One last time might be forever

As this stifling heat continues [it hit 36.7C/98.1F in Somerset, and 33.5C/92F in London] - and having already taken a trip back to the "yardstick against which all heatwaves are compared", 1976 yesterday - I thought it would be interesting to compare what the summer was like a decade later, in 1986.

Although it's hardly gone down in the record books for its decent weather, it's interesting to note that forty years ago this week, we were indeed in the middle of a hot spell [albeit a shorter heatwave than we have now, with just three consecutive days over 30C/86F]. Also - in a spooky echo of today - in the news headlines was a war in Lebanon, a World Cup, Madonna, and a delusional right-wing US president destabilising the Middle East...

But what was at the top of our charts, I hear you ask?

This!

Wham! - The Edge of Heaven

The last ever single by Wham! before George officially went solo.

Four decades? Where do they go? Sniff.

Back to nature, it's human nature

Fancy a dip?

Phew. What a scorcher!

It's forecast to hit 29C/85F here in London today. Let's hope for a breeze, otherwise that's going to be quite a muggy experience.

As the countdown to Pride on Saturday continues, by happy coincidence it would have been dear George Michael's birthday today - and he has some salient advice for a sultry summer day...

George Michael - Outside

[I make no apologies for posting that again - I love it!]

We still miss you, Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou (25th June 1963 - 25th December 2016)

Baby, I'm your man, don't you know who I am?

The musical genius George Michael would have been 60 today. What a sad loss he was...

George Michael - Careless Whisper

Wham! - Club Tropicana

George Michael - Faith

Wham! - I'm Your Man

George Michael - Outside

We still miss you, Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou (25th June 1963 - 25th December 2016)

Swings so cool and sways so gently

Another outing for the black armbands today, with the news that the very lovely Astrud Gilberto has departed for Fabulon - accompanied by the gentle sounds of bossa nova guitars, no doubt.

Without further ado, let's celebrate the great lady's sublime talents...

Astrud Gilberto - Corcovado

Astrud Gilberto - Bim Bom

Astrud Gilberto - Historia del amor (Love Story)

Astrud Gilberto & George Michael - Desafinado

...and, of course, the song for which she is most remembered [one of the most-covered songs of all time, apparently]...

Astrud Gilberto and Stan Getz - The Girl From Ipanema

RIP, Astrud Gilberto (born Astrud Evangelina Weinert, 29th March 1940 – 5th June 2023)

That was just a lie!

Reach! For the stars...

Yesterday, regular reader Uptonking said: "I need me some disco ball fairy dust magic, dammit."

Who am I to argue?

Let's boogie our way into the weekend with this selection of fabulosity - and Thank Disco It's Friday!

Barbara Tucker and Giangi Cappai - You Are My Disco (One Night At Gay Village)

George Michael - Outside

Moby - Disco Lies (Freemasons Remix)

Ritchie Family - The Best Disco In Town

Have a great one, daaaahlings!

I'm Coming Out!

Yes, Indeed!

John-John, Paul and I are out on the razz tonight for a long-overdue visit to "London's peerless gay literary salon" Polari, once again raising the rafters at (a socially-distanced, table-service-only) Heaven nightclub!

My first evening out in seven months. I can't wait!

All together, now...

Wham! - The Edge of Heaven

Take me to the edge of heaven
Tell me that my soul's forgiven
Hide your baby's eyes and we can
We can, woo
Take me to the edge of heaven
One last time might be forever

Indeed.

I won't bore you with the details, baby

Today would have been the 56th birthday of Mr Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, better known, of course, as George Michael. All hail!

With the man himself at the forefront of our minds, and with Gay Pride less than two weeks away, let's have a double-bill of his more double entendre [=gay] songs, by way of a little tribute. And why not?

George Michael - Fastlove

George Michael - Outside

It all seems like yesterday. We still miss him.

You put the boom boom into my heart

It's back-to-work time, peeps. I am really not in the mood - in this glorious weather - to yank myself onto a sweaty bus to go to an equally sweaty office that is in perpetual gloom with all blinds drawn ["the sun shines on my screen". Ah, diddums.] And my Lottery numbers still haven't come up!

However, today would have been the 55th birthday of our dearly-departed and much-missed Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, better known as George Michael - so what better way, on this Tacky Music Monday, to raise our spirits for the week ahead than with one of the great man's tackiest moments? If this doesn't cheer you up, nothing will...

Wham! - Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

George Michael (25th June 1963 – 25th December 2016)

As around the sun the earth knows she's revolving

I am heartily sick of the sight of Sellotape and boxes. It's not until one starts packing stuff up (for our impending move) that it becomes obvious what hoarders we actually are.

