Attack of The Clones

Whispers feels a Silly Season may be upon us with the claims Hollywood Heart throb Zac Efron has been "spotted in Byron Bay". The claim emerged in the MailOnline, renowned for it's reliability (hey- they nick stuff from us !).
They claim Zafron has been tooling around the "hippy paradise". Hippy paradise?. Perhaps 30 years ago. Byron Bay is a Millionaire's Paradise these days with a run down house (if you can find one ) in the Hinterland going for $2Million.

Fortunately a "social influencer" ( what that?) was on hand as a witness claiming "'Don't mean to alarm anyone but Zac Efron was literally eating at the same cafe as me when this was taken,' she wrote." To prove her point she took a snap, so easy these days of smart phones, of the Hollywood star herself.

Only just a couple of years ago the star of Aquaman  Jason Momoa was also spotted in Byron Bay, errr except it was in fact some geezer who appeared on The Bachelorette - Nathan Favro, as our screen shot from the always reliable Daily Mail shows. Well they're both very hairy so easy to confuse.

It was maybe 15 years ago Sydney's media went haywire and descended upon the          Woollahra Sailing Club when word spread like a bush fire that Sex & The City star Sarah Jessica Parker was spotted sipping cocktails at the bar. The TV show was at the height of it's fame and yes- Whispers went as well.  It was pretty obvious it wasn't Sarah Jessica but someone who did look remarkably like her. No matter how many times we told the assembled paparazzi and scribes their dreams would be dashed they were having none of it and the Daily Telegraph's Sydney Confidential gossip column snared an exclusive interview with the young lady ( a UK tourist) about her reasons for slipping into town. She played along loving every moment and it took 2 days for Sydney Con to back down and admit their mistake.

Bette Midler                             John Denver                    

              left: Hugh Grant      Rupert Everett                        

Whispers knows what it's like. Around 30 years ago while peering into a Harrods window in Knighsbridge we became aware we were being stalked. Finally the man built up the courage to come over and said "you are John Denver yes? Can I have an autograph? ".  "Of course" we replied grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled To my adoring fan- signed- Bette Midler thrust it in his hand and jumped into the nearest taxi. Actor Rupert Everett related a similar episode that happened at Miami Airport when a fan came up and said " I love your work Mr. Grant can I have your autograph?" Rupert obliged by writing in the man's paper back book "Fuck you- regards Hugh Grant".
Some years a go in Sydney Whispers was on a visit and attended a party at an Oxford Street nightclub only to be introduced to "the famous UK New Romantic star Steve Strange". Famous indeed and we had no idea who this Steve Strange was as we had left "the very famous New Romantic" Mr Strange to look after our little Mews flat in Notting Hill Gate 3 days earlier.

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"!

What A Drag !

The Shuttle rarely visits the Golden Mile of Oxford Street Darlinghurst but on rare occasions we call into the infamous/famous Midnight Shift.
We thought it was time to bring some updated snaps of the Hostess With The Mostess, Maxi Shield host of the Shift's cocktail bar and MC extraordinaire.

In fact the last time we visited the Shift is was with actor Rupert Everett who took a shine to the place and a few of the locals. So much so that when he turned up the following day for a lunch in his honour in a restaurant just off Taylor's Square he posed for a snap with  local chef Peter Everett who was to dine with him and then booted him off the table so his new Shift friends could join him.

Below is a video of Maxi Shield at work:

drop your gear for Spencer

Nude artist Spencer Tunick is coming to the 2010 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras in March and is calling on all gays and lesbians to be prepared to take off their clothes for one of his mass nude snaps, on the Golden Gay Mile of Oxford Street.

The work will be called The Base and all body shapes, sexualities and preference are welcome. Will the legendary Dykes On Bikes participate ?. The once topless ladies on Harley's who lead the opening of the parade went all coy about 4 years ago when their topless snaps started appearing world-wide and on various porn websites.

There's a sort of schizophrenic attitude here.

Once a year normally reserved people let their hair down, fling open the wardrobe door and burst out in gleeful abandonment, screeching slogans about gay rights before heading off to the mass party of thousands that usually ends up in a drugged seething mass grope in the underground facilities.Come Monday they retreat back to their day jobs as chartered accountants, school teachers etc. Or in my case with the 6' horrendous drag queen in a vintage YSL ball gown who slapped me on the back half-way up Oxford Street with a maniacal look in his eyes-the bench at Downing Street Courts where he presides as a very sober magistrate,

The Shuttle experienced this mini Sodom & Gomorrah (without participating) at the last G & L Mardi Gras we attended when we accompanied 'movie star" Rupert Everett who was the special guest in 2007. Unless one swallows huge quantities of drugs (and most do) it's the most tiresome night of the year. Hours spent in the VIP room peering down on the seething mass of people circling the cavernous dance floor swaying in time to whatever DJ Boy George says goes. And just to catch a glimpse of the star act like Kylie Minouge lip syncing at 4am. Maybe we are just past it. Getting bitter as we age.

Apparently getting your gear of with a few hundred others is liberating. But is art ?. Whatever turns you on.

If the idea turns you on-sign up here : www.mardigras.org.au/tunick

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Only 2 weeks after his successful exhibition at the National Trust, artist Martin Sharp and the art world is in shock with the brutal murder yesterday of Sharp's curator, the respected art figure Antony Waterlow OAM whose body was found along with his slain daughter, the popular food writer and publicist Chloe Waterlow in her Randwick house. Chloe's young daughter is clinging to life after her throat was slashed and her 2 young sons who escaped unscathed are being cared for by family members as husband Ben Heuston rushes back from London.

Sharp attended a party at the University of NSW Roundhouse onSaturday night with Waterlow . Police have one suspect- a family member who was seen near the home shortly after the murders.
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The awful tragedy that has struck the Waterlow family is having far reaching effects in many areas. Australia's most renowned painter Margaret Olley has spoken affectionately of the gentle Waterlow who she housed when he first arrived from the UK 40 years ago.

Police have only one suspect-a family member who suffers from schizophrenia. Over 15 years ago the state government in a rash move closed the many excellent hospitals that dealt with mental illness on the claim that patients should be housed in the community.

The battles that have ensured since over the valuable land where these hospitals were located-some by the harbour, have been long and bitter. Sadly, the then government minister who oversaw this action has gone on record proclaiming his mistake after both his sons committed suicide while they were suffering from depression.