This is it!

The weekend looms ever closer...

...and it's time for a celebration! Another notable "birthday girl" this week was the very lovely disco queen Miss Melba Moore, who was 80 on Wednesday.

Facts about Miss Moore:

• Her mother was a singer, her birth father was a bandleader and her step-father was a jazz pianist, so it was inevitable that music would be her chosen career.
• She started out as a backing vocalist for the likes of Frank Sinatra and Aretha Franklin.
• She succeeded Diane Keaton in the lead role in Hair on Broadway in 1969.
• In her long career, she won a Tony for her role in the musical Purlie, three Grammy nominations for her music, and in 2023 received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Not exactly a "household name" here in the UK, admittedly - she only ever had two Top 20 hits - but this one is the one for which she will be eternally remembered. Thank Disco It's Friday!

Melba Moore - This Is It

Many happy returns, Melba Moore (born Beatrice Melba Smith, 29th October 1945)!

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Meanwhile...

Today is Samhain, Calan Gaeaf, Dziady, Allantide, Hop-tu-Naa, The Season of the Witch - it's Hallowe'en!

Even the Pet Shop Boys have got into the spirit...

Pet Shop Boys - It's A Sin (Bryce Miller Monster Mix)

...however, it is this clip that is my unending tradtion at this time of year, knowing full well that is scares my dear sister witless, every time:

The Return of Count Yorga

Careful who you bite, dear reader - and a have a fab, spooky weekend!

Me siento como una niña

"Ahora no soy tan niña, pero me siento como una niña."
["I'm not a little girl, but I feel like one."]

Last week, it was all about Celia Cruz. Today, we celebrate the 95th birthday (yesterday) of another beloved Cuban diva Omara Portuondo. The main difference? Señora Portuondo is (happily) still with us!

Although her career as one of Cuba's most popular singers stretches back to the very early 1950s, it's probably for her work with the fabled Buena Vista Social Club for which she is best known - although her solo album from back in 2000 is a cherished part of our extensive music library here at Dolores Delargo Towers.

Here are some examples of her sublime talent, four your delectation:

Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo - Quizas

Omara Portuondo - El Hombre Que Yo Amé [The Man I Love]

Omara Portuondo - La Sitiera

I could listen to her forever.

¡Feliz cumpleaños, Omara Portuondo Peláez! (born 29th October 1930)

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STOP PRESS:

I just discovered that the great lady has a new album out, featuring duets and collaborations with artists such as Angélique Kidjo... I wonder if HMV will be stocking that one on its shelves? If so, I'm off to buy it!

Boo!

Care home workers are struggling to decorate their premises for Halloween without reminding residents of their imminent demise, it has emerged.

Staff at the Shady Oaks Care Home in Taunton have realised that furnishing the premises with fake skeletons, ghosts and coffins may be a bit too close to reality for its elderly residents.

Carer Joanna Kramer said: “It dawned on me as I was putting up headstones in the garden: the afterlife is the one thing we’re all trying not to dwell on.

“Sure, Halloween makes death look like a fun, spooky adventure. But when your zombie makeup bears more than a passing resemblance to the people you’re caring for, you feel a bit tasteless.

“It’s not just insensitive, it’s bad for business. If we take the scares too far by jumping out and shouting ‘boo’ while dressed as a ghost, our entire income stream could perish in an instant.

“Maybe we should lean into their fears which don’t border on the supernatural. Dressing up as an illegal immigrant or trans person could be a more appropriate way to freak them out.”

Resident Margaret Gerving, 93, said: “The only thing I’m scared of is continuing to live in this underfunded shithole. Bring on the sweet release of death, I say.”

The Daily Mash

Of course.

Of big cakes, robots, gays, Home Counties and Elsa's gazebo

Someone left the cake out in the rain...

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

• Hartelijk gefeliciteerd, Mokum! news: Almost at the culmination of 750 hours of events and festivities [including Sail Amsterdam, which we saw in August], the 750th anniversary of the founding of Amsterdam was celebrated in Dam Square at 7.50am on Monday with a 75 metre strawberry sponge and cream cake (pictured above). There was enough, apparently, for 7500 slices, and residents queued in the rain for hours for a taste. Proost!
• Showroom Dummies news: A collection of rare memorabilia, possessions and other artefacts once owned by Kraftwerk's Florian Schneider is heading for auction on 19th November, including his suitcase synthesiser, his flute and his vocoders, personal effects, photographs and even the bike he rode in the Tour de France video!

