Divine, Sisters and a Shark

Drag queen "Coleslaw" models a Divine mini-dress

Another snippets post today, dear reader:

• Auction news: Among a selection of lots featuring homoerotic art, photos, and historic porn for sale last week at the After Dark: Gay Art and Culture online auction, a selection of frocks worn by Divine went for a measly $1800. If I had known they were going to be that cheap, I might have bid..!
• Scissor Sisters news:

Scissor Sisters News - Dec 20th 2024 (ft Billy Eichner, Girls Aloud, Dita Von Teese & Amanda Lepore)

• Aristocratic autograph-hunting news: More than 220 letters collected by Baron Edmond de Rothschild - including Queen Elizabeth I, Admiral Lord Nelson, Lord Byron, Benjamin Franklin, Victor Hugo, Peter Paul Rubens and Madame de Pompadour - have just been discovered at Waddesdon Manor, the former Rothschild home, now owned by the National Trust.
• Bureaucracy madness news. With added shark: A man whose late father's house has a 25-foot model of a shark sticking out of its roof is battling a move to revoke his right to advertise it as an Airbnb after a neighbour complained. Imagine staying there?
• And finally: Wham!'s Last Christmas may be the UK's Xmas Number 1 again - having only hit the top slot for the first time last year, 39 years after it was first released - but there are so many other festive songs out there that don't get a look-in, like this one! Postmodern Jukebox made a brilliant choice, in my opinion:

Postmodern Jukebox ft. Sunny Holiday - Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer

And the weather? "I'm dreaming of a damp, grey, drizzly Christmas, just like the ones we always know."

On whom those truths do rest

Anyone shedding any tears for the departure of Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby under a cloud? Not me.

It's another "snippets" post today, dear reader...

• Somebody hire a proof-reader news: The web address of a porn site was inadvertently(?) printed on the packaging of the Xmas "little girl must-have" Wicked dolls!
• Wobbly sets and under-rehearsed actors news: It is 60 years since the very first episode of long-running, and very successful while it lasted, British soap opera Crossroads was broadcast. Such was its iconic "national treasure" status, it - and its star Noele Gordon aka "Meg Richardson" - was the subject of the fabulous Nolly, starring Helena Bonham-Carter.
• Astronomical double-entendre news: There's a new probe into Uranus. Apparently there could be hidden life there...
• Scissor Sisters news:

Scissor Sisters News - Nov 12th 2024 (ft Billy Eichner, Jessie Ware, Countess Luann & Amanda Lepore)

• DIY downfall news: Farewell, that iconic home of tools, fittings, paint, gardening and flat-pack furniture Homebase, which has called in the administrators.
• And finally: RIP, the brilliant and commanding Timothy West.

William Wordsworth - Ode: Intimations of Immortality; Timothy West reads the ninth stanza

And the weather? Cold and dry - and a lot better than Andalusia at the moment!

Dead People, Scissors, Raccoons and a Taylor Swift cake

I'm off to John-John's this afternoon, to "binge-watch" the whole of Marvel's Agatha All Along series (among other geeky things, no doubt!) - so it's another snippets post today, dear reader:

• Technology news: What do Northern Rail in the UK and Our Patron Saint of Rhinestones Dolly Parton have in common? They still use fax machines for vital communications!
• Shake it Off news: A life-sized cake of Taylor Swift had to be withdrawn from an international baking exhibition after it began to fall apart in transit before it could be displayed.

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• Happy Dia de los Muertos: It's the culmination of the traditional Mexican "Day of the Dead" festivities today.
• Flat-pack fast-food news: Purveyor of bafflingly-named cheap furniture IKEA has opened its first high street standalone restaurant.
• Born to be wild news: Forget capybaras, there are raccoons on the loose on the Isle of Wight...
• Property news: If you happen to have £1.6m to spare, you could purchase a whole street of houses, a shop and a post office in Gloucestershire!
• And finally - welcome return news: Jake Shears, Baby Daddy and Del Marquis have announced that - in honour of the (gulp) twentieth anniversary of their eponymous debut album - Scissor Sisters are re-forming (albeit without our darling Ana Matronic) for a grand tour of the UK and Ireland, with support act Alison Goldfrapp! Yay!! As their email stated: "Time passes, things change, but the songs from this album have endured and we can't wait to play them for you alongside all the other favorites from set lists through the years. Besides, Jake's Botox injections won't pay for themselves, and holograms were going to be way too expensive."

Scissor Sisters News - October 31st, 2024 (ft. Billy Eichner, Elton John & Amanda Lepore)

Faboo!

And the weather? Mild, but autumn's in the air...

I'm a Scissor Sister and so are you

Indeed I am!

Scissor Sisters News: Year End Special (ft. Chris Colfer, Katy Perry, Dave Grohl & Adam Lambert)

Witches and bitches

I'm sitting here drinking my hundredth cup of tea and smoking my thousandth fag - the sign of having had a blinder of a night at John-John's birthday party last night. Suitably themed for Hallowe'en weekend, everyone interpreted "black'n'bling" in their own inimitable way, and we made a most spectacular crowd at the fabulously atmospheric front bar of the George Inn in Southwark, which John had hired for the occasion.

Lots of drinking, dancing and delirium later, we ended up taking over the upstairs function room at the Dog House on Kennington Cross, dancing on tables and singing our heart out (to Oasis, of all things, as I recall - oo-er). We even won the prize for best Hallowe'en costumes, with a bottle of champers from the landlady Camilla. A fab night indeed!

Being Hallowe'en, weird creatures seemed to be everywhere - from the aggressive drunk who tried to steal Alistair's hat to the bloodily made-up punter at the Dog House - but nothing quite prepared us for the surprise of getting home at 3am to find some strange woman curled up asleep on our doorstep. I soon shifted her off the premises, despite her hurling insults at me... An odd end to a crazy evening. Great fun nonetheless!

As it is actually Hallowe'en today, here's a little message from Elvira:

Elvira's Scissor Sisters Hallowe'en Special

Whoooo.

Hi! I'm Lester Zismore...

...and I know about the gingerbread man!

Scissor Sisters News, Sept 2010: Katy Perry watches Adam Lambert make out with Jake Shears

Any Which Way?

Indeed...

Scissor Sisters News - August 1st, 2010 (ft. Jane Fonda, Kylie Minogue & Juliette Lewis)