Fear and loathing in Prince Harry's favourite drinking haunt

Richard Buttrose

With the leaked news that the NSW police have set up the covert Strike Force Harbour to investigate clients of the millionaire drug dealer Richard Buttrose, trembling has been felt afar and phones are running hot throughout Sydney's well heeled eastern suburbs as news that his 'little black book' in the form of a mobile phone containing client's phone numbers is being examined.

Buttrose, the nephew of TV and publishing identity Ita Buttrose was arrested in a sting operation when he sold cocaine to an undercover officer in a bowling club cark park near the Lord Dudley Hotel in ritzy Woollahra in 2009. When his car was pulled over by police shortly after he was found in possession of bags of cocaine. Matters took a turn for the worse when detectives raided a Paddington apartment rented by Buttrose and found another 6 grams of the drug and $1.3M in cash hidden beneath floorboards.

It was common knowledge that Buttrose was "the man" who offered a steady supply of cocaine at all hours.

The Lord Dudley was Richard's local boozer and a favourite of society swells and rich youngsters and a regular drinking spot of Prince Harry and his royal cousins Peter and Zara Phillips who stay at the Vaucluse house of James Erskine, a friend of Princess Anne and a business partner of British theatre mogul Sir Cameron Mackintosh.

Buttrose had been under investigation since 2008 but now detectives are probing his customer's identities that rumours say include film stars, musicians, a leading lawyer and a prominent member of Parliament although as owner of several popular restaurants there could be a perfectly innocent reason for anyone's phone number to be in Buttrose's phone.

Most who heard of Buttrose's activities thought it was just a matter of time before he was busted. He was encroaching on turf usually dominated by Middle Eastern and biker gangs and a newly emerging Russian mafia that has begun to proliferate in QLD's Surfer's Paradise. One tale tells of Buttrose being flown into Surfers by private jet to supply a group of Russian "entrepreneurs" eyeing the place as a potential investment town. Tales are flying thick and fast and it's difficult to tell what is fact and fantasy. We may never know the real tale because as Butttrose has pleaded guilty, there won't be a lengthy trial.

Along with Buttrose, 32 year old Nathan Lea, an heir to the Darrel Lea chocolate empire was also arrested and pleaded guilty to a low level possession charge, receiving a six month suspended sentence.

Buttrose has been singing like a canary in a bid to lessen what could be a long jail sentence. The National Crime Commission has confiscated $2.2M in assets from him. His lawyer Martin Luitingh told the court last Friday that his client's life was in danger both in jail and when he finally emerges and this should be taken into account when he is sentenced. The judge seems to buying none of this and has pointed to the amount of money Buttrose had made from his crimes.

Richard's father was the well liked investment advisor and banker Will Buttrose who appeared regularly on TV and radio giving money advice. He died of cancer in 2005. His aunt Ita was a close friend of Kerry Packer and editor of both the Sunday Telegraph newspaper and Australia's largest selling magazine the Women's Weekly before she retired to concentrate on raising funds for AID's research. An uncle was the public relations manager for the NSW police.

None of the Buttrose family are talking to the media but sister Lizzie, the close friend  of the late billionaire Dick Pratt's mistress Shari-Lea Hitchcock is said to be distraught at her brother's plight as she is particularly close to him. Richard Buttrose pleaded guilty to 2 supply charges and will be sentenced later this month.

Meanwhile, the drug trade continues unabated as the vacuum is filled almost overnight.

this is becoming just too easy...

The Sunday Telegraph today brings us an interview with charming actor Matt Damon. As journalist Jane Cornwell reports in her piece titled: Matt Damon opens up about love, kids and saving the world

In Australia for the 2007 premiere of The Bourne Ultimatum, he did so much promotion that the Matt Damon sightings continued after he left.

Last December, he allegedly hopped off an ocean liner at Bateman’s Bay, NSW, where he allegedly bought prawns and signed a petition to support, um, vodka dipping sauce.

He sighs good-naturedly.

“That was somebody pretending to be me,” he says of this Tom Ripley-style identity theft.

“It happens. My wife used to work in a bar and the bartender called us once, saying, ‘There’s a guy in here who looks like you and says he is you.’ There was some guy sitting in the VIP section getting free champagne.”

