Jason Donovan comes on to chat about his first album in 15 years titled Let It Be Me - it’s a trip down nostalgia lane as he covers classics from the 40s and 50s. We caught up with Jas from his home in Notting Hill and reminisce about the days when he lived in Erinsborough, and even get the latest on his role in the upcoming British production of Priscilla.

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Duration: 7:00

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We get into bed with Benny from The Two Fat Lattes, one of the many brilliant shows on radio station, JOY 94.9.

We wanted to get to know the man behind the mic, so from merkins to lap-banding … it’s all here.

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Tony & Lee were one of the first gay couples in Australia to become dads through a commercial surrogacy arrangement. We talk to Tony about how the world has changed since they had their two children Alexander and Lucy, in particular the growing number of surrogacy arrangements in India, and the rapidly reducing price-tag associated with making it all happen.

For more information, visit Gay Dads Australia.

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Duration: 8:23

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JOY radio listeners asked if we could take Jock Revolution undie model (aka Adam Barralet ) out on Bourke St to do star-jumps and squats. We happily obliged.

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Ricki-Lee joined us for a chat about hosting Australian Idol 08, about her new album due out in early 2009 and confesses that she is ‘pretty sure’ she was a gay man or drag queen in a prior life.

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Duration: 4:58

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Adrian: It’s time to chat to host of Australian Idol in 2008, Australian Pop Diva…
Andy: … she is a Diva, it’s Ricki-Lee!
Ricki-Lee: I thought you were going to say Andrew G then would have been funny.
Andy: The would have been awkward wouldn’t it.
Adrian: That would have been good.
Ricki-Lee: Kind of, how are you guys?
Andy: We’re great, how are you darling?
Ricki-Lee: I’m good thankyou, I’m just at the airport so if you start hearing announcements that’s what it is.
Adrian: Like “Stop that girl, quick!”
Ricki-Lee: Yeah, “That girl in the corner doing strange things, get her!”
Andy: Are Border Security there? Are they filming?
Ricki-Lee: Yeah, it’s alright, just a day in the life, you know.
A&A: Ha ha!
Adrian: You just mentioned Andrew G there, we’ve been talking onair about favourite Australian Idol moments over the years and a great one come through it was “the looks of affection between Andrew G and James Matheson as they talk on air”.
Ricki-Lee: Oh they are so funny, and it’s funny too because sometimes in the breaks certain things happen, and you can see them try to not piss themselves laughing or say things … it’s so funny watching them.
Adrian: Do they pash each other in the break and stuff?
Ricki-Lee: Oh how did you guess!?
A&A: Ha ha!
Ricki-Lee: Those guys are really amazing I love watching them work.
Adrian: Now we are slightly disappointed, where’s the token gay in the Top 12?
Ricki-Lee: Oh come on, token gay! You could just pick one and pretend.
Adrian: Yeah that’s true. Who could we make gay? You know who I love, I love Rishani.
Ricki-Lee: Oh she’s fantastic! Are you going to make her the token gay cos she has short hair?
Adrian: Yeah, that’s what I was going to say. She’s got short hair and I love her cos she makes you look like Amazon Woman when you stand next to her.
Ricki-Lee: I know, how much of a giant do I want to be!? It is so funny, she is seriously up to my boobs, and my boobs are like the size of her head! I feel so sorry for her, and I’m like “Can we not do the interview standing up, can I please sit down?”.
Adrian: She’s so cool, she so sassy I love her.
Andy: She needs a stacked heel, that’s what she needs.

