GaGa Christmas

Lady GaGa and Julian Assange

Is Julian Assange one of Lady GaGa's Little Monsters?. Maybe, but it seems GaGa is certainly a fan of Assange's.

Yesterday she visited Julian at the Ecuador Embassy in London and spent five hours chatting to him. It was also the day a magistrate said those who put up Assange's bail of around $220,000 must forfeit the money. They include Australian journalists John Pilger and Phillip Knightley and Jemima Khan. Perhaps GaGa will chip in as well.

Lady GaGa : The Tattoo

Lady GaGa at her perfume launch: photograph www.patrickmcmullan.com

Yoko Ono at GaGa's perfume launch

 Lady GaGa being tattooed at her perfume launch in New York. Pics are by the brilliant photographer Terry Richardson who is a friend of La GaGa.

exclusive : Lady GaGa performs new song

Here is the wondrous Lady GaGa who has put the fun and monster back into pop music, singing her new song Princess Die in Melbourne ten hours ago:

GaGa Lunches

 Our favourite pop star Lady GaGa went to one of our favourite restaurant for lunch : Manta on the Finger Wharf at Woolloomoloo. She didn't disappoint.

Celeb Sightings in Sydney

Olivia, hubby John Esterling, Delta Goodren at the Downs Syndrome fundraiser

An unusually busy Sydney wet weekend with a charity ball, the finale of the Sydney Film Festival at the State Theatre and new superstar Chris Hemsworth taking a day off to surf at Maroubra Beach before the launch of his film Snow White and The Huntsman this Tuesday at Westfield in Bondi Junction.

Our favourite Academy Award types were at the State Theatre including Oscar winner Emile Sherman (producer of The King's Speech), nominee Jackie Weaver and Hugo Weaving. 

Emile Sherman

Hugo Weaving

Still celebrating his 25 years on TV, celeb interviewer Richard Wilkins hosted the 25 Year Anniversary Fundraiser for Downs Syndrome at Fox Studios and that brought out Hollywood types like Nicole Kidman and Olivia Newton John plus the judges from The Voice-Seal, Delta Goodren, Keith Urban and Joel Madden (they sang for their supper). 
Meanwhile Lady GaGa jetted in from Melbourne and did a walk about outside the Park Hyatt Hotel greeting a few hundred excited Little Monsters and posed for snaps with them.

major Hollywood eye candy at Maroubra Beach yesterday

And that's just the weekend!

Julia Gillard And Those Lesbian Rumours

First Lady Gaga referred to Australian prime minister Julia Gillard as a lesbian before being corrected earlier this year and now a viral email has been doing the rounds with an exert from Ms Gillard's profile when she was a university student activist which states: " I understand homosexual rights as I am in a lesbian relationship".



But the Shuttle has tracked down the genuine exert and publishes it now it for the first time (at left) which shows the fake profile has been doctored.

Who could have created the fake ?. One rumour doing the rounds is that it was a conservative Coalition MP. Surely not !

Carey Mulligan : Best Dressed

She's just taken up residence in Sydney for the next few months-beautiful British actress Carey Mulligan who is to star opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Baz Luhrmann's $120M 3D re-make of The Great Gatsby.

Now she's been named in Vanity Fair's International Best-Dressed List 2011 alongside HSH Princess Charlene of Monaco, Justin Timberlake , Carla Bruni-Sakozy, Lady GaGa, HRH The Duchess of Cambridge, Colin Firth, Stavros Niarchos and the Shuttle's favourite The King of Bhutan.
Photographs : Vanity Fair (C)

                                                                    

Publishing Pitfalls #1

Two months ago we wrote of the doom and gloom at the venerable Fairfax Media publishing house who produce two of the world's oldest and most respected newspapers The Sydney Morning Herald and the Melbourne Age.

As crikey.com.au revealed Fairfax plan to cut up to 200 staff including journalists and sub-editors at the same time they are reaping in tens of millions of dollars in annual profits. Fairfax want to out source sub editing to Pagemasters part of AAP who are in turn 45% owned by News Corp currently the subject of a police and parliamentary investigation in the UK over hacking and whose boss Rupert Murdoch was attacked by a cream pie wielding comedian yesterday.

One complaint over the Fairfax cuts that will further concentrate media power into fewer hands is that standards are likely to fall. Particularly at an organisation like Fairfax which has maintained a long history of high standards not only in reporting news but in presentation.

Fairfax managers should heed our warnings. Just a few days ago we pointed out how the web-site of the Daily Telegraph carries the odd story of how Lady GaGa appeared at the Sydney Opera House although it was in fact the Sydney Town Hall where she wowed 1000 invited guests. The clanger still remains.

There was a reason Lady GaGa chose the Town Hall-it boasts the world's biggest and most magnificent organ which GaGa pounded away on to great effect during her concert.

Is the curse of the absent sub-editor spreading ?. This series of posts in one of favourite newspaper websites London Evening Standard owned by the Russian entrepreneur Alexander Lebedev  caught our eye this morning :

When Bette Midler Attacks!

On Sunday the Shuttle ran the tale of how Lady GaGa made a dramatic entrance onto the stage of the Monster Hall (Sydney Town Hall) in a wheel chair wearing a mermaid tail.

We pointed out that this was remarkably similar to Bette Midler's act from over 20 years ago when she appeared at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

Midler has warmed to the theme and been twittering her fans : I’m not sure @ladygaga knows that I’ve performed my mermaid in a wheelchair for millions of people — and many of them are still alive,”

“Dear @ladygaga I’ve been doing singing mermaid in a wheelchair since 1980-You can keep the meat dress and the firecracker tits, mermaid’s mine.” Ouch !.

