Wonderland Burlesque's Down The Rabbit Hole: Eighth Wonder

Wonderland Burlesque's 

Down The Rabbit Hole: 

Eighth Wonder

Down The Rabbit Hole merely places a spotlight on something slightly unusual that's caught my interest. With the help of Wikipedia, YouTube, and other sites, I gather information and learn something new.

Today, we take a look at the brief musical history of the UK's Eighth Wonder, featuring Patsy Kensit.

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From Wikipedia and other sources:

Eighth Wonder was an English pop band, formed in 1983 in London, initially composed of singer/model/actress Patsy Kensit, her brother Jamie Kensit, Steve Grantley, Geoff Beauchamp, Nigel Davis, Jake Walters and Lawrence Lewis. The band first enjoyed major success in Japan and Italy before breaking through in the UK and across Europe.

Eighth Wonder began life as a band called Spice. The line-up consisted of Patsy Kensit on vocals, her brother Jamie Kensit and Geoff Beauchamp on guitar, Lawrence Lewis on bass, Jake Walters on drums and Nigel Davis on percussion. Spice made their live debut in the autumn of 1983, and then spent the next year playing gigs in the hope of gaining the attention of record labels.

In late 1984, Davis left and keyboard-player Alex Godson joined. At that point, they renamed themselves Eighth Wonder and Patsy Kensit began to write songs for the band. At one of their gigs, Stephen Woolley, co-owner of Palace Films, and director Julien Temple offered Patsy Kensit the role of Crepe Suzette in their 1986 movie musical Absolute Beginners. In edition, Eighth Wonder was asked to contribute a song to the soundtrack.

By April of 1985, Eighth Wonder had signed to CBS Records and began recording in London, working around Patsy Kensit's filming of Absolute Beginners. In October of that same year, their first single Stay With Me was released. It achieved success in Japan, where it went to #1, and Italy, where it peaked at #4. while failing in the UK, where it only managed to reach #65. Shortly after, Lewis and Walters left the band. It was at this point that the band began using drum machines and substituting keyboards for their bass sound.

In August of 1986, they went to Los Angeles to work with producer Mike Chapman, best known for his work with Blondie. Drummer Steve Grantley then replaced Godson. The top songwriters of the times offered them new material and these tracks formed their debut album, Fearless. Of these tracks, Will You Remember was released in the UK where it only reached #83. They fared much better in Japan and Italy. In Japan, When The Phone Stops Ringing gave them their second #1, while in Italy Will You Remember slid into the Top 10, mostly due to the media attention surrounding their performance at a music festival in which Patsy experienced a wardrobe malfunction resulting in the exposure of one of her nipples.

I'm Not Scared, co-produced and written by the Pet Shop Boys and Phil Harding, was chosen as the next single in Europe, where it was greeted with media and public enthusiasm, becoming a Top 10 hit in almost every country in Europe. It went to #1 in Italy, #2 in Switzerland and Portugal, #3 in Spain, #4 in Greece, #5 in Germany, #7 in the UK, #8 in France and #20 in Austria.

In May of 1988, another single, Cross My Heart, found similar success, hitting #6 in Switzerland, #10 in Italy, #13 in UK, and France, and #56 in the US. The album was finally released in July of 1988, and by that October, had achieved almost 500,000 sales internationally.

However, the follow-up single, Baby Baby only got to #65 on the UK Singles Chart and would prove to be their final hit in Italy, peaking at #13. Shortly after this, the bandmembers parted ways, with Patsy Kensit deciding to focus on her marriage and acting career.

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Stay With Me - Eighth Wonder

Having It All - Eighth Wonder feat. Patsy Kensit

from the 1986 motion picture Absolute Beginners 

When The Phone Stops Ringing - Eighth Wonder

Will You Remember - Eighth Wonder

I'm Not Scared - Eighth Wonder

Cross My Heart - Eighth Wonder

Baby, Baby - Eighth Wonder

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Don't Drop Bombs...

 
Don't Drop Bombs - Liza Minnelli

Don't Drop Bombs, written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe is a song by Liza Minnelli, released in September of 1989 by Epic/ZEE 2 as the second single from her ninth album, Results (1989), produced by Pet Shop Boys and Julian Mendelsohn.

"Don't tell me about your lack of restrictions

Guilty records and previous convictions

Or I shall start playing rough (Baby!)

