Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip: Freddy Mercury

Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip: 

Freddy Mercury

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!

One such talented soul?

The clouds parted, the sun shone, heaven descended and there was...

Freddy Mercury.

Every great queen knows how to make an entrance, but keeping the show going time after time?

Well, that's where genius enters the picture.

Freddy - we hardly knew ye. And you meant to keep it that way... almost right up to the end.

Not since Liberace has one been more out in the history of show biz. But this diva kept his thoughts to himself... mostly. The occasional slips are rather priceless, leaving know question which side of the fence his crumpet was buttered on. 

Bombastic, bigger than life, a true showman. 

And that voice? How many octaves, dearie? 

Given all that, he could have been a total creep. But he really just wanted to have a nice home for his kitty cats and the love of a hunky lorry driver... (or two.) 

No doubt, Freddy was as bitchy as he was sweet. The man had strong opinions. Strong tastes. Like his every stage gesture, it was go big, or stay at home.

And we loved him... for every overheated moment, every grand facade, every pompous, stolen, musical moment.

With great pride, we can say...

...he was one of us!

The gospel according to him?

Well, here are three from the hip, dropping from his lips.

The Topics Going To Extremes

“I always knew I was a star. And now, the rest of the world seems to agree with me.”

“The reason we’re successful, darling? My overall charisma, of course.”

“You either have the magic or you don’t. There’s no way you can work up to it.”

“I love the fact that I can make people happy, in any form. Even if it’s just an hour of their lives, if I can make them feel lucky or make them feel good, or bring a smile to a sour face, that to me is worthwhile.”

“What you must understand is that my voice comes from the energy of the audience. The better they are, the better I get.”

“I’m just a musical prostitute, my dear.”

“I guess I've always lived the glamorous life of a star. It 's nothing new - I used to spend down to the last dime.

“I’m hopeless with money; I simply spend what I’ve got.”

“I like to be surrounded by splendid things.”

“I want to lead the Victorian life, surrounded by exquisite clutter.”

I have fun with my clothes onstage; it's not a concert you're seeing, it's a fashion show.”

“I dress to kill, but tastefully.”

“We're a very expensive group; we break a lot of rules. It's unheard of to combine opera with a rock theme, my dear .”

“And, we have no such thing as a budget anymore. Our manager freaks when we show him the bill. We're lavish to the bone, but all our money goes back into the product.”

“The lavish presentation appeals to me, and I've got to convince the others.”

“The concept of Queen is to be regal and majestic. Glamour is part of us, and we want to be dandy.”

“Money can not buy happiness, but it can damn well give it!”

“The most important thing is to live a fabulous life. As long as it’s fabulous I don’t care how long it is.”

“Excess is part of my nature. Dullness is a disease.”

“If it’s planned, it’s boring.”

“I’m very emotional. I think I may go mad in several years time.”

“I really need danger excitement. I’m never scared of going out on a limb.”

“I’m a very emotional person, a person of real extremes, and that’s often destructive both to myself and others.”

“I’m not afraid to speak out, and say things that I want to do, or do the things that I want to do, so um, I think in the end, being natural, and being, being actually genuine is what wins.”

The Great Pretender - Freddy Mercury

Barcelona - Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé

I'm Going Slightly Mad - Queen

And one last parting shot...

"I'm as gay as a daffodil, my dear!”

“Rod Stewart, Elton John and I were going to form a band called Hair, Nose & Teeth after the three of us. But it hasn’t happened because none of us can agree on the order of the words!”

“By the way, I do not wear a hose. My hose is my own. No coke bottle, nothing stuffed down there.”

Wonderland Burlesque's Let's All Go To The Movies: Certain Girls Edition

Wonderland Burlesque's

Let's All Go To The Movies

Certain Girls Edition

What can I say? Nobody turns heads like certain girls!

Give 'em guns. Give 'em a location. Give 'em a purpose in life...

And they will give back unto you hours and hours of pure entertainment enjoyment. At least that's what the movie poster promises.

Sit back, relax, and let's take a look at what these girls have to offer on this Certain Girls Edition of Wonderland Burlesque's Let's Go To The Movies!

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Les Girls

(With a cast like that and a score by Cole Porter to boot, you wouldn't think this one could possibly miss. But it did! Turns out it was super expensive to make. According to MGM records the film made $2,415,000 in the US and Canada and $1,450,000 elsewhere, but because of its high production cost lost $1,635,000.)

"Join 'Les Girls' and see a world of entertainment!"

