WA2K Radio is now on the air

Well, edgar, you just brought us out of our contemplation with that one, Texas. I love it. Never really certain if I liked poetry or not, however.

Yit, I would like to help you out, but…

I Know What I Know
Paul Simon Lyrics

She looked me over
And I guess she thought
I was all right
All right in a sort of a limited way
For an off-night
She said don't I know you
From the cinematographer's party
I said who am i
To blow against the wind
I know what I know
I'll sing what I said
We come and we go
That's a thing that I keep
In the back of my head

She said there's something about you
That really reminds me of money
She is the kind of a girl
Who could say things that
Weren't that funny
I said what does that mean
I really remind you of money
She said who am i
To blow against the wind

I know what I know
I'll sing what I said
We come and we go
That's a thing that I keep
In the back of my head

She moved so easily
All I could think of was sunlight
I said aren't you the women
Who was recently given a fulbright
She said don't I know you
From the cinematographer's party
I said who am i
To blow against the wind

I know what I know
I'll sing what I said
We come and we go
That's a thing that I keep
In the back of my head

:wink:

Well, folks. Someone once warned me against too much self analysis, and I left out "his" poetry. I think it was Try and his Simon sings.

Sorry, Mr. Turtle. Missed your song, and it is so telling. <smile> How could I have been that lost inside myself. Happens all the time.

Well, perhaps I should just sit back and listen to..........

The Sound of Silence(by guess who, Try)

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence

It's only Try…

Again and Again
Status Quo Lyrics

Once upon a time not so very long ago
There wasn't such a thing as a rock'n roll show
You had to sit at home and listen to the radio

Then came a man with a rockin'guitar
Found himself a beat and he played it near and far
Everybody danced and sang and let the good times roll

Again again again again, again again again again
Why don't you do it, why don't you do it again
Again again again again, again again again again
Why don't you do it, why don't you do it again

He travelled round the world in a rock-n-roll band
He stood there like a giant with a guitar in his hand
Everybody danced and sang and let the good times roll

Nobody cared about the clothes he would wear
Nobody cared about the colour of his hair
Everybody came to see and let the good times roll

Again again again again, again again again again
Why don't you do it, why don't you do it again
Again again again again, again again again again
Why don't you do it, why don't you do it again

Now we've got the rhythm in us now we've got the rock
Time didn't matter never living by the clock
Everybody came to hear him playing his rock-n-roll

Then came a line when the music didn't rhyme
He couldn't find the rhythm cos he couldn't find the time
But still the people came to listen to the good times roll

Again again again again, again again again again
Why don't you do it, why don't you do it again
Again again again again, again again again again
Why don't you do it, why don't you do it again

feeling maudlin and melancholy tonight

Take It With Me
Tom Waits

Phone's off the hook
No one knows where we are
It's a long time since I
Drank champagne
The ocean is blue
As blue as your eyes
I'm gonna take it with me
When I go

Old long since gone
Now way back when
We lived in Coney Island
Ain't no good thing
Ever dies
I'm gonna take it with me
When I go

Far far away a train
Whistle blows
Wherever you're goin
Wherever you've been
Waving good bye at the end
Of the day
You're up and you're over
And you're far away

Always for you, and
Forever yours
It felt just like the old days
We fell asleep on Beaula's porch
I'm gonna take it with me
When I go

All broken down by
The side of the road
I was never more alive or
Alone
I've worn the faces off
All the cards
I'm gonna take it with me
When I go

Children are playing
At the end of the day
Strangers are singing
On our lawn
It's got to be more
Than flesh and bone
All that you're loved
Is all you own

In a land there's a town
And in that town there's
A house
And in that house
There's a woman
And in that woman
There's a hart I love
I'm gonna take it
With me when I go
I'm gonna take it
With me when I go


Saddest Vacant Lot in All the World
Grandaddy

She's in the kitchen,
Crying by the oven
It seems she really loved him

He's so drunk he's
Passed out in a Datsun
That's parked out in the hot sun
In the saddest vacant lot in all the world

