Twenty Third & Seventh

george michael is in trouble again. couldn't happen to a more deserving ponce! After all the shit he has given Boy George for being 'too gay' over the years I'd be happy to see his career destroyed.  There is, IMO, absolutely no excuse for public sex of this kind in this day and age.  As Boy so wisely observed-- 'can't he use a computer'?

why do banks take 48 hours to process a payment TO a credit card while they can deduct money instantaneously?

can anybody explain the difference between an incursion and an invasion? if a tank rolled into my neighborhood i think the semantics would become secondary.

we hear reports that visitor rooms at the Chelsea have gone up in price.  a correspondent writes:

they have now gone from $250.00 to $275.00  Man oh man.  They are pricing out all the people
who made that hotel what it was!  Pretty soon the only people staying there will be rich boring tourists or Britney Spears.

and we're inclined to agree.  Negotiate like a New Yorker is my advice, it worked in knocking the price down for us.  Just be prepared for a stark room!

Liza Minnelli playing a whacked-out masturbation therapist is a freaky thought

I am My Own Wife is headed my way in the original production.  This review from the .au press has a major spoiler- be careful.

Still depressed at the idea that CBGBs will be gone forever.  An example of what happens when one becomes a parody of one's self.

Second Life is an overwhelmingly expansive and conceptually dense virtual world allegedly taking the world by storm.  It's worth a look.  I suspect that I'm a bit too old to grasp the paradigm.

Of the 147 million Americans on the Internet, 12 million have blogs.

Gooey Nostalgia

Yep, I've been sucked into the vortex known as YouTube, the range of things to watch is stupefying.  This one is prompt for a melancholy nostalgia, Culture Club's final Sydney show in 1984 when they were at the peak of their popularity.  Sydney had known no comparable hysteria since the Beatles toured.  I was a dangerously young man and at this concert in the fifth row.  I still consider this to be the night that my youth ended and I was catapulted into the realm of adultdom, nothing would ever seem as magikal again.

Stupid Ideas Central. New Look Culture Club

This is both silly and totally uncalled for.  The band will look sillier, the fake George can only be farcical.  Sometimes it best to leave dead dogs to sleep where they lie.  Or something..

Culture Club to reform without Boy George

'80s pop group Culture Club are to reform for a tour - but without their iconic frontman Boy George.

Record label bosses want to replace him with a flamboyant singer and performer, but not a carbon copy of the legendary singer.

An advert posted on gumtree read: "We want a unique vocalist with a brilliant voice to take part in a 2007 World Tour and TV series.

"We do not want a karaoke Boy George 'lookalike' but a charismatic and unique performer in his or her own right with something truly fresh, contemporary and original to offer."

The band split in 1997 and reformed in 1998, before splitting up again shortly afterwards.

Oh, Oh- George is in Trouble

Oh, lordy!  Boy George O'Dowd is in trouble again. 

A clearly annoyed Manhattan judge issued a warrant today for the arrest of Boy George after the former Culture Club singer failed to appear in court, but the judge stayed the warrant pending his return at a later hearing.

Judge Anthony Ferrara said he will hold a hearing on June 26 on whether the singer, whose real name is George O'Dowd, violated the terms of his conditional discharge after pleading guilty in March to third-degree false reporting of an incident.

The charge followed his false report of a burglary at his Lower Manhattan apartment where police found cocaine.

Under his plea deal, O'Dowd was to enter a drug program in England and do five days of community service in Manhattan. He was also supposed to pay a $US1,000 ($A1,349) fine and a $US160 surcharge, and avoid arrest for any reason during the next six months.

The singer was scheduled to appear today to explain why he wanted to change the terms of his sentence.

Ferrara angrily complained that O'Dowd had not paid the fine or the surcharge and had never reported to begin fulfilling the community service requirement.

"I put people in jail who don't pay fines," the judge told O'Dowd's lawyer, Louis Freeman.

"Why shouldn't I do that?

"I think it's important that Mr O'Dowd be treated like any other defendant," he said.

Freeman said he had told O'Dowd, who was in England, that he did not have to appear today but that he should be ready to fly to New York on a moment's notice. He said the singer would be present for his next court date.

Ferrara said that on June 26 he would issue a final order as to what O'Dowd must do.

Freedman said that O'Dowd hoped to do something more worthwhile than sweeping New York City's streets.

"There's nothing wrong with that if that's part of his punishment," Freeman said, "but it will turn into a media circus and the press will be following him every day".

Freeman said the singer intended to comply with the terms of his conditional discharge, but he hoped to work with an HIV/AIDS charity while taking part in an outpatient drug treatment program for himself.

Ferrara ridiculed Freeman's community service proposals, which included helping teenagers make a public service announcement, holding a fashion and makeup workshop, serving as a DJ at an HIV/AIDS benefit and doing telephone outreach.

Ferrara said he understood the objection to street cleaning.

"It's humiliation," he said.

AP

Culture Club in Sydney, 1984.

Omigod. 

This night was one of the most exciting of my sordid little life.  I was at this concert in my Boy George bowler-hat and eye makeup.  Life as an excitable early teen to whom English popstars were the most revered of untouchables climaxed this night.  All I recall now is staying up to see the band off at the airport and crying for hours on end with other angsty fans.  I haven't seen this footage for the best part of twenty years.

I think that it was the next day that I started to become cynical and grow up.

-----------------------------

note: The point that this reviewer has totally missed is that this night was effectively the last time that Culture Club would perform as a functional unit.

Culture Club's "Live In Sydney" flat

  RON HARRIS

Associated Press

Culture Club, "Live in Sydney" (Eagle Rock Entertainment)

The mystery success that was Culture Club is on full display in this newly released concert DVD from 1984, the height of all things pompous, hairy and reeking of alternative rock bombast.

We find Boy George and the boys performing to a huge audience in Sydney, with a bag full of hits under their arms and at the pinnacle of the band's popularity. Culture Club, at the time, had just seen the "Colour By Numbers" album reach No. 1 in several countries.

But none of that success translates well in this concert footage, which is sorely hampered by lighting and focus problems throughout. A strange pink tint looms throughout the concert, whether from bad stage lighting or a lack of quality post-production tools. It's harsh and annoying.

Equally poor is Boy George's normally magnificent voice. Here, it is warbled in parts, trailing off instead of soaring in others. He hits some horrendously odd notes on songs that didn't deserve them, such as "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" and "Karma Chameleon."

The other band members look like their simply going through the motions, and we are left realizing this is a radio hits band, and not a stellar set of live performers.

So what's to like? Helen Terry, probably the best back-up ever. On the lone highlight, "Black Money," Terry's soulful rips make you wonder why any lead singer would allow her on the same stage with her blow-away power.

Terry's back-up vocals are the only reason to buy this DVD. She's that good, and on this night in 1984 Boy George was not.