Doing the Lambeth Walk, so music has always been part of her life." - Lady Elizabeth Anson

So, on this Tacky Music Monday, let's have a most unexpected version of said choon - courtesy of our own Gallic Patron Saint, Dalida!

I can imagine Ma'am giggling at the incongruity...

Have a good week, dear reader.

Je vis comme si j'étais en vacances

Shit. After a fantabulosa fortnight - a week in the welcome sunshine of Spain, followed by a week just monging about to recover, topped off with "the gathering of the clans" on Saturday (the excuse being a rather late celebration of the Madam's birthday) - I am not ready for the return to the grimness of work!

Hey ho.

Our original premise of seeking out pubs with function rooms, on our "pub crawl" a few weeks ago, was to find one that would provide "our gang" with a replacement venue for our regular "film club evenings" now that our previous venue the Hoop and Grapes in Farringdon remains closed "for refurbishment". The Traitors Gate opposite the Tower of London provided everything we would want to that end and more - but rather than strictly adhering to our usual formula of studiously [ahem!] watching full-length movies, Madam Arcati decided he wanted music and general chit-chat more befitting of a birthday party. He'd already filled his phone with a playlist of suitable choons, so I grabbed a few random "music-oriented" DVDs to take along as well - and of course, Our Gallic Patron Saint Dalida was among them!

She went down very well...

On this Tacky Music Monday, as I crash and burn catching-up with all the pedestrian crud that work will inevitably bring, I can think of no better diversion than this beloved classic from the late grande dame herself!

Dalida - Monday, Tuesday

Moi je vis d'amour et de danse
Je vis comme si j'étais en vacances
Je vis comme si j'étais éternelle
Comme si les nouvelles étaient sans problèmes

Moi je vis d'amour et de rire
Je vis comme si y avait rien à dire
J'ai tout le temps d'écrire mes mémoires
D'écrire mon histoire à l'encre bleue

Laissez-moi danser, laissez-moi
Laissez-moi danser chanter en liberté tout l'été
Laissez-moi danser [Monday], laissez-moi [Tuesday]
Aller jusqu'au bout du rêve!

Which translates as:

Me I see life in love and dance
I live like I'm on vacation
I live like I'm eternal
As if the news were without problems

I live on love and laughter
I live like there's nothing to say
I have all the time to write my memoirs
To write my story in blue ink

Let me dance, let me
Let me dance, sing and be free all summer
Let me dance [Monday] let me [Tuesday]
Go to the end of my dreams

The end of my dreams, indeed.

Have a good week, dear reader. I won't.

I'll give it to someone special

Sigh. Back to the world of dreams - the alarm's gone off, and it's back to the grind again. At least it is the wind-down to the Festering Season, and I have an extended time away from pedestrian council business to look forward to, even if the news continues to make grim reading and there's not a helluva lot of seasonal cheer about at the moment...

Let's make an effort to change all that. Even though it is my least favourite of all festivities, I guess I do need to make some sort of effort towards a "countdown" [Todrick Hall having already kicked things off] - and there is no-one better to bring a bit of sparkle into the situation than Mademoiselle Dalida! First up, her somewhat unexpected cover of a Wham Xmas classic:

Dalida - Reviens Moi (Last Christmas)

Not content to leave it at that on a Tacky Music Monday, however - bring on the safety gays!!

Dalida - Comme disait Mistinguett

Much better.

Have a great week, dear reader! The days get longer from now on...

Cacahuètes!

Sad news on the weekend - Mademoiselle Annie Cordy, chanteuse, showgirl, film star and one of the most popular entertainers in France and her native Belgium is dead. She was 92. So esteemed was she that in 2005, she was bestowed with the title Baroness by the King of the Belgians. In her seven decade career, she acted and performed alongside a vast array of stars including Gérard Depardieu, Petula Clark, Charles Bronson, Michel Serrault, Simone Signoret, Tino Rossi, Orson Welles, Claudette Colbert, Edith Piaf and Charles Aznavour...

...and our Patron Saint of luxuriant hair, Dalida! On this Tacky Music Monday, this is a real eye-opener:

Dalida and Annie Cordy - The Peanut Vendor

RIP Annie Cordy, Baroness Cooreman (born Léonie Cooreman, 16th June 1928 – 4th September 2020)

[More Annie here and here]

Have a good week, dear reader.

Poupée de cire, poupée de son

Felicitations to:

• Dalida (born Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti, 17th January 1933 – 3rd May 1987)
• Dolly (born Dolly Rebecca Parton, 19th January 1946)
• Eartha (born Eartha Mae Kitt/Keith, 17th January 1927 – 25th December 2008)
• Tippi (born Nathalie Kay "Tippi" Hedren, 19th January 1930) [She's 90, you know!]

I would say "the only type of toys we like", but that wouldn't necessarily be true...

Excuse me...

...while I get ready for a night out!







It's party time.

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!

Dalida - Gosse de Paris

Ooh la la!

Bastille Day explained

Como si fuera esta noche la última vez

Another weekend looms - and it's just one week to go before we wave bye-bye to this place and "hello" to Dolores Delargo Towers #4...

Gulp.

To ease ourselves into "le weekend" - and to the prospect of spending it dismantling our extensive gardens, as well as continuing the perpetual task of clearing, boxing and generally sorting out our worldly goods - who better to lift our spirits than our beloved Gallic Patron Saint Mlle Dalida [who would have celebrated her 85th birthday on Thursday this week!] - and her inimitable disco update of Bésame Mucho..?

Dalida - Bésame Mucho

Merci Disco C'est Vendredi!

Dalida (born Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti, 17th January 1933 – 3rd May 1987)

Aller jusqu'au bout du reve

Groan. As the glorious weather continues, so we have to head to the stuffy office for another five days of unbridled joy.