Boldly going
Where he rarely knows
But he'll miss her when he goes

What a shame
As she drifts out of reach
While he's still drunk asleep
In the saddest vacant lot in all the world


Tears Of A Clown
The English Beat

Say oh yeah baby baby

Now if there's a smile on my face
It's only there tryin' to fool the public
But when it comes down to foolin' you
Now honey that's quite a different subject

So don't let my glad expression
Give you the wrong impression
Cos really I'm sad (so sad sad)
Oh I'm sadder than sad (so sad sad)
Well I'm hurt and I want you so bad (so sad sad)
Like a clown I appear to be glad

There's some sad things known to man
But ain't too much sadder than
The tears of a clown
When there's no one around

Say oh yeah baby baby baby
Oh yeah baby baby baby

Now if I appear to be carefree
It's only to camouflage my sadness
And honey to shield my pride I try
To cover this hurt with a show of gladness

So don't let my show convince you
That I've been happy since you decided to go
Oh I need you so
Look I'm hurt and I want you to know
Just for others I put on a show

There's some sad things known to man
But ain't too much sadder than
The tears of a clown

Just like Pagliacci did
I'm gonna keep my surface hid
Hiding in my room I try
But in this lonely room I cry
The tears of a clown
When there's no one around

Now if there's a smile on my face
Don't let my glad expression
Give you the wrong impression
Don't let this smile I wear
Make you feel that I don't care

The tears of a clown
Tears of a clown
The tears of a clown
I'm going down de town
I'm going downtown
Tears of a clown

Ah, Try. That song by Status Quo should be the song for the Republican party as it used to be.

Hey, dj. It's all right to feel maudlin and melancholy. Our listeners like to hear that crying game this time of night, Canada.

Okay, let's go with it:

Michael Buble:


I'll Never Smile Again

I'll never smile again
Until I smile at you
I'll never laugh again
What good would it do

For tears would fill my eyes
My heart would realize
That our romance is through

I'll never love again
I'm so in love with you
I'll never thrill again
To somebody new

Within my heart
I know I will never start
To smile again
Until I smile at you

Good morning.

Aaah, there she is. I was beginning to worry about our PD.

Remembering on this day:

Good morning, Raggedy. Frankly, I was beginning to worry about me as well. <smile>

That's quite a group you have there, PA. I do believe that the last movie I saw with Burl Ives was "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." My friend here named her cat Maggie.

Well, folks, let's listen to Burl:

Artist: Burl Ives
Song: Blue Tail Fly


BLUETAIL FLY

When I was young I used to wait
On my master and hand him his plate
And Pass the bottle when he got dry
And brush away the blue-tail fly

CHORUS: Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care
Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care
Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care
My master's gone away

And when he’d ride in the afternoon
I'd follow after with my hickory broom
The pony being rather shy
When bitten by the blue-tail fly

CHORUS:

One day he ride around the farm
Flies so numerous they did swarm
One chanced to bite him on the thigh
The devil take the blue-tail fly

CHORUS:
MUSIC

The pony run, he jump, he pitch
He threw my master in the ditch
He died and the jury wondered why
The verdict was the blue-tail fly

CHORUS:

He lay under the 'simmon tree
His epitaph is there to see
"Beneath this stone I'm forced to lie
The victim of the blue-tail fly"

CHORUS:
The Masters gone away

Goodmorning Letty and WA2K listeners!

Miss Letty, I have passed off my exams with flying colors. Though I am a bit dissappointed because I could not make a distinction. Yet, I am relieved of some of the desperation concerning the exam result that had clouded my mind over these few days.

Here's a song of triumph for me on this ocassion:

Lift up your heads, O gates,
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
That the King of glory may come in!
Who is the King of glory?
The LORD strong and mighty,
The LORD mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O gates,
And lift them up, O ancient doors,
That the King of glory may come in!
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts,
He is the King of glory.