• RIP, Björn Andrésen, aka the "most beautiful boy, Tadzio" in Death in Venice. He was a bit too creepily androgynous for me, tbh.
• Pride not Profit news: Manchester Pride has gone bust, owing thousands of pounds to suppliers, vendors and every one of the performers last year. It blamed low ticket sales. In 2024, they were charging £37.50 for a weekend ticket or £41 for a single-day ticket. We could get a West End theatre seat or a flight to Malaga for that. Incompetence? Or just greed..?
• About time we got proper royal patronage news: HM The King paid tribute to gay armed forces veterans at the unveiling of a new memorial commemorating those British service personnel who were forced to keep their sexuality a secret, and those who were ousted for being gay. [NB The acronym "LGBT" - that every media outlet seems to use when reporting on this story, or in fact on anything gay - is inappropriate in this context. Transgender people were not explicitly barred from serving. The ban was on gays and lesbians. There is no record of anyone being thrown out of the forces for being transgender; even now there are fewer than 10 transgender individuals in the whole of the British Armed Forces. Facts.]
• Farewell to Surrey news: The historic County of Surrey faces a bit of a shake-up, as its county council and 11 borough and district councils will all be abolished in favour of two administrations, East and West Surrey. Sir John Betjeman is spinning in his grave as we speak...

• And finally: Among a whole host of random fellow celebrants including Evelyn Waugh, Dame Cleo Laine, Julia Roberts, Dame Joan Plowright, Auguste Escoffier, David Dimbleby, Suzy Parker, Gwendoline Christie, Bill Gates, Jane Alexander, Francis Bacon, Edith Head, Peter Hitchens, Hank Marvin, Matt Smith, Caitlyn Jenner, Joaquin Phoenix, Bernie Ecclestone, Wayne Fontana, Stephen Morris of New Order, and Czechoslovakia...

  ...it's our Patron Saint Elsa Lanchester's birthday! She wasn't just "The Bride of Frankenstein", you know, she also sang bawdy Cockney Songs, and we love them...

Elsa Lanchester - If You Peek in My Gazebo

Elsa Lanchester - Linda and Her Londonderry Air

And the weather? Remarkably mild and sunny for Hallowe'en week...

I can face a new tomorrow, if I make it past today

Monday again...

It's a blustery day out there and, as we prepare to haul ourselves out into it for another edifying week at work, we need something jolly to cheer our spirits...

...so let's start the countdown to Hallowe'en this week, who better on this Tacky Music Monday to provide a pick-me-up than... Morticia Addams?!

Bebe Neuwirth - Just Around the Corner (from The Addams Family musical)

Death is just around the corner
Waiting patiently to strike.
One unplanned electrocution
That's the kind of end
I can comprehend.

When I'm feeling uninspired
Or I need a little spree
I'm reborn knowing
Death is just around the corner
Coming after me.

Death is just around the corner
Waiting high upon the hill
Someone buried in an avalanche (gasp)
That's the kind of fig
I can really dig.

Marriage often disappoints you.
Not each husband is a gem.
So I'll mourn
Knowing death is just around the corner
Coming after them.

If life were plums
I'll muddle through some.
But when death comes
I hope it's gruesome. (hot-cha)

Some people die from public stoning,
Faulty wiring, faulty zoning,
Cherry pits they didn't know were there.

It could be by a jungle cat
A slippery mat.
A baseball bat.
Perhaps an unsuccessful love affair.

It could be on a speeding train,
It could be underwater.
It could be too much Novocain
Or even by your daughter.

Perhaps a bad mosquito bite.
A title fight.
Religious rite.
My darlings, it might even be tonight.

Death is just around the corner
No one's ever been immune.
Turning off a respirator
With a simple click
Strenuously quick.

I can face a new tomorrow
If I make it past today.
I feel good saying
Death is just around the corner
Simply on its way.

Death is just around the corner
And you have to be enthralled.
For your death is just around the corner
Happy being both the mourned and mourner
Because death is just around the corner
Coming for us all.

Have a good week, dear reader.

Sweet things?

After all the build-up I gave it yesterday, John-John's plans for a sort-of-"spooky"-themed Film Club afternoon/evening (to include Bette Davis in The Anniversary and Witches of Eastwick) were dashed, when we could not get Hils and Crog's DVD player to play any sound through the telly in the function room at the pub. So we ended up watching Carry On Screaming on a free streaming service instead [which went down very well, actually], but, concentration levels diminishing in direct proportion to the quantity of alcohol consumed [we were there from about 1.30pm till closing time!], the rest of the evening was mainly music videos. It was a fun "family gathering", nevertheless!

Today, taking full advantage of the extra hour in bed thanks to the clocks going back, we eventually ventured off to the garden centre to buy Spring bulbs and wallflowers to brighten up the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers next year.

Meanwhile, how about some suitable "Sunday Music", courtesy of the geniuses at Soft Tempo Lounge, and some very peculiar fashions indeed?

Soft Tempo - Fashion '71

Groovy!

[Music: Barbara Moore - Sweet thing/Feel fine/Feeling free. Footage: 1971 Fashion Awards - BBC Archive]

God! What kind of a woman do you think I am?!!

We're off to another of our fave pubs The Perseverance (near Great Ormond Street hospital in Bloomsbury) this afternoon, for another "gathering of the clans" at one of our irregular "Film Club" events.

This one is to mark John-John's birthday (next Thursday) - and given the impending spookiness of the Hallowe'en season, we'll be treated to not only The Witches of Eastwick (a beloved slice of campery), but also one of Bette Davis's most arch-camp-evil roles in The Anniversary:

Bette Davis in The Anniversary

Delicious!