When he was growing up in Minneapolis in the 1950s, the painter Duncan Hannah’s father advised him: “You never know what kind of squirrel cage a man goes home to at the end of the day.”
Hannah’s book 20th Century Boy allows the reader full access to the squirrel cage inhabited by this charming man in 1970s New York.
Continue reading An unblinking look inside the squirrel cage: Duncan Hannah’s 20th Century Boy
Today marks eight years since the death of visual artist, designer and cultural provocateur Malcolm McLaren.
His friend Joe Stevens sent me this photo a couple of years back. It was taken during the period when McLaren – wearing one of the tartan bondage suits he designed with Vivienne Westwood – was mounting the defence of Sid Vicious, then on the murder charge for having killed Nancy Spungen.
This extraordinary episode from an extraordinary life – during which time McLaren encountered the likes of Donald Trump’s vile mentor Roy Cohn, the legendary radical lawyer William Kunstler and criminal defence attorney F. Lee Bailey (the latter by way of an introduction by Allen Ginsberg) – will of course be covered in my book Malcolm McLaren: The Biography, which is to be published by Constable & Robinson next year.
Thanks to my FB friend Vadim Kosmos for alerting me to this (I am not keen on Star Wars so avoid media coverage): a reference in the latest film in the franchise, The Last Jedi, to the Barney Bubbles/Jake Riviera advertising campaign for Elvis Costello And The Attractions’ 1979 LP Armed Forces.
In The Last Jedi Benicio del Toro plays an opportunistic hacker referred to as “DJ”; for some time there has been speculation as to what the initials stand for.
Now director Rian Johnson has revealed they represent “Don’t Join!”, the slogan used in British music press ads for Armed Forces which featured in my Bubbles’ monograph Reasons To Be Cheerful.
Continue reading DJ = Don’t Join! The Barney Bubbles x Jake Riviera influence in The Last Jedi
I am again partnering with Sonos for a fresh brace of exhibitions at the home audio specialist’s London and New York stores.
Following the successful Song Stories: David Bowie displays in each outlet, I have organised two shows to mark the recent publication of my book The Story Of The Face. Each has site-tailored exhibits, including original articles and covers from my magazine library, scaled-up enlargements and precious archival material provided by The Face founder, editor and publisher Nick Logan.
Continue reading The Story Of The Face x NYC at Sonos in SoHo
For the ‘My London’ slot on his BBC Radio London programme, British broadcaster Gary Crowley has conducted an illuminating interview (with musical choices) with Nick Logan, editor, publisher and hands-down the greatest British magazine innovator of our time.
Here’s a selection of articles for early issues of The Face by veteran music journalist/author (and my old mucker) Chris Salewicz to mark the fact that he and I will be in conversation about my new book The Story Of The Face at leading south London independent bookshop Bookseller Crow on Tuesday evening (November 28).
I’m signing copies of my new book The Story Of The Face at Paul Smith’s Beak Street store in London’s Soho on Thursday evening.
Smith’s shop is opposite the address of one of my all-time favourite fashion outlets, Demob, which was at 47 Beak Street in the early to mid-80s.
In fact Demob’s opening was heralded in a spring 1982 issue of The Face, with a report by Anne Witchard and photographs by Neil Matthews.
If you’re in town drop in to 46-48 Beak Street on Thursday evening and say hi.
The Story Of The Face: The Magazine That Changed Culture is out now.
To mark the publication of my new book about The Face, I will be in conversation at London’s Central Saint Martins on November 16 with Magculture’s Jeremy Leslie and the magazine’s founder/editor/publisher Nick Logan.
This event represents a chance not just to hear from Leslie, whose shop is the country’s leading independent magazine hub, but also a rare opportunity to witness Logan – in my book (literally) the most important figure in post war British magazine publishing – talk about the magazine that changed culture.
Tickets are £10; all proceeds go to the Alzheimers Society.
Details and tickets from Magculture here.
The Story Of The Face: The Magazine That Changed Culture is published on the same day, November 16. You may order copies here.