Oh, and I am taking a break from the Internet as I have to get some things done- get my new books and do some self-evaluation so that I may fare better the next time around. So, here's a farewell song too

The sun goes down in the twilight
Now's the time we sing along our goodbye
I hear you whisper in my dreams
From now, and on and on forever

So sing my love, one more time
We never meet no second time

The sun goes down in the twilight
And now's the time you kiss me
Saying goodbye
But in the night I remember
The song you sang me all night long
The song of love
That shines me ever in the dark<smile>

Miss India. How delightful to see you return to our little studio. We here are very pleased that you did so well, dear.

You have distinction with us, S.G. and your song of triumph is breathtaking.

Your adieu song, is quite sad, however, and we will miss you. Please, if you can, drop by occasionally.

Farewell, oh, lady of beauty.

Harriet Beecher Stowe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Harriet Beecher Stowe

Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe, born Harriet Elizabeth Beecher (June 14, 1811 - July 1, 1896) was an abolitionist and writer of more than 10 books, the most famous being Uncle Tom's Cabin which describes life in slavery, and which was first published in serial form from 1851 to 1852 in an abolitionist organ, the National Era, edited by Gamaliel Bailey.

Her second novel was Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp: another anti-slavery novel.

Born in Litchfield, Connecticut and raised primarily in Hartford, she was the daughter of Lyman Beecher, an abolitionist Congregationalist preacher from Boston and Roxana Foote Beecher, and the sister of renowned minister, Henry Ward Beecher. In 1832, her family moved to Cincinnati, another hotbed of the abolitionist movement, where her father became the first president of Lane Theological Seminary. There she gained first-hand knowledge of slavery and the Underground railroad and was moved to write Uncle Tom's Cabin, the first major American novel with an African-American hero.

In 1836 Harriet Beecher married Calvin Stowe, a clergyman and widower. Later she and her husband moved to Brunswick, Maine, when he obtained an academic position at Bowdoin College. Harriet and Calvin had seven children, but some died in early childhood. Her first children, twin girls Hattie and Eliza, were born on September 29, 1836. Four years later, in 1840, her son Frederick William was born. In 1848 the birth of Samuel Charles occurred, but in the following year, he died from a cholera epidemic. She is buried on the grounds of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.[1]

The Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Cincinnati, Ohio is the former home of her father Lyman Beecher on the former campus of the Lane Seminary. Harriet lived here until her marriage. It is open to the public and operated as an historical and cultural site, focusing on Harriet Beecher Stowe, the Lane Seminary and the Underground Railroad. The site also presents African-American history. The Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Cincinnati is located at 2950 Gilbert Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45206. [1]



Quotations

When Stowe met Abraham Lincoln in 1862 (during the Civil War), he reportedly greeted her, "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war!"
"The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone."

Margaret Bourke-White
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Margaret Bourke-White (June 14, 1904 - August 27, 1971) was an American photographer and photo journalist. She was born in the Bronx, New York, to Joseph White (who came from an Orthodox Jewish family) and Minnie Bourke, the daughter of an Irish ship's carpenter and an English cook; she was a Protestant.

Margaret grew up in Bound Brook, New Jersey.

In 1922, she began studying herpetology at Columbia University, where she developed an interest in photography after studying under Clarence White. In 1925, she married Everett Chapman, but the couple divorced a year later. After switching colleges several times (University of Michigan, Purdue University in Indiana, and Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio), Margaret graduated from Cornell University in 1927. A year later, she moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where she became an industrial photographer at the Otis Steel Company.

In 1929, she accepted a job as associate editor for Fortune magazine. In 1930, she became the first Western photographer allowed into the Soviet Union. She was hired by Henry Luce as the first female photojournalist for Life magazine.

Her photographs of the construction of the Fort Peck Dam were featured in the first issue, dated November 23, 1936, including the cover. This cover photograph became such an iconic (see [[1]]) image that it was featured as the 1930s representative to the United States Postal Service's Celebrate the Century series of commemorative postage stamps.

