Gonna find out how many tears ten dollars can buy

This weekend, BBC4 has been paying a very welcome tribute to possibly the greatest British female vocalist ever, Miss Dusty Springfield.

Here is the great lady's final TV appearance (on Jools Holland's show) - with none other than Alison Moyet and Sinead O'Connor as her backing vocalists, to remind us of what an immense loss she was to music.

It's a brilliant performance - Where's A Woman To Go?:

Dusty Springfield - Where Is A Woman To Go?

Maybe he was wrong, maybe I wasn't right
Whatever the reason I'm on my own tonight
He's gone his way and I've gone mine
Well I bet you hear that story all the time

Well, sometimes your friends ain't always available
To pick you up when you're feelin' down, down, down, oh
My daddy would die if he knew his baby
Was seekin' refuge in a little ol' bar across town

So tell me where is a woman to go?
When she's feelin' low and all she wants to do
Is feel a little better
Tell me where is a woman to go?
When she's feelin' low and all she wants to do
Is feel a little better

Hey, bartender, honey gimme change for a ten-dollar bill
Bring it back as a stack of quarters, if you will
'Cause I'm gonna play every song on your jukebox that makes me cry
Gonna find out how many tears ten dollars can buy, oh
Gonna find out how many tears ten dollars can buy

Tell me where is a woman to go?
When she's feelin' low and all she wants to do
Is feel a little better
Tell me where is a woman to go?
When she's feelin' low and all she wants to do
Is feel a little better.

RIP Dusty (16th April 1939 – 2nd March 1999)

Read my previous tributes to Dusty Springfield

Música pop

It is really about time I shared with you once again, dear reader, some of the weird and wonderful musical discoveries I have made over the last - ahem! - few weeks. The last one I did was in January, after all...

First up, our pop Princess Kylie has had rather a busy time of it over the past year, what with 2012 being her Silver Jubilee'n'all. Concert tours, special appearances, The Abbey Road Sessions, she even starred in a lesbian horror movie Jack & Diane! And to celebrate the coming of the new year, she not only changed management - to RocNation (sigh), home of such favourites (not) as Rihanna, Timbaland and Solange - but has released one of the songs from the aforesaid movie. Here's the very unusual Whistle...

Kylie feat múm - Whistle

To cheer us all up, Boy George protegés The Supreme Fabulettes' latest single is the camp-as-tits A Drag Queen Is A Cowboy's Best Friend:

The Supreme Fabulettes - A Drag Queen Is A Cowboy's Best Friend

Speaking of stalwarts of the "alternative" gay clubbing scene in London, Shinky Shonky impresario Boogaloo Stu has a new single out, a typically retro-sounding track - Magic Soul. It gets under your skin after a while...

Boogaloo Stu - Magic Soul

I have absolutely no idea what the next song is all about as its description is in Hebrew, but it appears to be some kind of promotion for an Israeli restaurant. I don't give a toss, dears, it is from the same producers who brought us Uriel Yekutiel, it has pretty boys and good music, and that's worth something!

אייל גולן קורא לך 3 - איי לאב יו לנצח

I will always have a soft spot for the outrageous Iberian pseudo-Goths Fangoria. Once again I have no clue what they are on about, but they certainly appear to have thrown everything but the kitchen sink into their new single and video:

Fangoria - Dramas y Comedias

Apparently the strangely-named Blitzkids mvt entered this song in the contest to decide Germany's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, only to lose to bloody Cascada. Shame, it's quite a good song:

Blitzkids mvt - Heart on the Line

From their forthcoming album of the same name, here's the saviours of electro music Hurts with a taster video for the track Exile. The most recent single is actually Miracle, but I think that is a bit too Coldplay for my liking. I may get used to it eventually. This, on the other hand is excellent...

