But what kind of holiday is this?*

The weekend's almost upon us, the sun is blazing (it's 29C/85F, and likely to get even hotter next week!)...

...and it would have been our Patron Saint of Terrifying Head-Flicks Signorina Raffaella Carrà's birthday today!

Sufficient excuse (if any were needed) to revisit this - as La Carrà and her impossibly-tight-trousered safety gays show us how to party. Thank Disco Raffaella It's Friday!

Raffaella Carrà - Santo Santo (Ma che vacanza é)

Have a great weekend, dear reader...

[Ma che vacanza é = "But what kind of holiday is this?" in Italian]

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FOOTNOTE:

I'm taking bets on how long today's post will take to arrive in the Blogger Reading List... Wednesday's and yesterday's both arrived together on the dot at 9am - that's more than 36 hours for the former, and 19 hours for the latter! Someone needs a good kick up the arse at Google HQ.

The one with the vagina lasers

Oh, wow..!! Our Glorious Leader Madonna has done it again - after all, why do a three-minute pop video for a single when you can do an entire mini-movie, with clips from several tracks, to tease the arrival of your new album?!

Featuring an all-star cast that includes Sabrina Carpenter, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kate Moss, Gwendoline Christie, Richard E. Grant, Julia Garner, Shygirl, Arca, Odessa A’zion, Archie Madekwe, Debi Mazar, Madonna’s daughter Lourdes Leon and Chelsea footballers Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro, this trailer for her much anticipated Confessions II is a cinematic work of epic proportions - and I love it!

Madonna - Confessions II - The Film

I can't wait for the album itself to arrive on 3rd July - just in time for Pride in London!

Only you, you get me acting crazy like I do

Another busy - and very hot - week is almost over, and we need to get our party gear on sharpish, for (unforgivably), we missed Our Princess Kylie's birthday yesterday!

I'll send a belated gift. She won't mind. She's busy basking in her new-found adoration courtesy of that Netflix mini-series [which we'll probably never see unless it hits terrestrial TV at any time in the future]...

Obviously we'll let the lady herself get the party started in the most pertinent manner, with this guaranteed-to-get-you-moving classic - and Thank Disco It's Friday!

Kylie Minogue - What Do I Have To Do?

Many happy returns, Kylie Ann Minogue (born 28th May 1968).

Have a great weekend, dear reader!

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STOP PRESS:

I thought it was too good to be true: over the past few days, all my posts have been arriving in the Blogger Reading List as normal. I thought it was (finally) fixed. But, no! This post has taken about twenty-four hours to arrive! I hate the fucking Google gnomes. They obviously aren't Kylie fans.

I can feel something inside me say

Oh, thank gawd for that - it's almost over bar the screaming!

Yet again, my first week back after a fortnight away has been torturous. Hey ho, just a few hours to go - and we have a sunny Bank Holiday weekend to look forward to [for a change].

Time indeed for a(nother) party - and, since it was Mama Cher's (gulp) 80th birthday this week, who better to kick off proceedings, as only she knows how?

Thank Disco - and Cher - It's Friday!

Cher - Believe

Enjoy the long weekend, dear reader, whatever you get up to!

Come on, meet me on the dancefloor

Another sunny day, another day in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers, trying to drown out the demon children next door and their sodding karaoke machine with blasts of Sounds of the Seventies while pottering and making things lovely...

Meanwhile, Queen Madge continues her latest comeback - she appeared on stage with Sabrina Carpenter at Coachella Festival last night, and the full-length version of I Feel So Free has been released!

I love it!

Madonna - I Feel So Free

Thoughts?

Nessuno, ti giuro, nessuno!

Oh dear. It's that time again. Having lost an hour on the weekend thanks to the clocks going forward, it feels even worse this morning trying to adjust to the alarm going off again...

Never mind, eh? Another recent birthday [she's 86 - gulp!] we missed was that of the utterly magnificent Mina, our "Patron Saint of Screamers" [several of whose biggest hits were translated into English and became hits for other singers, including our very own Shirley Bassey's Never, Never, Never] - so what better way to wake us up on a Tacky Music Monday than this faboo number?

Mina - Nessuno

Oh those groovy hepcats!

Have a good week, dear reader.

Hungover?

Wheeee!

Whew! Nearly there...

Despite the fact the weather is not looking particularly promising for the weekend, it is still a weekend - and time to party!