EDIT

Adrian: Now Ricki, is there a rumour going around that there might be a new album coming out later on in the year?
Ricki-Lee: Yes there is going to be a new album. We’ve got the new single ‘Wiggle It’ out now, do you like it?
Andy: We love it! We’re playing it right after this.
Ricki-Lee: ‘Wiggle it, just a little bit’, yeah and so that’s the first single for an album that’s coming out at the end of the yeah which is called ‘Ricki-Lee: The Singles’ and it’s an album which is a compilation of all of the singles I’ve had over the last four years so there will be eight singles on there and all the remixes and all the video clips from all of those singles in a nice pretty package for Christmas. Then early next year is a brand new album with probably a new direction.
Adrian: Early next year did you say?
Ricki-Lee: Early next year, and brand new album.
Adrian: God you’re so busy, where do you have time? You must have a cleaner otherwise you wouldn’t have time.
Ricki-Lee: No, I just have a filthy home.
A&A: Ha ha! Or a very good husband.
Ricki-Lee: It was really funny, my manager was staying at my place I have in Sydney while I’m doing Idol and she was staying with me over the weekend and she left yesterday and I went off to work and my dad just happened to be in Sydney and he wanted to come and visit and I said “Oh, how exciting, my dad’s going to come ‘round and we’re going to have a coffee at my place”, and she’s freaked out cos the house was a total mess, not dirty it’s just that there were clothes and undies and makeup and hair pieces everywhere . So I’m explaining to my dad on the way “Oh it’s really messy, I’ve been so busy, I’m so sorry”, and I walk in the room and it was spotless, she had spring cleaned the whole place.
Adrian: This is your manager Lauren?
Ricki-Lee: Yes, and I was like, I totally have to give her a pay rise this week.
Andy: Yeah I think you do.
Adrian: You talked about Lauren recently, you went overseas to Thailand with her I think, you talked about that on Rove.
Ricki-Lee: Yeah we went to Thailand for a couple weeks.
Adrian: I think you’re the token lesbian on Australian Idol.
Ricki-Lee: Oh yeah! I’ll cut my hair short. Yeah I’m alright with that. I’m pretty sure that in a past life I was a gay man or a drag queen.
A&A: Ha ha!

Are you sick of people threatening to take away your gay license?  Well we are, so we’ve compiled The Official Gay License Test.  If you pass, you can tell your friends that you are in fact a gay and they can’t take it away from you (unless of course, you start sleeping with the opposite sex).

So grab a pen and paper and note your answers.  The pass mark is 80% which means you can only get 10 wrong.  Any more and you’re not a bona-fide homo, just a faker.

Good luck, your time starts now. Share on Facebook

Category 1: Music
Alan Ross, the official music historian of JOY 94.9 has compiled the following music questions that all gay’s should answer.  He even included a Dolly question against his better judgment.

1. Kylie Minogue recorded “Kids” as a duet with which British pop star?
2. Which 60’s Motown girl group featured Diana Ross on lead vocals?
3. Which ABBA song was sampled for Madonna’s hit “Hung Up”?
4. The Pet Shop Boys recruited Dusty Springfield for guest vocals on which of their hits?
5. Which two divas recorded the original version of “No More Tears (Enough is Enough)”?
6. The show, “The Boy From Oz”, was based on the life of which Australian performer?
7. Whose solo career was launched in the 80’s with the hit ballad “Careless Whisper”?
8. Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind”, used as a tribute to Princess Diana, was originally about which film icon?
9. Who is the only recording artist to sing three James Bond title songs?
10. Which Dolly Parton song became a worldwide smash for Whitney Houston?

Category 2: Television
We went straight to the source on this one.  There isn’t another Australian who knows as much about television (especially gay telly) then David Knox from TV Tonight.

1. Which show was heavily promoted by Channel TEN with the inspired, overt campaign, “Tuesday Night’s a BITCH?”
2. What comedy featured Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally?
3. Which Australian drama featured the world’s first long-running, sympathetically-written openly-gay male character?
4. What was the name of the sketch series produced by Gina Riley, Jane Turner and Magda Szubanski that also included early Kath & Kim characters?
5. What were the names of the two underwear-wearing renovators in the first series of “The Block”?
6. Name the first winner of “Survivor”.
7. Where would you expect to see ‘Michael, Justin and Brian?’
8. What show features the character ‘Sidney Bristow?’
9. Who had a searing on-air row with Elisabeth Hasselbeck on daytime television in 2007?
10. Which Aussie show featured the character ‘Frankie Doyle?’

Category 3: Movies
This critic has seen so many films he would even give David & Margaret a run for their money.  He’s so dedicated he’s even seen “Glitter”.  It’s Tim Hunter, the Citysearch Movie Editor.

