Bim, Bam, Bum, indeed

Back to the office it is, then...

...only today's "birthday boy" Xavier Cugat can save us now!

Xavier Cugat and Lina Romay - Bim, Bam, Bum [Bathing Beauty (Escuela de Sirenas), 1944]

Wish me luck, dear reader.

London calling...

Another snippets post today, dear reader...

• Sports news: The Paris Olympics 2024 is looming, with the Opening Ceremony coming up on Friday. Will Slime Dion be the headline act? The world yawns. Cue a gratuitous photo of Tom Daley (and Team GB) again...

[click to embiggen, or even better, right-click and click "open in new tab"]

• Fashion news: The simply faboo Dame Zandra Rhodes has published her autobiography Iconic: My Life in Fashion in 50 Objects. A must-have, methinks!
• Nature imitates art: In a strange twist - following last year's bizarre cult comedy horror film Cocaine Bear - real-life "Cocaine Sharks" have been discovered off the coast of Brazil. Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water...
• Sexy men in tight-fitting outfits news: John-John and I are off to see Deadpool and Wolverine on its opening night tomorrow - and an exceptionally-talented baker in Walsall has made a life-sized cake of the duo by way of a celebration!
• And finally: Happy Tequila Day! I can't stand the stuff myself, but it inspired a couple of great songs:

Xavier Cugat - Tequila

Jax Jones, Martin Solveig, RAYE, Europa - Tequila

And now, the weather: Muggy.

---

STOP PRESS:

Team GB diver Jack Laugher is getting very excited indeed about the games to come, it seems!

And That's That

Aaaaaargggghh!

I didn't win the Euromillions (again!), so it's back to work for the first time in eleven days, and I am not ready for this.

Only Xavier Cugat (born on New Year's Day) can save us now..!

Xavier Cugat - Yo Te Amo Mucho - And That's That

Indeed.

Have a good week, dear reader. I won't.

Malaga, Malaga, Malaga

We may knit our own beach-wear this year

It's the opening day of a new year, and a new decade - but some things never change here at Dolores Delargo Towers. We do love to start as we mean to go on, and - with exactly a month to go till we jet off to Spain again for Madam Arcati's birthday - a bit of Latina loveliness is always welcome!

As today happens to be the 120th anniversary of the birth of one of our cherished jolly Latin bandleaders Xavier Cugat, what better way to celebrate with his own tribute to the fair city of Malaga?

Xavier Cugat and Abbe Lane - La Malagueña

Happy New Year, dear reader!

Xavier Cugat (1st January 1900 – 27th October 1990)

It's all about the bangles...

2017 is here, and (of course) it's raining and miserable - which is just what one does not need when shaking off a hangover...

However, let's start as we mean to go on, my dears! There are some things that will always lift the spirits, and one of them is today's birthday boy Señor Xavier Cugat! Here he is in glorious Technicolour (in one of those Esther Williams Hollywood extravaganzas Neptunes Daughter). It's Jungle Rhumba!

Xavier Cugat - Jungle Rhumba

Just what the doctor ordered.

Xavier Cugat (born Francisco d'Asís Javier Cugat Mingall de Bru i Deulofeu, 1st January 1900 – 27th October 1990)

Abbe days are here again

Another day, another dollar... It's back to work time again, and on this damp dark morning that's the very last place I want to be.

On this Tacky Music Monday, what we all need is a touch of the exotic - and yesterday's birthday girl Abbe Lane (together with then hubby Xavier Cugat), in glorious lurid Technicolour, is just the person to provide it!

Abbe Lane - Me lo dijo Adela/Susana y yo

Have a good week, folks - it's only another six days till the days start getting longer again!

Abbe Lane (born Abigail Francine Lassman, 14th December 1932)

Never lovelier

Still in recovery mode after last night's champagne-fuelled party to see in the New Year, it seems only fitting to start 2013 as we mean to go on, in the company of Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth and today's birthday boy Xavier Cugat - it's The Shorty George from You Were Never Lovelier:

Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth, Xavier Cugat - The Shorty George

If my legs weren't already aching from dancing, I'd be practising the moves...

Xavier Cugat (1st January 1900 – 27th October 1990)

Cookin' with gas...

It's a New Year, that began with a party and fireworks, and we have high hopes that 2012 will provide us with lots of change (in a good way, of course).

And here at Dolores Delargo Towers, we begin the year with our first Tacky Music Monday!

Yesterday would have been the 112th birthday of the magnificent Xavier Cugat, so what better way to start but as we mean to go on - with a triple bill of his wonderfully uplifting music?

Here he is featuring the effervescent Lina Romay:

Xavier Cugat in Bathing Beauty (Escuela de Sirenas)

Here with our "patron saint" Carmen Miranda:

Xavier Cugat and Carmen Miranda - Cooking With Gas

And to finish, here he provides the music for his wife #4, Miss Abbe Lane:

Xavier Cugat and Abbe Lane - Malagueña Salerosa / Latin Twist

Fantabulosa!

Xavier Cugat biography on AllMusic

Hey, Mambo!

Twenty years ago, at the grand old age of 90 the world lost one of the last of the great bandleaders, Puerto Rico's finest - Xavier Cugat. Credited with bringing Latin music to the airwaves in America (and thence the rest of the previously unconquered World), he married five times - and his widow is none other than house favourite here at Dolores Delargo Towers, Charo!

On this anniversary, I think we should celebrate with some of his uplifting music...

Xavier Cugat - She's a Bombshell from Brooklyn

And some of hers...

Charo's show at the Riviera 2009