On my list of things to do whilst in London this time was to make it out to G.A.Y., the iconic gay club at the Astoria. Having guest performers like Kylie, Madonna, The Spice Girls, P!nk… need I say more, the place is what legends are made of. Disaster almost struck when I found out that G.A.Y. at the Astoria was closing it’s doors forever. Promotor Jeremy Joseph was moving on from the old and run down Astoria that had housed his disco for 9 years… where was he going? Nobody knew, it was all top secret. The final night of G.A.Y. was to be a celebration of what was, not a party about where it was going. Rumours were rife with who would be performing at the final night. The London street press was touting Kylie to be the final doyen to grace the stage. Performing her opening London concert just up the road at the O2 stadium it seemed like perfect timing for G.A.Y.’s final gong. Having had just been to the Kylie concert I was in the mood for a disco and went for a warm up with some friends on Old Compton st, as I walked past the Astoria I was astounded by the cue. There were people lined up for blocks and blocks and there was such a vibe on the street. There were even portable urinals set up to cope with the swell. Fortunately I avoided the cue and slipped in the back door greeted by Jeremy Joseph and bestowed my fluro yellow sticker that would give me a prime view of the nights proceedings. I scampered up the back stairs, where the likes of Madonna, The Spicegirls and Donna Summer would have scampered before and up to the balcony. The room was so hot and sweaty you could actually see the moisture in the air. It was like being in the steam room at City Gym! The cue for the bar was massive and everyone was ever so sweaty.Jeremy Joseph came on stage to introduce the night. There were nine acts in total but who they were was still a mystery. Even when they came on stage, many, were still a mystery to me as they were UK pop acts that we are not familiar with in OZ. McFly were first up and I must say I really enjoyed them, followed by The Saturdays (the UK’s new answer to Girls Aloud), Sophie Ellis-Bexter, Alcazar, Bucks Fizz, Sam Sparro and the final act… Ms Minogue… Danni that is. She sang a slow and sexy version of All I Wanna Do and then cranked it up with Xanadu. The night pumped on but I went home to bed as I was performing a 40 minute set the next night at the 2 Brewers. I was kind of funny that my first night at G.A.Y. would also be it’s last! 

When I head Kylie was on whilst I was in London I was so stoked. How much fun to see Kylie at the O2 in front of a British crowd.  The lady did not disappoint. My favorite bit was her high camp rendition of Copacabana and when you get along to the concert check out the stage floor it is absolutely amazing! 

New club on the block, Oxford Art Factory, features a big glass cube in the middle of the venue linking the main dance floor to the bar. So when the lovely peeps at “Get Together” asked me to come up with an idea for the booth I excitedly set my mind to work. I recalled a video of Farrah Fawcett I had seen one night late on TV when I was about 14. She was painting… with her body… naked. I recall her covered in gold paint naked using her breasts as a paint brush. This became my inspiration for my performance art piece in the glass cube.

 I started off the evening entering the cube, which had been set up as a dressing room, with all of my friends. We sat down cracked open a bottle (or two) of bubbly and proceeded to have our own little get together. I put on my hair and makeup through out the next hour and a bit, and finished up in a white dressing gown. As the get together wound down I said goodbye to my guest and sent them on their way. Then there was a knock at the door! It was my art subject, Simon, wearing a white robe, just in time to be my still life model. He entered the booth, hoped up on the podium, next to the paint brushes, paint and bowl of fruit and dropped his robe. I began to paint, instead of the canvas, his body. First with a brush and then, when the brush was not giving the coverage I required… with my fingers. One thing led to another and pretty soon Simon and I (as close to naked as one can be ie flesh coloured underwear) were smearing lashings of paint all over eachother and the booth. The spirit of Pro Hart entered the cube and i could hear the voice of his cleaner, from those great Australian commercials from the 90’s, “Oh Mr Hart what a mess!!”. There was paint splattered all over the walls, the floor and us.  But  soon we grew weary of stepping on tubes of paint and rubbing our bodies up against the glass and so Simon grabbed the bunch of grapes from the, already upturned and smashed, bowl of fruit. He proceeded to branch out into viticulture and squash the grapes… all over me. We ate from the forbidden fruit and threw oranges and bananas around the room. It was the most fun one can have standing up.

So I just discovered Danny Noriega (American Idol). I was so excited when watching him on YouTube! He is a breath of fresh air. He is no doubt an inspiration to so many young American boys. I was totally devastated when I got to the vid of him being booted off the show. I went to the American Idol website to have a look around when I spied this poll:

Fingers crossed the producers pay attention to the results. Here is a vid of him performing ‘Jail House Rock’.