And what was the august publication that Ms Cornwell neglected to inform her readers that reported the "Tom Ripley-style identity theft " ? (as fact without the crucial word "allegedly"..which the Social Shuttle shot down in flames within hours of the report.)

Step forward the Daily Telegraph-sister and week-day publication of the Sunday Telegraph.

Greek love thrives in Asia

Tina Kavalis

 A local fashion designer servicing a small but loyal clientele, Greek born Tina Kavilas is in line for the top costume design award at the Asian Film Awards which will be held in Hong Kong on March 30th.

Tina's costumes for the Japanese drama Goemon have been hailed as unique and stunning.

While showing intermittently at the Sydney and Melbourne fashion weeks, Tina sells at a few select stores abroad including the prestige fashion store Browns in South Molton Street, London.

Lacroix, darling !

The Asian Film Awards have only been going since 2007 and follow the Hong Kong Film Festival and may not garner the same attention as the Oscars will this Sunday evening, but they still attract major international stars including of course, China's biggest export Jackie Chan.

The awards are beamed on TV to tens of millions throughout Asia and China. Countries like Thailand, China, Japan and the Philippines have thriving film production industries and stars who rival those in the west for their celebrity status.

Tina has some stiff competition though. Another contender and winner for the last 2 years -Christian Lacroix !.

                                  *************************

George Miller, recipient  of the Medal of France on Tuesday evening at the Roundhouse launch of the French Film Festival told tSS there is every chance he may revive the postponed production-Wonder Woman with supermodel Megan Gale favourite for the lead role.

the Italian Goddess (c) (contact tSS for the unedited version)!)

 Gale, who can wander down the smart shopping lane ways of Paddington unhindered and ignored, is now reaching Goddess status in Italy where she has become one of the most phenomenal stars of recent years.

 Italy has taken to Gale's statuesque and smouldering dark looks-a product of her Australian father and Hawaiian mother, much in the way they worshiped Claudia Cardinale , Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren. Gale maintains an apartment on the chic Via Veneto in Rome and cannot step outside the door without drawing dozens of excited fans in a crush that soon builds into pandemonium. Whilst she hasn't yet appeared in a movie, she is sifting through offers from most of Italy's  top directors.

Hamish & Andy-booted from the BBC

Whilst Megan's star zooms in Italy , her boyfriend Hamish Blake -half of the radio duo Hamish and Andy has returned from an experiment in the UK after the duo's  BBC digital radio program was  pulled after only six episodes  To make matters worse Hamish's handsome dial has been somewhat sullied in an ice-skating accident during which he broke his 2 front teeth.

Murdoch tabloid just a little dated...

They mocked us when we first printed the tale with the headline on Sunday, November 29, 2009,

Exclusive !-famous cottager to attend Mardi Gras
...and so it came to pass just as we predicted and breathlessly reported in Rupert's top Aussie tabloid the Daily Telegraph today.

At the time they said we were bonkers. That's also the same crew who brought us the riveting non-tale of actor Matt Damon holidaying on The World ocean liner in Queensland in November despite the fact that the movie star-as we pointed out-was skiing in Aspen.

Yes, George Michael will appear at this Saturdays official Mardi Gras party (last weekend was a festival party after the actual Mardi Gras parade -the MG committee totally botched their planning).

Michael was dining tonight at Justin Hemme's Lotus restauarant in Potts Point and was happy to promise our names will be on the door ( famous last words of course-that never works out

exclusive: famous PI Frank Monte narrowly escapes death

He isn't saying much to the media but famous private eye Frank Monte may have been the victim of a deliberate attempt to snuff him out on Tuesday afternoon. Monte was walking down a back street in Double Bay when a speeding car slammed into him and knocked him flying into a parked van.

Monte with client Donald Trump

Monte's distraught fiancee, marketing executive Sharon Sergeant says she looked on in horror as she saw a car with darkened windows swerve towards the high profile investigator and narrow clip him. A few inches closer and he risked being impaled on a plank of wood sticking out from the parked van. The van's driver rushed to the back of his vehicle believing the car had hit his truck .

Does Monte have enemies who would like to see him done in ?. Maybe. There are plenty of high profile businessmen and thugs who are behind bars because of Monte's investigations. And any number of irate husbands who have been tracked by his team of PIs when they wander from the marital home. Monte once held the world record for aiding in divorce cases in the days when hard evidence was needed to secure a divorce. .

