“ He’s scarcely seen out in public and is known for his somewhat reclusive lifestyle. But David Bowie made a rare appearance with 12-year-old Lexi – the star’s daughter with supermodel wife Iman – as they were spotted hopping on board a Venetian taxi boat to explore their holiday destination… And Bowie looked a far cry from his usual zany stage appearances in his holiday outfit… ” / Continued at Mail online
Bowie the holidaymaker: green button-down shirt, jeans, trainers, straw fedora, dark shades and man bag slung across his shoulder
❚ THIS TIME THE DAILY MAIL got there first, shock, outrage! Pop singer George Michael’s boyfriend Fadi Fawaz posted a picture yesterday via Twitter of the pair cuddled up on a sunshine holiday, with the caption, “Isn’t he the cutest?” Minutes later George responded with a second snap saying “Yes he is :)”
The star then tweeted to say: “Oh and by the way everyone, if u are wondering why Fadi is the one sending you the pics lately, it’s cos I jumped in the decking pool with my iPhone in my shorts pocket yesterday.”
If we scroll further back in the boyz’ Twitter accounts we’d have seen several holiday snaps in recent days. With one pin-up of his favourite chunk of beefcake, who is a leading hair and beauty stylist in London, 48-year-old George tweeted the comment: “Sun, sand, and a bit of this doesn’t hurt either.” Earlier, George posts another pic of the carefree couple, saying: “This is an oldie from Venice, we clearly have no idea the paps were there, I look way too happy.”
George replies with a second snap: hunky boyfie to the fore
The boyz are yachting and jet-skiing at an undisclosed location George reveals is in the “southern hemisphere” and is a “bit classier than Club Trop, and the drinks are far from free”. It is, he adds, his first real holiday in many years, and “I might remind the media that my ‘new man’ is in fact the same man they photographed me with at Nobu… in 2008!”
The Mail report reminds us that the 80s superstar is continuing his recovery after narrowly escaping death only weeks ago during a serious bout of pneumonia. George’s tweets confirm this: “Even my tracheotomy scar is healing nicely in the sun — was looking a bit Bride of Chucky for a while.”
He also announced: “People, I’m excited… just finishing a ballad that I think is going to make you think my eighties self has been re-born, which I suppose it has in a way.” As for resuming the tour that was cancelled because of his illness, he told one fan: “Realistically I can’t see my vocal cords being being ready till the summer.”
Dear Sir! Daily Mail readers are, as we know, unshockable. Comments beneath the romantic pictures posted online include:
❏ “Go get a room gm. Spare us please” — the Lady, who prefers dogs to SOME people
❏ “Old man with a toyboy. YUK!!” — Alan, Sussex
❏ “George has finally found the love of his life… A guy who looks like himself.” — Realist, Coventry
❏ “I have always thought that George Michael & Sir Elton John would have made a lovely, great couple. Both excellent musicians, in their own niche. Both lovers of children & animals. Good luck to them all.” — Pamela Hutton, Sydney, Australia.
AND NOW FOR SOME MUSIC: GEORGE’S LATEST SINGLE HE WAS PROUDLY TWEETING ABOUT
… AND BOYFIE FADI’S FAV SONG (BY FAMED
LEBANESE LEGEND)
❏ Fadi tweets “My fav song of Fairouz” — Music facts: Nouhad Wadi Haddad, also known as Fairuz/Fairouz which means “Turquoise”, is a 76-year-old Lebanese artist widely considered to be the most famous living singer in the Arab world.
LET’S NOT FORGET GEORGE’S CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
❏ Dec 23: “This has been the worst month of my life.” George Michael gives an emotional and breathless press conference admitting his life has been hanging in the balance as he battled pneumonia in Austria. Unbelievable American newspaper headline immediately before his recovery: Radicals Condemned for Praying for George Michael to Die
❏ Dec 13: A couple of weeks earlier George had been bearing up by compiling a playlist of his all-time favourite Christmas songs, top of which was his own December Song (I Dreamed of Christmas), “Written with my best friend, David Austin”.
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MORE INTERESTING THAN MOST PEOPLE’S FANTASIES — THE SWINGING EIGHTIES 1978-1984
They didn’t call themselves New Romantics, or the Blitz Kids – but other people did.
“I’d find people at the Blitz who were possible only in my imagination. But they were real” — Stephen Jones, hatmaker, 1983. (Illustration courtesy Iain R Webb, 1983)
“The truth about those Blitz club people was more interesting than most people’s fantasies” — Steve Dagger, pop group manager, 1983
PRAISE INDEED!
“See David Johnson’s fabulously detailed website Shapers of the 80s to which I am hugely indebted” – Political historian Dominic Sandbrook, in his book Who Dares Wins, 2019
“The (velvet) goldmine that is Shapers of the 80s” – Verdict of Chris O’Leary, respected author and blogger who analyses Bowie song by song at Pushing Ahead of the Dame
“The rather brilliant Shapers of the 80s website” – Dylan Jones in his Sweet Dreams paperback, 2021
A UNIQUE HISTORY
➢ WELCOME to the Swinging 80s ➢ THE BLOG POSTS on this front page report topical updates ➢ ROLL OVER THE MENU at page top to go deeper into the past ➢ FOR NEWS & MONTH BY MONTH SEARCH scroll down this sidebar
❏ Header artwork by Kat Starchild shows Blitz Kids Darla Jane Gilroy, Elise Brazier, Judi Frankland and Steve Strange, with David Bowie at centre in his 1980 video for Ashes to Ashes
VINCENT ON AIR 2022
✱ Deejay legend Robbie Vincent returned to JazzFM on Sundays 1-3pm in 2021… Catch Robbie’s JazzFM August Bank Holiday 2020 session thanks to AhhhhhSoul with four hours of “nothing but essential rhythms of soul, jazz and funk”.
TOLD FOR THE FIRST TIME
◆ Who was who in Spandau’s break-out year of 1980? The Invisible Hand of Shapersofthe80s draws a selective timeline for The unprecedented rise and rise of Spandau Ballet –– Turn to our inside page
SEARCH our 800 posts or ZOOM DOWN TO THE ARCHIVE INDEX
UNTOLD BLITZ STORIES
✱ If you thought there was no more to know about the birth of Blitz culture in 1980 then get your hands on a sensational book by an obsessive music fan called David Barrat. It is gripping, original and epic – a spooky tale of coincidence and parallel lives as mind-tingling as a Sherlock Holmes yarn. Titled both New Romantics Who Never Were and The Untold Story of Spandau Ballet! Sample this initial taster here at Shapers of the 80s
CHEWING THE FAT
✱ Jawing at Soho Radio on the 80s clubland revolution (from 32 mins) and on art (@55 mins) is probably the most influential shaper of the 80s, former Wag-club director Chris Sullivan (pictured) with editor of this website David Johnson
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