Missing the Party

He was hoping to be in Sydney for tomorrow's Mardi Gras but alas business has delayed his visit. British music entrepreneur Simon Napier-Bell says he is disappointed to be missing his first Mardi Gras particularly as he was named as the UK LGBT (gay) Personality of The Year in 2009. .
Napier-Bell has discovered and managed some of the biggest names in pop music from the Yardbirds, Marc Bolan & T-Rex, Dusty Springfield and Wham and George Michael.

#In 1985 Whispers was a guest at the very first pop/rock concert in China- Wham- a ground  breaking event that had taken Simon two years of schmoozing Politburo members to pull off. It was a surreal occasion as several thousand Chinese audience, mainly party bigwigs and their families politely clapped after every song including Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.
Napier-Bell has now written several best-selling books about the music business and his 2003 book Black Vinyl White Powder is regarded as the definitive book on the pop music business. But he has now gone back even further with his latest book Ta- Ra -Ra- Boom- De Ay-the dirty business of popular music which charts the history of music from the 18th century.
(left : Simon with Sinead O'Connor)
Napier-Bell will be in Sydney on the 19th of this month with Irish singer Sinead O'Connor who he manages, for her one and only Australian concert at the Sydney Opera House.
Below is the song Simon penned with Vicki Wikham for Dusty Springfield and which was a hit for Elvis Presley also :  You Don't Have To Say You Love Me.
 Says Simon wistfully :"if I only had $1 for every time around the world I see drag queens miming to that song"!

Clover : Do As I say-Not As I Do

She's been the darling of the Inner City set now for years-Clover Moore, the dog collar wearing Sydney Lord Mayor and Independent State Member of Parliament for Sydney.
Moore wields considerable power occupying the two seats of power but her crown has been slipping of late.

A determination to drive through a plethora of separated bike lanes around  much of Sydney's congested and narrow streets has riled  local businesses and residents who previously supported her. The loss of hundreds of car parking spots and the wishful thinking that Sydney will transform into an Amsterdam style city with thousands of cyclists has gone down like a lead balloon-not unlike Clover herself when she took to a bike to demonstrate the safety of riding and promptly crashed to the ground breaking her wrist.

Her actions over the burgeoning city nightlife  has her constituents fuming.

Moore  pushed through early closing times for licensed premises-2am, away from the 6am closing time. It was a disaster resulting in tens of thousands of revellers surging onto the streets ready to continue partying but no-where to go. The laws were soon repealed.

Everyone is only too well aware of Clover's army of wardens that cruise the city raising millions of dollars in fines for parking and a myriad of other offenses . Patrons of establishments who may wander onto the footpath with drink in hand are soon pounced upon not unlike the frozen yogurt seller at Taylor's Square who received fines for thousands of dollars for allowing customers to linger on stools ten minutes after closing time. 

Fortunately for the esteemed Lord Mayor, her trusty rangers were nowhere to be seen a fortnight ago when she attended as an honoured guest, the Harbour City Bears Mardi Gras art exhibition at the tiny Monstrosity Gallery in Bourke Street where a lavish and little used bike lane forces cars travelling in the opposite direction to slow to a snail's pace.

The stresses of office probably explain why Clover Moore happily chatted away on the footpath to art patrons whilst sipping a glass of excellent chilled ----- perhaps unaware of her own Alcohol Free Zone signs hovering in the background.

editor's note: our source contacts us in a great flurry of regret fearful of recriminations from the city burghers or even worse-the Harbour City Bears will wipe him/her from their guest list. We can never know what liquid was in the glass clutched by the esteemed Lord Mayor.

The ever vigilant city rangers did however strike a blow for law and order at another small art gallery not far from the Monstrocity in previous weeks and papered it with fines for several thousands of dollars for a similar infraction -allowing patrons to spill onto the footpath.

A newspaper of note-City Hub carries a similar tale to ours and says the drink was in fact, Chardonnay ( Hunter Valley we hope).