Having only recently returned to Sydney, Monte was the USA's most sought after gumshoe competing only with the celebrity PI Anthony Pelicano. Pelicano is currently in jail for a number of offences involving his work with the late Michael Jackson.

These days Monte specialises in uncovering intellectual property theft and internet fraud. Although in semi-retirement and living in the luxurious Icon building in Kings Cross-a favourite with visiting movie stars while they film at Fox Studios because of it's high security, Monte still oversees a team of investigators around the country and maintains offices in Los Angeles and New York where he concentrates on security work. He has looked after royalty, Arab sheiks and film stars and was once a bodyguard  for the Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis when he was married to Jackie Kennedy.

Born in Italy and brought up in the Italian expatriate community of Cairo, Monte moved to Oz where he worked as a policeman on the beat before setting up shop as a private eye. He first came to prominence when he was hired by the New York governor Nelson Rockefeller to look for his missing son Michael who had vanished in the wilds of New Guinea. Although the young Rockefeller's body was never found, Monte discovered the missing heir's skull in the village of a tribe of headhunters and duly delivered it to the father. Recent gossip is that DNA testing has finally confirmed it to be genuine. The Rockefeller clan have closed ranks and  refuse to discuss any aspect of Michael's life and death.. At the time, Nelson Rockefeller had tried to keep the news of his son's disappearance from the media because his son was gay and Nelson was planning to run for the presidency.

In the USA Monte was a regular fixture on shows like Larry King Live and Howard Stern and the subject of hundreds of magazine profiles

All Monte will say about the accident  is that he's haken and stirred, feeling very bruised and taking it easy for a few days. Police are investigating the hit and run and taking it seriously. The small street behind the uber smart Cosmopolitan Cafe in Double Bay isn't the sort of lane a car would drive down so fast. Sargent says she wandered over to look in the window of one of the small boutiques along the lane and caught the action out of the corner of eye. She was convinced her future hubby had been badly injured.

for sale

Monte won't say if he's received any threats-a hazard of the work he does, but he's recently been spotted in a more humble Mercedes where he once drove a Rolls Royce Corniche, which by co-incidence tSS has discovered is up for sale on the net with details of it's previous high profile owner.

Perhaps he should move into a new line of work and concentrate on the side business he had in New York, producing stage shows and the world's first live internet program.

                                               **************************

# Help needed now. Snug as we are in relatively earthquake free Australia, the tragedy in Chile and Haiti has been brought home as a staff member originally from Chile receives news of tragedy that has struck her home village with the recent earthquake.

If you can spare some change, click on the link at right to send some money to aid the relief efforts in Chile and Haiti and the charity SOS Children's Village which does excellent work in both countries.

Or go to V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of Playwright/Founder Eve Ensler’s award winning play The Vagina Monologues and other artistic works.

Pig / penguin man wins great award

George Miller

A small group gathered at the East Sydney Tech and the Roundhouse to celebrate film director George Miller who was awarded France's most prestigious artistic award, the Order of Arts and Letters, known as the Order of France.

Miller was presented his award, a very nice ribbon and medal by French ambassador to Australia Michel Filhol at the opening of the French Film Festival in Sydney.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet & Miller

The director of iconic films such as Mad Max and Happy Feet will join an elite group of artists outside France to receive the award, including Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, Meryl Streep and Steven Spielberg.

The Order of France was established over 50 years ago to recognise people who have made significant contributions to the arts.

Another recent recipient of the award, French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who made the superb flicks Amelie and Delicatessen, was there to witness the event and meet Miller for the first time. His latest film Micmacs opens the festival.

we want you at 6am tomorrow-naked.

This morning's shoot-is there a giant pile of clothing somewhere?

    Photographer Spencer Tunick has sent out an urgent call for his photo shoot tomorrow morning on the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House.

   You will be only required to drop your gear for about 5 minutes and the shoot takes place come rain or shine (probably rain ).

    You have to be over 18 and sign up here-now, tonight. Spencer says about 30% of those who sign up for his famous nude shoots drop out on the day. It should be rather spectacular with the Opera House sails in the background and every participant gets a special Tunick snap as a souvenir.

 And don't think you can sneak down for a look !. No-one is allowed in the vicinity !

# update: nearly 5000 turned up! How does he do it ?.So many happy to get their clothes off for art( not tSS of course-6am..you must be joking). And an overcast day which means much kinder lighting..and by the look of those who made it, that's a blessing.