We happened to miss the birthday yesterday of our "Patron Saint of Hogging-the Spotlight-in-Sparkly-Gowns", Miss Diana Ross, so who better to lead the celebrations - in the company of a troupe of very odd [some slightly phallic, I thought] creatures, indeed? Thank Disco It's Friday!

Diana Ross - Love Hangover [The Muppet Show]

Have a great one, folks!

A case of "nobody knows why she's not yet a dame" (and Oklahoma!)

Secrets & Lies, Topsy-Turvy, Cranford, Poirot, Harlots, Phantom Thread, The Crown, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, myriad theatre productions - she's done it all. One of our most admired actresses Lesley Manville is 70 years old today! Gulp.

She's a great chat show guest, too:

The Graham Norton Show: Judi Dench Made Lesley Manville Laugh So Hard She Wet Herself

Many happy returns, Lesley Ann Manville (born 12th March 1956)

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Miss Manville happens to share her day with a number of assorted "names" - notably our Patron Saint Liza Minnelli [and you can read my tribute to her today over at the Dolores Delargo Towers Museum of Camp] - including Edward Albee, Agathe von Trapp (yes - of those Von Trapps), Googie Withers, Jack Kerouac, Graham Coxon of Blur, Thomas Arne (of Rule, Britannia fame), James Taylor, Al Jarreau, the decadent poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, Steve Harris of Iron Maiden, Dame Virginia Bottomley, David Mellor, Dame Karen Bradley, and - ahem - Amy Winehouse's ex Pete Doherty...

...and this classy gentleman, born 105 years ago today! Altogether, now, "Don't throw pork pies at me...":

Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones - People Will Say We're In Love

Albert Gordon MacRae (12th March 1921 – 24th January 1986)

Milestones...

It was the - gulp! - 80th birthday yesterday of one of our fave actresses here at Dolores Delargo Towers, Miss Brenda Blethyn, star of Vera, Little Voice, Pride & Prejudice and the magnificent Secrets and Lies:

Secrets & Lies trailer

Today, sharing the date with another varied selection of "names", including Nina Simone, Rue McClanahan, W. H. Auden, Alan Rickman, Léo Delibes, Sam Peckinpah, Kelsey Grammer, William Baldwin, Anaïs Nin, Douglas Bader, Anthony Daniels ("C-3PO"), Charlotte Church (who is 40), David Geffen, Andrés Segovia, Ranking Roger of The Beat, Jean-Jacques Burnel of The Stranglers, Christopher Atkins, James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers, Mark McManus (Taggart), and - erm - Robert Mugabe...

...it's the turn of another favourite actress (and friend-of-the-gays) to blow out [gulp, again] 80 candles on her cake - the multi-talented Tyne Daly, star of everything from Cagney and Lacey to Terrence McNally's Master Class [which we saw back in 2012]; she has won six Grammys, two Tonys, a Golden Globe, and has been inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

Here, the lady sings a number that could well be my "theme song":

Tyne Daly and Harriet Harris - Nice

I hate nice
I hate lies
It's befriending a bitch you despise
When you just want to punch her

Indeed.

¡Empieza la cuenta atrás para nuestras vacaciones!

Just a few more days...

Yep. Monday again. Work again. It's still miserable, grey and dank out there, with more rain on the horizon (particularly tomorrow).

However, the countdown has begun - just five days to go, and we're off to Spain on Saturday! Can't wait...

Meanwhile, on this Tacky Music Monday, here's an old fave - our Patron Saint of Histrionics Señorita Rocío Jurado!

As I said last time I posted it:

With a plethora of safety gays and girls who look like drag queens [I'm sure I spotted a youthful Dame Hilda Bracket in there somewhere], bizarre costume changes, piss-poor miming and a duettist who looks like Ron Burgundy sans moustache - this is just perfect!

It remains so:

Rocio Jurado - medley

Have a good week, dear reader.

Tumble out of bed and I stumble to the kitchen

• "God tells us not to judge one another, no matter what anyone's sexual preferences are or if they're black, brown or purple. And if someone doesn't believe what I believe, tough shit."


• "If something is bagging, sagging or dragging, I'll tuck it, suck it or pluck it."


• "It costs a lot to look this cheap."


• "If I hadn't been a woman, I'd be a drag queen for sure. I like all that flair and I'd be dressing up in them high heels and putting on the big hair. I'd be like Ru Paul."


• "The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain."


• "I look just like the girls next door... if you happen to live next door to an amusement park!"


• "I'm no natural beauty. If I'm gonna have any looks at all, I'm gonna have to create them. Thanks to Botox and fillers, as well as the work that I've already had, my face pretty much maintains itself."