Time, methinks, for a moment of calm - and, as it's the birthday of Mary J Bilge [pun intended] today, I think this one - probably the only song I can actually tolerate of hers (purely because the late, dearly departed George Michael is on it) - fits the bill very nicely...

George Michael and Mary J Blige - As

Now, if only the Demon Spawn upstairs would shut the fuck up (still crashing around and screaming at almost eleven o'clock!}, I would be completely de-stressed...

If you're gonna do it, do it right

I was somewhat premature when I declared our visit to Grandma's Party to be "our last timeslip moment of 2016" - for here we are again, crash-landed awkwardly in the last vestiges of the year when the mobile phone, Eastenders, the "hole" in the ozone layer, Calvin and Hobbes, the Amiga computer, Neighbours, the "AIDS test", the Discovery Channel and "Super Mario" all arrived; the year of Reagan and Gorbachev, of Mohamed Al-Fayed (who bought Harrods) and Madonna, of the "Unabomber" and Live Aid... 1985!

In the news thirty-one years ago this month: unemployment fell in the UK for the third month running; the new Nissan plant in Sunderland was completed, ready to open the following year; the Comic Relief charity was launched; in the ascendant were Microsoft Windows 1.0 (which was released for use on home computers in time for Xmas),the Abu Nidal terrorist group (which wreaked havoc in a series of murderous shootings at airports in Rome and Vienna) and Les Misérables (which made its West End début at the Palace Theatre - and is still in the West End today!), but it was sad news for gorilla conservation as naturalist Dian Fossey was found murdered in Rwanda. In our cinemas: Legend (with Tim Curry), Kiss of the Spider Woman and Back to the Future. On telly: a Wogan Xmas special with the cast of Dynasty, the 25th anniversary of Coronation Street, and Minder (on the Orient Express!).

In the final chart of December 1985: Shakin'-bloody-Stevens was at #1, and also in attendance in this Xmas lineup were Whitney "somebody slap her" Houston, Band Aid (for the second year running), Pet Shop Boys, Aled Jones, Dee C Lee, Phil "not dead yet" [why?] Collins, Queen Madge and Bruce Springsteen - but taking up two positions in the Top 10 was dear, sadly-missed, George Michael and Wham! At number 6 was a return visit for Last Christmas, but not long departed from the top spot was this one - I'm Your Man!

Wham! - I'm Your Man

Call me good
Call me bad
Call me anything you want to baby
But I know that you're sad
And I know I'll make you happy
With the one thing that you never had

Baby, I'm your man (don't you know that?)
Baby, I'm your man
You bet!
If you're gonna do it, do it right, right?
Do it with me

So good
You're divine
Want to take you, want to make you
But they tell me it's a crime!
Everybody knows where the good people go
But where we're going baby
Ain't no such word as no!

Baby, I'm your man (don't you know who I am?)
Baby, I'm your man
You bet!
If you're gonna do it, do it right, right?
Do it with me
Come on baby, (ooh, take me home
Please don't leave me here, to do it on my own)

First class information
I'll be your sexual inspiration
And with some stimulation
We can do it right

So why waste time
With the other guys?
When you can have mine
I ain't askin' for no sacrifice
Baby your friends do not need to know!
I've got a real nice place to go

Listen,
I don't need you to care
I don't need you to understand
All I want is for you to be there
And when I'm turned on
If you want me
I'm your man!

If you're gonna do it, do it right, right?
Do it with me

Now listen
If you're gonna do it, you know what I say?
If you're gonna do it don't throw it away
Don't throw it baby
Because
I'll be your boy, I'll be your man
I'll be the one who understands
I'll be your first, I'll be your last
I'll be the only one you ask
I'll be your friend, I'll be your toy
I'll be the one who brings you joy
I'll be your hope, I'll be your pearl
I'll take you halfway 'round the world!
I'll make you rich, I'll make you poor
Just don't use the door

Do it with me

Seems like yesterday.

More Wham! here, here, here, and - significantly - here.

OMFG

Can 2016 get any fucking worse..?



Now it's RIP George Michael, who died today aged 53.

Guilty feet have got no rhythm

Another timeslip moment, dear reader, and one very close to my heart.

This time thirty years ago, I was on a little weekend trip to Bath (Georgian idyll) with a female friend. Having drunk all afternoon (some things never change), we retired for a "siesta" before the evening jollities (separate rooms, needless to say). I had, however, spotted earlier that day at the bus station kiosk a certain type of magazine that had intrigued little closeted moi...

And so it came to pass that I sneaked out of that hotel and purchased my very first gay wank mag publication Vulcan - and (ahem) the rest is history!

The music playing - or rather, being sung very loudly by a raucous group of young ladies passing the hotel window - on that auspicious occasion?

George Michael's Careless Whisper (the Number 1 hit in the charts this week in 1984)...

George Michael - Careless Whisper

Ah, memories.