## before arriving at the Mardi Gras carnival George Michael did a pub crawl up Oxford Street, happy to mingle with locals. He's so taken by the town he's extended his Sydney stay another 4 days.

Everyone-including a cynical tSS was blown away by his Thursday night concert. Maybe because it's been so long between visits. Maybe age has mellowed him into middle-aged coolness. George is a superb performer. Relaxed, professional, like a rock'n'roll crooner.. His voice has never been better. If you get the chance, catch his show..

Mardi Gras come-down

 Sunday : Driving down Oxford Street today is like entering a war zone. The trash and litter from the estimated 700, 000 spectators has been collected overnight but the human flotsam and jetsam is everywhere. It's pretty clear thousands of party goers never made it home-they chose to continue the celebrations at the numerous "recovery parties" that can last 2 days.

   Behind all the fabulous colour and movement, inventive costumes and year long planning , there is a serious side to Mardi Gras. While tSS was correct in nearly all predictions-George Michael was there (he gave the parade a plug in his brilliant concert on Thursday night) largely unnoticed in the VIP section, we were wrong in one aspect. There was no tribute to TV star Eddie McGuire.

Olympic ice-skater

AFL footballer

on edit # The person who passed themselves off as a noted gay "activist" to our tSS staffer was just bizarre. Perhaps it was heady excitement of the night.  Our apologies to the 'activist' (what does one call him ?) but imitation is a form of flattery. You are in good company though. Actor Matt Damon has experienced the same recently.

                                                   ****************************

     On the same night at a house in Bellevue Hill, veteran good manners and deportment queen June Dally-Watkins was celebrating her 81st birthday.

      June once almost took Hollywood by storm in the 1950's when she set up business in LA after taking a successful fashion show to the US.

   She set about grooming a host of newly signed starlets, including a young Marilyn Monroe on how to behave at movie premiers, parties and such. Studios sent all their new contracted actresses to Dally-Watkins for mentoring.

   In Rome she met and was wined and dined by Gregory Peck who proposed marriage on a moon-lit night overlooking the Roman Forum. Peck wanted the pair to live in Monte Carlo. Instead she returned home to Sydney to care for her ailing mother and eventually married John Clifford-a dead ringer for Peck. Her Double Bay school still tutors a new breed of nice young gels how to behave correctly in polite society.

Legends to lead the parade..

Napier-Bell

Dusty

        It's always a bit off a secret but we can reveal the lead float for tonight's Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras will feature famous gays and lesbians through the ages from Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Oscar Wilde and so on. And later day icons will include the likes of Dusty Springfield which should please a regular Shuttle reader, the Thailand based pop mogul Simon Napier-Bell who co-authored her greatest hit "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" ( he titled his autobiography after the song and was Britain's Gay Personality Of The Year in 2005).

For the uninformed, the parade this year begins at Whitlam Square. At last year's beginning point a few hundred metres down the road there were reputedly 8 stabbings and about 40 fist fights. Why organisers think it will be any different this year is a mystery but there will be a 1000 police on hand ( including the contingent who march in the parade). No guesses that a fair number of them will be posted outside the party venue with a dozen sniffer dogs. Take your drugs early folks although this does bring the risk of peaking early and tears before bedtime-or party time. Not that we encourage that sort of thing.

Sir Elton & Ross Watson

Meanwhile at the Depot Gallery in Waterloo there is an exhibition of paintings by Ross Watson-who has a fan in Elton John. He has done a huge portrait of last year's lead from the Mardi Gras, the gold medalist diver Matthew Mitcham who thanked his male partner on the winning dais at Beijing in 2008 and has since become a gay pin-up. Mitcham is depicted in Caravaggio style paintings as seen here.

lovers: Johan van Vloten & Justice Michael Kirby

Watson has done a series of local gay icons including Justice Michael Kirby the recently retired High Court judge who quietly came out via his Who's Who entry 10 years ago when under his partner listing he included his lover, a Dutch news agent Johan van Vloten calling him "domestic partner". A political firestorm followed as his head was demanded with claims he was admitting to illegal gay sex previous to 1984.

