//From Vacant by Nils Stevenson, photo: Ray Stevenson//

If you are of a London gig-goer of a certain (getting on to be advanced) age you will remember “Jesus”, an enthusiastic audience member at many musical events in the capital from the 60s to the late 70s.

//Detail: Hynde, Rotten, Matlock and Jesus. Photo: Ray Stevenson//

Jesus was notable because a) he was personable and b) would often discard his clothes as he energetically idiot-danced stage-front. Jesus liked to frolic with abandon, more often than not exposing much, or even all of his rail-thin body.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Bachman turner Overdrive, Brian nevill, Chuck Berry, Clive Jellett, Glastonbury Fayre, Jeff Dexter, Jesus, Johnny Rotten, Magic Michael, Mick Jagger, Mr Fish, Nils Stevenson, Patti Smith, Ray Stevenson, Rolling Stones, Sex Pistols, The Marque, The Nashville Rooms, The Rainbow, The Ramones, UFO, Vacant

Out There from Herb Lester Associates marks a departure from terra firma for my favourite map-makers: they’re anticipating the wave of space tourism of the future with this guide to three Grand Tours of the Solar System.

Complete with speculative observations from such sci-fi greats as Arthur C. Clarke, HG Wells and Olaf Stapledon (author of the 1930 book The Last And First Men, about the flight of mankind to Venus), Out There voyages from the Tar Pits Of Titan and the Fountains of Enceladus to the “giant space sponge” moon, Hyperion.

The text is by Matthew De Abatua with design and illustrations by Paul Rogers.

Out There’s publication has been accompanied by Trunk Records’ release of a companion space-themed download album compiled by Nick from the much missed west London record store Intoxica!.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Arthur C. Clarke, Herb lester Associates, HG Wells, Hyperion, Intoxica!, Mars, Matthew De Abatua, Olaf Stapledon, Paul Rogers, Sonny Day, Titan Venus, Trunk Records

//Original print of photo for Club International, 1975. Models include, from far right, Stephan Raynor, Don Letts and Martin Brading. Photo: David Parkinson//

I’ve been enjoying researching materials relating to the late photographer David Parkinson for a feature for GQ magazine, so thought I’d share some of the images I dug out of the Parkinson archive concerning the 70s King’s Road retro clothing store Acme Attractions.

Parkinson’s position as fashion editor of Paul Raymond’s sophisticated soft-porn magazine Club International enabled him to style and present Acme clothing for a wide readership, on occasion using the shop team as models.

Acme was opened by Parkinson’s friend Stephan Raynor (they’d known each other since they were part of a gang of style-obsessed teenagers in Leicester in the early 60s) with John Krivine, previously a Brixton-based jukebox dealer, in 1974.

//As the Parkinson photograph appeared in the magazine, flipped and tinted. Note ref to “Acme Tailors”//

//Parkinson used ties from his collection – including some sourced from Acme – for this March 1975 Club International feature//

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Acme Attractions, Antiquarius, Club International, Don Letts, GQ, Jay Strongman, Jeanette lee, John Krivine, Lord Snowdon, Martin Brading, Paradise Garage, princess Margaret, SEX, Steph Raynor, Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die, Vivienne Westwood

//Drift: New t-shirt from Japanese streetwear company Peel + Lift//

My 2011 post unraveling the threads running through the notorious Naked Cowboys punk t-shirt has itself inspired a new shirt.

The Cowboys t-shirt was designed by Malcolm McLaren in 1975 for sale in SEX, the shop he ran with Vivienne Westwood at 430 King’s Road in London’s World’s End.

Popular with punks and worn by members of the Sex Pistols and their coterie, it was initially known as the Saturday Night Dance shirt because of the presence of the dancehall sign in the appropriated homoerotic cowboy illustration by Jim French.

//Cowboys t-shirt sold at auction in London last year//

The new t-shirt has been produced by Japanese streetwear company Peel + Lift, which reproduces many McLaren and Westwood designs. It is entitled Drift, making overt the presence of 60s radical thinking in McLaren’s artwork: the drift, or the dérive, was a major theme of the Situationist International, which believed individuals should allow themselves to wander urban landscapes and become either repelled or enchanted by what they found (in the manner of the archetypal French urban explorer the flâneur).

//Panel, p3, Le Retour de la Colonne Durutti, 1966//

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: All The King's Horses, André Bertrand, Bobby Busnach, Derek Harris, Gerry Visco, Guy Debord, Jim French, King Mob Echo, Le Retour de la Colonne Durutti, Longhorns - Dance, Michelle Bernstein, Naked Cowboys, Peel + Lift, SEX, Sex Pistols, Strasbourg University, Tom Vague, Vivienne Westwood

//Photo: esquire.co.uk//

Do yourself a favour and read Mick Brown’s interview with Kenneth Anger on the Esquire website.

We were fortunate to sit with Mick during part of his preparation for the piece, attendance to the screenings of contemporary work and  a q&a with the magus during last summer’s brief Anger season at the ICA. As Brown’s article confirms, Anger’s powers appear undimmed by age; his presence that night was enhanced by a beautiful suit by Agnès Troublé (Agnes B); the pair’s friendship goes back to 1959.

There are few exponents of popular journalism to rival Brown for economy, precision and wit in delivery. Read this fine example of a writer at the top of his game here.

Tags: Agnes B, Agnès Troublé, Esquire, Hollywood Babylon, Kenneth Anger, Mick Brown

My recent post about the Mr Freedom designs in the V&A collection sparked some memories from graphic artist Ian Harris, who sends this 1972 photograph of himself in a Mr Freedom hamburger print shirt:

//Ian Harris with his then-wife Maggie, Brighton, UK, 1972. Ian Harris Collection//

//Mr Freedom hamburger print shirt in the V&A’s collection. Note appliqué//

In the 1972 photo, the shirt’s hamburger appliqué is obscured; Harris had worked for Mr Freedom partner Tommy Roberts at his 60s boutique Kleptomania, and gave the late Roberts a number of items relating to his career a few years back. Included was the appliqué which Harris had kept for many years.

As Harris points out, his wife Maggie, a model, is sporting an Angie Bowie-influenced look in the photo above. Here she is in another early 70s shot, taken outside John and Lyris Mann’s Kensington boutique Strictly For The Birds:

//Maggie outside 4 Holland Walk, Kensington, London, 1971. Ian Harris Collection//

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Ann Green, Equinox, Holland Street, Ian Harris, Jimmy Page, John Mann, Kensington, Kleptomania, Lyris Mann, Richard Young, Strictly For The Birds