During the mid-1930s, Bourke-White, like Dorothea Lange, photographed drought victims of the Dust Bowl. Bourke-White was married to novelist Erskine Caldwell from 1939 to 1942, and together they collaborated on You Have Seen Their Faces (1937).


USPS stamp depicting Life magazine cover bearing Fort Peck Dam photographBourke-White was the first female war correspondent and the first woman to be allowed to work in combat zones during World War II. In 1941, she traveled to Russia just as Germany broke its pact of non-aggression with the Soviet Union. She was the only foreign photographer in Moscow when German forces invaded. Taking refuge in the U.S. Embassy, she then captured the ensuing firestorms on camera.

As the war progressed, she was attached to the US army air force in North Africa, then to the US Army in Italy and later Germany. She repeatedly came under fire in Italy in areas of fierce fighting.

In the spring of 1945, she traveled through a collapsing Germany with General George Patton. In this period, she arrived at Buchenwald, the notorious concentration camp. She is quoted as saying, "Using a camera was almost a relief. It interposed a slight barrier between myself and the horror in front of me." After the war, she produced a book entitled Dear Fatherland, Rest Quietly, a project that helped her come to grips with the brutality she had witnessed during and after the war.

During the 1950s, Bourke-White was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. She died in Connecticut, aged 67.

She was portrayed by Farrah Fawcett in a television movie and by Candice Bergen in the 1982 film Gandhi.

Burl Ives
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (14 June 1909 - 14 April 1995) was an acclaimed folk music singer, author and actor.

Born in Jasper County, Illinois, Ives is probably best remembered for his music. Carl Sandburg described him as "the mightiest ballad singer born in any century". He dropped out of college to travel about as an itinerant singer during the early 1930s, earning his way by doing odd jobs and playing his banjo. He was jailed in Mona, Utah, for singing "Foggy Foggy Dew", which the authorities decided was a bawdy song.

Ives attended Indiana State Teachers College, now Indiana State University, and graduated in 1931 from Eastern Illinois University. During college he was a member of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity. While in Terre Haute, Indiana, he worked for WBOW Radio.

In 1940 Ives began his own radio show, titled The Wayfaring Stranger after one of his popular ballads. The show was very popular, and in 1946 Ives was cast as a singing cowboy in the film Smoky. His first book, The Wayfaring Stranger, was published in 1948.

Other movie credits include East of Eden (1955); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958); The Big Country (1958), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor; and Our Man in Havana (1959), based on the Graham Greene novel.

In the 1940s Ives popularized several traditional folk songs, such as "Lavender Blue" (his first hit, a folk song from the 17th century), "Foggy Foggy Dew" (an English/Irish folk song), "Blue Tail Fly" (an old Civil War tune) and "Big Rock Candy Mountain" (an old hobo ditty).

In 1952, Ives starred as Ben Rumson in the national tour of the popular musical Paint Your Wagon, co-starring Nola Fairbanks as his daughter, Jennifer Rumson.

Ives's reputation was tarnished in the eyes of some and elevated in those of others when he cooperated with the House Unamerican Activities Committee, and named fellow folk singer Pete Seeger and others as possible Communists. His cooperation with the HUAC ended his blacklisting, allowing him to continue with his movie acting.

In the 1960s Ives began singing country music. In 1962 he released three major hits, "A Little Bitty Tear", "Call Me Mr In-Between", and "Funny Way of Laughing", all three of which crossed over and topped the pop charts as well.

Possibly his most remembered role today is as narrator Sam the Snowman in the Rankin-Bass animated television special, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964). Ives performed in other television productions, most notably Pinocchio (1968) and Roots (1977).

Ives's "A Holly Jolly Christmas" is a very popular tune during the Christmas season, as it's frequently played on the radio and was featured in the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer special. Frank Black of The Pixies is a contemporary fan of Ives according to Apple's iTunes Music Store. In a contribution to "Celebrity Playlists", Black includes no less than 15 of Ives' hits in his playlist. Madison, Wisconsin, punk rock band Killdozer released the EP Burl in 1986, which they dedicated "in loving memory of" Ives, who was still alive (and evidently still remembered) at the time.

