Two weeks away from the Spring equinox, and the weather shows no sign of improving. It's grey and mizzly and showery out there at the mo, and there are dire warnings that more frost and snow are on the way by Thursday. Sigh.
We can always rely in such circumstances on the faboo Postmodern Jukebox to bring a smile to our face...
Love them!
Yes indeed, it is time once more to wake up screaming, as a lovely weekend has fizzled away to be replaced by another joyous week of bollocks. Sigh.
Never mind, eh? News of the sad death of Robert Haimer [who? I hear you ask] gives me yet another excuse (as if any were needed) on this Tacky Music Monday to play one of his finest works, by way of a wake-up call!
Facts:
RIP, Robert Haimer (2nd March 1954 – 4th March 2023). I do hope they play this at your send-off.
Have a good week, dear reader.
We had such a (much-needed) laugh last night at one of our fave venues Wilton's Music Hall! Mr Tom Carradine (for it is he) is a master of the old-time knees-up round the piano, and indeed we went to one of his Cockney Sing-a-longs at Wilton's in 2019.
This time, he (in collaboration with that musical genius and our longtime friend Marcus Reeves, who we bumped into after the show) has come up with a new show format - the Great British Comedy Songbook. Featuring not just Music Hall numbers, but also a range of funny and often bizarre numbers across the decades; everything from George Formby and Gracie Fields, Noel Coward and Flanders and Swann, through ditties made famous by Tommy Steele, Bernard Cribbins and Victoria Wood. There were sequences featuring comedy songs about bananas, animals and pastiche versions of other famous songs from the shows.
We sang till our throats were hoarse, laughed till our ribs hurt, and generally had a whale of a time!
The show we saw was the first of its format so no footage online for that yet, but here's a sampler of Mr Carradine at Wilton's, to give you an idea of the atmosphere:
...and here, two songs he did do last night (both great favourites here at Dolores Delargo Towers):
Superb!
We have a centenary to celebrate today - that of one of Britain's greatest eccentrics, the late, great "national treasure" and proud monocle-wearer Sir Patrick Moore!
To that end, here's a little revisit to my post on the occasion of his death eleven years ago:
Sir Patrick wrote more than 60 books on astronomy, and from April 1957 he presented all bar one of the monthly Sky at Night programmes, which have run ever since. For this feat he earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest serving television presenter in the world.He was on air before Sputnik, before Yuri Gagarin and long before the Moon landings - he was involved in the lunar mapping before the NASA Apollo missions.
Among his notable moments in those early days of live TV, he once swallowed a fly live on air and, on another occasion, he had to think on his feet when a Russian guest turned out not to speak any English; the interview went ahead in pidgin French.
In 1976, he was involved in one of the all-time classic April Fools on BBC Radio 2, when Sir Patrick solemnly announced that at 9.47am, a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event was going to occur that meant that if listeners could jump at the exact same moment they would experience a temporary floating sensation. The BBC received many telephone calls from listeners alleging that they actually experienced the sensation...
A self-taught musician and talented composer, at the Royal Variety Performance In 1981 he performed a solo xylophone rendition of the Sex Pistols' Anarchy in the UK! Here (in someone's bad recording from the TV) is his classic xylophone duet with his impersonator John Culshaw, on Firestarter by The Prodigy:
Sir Patrick Moore, CBE, FRS, FRAS (4th March 1923 – 9th December 2012)
This week has dragged...
However, the weekend looms - a busy one, as well; I am going to see Ant Man: Quantumania tonight, then tomorrow our gang's heading to Wilton's Music Hall for a rip-roaring Great British Comedy Songbook piano singalong - so it's time to get the party started!
What better than the combination of one of the era's campest girl groups, a samba classic, and a troupe of truly crazy dancers to sing and dance along with it while wearing ridiculous outfits? Get your feathers flying - and Thank Disco It's Friday!
Have a great weekend, dear reader!
Happy Saint David's Day to all you fellow Welshies (and honorary Welsh, and others)!
Let's have a little sing-song (as is apparently our wont), shall we? - in the company of the divine "Dame Katherine Jenkins of Neath" herself...
Songs:
Aw. There's lovely!
[FOOTNOTE: Yes, this is a recycled posting - but hey, why not?]