  Says Sir Elton of Watson- "Having known Ross Watson for a long time, and been a collector of his art, I had the opportunity recently to visit his gallery, which reconfirmed my belief that he is a great talent. I never tire of his paintings - he is a leader in contemporary realism."

blogging from the Champagne Bar at Pink Stiletto

     Light rain has kept early racegoers away-except for tSS who has commandeered a corner of the Champagne Bar with a track-side view to host drinks for our expected numerous instant new friends. That was half an hour ago, now they are streaming in for the world's first Gay & Lesbian race day at Royal Randwick, Pink Stiletto. The ladies look glamorously turned out at this stage. But are they cocks in frocks ?. We can't tell until they get a little closer.

    One correction. The Mardi Gras is tomorrow night and not next Saturday as we  reported earlier . The Mardi Gras party is next Saturday night and tonight there is a sort of Mardi Gras carnival at the Fox Entertainment Centre-the venue for  mass orgy gala after-parade party was previously booked. Such is No, we can;t work it all out either.

      One guest who we hope will be joining us later this afternoon, film-maker John Waters of Hair Spray and Pink Flamingos fame. Waters will be presenting a one-man show at the Concert Hall in the Opera House (tickets $45 at their website) on March 2nd during which he talks about his career onwards from his first 8mm film in 1964-Fag in a Black Leather Jacket.

John Waters

    Will the Channel Nine publicity department take note of our suggestion relayed to them yesterday and extend our invitation to Olympics host Eddie McGuire to front the Pink Stiletto day and kill 2 birds with one stone ?. Probably not in these days of corporate group think. The CH 9 publicist couldn't grasp our concept that it would produce fantastic front page photographs of Eddie with Minnie Cooper, Clair de Lune and other delightful Ladies of the Oxford Street circuit. Just as we did similarly at past Mardi Gras events with snaps of comedian Billy Connolly and Men Behaving Badly stars Martin Clune and Neil Morrisey with groups of drag queens which garnered media coverage throughout the world.

Eddie-investigation

   And Eddie's image in the gay community  may have been repaired which may  help mitigate circumstances with today's anouncement that the Anti-Discrimination Board will hold an inquiry into McGuire and co-host Mike Molloy's disastrous Olympic commentary. There can be repercussions if a finding is against McGuire-although a fine would mean little a TV station's licence can be seriously affected not to mention when negotiations come up for the station to broadcast the next Olympics.

There is now video up on the Sydney Morning Herald's website of the drag race where a few delightful trannies lined up at the barriers for a foot race. Boobs flopped out much to the delight of all. So predictable and obvious-they had to say what everyone has been avoiding-the Sport of Kings became the Sport of Queens.

Eddie McGuire-arrogant, over rated meglomaniac.

  Hey, they aren't our words !.

       They're from one of the 10880 10886 10890 members (coincidentally mirroring the same number of tSS readers since we first revealed the website's existence) who have joined up to Eddie McGuire is ruining the 2010 Winter Olympics coverage facebook page.

    Another recent joiner Tim Stone says "he should be cryogenically frozen so future generations can be annoyed."

    Poor Eddie. We feel guilty. He really is a nice chap. Eddie is a regular at Graeme Goldberg's Dee Bees cafe in Double Bay and on nodding terms with tSS. He calls in after picking his kids up from the nearby snooty Cranbrook School.

   What would former Channel Nine boss the late Kerry Packer say about Eddie's crass homophobic remarks on the men's skating efforts at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games ?. Probably a lot after the number of complaints that have flooded the Nine switchboards. The current owners of the Nine network. PBL Media didn't return our calls.

Rob Astbury at his 2006 book launch

The King

   Instead we turned to the nation's former top sport's broadcaster who reigned at the Nine network for years, the openly gay Rob Astbury who now lives in Thailand where he is a property developer.

      Astbury, a good friend of McGuire's isn't saying much. He referred us to Peter Jess who mangers the biggest names in Australian sport including Olympian and aboriginal Cathy Freeman whose book, which Jess promoted, was a best seller. Jess has contracted Astbury to promote his upcoming autobiography Twice As Hard. Jess told tSS Astbury’s book will reveal intimate details about some of the nation's top sporting personalities and the biggest names in television. Jess says Astbury’s account of his personal and business life in Thailand will ensure the book is a block buster that is sure to amuse, bemuse and shock.
        Astbury's 2006 book King & I, about his long time relationship with the King of  Television, the late Graham Kennedy was a best selling despite ruffling feathers in the media..

