//David “Piggy” Worth and Judy Nylon at the back of the building which housed his basement flat, Edith Grove, World’s End, London, 1971. Photo: © Tony Hall. No reproduction without permission//

//Worth in Ossie Clark snakeskin coat, Brompton Cemetry, west London, 1971. Photo: © Tony Hall. No reproduction without permission//

//On West Pier, Brighton, 1971. Photo: © Tony Hall. No reproduction without permission//

“Piggy was a special dreamer” Judy Nylon

“Piggy got me my first job with Helmut Newton” Yvonne Gold

“He was an amazing character, funny, exuberant, outgoing, such fun to be with. Everybody wanted to be his friend” Tony Hall

Before David Gandy, before Nick Kamen, there was David “Piggy” Worth.

//With Graeme Edge’s girlfriend at the Moody Blues’ drummer’s apartment, Bayswater, west London, 1971. Photo: © Tony Hall. No reproduction without permission//

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Tags: Adel Rootstein, Biba, David "Piggy" Worth, Duggie Fields, Gaby Longhi, Graeme Edge, Helmut Newton, Herb Schmitz, Jean Machine, John Stephen, Jordan Mooney, Judy Nylon, Ken Russell, Missionaries of Charity Sisters, Moody Blues, Ossie Clark, Shirley Russell, The Boyfriend, Tony Hall, Tony Lonsdale, Yvonne Gold

//Dennis Hopper and Satya de la Manitou photographed by Wim Wenders in Taos, 1978 (c) Wim WendersStiftung 2016//

Along For The Ride is the wild and suitably idisoyncratic documentary from LA-based artist Nick Ebeling about male friendship –  in particular the relationship between Ebeling’s cinematic hero Dennis Hopper and his right-hand man, “El Hombre Invisible” Satya de la Manitou – and the often fraught nature of film-making.

//Satya de la Manitou in Along For The Ride//

With a score by Gemma Thompson of Savages and produced by Sheri Timmons, the core of Along For The Ride lies in stories of de la Manitou’s 40-year friendship with Hopper, as related to Ebeling over coffee in various LA diners.

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Tags: Along For The Ride, Coco Morier, David Lynch, Dean Stockwell, Dennis Hopper, Ed Ruscha, Frank Gehry, Gemma Thompson, Gorillaz, Gunwolf, Julian Schnabel, Michael Madsen, Miss Kittin, Nick Ebeling, Philippe Mora, Satya de la Manitou, Savages, Taos, The Last Movie, Wim Wenders

Artist/illustrator Stephen Fowler’s Rubber Stamping is an engaging guide which stems from his rich body of work in primitive, D-I-Y printmaking.

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Tags: Rob Ryan, Stephen Fowler

//Detail, clad signage for Georg Jensen, 601 Madison Avenue, late 60s. From Herb Lubalin: Typographer, Unit Editions, 2016//

//Detail, shop signage designed by Malcolm McLaren, made by Vick Mead, 430 King’s Road, London, 1975. From a photograph by Peter Schlesinger//

Was the late Malcolm McLaren inspired by one of the greats of 20th century graphics in his creation of the astonishing signage for Sex, the fetishistic fashion boutique and incubator of punk rock he operated with Vivienne Westwood at 430 King’s Road in west London between October 1974 and November 1976?

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Tags: Adrian Shaughnessy, Avant Garde, Chrissie Hynde, Claes Oldenurg, Eros, Fact, Georg Jensen, Herb Lubalin, Thomas Fuller, Tony Brook, Vick Mead, Vivienne Westwood

//The Lava Lady on La Brea Boulevard, Los Angeles, 1990s. Photo: http://antebellumgallery.blogspot.co.uk//

Sad to note the passing of Suzan Strauss, whose intriguing, otherworldly presence illuminated the streets around Melrose and La Brea in Los Angeles in the 80s and 90s.

