12/7/08 Oxford Pride - 5:20pm

16/7/08 Dusty O’s Birthday Ball - Soho Revue Bar - Late

27/7/08 The 2 Brewers - Clapham 9:30pm £3 entry - 40 minute set

30/7/08 Tranny Shack - Soho Revue Bar - 10pm

The world was waiting for the premiere of Mamma Mia the movie and it all happened last night in Melbourne. Meryl Streep & Colin Firth were in town to premiere the film to a very enthusiastic audience at Melbourne Central and to celebrate at a fabulous after party with entertainment by yours truly!!

I got to see the film a couple of weeks ago so that i could be inspired to create the after party show, and inspire me it did! The film was so camp! To prepare for the show I purchased the Abba Number Ones album off iTunes… OMG! I had always liked Abba’s music, but never really… felt it before. But when I cranked that album through my apartment and danced away to all of the fabulous tunes from Gimme Gimme right through to I Have A Dream I fell in love with Abba for the first time.

You just can’t go wrong with the music of Abba, and with the whole after party getting a good camp dose of it (and Meryl) only moments prior to my show I knew I was onto a good thing. I had six wonderful dancers led and choreographed by the fabulous Yvette Lee. Yvette did a fabulous job on the chore, it was fun, exciting and looked beautiful (as you will see in the video). We had one little wardrobe malfunction but nothing that inhibited the show. Meryl was up out of her seat dancing and the audience was loving it sick!

Afterwards I came out to meet the crowd and got to spend a couple of minutes chatting with Ms Streep and her makeup & hair artist, Roy. Roy used to be a drag queen, once again proving that we know how to make women look good! Speaking of … Meryl… What a beautiful lady, I shan’t gush on, but she had a very peaceful aura about her.

When I had finished beating my path through the thongs of women to say hi to Colin Firth I was delighted to see my favourite set of legs and yours… Rhonda Burchmore! She is always a slide of heaven. She complimented me on my Christmas cards (what am I going to do this year) and we compared legs! She is just such a fun lady, I would really love to work with her one day. I then got a happy snap with Colin and continued on my way home.

And here is the video:

I have to make the following thank you’s:

Michael Whitemore - official companion, video and stills, McGayver and undoer of what he had done

Ian Gordon @ Atlas Worx for the amazing show audio

Yvette Lee & all of the dancers for such a fab rehearsal and performance!

 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.

Speaking of, I clipped this out of Christian Taylor’s Letters From The Editor from the SameSame.com.au newsletter:

While some have criticised Kylie’s superficiality, I think her musical legacy has a lot of gems hidden deep within. Here are a few that instantly spring to mind -

Kylie on feminism: “The purpose of a woman is to love her man.”

Kylie on hedonism: “You’ll never get to heaven if you’re scared of getting high.”

Kylie on monogamy: “I’m not asking for a love to last forever, I don’t expect to get a guarantee. It’s just that I believe lovers should stick together.”

Kylie on philanthropy: “Should I offer some assistance? Should it matter who you are? We all get hurt by love, and we all have our cross to bear, but in the name of understanding now, our problems should be shared.”

Kylie on conflict resolution: “I’ll forgive and forget if you say you’ll never go, cos its true what they say, better the devil you know.”

Sydneysiders, we hope to see you all tonight at Stonewall Hotel, where we’ll be celebrating Kylie’s birthday in style from 9pm.

I’ll leave you with two quotes from Ms. Minogue - one pre-cancer, and one post. I think they sum her up beautifully.

“Gay icons usually have some tragedy in their lives, but I’ve only had tragic haircuts and outfits.”

“Having had cancer, one important thing to know is you’re still the same person at the end. You’re stripped down to near zero. But most people come out the other end feeling more like themselves than ever before.”

(Please excuse the Daily Telegraph and their typos below… it is Carson not Carlson… isn’t it?)

RuPaul is back with a new reality TV show on MTV’s GLBT network Logo called RuPaul’s Drag Race! A TV drag competition where girls will battle it out over 6 one hour episodes to take the tiara. RuPaul will host and play coach to this gaggle of aspiring Super Models of The World…

RuPaul jokes, “Tell Tyra that the Queen has returned, and while you’re at it have Heidi clear the runway. I’m going to pump some ‘realness’ into reality. To be a winner on this show the contestants need to be a fashion designer, an American Idol, and a top model all rolled up into one. And they definitely have to be smarter than a fifth grader.”

Last night I did a show at a club in King Cross called The Lincoln. It was a great night and their first week of shows with the hot female dance troup - The Dirty Pretty Jewels. The place was heaving post fashion-week and the show went off. The girls perform there regularly on Friday nights and do a unique blend of burlesque. Other performers coming up include Melissa, Jade McRae and I will be back (by popular demand I am told) on Friday 23rd June… Come on down and check it out!