(The screenplay was loosely based on an article that appeared in The Atlantic - a memoir of Vera Caspary's time as a touring dancer. Capsary joked that she was the highest paid writer in the world, as she was paid $80,000 for writing just two words: 'Les Girls!')

(Kay Kendall won a Golden Globe for her role in this film. Kendall met actor Rex Harrison when the two appeared opposite one another in the film, The Constant Husband. They married. A few years later Kendall was diagnosed with myeloid leukemia, information kept from Kendall, who mistakenly believed she was suffering from an iron deficiency. Rex Harrison cared for Kendall until her death at the age of 32.)

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The Harvey Girls

"MGM's musical romance of daring days!"

"It's the Harvey Girls vs. the wicked Alhambra Girls."

(This is about a bunch of waitresses who have a feud going with a bunch of dance hall girls.) 

(Originally conceived as a dramatic vehicle for Lana Turner, but after seeing the stage musical Oklahoma, it was decided to turn it into a musical for Judy Garland. Garland wanted to do a different picture opposite Fred Astaire, but was convinced this was a better vehicle.) 

"Hear Judy sing On The Atchison, Topeka and The Santa Fe"

(That song won an Academy Award for Best Original Song.)

(Actress Ann Sothern was supposed to play the Angela Lansbury role, but bowed out due to  personal problems. Lucille Ball's name was also attached to the film at one point.)

(Despite Lansbury being able to sing quite well, her singing voice was dubbed by Virginia Rees. And she wasn't the only one to suffer such a fate. The film marked the film debut of Cyd Charisse, whose singing voice was also dubbed, by Marion Doenges.)

(Virginia O'Brien was pregnant at the time filming began, causing several scenes with Ray Bolger to be cut from the film, thus explaining why her character disappears halfway through the film.)

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Cuban Rebel Girls

"Straight from behind rebel lines!"

(Filmed in Cuba, this marks Flynn's final film appearance. Sympathetic to the Cuban Revolution, the actor spent many days in the company of Fidel Castro.)

"Errol Flynn stars as himself and presents..."

"Flynn's latest!"

"A dramatic moment in his mad dash thru life... bursting with romance and adventure!"

"Beverly Aadland as the young and beautiful girl who follows her lover into the thick of the Cuban Revolution!"

"Errol Flynn in his last picture. 

Filmed during the heaviest fighting of the Cuban revolution. 

"See Beverly Aadland, errol Flynn's 17 yr. old protégé in her first starring role.

(Beverly Aadland was, of course, the 50 year-old Flynn's girlfriend. She was only 17 and there by his side when he died of a heart attack that same year. )

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Gun Girls

"Girls without shame, defying society and law!"

"Gang girls on the loose."

(Jean Ann Lewis was better known as Eve Brent. She would go on to become the 12th actress to play Jane in a couple of Tarzan movies, as well as three episodes of the television show. She had a lengthy career. Films of note: 1980's Fade To Black and 1999's The Green Mile.)

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Prowl Girls

"Young girls embarrassed, degraded and deflowered in hippie-land's sex pads!"

(Hippie-land's sex pads? Sign me up!)

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Chained Girls

"Unnatural love of women for women! A daring film about lesbianism today!"

(From the producer of Glen Or Glenda, this exploitation film claims to use 'hidden camera' footage depicting a lesbian initiation. Daring stuff for the time - 1965. That ruse, the hidden camera, was frequently used to get around the censors.)

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The Beach Girls

"Look who just invaded Uncle Carl's beach house..."

(Jeana Tomisino is a native of Wisconsin who went on to notoriety as one of the three girls featured in ZZ Top's iconic Legs video, as well as, Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month in November of 1980.)

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Sweater Girls

"A hilarious look at the nifty 50's."

(Once 1973's American Graffiti became a hit, the 1950's became a hot commodity. This 1978 film features future Dallas star Charlene Tilton.)

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Calendar Girls

"One for every night of the year."

"Make an all-night date with some all-out chicks!"

(Great poster, but a film I could find out nothing about. Not even listed on IMDb.)

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The Single Girls

"Half-clad, all bad!"

"If they couldn't get him easy... the got him hard..."

(Great tag lines.)

(Claudia Jennings is primarily remembered as Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for November of 1969 and also Playmate of the Year for 1970. She appeared in seventeen B-movies before she died in a car accident in 1979.)

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The Festival Girls

"Hollywood stars go wild at The Riviera Film Festivals!"

"Completely uncut and uncensored."

Valentin out-bares the barest of Bardot!"

"Banned even in Europe!"

