Front Row Dress Circle

I am feeling for young singer Eoghan Quigg today after the savaging of his debut album by many music critics.

“the worst album in the history of recorded sound”…

so says the prominant critic from The Guardian newspaper – so ‘prominant’ in fact that I cannot even remember the guys name. And I disagree with that statement as I have heard some real clangers in my time!

But I do know Eoghan’s name even if I am not what you’d call a ‘fan’. Eoghan’s fanbase is generally young girls aged from ten to sixteen – which cancels me out by a long shot – but I am sure if I was that age today I just might be bugging my parents to shell out for his album.

I haven’t heard Eoghan’s album and am unlikely to be buying it but I have seen him on television and can see why his fans love him. He’s not yet eighteen, cute in a teddy bear kind of way and is just how young girls like their pop idols to look and sound.

That’s why Eoghan will be laughing all the way to the bank while doing what he loves and those critics will be looking to meet deadlines in their mission to find another hardworking, dedicated artist to dump their vitriole on for the sake of another article.

Eoghan is very young and has a long way to go in his life as a professional performer. He is just starting out and, if it is any consolation to him, he is in good company – many, many legends of the stage and screen had their earliest efforts savaged in the same way but it is a true pro who keeps their head down and their eye on the future – who strives to improve and grow as an artist. Who on earth strives to be a better critic…?

At not quite eighteen Eoghan has it all ahead of him while most of his critics never had it behind them let alone in front of them. That first album was the first hurdle for him, actually it is the follow-up effort which will define him and if he surrounds himself with good professionals and takes good advice (and heeds it) then success will ensure it’s part in his life.

True talent is born, critics though are made – without art and the artist critics would not exist. So do your best Eoghan and make them eat their words

Popularity: 18% [?]

It was bound to happen at some stage, I am just surprised that it took so long – I mean, Robyn Gibson must surely be in line for a sainthood having born so many kids to and stood by such a neanderthal as Mel Gibson!

We all thought this was the Hollywood marriage to end all, but you have to be realistic and admit that ever since Braveheart Mel has gone to seed completely – both in mind and body – and there have been increasing shots of him being snug with various bimbos around nightclubs and bars. This time he has given in to that age-old male midlife crisis and fallen for the even more typically pouting, heaving Russian model (just what is it with all these Russian models these days, they seem to be coming out of the woodwork…!)

Robyn has kicked him out and I say good on her!

This woman has stood by this caveman from the very humblest of beginnings when she was a nurse and he was a jobbing Sydney actor only distinguished by his blue eyes and great looks. Just prior to meeting Robyn, Mel and his parents attended a church in St Ives (devout catholics but odd with it…) that my friend and her family also attended. Mel asked my friends sister, Lynette, out several times for a date but she refused and we all thought she was mad at the time as Mel had just finished Summer City and was becoming known.

As the years went by I often thought Lynette did the right thing – imagine having all those kids and being kept in the shadows while he kicked up his heels and lived the high life. Admittedly Robyn never wanted for a single thing and would have had the best of everything but you have to say she deserved it – and she will deserve every single penny she gets from what looks to be Hollywood’s biggest divorce payout ever…

It’s hard to say where it all went wrong for Mel; I saw him act when he starred in the stage play ‘No Names No Pack Drill’ in Sydney with Noni Hazelhurst and he certainly had that X Factor – then he ended up in Hollywood…after Braveheart he seemed to lose the X out of his Factor.

His father, Hutton, was a bit of a fruitcake too; a huge critic of the Vatican and Church he and Mel eventually bought some land and started their own version of the pre-Vatican Catholic Church. Hutton also espoused some vile racist opinions concerning the Holocaust so it was no wonder when Mel ended up in trouble for the same thing while drunk not too long ago.

Robyn sounds very like Mel’s mother, Anne Patricia Reilly (born Co Longford Ireland) who was, like Robyn, a quiet and unassuming woman who also bore a large family (eleven children in Anne’s case) and stayed very much in the background of her somewhat nutty husband.

Kind of sad though, eh? Mel and Rob certainly went from the bottom of the ladder to the very top rung – from a tiny bedsit in Coogee Sydney, to multi-roomed mansions and everything that money could buy. From the birth of their firstborn Hannah in Sydney(1980), to which Mel listened over the phone as he was in Egypt filming Gallipoli at the time to that idiotic, marriage-wreaking frolic on the beach with some stupid, non-descript Russian bimbo.

But even though Robyn will be sad there will also be some gloating as well; from now on any female who wants to try her chance will only get the middle-aged, paunchy and balding Mel Gibson – grandfather, post atomic divorce payout with seven grown up children.

Robyn can smile because she had the better deal – she had Mel when he was at his very best; young, handsome, vital and with the world at his feet…and no-one else will ever share that with her

Popularity: 33% [?]

I am not in the business of making incredible predictions but this time I will stick my neck right out and do so. And I challenge anyone to disagree!

The stage version of the multi-award winning Australian film – Priscilla, Queen of the Desert the Musical – has premiered at the Palace Theatre on London’s West End with a legend and icon of the Australian stage making his West End debut in the role of trans-sexual Bernadette…Tony Sheldon.

Tony is a true child of the showbusiness industry and has long been an established performer of a very diverse range of roles in Australia. In the 1980′s his portrayal of the unsinkable female impersonator, Arnold, in the play Torch Song Trilogy established him as an actor of deep insight and remarkable ability. Why it has taken so long for him to gain international recognition is completely beyond me – but no doubt London will very soon be buzzing with excitement about this supremely talented artist.

Tony has lived a life steeped in showbiz being the child of Frank Sheldon and the brilliant musical performer Toni Lamond – he is also the nephew of Helen Reddy. I am really excited that he is now going to be seen on stage by people from all over the world who attend this show on the West End – I met Tony at a function at the Sydney Opera House in 1992 where he was guest speaker and found him to be so down to earth and really nice – a top guy all round.

And now this great talent is getting the recognition he so deserves. Broadway next…?

Pictured Above: Stars of Priscilla – Oliver Thornton, Tony Sheldon & Jason Donovan.

Popularity: 24% [?]