Somebody told me that his name was Bill

Monday again...

Typical, isn't it? We in the UK had searing 32C heat on Friday. All weekend while I was home, it's been grim - cold, wet and miserable. Today, it's sunny once more - just in time to go back to the grind...

Hey ho, on with the celebrations.

Sharing her day with a raft of not-otherwise-connected "names" such as the glorious (and dearly missed) Olympia Dukakis, Errol Flynn, Mickie Most, Anne Murray, Lionel Richie, Nicole Kidman, Martin Landau, Brian Wilson [80 today], Wendy Craig, Jacques Offenbach, John Taylor of Duran Duran, Lillian Hellman, John Goodman, Stephen Frears, and - erm - Jean-Marie Le Pen...

...it's the 75th birthday today of The Crystals long-term lead singer Miss Dolores "La La" Brooks!

On this Tacky Music Monday, we have a whole cavalcade of Divas joining forces to pay tribute to the lady's greatest hit with the band - Martha Reeves, Lesley Gore, Mary Wells, Shirley Alston, Freda Payne, Brenda Lee, Ronnie Spector, Belinda Carlisle and Grace Slick!

Legendary Ladies of Rock & Roll - Da Do Ron Ron

That's what I call a line-up..!

Have a good week, dear reader.

Sodom and Gomorrah, I see you're back in town

Now here's a blast-from-the-past, alright!

Miss Grace Slick - erstwhile lead singer of Jeffersons Airplane and Starship, and all-round "oddball" - nicknamed "The Acid Queen" or "The Chrome Nun" in her day, celebrates her 75th birthday today.

To mark this milestone in the life of the lady who, at the height of her success was legendary for her alcohol and chemical consumption (she famously had to be dragged off stage on more than one occasion; once on live TV), it is to her late 70s début solo single - one of my personal faves - Dreams [nothing to do with Fleetwood Mac] we turn (again) for today's jolly. Miss Slick was obviously a huge influence on a generation of female artists yet to come...

Grace Slick - Dreams

Oh I, I believe in magic and I believe in dreams
Until I heard the thunder rumble
I saw the mountains crumble
Then came the circus so I followed its parade
With all the fancy lion-tamers, high-wire fiery flamers
Ravers of every kind
I saw those high-stepping sexy witches
Sons of satin, son-of-bitches
All were there, in my dreams
All in my dreams

Sodom and Gomorrah, I see you're back in town
And though you build a wall around you
The multitude still found you
Just like the circus to start with a parade
Oh but a parade of the fancy lion-tamers, high-wire fiery flamers
Ravers of every kind
With all those high-stepping sexy witches
Sons of satin, son-of-bitches
All were there, in my dreams
All in my dreams

I can see the whole world is just a circus
And I can tell that the circus
Why, it's just hell
And then I heard a drummer rolling
I found my seats been stolen
Then a spotlight hit me going wild in centre ring
For all you fancy lion-tamers, high-wire fiery flamers
Ravers of every kind
For all you high-stepping sexy witches
Sons of satin, son-of-bitches
All were there, in my dreams
All in my dreams
My dreams ooh my dreams

Said I, I believe in magic and I believe in dreams
I said I, I believe in magic and I, I believe in dreams
I believe in dreams
I said I, I believe in magic and I, I believe in dreams
Oh I believe in dreams
And magic, magical dreams
The better to sing that I believe in dreams
Magical dreams
I believe in dreams

Well I, I believe in magic and I still believe in dreams

Three words: "Fab. U. Lous!"

Grace Slick (née Wing, born 30th October 1939)

Sons of satin, sons of bitches

Happy 72nd birthday today to the magnificently kooky Grace Slick!

The archetypal "emancipated woman" of the late 60s hippy era, contemporary of Janis Joplin and lead singer with Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship, Miss Slick is largely unrecognised nowadays for her contribution to the subsequent prominence of sassy women in rock music. She surely provided an influence on the Patti Smiths, Debbie Harrys and Chrissie Hindes of later generations!

Her solo effort of 1980, Dreams, was a typically strange affair (and pre-dated Starship's later reinvention as purveyors of power ballads - and with it their biggest commercial success in their long history), and the single of the same name is well worth rediscovering on this Hallowe'en weekend:

Grace Slick - Dreams

Fancy lion tamers, high-wire fiery flamers
Ravers of every kind
I saw those high-stepping sexy witches
Sons of satin, sons of bitches - all were there in my dreams
all in my dreams

Grace Slick biography