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Today is my birthday, thank you. It also happens to be the birthday of Stevie Wonder, Be a Arthur and Dennis Rodman. I was born in good company.
This year, my birthday falls on Friday the 13th. Not to worry as 13 has always been my lucky number.
I know many great Tauruses. My close friend Tracey had her birthday yesterday. My friends Gary Popkin and Greg Sullivan had birthdays this week as well.
Cher's birthday is exactly a week after mine. Ah, if we could turn back time! Grace Jones' is only six days away.
I'll turn 64 tomorrow. What a drag it is getting old -- as The Rolling Stones sang before they grew old! Sometimes I do look in the mirror and wonder who the old man looking back at me might be.
So wish me well, everyone as I continue on my journey! It's been a marvelous trip thus far and I hope to have further fabulous adventures in life.
Here's a haunting melody from Grace Jones on my Halloween Countdown.
"Libertango" is here for your Mischief Night -- or as we called it back in Paterson, NJ when I was growing up -- Goosey Night, meaning you might get "goosed;" that is, your butt might get pinched or tickled as a prank while you're on the street.
Here's Grace in your face with her new autobiography, I'll Never Write My Memoirs, as cheeky as its title suggests. Oh, and at around 400 pages, it's as juicy and revealing as I'd hoped it would be. It's unlikely you'll be disappointed.
The book takes its title from lyrics, written by Grace herself, in a song from her Nightclubbing album. This memoir is as outlandish as any of Grace's live performances. While she says scathing things about her long-time boyfriend Dolph Lundgren, for example, the book is also disarmingly touching, as when Grace writes about her abusive childhood in Jamaica.
Grace tells all, in her famously fearless fashion, about her years as a model, as a disco diva, a Studio 54 party animal, her involvement with Andy Warhol and the NYC art world, Hollywood and movie-making, her gay icon status and her gender-bending stage persona. She mournfully recounts the early days of the AIDS epidemic, of losing friends in the 1980s.
Grace Jones lived through it all. Her brushes with other celebrities are all detailed here. There isn't a dull moment in I'll Never Write My Memoirs, I will guarantee you that. There were parts where I wished Grace wouldn't move at such a gallop and give us more details. She has so much to say and so much to cover in her career that has spanned several decades. She even has some things to say to the likes of Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj. Listen up, girls! The book, now in hardcover only, includes pages full of Jones' personal photographs, most of them in color. I'll Never Write My Memoirs is available at Amzon.com, Barnes & Noble and at bookstores everywhere.
We now come to the end of our Halloween Countdown for 2013. Here is a rare tune for the dancefloor from the always-scary Grace Jones. It's from her movie, Vamp. Have a perfectly mischievous Mischief Night tonight and a Happy Halloween tomorrow!
Submitted for your approval for your Halloween party this year. "Love Bites" was a promotional single, never officially released, sung by Grace Jones for the film "Vamp." Pretty juicy, don't you think?
What does it take to make this old girl lose control? Unlike Patty Duke, it's likely not to be a hot dog.
The impression I have of Queen E watching the below performances is that she's having no fun. C'mon, honey, bust a move! I mean, Dame Shirley Bassey can't be all that hard for you to take! Granted, it looks like her last face-lift makes it difficult for her to keep her left eye open, but she still can belt it out! She's looking good plus she thoughtfully sang a song with the word "diamonds" in it for the occasion. Couldn't you let it rip with a big wooo? Or were you wondering, inspecting the exaggerated hand gestures, who this drag queen was?
Kylie was there. Sensitively did not sing "Time Bomb," given security issues and all. (No respectable videos have yet surfaced on YouTube of her Jubilee efforts, sadly. Anyhow, she's merely Australian. Suffice to give it a mention.)
Then, there was Grace in your face! Desperate to entertain you, Ms Jones sang an entire number while werqing a hula-hoop around her hips all the time (almost as well as you werq a tiara)! ("Slave to the Rhythm," I suspect, is actually an absolute fave of yours; don't tell me you haven't done the hoochie-coohie for Philip while lip-synching to that in your private bed chamber! It's probably what sent him to the hospital! Or maybe you were just pondering "what the fuck's with her?" as you laid eyes on the performance.)
Your demeanor seemed to say, "we are not entertained." (Neither was I, frankly; not sure why.) They may call you "your highness," but I doubt you've been as high as Grace. But, then, who knows, honey? They always say it's the quiet ones.
Below, YouTube captures Shirley and Gracie in all their Diamond Jubilee glory.
This is the opening of Pee Wee Herman's 1980s Christmas Special, originally broadcast on CBS. Has any Christmas special been gayer? I'm especially thinking of the opening production number with military chorus boys and '60s girl-group types (& Pee Wee, of course).
Certainly, no show had a gayer guest list (billed in the show). In this portion, there is the magnificent Grace Slick doing a riveting rendition of "The Little Drummer Boy."
By the way, that is a young Laurence Fishburne playing the part of Cowboy Curtis. Have fun!
In honor of the grass roots Occupy Wall Street movement, I offer up Miss Grace Jones once again, this time singing about cannibalism. The song, "Corporate Cannibal" is the lead single from Grace Jones' 10th studio album, Hurricane, originally released in 2008. Cannibalism is a metaphor for capitalism run amok; for corporate greed. "Pleased to meet you. Pleased to have you on my plate," Grace growls as this techno track opens. "Ill consume my consumers...."
Grace wrote the song, saying she was obsessed with the subject of corporate cannibalism. She's a man-eating machine here, or so she sings in the song's chorus. You can take a bite out of it, chew on it, devour it wantonly, or just dance to it as we enter the final week for My Halloween Countdown.
Ms Jones is scary. With her, Halloween is 365 days a year. "I've Seen that Face Before (Libertango)" is haunting, suave, moody; much like Grace herself.
My favorite Grace story from a few years back: She had sublet an apartment in a very exclusive London residence. The owners sued her for damages whence they returned. Among the complaints: spoons from their good sterling silverware were burnt and damaged "as if held over an open flame."
Grace's manager replied: "That's ridiculous! If Grace wanted to sterilize the spoons, she'd use the dishwasher like everyone else."
