Happy New Year, dear reader!
CAMP: "A cornucopia of frivolity, incongruity, theatricality, and humour." "A deadly, winking, sniggering, snuggling, chromium-plated, scent-impregnated, luminous, quivering, giggling, fruit-flavored, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love." "The lie that tells the truth." "Ostentatious, exaggerated, affected, theatrical; effeminate or homosexual; pertaining to or characteristic of homosexuals."
Sunday, 31 December 2023
Everything's set out for the Dolores Delargo Towers New Year's Eve party...
...just waiting for our guests to arrive!
Saturday, 30 December 2023
Could I wave the years away? With a quick goodbye?
Very sad news, just as 2023 draws inevitably to its close - one of the greatest of all interpreters of Stephen Sondheim's songs Mr David Kernan has departed for the glittering halls of Fabulon.
Originally an actor (he indeed appeared in Zulu, as well as some tackier stuff later on like Carry On Abroad), Mr Kernan's fame was sealed when he became a fixture on the cult 60s satirical programme That Was the Week That Was.
However, that show's producer and impresario Ned Sherrin had other plans for his talents when TW3 was over, and so it was that he became best-known for his singing, not least in the world premiere of the Sondheim revue Side By Side By Sondheim.
By way of a tribute, from that show, these...
[You'll need to adjust the volume on this first clip; it's very old...]
And my favourite [no video, more's the pity]:
Leave you? Leave you?
How could I leave you? How could I go it alone?
Could I wave the years away? With a quick goodbye?
How do you wipe tears away when your eyes are dry?
Sweetheart, lover, could I recover?
Give up the joys I have known?
Not to fetch your pills again every day at five
Not to give those dinners for ten elderly men from the UN
How could I survive? Could I leave you
And your shelves of the world's best books
And the evenings of martyred looks, cryptic sighs
Sullen glares from those injured eyes?
Leave the quips with a sting, jokes with a sneer
Passionless lovemaking once a year?
Leave the lies ill-concealed and the wounds never healed
And the game's not worth winning and wait, I'm just beginning
What, leave you, leave you? How could I leave you?
What would I do on my own? Putting thoughts of you aside
In the south of France, would I think of suicide?
Darling, shall we dance? Could I live through the pain
On a terrace in Spain? Would it pass? It would pass
Could I bury my rage with a boy half your age
In the grass? Bet your ass!
But I've done that already or didn't you know, love?
Tell me, how could I leave when I left long ago, love?
Could I leave you? No, the point is, could you leave me?
Well, I guess you could leave me the house, leave me the flat
Leave me the Braques and Chagalls and all that
You could leave me the stocks for sentiment's sake
And ninety percent of the money you make
And the rugs and the cooks, darling, you keep the drugs
Angel, you keep the books, honey, I'll take the grand
Sugar you keep the spinet and all of our friends and
Just wait a goddamn minute!
Oh, leave you? Leave you? How could I leave you?
Sweetheart, I have to confess, could I leave you?Yes
Will I leave you? Will I leave you?
Guess!
Sheer perfection. We'll miss him.
RIP, David Stanley Kernan (23rd June 1938 – 26th December 2023)
Sunday, 24 December 2023
Friday, 22 December 2023
The weakening eye of day
I leant upon a coppice gate,
When Frost was spectre-grey,
And Winter’s dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fires.
The land’s sharp features seemed to me
The Century’s corpse outleant,
Its crypt the cloudy canopy,
The wind its death-lament.
The ancient pulse of germ and birth
Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
Seemed fervourless as I.
At once a voice arose among
The bleak twigs overhead,
In a full-hearted evensong
Of joy illimited.
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt and small,
With blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.
So little cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew,
And I was unaware.
- Thomas Hardy
Midwinter, the Shortest Day, the Longest Night, Dongzhi, Makara Sankranti, Yaldā, Yule - it's the Winter Solstice! Look on the bright side - it's all uphill from now on, and Spring will be here before we know it...
Sunday, 17 December 2023
Olly Dolly
Congratulations!
Gay icon and all-round sweetie Olly Alexander has been selected to represent the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest next year...
Saturday, 2 December 2023
There is only one way, one voice. Yours.
"An opera begins long before the curtain goes up and ends long after it has come down. It starts in my imagination, it becomes my life, and it stays part of my life long after I've left the opera house." "Art is domination. It's making people think that for that precise moment in time there is only one way, one voice. Yours."
"I don't know what happens to me on stage. Something else seems to take over."
"I don't need the money, dear. I work for art."
"I am not an angel and do not pretend to be. That is not one of my roles. But I am not the devil either. I am a woman and a serious artist, and I would like so to be judged." "You are born an artist or you are not. And you stay an artist, dear, even if your voice is less of a fireworks. The artist is always there."
"When my enemies stop hissing, I shall know I'm slipping."
One hundred years ago, the Diva to beat all Divas was born.
All hail!
Maria Callas (2nd December 1923 – 16th September 1977)
Sunday, 26 November 2023
No better than I should be
It's a centenary today, dear reader - that of our eternally-revered matriarch/battleaxe/mainstay of the UK's favourite soap Coronation Street Elsie Tanner, aka Pat Phoenix!
Elsie Tanner quotes:
- (about Ena Sharples): "That woman's tongue. If it was a bit longer she could shave with it."
- "I've left home so many times me suitcases pack themselves every time I whistle."
- "You know, they used to call us good time girls... well, we did have a good time, and a damn good time at that"
- "Burglars in Coronation Street? It's like robbin' the blind."
