Why do these weekends go by so quickly? Some stupid "timey-wimey stuff", I suppose.
Anyhoo, despite the bitter resentment, the aches and pains, and the general ennui that greets the alarm going off at the beginning of another work week - on this Tacky Music Monday, thank heavens we have the effervescent Lola Falana and the tight-trouser-wearer Adriano Celentano (and their funky gals and safety gays) to take our minds off the situation...
Have a good week, dear reader.
Oh, yes. Monday again!
Thankfully the weather this weekend wasn't a complete washout (for once). I managed to get a few jobs done out in the garden on Saturday - in some quite warm sunshine on occasions! - and had a good chill-out yesterday.
Unfortunately work rears its ugly head once more - but at least I am happier than usual, as there's just these five days to go and I am off again until after Easter!
On this Tacky Music Monday, have another mindfuck, dear reader, courtesy of an old Italian TV spectacular:
Apparently it's a song about a dead cat. Bugger only knows why...
Have a good week, peeps.
It's been a packed weekend, dear reader - the V&A's spectacular Diva exhibition on Saturday [more of that later, no doubt], followed by a very rainy day at Kew Gardens with Baby Steve and Houseboy Alex. I feel I really need another day off to recover...
But life determines otherwise, so here, to help ease us into the grind yet again on this Tacky Music Monday is a diva [in fact three of them] shamefully not featured in that exhibition, in a post I did @decadeago:
It has been ages since I featured that campest-of-camp grande signora of Italian entertainment, described in The Guardian as "a rather camp Latin mix of Mae West and Mistinguette", Miss Wanda Osiris.
But it is Tacky Music Monday, after all (and we always need cheering up at the start of a working week) - so here she is, in full "Norma Desmond" drag (and a bit croaky, but we always forgive an old broad many sins), topping a bill that includes two of our favourite Italian divas Mina Mazzini and Raffaella Carra, performing in a typically understated number, A Capocabana:
Facts about Wanda Osiris:
- Born Anna Menzio on 3rd June 1905 in Rome, she was 16 when she joined a vaudeville company, something that was almost unheard of during those strict times.
- Often nicknamed "La Wandissima", she went on to become one of Italy's most successful stage performers of the 1920s to the 1950s.
- Ground-breakingly flamboyant, she was credited with being the first to use chorus boys in her act. [She invented "safety gays"!!]
- Among her myriad revues was Carousel of Variety in which she appeared with (among others) Josephine Baker and Anna Magnani.
- She retired in the mid-'60s and after that only occasionally performed on television.
Wanda Osiris died on 11th November 1994, aged 89 - her obituary (in Italian, of course).
Have a good week, dear reader.
Pook! That weekend just flew by - now it's time for work once more...
As we gaze vacantly upon the prospect of another week of edifying delights, on this Tacky Music Monday there's always the bizarre world of good ol' Italian televsion "spectaculars" to get us fired up - inevitably featuring the adorably (ahem) talented Miss Heather Parisi and her safety gays!
Gobsmacking.
Have a good week, dear reader.
The start of week #2 of my leave, and the forecast is still utter shit - there is a glimmer of sunshine at this very moment, but all around, the rain-clouds are gathering (and will do for the foreseeable future). Sigh.
Never mind, eh? Who needs unwavering sunshine and settled weather when we can wallow in the utter ridiculousness of Italian television?
Put your hands together, dear reader, for the Queen of Tacky Music Monday Miss Heather Parisi!
I'm exhausted now!
Have a good week, peeps...
"John Coltrane's soprano, Adi Celantano
Bonar Colleano
Reasons to be Cheerful (Part 3)
One, two, three!"
Ever wondered who all those people were in that classic Ian Dury number?
Well, today's birthday boy is one of 'em!
Adriano Celentano [for it is he] is a true "national treasure" in Italy. The man widely credited with introducing rock'n'roll to that country in the 1950s, in his eight-decade career he has sold millions of records, appeared in numerous TV shows and movies, and worked with just about everybody who was anybody in the Italian entertainment world, from Federico Fellini to Mina Mazzini, and, of course - our Patron Saint of Neck-breaking Head Flicks herself, Raffaella Carrà!
And this, dear reader, is their finest hour - something I stumbled across many moons ago that is so gob-smacking, so brilliantly camp, it made me thankful for the invention of the internet...
Nobody has a clue what Prisencolinensinainciusol actually means, but who cares? I love it!
Adriano Celentano (born 6th January 1938)
The time has come, the Walrus said,
To talk of many things:
Of shoes, and ships, and sealing-wax,
Of cabbages and kings
And why the sea is boiling hot
And whether pigs have wings.
- Lewis Carroll "The Walrus and the Carpenter"
In what little daylight I actually saw on the weekend [I am a complete "night owl" and treasure my long lie-ins on Saturday and Sunday], the weather was lovely and mild with blue skies, perfect for a bit of pottering and basking. Now, like a flash, it's over again, and I am reaching for the bloody work laptop...
Never be despondent however, dear reader, when on this Tacky Music Monday there's the utter madness of Miss Heather Parisi [singing about sealing wax for some fuck-knows-why reason], lots of glitter and spandex, safety gays and bizarre almost-but-not-quite-right frenetic dancing to save the day!
Italian television spectaculars. They never fail to deliver, even if our jaws are now on the ground.
Have a good week...
Typical. Two days of hurricane-force winds and bleakness, and I (very reluctantly) wake up today at the start of another fun-filled week working from home to find glorious sunshine and the makings of a lovely day. I could scream...
As we grit our teeth for the next five days - on this Tacky Music Monday, who better than the utterly bizarre Renato Zero to cheer us up..?!
I think I might wear this outfit for my next Zoom meeting.
[More of the irrepressible Signor Zero here]
...let's cheer up the gloomy mood on this Tacky Music Monday with one of our favourite Italians, Miss Patty Pravo (and her gay sicurezza)!
She didn't want to do it, apparently. Neither did they.