"The orgy scene makes LaDolce Vita's look like a Sunday school picnic!"

(Known as 'the German Jane Mansfield', Barbara Valentin would have a lengthy career in mostly exploitative films, though she also worked with Rainer Werner Fassbinder. In the 1980's, she became a close friend of Freddy Mercury and stars in Queen's video of the song, It's A Hard Life. Indeed it was. Valentin died of a stroke in Munich at the age of 61.)

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Mama's Dirty Girls

"They fight dirty... they leave dirty..."

"Men were just meat to be used and abused!"

(I like these girls' attitude!)

(One of my favorite actresses of all-time is in this movie. Kewpie Doll-voiced Gloria Grahame stars as Mama. Grahame had a glorious career during Hollywood's golden age - twice nominated for an Academy Award, one win - which was sadly derailed when it was revealed she was sleeping with her 13 year-old stepson. She also fell victim to an obsession with her looks, going under the knife countless times, yielding evermore less than desired results. Ah, but you gotta love her!)

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Cemetery Girls

"They rise at night for more than a bite."

"Notice: Due to the unusual subject matter and explicit presentation of this motion picture, only mature adults should attend."

"Crazed women desperate for satisfaction."

(I don't know if the word 'mature' is the word that springs to mind when I think about who might be interested in actually seeing this movie.)

(Also known under the title Vampire Hookers, the film stars veteran film star John Carradine, who never met a paycheck he didn't cash!)

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And that's all for now.

Tune in next week!

Same time, same channel!

A Certain Girl - Warren Zevon

Wonderland Burlesque's 'The Big Interview' Quiz - Part Three

Wonderland Burlesque's

'The Big Interview' Quiz

Part Three

We are done with the arts. Today, we're moving on to the other areas of life. And you know what I've learned? That, for this particular sort of quiz, twelve questions are simply too much, so I am going to break this section into three parts - with only five per quiz. Why? Because sometimes less is more. Twelve such questions felt overwhelming. My bad. I learned. 

But that is the only thing that has changed...

Imagine if you were a television, radio or newspaper reporter and it was your job to conduct interviews with people you either admire intensely or from whom you would like to demand answers.

That's the fantasy that fuels today's quiz. I want to know whom you would like to interview, and just as importantly, what is it you want to know. What's the burning issue? What's that one question you're dying to get the answer to?

Explain your reasons for picking the individual. What is it about them that intrigues you? Approach this as if they have to answer the questions you ask them! They have no choice. They have to answer and answer honestly. And they can't walk out on you.

Let's begin! Here are the next five:.

An American Politician

So, this was tough. I don't want to talk to any of them. I think they're a den of thieves. Liars. People who have sold their souls. Even the good ones... the ones on the right side of things. 

But there is one man that sprang to mind, that I would love to talk to.

Jimmy Carter. 

He was the last politician whom I believe was involved for all the right reasons. He was there to serve. To be of service. He wanted nothing for himself. He simply wanted what was best for all of us. 

Of course, he was a fish out of water. He didn't understand how Washington D.C. worked or how underhanded the opposition plays. He thought that by simply asking everyone to work together for the betterment of the country, they would. But he was dealing with a lot of people who would rather burn the whole thing down before compromising.  

I want him to tell me, honestly, what he thinks of our current situation. Where's the hope? How do we fix it? 

And I'm telling him right up front that 'prayer' is not a solution and that religion in politics is one of the reasons we're in the mess we're in. So peddle that elsewhere. Wishful thinking isn't going to cut it. 

I want to know if he feels that America, as my generation grew up believing it to be - is over. Gone. Something that cannot be resuscitated. 

What does he see taking its place? 

And then I want him to share what he believes is the one thing or area we can concentrate on in order to right this damaged ship. 

I believe he's a wise man. I think he's seen it all. I feel he's capable of analyzing it all in a fair manner. So, I would like to know what he honestly sees as our future as a nation.

An International Political Figure

I also struggled with this. 

I want to confront the true a-holes, but what a waste of time that would be. People like Jair Bolsonaro aren't the sort that would be swayed by reason or common sense. He doesn't even understand the value of the rainforest. How do you talk to someone like that?

How people like that ever end up in a position of power is a mystery to me. I've never understood ruthless people. They're monsters. 

And there's only one way to get rid of a monster.

Monarchies bore me. I don't see their place in this current world except as a sort of lure for gullible tourists. Other than putting their faces on gift shop merch like a thimble or a shot glass? What good are they? All they do is perpetuate the idea that some people are born into privilege and that the rest of us need to honor and respect that privilege without challenging it. Utter nonsense. 

