Thursday 30 July 2009

So very sad, victim to the economic crisis

I am so very sad today.

I am having to close my baby down.

I started a streaming internet radio station and grew it to have over 20,000 listeners tune in.

Sadly, I am unable to fund it any longer as I am not working at present and my limited finances can no longer support the station which was growing at a fantastic rate of 50% per month!

I tried to offer advertising on the station and website, I also tried to secure donations from the listeners but as much as everyone loved the music, they probably like many others could not part with cash to help us out.

I tried to find sales people but as I could not offer wages, just commissions, no one took up the offer in the harsh economic climate.

I have loved building the dream and having it loved by so many people around the world, 144 countries at last count.

That is why I am so sad to close it down.

I had such great plans, so many things I wanted to do, so many wonderful ideas.

So I am in the process of closing it all down, its still up and running for a few hours more.

Then it will vanish, the website will be pointed to a holding page and in a couple of months the domains will expire.

A sad day.

Any millionaires got a spare cheque they don't need? :-)

Thursday 2 July 2009

Danny La Rue, sadly passed earlier last month

I didn't write on the passing of another legend and I just wanted to say something about them.



Danny La Rue wanted to be remembered as a female impersonator and not a drag artist.

He was certainly more than a niche act and certainly in the UK there aren't many who don't know his name.

I never had the chance to see him on stage, a place I think he felt most at home and I only knew of him via his few television appearances in the 70s and 80s, although his career spanned many decades.



I found a film he did called Our Miss Fred not so long ago. He is a triumph playing a British soldier at the time of WWII in France who ends up having to dress and act like a woman in order to escape and bring important invasion news back to Britain. He is amazing, as both the soldier and his female impersonations, his costumes are stunning and he is a riot. If you have never seen the movie, go and get it and if you love british comedy you will love this, it is now one of my favorite comedy films.



Take a look at a clip of the movie and Danny on YouTube

Clip of Danny singing 'My Old Man's A Dustman' on the Good Old Days, via YouTube

I wish I had the chance to see him live on stage and sadly there is not that much of his career recorded as far as I know which is a major loss to the world.

If anyone knows of any other dvd's, etc please let me know.

Dropping like flies!

The stars appear to be falling from the skies in the last few days with more and more deaths being reported all kicked off by the shock announcement of Michael Jacksons death the other day.



One of my favourite comedy actors has passed, Mollie Sugden, whom many of you will remember playing Mrs Slocombe, from the hit BBC sitcom Are You Being Served? based on the goings on at Grace Bros. department store. The show itself was based on the real life Simpsons department store in Piccadilly, now Waterstones bookshop. (Take a look in the real shop and see why the lifts were up a flight of stairs in the show!)



I also loved That's My Boy where she is a mother who has given up her child for adoption, only to find him again in later life but insists on calling him by his original name of Wayne, much to his dismay! As someone who was also adopted this was the first time I remember main stream television tackaling the subject and the fact that it was in a comedy series really helped me feel less unusual I remember.



Also was the series, Come Back Mrs Noah, where poor Molly is Mrs Noah a British housewife inspecting Britains latest space vehicle (there have been so many LOL) in 2050 and is accidentally blasted into space. That show wasn't a hit but I do remember enjoying it once you got past the first episode. I can still see her shooting around the spacecraft in zero G on a jet of perfume, LOL



So many of my memories of Molly are filled with laughter that her passing is particularly sad.

As someone on the BBC website said today, who will look after Mrs Slocombe's pussy now?