You look like you're lots of fun

Our Cymbidium orchid is putting on another stunning show this year!

I've had another busy weekend in the garden, despite the chilly wind - two overgrown pots of pink phlox dug out, split up and the remaining bits planted up into one big pot, and a similar job done on the Salvia × jamensis "Nachtvlinder" (this time, one pot split between two new ones), plus a bit more pottering and pruning besides. Much more yet to do, but I think that'll suffice for one weekend!

Meanwhile - you know when you're getting old when you realise...

... that this faboo choon was actually Number One in our charts 40 years ago this week! Gulp.

Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)

And, to think - just last week we were stood in awe before one of the frock coats he wore around the time of this video...

Now I'm really gonna burst your bubble

“There’s something a bit peculiar in every one of us, and I think that when you reflect everybody’s secret fantasy they get a bit worried and try to hide you in the cupboard, really.”

“[People] always want to know – am I gay, bi, trans or what? I say, forget all that. There's got to be a completely different terminology and I'm not aware if it's been invented yet. I'm just Pete.”

How very remiss of me - I almost missed the fact that the "Freak Unique" himself, Pete Burns would have celebrated his 65th birthday this week!

Let's make up for that, shall we?

Dead Or Alive - In Too Deep

I could offer you a thousand things
But with a lot of them, you wouldn't bother
I could buy you ten real diamond rings
But I'm sure that you would want another
I could take a plane and I could fly away
I could steal a car and I could drive away

You have brought me a lot of things
But the main one that you've brought was trouble
You put your finger to the trigger and you shot my heart
Well, now I'm really gonna burst your bubble
I could take a plane and I could fly away
I could steal a car and I could drive away

But I'm in too deep, there's no getting out of it
In too deep, no doubt about it
In too deep, there's no getting out of it
In too deep, no doubt about it

I could call you a lot of things
I could say there'll never be another
Every time the situation feels like it is close
I've got to turn around and say don't bother
I could take a plane and I could fly away
I could steal a car and I could drive away

But I'm in too deep, there's no getting out of it
In too deep, no doubt about it
In too deep, there's no getting out of it
In too deep, no doubt about it
In too deep (There's no getting out of it)
In too deep (No doubt about it)
In too deep (There's no getting out of it)
In too deep (No doubt about it)

We still miss him.

Peter Jozzeppi "Pete" Burns (5th August 1959 – 23rd October 2016)

That's the way...

We're off on our travels - only as far as Essex, admittedly; no passports needed - for the RHS Hyde Hall Flower Show with Baby Steve and Houseboy Alex. The weather looks like it will be fine and dry, and all's well with the world.

It would also have been the birthday today of that most amazing "triumph of art over nature", Mr Pete Burns of Dead or Alive - so let's have an appropriate send-off with their very first hit! Lord knows what KC made of this...

Dead or Alive - That's The Way (I Like It)

When you take me by the hand
Tell me I'm your loving man
When you give me all your love
And do it the very best you can

Mummy, I'm scared.

You got lots of energy, yeah

Despite the dreary overcast weather that (inevitably) has marked the start of our bank holiday weekend, we've knackered ourselves out, slogging in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers.

In between times, we've been taking a little timeslip moment here and there; and here, from thirty years ago this week is a gem that was just making its first entrance in the UK charts - the very marvellous Dead or Alive and Lover Come Back to Me...

Dead or Alive - Lover Come Back To Me

I've been lyin' here so lonely
I've been wishin' you would telephone me
Oh, I just can't lose this desperation
Won't you bring around a new sensation?
Baby, you got lots of energy, yeah
Gonna give that energy to me, yeah
Tell you, "We could have a real good time, yeah"
Baby, I can make you mine, oh mine, yeah
Oh yeah, oh yeah

Lover, come back to me
You don't have to knock on my door
No
Lover, come back to me
Kick it right down
Kick it right down
Kick it right down
Right down

Hoo aaa
Hoo aaa

Baby, all I feel is desperation
And it's not a very nice sensation
I've been wishin' you would telephone me
I've been lyin' here, oh oh, so lonely
Baby, we could have a real good time, yeah
Tell you, "I can make you mine, all mine, yeah"
Baby, you got lots of energy, yeah
Baby, give that energy to me, yeah
Oh yeah, oh yeah

Lover, come back to me
You don't have to knock on my door
No
Lover, come back to me
Kick it right down
Kick it right down
Kick it right down
Right down

Indeed.

Anything you asked me to

They're all getting older, dears...

Pete Burns is 55 years old today! Admittedly, you'd never tell as there's not much left of his face from when he was born.

I have (of course) paid tribute to the weirdest man in pop here before, so let us instead revel in one of his earlier works with Dead or Alive. This brings back happy memories...