I guess I will talk to Germany's Angela Merkel. 

She's about to leave the stage. 

I want to know what she saw when she looked at Germany as she came into office and what did she help alter? What problems remain which concern her most? What does she consider her finest moment on the political stage and her greatest failure? 

And, of course... I want to know what she thinks of America. What did she think of the orange ogre? What does she think will become of us?

She's a smart lady. I think she has a lot to share.

An Activist

I do have someone in mind. And while I share the general gist of her vision, what intrigues me most are her accounting practices. I would love to know where the money is going. But that's rather negative and now is not the time to focus on negativity.

No, I have to pick someone I believe in. 

Oh. I know. Stacey Abrams. I think the world of her and I need her to do what she did in Georgia on a national scale. I know she's just one of many responsible for the miracle in Georgia, but she's the spokesperson of that movement... the right to vote. 

I'm sure plenty have interviewed her and asked about her methods. I want to know if she has a vision, a plan to mobilize voters throughout the country. And I know the media ardently feels that legislation being put in place to limit access to voting is going to impact elections, but is that truly the case? How much of what the media is saying is valid and what can be done to in the face of such restrictions? 

If someone wants to really vote - can they be stopped?

I don't know why I think she has all the answers. That could be a media fabrication, too, huh?  

A Humanitarian

Kristine Pearson

Here's an unsung one. 

I remain a big fan of radio. Growing up, it served as an inexpensive and portable means of gaining knowledge. I still listen, usually when cleaning or cooking or as I do my morning bathroom routine. Not talk radio. Blech. Just oldies stations. For me? Radios are tiny auditory time machines.

For the people of Africa, they are something much more vital. Education and information remain a struggle in developing nations, A single radio can make a huge difference for these impoverished people. Kristine Pearson, the executive director of the FreePlay Foundation recognized radios as a means of meaningfully impacting the everyday lives of those living in poverty and isolation.

Pearson was part of a team that developed a radio which would allow villages without electricity access to the airwaves. "There are now almost 100,000 Lifeline radios committed to various humanitarian projects in developing countries, with over two million listeners."

I want to learn all about the development of this particular radio. How does it work? How did she go about finding people to make this happen? And does she have any firsthand stories regarding the impact her work has had on people's lives? What were the results? What's been learned?

A Philosopher 

Immanuel Kant

An advocate of reason as the source for morality, what distinguishes Kant is his innate desire to bridge the gap between rationalists like Descartes and empiricists like Hume. In doing so he established  a middle ground that recognized the value of human experience without leading to skepticism.

 
His 'Categorical Imperative' centers on the idea that "there are intrinsically good and moral ideas to which we all have a duty, and that rational individuals will," by default and through reasoning, feel morally obligated to do the right thing. He also advocated the belief that "the world can live peacefully by means of universal democracy and international cooperation."

Such schools of thought are one of the reasons I wish anyone seeking public office would have to pass some kind of knowledge test before running. Yes, an individual could study just to pass the test, but then they would be exposed to and have to comprehend what it is they are studying. I have a feeling people like Matt Gaetz or Marjorie Taylor Green would be incapable of passing such a test. But I would encourage them to try because then they would be exposed to actual ideas and concepts as opposed to being allowed to assume office and behave irrationally without regard to their responsibilities and the consequences of their actions. 

It's through education that people develop empathy. It's through knowledge that people develop a conscience. To serve in public office? You should have a degree of both.

My interview with Kant? It would be a puff piece. I'd want him to show me what he does in his down time. What are his hobbies? What kind of music does he enjoy? What's his favorite food? What does he consider his favorite chair?

When we think about philosophers, we frequently lose sight of the fact that they are human beings with full lives and not fountains spouting profound thought. 

It would be kind of a kick to know the last time Kant bought new underwear. 

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And that's it for me.

Okay, your turn. Leave your answers in the comments section. Explain them if you wish.

Man, this is difficult! It's like doing school work. I know it's something of a haul, but let's do this and then we'll get back to something light and fun in a couple of weeks. 

The thing is... our brains grow complacent. Because we are constantly and so easily fed so much information, we sort of stop thinking for ourselves. I think that's what I'm working through as I try to answer these 'interview' quizzes; the topics touch on things I haven't thought about for years and years. 

My head? There's a lot of cobwebs in there I never noticed until now. 

I guess a little challenge is good for us.

Thanks for reading!

The Spirit of Radio - Rush

Radio Ga Ga - Queen