Hurts - Exile

Known-in-cool-circles Mr John Grant is one of those "poetic" singer-songwriters whose music has never attracted me. Until now, that is, when - on the recommendation of The Guardian no less - I heard the "No Ceremony Remix" of his track in collaboration with Biggi Veira from Icelandic dance pioneers Gus Gus, Pale Green Ghosts. It's rather fab, actually!



Canadian band Young Galaxy have a new single Pretty Boy, which sounds remarkably like Yellow Magic Orchestra. And that is no bad thing:

Young Galaxy - Pretty Boy

With eternal thanks to "AyeM8y" at Mean Dirty Pirate blog for the tip-off, here is the remarkable Miss Guy - lead singer of a band called the Toilet Boys, apparently - and Take It Off with a rather - erm - interesting video: [2023 UPDATE: Gone from the interwebs - here's the track on Soundcloud.]

We welcome once more with open arms the utterly brilliant Gossip - featuring one of our contemporary heroines Beth Ditto - and their newest release Get a Job!

Gossip - Get a Job

And finally, with the gayest video on the planet, here's the lovely Del Marquis' first effort away from the Scissor Sisters (since they announced their hopefully temporary hiatus last year) - its Del & Xavier with Tickle Your Fancy!

Del & Xavier - Tickle your Fancy

Enjoy! And let me know what you think...

Totty of the Day #2

Mr Daniel Wroughton Craig blows out 45 candles on his cake today.

"Just purse your lips... and blow!"

Mmmmmm.

Totty of the Day

Mr Jon Bon Jovi, who celebrates his (51st) birthday today.

I am no great fan of his voice nor his music, but...

Yes.

I would!

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant Hapus!

It is the national day for my homeland of Wales, St David's Day.

Who better to celebrate it with than not one, but two, of its greatest vocal sons, Bryn Terfel and the ever-lovely Tom Jones, reminiscing about The Green Green Grass of Home?

Tom Jones and Bryn Terfel - Green Green Grass Of Home

And here, with something rather interesting down that Hot Leg, Jones the Trousers gives it some willy welly in a battle of the belters with Miss Tina Turner...

St David's Day

Twenty-five, thirty-five

At last, we head to the end of what has been quite a hectic week - both work and the culmination of events that concluded LGBT History Month - it's time to let our hair (or our braids) well and truly down!

So let us indulge ourselves in a fittingly funky way, in the company of the lovely Odyssey, and their absolute classic Native New Yorker - Thank Disco It's Friday, indeed!!

Odyssey - Native New Yorker

Runnin' pretty, New York City girl
Twenty-five, thirty-five
Hello baby, New York City girl

You grew up riding the subways running with people
Up in Harlem, down on Broadway
You're no tramp but you're no lady talkin' that street talk
You're the heart and soul of New York City

And love, love is just a passing word
It's the thought you had in a taxi cab
That got left on the curb
When he dropped you off at East 83rd

Oh oh oh (Oh oh oh)
You're a native New Yorker
You should know the score by now
You're a native New Yorker
New York girl, ooh ooh ooh

Music plays, everyone's dancing closer and closer
Making friends and finding lovers
There you are lost in the shadows searching for someone
To set you free from New York City

And, whoa, where did all those yesterdays go?
When you still believed
Love could really be like a Broadway show
You are the star, win the applause

Oh oh oh (Oh oh oh)
You're a native New Yorker
No one opens the door
For a native New Yorker

(Runnin' pretty, New York City girl)
Ooh ooh ooh
Native, native, native New Yorker

Where did all those yesterdays go?
When you still believed
Love could really be like a Broadway show
You are the star

You're a native New Yorker
You should know the score by now
You're a native New Yorker

Odyssey

An enlightened environment

"Educating through the curriculum is key to creating an enlightened environment in which our teachers and students can thrive and be who they want to be without fear of discrimination." Elly Barnes.

And so it ended...

As Co-chairs of Islington Council Staff LGBT Forum, David Dickey and I felt like proud dads yesterday (Thursday 28th February) as we mingled with the assembled teachers, schoolchildren, campaigners and representatives of one of the UK's top football clubs, Arsenal (no actual footballers in attendance, more's the pity).