• "I'm old enough and cranky enough now that if someone tried to tell me what to do, I'd tell them where to put it."

Dolly Parton, Goddess.

Our Patron Saint of Rhinestones, the ever-adorable Miss Dolly Parton is - gulp - eighty years old today!

On this Tacky Music Monday - as we adjust ourselves once again to the fact that, yes, we do have to go to work in order to pay the bills - there is only one song in the great lady's repertoire that fits the bill, really...

Dolly Parton - 9 to 5

Many happy returns, Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946)!

Have a good week, dear reader.

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!

I wouldn't say I invented tacky, but I definitely brought it to its present high popularity

• "Don't I look fabulous? I'm a triumph of science and fiction."
• "Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world."
• "I have my standards. They're low, but I have them."
• "I wouldn't say I invented tacky, but I definitely brought it to its present high popularity."
• "Trust your talent. You don't have to make a whore of yourself to get ahead. You really don't."
• "Get the trash off the street and back on the stage where it belongs."
• "Underneath all this drag, I'm really a librarian, you know."
• "Thank God for the gays. I don't know what would have happened but I know what did happen. Good for them and good for me."
• "I'm working my way toward divinity."
• "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke!"

Lordy! Our Patron Saint of Boobs, The Divine Miss M herself, Bette Midler is 80 years old today!

To mark the auspicious occasion, on this Tacky Music Monday, how about a triple-bill wake-up call?

That'll do nicely...

Bette Midler - Fiesta In Rio

Bette Midler - Pretty Legs And Great Big Knockers

And, finally - Ms Midler's alter-ego, the character who inspired my entire blog!

Delores DeLago and the DeLago Sisters - I (We) Will Survive (Bette Midler: Art or Bust)

Unbeatable.

Many happy returns, Bette Midler (born 1st December 1945)

The good thing is in your past

Grrrr. Back to the grind it is, then...

Still coming down to earth after the feast for the senses that was Carmina Burana at the Royal Albert Hall yesterday [more on that later, no doubt], I am most definitely not in the mood for another five days of mundanity...

...on this Tacky Music Monday, only Mama Cher can save us now!

Cher feat. The Osmonds - Stevie Wonder Medley

Thought for the day: did the Osmonds actually have penises? Can't see one.

Have a good week, dear reader.

Of Klimt, fish sperm, postmodernism, porn, Eurovision, panto and Miss Hawn

Gustav Klimt's portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, that sold for $236.4m (£180m) this week!

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

• Mutilation news: You thought Pete Burns and his lip-fillers allegedly made of embryo foreskins was disgusting? The latest sicko plastic surgery trend is fish sperm extract injections! Ewww...

[click any pic to embiggen]

• Postmodernist extravaganza news: The fabulous Southwark Underground Station [above] - opened in 1999, but with a hugely Art Deco look and feel - has received Grade II-listed status from the government, following advice from Historic England. It deserves it!
• Oops! news: A ferry company had to apologise after children were left “screaming” when a pornographic film was played on one of its ships from France to Sussex.
• Was Deadpool right? news: Canada is allegedly in talks about participation in the Eurovision Song Contest!

Deadpool 2 - Eur Missing a Country

• Oh, yes they did! news: Renowned thesp and national treasure Sir Ian "Serena" McKellen and former Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn are both appearing in the panto Wicked Witches (an "updated version" of the Wizard of Oz) at The Pleasance Theatre in Islington! I always said Corbyn was a joke...
• And finally: The very lovely Goldie Hawn blew out 80 candles on her cake yesterday! She is one of the few remaining true stars - and we love her!

Goldie Hawn - Star! (The Dean Martin Show)

And the weather? After the fiercely cold winds earlier this week, now it's pissing-down again. Yuk.

Aha we aha we

After a lovely - but tiring - overnight visit to Portsmouth for Mother's 90th birthday party yesterday (back home late), it was straight back to work today for another day of unbridled joy. Dammit. To top it all, I have to do a presentation at a webinar tomorrow morning at 9.30am!

Here's an appropriate number, methinks...

Ofra Haza - Wish Me Luck

What will be tomorrow?
Aha we aha we
Happiness or sorrow?
Aha we aha we
Who will open up my door?
Aha we aha we
Inshalla

Wish me luck
Wish me luck
Wish me luck
Wish me luck

Ah ah ah...

Indeed.

