Am I Right?...

This from the misheard lyrics site Am I Right? made me giggle.

"Wuthering Heights"

Original Lyrics:
You had a temper, like my jealousy
Too hot, too greedy.

Misheard Lyrics:
You had distemper, like my jealous ell
Too long, too greasy.

Duckie's Big Saturday Night Seaside Birthday Special...

Last Saturday I ventured down to St Leonards Warrior Square (ger-where now?) in the historic town of Hastings (ah, so that's where it is) to stay at the super-lovely Charlie's for the night. Charlie lives down there and had offered to put me up as we had tickets to Duckie's Big Saturday Night Seaside Birthday Special that was being held just up the road at the rather delightful De La Warr Pavilion.

The evening started for us with Charlie throwing a little drinks party at his place with mulled wine, nibbles and a pop star (!) It was great to meet Gary, Tony (I do know you from somewhere, right?), Derek, Vanessa, Nicola, Denise, Dave and Andy B and we all got suitably mulled up before bundling onto the screamers express on the local branch line station. Ten minutes later we were at Bexhill heading for the De La Warr arm in arm. We were off to see the wizard.

Duckie was sold out so it was standing room only for some - but luckily we'd booked in advance and had seats at a numbered table on the terrace that gave us a great view of the stage, the performances and the other punters.

We ordered our drinks at the bar and sat back to be treated to a fabulous evening of variety - all with that Duckie twist: opera (Ann Dalton), magic (Tommy Angel - Gospel Magician), manic cookery (Marcia Farquar), lady shaving (Helen Paris), glamour (Miss High Leg Kick), old time music hall (Ida Barr) and special guest local performances of close harmony singing (Bexhill Harmony) and belly dancing (Sheik's Delight). Oh, and a guy from the Blue Man Group got his cock out.

As per normal, DJs Readers Wifes soundtracked the party with dance cards while Miss Amy Lame was our hostess. Part of the entertainment were fours booths - fortune telling, grabbing hand, kiss me quick and tattooing. The tattooing was particularly fun as you just plunged your hand into a dark hole and hoped for the best. If I didn't know better I'd have sworn that person was sucking my fingers while he was tattooingg me!

A great night with wonder, drama, music, fun and frolics. Happy 10th Birthday Duckie!

Duckie By The Sea In Pictures

[Thanks to Paul for the pix]

Duckie By The Sea In Movies (all in Quicktime)
Marvel at Miss High Kick, Bexhill Belly Dancers Sheik's Delight and Once, Twice, Three Times a Lady Phillishave.
[Thanks again to Paul for the movies]

Organic Friday...

Nice when things are organic. You make no plans then stuff just happens.

I was facing a quiet Friday night in alone (Paul was signing a new tenancy agreement in Valencia and Drew was in Brighton) when three things happened almost at once; 1. I decided to go see Sarah, Ben and the cheeky monkeys down at Lewisham Hospital, 2. David suggested I join him and his chums to go see Justin "you'll always be Jason to me" Bond & The Freudian Slippers at Too2Much and 3. Ben suggested we go see Dustin's Bah Mitzvah perform late at The Garage after his Clapham gig.

So it turned into a fabulous fun packed night (and indeed early morning): the joy for me of holding little baby Eve for the first time, the beaming pleasure of watching Justin Bond storm the place with his multi-encored last night and finally then the sheer unselfconscious wonder of getting down with the Uth for some NuMetal thrash & indie orientated sweaty bopping. Top night.

Note to self: absinthe makes neither the heart nor wallet the grow fonder.

The Norris Family...

Three little bundles of joy in pictures (Click for bigger versions).

Sup All Night...

I ventured out to the Man Bar last night to see if 24 drinking had perhaps started a day early. Sadly not. Back at the bar and with another beer I had a man of flawless, dead good looks shift up to me and start talking with the banal sing-song that in the outside world would indicate a long and comfortable acquaintance and here was used as a short cut to a short one.

Domain Names...

People spend a lot of time considering names for their kids. It's just a pity they don't always think as hard about their domain names.

Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views:
http://www.expertsexchange.com
(I actually subscribe to this but had never noticed!)

Need a therapist? Try:
http://www.therapistfinder.com

We have the Mole Station Native Nursery, based in New South Wales
http://www.molestationnursery.com

And there is an Italian Power company:
http://www.powergenitalia.com

Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island
http://www.penisland.net

and finally Who Represents? ~ a database for agencies to the rich and famous:
http://www.whorepresents.com

[Thanks Andy and Richard]

Proud Mother, Proud Father and Proud Uncle...

I went to see Sarah-Jane in the maternity wing of Lewisham University Hospital last night and she is doing brilliantly. I was so pleased I could see her on her big day and she was really pleased to see me too. You'd never have guessed she'd given birth to triplets a few hours before. She looks fantastic.

Obviously Ben was there too and it was so lovely to see them together - the proud parents. We all chatted for a couple of hours and then after the maternity ward's 8 o'clock curfew Ben and I retired to the local boozer near the hospital to wet the babies heads and watch the delivery room video. There's a time and a placenta for everything.