You're too corrupted, and totally destructive

When you've erupted, you're totally destructive

 

Don't drop bombs, baby, don't drop bombs

Just stay calm, baby, no more bombs

Don't drop bombs, baby, don't drop bombs

Just stay calm baby, no more bombs"

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Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip: Pet Shop Boys

Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip:

The Pet Shop Boys

In my big gay church there is a wing dedicated to The Divas Who Represent. They're not all flashy or cocks of the walk - in fact, some never officially came out of the closet during their lifetime - but they are all extraordinarily gifted, sharing their songs, music, and insights, allowing the world at large to learn, in the most subtle of ways, what it's like 'being green'. Thanks to their gifts and their bravery, they help make the world a little more gay every time their voices are heard. And that's been their true super power all along... their voice; they were heard. They mattered. And, whether they liked it or not, they represented!

Two such talented musical icons...

Pet Shop Boys.

Talk about a revolution. But rather than an explosion, theirs was one of subtly and wit. 

These were not your average posers. This pair was learned, aware and rarely minced words. 

The Oscar Wilde of the pop set, they wasted little time setting tongues wagging and feet dancing. From a frosty distance they took the weekly cultural temperature and commented upon it while setting disco balls ablaze. 

As they matured, their observations grew ever more veiled even as their shows grew more artful and elaborate, if fewer and farther between. 

Never has gay culture had more consistent, more vibrant, and more telling scribes.

To this day, their music serves as a textbook for gay intellectuals and hedonistic spirits alike. 

The gospel according to them )?

Here are three from the hip, dropping from Neil Tennant's lips.

The topic? The Gay Culture Trap

"When I was I younger I didn't want to be gay. Not because I was scared of the sexual thing; I didn't want to be a clone. Now this was in the late seventies."

"I didn't want to wear a checked shirt and grow a mustache - that's what you had to do, and everyone did."

"Because some people have sex with people of the same sex, an entire culture has been created, broadly speaking, out of oppression. Which in a rational world would not be an issue."

"A lot of what used to be known as gay culture - broadly speaking, homoeroticism and being camp - has been brought into mainstream culture. I think we should be moving to an era where it's just sex."

"I think there's an element where people get very comfortable in their ghetto. Which is fair enough."

"We hope we are moving toward a world where sexual orientation is not an issue, because we hate the idea of a gay ghetto. I think that it's a real shame that people become restricted by their sexuality or define their whole lives by their sexuality."

"To a certain extent, this... a celebration of individuality and that you can invent and reinvent yourself. You should have the power to be able to do that. Sexuality is a part of that. It should release you. It doesn't have to be an issue. It shouldn't box you in."

"We shouldn't feel restricted by our sexuality, and our sexuality doesn't have to be a cultural choice." 

It's A Sin - Pet Shop Boys

How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously? - Pet Shop Boys

The Pop Kids - Pet Shop Boys

And one last parting shot...

"I'm always uneasy with messages. I think if there is a message, it's about taking control of your life. Not becoming a victim. Be true to yourself."

Wonderland Burlesque's I Wish Quiz

Wonderland Burlesque's

 I Wish Quiz

Today's quiz is all about things you wish were real or that you could create and make a reality.

The people involved can be living or dead - it's your wish, so you get what you want.

Nothing's off the table. Let your imagination go. Open up your id. Make like Frozen and Let It Go!

So? Close your eyes, click your heels three times and...

Make a wish!

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1/ Movie you wish someone would make.

Remember the 1994 movie, Guarding Tess? It starred Shirley MacLaine as a former first lady of the United States and Nicolas Cage playing the Secret Service agent in charge of protecting her.

Yeah.

I want to do something similar. 

Only it's about the orange ogre (played by William Shatner) and a pair of Secret Service agents ordered to protect him, played by Wanda Sykes and Bridget Everett. Hank Azaria has a supporting role as the orange ogre's 'doctor.' A botox-filled Gwyneth Paltrow plays I-Stanka, Jennifer Lopez is Melanoma, a coked-out Steve Buscemi plays Cokehead Jr., Jennifer Coolidge as Cokehead Jr.'s girlfriend, Ben Affleck as Tweedle Dumb,  and a piece of Formica plays Kushner.   

Lots of fun with clandestine trips to The Red Door Clinic, scraping fast food off the walls, and playing 'hide the cocaine' with Cokehead Jr. In the end, the two agents stumble on the 15 boxes of missing classified documents... and that is when the hilarity really begins!

2/ Person you wish would star in a gay porn film.

Since I don't believe in straight actors playing gay men, that limits my choices just a bit... 

But I think I want Doogie Hauser, M.D. to get gang banged by The Pride Studio crew.

Yeah, Neil Patrick Harris, you bend over the back of that couch and take it up the man pussy like the little bitch we all know you truly want to be. 

No. Sorry. I really love the dude. So I mean all of this in the best way possible. 

I just really would like to see the cum run out of his tight little ass. 

Please excuse how graphic this is... but, yes, obviously, I've given this some thought.

3/ Songwriter you wish to write a song with.