  
     46 year old McGuire has had a meteoric rise from his working class background. He is president of the Collingwood Football Club and hosts a number of TV and radio shows. He is reputed to earn up to $5M a year.

    He was appointed the CEO of the Nine Network in 2006 in a surpise move after the departure of David Gyngell whose father, the legendary Bruce Gyngell was the first person to appear on Oz TV and Channel Nine in 1956.

     McGuire lasted nearly a year and presided over plunging ratings before Gyngell was lured back from the USA.

Jessica-boned

      His famous quip "bone her"-a directive to sack newsreader Jessica Rowe has become common lexicon after an internal memo was leaked. Jessica had the last laugh-her husband Peter Overton is now the network's top newsreader. Eddie is also a good friend of Kerry Packer's son James.

   

  It's hard to believe McGuire would actually be anti-gay. Comments like those of his and Olympic's co-host Mike Molloy are pretty much standard football language. The Footy Show is a perfect example with hardly a week going by without a footballer climbing into drag for an amusing sketch.Not for long though.

      The rumour mill inside the Nine network is in overdrive with the current bosses including Gyngell said to be alarmed at the backlash.

Sir Frank and son Kerry

# The founder of the Nine network Sir Frank Packer was a noted homophobe who abhored the number of gays in the budding TV industry.

Barton-"fluid" sexuality

# Sir Frank's sons and heirs Kerry and Clyde talked tough but rebelled against their father's views. Clyde used to attend publisher Gordon Barton's famous "anything goes" parties where one's sexuality was expected to be "fluid". Whilst Kerry Packer took care of business, his older brother Clude roamed Sydney in a Bentley convertible, his enormous girth encassed in flowing brightly coloured caftans. He could have been the lead float at any Mardi Gras.

# Cranbrook School-the expensive private boarding school in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs where the Packer, Gyngell & Murdoch clans were tutored was the butt of endless jokes in it's early years including the raunchy song that ended with the words-"if you can't get a girl get a Cranbrook boy "!

Cranbrook

# # tSS is travelling to Thailand next month to interview Rob Astbury amongst other expatriates who live there. Astbury’s manager, Peter Jess says, “Astbury is ready to blow a trumpet which will make King and I seem like comparing a wave to a tsunami.” According to Jess, Astbury, in his book Twice as Hard, describes television as a “despicable industry” and he will name stars with first hand account tales about top executives which will have lawyers working overtime. Is the raw truth a defence?.

 # Derryn Hinch is a leading contender for the title of 'Australia's Worst Journalist". Voting at the website ends on the 28th Feb.

# Bruce Gyngell was the driving force behind the successful networks-TV am and Yorkshire Television in the UK.

# Expect a float dedicated to Eddie McGuire in the Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras on Saturday week.

Eddie's houseguest-Johnny Weir

# Eddie has invited top US skater Johnny Weir to stay with him during his upcoming visit to Australia.

                                       ********************************

Everyone is invited to join the Social Shuttle team in the Champagne Bar in the Member's Stand at the Pink Stiletto Race Day tomorrow (Friday) from 1pm at Royal Randwick racecourse.

If you make a substantial donation to the Bobby Goldsmith Fund we may even introduce you to singer Maria Venuti !

a Tom of Finland invasion

Tom on the Golden Mile

        The excitement on Oxford Street-the Golden Mile is palpable. Just 10 days to go to the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. The dog collar wearing Lord Mayor Clover Moore has bedecked the streets of the city with huge pink flags bearing a heavy leather dude.

Clover

        The Mardi Gras has come some way since that fateful day in 1978 when a few hundred gays marched up Oxford Street to Kings Cross and ended up in an all out brawl with the same number of coppers. Now the boys in blue march in the parade. Along with Federal police, customs and immigration officers. Politicians from all parties send their best wishes.

        One of the original Living National Treasures of gaydom, Ken (Kandy) Johnson has launched his autobiography-Kandy what a drag !

       Ken opened one of the first gay pubs in Sydney and went on to run the legendary Purple Onion, a cavernous drag cabaret bar in suburban Kensington that was packed to the rafters and with every visiting celebrity putting in a appearance. Sir Robert Helpmann, Judy Garland. Rudolf Nureyev and Sammy Davis Jr were all spotted there taking in the extravagant drag spectaculars.