Do You Enjoy What You Do?

Bless 'im!

It's our favourite wayward sex addict George Michael's birthday today.

To continue our countdown to Gay Pride this weekend, here's one of his camper early moments with Wham! (and that hairdo):

Wham - Wham Rap

Hey everybody take a look at me,
I've got street credibility,
I may not have a job,
But I have a good time,
With the boys that I meet "down on the line"

Indeed.

George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, 25th June 1963)

And yes, I've been bad

Fabulous at 50 - and in the middle of our Gay Pride countdown here at Dolores Delargo Towers, too - it's everyone's favourite driving instructor Mr Georgios Kyriacos Panagiòtou, better known (of course) as George Michael!

From lowly beginnings among the Cypriot restaurants of Finchley, North London, to multi-million-selling singer and Very Rich Man Indeed, our Georgios is rarely away from the headlines (unfortunately lately for all the wrong reasons). However, he is responsible for many, many significant songs in my life, for which I love him - Careless Whisper, A Different Corner, Young Guns, Faith, and, er, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go... and this one.

What else could I play, in this week of all weeks, but Mr Michael's most defiantly gay coming-out number, Outside?

George Michael - Outside

I think I'm done with the sofa
I think I'm done with the hall
I think I'm done with the kitchen table, baby

Let's go outside (let's go outside) in the sunshine
I know you want to, but you can't say yeah
Let's go outside in the moonshine
Take me to the places that I love best

So my angel, she says, don't you worry
'bout the things they're saying, yeah
Got no friends in high places and the game that you gave away
wasn't worth playing

Let's go outside in the sunshine
I know you want to, but you can't say yeah
Let's go outside in the meantime
Take me to the places that I love best

And yes, I've been bad
Doctor, won't you do with me what you can
You see I think about it all the time, twenty-four seven
(Twenty- four, twenty-four seven)

You say you want it, you got it
I never really said it before
There's nothing here, but flesh and bone
There's nothing more, nothing more
There's nothing more, oh, oh, oh

Back to nature, just human nature
Getting on back to -

I think I'm done with the sofa
I think I'm done with the hall
I think I'm done with the kitchen table, baby

Let's go outside in the sunshine
I know you want to, but you can't say yeah
Let's go outside in the moonshine
Take me to the places that I love best

And yes, I've been bad
Doctor, won't you do with me what you can
you see I think about it all the time
I'd service the community but I already have you see
I never really said it before

There's nothing here, but flesh and bone
There's nothing more, nothing more
There's nothing more
Let's go outside
Dancing on the D-train, baby

(You want it, you got it)
When the moon is high
(You want it, you got it)
And the grass is jumpin'
Come on, just keep on funkin'
(I'm dancing on the D-train)
Keep on funkin', just keep on funkin'
(I'm dancing on the D-train)

Happy, birthday, George!

George Michael official website

Goodbye to all that

We avowed sport-phobes still had to watch the Olympics Closing Ceremony - it was a must...



Certainly it was a bit of a mixed bag, but nonetheless this was an excuse for a party - perhaps one in which the stereo system is a bit knackered (the sound levels were atrocious!), maybe the sort of party where some unwelcome gatecrashers make a bit of a mess on your favourite carpet, but a party nonetheless!





Best bits? Stomp!; Fatboy Slim's octopus; the Spice Girls and their motorised zimmer frames; Annie Lennox and the magnificent gothic pirates; Eric Idle with roller-skating nuns, morris dancers and Welsh ladies with beards; Take That looking sexier than One Direction; Waterloo Sunset (despite Ray Davies's voice cracking up); Pet Shop Boys on futuristic tuk-tuks; the tributes to John Lennon and Freddie Mercury; the fireworks; Running Up That Hill; Darcey Bussell as the flying phoenix; the fact that most of the acts performed on moving vehicles; the sheer joy on the faces of the athletes themselves.





Could have done without? Jessie bloody J, Teeny Tiny Tears Tempah and the other one; Russell Brand's smirk; Muse; George Michael's new song; the pointless Only Fools and Horses reference; Ed bloody Sheeran; the fashion show that fizzled out; the long-drawn-out ushering of the athletes into the arena with repeats of the music we'd just heard.

"Ouch" bits? Annie's too-quiet microphone; the shock of seeing Liam Gallagher looking so haggard; Suggs singing flat; the Who singing "hope I die before I get old" when their average age is 72; Timothy Spall doing a really bad Churchill impersonation; Boris Johnson dancing.

WTF bits? The whole Brazilian section. [And who the fuck are Elbow anyway?]

Disappointments? No David Bowie or Kate Bush as rumoured; nothing from the punk era.

Blessed reliefs? No Elton John, Cliff Richard, Phil Collins or Paul McCartney.