The Ren and Stimpy Show's first season episode "Stimpy's Invention" featured a record, "Happy Happy Joy Joy", which contained a variety of spoken-word segments meant to parody some of Ives' albums from the 1960s. When Ives saw the episode, he contacted Ren and Stimpy Show creator John K. and said that he would have been willing to do the voice-over work for it.

Ives is known to Star Wars fans for his role as the narrator in the 1984 made-for-TV film Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure.

During his lifetime, Ives and his wife lived with their children in a home located alongside the water in Anacortes, in the Puget Sound area of Washington, where he died of cancer of the mouth at the age of 85. Burl Ives is interred in Mound Cemetery in Jasper County, Illinois.

A Little Bitty Tear Lyrics
Burl Ives

A LITTLE BITTY TEAR
Burl Ives

A little bitty tear let me down, spoiled my act as a clown
I had it made up not make a frown, but a little bitty tear let me down.

You said you were leaving tomorrow
That today was our last day
I said there'd be no sorrow, that I'd laugh when you walked away.

A little bitty tear let me down, spoiled my act as a clown
I had it made up not make a frown, but a little bitty tear let me down.

I said I'd laugh when you left me
Pull a funny as you went out the door
That I'd have another waiting
And I'd wave goodbye as you go.

A little bitty tear let me down, spoiled my act as a clown
I had it made up not make a frown, but a little bitty tear let me down.

Everything went like I planned it
And really put on quite a show
In my heart I felt I could stand it
Till you walked with your *grip* through the door.
A little bitty tear let me down, spoiled my act as a clown
I had it made up not make a frown, but a little bitty tear let me down.

A little bitty tear let me down.

Dorothy McGuire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dorothy Hackett McGuire (June 14, 1916 - September 13, 2001) was an American actress.

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, she began her career on the stage. Her first film was Claudia, in which she played the character she had originated on Broadway, that of a child bride who almost destroys her marriage through her selfishness. By 1943, at the age of 27, she was already playing mother roles, in such movies as A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1947 for Gentleman's Agreement.

She appeared in other film such as Three Coins in the Fountain, A Summer Place, Friendly Persuasion, Old Yeller, Swiss Family Robinson, Summer Magic and The Greatest Story Ever Told.

She died of heart disease at the age of 85 in 2001. The following March, 2002, a few months after her death, McGuire's family were hurt and disappointed when McGuire was mysteriously omitted from being included in the "In Memoriam" tribute at the 74th Academy Awards.

This is the segment that pays respect to those actors and artists involved in films that died in the previous year, but for unknown reasons the Academy has never given an explanation why she was omitted, despite the fact that McGuire was a previous Academy Award nominee for Best Actress in 1947.

It is possible that due to the confusion of the event of 9/11, they simply forgot. It bears pointing out that actresses Ruth Warrick, Anna Lee, Martha Scott and Geraldine Fitzgerald, were also left out of the tribute in their respective years, despite their many years of acting in all media.

McGuire also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6933 Hollywood Blvd.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_McGuire"

Good morning all, it's time to bring on…
Song: Cathy's Clown
Artist: Everly Brothers


Don't want your lo-o-o-o-ove anymore.
Don't want your ki-i-i-i-isses, that's for sure.
I die each time
I hear this sound:
"Here he co-o-o-o-omes. That's Cathy's clown."

I've gotta stand tall.
You know a man can't crawl.
But when he knows you tell lies
And he hears 'em passin' by,
He's not a man at all.

Don't want your lo-o-o-o-ove anymore.
Don't want your ki-i-i-i-isses, that's for sure.
I die each time
I hear this sound:
"Here he co-o-o-o-omes. That's Cathy's clown."

