Gay Bar...

Electric Six's next single out at the beginning of June is called Gay Bar.

We heard it on the radio this morning and laughed our heads off. Mark did a bit of digging and found two things:-

- You can have a go at remixing Electric Six's Gay Bar and get it broadcast on XFm

- Joel Veitch has produced a fantastic video of Gay Bar 'performed by' the Viking Kittens (perhaps not suitable for office viewing unless you turn the volume down a bit)


Electric Six are touring at the moment too so maybe we'll go along.

May Day tomorrow...
I don't know if any of you read the Evening Standard yesterday but there was an article about the May Day protests tomorrow and it lists the 60 firms that are to be targeted. Sure enough we are on the list...

We are also on the Stop The War web site and London Mayday Collective.

Riot gear tomorrow then.

The Union Chapel...
At the end of our road across the roundabout is a chapel. The Union Chapel. It's a very beautiful chapel, the roof is in need of some repair and it's still home to regular worship. It has a revamped/relaunched web site too and it's a big improvement. Well done, guys.

But why my interest?

The Union Chapel hosts regular and frequent concerts. Big names sometimes too. I guess what they like about it is the fact that the Union Chapel is a small intimate gig and it can be a good showcase/warm-up venue for artists that want to try out new material. We've seen Goldfrapp perform there, Marc Almond go solo twice and Bjork has played there too. Last night Beck was holding a 'secret gig' - something we were alerted to courtesy of the Chapel's mailing list. In the coming months there will be Cerys Matthews, Eddi Reader and Ian McCulloch. OK, maybe not stadium-filling names these days but undoubtedly talented people - but it's cheap and it's on my doorstep. So if you fancy coming along to the 'Chapel' drop me a line as I always enjoy the company.

The Ad that Never Was...
And talking of gay ads, here is one that was made for Guinness in 1995 but was never aired after the hullabaloo in the UK tabloids about it before it was screened. Guinness even denied it existed.

Commercial Closet...
Here is a site that dedicated to the appearance of 'the gays' in TV adverts. Or as they put it, "The Commercial Closet Association is a non-profit educational and journalism organization that works to improve societal perceptions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people through better portrayals in the most powerful cultural medium of our time--mainstream advertising. The project brings together journalistic reporting, critiques, visitor reviews, live video lectures, guidelines and resources for advertisers and their ad agencies." So there.
[Thanks to Guy for the link]

Pinball...
SuperDude's online pinball. Fun.

Happy Birthday...
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday, dear David
Happy Birthday to you

Japanese Cat...
I originally posted this link to a Japanese Cat singing last year but thought it worth repeating. It's soooo beautiful.

Derren Brown...
A few weeks ago we went to see 'mentalist' Derren Brown do some of his magic tricks at the Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage. The Gordon Craig was the location of my first professional engagement as an actor. I starred (no really) as Wang The Water Seller (no tittering at the back!) in Bertolt Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan. Anyway, back to the Derren Brown...

We were seated just about as far back as possible in the auditorium as it was possible to be and right in the middle so as to avoid being picked on. We were far from safety though we didn't know it. Even the back row wasn't safe as we came to discover!

The show was OK I suppose - 'mind reading' mainly. And Mr Brown is a reasonable showman. But being a 'magic' show naturally we spent the whole time trying to work out how he did everything! And when we did work it out it was, how can I put it, disappointing to say the least. Take it from me it's best to not know how it's done. It ruins it. True of any 'magic' show I guess.

At the end of the show he asked that no one should give give anything away about the 2nd half of the show. So I won't...

..except to say there are TWO naked ladies in the bath, the elephant falls through a TRAP-DOOR and doesn't FLY and the mouse was dead BEFORE he stamped on it :-)

Jerry Springer The Opera...
Last night we went to see Jerry Springer The Opera at The National.

Mr Springer himself is of course most famous for bringing us shows like 'I Married A Horse', 'Sex With My Sister' and 'I Refuse to Wear Clothes' - so it was perhaps to be expected that there would be some rather fruity songs and and a wacky storyline in an opera that bore his name.

But this particular opera's creators, Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee, have created a show with wit, daring and down right gaul that defines belief. Arias like like "Wrap Me in Chocolate and Throw Me to the Lesbians!", "Three Nipple Cousin Fucker" and "Slut Junky" were delivered with such panache and conviction that you couldn't help but marvel at the sheer audacity. In turn vulgar, blasphemous and hilarious each section of the show seemed to top the last. "Chick with a dick", "Fat Whore" and "I Like to Shit in My Pants" all had their Jerry Springer Moment.

When it is hinted that we will see the appearance of the Klu Klux Klan people looked at each other in disbelief. When they actually appeared, set fire to a cross and start tap-dancing jaws hit the floor. We were in pure The Producers territory. Brilliantly funny.

My favourite bit though had to be a duet between Jesus and the Devil (don't ask) with the devil singing "What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fucking, fucking fuck!" and Jesus countering "Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. Talk. To the stigmata." Masterful.

Go see, go see, go see. If nothing else to watch posh opera people swearing on stage.

Ben Folds Five...
Create your own origami CD Case. Weird.

XXX...
The graphic review XXX, which had its premiere last night at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, featured some of the most explicit sex scenes ever seen in Britain. And they may get prosecuted for it too. Fab.
[Thanks to Bryn for the heads-up on this]

Dates for the diary...
Tonight a group of us are going to see Jerry Springer The Opera at The National Theatre. I know next to nothing about it except the tag line "where low brow meets high art". We shall see.

On Saturday week we are taking my parents to go and see Chicago. The stage show that is. Again I know very little about it other than it's about "two women who are jailed for murder. And they sing and dance about the case for two hours." I'm sure it's better than it sounds.

On Monday 5th May I'm going to see Erasure at the Astoria. Being a fan of their music (no, really), an ex-friend of Andy and having had 'an experience' with Vince I'm really looking forward to it.

On Saturday 10th May Paul and I are going to see Laurie Anderson perform her new show Happiness at the Barbican. Yet again I've not heard too much about this either but anything that Laurie does gets my vote.

Finally we going to see Goldfrapp at the Astoria on 19th May for Simon's birthday. The new single Train is good and I'm popping out to get the new album Black Cherry at lunch time.

Is work getting you down? You're not the only one...
Share your job horror stories off the record.

The Dancing Blair...
Move your cursor to make Tony hop. I love keen political analysis like this.

Aren't they sweet...
Japanese puppies.

Who's (With) Who...
Can you pick who is with who? What the hell is this all about then? This is scarely in a 70s hell kind of a way.

Happy Easter...

Retraction...

I shouldn't laugh but...
Dear Subscriber:
On 16 April we published an article "Fry on the wings of Love" claiming that during filming of the new Harry Potter film, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", two owls burned to death on set after flying into candles. There is actually no truth whatsoever in this and we apologise to all. The owls are present and correct and fully feathered!.
Happy Easter from Popbitch....

The Taliban on Broadway...
What if Afgan politics came to Broadway. Hilarious.
[Thanks Roger!]