Thou comest, Autumn

Thou comest, Autumn, heralded by the rain,
With banners, by great gales incessant fanned,
Brighter than brightest silks of Samarcand,
And stately oxen harnessed to thy wain!
Thou standest, like imperial Charlemagne,
Upon thy bridge of gold; thy royal hand
Outstretched with benedictions o'er the land,
Blessing the farms through all thy vast domain!
Thy shield is the red harvest moon, suspended
So long beneath the heaven's o'er-hanging eaves;
Thy steps are by the farmer's prayers attended;
Like flames upon an altar shine the sheaves;
And, following thee, in thy ovation splendid,
Thine almoner, the wind, scatters the golden leaves!
 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Oh, no!

British Summer Time (for what it was worth) is over for another year.

No light evenings from now until March 2025...

I made my own lane

I made my own lane. I worked and still work as hard as anyone can, and I love each person who supported me and cares about me for me. I love performing. I still take dance lessons, and when I sing to people in the theatre, I’m not giving a performance - I’m sharing my love with each individual person. I’m asking, “This is how I feel. How ’bout you?” My work is real.

No! She's not dead...

Our Patron Saint of Pizzazz Liza's very much still with us - as this fabulous interview/conversation with her long-time friend Michael Feinstein confirms:

• Liza Minnelli in Interview Magazine, Fall 2024 edition

Razzle Dazzle no more

It is with tears in our eyes that we bid a fond farewell to our beloved Patron Saint of Bugle Beads Miss Mitzi Gaynor, who has razzle-dazzled her way off to Fabulon today.

The star to end all stars, she shimmied, shook and high-kicked her way through myriad musicals, TV specials and award ceremonies in her long, long career - her screen legacy includes such classics as My Blue Heaven, There's No Business Like Show Business, Anything Goes, Les Girls and, of course, South Pacific. We are going to miss her terribly!

Mitzi Gaynor - Honey Bun

Mitzi Gaynor - Limehouse Blues

Mitzi Gaynor - Let Go!

RIP, Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber, aka Mitzi Gaynor (4th September 1931 - 17th October 2024)

Diamonds are forever...

...unless you decide to sell them, of course.

Dame Shirley Bassey’s vintage 1960s Van Cleef and Arpels diamond ring with brilliant-cut diamonds, which was given to her by Sir Elton John.

Necklace featuring 52 graduated diamonds.

Ruby and diamond parure with heart detail.

Her 1905 diamond brooch, poss. Cartier.

A multi-piece set featuring aquamarines, sapphires and diamonds.

Van Cleef and Arpels emerald and diamond necklace, bought by her to commemorate her first Royal Variety Performance for Queen Elizabeth II.

Dame Shirley Bassey's jewellery collection has smashed a world record in a Paris auction with all of the lots belonging to the singer selling for a collective price of 2.2 million euros (£1.8m).

I would have placed a bid, but it's not pay day 'till next week.

[click any pic to embiggen]

Spectacular Spectacles

Lordy! The "Songbird of Athens", the woman who single-handedly made glasses a fashion statement, one of the biggest-selling artists in the world (with a seven-decade career and more than 200 albums in multiple languages under her belt) - the lovely Miss Nana Mouskouri is 90 years old today!

What a huge musical legacy - here's a mere sample of her repertoire:

Nana Mouskouri & Sacha Distel - Les Parapluies De Cherbourg

Nana Mouskouri - The White Rose of Athens

Nana Mouskouri & George Chakiris - Siko Chorepse Sirtaki

Nana Mouskouri - Ta Pediá tou Pireá/Never on a Sunday

Nana Mouskouri & Nina Hagen - Lili Marlene

Many happy returns, Nana Mouskouri (born Ioanna Mouschouri, 13th October 1934)

This weekend I am mostly dressing casual...

...like Signorina Lea Periconi, tennis maven, and style icon of the 1950s and 60s, who has departed for Fabulon. The higher the hair...

Each hath one, and is one

It's National Poetry Day! How about this one... As we used to say when I was studying for exams in school, "We done Donne!"

The Good-Morrow
By John Donne

I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then?
But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den?
’Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be.
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee.

And now good-morrow to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear;
For love, all love of other sights controls,
And makes one little room an everywhere.
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown,
Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;
Where can we find two better hemispheres,
Without sharp north, without declining west?
Whatever dies, was not mixed equally;
If our two loves be one, or, thou and I
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.

Sublime.