The occasion? The Educate and Celebrate Showcase (organised and set up by local teacher Elly Barnes, who was rated No.1 on the Independent’s "Pink List" of the unsung heroes and heroines who make life as a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender person better), which also happened to be the closing event of Camden and Islington LGBT History Month.





In the imposing surroundings of Arsenal's multi-million-pound Emirates Stadium (even I, no sports fan, was impressed!), we were there not just to celebrate the end of a wonderful month's events promoting knowledge of our proud history and experience, but also to witness a ground-breaking debate on homo- and trans-phobia in a home of that last bastion of "feral masculinity", football. The club is among very few in the UK that have signed up to challenge discrimination on the grounds of sexuality in any meaningful way, and indeed, some of their fans are impressed:

"Watching Arsenal play at the Emirates Stadium last Saturday afternoon there were rainbows on the screens and the words 'Arsenal for Everyone supports LGBT History Month.' In the week that Robbie Rogers came out as gay I guess it was good to see. It prompted some wags in the crowd to then chant, 'we're not homophobic, we're not homophobic, we're not homophobic anymoooore, we're not homophobic anymoooore.' Ha ha."

Arsenal supports Camden & Islington LGBT History Month

The rainbow banner on the electronic display at Arsenal's match

We were there for the debate, but there was a lot more to the day's events than that. A "Football vs Homophobia" match had been played earlier in the day, and even politicos were there to show their support.


Elly Barnes and Yvette Cooper

Yvette Cooper, Shadow Home Secretary, said: “We want as many schools as possible to tackle LGBT equality. We want every student to be proud of who they are.”

Taking part in the discussion itself [see photo at top of page] were trans activist Delia Johnston, spokeman for the LGBT Arsenal supporters club "The Gay Gooners" Stuart Selby, Chair of Camden LGBT Forum Nigel Harris (whose magical string-pulling talents had made the month such a massive success), Pride Sports UK Executive Director Lou Englefield, and Gay Games supporter and president of Phoenix FC gay football club Leviathen Hendricks.

It was a lively debate, covering topics and challenges ranging from why there are no out-gay footballers in any league in the UK, what it means to be a transgender person in sport, challenging bigotry in all its forms - from the school playground to the football terraces - and why "name-calling" is not as harmless as it could be perceived.



What impressed me most, however, were the contributions of the kids in the audience, and how au fait they were about the issues. Some (older ones) may have come to terms with their own identity, but even the younger ones seemed to have a wise head beyond their years. It was a well-constructed and useful session, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.


"I smell children..."

Unfortunately having been double-booked, I could not stay for the rest of the evening's entertainment - which included music, readings and drama performances - but I am assured that everyone found it a rewarding experience, as pupils from schools in some of our multi-cultural inner-city (often perceived as "difficult") areas all performed under a rainbow banner!

School governor Henry Stewart writes:

"Year 7 students explained how they had studied Alan Turing in ICT. A year 10 student sang “Dead End Justice” in tribute to the 70s band The Runaways. She explained how lyrics of the band, whose two female singers had a lesbian relationship, had helped her in working out her bisexual identity. Another student moved those around me to tears with the song she wrote herself about dealing with hate."

He also makes a wise comment on the staging of the event itself:

"That the event took place at the Emirates Stadium felt a significant step, at a time when there are no openly gay professional footballers. Samir Singh from Arsenal in the Community talked of how proud they were to be hosting the LGBT celebration and indeed the club’s web site promotes its support for LGBT month.

A huge congratulations to Elly Barnes... and to all the staff and students involved for their great work..."

Lou Englefield, speaking after the event, said she was encouraged by how young people received the campaign against homophobia in football.

“The kids totally took on board the message that we were trying to spread,” she said. “It’s all about beginning this kind of conversation and them taking that message home. The more we talk about it the more normal it will become.”

Indeed.



Roll on next year's LGBT History Month!