Everything Old is New Again

The media lapped up the Lady GaGa promotion and fell into lock step in the way that the Australian press is famed for reporting every action of the diva word for word as though it was an earth shattering news event.

Ms GaGa entered the stage at the beginning of her Sydney Town Hall concert (note to the Sunday Telegraph-not the Sydney Opera House as claimed on your website) in a wheelchair wearing a mermaid's tail.

Bette Midler 1991

'Brilliant'! they proclaimed with one voice.

One noted tabloid scribe described the colourful entertainer as "the most original performer the world has ever seen "! 
Not quite. As you can see from our pic above of Lady GaGa in her wheelchair entrance, it's remarkably similar to another entertainer-Bette Midler who 20 years ago premiered her show at the Sydney Entertainment Centre by errr..arriving on stage-in a wheelchair wearing a mermaid's tail.

Lady GaGa 2011

Hack Watch # 1: Earth To News Corp

We know last week Lady GaGa took Sydney by storm much in the way Oprah Winfrey did late last year. However what is wrong with this report today at telegraph.com.au ?:


"IF YOU'RE into pop music, it doesn't get much better than Lady Gaga. Lada Gaga at the Opera House
And as far as live shows go, it doesn't get much bigger or better than Lady Gaga in such an intimate venue as the Sydney Opera House.
With a guest list of just over 1000 people - most of whom were competition winners - a select group of less than 200 celebs packed the venue balcony for Lady Gaga's only official Sydney show last week.
For the occasion, the iconic venue was renamed the Sydney Monster Hall - a reference to Lady Gaga's legion of fans"


This is Sydney's "iconic venue" the Sydney Opera House :  










and this is the Sydney Town Hall dubbed "Sydney Monster Hall "
last week for Lady GaGa's concert

We reckon they look different.

question for 'Insider' : which one these two is Lady GaGa and which one is a journalist who got their facts wrong ?
                                          

Lady GaGa & Sarah Ferguson told to Shut Up !

Ga Ga checks in

and checks out

Not everyone was mesmerised by the Lady GaGa whirlwind as the diva swept through Sydney over the past three days.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports GaGa was pelted with eggs after her performance at ARQ nightclub on Tuesday evening as she left  via a lane way at the rear of the club surrounded by fans. Apparently an irate neighbour furious with all the noise made their sentiments felt from a window high above the commotion.

It's reminiscent of the time Sarah, the Duchess of York was in Sydney and was hired to promote Rupert Murdoch's cable TV network Foxtel. Around ten years ago the 200,000th subscriber was to be connected and a media event was organised in the seaside suburb of Clovelly.

An electricity manhole was opened in the street outside the lucky subscriber's house and Fergie did her duty, clambering into the hole to flick a switch to activate the connection as the occasion was to be broadcast live on Foxtel and Sky News. The assembled hacks crowded around jostling and pushing as they tried to get a good vantage point as a PR operative on a microphone introduced Sarah.

Suddenly a window in a nearby building was flung upon and an elderly woman leaned out and yelled "what's all that bloody racket down there about?"

Foxtel PR flacks rushed over and asked the woman to keep quiet telling her a very important person was about to give a speech. The woman responded : "I wouldn't care if you had the bloody Prime Minister or that silly Duchess woman there you can pull your heads in and shut up " as an egg landed squarely on the head of an earnest looking publicist.

Jack Vidgen

Accompanying Lady GaGa on her trip was the US blogger Perez Hilton who has slimmed down and was looking remarkably fit compared to his visit 3 years ago.
Here's a film of Perez on an empty Bondi Beach :

Perez  features blond bombshell Jack Vidgen ( he was at Lady Ga Ga's concert) on his website. Jack gave another stellar performance on Tuesday on Australia's Got Talent with his rendition of Adele's Set Fire To The Rain and we have the video below followed by fellow teen sensation in his first public appearance Ronan Parke singing up a storm in front of thousands and mincing sashaying down the stage like an old trouper.

Ronan Parke

Going Ga Ga-Lady GaGa on Our 'Lesbian' Prime Minister

photo : Patrick McMullan www.patrickmcmullan.com  http://pmc-mag.com/

It's a sad fact but whenever a celeb comes to Sydney or Melbourne all life as we know it ceases. And so it is with Lady GaGa in Sydney on a three day photo opportunity and taking the town by storm.

arriving at Nevermind

The Shuttle went to the Channel Nine studios for GaGa's interview with Tracey Grimshaw and was pleasantly surprised when the great pop star performed singing two songs in a giant perspex box with a minimum of backing,

and leaving Nevermind

And she was good, bloody good and far better than other unnamed pop goddesses (although the name Madonna springs to mind). Yesterday GaGa tweeted her fans with non too subtle messages about the gay clubs Nevermind and Arq which she duly turned up to last night. She arrived in one outfit and departed in another. At both clubs. That's four outfits for the cameras who obliged.

Earlier in the evening Lady GaGa went to the Town Hall and received a certificate proclaiming her an honorary citizen from Lord Mayor Clover Moore for her work for gays and lesbians (she tweeted "just do it" to local politicians referring to gay marriage).  She also made a gaffe during her interview with Grimshaw and wondered why the Prime Minister Julia Gillard as a lesbian didn't support gay marriage. That didn't make it to air.

The majority of those who queued from 3pm for tickets to Arq and Nevermind -both gay clubs, were heterosexual teens but it's the thought that counts. GaGa sang two songs at Arq. Tomorrow night she gives a special show for 1000 fans at the Town Hall and by what we've seen so far, it should be one special night.Not bad for a singer who came to Sydney in 2009 as a support act for The Pussycats.

Go to Channel Nine's A Current Affair website to watch the Lady GaGa interview and performance.

A Current Affair