Another weekend has disappeared into the chilly fog, and the world awakes, dismayed, to a new week in work.
On this Tacky Music Monday, what better to cheer us up than some footage from the Italian version of Top of the Pops, featuring some specky Deirdre Barlow-lookey-likey, with backing singers the marvellous Le Sorelle Marinetti..?
And here are the estimable "laydeez" themselves:
Monday, 6 December 2010
Sunday, 5 December 2010
Stylish Sunday
This Sunday I think it is time for a little lesson in style, courtesy of our personal couturier here at Dolores Delargo Towers, M Jean-Paul Gaultier!
Saturday, 4 December 2010
The bearable lightness of being
We had a lovely time at the live recording of Friday Night is Music Night -Tribute to the Soaps last night!
This show is Radio 2's longest running programme, and is one of the last bastions of "light orchestral" music left on mainstream radio (now that Radio 3 has got rid of its Light Music Show). Last night was an especially great occasion, as we welcomed none other than Tony Hatch (a master of that particular musical genre, and composer of a myriad of songs for the likes of Petula Clark and Matt Munro) to conduct the BBC Concert Orchestra with arrangements of his great themes for such classic TV series as Emmerdale, Crossroads and Neighbours.
His spot, however, was merely the star turn of the evening's entertainment. The whole two hour show was dedicated to the creators of this gentle art, such as Eric Coates (who composed music for Mrs Dale's Diary, as well his more famous Desert Island Discs theme and Dambusters' March), Arthur Wood (who wrote the tune Barwick Green, better known as the theme from The Archers), and Robert Farnon (famous for writing the themes to The Prisoner and Colditz, as well as his medley of British TV themes they played last night, Sounds Familiar). We also had the themes from Doctors Kildare and Finlay, plus (of course) Eastenders.
Not wanting to seem too parochially British, the orchestra also tacked versions of the themes from Dallas and Dynasty, but it was the UK that provided the majority of the inspiration. We had songs performed by stars of British soaps, Richard Shelton (aka murderous Dr Forsythe in Emmerdale) and Wendi Peters (better known as "Cilla Battersby" from Corrie).
In a nod to the 50th anniversary of our nation's longest-running and possibly best-loved soap Coronation Street, we were impressed by a selection of songs from the new Corrie musical Rogues, Angels, Heroes & Fools. The talented young cast performed some pithy little numbers based upon some of the Street's most famous scenes, including Ena Sharples' first appearance in episode 1 back in 1960, through the troubles of Elsie Tanner's family and Annie Walker's reign in The Rovers, to (the hilarious) Stan and Hilda Ogden's second honeymoon, and up-to-date with Elsie singing from the grave to Becky McDonald.
But best of all was when "Curly Watts" (none other than Kevin Kennedy in person) came on to sing a very poignant little number about the time he bought a star and named it in honour of his bride-to-be Raquel - just before she told him she was not going to marry him after all... Sad, but brilliantly done!
Buy the album
In all, a superb evening of entertainment, and a great pick-me-up - all for free! As host Ken Bruce said, "It comes with the licence fee!"
We loved it!
Friday Night is Music Night
Just visit the BBC Shows website and choose the show you'd like to see. If seats are available, that's it, you're in! Simple.
Friday, 3 December 2010
Hatch and glitter
It's the weekend - and it's going to be a bloody cold one!
Never mind the weather, there are a couple of good reasons to be cheerful today.
We've got free tickets to a live recording of Radio 2's Friday Night is Music Night - Tribute to the Soaps tonight (featuring none other than Tony Hatch, composer of the themes for Crossroads, Neighbours, Emmerdale and Sons and Daughters) to look forward to, and I have dug out some fantabulosa cheesy footage of none other than tinfoil queen Amii Stewart (dancing with giant Italians by the looks of it)...
Thank Disco It's Friday!
Jealousy, indeed...
Thursday, 2 December 2010
"There's something wrong with the boy", my father decided. "He has too much imagination."