[NB: It would have been the birthday of the very lovely Ofra Haza (for it is she; a house fave) yesterday.]

Baby, Baby

Lordy.

Her Serene Highness Princess Reuss, Countess of Plauen - better known to you and I as Frida Lyngstad from Abba is 80 years old today!

Her phenomenal success as one-quarter of one of the world's most successful bands of all time, as well as her rocky love life with Benny (prior to becoming a solo singer in the 1980s and a Princess, to boot), is well-documented.

Less well-known, perhaps, is the fact she was a major star in her own right long before the foursome ever recorded together. Here, having just won the Swedish New Faces, is Frida's first television appearance:

Frida - En Ledig Dag (Weekend in Portofino)

Here she is in 1970, with a rather good rendition of one of gayest of gay anthems by The Master, Noel Coward:

Anni-Frid Lyngstadt - Mad About The Boy

And, speaking of "gay", here's her hilarious version of Baby Love - with two of the campest backing singer/dancers ever to grace a stage! I never tire of this clip:

Frida - Baby Love

Many happy returns, Your Highness! Anni-Frid Synni Lyngstad (born 15th November 1945).

But what's the use, you've cooked my goose

Mea culpa, mea culpa...

Only nine months too late - I only just realised the shameful fact that I missed Our Patron Saint of Whiskey Elaine Stritch's centenary in February!

We adored the great dame so much, too, for her legendary performance as "Joanne" in Sondheim's Company, her chutzpah and her uncompromising personality, and even her appearances on British telly in Two's Company (with Donald Sinden) - and thankfully we got to see her one woman show Elaine Stritch at Liberty at The Old Vic way back in 2002.

The obsession with all things "Stritchy" really began for me, however, when the CD version of her 1956 album Stritch [that The Madam had on vinyl for years] was released in 1995. I bought a copy in HMV in around 1999/2000 - and we played it to death!

Here, for your delectation, dear reader, is the whole thing, track-by-track:

Elaine Stritch - Are You Having Any Fun?

Elaine Stritch - You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me

Elaine Stritch - That's The Beginning Of The End

Elaine Stritch - And The Angels Sing

Elaine Stritch - Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Elaine Stritch - That's My Boy

Elaine Stritch - I Don't Want To Walk Without You

Elaine Stritch - Too Many Rings Around Rosie

Elaine Stritch - The Object Of My Affection

Elaine Stritch - Easy Street

Elaine Stritch - If

Elaine Stritch - There's A Lull In My Life

Elaine Stritch - You Took Advantage Of Me

Fan-bloody-tastic!

All hail.

When stout-hearted men can stick together man to man

Yep. Back to the old routine...

Another enjoyable weekend has gone boom! - and it's back to the office time again... Hey ho.

Today, alongside fellow celebrants Dame Anna Wintour, John Barry, Adam Ant, Monica Vitti, Charles Bronson, Roseanne Barr, Lord Kenneth Baker, Dolph Lundgren, Jeremy Brett, Vincenzo Bellini, Robert Miles, Ben Fogle, Ian Wright, Viscount David Linley (2nd Earl of Snowdon), Dylan Moran, Gary Olsen and Benvenuto Cellini...

...it's Lulu's birthday!

So, to cheer us up, and to give us a bit of a wake-up call on this Tacky Music Monday, how about the great lady herself with this "safety-gay-heavy" number?

Lulu - Stout-Hearted Men

Have a good week, dear reader.

Me siento como una niña

"Ahora no soy tan niña, pero me siento como una niña."
["I'm not a little girl, but I feel like one."]

Last week, it was all about Celia Cruz. Today, we celebrate the 95th birthday (yesterday) of another beloved Cuban diva Omara Portuondo. The main difference? Señora Portuondo is (happily) still with us!

Although her career as one of Cuba's most popular singers stretches back to the very early 1950s, it's probably for her work with the fabled Buena Vista Social Club for which she is best known - although her solo album from back in 2000 is a cherished part of our extensive music library here at Dolores Delargo Towers.

Here are some examples of her sublime talent, four your delectation:

Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo - Quizas

Omara Portuondo - El Hombre Que Yo Amé [The Man I Love]

Omara Portuondo - La Sitiera

I could listen to her forever.

¡Feliz cumpleaños, Omara Portuondo Peláez! (born 29th October 1930)

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STOP PRESS:

I just discovered that the great lady has a new album out, featuring duets and collaborations with artists such as Angélique Kidjo... I wonder if HMV will be stocking that one on its shelves? If so, I'm off to buy it!