1. Which two Hollywood screen legends from the 1930s and ’40s teamed up for the first time in 1962 to play faded movie star sisters Baby Jane and Blanche in “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?”
2. Which well-known actor played a gay lawyer dying of AIDS in the 1993 film “Philadelphia”?
3. Before he made “Brokeback Mountain”, Ang Lee wrote and directed another gay-themed film. What was it?
4. What 2000 film, starring Lois & Clark star Dean Cain and Scrubs star Zach Braff as members of a gay baseball team?
5. Daniel Day Lewis got his big break playing a gay bovver boy in what 1986 movie?
6. In what film does Rupert Everett play Julia Robert’s gay friend and confidante?
7. What film is the line “No wire hangers, ever!” from?
8. What great Hollywood actor was never really ‘out’ during his career, and died from an AIDS-related illness in 1985?
9. Doris Day sang of her ‘Secret Love’ in which film
10. What cross-dressing actor, who also recorded a dance track in the late 1980s, starred as Edna Turnblad in John Waters’ original film of “Hairspray”?

Category 4: Politics and Sport
We couldn’t just have fluffy topics, we needed some serious stuff.  So we called in the only person we know who actually reads the Business section AND the sports liftoff , it’s JOY 94.9 Treasurer and ‘Spin’ presenter, Matt Kelly.

1. In 2002, two leaders of Australian political parties in the Federal were openly gay. Who were they?
2. Which State Politician announced on air (on Allegro Non Troppo), that the Victorian State government was pledging funding of $250,000 to help Australia’s only gay and lesbian radio station, Joy 94.9 relocate to new premises?
3. Name an American states which recognises same sex marriage?
4. Which was the first Australian State to implement a same sex relationship register?
5. When was the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras held?
6. What was the name of the openly gay Rugby League player that played between 1986 and 1998?
7. Which openly gay Australian athlete won a gold medal at the recent Beijing Olympics?
8. Which openly gay tennis player won 59 Grand Slam titles, among her record (for men or women) 167 singles titles and 177 doubles titles?
9. Which HIV positive athlete won two gold medals for diving at both the 1984 Los Angeles and 1988 Seoul Olympics, despite requiring stitches after he famously hit his head on the springboard during the preliminary rounds in Seoul?
10. Which American basketball player quit playing for the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA in 1992, after contracting HIV

Category 5: Salacious Celebrity Gossip
We had to write something, so here is our contibution garnered from years of reading Who, Woman’s Day and No Idea.  It’s useless Celebrity gossip.

1. What was Paris Hilton jailed for?
2. What’s the name of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes child?
3. Which Minogue sister was a cast member of Young Talent Time?
4. Name the two stars who met on the set of “Days of Thunder” and divorced after 10 years of marriage?
5. Which Spice Girl left the Spice Girls group in 1998?
6. The mother of which pop diva wrote “Pop Culture Mum: A real story of fame and family in a tabloid world”
7. Which “Sex & the City” star came out in 2003?
8. George Michael was caught performing a ‘lewd act’ in a public toilet in which city?
9. What celebrity divorce has been the most expensive in history?
10. Name Mariah Carey’s film that had its release postponed due to her mental breakdown?

Pen’s down now please! 

Now tally up your answers - and don’t cheat!

What’s your score? If you get 40 or more correct, CONGRATULATIONS, you’re a homo!

Answers are below.

Category 1: Music

1. Robbie Williams
2. The Supremes
3. “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)”
4. “What Have I Done To Deserve This?”
5. Barbra Streisand & Donna Summer
6. Peter Allen
7. George Michael
8. Marilyn Monroe
9. Shirley Bassey
10. “I Will Always Love You”

Category 2: Television

1. Melrose Place
2. Will & Grace
3. Number 96 ‘Don Finlayson’ (Joe Hasham)
4. Big Girl’s Blouse was the show the girls produced even though the characters had briefly appeared in Fast Forward.
5. Gav & Waz
6. Richard Hatch, the “nude guy”, later guilty of tax evasion.
7. Queer as Folk (US)
8. Alias (Jennifer Garner)
9. Rosie O’Donnell who then quit the show.
10. Prisoner’s first lesbian character (Carol Burns).

