PRINCESS JULIA

Julia and I never used to see eye to eye. I admit writing some pretty unkind things about her when I first put up my website (but I had the graciousness to remove the offending words instantly and apologise profusely). However, lest we forget that I gave her myriad flattering press over the years - and I'm not talking free gay press here, but classy style and music magazines from London, Paris, Berlin and NYC. I've still got the cuttings, by the way, if any cynics out there felt like arguing with me. I also dutifully took the time to photoshop the portraits I took of her in sweaty clubs, where one's skin tends to look on the shiny side, simply because I genuinely wanted her to look her best in the magazines. The problem was, I always got the impression that the ubiquitous little laydeee had a tendency to look down her nose at me, or just pretend that I didn't exist (except, of course, when I had to photograph her or conduct an interview with her). Ironically, that was happening in the '90s when I was one of the main writers/photographers at DJ Magazine, and the UK editor at Project X in NYC, amongst other posts at high profile publications, while she'd only managed scribbling some short-lived networking column for DJ Mag. Anyhow, we later had a heart-to-heart one Sunday afternoon, fittingly at Tesco's, when she denied ever meaning to upset me. She also swore blind that she always tried to help me. In other words, all those years I might possibly have misinterpreted the alarming blank expression she wore on her face whenever I dealt with her, which presumably had nothing to do with ill feelings towards me after all. Cripes, silly ol' me (lol)! Having said that, I'm not here to bitch and I'm now keen to concede that Julia Fodor ain't at all a bad lot. Let's face it, no one can survive that long on the club scene without possessing some sort of talent. Call it perseverance, drive or good old-fashioned ambition, she has bucketsful of it. The girl knows how to stick around and I don't mean that in a sarcastic way either. Just like Tasty Tim (with whom she shares DJ duties at The Cock), she's been a staple diet - and served as an ornament - in virtually every influential club known to mankind. She's also managed to survive every single decade on the scene since the late '70s, evidently unscathed, while keeping her pristine image practically intact. That surely deserves some kind of award, doesn't it? So, hats off to the (club) people's princess and long may she remain in clubland! Love and respect.