Dead or Alive - I'd Do Anything

I would do just about anything
I would do just about anything

Well I used to have what I would call
A very limited vocabulary
And the only two words
I could wrap my tongue around
Were I and me
But now I feel so clever
That you would swear I ate a dictionary
And the new word that I've added
Brings up my words to three
What am I gonna do
Word number three is you

I would do anything, anything
I would do anything, anything
Anything to be with you
Anything you asked me to
I would do anything, anything
Just about anything, anything
Anything to be with you
Anything you asked me to

Oh the meaning of my feelings
It is not written in no dictionary
And I've tried to find the meaning
In a phrase book or two
Well there are some things you can only say
If you have a healthy body
So come on, baby, let's talk together
For a day or two
You know what I will do
For a day or two
You know what I will do
You know what I need from you

I would do anything, anything
I would do anything, anything
Anything to be with you
Anything you asked me to
I would do anything, anything
Just about anything, anything
Anything to be with you
Anything you asked me to

Won't you come back, won't you run back
Won't come back and play with me?
Won't you run back, won't you run back
Won't you run back and stay with me?

Pete Burns (born 5th August 1959)

All I know is that to me, you look like you're havin' fun

In the middle of our countdown to Amsterdam, I just had to wish many happy returns to the singular genius that is Pete Burns who celebrates(?) his 50th birthday today! Heavens... So to mark this significant moment, here are just a few of my personal favourites from his tumultuous career:

I went wild when I first heard this song way back in 1984 (when I was still slowly edging my way out of the closet). Having known of Pete from his early days with his blood red contact lenses as part of "Nightmares in Wax" (thanks to the saintly John Peel), this was a true departure into the world of dance music. Twisted dance music, naturally. It suited my "coming-out" summer perfectly...

Dead or Alive - That's The Way (I Like It)

Evidently, however, I was not alone in getting excited about the fantabulosa image and sound that Mr Burns and the boys had created. A collaboration with Stock Aitken & Waterman was inevitable in the mid-1980s - and this fantastic song launched the notorious megastar we love today upon an unsuspecting world (and on the gay club dancefloor of Cardiff), thank goodness!

Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)

Much more recently (after a lot of changes in Pete's eccentric life, including superstardom in Japan and a slow decline into the tabloid gossip columns), there came this collaboration with another pair of musical talents who are always ahead of the game. Another of my favourites!

Pete Burns and Pet Shop Boys - Jack'n'Jill Party

Happy birthday to a true icon.

Memories, like the corners of my mind

My MySpace friend DJDaddums set an interesting challenge this morning. Apparently there is a new Radio 2 show, presented by the gorgeous Dermot O'Leary, called Time Capsules coming to the airwaves, and it sounds like a trendier version of Desert Island Discs. Guests are invited to submit ten songs, in the following strict categories: “Family Favourite”, “Teenage Kicks”, “Tearjerker (aka “our song")”, “Ultimate Time Capsule Song”, “Funeral Song”, and FIVE free choices.

So, rising to the challenge, here's mine...

Family Favourite - Given that my closest family member is my sister, I would have to feature this classic number we used to dance to at the "Bowie/Roxy" nights at "Lasers" club in Newport way back in the early 1980s. The Cure still make a regular re-appearance at every house party, and Hils and I still dance to it - albeit a bit more wheezily these days...

The Cure - The Lovecats

Teenage Kicks - Ah, this one is a given. My obsession with Blondie as a young closet queen is well-documented, and this song above all others was a personal obsession of mine when I was a teenager...

Blondie - Picture This

Tearjerker - A much more difficult one, this - for many of the songs I would class as "tearjerkers" (Wild is the Wind, Somewhere (A Place For Us)) stem from times way before I met Madam Acarti. However, this song (on the sand) is indeed one of "ours":

Davis Gaines - Song in the Sand (La Cage Aux Folles)

Free choice #1 - Now we're really into indulgence... First up, one of the best Disco songs ever recorded. RIP, Sylvester:

Sylvester - You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)

Free choice #2 - From one of the most influential gay pop stars of the late 20th century Mr Tom Robinson, here's a most beautifully crafted song that has had a lasting influence on my life...

Tom Robinson - War Baby

Free choice #3 - Speaking of huge influences, here's my theme tune Queen Bitch by the greatest of all artists, ever, Mr David Bowie:

David Bowie - Queen Bitch

Free choice #4 - I really don't need any excuse at all to include this work of genius by Neneh Cherry and Youssou N'Dour on the list!

Youssou N'Dor and Neneh Cherry - Seven Seconds

Free choice #5 - Now here's a close-run contender for the "Family Favourite" entry, from one of my all-time favourite artists - an absolute classic. Just thinking of the first time I saw Marc singing Tainted Love on Top Of The Pops sends shivers down my spine...

Soft Cell - Tainted Love

Ultimate Time Capsule Song - Difficult, very difficult - there are so many of them! However, since You Spin Me Round was one of the very earliest records that sums up my coming out, and the "Tunnel" club in Cardiff in 1984,here's the top memory-jerker in my collection. I can actually smell the poppers as we speak...

Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Round

And, finally, the Funeral Song - Now I was toying with the idea of Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead!, or more seriously Pet Shop Boys' Being Boring. But in the end, there is only one winner in this category - it is, after all, a cabaret, old chum!

Liza Minnelli - Cabaret

Now it's over to you...