Category 3: Movies

1. Bette Davis and Joan Crawford
2. Tom Hanks
3. The Wedding Banquet (1993)
4. The Broken Hearts Club. Berlanti is a writer and executive producer on TV series Brothers & Sisters, and exec producer on Dirty Sexy Money.
5. My Beautiful Laundrette
6. My Best Friends Wedding
7. Mommie Dearest
8. Rock Hudson
9. Calamity Jane (1953)
10. Divine. John Travolta played her in the 2007 musical version.

Category 4: Politics and Sport

1. Bob Brown (The Australian Greens) and Brian Greig (The Australian Democrats
2. The Hon Bronwyn Pike
3. California, Massachusetts or New York
4. Tasmania
5. 1978 (June 24)
6. Ian Roberts
7. Matthew Mitcham (10m platform diving)
8. Martina Navratilova
9. Greg Louganis
10. Earvin “Magic” Johnson

Category 5: Salacious Celebrity Gossip

1. Reckless drunk driving
2. Suri
3. Dannii
4. Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman
5. Ginger Spice
6. Britney Spears
7. Cynthia Nixon
8. Los Angeles
9. Michael & Juanita Jordan. Settlement more than 150 million
10. Glitter

Courtney Act joins us for a review of the new Kylie Minogue concert which she recently saw in London, plus a run-down of the final night at G-A-Y. The fickle gay audience booed Girls Aloud off stage, but welcomed Dannii Mingoue, even though she is still ‘not Kylie’.

Play this podcast below or subscribe for free to future podcasts from iTunes.