When you see me shed a tear
And you know that its sincere,
Dontcha think its kinda sad
That you're treating me so bad,
Or dont you even care?

Don't want your lo-o-o-o-ove anymore.
Don't want your ki-i-i-i-isses, that's for sure.
I die each time
I hear this sound:
"Here he co-o-o-o-omes. That's Cathy's clown.
That's Cathy's clown.
That's Cathy's clown."

Good afternoon, Try. We will wait until our bio man has finished then return to acknowledge.

Gene Barry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gene Barry (born June 14, 1919) is an American actor.

Born Eugene Klass to a Jewish family in New York City, New York, he exhibited early skills with his singing and violin playing. He adopted his professional name in honor of John Barrymore.

He appeared on Broadway in Catherine was Great in 1944, and, many years later, he starred in the musical La Cage aux Folles (based on the French film of the same name about a gay couple with a straight son) with George Hearn as his life partner/spouse. For his contribution to live theater, Gene Barry has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6555 Hollywood Blvd.

An early film role was in the 1953 production of The War of the Worlds. He made a cameo appearance in Steven Spielberg's 2005 War of the Worlds, along with his 1953 co-star Ann Robinson.

Known for his suave manner, Barry starred on television in Our Miss Brooks, Bat Masterson, The Name of the Game, and Burke's Law. He won the 1965 Golden Globe for Burke's Law. Barry played the lead in the most famous episode of The Name of the Game, a science fiction story directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Philip Wylie called L.A. 2017. He also starred in the 1973 ITV television series The Adventurer, with Barry Morse and Catherine Schell.

Barry has appeared in a number of films, television programs, and stage shows. His wife of 60 years, Betty Clair Kalb, died in 2003. He has two sons, Michael and Frederick, and a daughter, Elizabeth.

Mr. Barry was Cub Scout Master of Pack 100 in Beverly Hills, California in the mid 1950s.

Boy George
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

George Alan O'Dowd, better known as Boy George, (born June 14, 1961, in London, United Kingdom) is a British singer-songwriter and disc jockey who gained fame with his group Culture Club during the 1980s. He epitomized the term "blue-eyed soul" and received just as much airplay on R&B radio stations as pop stations.


Musical career

Boy George's androgynous style caught the attention of music executive Malcolm McLaren, who arranged for George to perform with the group Bow Wow Wow, featuring Annabella Lwin, at various shows. George called himself Lieutenant Lush and nearly stole the spotlight from Lwin. George's association with Bow Wow Wow didn't last long after that, and George started his own group with bassist Mikey Craig. The group was to be called In Praise Of Lemmings, but the name was later abandoned. Jon Moss (who had drummed with The Damned, Adam and the Ants and London) joined the group, followed shortly thereafter by Roy Hay, after the group's association with another guitarist proved unsatifactory. The group abandoned another name, Sex Gang Children, and settled on the name Culture Club after realising that the group consisted of an Irish transvestite singer, a Jamaican-Briton on bass, a Jewish drummer, and an Englishman on guitar.

Culture Club

The band signed with Virgin Records in the UK and with Epic Records in America (as Virgin didn't have a U.S. presence at the time), and released its debut album Kissing To Be Clever in 1982. The first single, "White Boy", failed to chart, but George was still happy because "five thousand people bought my single and didn't even know me". The next single, "I'm Afraid Of Me", was not a hit either. It wasn't until the release of the third single, "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me", that the group enjoyed massive success. It reached #1 in sixteen countries (#2 U.S.), and the group became a staple on American radio and the new MTV network. This single was followed by "Time (Clock Of The Heart)" (not on the UK LP), which reached #2, and "I'll Tumble 4 Ya", which reached #9. This gave Culture Club the distinction of being the first group since the Beatles to amass at least three top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 from a debut album.

