Post-punk legend Kate Fagan on her hipster-baiting classic: Studio 54 was based on status and mon
2024-03-23
MusicInterviewPost-punk legend Kate Fagan on her hipster-baiting classic: ‘Studio 54 was based on status and money’Safi BugelAs her catalogue is reissued, the Chicago club kid dishes on why Windy City’s DIY scene outshone NYC, and how she hit out against Reagan and hustled for the spotlight
When a record label contacted her wanting to reissue her 35-year-old debut single, Kate Fagan thought it was a prank call. She had released the track, I Don’t Wanna Be Too Cool, on her friends’ DIY imprint; it had made the rounds in the underground clubs and bars of Chicago’s punk scene before fading into obscurity.
Stevie Wonder This article is more than 11 years oldStevie Wonder backtracks from statement that gay people are 'confused'This article is more than 11 years oldSinger told the Guardian that 'people can misconstrue closeness for love', but now says his words were 'misunderstood'Stevie Wonder has retreated from a comment in an interview with the Guardian last week, when he suggested the singer Frank Ocean, and other gay people, might be "
The ObserverAutobiography and memoirReviewDazzling language, queer theory and domestic bliss meet in a triumphant love story, now making a long-deserved UK debut for its brilliant author
Fifteen years ago the poet, academic and pioneering writer-of-the-self Maggie Nelson startled the American literary world with the first of a series of books that defied genre, mixing autobiography and theory to question life from every angle. So far none of her nine books (four works of poetry, five of nonfiction) has been published here, and she remains relatively unknown.
Edinburgh festival 2022In her Edinburgh fringe show, the musical theatre performer exposes the pressures faced by singers and reflects on her own vocal healing
I had always known something wasn’t right with my voice but, like many singers, I assumed it was my fault. For 14 years I’d worked professionally in theatre, hiding the fact that every few months, my voice would completely disappear. Despite steaming my head over bowls of hot water, giving up alcohol and praying to Dr Theatre, as the final curtain fell on each production my melodic soprano would disintegrate into a husky Tom Waits.
CitiesThe city’s floating gardens are a prime party spot – but pollution has driven the axolotl population to the verge of extinction. Can a radical plan save them? Like many residents of Mexico City, my experience of the floating gardens of Xochimilco has mostly been tinged with alcohol. After all, every weekend, this Unesco world heritage site turns into a bacchanal, with groups aboard the canals’ iconic boats celebrating everything from high school graduations to engagements and weddings.
Bill Trowbridge obituary | Science
2024-03-22
Other livesScienceObituaryBill Trowbridge obituaryMy father, Bill Trowbridge, who has died aged 89, was a pioneer and leader in the field of computational electromagnetics. He was instrumental in the development of computer-based simulation tools used in the creation of such electromagnetic devices as mobile phones and MRI scanners. He founded the International Compumag conference series in 1976 and the Oxford-based company Vector Fields in 1984. He was made an OBE for services to science in 1993.
Confessions of a menopausal nymphomaniac
2024-03-22
‘One 25-year-old does things I didn’t know were possible. He’s so good I feel I’ve discovered another room in my house.’ Illustration: Romy Blumel/Heart‘One 25-year-old does things I didn’t know were possible. He’s so good I feel I’ve discovered another room in my house.’ Illustration: Romy Blumel/HeartFamilySingle, menopausal and fed up with living without sex, Laurett Fenn downloaded several dating apps. In a series of adventures, she found all that she’d hoped for – and more
Great dynasties of the worldFamilyIan Sansom on a vast banking clan of exceptional peopleIn his book The Merchant Banker (1966) the late JosephWechsberg – musician, polymath, gourmand, and correspondent for the New Yorker – devoted his final chapter to the Rothschilds. The Merchant Banker is an interesting book, full of insights, but in the end the Rothschilds defeat even Wechsberg. "The Rothschild legend," he writes, "has long ago outrun the facts.
Lionel Jeffries obituary | Movies
2024-03-22
MoviesObituaryLionel Jeffries obituaryProlific actor and director who made the much-loved film The Railway ChildrenAs an actor Lionel Jeffries, who has died aged 83, was a master of comic unease. This was perhaps fuelled by the personal unease he felt in a sex-and-violence era which overtook the gentler sensibilities he sometimes brought to his acting. But he was able to bring these sensibilities fully to bear in his scriptwriting and film directing, particularly in his much-loved adaptation of the classic children's novel The Railway Children.