exclusive: Cher hits town

The annual Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras is in full swing for it's 40th anniversary. Here is our exclusive 'selfie' sent poste haste to Whispers from the PM himself, Malcolm Turnbull. Pictured is Malcolm, Cher, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Lucy Turnbull. What fun !

Bowie Stuns Paris !

Bowie Wong that is - the Australian fashion designer has been featured with some of the world's top designers like Schiaparelli, Chanel and Versace in this feature of OTT (over the top) designs. They describe the gown as This Round Dress.
 What fun !

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The Australia Day honours have featured two of Whisper's favourite characters.
Popular show business publicist Bruce Pollack (below right) who has handled some of the biggest stars in the world has been awarded a Member of the Order of Australia “for significant service to the community in the areas of social welfare and public health.” Pollack is also an LBGT activist who helped make the  Sydney Mardi Gras one of the most famous street events on the planet.


 Meanwhile in the snooty Southern Highlands young newspaper executive Cristian King  (pictured with former PM Julia Gillard) who publishes the LatteLife group of newspapers has been awarded a Certificate of Appreciation for his "outstanding contribution to the community of Wingecarribee Shire". Pretty heady stuff for a lad of just 20 years old who recently defended himself in court when a local councilor attempted to obtain an AVO order against him. The councilor sensibly dropped her request. King also broadcasts on local FM radio.

Dreamtime

Melbourne has  Geoffrey Edeslten and Geelong has it's new clown town mayor 

Darryn ("Yes, I knew the Princess of Wales very well") Lyons (who gives jumping onto a trend ten years after it fizzled out new meaning). He's been featured in a Sydney Morning Herald piece titled The Emperor Of Geelong.
 My sources say the piece was heavily legalled and it would seem so as the article by Susan Chenery has less of the usual bite we can expert from the experience interviewer.
Still it gives us some insight into the label dropping (they should sue) , name dropping fantasy that now governs the lives of Victoria's second largest city. Probably the most pertinent sentence comes from Lyon's own lips in respect of Geelong's current troubles with collapsing businesses : "I am certainly not the saviour and I haven't got the magic wand".
# Is that a tasteful Charles Billich work of art on his wall ? I think we should be told.
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Kylie Minogue did a surprise concert last night at the Beresford Hotel in Surry Hills after she spent all day tweeting that should be there.

Never Ending Rainbows..

Rainbow Crossings are appearing all over the world in sympathy with the Taylor's Square Rainbow Crossing that was dug up by conservative MP Duncan Gay who claimed it was a "safety hazard" (earth to Duncan: there are traffic lights there buddy). 
St Louis Missouri, Brisbane, Jervis Bay, France, the Blue Mountains and almost every suburb of Sydney. At this one (left) in Surry Hills friendly coppers stopped to watch and smile.

But the pièce de résistance must be this one which awaits NSW politicians including Mr Gay as they arrive this morning- outside NSW Parliament House :

Rainbow City

Rainbow crossings are springing up all over inner Sydney in protest to Roads Minister Duncan Gay's decision to rip up the Taylor's Square rainbow crossing that was created for the Sydney Mardi Gras.

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The Power of Star Trek's Dr Sulu

If you haven't yet 'liked' the Facebook page of Dr Hikaru Sulu of the SS Enterprise, actor George Takei, never fear, a whopping 3,600.000 have which makes him a Facebook star with power.
George is a gay activist and updates his Facebook page daily, often with amusing photos and tales.
 Today he posted a link to the sensational Youtube video that has dominated the airwaves and TV since it was posted 2 days ago. It features a young man at the Sydney Mardi Gras being thrown to the ground by a fairly large policeman with other police demanding by-standers to stop filming .

Last night when the Shuttle viewed the video it had only 503 hits. At present it has over 400,000. Since George Takei posted a link an extra 100,000 hits were logged within one hour. The power of Facebook !

Colour & Movement

It brings back memories of the Sydney Mardi Gras or perhaps a Jenny Kee fashion show- the Jakarta Fashion & Food Festival opened on Sunday with parades and lots of colour and movement..
This year's theme is INNOFASHION, a mix of two words Innovation and Fashion, an interpretation of national culture richness in the fashion and culinary industry with the touch of latest trend.

JFFF was first established in 2004, and ever since annually held on May.

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.