On this Tacky Music Monday, I think we should let our Patron Saint of Gallic Glamour Dalida (and her safety gays) provide a shimmering respite from all such thoughts!

Dalida - Monday, Tuesday

Laissez-moi danser, laissez-moi
Laissez-moi danser chanter en liberte tout l'ete
Laissez-moi danser, laissez-moi
Aller jusqu'au bout du reve

Indeed. Have a good week, folks...

Ultra-Femme

It's that "bit in the middle" - yet still, we need a fix of something sparkly with which to start our week.

On this Tacky Music Monday, how about "The Queen of Fucking Everything", Mademoiselle Dalida, several coteries of her choicest safety gays and a remix montage of her hit Femme?

I should say so!

Dalida - Femme

Have a good week, dearies...

Krazy Kalimba

Groan. Another weekend is gone, and gloom descends...

Not so fast! Not while our Gallic Patron Saint Dalida (who would also have celebrated her birthday on Friday, alongside Eartha and Betty) is here to entertain us!

Here she is in a remarkably perplexing performance on this Tacky Music Monday - complete with a troupe of safety gays wearing full-face masks and a grinning semi-naked man with a horn - of a song that was probably more familiar as a Boney M track, it's Kalimba de Luna:

Dalida – Kalimba De Luna

Have a good week... (I'm off to see the marvellous Miss Mari Wilson tonight, singing her unique tribute to another Patron Saint Miss Dusty Springfield - so at least that is something to look forward to!)

Dalida (born Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti, 17th January 1933 – 3rd May 1987)

Je suis sentimentale et parfois femme fatale aussi

The weekend is over far too soon - again - and it's off to work we must go.

However, to raise our spirits on this Tacky Music Monday, I thought we'd celebrate a beloved diva that I have sadly neglected for too long - our Gallic Patron Saint here at Dolores Delargo Towers, Mademoiselle Dalida.

Dragging that heavy fur around through some kind of celestial forest fire, one begins to worry that the lady might be getting a little exhausted - then along come her sparkling, high-stepping safety gays to save the day!

Je Suis Toutes Les Femmes, indeed...

Dalida - Je Suis Toutes Les Femmes

Have a good week, peeps!

Dalida biography

We're gonna have a celebration

We've reached a milestone, dear reader.

Today, I celebrate my TWO THOUSANDTH post to this blog (in its various locations)!

It is FIVE YEARS to the day since I started these regular, often bizarre peregrinations. Since those misty oft-forgotten days when MySpace ruled the blogging/social networking world when I began, I have progressed through myriad subjects (serious or trivial), many fabulous evenings out have been lovingly reviewed, many divas and notable homosexuals celebrated, many bigots and bastards seen off; the weird contents of my head have been emptied time and again, mainly for my own pleasure (and hopefully, in some shape manner or form, the entertainment or enlightenment of whoever it is that actually reads this stuff) - and bizarrely I still enjoy it...

Tacky Music Mondays - my weekly celebration of the wonders and the razzmatazz of the showbiz world - became a "fixture" at an early stage in this meandering journey. Our adoration of sparkly divas of stage and screen is legendary here at Dolores Delargo Towers. Many in number are those we call our "patron saints" - Kylie, Madge, Dame Shirley, Liza, Betty White, Elaine Stritch, Miss Merman and their ilk. Camp, moi?

However in this particular Tacky Music Monday slot, one sparkling diva among all others reigns supreme. Her only serious rivals are the likes of Miss Raffaella Carra and Miss Mitzi Gaynor. Her camp credentials are timeless.

So to celebrate this noteworthy occasion, here she is, the crowned Queen of Kitsch - it's Dalida!!

Dalida - Rio do Brasil

Dalida - Gigi in Paradisco

Dalida - Femme

Cards and presents to the usual address...

About Dolores Delargo Towers

Monday, it's just another day

That's it, all over for another year...

We had far too much to eat and drink, lots of merriment, avoided Oxford Street, suffered the office parties, exchanged the prezzies and generally knackered ourselves out as always - and now we look forward to "round two" with the New Year celebrations next weekend.

Meanwhile, some traditions should never change. It may be Boxing Day, but it's also another Tacky Music Monday - and any excuse, I say, for a bit of Dalida!

Dalida - Monday, Tuesday (Laissez-moi danser)

Monday, Tuesday - fantabulosa every day!

Chantent au fond de mon cœur

Another fabulous weekend is over too soon, and not only are we back in work but we have wintry conditions to look forward to this week...

Hey ho. On this Tacky Music Monday let us turn our thoughts away from such tawdry matters, and enjoy the camp fabulosity of house favourite here at Dolores Delargo Towers, the effervescent Dalida (showing the young 'uns of Generation '78 how it should be done)!

Dalida - Génération 78

Enjoy!

Pink is it!

Following the most fantabulosa Pride weekend, there really is only one diva worthy of playing on this Tacky Music Monday - our constant source of costume inspiration, Mademoiselle Dalida!

Dalida - Comme disait Mistinguett

Pink in the extreme...

Le Printemps

Alistair and I had a lovely day in Kew Gardens yesterday - a truly glorious show of blossom.

Closer to home, the gardens of Dolores Delargo Towers have really come into their own, too! Anemones, wallflowers, tulips and fritillary are all in flower, our seedlings are ready to plant, and Tulip Ronaldo and Narcissus Thalia are looking particularly lovely together:



Ah, Spring is really in full swing!

So, to cure the depression of yet another new week in work, on this Tacky Music Monday I have chosen something particularly appropriate from one of our patron saints, Dalida, and Soleil d'un nouveau monde...

Dalida - Soleil d'un nouveau monde

Dalida on Wikipedia