The gossip rock our world since we saw them, on the brilliant documentary series Tracks on arte, in 2005.
Beth Ditto the lead singer of the band is one of the most charismatic people in the music business. Here voice is amazing, their sound if fantastic and Beth has a incredible stage presence.

In the last weeks and months The Gossip have become famous in the uk with their single "Standing in the Way of Control" , a response to the US government's decision to deny gays the right to marriage in the U.S.  Ditto has been recently voted by the music magazine NME as the 'coolest person on the planet', but doesn't fit the usual 'female singer superstar' stereotype. For a start she's gay -- perhaps not all that unusual -- but she also weighs over 200 pounds and she's a committed and outspoken feminist.

I admire Beth talent to always look smashing. I'm not the slimmest person myself and find it quit difficult to find cool cloth in my size. Also big up the Beth for canceling in-store appearances at popular UK retail chain Topshop.  Ditto argues that it is because the chain doesn't cater to girls her size. She says she wouldn't mind designing a plus-size range for the chain: "Give me the job. I want to design. I want you to make clothes for big girls - big boys. I want you to make big sizes."

The Gossip webpage
The Gossip on MySpace

Listen to Beth Ditto on Outlook

Some of his books have recently been published again as paperbacks by the B.Shackman & Company. Almost a century old the adventures of Fluff, Puff & Arganon are still as surprising and appealing as ever.



Harry Whittier Frees

Once widely known throughout the US for his wonderfully cute photographs of animals, Frees began his career taking pictures for novelty postcards. By 1905 he was adding props and clothes to the shots to give the animals a more human image. His mother made most of the outfits which were designed to hold the animals in what can only be described as 'unnatural poses'. In all his books, though, Frees reassured his readers that these fantastic images were made possible |only by patient unfailing kindness on the part of the photographer at all times.