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Dr Dre - from LA gangsta rapper to Forbes top dog? SUNDAY, MAY 11, 2014 38 Singer Mariya Yaremchuk representing Ukraine performs the song ‘Tick-Tock’ during a rehearsal of the Eurovision Song Contest Final in the B&W Halls in Copenhagen, Denmark. — AP Ukraine crisis, bearded drag Autistic Australian an artistic hero queen vie for Eurovision limelight rtist Tim Sharp cannot explain why his colorful work be his creation-Laser Beak Man-when he grew up. It was has such appeal, or how the cheeky superhero he around this time Tim and his younger brother were going olitics look set to take centre stage at this year’s Steinmetz, the half-Ukrainian singer of German Afirst drew when he was a child, Laser Beak Man, has to a birthday party and set about making a card. “We didn’t Eurovision contest in Copenhagen, with the hopefuls Elaiza, in an interview with AFP. “Of course won fans around the world and become a television series. have any money for the card. So we made the card. I said, PRussian contestants facing boos in a final I’m afraid of threats to Ukraine. But I think in “Drawing makes me really happy, doesn’t it mum,” is all he ‘We’ll put Laser Beak Man on the front. And I said to Tim, bookies say could see a bearded Austrian drag Eurovision, people must vote with the heart, not says, as his mother Judy sits beside him in Sydney’s Hyde ‘What would Laser Beak Man say?’ What does he say? “Have queen triumph. Since the contest was launched in with the head. “This is about the best artist, regard- Park. “Colors can make me happy. Am I doing well mum?” a filthy, disgusting birthday”. “And we put that inside and 1956, some results have given off more than a whiff less of nationality,” she said. Conchita Wurst, the hir- Sharp, who turns 26 this month, was first diagnosed as we gave it to our friend who happened to have a friend of politics and the 2014 event in the Danish capital is sute alter ego of Austrian performer Tom Neuwirth, autistic when he was three years old. At the time, his moth- who worked in the disability arts scene who said, ‘This is likely to be no exception, with the Ukraine crisis will represent his homeland with the Bond theme- er was told he would never talk, go to school or feel real just brilliant’. You have to make cards of this.’” spilling over into the competition. Russia’s like ballad “Rise Like a Phoenix.” affection for her. One doctor encouraged her to put him For Tim, Laser Beak Man was an extension of his love for Tolmachevy Sisters were jeered on Tuesday when it In Russia, Belarus and Ukraine petitioners have into an institution and move on. superheroes such as Batman, Spiderman, Superman and was announced that they had made it to the final demanded that the 25-year-old drag queen be Judy knew her son was intelligent and loving, but it the X-Men. “He’s always in my paintings,” he explains of the and connoisseurs of the pageant’s inner workings dropped from the competition, while the leader of wasn’t until she began drawing pictures to communicate creations which often involve a pun-such as one called predict Ukraine’s entry could benefit from sympathy Austria’s right-wing FPOe party has called the act with him that he seemed to “switch on”. The first time she “Everyone is Beautiful’ in which the superhero is surround- drew, Tim grabbed her hand and pushed it towards the ed by the number 1, or “Shut the Duck Up” which has a votes. “ridiculous”. “I have very thick skin. It never ceases to pencil for her to pick it up and keep drawing. “And that in duck with its mouth tied shut and Laser Beak Man holding Things didn’t get any easier this week for the amaze me just how much fuss is made over a little itself was a major interaction, he hadn’t done that before.” a cooked bird on a platter. In another entitled ‘How to Russia act after Eurovision buffs claimed to have facial hair,” Wurst said. But the singer won over view- The discovery was a breakthrough, meaning day-to-day Make Mona Lisa Smile’, Laser Beak Man is pictured moon- unveiled a Ukrainian subtext in one of the verses of ers with her performance in Thursday’s semi-final activities such as going to another child’s birthday party, ing the famous subject as he paints her portrait. their song “Shine”. “Living on the edge, closer to the and shot up the bookies’ table. Armenia’s Aram MP3, which had once made Tim deeply anxious, became man- Tim’s work had instant appeal, and at 16 he was crime, cross the line a step at a time,” the song goes. another frontrunner, stirred controversy earlier