Jon

A Welsh gay icon who isn't Shirley Bassey

That iconic Welsh superstar of stage, screen and music Ivor Novello is finally recognised with the unveiling of a statue to him in his native Cardiff. He has a blue plaque already (on the house of hi...
Posted by on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:44:00 GMT

Forty years on, and..?

The Stonewall riots are widely described as a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn, in t...
Posted by on Sun, 28 Jun 2009 01:24:00 GMT

Gay icon overload!

What can I say about a show that features not one but two international gay icons sharing a stage? We went to see Barbra Streisand and Liza Minelli appearing together last night - of course, not the l...
Posted by on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:00:00 GMT

Let's all have a slapping good weekend...

Just because it's a Friday, and we're all feeling a bit folorn at the shocking loss of legends Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson in one day, I felt we needed a bit of cheering up... so I just had to ...
Posted by on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:42:00 GMT

Pride, striptease and Jesus's skid-mark

Despite the warm weather that evidently keeps even the stalwart literary queens away from events in downstairs bars mid-week, a reasonably healthy crowd eventually turned up for Paul Burston's "Polari...
Posted by on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:17:00 GMT

Rejoice in the gay way

As tonight's Polari theme is "Love & Pride Night", I just had to share this little understated video with the world - and henceforth the official countdown to Pride 2009 on July 4th begins... ...
Posted by on Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:36:00 GMT

A legend

Forty years ago yesterday, the legend that was Judy Garland died in a hotel in London. Say no more.
Posted by on Tue, 23 Jun 2009 02:30:00 GMT

It doesn't get much tackier than this...

A truly tacky moment in musical history came in the early 80s when Puerto Rico launched possibly the worst boy band in the world - and this is how (the definitely heterosexual) Ricky Martin made his m...
Posted by on Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:55:00 GMT

Ethel Merman, beard hair and frankfurter sandwiches

We are well overdue for a celebration of one of my favourite divas - the wonderful Varla Jean Merman, "lovechild of Ethel Merman and Ernest Borgnine"(!) Varla, aka Jeffery Robinson, is an award...
Posted by on Sun, 21 Jun 2009 04:27:00 GMT

"If you're going to be a degenerate, you might as well be a lady about it"

Happy birthday today to the wonderful Olympia Dukakis, one of my favourite actresses. This lady is one of a rare breed, for if ever I see her name in the credits, I know that a film is going to have ...
Posted by on Sat, 20 Jun 2009 01:23:00 GMT