1983 and 1984 saw the group at its peak, regularly featuring in charts, on MTV, and on magazine covers, partly due to the success of their next album, Colour By Numbers. The single "Church Of The Poison Mind" (featuring Helen Terry) became a Top 10 hit, and "Karma Chameleon" became a #1 single in numerous countries around the world, including the U.S., where it stayed at #1 for four weeks, and the UK, where it was the best-selling single of the year, spending six weeks at #1). It stands as the group's biggest hit.

"Miss Me Blind" and "It's A Miracle" were Top 10 and Top 20 hits respectively, and "Victims" was another UK hit. The group won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist - Duo Or Group, and George gave a speech to U.S audiences via satellite; "Thanks America. You've got style and taste, and you know a good drag queen when you see one". Colour By Numbers would go on to sell four million copies in the U.S. at the time of its release, and millions more worldwide, making Culture Club the biggest group in the world at the time. Years later, Rolling Stone magazine would include the LP in its list of Top 100 Albums Of All-Time. It was around this time of new-found success in 1983 that Boy George was involved in creating a demo tape with fellow cross-dressing friend Marilyn. Due to Culture Club's commercial impact, record companies were looking for artists with a similar look.

George's striking looks inspired many Boy George look-alike contests around the world, and his face became the image of Culture Club. He became an alternative teen idol, and had the extravagant lifestyle to go with it. His appeal was due to his distinct, soulful voice, his likeableness and his wit. He is responsible for one of the 1980's most famous quotes, which he delivered to Barbara Walters on a TV interview - "I prefer a nice cup of tea to sex" - which many years later he would say was totally untrue.

By 1985, Boy George had become a household name in many countries around the world. That year, he appeared in a lead vocal role on the Band Aid single, which featured many prominent British and Irish artists in an effort to raise money for famine-stricken Ethiopia. In 1986 he guest-starred on an episode of the A-Team entitled "Cowboy George". However, two subsequent Culture Club albums (Waking Up With The House On Fire and From Luxury To Heartache) performed poorly as the band only manage to obtain two more hits; "The War Song" and "Move Away".

Throughout the years, George had been involved in a romantic relationship with Culture Club's drummer Jon Moss, and when the relationship failed, he turned to drugs. This caused the downward spiral of the group, and they eventually disbanded, as George could no longer work with Moss. One sign of the group's imminent breakup was that they didn't appear at the Live Aid event.

Solo career

George's struggled against his severe heroin addiction for many years, also battling severe bouts of depression, in part related to the breakdown of his relationship with Moss. He would appear in public under the influence of the drug, and even attempted to do concerts in such a state. Addictions to other drugs followed, and George's brother, in an attempt to save his famous sibling from death, went on UK national television and blew the whistle on George. Some of George's associates had died of overdoses, but when an American musician he was working with was found dead at George's London mansion from an overdose, this hit home for George, and he stopped using drugs.

Virgin Records had now set up a U.S. operation, and George moved from Epic Records in America to Virgin worldwide. George's first solo album after the breakup of the band was entitled Sold. It was very successful in the UK, spawning many hit singles (including the #1 UK hit "Everything I Own"), but he could not duplicate that success in the U.S., though he did score a moderate hit with the song "Live My Life" (#40 U.S.) from the "Hiding Out" soundtrack. His next U.S album would be High Hat, comprised of songs from two of his solo British albums released after Sold. High Hat was critically acclimed, but had disappointing sales, although the R&B dance number "Don't Take My Mind On A Trip", produced by Teddy Riley, became a top 10 R&B hit.

Many of his following releases were songs to protest against the UK's proposed legal restrictions on sex education relating to homosexuality, (known as Clause 28). In 1989 George formed his own label, More Protein. He also recorded under the name Jesus Loves You, (writing under the pseudonym Angela Dust), releasing an underground club hit "Generations Of Love", and "Bow Down Mister", which would become a signature song, inspired by his involvement in the Hare Krishna movement.