Jubblies
Daleks
Ronald Searle's "Back to Skool"
Jubilee bags
Diptheria
The John Bull printing kit
"Eat Me" dates
Jimmy Clitheroe
Sea Monkeys
Airfix
Professor Branestawm
Carry On Films
Chemistry sets
Spam
I braved the snow flurries to go to the second meeting of Islington's new LGBT reading group tonight. Despite there being only three of us there, we had a very interesting and animated discussion about our first book of the month - Paperboy by Christopher Fowler.
Coincidentally also the happy winner of the Green Carnation Prize for lesbian and gay literature that launched earlier this year, I found this a joyful read, full of pathos and humour, rocket ships, libraries, family secrets, Lois Lane comics, windswept car journeys to the seaside, Hammer films and general madness! All told from the perspective of the (much) younger Christopher, it has a quirkiness that is immediately familiar to anyone who has grown up out of austere provincial beginnings.
I may not have been a child of the Fifties, but my 60s upbringing in Wales was not far off what Mr Fowler so eloquently describes. The Dad whose DIY never quite gets finished, the crazy bohemian art teacher, the crazy dog, the frustrated intellectual Mum (Kath), Mum's friend Maureen, the sneaking into X-rated films, the absurd social conventions, the need to make your own entertainment, the lot!
Christopher, continually compiling lists (of words he has discovered, of book titles, of things in general) comes across as a bit of an eccentric, given his penchant for reading and writing in an otherwise book-free home.
"Where's Christopher?" Dad asked. "Under the table reading War and Peace to the tortoise," Kath replied.However his observations and general joie de vivre, despite every opportunity for life to get him down, are what makes Christopher's story so engrossing. Not quite fiction, not quite autobiography, but an honest and absorbing narrative on life, Paperboy fully deserves this prize - and in general our group agreed.
Some felt slightly sorry for the beleaguered protagonists, all of them apparently unhappy with their lot, but in my opinion childhood (if carefully examined) is often like that. Not all sunshine and Santa Claus, but an awful lot of whispering behind hands, simmering resentments and aching boredom as well...
In contrast, I found parts of this book laugh-out-loud funny (much to the consternation of fellow passengers on my bus no doubt) - not least the bitchy interaction between grandmother Mrs Fowler and Kath, Dad (Bill) with his permanently dismantled motorbikes, the anarchy that was Saturday morning children's cinema clubs and the eternally doomed attempts at juvenile romance by our hero Christopher (another of his lists is "Books vs Girls"). At times, it had a distinct tone and feel of the TV series Beautiful People that I so adored a few years back.
Asked in a recent interview why he decided not to explicitly mention his obviously burgeoning homosexuality in the book, Mr Fowler said:
It was a carefully considered decision for several reasons. First, I’ve read too many coming out stories and they don’t have that much variance. Second, my sexuality was accepted by my family and considered less important than, say, finding work and feeding us, so it was never an issue. Third, I wanted to go to an earlier point of our collective childhood, to understand the roots of ‘being different’, which is clearly threaded through every chapter.However he has planned a sequel, so there is obviously more scope for exploring the undercurrents that the "discerning" reader may already have worked out. Regardless, Paperboy is a bloody good read, and I highly recommend it!
Paperboy by Christopher Fowler is available from Foyles
So very, very good
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
"And you keep it just for fun, for a laugh, ha ha ha"
If anyone cared enough to try and unravel the lyrics of Peter Sarstedt's haunting classic Where Do You Go To My Lovely? .... they might hit upon a reference to "Zizi Jeanmaire":
You talk like Marlene Dietrich
And you dance like Zizi Jeanmaire
Your clothes are all made by Balmain
And there's diamonds and pearls in your hair
Who? I hear you ask.
Well, now, for your delectation - here is the lady herself. Good job she's not allergic to feathers!
Zizi Jeanmaire on Wikipedia
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