Duration: 6:15

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Interview Transcript
Andy: We have the gorgeous and sensational Courtney Act on the line, good morning.
Courtney: Good morning
Adrian: Now you have just come back from a world wind, well not world wind, a tour of Europe, how did it go?
Courtney: It was so much fun! I went to London and I went to Ibitha and back to London and I did some shows in London which was very fun. And while I was in London I got to go the Kylie concert, I went to the final night of G-A-Y; It was an action packed trip.
Andy: What!? The final night of G-A-Y? What’s going on there?
Courtney: Well Jeremy Joseph, the promoter of G-A-Y at the Astoria has decided, well, I don’t know what the real reasons are but they have decided that the Astoria is a bit run down, which it is, and that they are going to, well they have now closed the Astoria. And there are rumours that they are going to start G-A-Y at another venue but it’s been a few weeks now but it’s yet to be announced.
Adrian: We were just saying, where is Dannii Minogue going to play now?
Courtney: I know, she’ll be out of a job.
Andy: That place has got history.
Adrian: So many memories. Andy, you and I went to see …
Andy: Bananarama. And they give you fluoro whistles when you walk in the door and it’s only like five pounds to go see these 40 year old women dancing and miming on stage, it’s brilliant!
Courtney: Worth every penny. Well, the night I was there they had nine acts, one to represent each of the nine years. The first few were British pop acts I’d never really heard of – McFly maybe?
Andy: Did they have Chumbawamba?
Courtney: No there was no tub-thumping. There were The Saturdays who are the new answer to Girls Aloud. They were created by the guy who created Girls Aloud and now Girls Aloud are a little bit pissed off because he’s created a new Girls Aloud group.
Andy: Oh, and his focus has changed.
Courtney: And they got booed off stage for miming and promoting their new album.
Adrian: At G-A-Y?
Courtney: Yeah it was great! They were like “We’d like you all to rush out tomorrow to the stores because our new album is on iTunes” and everyone was like “Boo!”.
Adrian: It’s a fickle gay audience – they’ll turn on you in an instant!
Courtney: They will. There was Bucks Fizz.
Adrian: Who?
Courtney: Bucks Fizz from the 80s. You know “Fun, little one, for the sun”. No?
Adrian: No.
Courtney: Ok. Alcazar.
Adrian: Richard Gere’s tie, I love that song.
Courtney: Sophie Elise Bextor, she was performing. And her boyfriend’s band, and I don’t know what they’re called. Oh, Sam Sparro, he was fantastic. With three big black women who were wailing it out. They did a bit of “Everybody Dance Now!” it was fantastic!
A&A: Haha!
Andy: I’m glad to see Marcia is still working
Courtney: Indeed, actually, there was a lot of speculation on the streets on who would be performing on the final night of G-A-Y because the Kylie concert debut in London was earlier that evening at O2 Stadium and so everyone was like, “It’s perfect timing, Kylie can just cross town to do the final night at G-A-Y, she’ll be onstage at 12:35” and then somebody was like “Oh my god there’s balloons on the ceiling and one of the balloons just popped and it had Kylie written on it. Kylie’s definitely performing!”
Andy: I can just imagine the audience going hysterical “Oh my god it’s going to be Kylie!!”
Courtney: It was like Mardi Gras every single year. And then, Jeremy Joseph came up on stage and said “Ladies and Gentlemen I would like to introduce your final performer …
A&A: Ahh!!!
Courtney: … Dannii Minogue!
A&A: Oh! Oh no, that’s happened before hasn’t it at Mardi Gras?
Courtney: They actually got the lovely Pam Ann to come in as a buffer because I think if he’d just said “Dannii Minogue!” and Dannii had walked on stage everybody would have … not there there’s anything wrong with Dannii, she’s just not Kylie.
Andy: Oh the poor thing, no matter what she does she’ll always be known as Kylie’s sister.
Courtney: If she was like, Dannii Smith, then everybody would have been really excited to have her performing , but the fact that she’s Dannii Minogue , everyone was like “Oh, well she’s not Kylie is she?”
Adrian: Poor girl
Courtney: Pam Ann came out to buffer the impact and did another pre introduction and then Dannii came on and did a fantastic version of “All I Wanna Do” and she had a mime, a man not miming … um … signing all the lyrics! And then she did a big costume change which took forever and everyone was very excited about the elaborate costume she was going to come out in and she came out in a pair of black tights and a black corset with a hat on her head.
A&A: Haha!
Courtney: I think she was just getting changed to go home. And a few choruses of Zanadu and that was about it.
Adrian: Now tell us about the Kylie concert
Courtney: Well I went to the debut night of the Kylie concert it was very exciting. I loved the first part, she did this very camp rendition of Copacabana and she acted it all out and it was very theatrical and very fun, that was my favourite part. She had pierorazio sailors and ballroom dancing …
Andy: So she’s still got the hot dancers as her backup?
Courtney: Well hot dancers with buckets on their heads.
Adrian: Did she have bananas and a pineapple on her head?
Courtney: She didn’t have bananas and pineapples, she was the singer and then there was a girl who played Lola who had the yellow feather in her hair
Andy: It’s very Hibiscus Island, Muriel’s Wedding.
Courtney: Hi-Biscus I-land!
A&A: Haha!
Courtney: And the whole stage had a TV screen it was like a preview of the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony, it was amazing. And she did a very camp version of ‘Mickey You’re So Fine’, so look out for that one when it comes to Sydney and Melbourne later this year.
Andy: Yeah I think December, because she always times it so can spend Christmas with the fam.

In Video 1, we go “D-Mac’ing with the Stars” and talk candidly about the important things in Daniel’s life, like the perils of doing a love-scene (poor Alice Platt!), his photo shoot for gay magazine ‘Attitude’ and his favourite underwear.

In Video 2, Daniel MacPherson has a problem. He’s the new host of Dancing With The Stars … but he can’t dance! We decided that he needed a little routine up his sleeve just in case, so we went ahead and taught him the Heal & Toe.

Mark and Juan, two members of Christian Boy Band ‘Altar Boyz’ came to talk to us about their tour, currently making its way around Australia. We find out about their soul saving machine, what God’s phone number is and Andy confesses that he has a Jesus-crush.

Australian rock band The Inches are releasing their new album, Sugar City. So we decided to asked band members Andrew and Luke to actually build a city out of sugar and lollies. Watch the results whilst listening to their new single, Gentleman’s Club.