The doctors had got it all wrong of course. Ben and Sarah had been told that they would be having two identical boys and a third sex-as-yet-unknown. In fact they had two identical girls and a boy. Quite how they got that wrong is yet to be established! One of the nurses says that sometimes girls tease the parents by putting their thumbs between their legs (!) In any event Dylan was first out weighing in at 5lb 5oz born 12:05pm, 'working title Eve' was next at 4lb 5oz appearing at 12:07pm and finally we had 'working title Lola' coming in at 3lb 9oz at 12:09pm. Three beautiful babies. Well when I say 'beautiful' I really mean crinkly and wrinkly bundles of pinkness but they looked beautiful to me.

Below are snaps shots of the two girls. Dylan was camera shy.



Actually Dylan was not feeling 100% when he came out, poor fellow, as he had a bit of fluid on his lungs which was making it harder for him to breathe. I did get a chance to see him though, the handsome chap, and could see the specialist nurses are doing marvelous job and he is getting their best attention. Unfortunately the two girls had to be moved to another hospital as there wasn't room for them at specialist care unit at LUH. Hopefully space can be made later in the week and they'll be moved back to be with the rest of the family.

All in all it was a great day and I for one am as pleased as punch and bursting with pride for my two friends and three new cheeky monkeys.

Proud Father...

News just in: "We have two daughters and a son. All doing well." YAY!

42 Below...

Vodka viral marketing. Very funny.
http://www.42below.com/flashad/britain/index.html
http://www.42below.com/flashad/gay/index.html
[Thanks Martin]

Week 34 in the Big Mother House...

In just 24 hours Sarah will be wheeled in the operating theatre and the triplets will be on their way. I'm so excited for them. Can't wait to see them!

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang...

Last night Martin and I went to see Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Go see, go see. Laugh out loud funny.

Kate Bush Official Team...

I got this is the post the other day.

Hi!
I came across your Kate Bush blog entry, http://www.overyourhead.co.uk/2005/10/kate-bush-aerial.html and am contacting you on behalf of Columbia Records and M80. I run the Official Kate Bush Online Team, which helps get the word out about Aerial, runs contests with for free copies of the CD, and is basically just a cool place for Kate's fans to hang out. I was hoping that you might be interested in joining it, as such a loyal Kate Bush fan. Perhaps your readers would be interested as well? I'd really appreciate it if you could check out the team at: http://katebush.fanitorium.com/?L2282 and let me know your thoughts. Thank you!
~Lauren Kozak
Grassroots Team Director, M80
www.m80im.com/www.m80teams.com
Lauren@m80im.com

Take That...

Must-see TV last night was the ITV documentary about Take That. It had it all; drugs, booze, sex and Lulu.

As French and Saunders once pointed out, "I wonder how she signs her cheques?".

Stuart Price...

The rather dishy Stuart Price (Madonna collaborator, DJ and remixer to the stars) is interviewed by PopJustice. And Madge's Pet Shop Boys love is revealed!

Sony...

Just one screw up after another. Looks like there had never been a worse time to buy Sony.

Dopamine @ The Garage

Last night Kevin treated me to a night at The Garage (just at the end of the road) to see some bands play; Dopamine, Days In December, Firstborn, Che and The Blackout.

Dopamine is Mitchell Froom, record producer (Elvis Costello and Paul McCartney) turned performer a.k.a. Mr Suzanna Vega. He played a weird set, blending instrumental music, bizarre songs, atmospheric tunes and a cast of thousands. Individually many of the songs were quite effective and the instrumentation was nicely varied including (it says here) Indian banjo, oscillator, button cinema organ, and optigon. But overall the set was perhaps a tad too variable for my taste. Which is kind of odd as Froom is known for his consistent and cohesive production with other artists. Some great ideas though.

Trailer Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ...

Trailer in Quicktime
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson
Director: Mike Newell
Official Site Link
UK Opening: November 18, 2005
Rated: 12A
Genre: Fantasy
Explosions: 4
Weapons: Fire, scythe, teeth, wand
Man Quotient: 3.8 (Explosions + Weapons + Hot Babes - Kisses)/ Minutes
Voiceover: No
Worst Moment: Harry's spit take
Trailer Déjà Vu: Harry Potter and the Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Spoilage Factor: 40%
Geek Factor: 35%
See Trailer? Yes
See Movie? Yes

Gay Maps...

Travelling to a strange city and want to know where to go? Try downloading a Gay Map.
[Thanks Dilwyn]

Madonna at G.A.Y....

Madonna will perform an exclusive one-off show at G.A.Y. at London’s Astoria this Saturday. She will be singing tunes lifted from her new record Confessions On A Dancefloor released today. The capacity of the Astoria is just 2000. Standing room only I expect.

I think the new album is a bit of a return to form albeit rather too evenly paced. But then it is a dance album so what did I expect really? And the best track? Sorry.

The Lord Mayor's Show Fireworks...

Stuck for something to do this Saturday afternoon? Well why not tootle along to the Thames between Waterloo and Blackfriars bridges at 5 o'clock and gape at The Lord Mayor's Show fireworks. Always a good display.