"I was one of the first anti-heroines - not particularly good looking and no better than I should be."
Pat Phoenix (born Patricia Frederica Pilkington, 26th November 1923 – 17th September 1986)
Monday, 20 November 2023
Art appreciation
As the judge remarked the day that he acquitted my Aunt Hortense,
To be smut
It must be ut-
-terly without redeeming social importance
- Tom Lehrer: Smut
Ahhhh... David!
Wednesday, 15 November 2023
Friday, 10 November 2023
Fearless
Class of 72 - Tom Robinson, Stuart Feather, Mair Twissell, Roz Kaveney, Peter Tatchell, Andrew Lumsden, Ted Brown, Nettie Pollard
In the history of human rights in this country, there are many people who could be described as "pioneers" - William Wilberforce and his fellow abolitionists in the Georgian era, Emmeline Pankhurst and the Suffragettes, campaigners against the criminalisation of homosexuality Havelock Ellis and Edward Carpenter, and so on.
In the modern era, the baton of the latter pioneers passed to a small but vocal group of "annoyed gayers" who fought on and made a significant impact on our society.
Among those (as featured in the photo above), the fantabulosa Andrew Lumsden shone through...
From his obituary by James Lucas:
[We have] lost a true pioneer with the passing of Andrew Lumsden. An unwavering champion of gay rights, Andrew dedicated his life to advocating for equality and justice... He recognised the need for change and was unafraid to stand up and be counted. His tireless efforts have inspired countless individuals to join the fight for equality.
In the late 1960s, Andrew was instrumental in establishing the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), a groundbreaking organization that fought for gay rights and acceptance. The GLF played a pivotal role in the early days of the LGBTQ+ rights movement and set the stage for future activism... [in particular] his role as one of the founders of Pride. Pride events, celebrated worldwide, have become symbols of unity, acceptance, and the ongoing struggle for equal rights. Andrew’s vision for Pride has empowered generations to continue the fight.
Another testament to Andrew’s unwavering commitment was his role as the founder of Gay News. This groundbreaking publication provided a platform for LGBTQ+ voices, stories, and issues. It was a pioneering source of information and support during a time when discrimination and prejudice were prevalent. Andrew’s... fearless activism, dedication to social justice, and advocacy for equal rights have paved the way for the progress we see today. His work has changed the lives of countless individuals.
The LGBTQ+ community and the broader fight for equality have lost a true hero with the passing of Andrew Lumsden. His legacy is a testament to the power of activism and the enduring struggle for equal rights. As we remember his extraordinary contributions, we also recognize the importance of continuing the work he began, ensuring that his vision of a more inclusive and equal world becomes a reality.
RIP Andrew Lumsden, a remarkable man.
Wednesday, 1 November 2023
A human being that has sung, always, all her life
"I never wanted to be a singer... I like what it is to sing, or to be with others singing, to make music. But the fuss, and all the things that are the exterior part of a career, has never interested me. So I don’t think in reality I am a singer. I think I am a human being that has sung, always, all her life."
We have a centenary to celebrate...
...that of the magnificent Victoria de los Ángeles!
Renowned as a "non-diva-like" Diva in the operatic world, she nevertheless beat the likes of Renata Tebaldi, Régine Crespin, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Kirsten Flagstad, Montserrat Caballé, Birgit Nilsson and Leontyne Price to be voted #3 of "The 20 Greatest Sopranos of all time" (according to BBC Classical Music magazine).
We adore her here at Dolores Delargo Towers, not least for this [probably the best recording of the Songs of the Auvergne ever made]:
...and then, there's this...
¡Maravilloso!
Victoria de los Ángeles López García (1st November 1923 – 15th January 2005)
Tuesday, 31 October 2023
Get the Party Started
Hallowe'en. Samhain. Hop-tu-Naa. Día de Muertos. Calan Gaeaf. Punkie Night. The Season of the Witch.
Have fun, whatever you get up to.
[click pic to enlarge]
Sunday, 29 October 2023
The world's wrong!
Rough wind, that moanest loud
Grief too sad for song;
Wild wind, when sullen cloud
Knells all the night long;
Sad storm whose tears are vain,
Bare woods, whose branches strain,
Deep caves and dreary main,—
Wail, for the world's wrong!
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
British Summer Time is officially over. Sigh.
No light evenings from now until March...Roll on Spring!
Friday, 27 October 2023
Sunday, 22 October 2023
Giants of acting
Catherine Deneuve, 80 years old today.
Sir Derek Jacobi, 85 today.
Christopher Lloyd, also 85 today.
All hail!
Friday, 20 October 2023
She was a killer Camilla
More sad news today - the very lovely and talented Miss Haydn Gwynne has ascended the glittering stairway to Fabulon.
In her estimable career, she hit peak-time telly success as the arch-cynic "Alex Pates" in Drop the Dead Donkey, was lauded for her stage performances in Billy Elliot the Musical, City of Angels and The Threepenny Opera, and she played "Camilla" in the Channel Four sitcom The Windsors, Margaret Thatcher in The Audience (opposite Dame Helen Mirren), and a character based on Dame Prue Leith in The Great British Bake Off Musical. Phew!
We saw her twice on stage - as "Evangeline Harcourt" in Anything Goes, and her brilliant performances in the Sondheim tribute gala Old Friends
Such a sad loss...
[If you've ever dreamed of Trump getting kneed in the bollocks by Camilla Parker-Bowles, look on...]
RIP, Haydn Gwynne (5th October 1957 – 20th October 2023)
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