In 1992, George scored a hit with a version of the song "The Crying Game" (produced by the Pet Shop Boys), which was featured on the movie of the same name, and reached the top twenty of the Billboard Hot 100. Although he'd had solo hits in the UK, this would be his first big U.S. pop hit since Culture Club's 1986 single "Move Away". However, he did not capitalise on this success by releasing an album. By the time he finally released the rock-driven Cheapness And Beauty a few years later, the momentum had died. From that album, he released his version of the Iggy Pop song "Funtime." Still, George would say that the "Crying Game" era gave him a sense of satisfaction. His former lover Jon Moss had told him, after the messy breakup of Culture Club, that George would never have another major hit in America without the band. George was more than happy to prove him wrong.

Later life

Boy George continues to remain a global pop icon and a successful music DJ. He once again started touring the world as a DJ in the late 1990s and starred in the London musical Taboo, based on his life (George didn't play himself, opting instead to take on the persona of Australian-born performance artist Leigh Bowery). Taboo was a huge success in London's West End. During 2003 he presented a weekly show on London radio station LBC 97.3 for six months. In August 1994, a British court tossed out a paternity suit filed against him by a Californian woman.

Harper Collins published the autobiography of Boy George, Take It Like A Man, in 1995. George wrote of his relationship with Kirk Brandon, the singer with Spear of Destiny and the earlier Theatre of Hate, prompting Brandon to begin a High Court action against George. George, taking the witness stand, faced a "malicious falsehood" charge brought against him by Brandon, now married and a father, who denied that he once had a sexual relationship with George. Brandon lost. During the trial, Boy George had claimed that Kirk Brandon had been the love of his life and that he still loved him.

In his book, George also told his side of his secret relationship with Culture Club drummer Jon Moss. He stated many of the songs he wrote for Culture Club were directed at Moss. He also alleged that Moss had broken off his engagement to be with George, and that Moss was never comfortable in a same-sex relationship, although Moss was bisexual.

In July 1998, a reunited Culture Club performed three dates in Monte Carlo and then joined Human League and Howard Jones in a "Big Rewind" tour of the US. The following month, the band appeared on Late Night with David Letterman and made an appearance in Britain, their first in 14 years. Later that year, the band had a Top Ten hit in the UK with "I Just Wanna Be Loved".

In 1998, Boy George began writing a weekly column in The Daily Express and hosted a weekly radio show on the Galaxy Radio Network.

Current activity

He wrote the foreword for a feng shui book called "Practical Feng Shui" by Simon G. Brown (published in 1998).

As a successful DJ, he occasionally tours. He remains a pop icon.

He has sung "Bow Down Mister" with the Indian singer, Asha Bhosle.

He has also recently appeared as a guest on the British comedy-talk show The Kumars at No. 42.

In 2002, he wrote the score for (and starred in) the stage musical Taboo, which featured Marilyn and other stars of the 1980s. The music was a West End Smash before transferring to Broadway in NY produced by Rosie O'Donnell

In 2005 he published Straight in Britain, his second autobiographical book. He lives in Manhattan.

On October 7, 2005, he was arrested in Manhattan on suspicion of possessing cocaine, (BBC Online Report) and appeared in court on 1 February, 2006 (BBC Online Report) on charges of cocaine possession. On March 8, 2006 he pleaded guilty to wasting police time; the charge of possessing cocaine was dropped, and he was given a non-custodial sentence and fined. (BBC News report).

Quotes

London newspaper, 1984: "I'm not gay, and I'm not a transvestite." (At other times he has characterized himself as "bisexual", "very confused", "not confused", and "not really all that keen on sex".)

The London Evening Standard, 20 February 2006: "Gay unions, what is that about? I haven't been invited to any ceremonies, and I wouldn't go anyway. The idea that gay people have to mimic what obviously doesn't work for straight people any more ... I think is a bit tragic. I am looking forward to gay divorces."

Source same as above: Madonna is "a living, breathing cash register".

Source same as above: On Kanye West's winning of the Brit award: "I was pleased because he is the first American rapper to say something positive about gay people. I met his mum, she's lovely."