Choosing to walk the otherwise empty pavements in her ever-changing extraordinary outfits, she was known as The Lava Lady since her residence on Detroit was clad in black lava rock (and apparently the interior was not lit by electricity, but candles).  In my circle Strauss was known as That Lady, as in “I was parking in Ralph’s and saw That Lady” or “I nearly spoke to That Lady at Fairfax High flea market but didn’t want to disturb her”.

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Tags: Detroit Street, La Brea Bopuldevard, Melrose Boulevard, Ray Suzan Strauss, The Lava Lady, The Wellington Witch, West Hollywood

One of the most pleasurable experiences of this summer was the August morning I spent amid the cool beauty of London’s “private palace of art” Leighton House Museum in the company of the extremely talented British poet Scarlett Sabet.

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Tags: Blør, Flaming June, Leighton House, Scarlett Sabet, Sir FRederick Leighton, The Lock And The Key, Waltz Darling

//Shirley Collins with hooden horses. Photo: Toby Amies//

“Shirley has a voice that seems to be in touch with the traditions of the past, but also the dark mystery that makes England so weird, wild and mesmerising, and it is these two aspects that I wanted to convey in the video.”
Nick Abrahams, 2016

I’m captivated by the magical film made by Nick Abrahams to accompany the Shirley Collins song Death And The Lady.

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Tags: Cathy Ward, Death And The Lady, Domino Records, Ekki múkk, Nick Abrahams, Roby Amies, Shirley Collins, Sigur Rós

//Voodoo and Magic Practices, Jean Kerboull, Barrie and Jenkins, 1978. Translated from the French by John Shaw//

This is the book which inspired the late Malcolm McLaren to unite the design ideas he developed with Vivienne Westwood for their Autumn/Winter 1983 fashion collection Witches.

At the time McLaren was completing his album Duck Rock, which was conceived as an ethnological travelogue and modelled on the  LP series Dances Of the World’s Peoples released on the ethnographic Folkways label; in fact, Duck Rock was originally titled Folk Dances Of The World and the incorporation of an illustrated insert containing track-by-track explanations was taken from the one which appeared in the 1958 albums.

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Tags: Dances Of The World's Peoples, Duck Rock, Folkways, Jean Kerboull, Keith Haring, Legba, Nick Egan, Nostalgia Of Mud, Voodoo And Magic Practices, Witches

Hats off to barnstorming Barney Hoskyns for compiling new Joni Mitchell anthology Reckless Daughter, which is published in November.

I fell under Mitchell’s spell in my early teens at the behest of an older brother and was lucky enough to see her live in the gig-crowded year of 1974 at London’s New Victoria Theatre.

Even while punk raged I kept the faith; 1975’s The Hissing Of Summer Lawns and the following year’s Hejira are stone classics to which I constantly return, and not just for the peerless music. The designs by her own hand (Mitchell is an accomplished visual artist) and the fashion-sheen photography of Norman Seeff add to the allure.

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Tags: Barney HOskyns, Court & Spark, Free Man In Paris, Joni Mitchell, Leonore Fleischer, New Victoria Theatre, Norman Seeff, Reckless Daughter, Rock's Back Pages, The Hissing Of Summer Lawns

//The plaque at 73 Lancaster Road. Photo: Peter Tarry//

Great news about the English heritage blue plaque dedicated yesterday at 73 Lancaster Road in north London’s Finsbury Park, one-time home of the late great footballer Laurie Cunningham.

//Dermot Kavanagh speaks at the unveiling. Among those in attendance were Cunningham’s friend Cyrille Regis, his former girlfriend Nikki Brown and members of his family. Photo: Peter Tarry//

As I’ve written here before, Cunningham’s significance extends outside of his considerable achievements as a sportsman; the first black player to represent England and be signed to an overseas club (Spain’s Real Madrid), he lived his tragically short life off the field at the cutting edge of street style and club culture.

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Tags: Brendon Batson, Cyrille Regis, Dermot Kavanagh, Finsbury Park, Laurie Cunningham, The Three Degrees, West Bromwich Albion