Despite some bad reviews (to be fair, the closing ceremony could never stand up against the magnificent opening one), I think it was quite brilliant. We thoroughly enjoyed it! I think, if it achieved anything at all, the ceremony demonstrated in its eccentric mixture of diverse age-groups, cultures and styles of music and art, that Britain is a truly unique nation - and for that I am eternally grateful!

Watch the whole thing on BBC iPlayer (if it is available in your country, of course)

Highlights on The Guardian website

You put the boom boom into my heart

Oh my heavens! Shirlie Holliman (of Wham! and Pepsi and Shirlie fame) celebrated her 50th birthday last week...

To mark this terrifying fact, here are the girls together on their biggest hit Heartache:

Pepsi and Shirlie - Heartache

Facts about Shirlie:

• Since 1988 she has been married to Spandau Ballet's Martin Kemp [lucky bitch!].
• Pepsi and Shirlie provided backing vocals on Geri Halliwell's Number 1 hit Bag It Up.
• Before Pepsi, Shirlie's partner in the Wham! backing vocal section was Dee C. Lee, who went on to marry Paul Weller and have a solo singing career.

Pepsi and Shirlie are stepping back into the musical spotlight as part of the Stock, Aitken and Waterman Hit Factory Live concert in Hyde Park on 11th July 2012.

I hope they don't creak.

Das Musik

Time for another of my semi-regular forays into some of the newer music that I have picked up on lately...

Let's open proceedings with dear, eccentric, Kate Bush with her new single Wild Man from her forthcoming album 50 Words for Snow. Very strange indeed...

Kate Bush - Wild Man

We always have time for a bit of "Gay Pirate Action" here at Dolores Delargo Towers, and this fits the bill just nicely. It's Aussie gaysters Garçon Garçon with their boppy little single Stay In Touch:

Garçon Garçon - Stay In Touch

Our icon Miss Amanda Lear is back again, with another new album I Don't Like Disco, and from it this single La Bete et la Belle. Now that's what I call style...

Amanda Lear - La Bête et la Belle

Also making a welcome return - thanks to Gaydar Radio, of all places - is Mr George Michael! As far as I was aware, the last time I heard about Georgie he was on tour with a full orchestra and splitting up with his boyfriend. When did he find the time to become a full-on club hitster? Here is DJ Marc Vedo's superb remix of Every Other Lover In The World (a favourite of Boy George, apparently; he plays it at all his DJ sets):

George Michael ft DJ Marc Vedo - Every Other Lover In The World

To finish on a jolly note, it's the wonderfully weird Mr Martin Solveig, teamed once more with the mad Canadians Dragonette plus Tokyo's finest 100-strong girly group Idoling!!! [sic] Here's his fabulous new single Big In Japan...

Martin Solveig & Dragonette feat Idoling!!! - Big In Japan

Happy listening!

Strap you up

Nostalgia time!

On this day twenty five years ago, Edge of Heaven, the last single by Wham! was at Number One in the charts. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, dear friends...

Wham! (last ever appearance on Top of the Pops) - Edge of Heaven

Wham! on Wikipedia

Serendipity and Wham!

I studiously ignored the fact that earlier this week was something called "International Coming Out Day" - which to me sounds like (yawn) yet another American construct and and excuse for the greetings card industry to go into overdrive...

However, while skimming through the hits of the 80s (as is my wont every now and then) I rediscovered this song. And on realising that it was at number one this week in 1984 I suddenly realised that this, of all weeks, is the 26th anniversary of that tremulous moment when I did indeed "come out" - much to the astonishment (not!) of friends, fellow journalism students and (least of all) family!

Ah, serendipity...

Wham! - Freedom

Ah, Freedom.

Shakin’ bloody Stevens!

The UK Charts have (officially) become a laughing stock this week. As we oldies remember, you used to have to sell a couple of million seven-inchers in Woolies every week to stay at the top, and many thousands to even enter the top 40... Nowadays it takes fifty chavs and a dog to buy it.

This week, due to the effects of the relaxation of the law which means that every download - no matter how weird - counts towards the so-called Top 40, we have a host of rubbish from yesteryear hitting the chart just because people are downloading them (at 50p a pop) for their parties! Just take a look at it and weep...

CHRISTMAS "CLASSICS" IN TOP 40
8 Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You
12 Pogues & Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale of New York
23 Wham! - Last Christmas
25 Andy Williams - It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
27 Wizzard - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day
33 Shakin' Stevens - Merry Christmas Everyone
37 Slade - Merry Xmas Everybody
38 Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas?

Does anyone really think that Leona Lewis deserves to be in the chart, let alone Mariah (warbling t**t) Carey, Andy Williams, and bloody Shakin' bloody Stevens??

No wonder EMI and HMV are going down the pan...