TheTruth about George Michael

On September 11th legendary British music entrepreneur Simon Napier-Bell will appear at Leadbelly in Newtown to give an after dinner talk.
Among Napier-Bell's many music discoveries are Dusty Springfield, The Yardbyrds, Marc Bolan & T-Rex and of course, George Michael and Wham who he turned into world superstars.
Simon remained a close friend of George Michael's and is threatening to tell the real story of Michael's life. Once when visiting Napier-Bell at his Thai villa where he now lives, Whispers found George Michael hiding from the world's media after yet another druggy car accident in the UK.
                                                            

Simon will have plenty to say about the Same Sex marriage issue having recently married his male partner in the UK and having recently directed a fascinating documentary "50 Years Legal" which is currently being screened in UK cinemas. In the film he interviews a host of famous British gays including Elton John, Stephen Fry, Matt Lucas, Sir Derek Jacobi, Sir Ian McKellan , David Hockney and many more.
He has now written 5 best-selling books about music which have received rave reviews. One "Black Vinyl White Powder" was included in the UK school curriculum. His current book Ta-Ra-Ra-BOOM De-Ay tells the history of commercial music from the 1700s onwards. Napier-Bell's last visit to Sydney was in 2016 when he accompanied Sinead O'Connor who he was then managing.

AN EVENING WITH SIMON NAPIER - BELL Monday 11th Sept Leadbelly 6-12pm

Below is the famous song Napier-Bell wrote for Dusty Springfield which was also a mega hit for Elvis Presley

Kylie Conquers!

 At times the rain teemed down but it didn't dampen the spirits of a few hundred thousand people who lined Oxford Street for the 2012 Sydney Mardi Gras. And the Queen of the show was definitely Kylie Minogue with a four float tribute surrounded by over 150 dancers. Tonight the party rages on at Fox Studios and by Sunday afternoon Darlinghurst will be littered with sequins, lost stilettos and collapsed bodies.
Go to SMH for more great pics. (picture by Janie Barrett)

The Only Gay Is In The Village

exclusive : We can reveal that Little Britain star Matt Lucas has quietly slipped into town and will be a guest at this Saturday's Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras.

And plans are afoot to get Matt to join George Michael, (living in a  Potts Point apartment and not the Northern Beach's house he didn't buy last year as reported by a major daily newspaper) on the beloved Kylie Minogue's  own Mardi Gras float on which she will travel from Whitlam Square to Fox Studios via Oxford Street during the parade.

Rev Fred

The Shuttle has also had a confirmation from the Reverend Fred Nile that he will pray for rain this Saturday and reading the weather report, Fred's prayers sound like they will be answered.
 Sadly for Fred whenever they are it simply means more clothes are taken off as the Mardi Gras participants love nothing more than cavorting and dancing in the rain.
Still, it's the thought that counts.

Clover

There are also major rumblings over the Mardi Gras committee's insistence that the media pay a $200 fee per person for covering the event. This fee which it's claimed 'covers expenses' has long outraged much of the media particularly as the parade takes place on a public street with large injections of money from the NSW state government.

The Shuttle's round of inquiries have produced little response apart from Lord Mayor Clover Moore's office where a representative expressed "shock" at the fee. Wake up folks, it's been there for 15 years now. As for the Media Alliance, they ignored our request for a comment but that's the usual way for them.
This is the same union which purportedly looks after the affairs of professionally employed and freelance journalists and photographers who are union members. Yet they famously went into battle for the non-union paparazzi when police claimed they had found bugging devices outside Nicole Kidman's Darling Point house in 2005. Note to Media Alliance-you can find the Leveson Inquiry here.

Below is Kylie's Mardi Gras message:


Feature: Kylie Sydney Mardi Gras 2012 Announcement from mardigras on Vimeo.