          Kandy sold the Onion and opened the first gay sauna-Kens Karate Klub and then launched his travelling drag troupe-Femmes and Feathers. He hired a girl to masquerade as a man masquerading as a woman masquerading as a man ( I think that's right !). They fell in love, married and had a son (an heir to the Kandy $$millions). It's a rollicking read and no holds barred look at the life of a gay icon including a stint in jail where he became the most popular jailbird for his nightly performances for the inmates.

      Ken's retired now and divides his time between a Sydney mansion and houses in Noosa and Turkey. Get his book here.

Andrew Neil, Peter Costello, Oscar Humphries in Sydney (c)

                                               ************************

Meanwhile another drag star has a son who is going from success to success. Barry Humpries' son Oscar is now editing the British arts magazine Apollo.

Oscar Humphries already edits the Australian Spectator from London.
Regular Shuttlers will recall Oscar arrived in Sydney from the UK where he was brought up, about 5 years ago and seemed set to take the town by storm as a 'new face' on the scene. Then the social media got stuck into him. We can't remember the reason why-probably none at all. He fled after 2 years.

   One however recalls his father Barry's words over dinner about 10 years ago when he was discussing the amazing success he had in the UK which has been finally repeated in the USA.

Barry said every time he was about to leave Melbourne in the old days to travel to the UK the Oz media would say words to the effect-"what's the problem Mr Humphries, aren't we good enough for you ?"

   When he arrived back after a successful season in the West End he would be greeted with the words-"so what's the problem Mr Humphries. couldn't make it overseas then ?" .
You can see why the reptile bitches thrive so well on the British tabloids when they travel there to further their experience.

                      *************************

 How timely for cricketer Shane Warne to launch his range of men's underwear in a venue not too far from the Golden Mile.      

The only other time the Social Shuttle encountered Warne was at the Commonwealth Day lunch in 1996 when Princess Diana attended her very last charity function before retiring.

tSS was the only media permitted inside the venue for the lunch much to the chagrin of a few hundred Fleet Street hacks who stood outside the building.

   We sat with Warne at the table next to Diana-not knowing who he was. Upon enquiry Shane informed us he was a cricketer of some note.

 "Oh does Diana follow cricket then ?" we asked.
"Don't know" said Warne,"but I think she likes rough trade !". Diana smiled sweetly in his direction.

Meanwhile, noses pressed to the windows outside, the assembled reptiles glowered towards us.

Hollywood beckons for Abe

   At only 19 young actor Abe Forsyth has won the 18th Tropfest short film festival with his movie about a radio DJ-Shock .  How scary-tSS went to the very first Tropfest at the Tropicana Cafe in Kings Cross all those years ago when Abe was just a baby !.

John Polson, Abe Forsyth, Elijah Wood (c)

    From a night at the coffee shop Polson's baby has grown to a phenomenal size that attracts Hollywood stars to judge the 15 finalists in the short film festival. Polsons own film career is blooming and Tropfest has a life of it's own. Sponsors fall over themselves to get involved and 75,000 people attended the festival in the Domain on Sunday night. Similar numbers likewise in Melbourne, Perth , Brisbane and so on. (tSS received an email on Friday from a previous judge-Jamie Foxx asking if we were attending and to request we pass on our regards to Polson!)

  Polson  has a New York version underway in association with Robert de Niro 's Tribeca Film Festival-tropfest@tribeca and will be launching a European version next year.

    And previous winners have gone on to great success. 1995 winner Gregor Jordon directed Two Hands, Buffalo Soldiers and Ned Kelly with the late Heath Ledger. His latest thriller Unthinkable with Samuel L. Jackson and Carrie-Ann Moss will be released this June.

Bryan Brown

Elijah Wood (c)

  

 2005 winner of the Tropfest best comedy Alister Grierson is currently directing his first feature, the 3D film Sanctum staring Richard Roxburgh and Welsh star Ioan Gruffudd. Sanctum is being produced by Avatar director James Cameron who chose Grierson after watching him work on Avatar.

   

Part of Forsyth's prize includes a trip to LA to meet some film bigwigs. Amongst this year's judges-Toni Collette, Elijah Wood and Bryan Brown.

***********************************

## What Would Warhol Blog?

see the answer to one of the great mysteries :

What would Andy Warhol think of the internet ?

Fomer friends from The Factory ponder on what the artist would have thought of the WWW.