this ageable once shown to him in pictures. selected for the Very Special Arts Festival in Washington The lyrics went viral among Eurovision fanatics when week when he reportedly said Wurst’s lifestyle was “Now I was able to show him the sequence of what you for people with disabilities. Judy mortgaged their house “not natural”-a comment the stand-up comedian lat- do-we go, we take the present, we blow out the candles, to make sure he could get there. Since then, Tim, who er claimed was a joke. “I have to say that if it’s a joke we sing ‘Happy Birthday’, and then we leave. “And as soon uses pencils and crayons to create his bright designs on it’s not funny ... but he apologised and that’s fine for as the candles were blown out we had to leave,” she says, the family’s kitchen table, has won fans such as me,” Wurst said. laughing. “But he didn’t scream for the hour or so before Hollywood star Cate Blanchett and had a music festival that so it made a difference that way.” Once Tim starting staged in his honor in Nashville, Tennessee. Laser Beak Cultural divide drawing, it was quickly clear he had his own quirky style. “I Man has also inspired an animated television series Highlighting a cultural divide between eastern don’t know that it was Picasso or anything like that, there screened by the Cartoon Network and the Australian and western Europe, the city of Copenhagen said was just something about it for a four-year-old,” Judy says. Broadcasting Corporation. For Judy, one of the great three gay couples from Russia tied the knot there as “What he tended to draw tended to have a lot of personali- things about Tim’s art is that it has showed that accept- part of a Eurovision-related event celebrating 25 ty to it. And then he liked to watch me draw, which was a ance of people with disabilities has improved. “Lots of years of same-sex unions in Denmark. Other artists big thing because I couldn’t maintain his attention on any- things have happened that we never thought would tipped to vie for the top spots are Swedish balladeer thing else.” happen,” she said. “Every day is exciting.”— AFP Sanna Nielsen and Dutch country duo The Common ‘Filthy, disgusting birthday’ Linnets. Audiences in Britain and France routinely When he was 11, Tim told his mum that he wanted to complain that their countries suffer from a lack of European voting allies and tend to take the competi- tion less seriously than the countries of the former eastern bloc that joined in the 1990s. “Everything could be political but we don’t really Singer Conchita Wurst, representing Austria, performs the song care, because we are artists and what we are doing is “Rise Like a Phoenix” during a rehearsal for the second semifinal music,” said Lorent Idir from France’s Twin Twin. If of the Eurovision Song Contest in the B&W Halls in Copenhagen, France wanted to win-a feat it hasn’t accomplished Denmark. Born Thomas Neuwirth, the performer challenges con- since 1977 — its artists needed to add a bit more ceptions of masculine and feminine beauty. — AP “fun and color,” he suggested. The mainstream appeal of the Eurovision Song Contest has grown over the past two decades after strict rules on it was suggested they were a reference to Russia’s singing in the national language and performing annexation of Crimea in March, after a referendum with an orchestra were scrapped. It has also benefit- called for the Ukrainian territory to come under ted from the popularity of TV talent shows, and sev- Moscow’s rule. The crisis, which has since shifted to eral of this year’s artists have previously competed in other parts of eastern Ukraine, is widely tipped to programs like The X Factor. boost support for Ukrainian singer Mariya The growing size of the event, and a desire by Yaremchuk. some countries to use it to showcase themselves to the rest of the world, has led to soaring costs. Message to Russia According to some estimates, the price for regenerat- Ukrainian boxing champion turned opposition ing Azerbaijan’s host city Baku in 2012 was around leader Vitali Klitschko called on Eurovision nations to one billion dollars (720 million euros). Danish broad- vote for Ukraine in a show of support. “Just like sport, caster DR has pledged to spend around 190 million music has the power to unite people... it would be an kroner (25.5 million euros, $35.4 million) on amazing message if European viewers gave special Eurovision, which last year drew an audience of 170 support to the Ukrainian contestant,” he told German million viewers.

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