I'd pick Janis Ian, but I don't think she has the patience to collaborate. Musically, she's so advanced, I would bore her to death and she'd just want to leave early.

I'd love to gather Bruce Roberts, Carole Bayer Sager, Peter Allen, and Melissa Manchester together, but we'd just end up falling all over each other, getting in each other's way.

So... I'd go with either Roberts (who I suspect wouldn't like me much) or Manchester (because we'd have a good laugh, if nothing else.)

So, Manchester... I'd want to tap her earth mother persona. 

4/ Music Duet you wish to hear.

There are so many... but - here's one.

Sam Smith and Alison Moyet.

It's a good marriage. He brings the fey upper tones, she brings her deep-basin alto. 

Together? They could sing anything. 

5/ Concert or event you wish existed

Gay-La-La-Palooza.

I want all the divas and queens present. It runs Wednesday thru Sunday. Headlining various nights: Elton John with The Pet Shop Boys and Erasure, kd lang with Melissa Ethridge, Vanessa Carlton and Brandi Carlile, Frank Ocean with Lil Nas X, The Scissor Sisters with Goldfrapp, and Janelle Monáe.  

There would be a Totally Queer tent, for acts like Sophie, Mina Caputo, Young M.A, Syd, Big Freedia, Ezra Furman, PWR BTTM, Kevin Abstract, Taco Cat, Pabllo Vittar, Ferras, Brockhampton and Anohi.

A tent for legacy acts like The Indigo Girls, Joan Jett, The Tom Robinson Band, Wendy & Lisa, Boy George, Tracy Chapman, Frenchie Davis, Ani DiFranco and Me'shell Ndegeocello,

A tent for all the drag queens who sing and slay... Trixie Mattel is the hostess! Ginger, Alaska and Jinkx. Peppermint, Willam, and Sharon Needles, too.

Ty Hendron, Rufus Wainwright, Wrabel, Peaches, Mika, Adam Lambert, Tegan and Sara, Pansy Division, Halsey, Tove Lo, Ricky Martin, Orville Peck, Chely Wright, Shamir, Troye Sivan, Sam Smith, Justin Tranter, A Great Big World... 

Just imagine the green room chatter!

Yes, it needs to be a gay old time for all.

Which means Morrissey isn't invited - because he'd just put the piss on everything.

6/ Artist you wish would paint your portrait.

Tamara de Lempicka.

Adore her work.

And... she'd make me look timeless.

And I've always wanted to be beautiful.

7/ Fashion Designer you wish would design a line of clothing exclusively for you.

Edith Head.

My life is a motion picture - well, not these days, but that could change!

I'd tell her... just go mad, darling. I want themes and hidden meanings.

Aww, the reality...

I'd just want Jill Sanders and a really fantastic dry cleaner. 

8/ Architect you wish would design you a home.

Kodasema - I adore Koda's micro homes. 

Another I would consider is a portable house by Ábaton Arquitectura.

I simply adore the economy of space, the lack of impact on the environment and the mobility factor.

Though I do worry about the bathroom situation, which is why I need mine specially designed. I don't do tiny bathrooms. I like high ceilings and lots elbow room. I really only need three rooms - an office/kitchenette, a studio/living room (a real piano is a must) and a big bathroom with a stackable washer/dryer. I can sleep anywhere. Even the floor.

It's what lies outside the house that is of more importance. I want to be out there in the air. And there needs to be a bit of integration between the two.

9/ A place you wish would remain the same forever.

You'd think I'd say the prairie, but no. It's nature's nature to change, grow, alter, diminish, transpire. 

I wouldn't deny such a beautiful place it's process. 

Nope.

I pick my basement studio. There is something timeless about it. I love it's flow and openness. I love how compact it is. And I love the sense of safety it provides. It's a bunker. 

It separates me from the world. 

That said, I do have renovation plans. It needs a bit of finish work and the kitchenette area is dire. I know exactly what I want, and have the financial means to accomplish it. I simply need to find the right person to do the work. Everybody I think to ask turns out to be a bit of a fuck up. I find the perfect sort of handy person, and we hire him to do work on one of our properties and before you know it, issues arise. 

So, not sure when I will pull the trigger. 

In the meantime... I feel safe. 

This place? It makes me happy.

10/ Pair of people you wish were running mates for the 2024 election

Ideally? Elizabeth Warren and AOC. 

They'd flush this country's toilet quite quick.

It would just be nice to hear from people who speak the truth for a change.

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And that's enough of me.

Okay, your turn.

Leave your answers in the comments section, or post on your blog and leave a link here.

That's all for today. Until next time...

Thanks for reading... and participating!

I Wish - Kusah

I Wish - Cher Lloyd