Directed by Bram Van Splunteren, via openculture.com
Sunglasses Ron in rocking rabble-rousing mode at The Rainbow 1977
The photograph above – taken by a friend, Neal Purvis – captures one of the leading lights of London’s Ted scene at the height of his rabble-rousing powers.
Here is “Sunglasses Ron” Fahey taking to the stage of north London venue The Rainbow during The Sun Sound Show, which ran on the nights of April 30 and May 1 1977 and featured rockabilly giants Charlie Feathers, Buddy Knox, Jack Scott and Warren Smith.
Continue reading Sunglasses Ron in rocking rabble-rousing mode at The Rainbow 1977
Ian Dury, Dany Bubbles + Barney Bubbles
I sourced one of the paintings which is in More Than Fair, the exhibition of Ian Dury’s artworks which opens at his alma mater, London’s Royal College of Art, next month.
Dury gave the ultra-Pop Dany Bubbles to his friend and designer Barney Bubbles in the late 70s during their spell of collaboration which resulted in a series of triumphs: single sleeves such as Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, What A Waste and Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick, the 28 wallpaper covers of the album Do It Yourself, the Blockhead logo…
Golden age of British boutiques evoked by Christie’s Pop Culture sale
The spirit of great British boutique culture is summoned by a couple of lots in next week’s Pop Culture sale at Christie’s.
One is a previously unpublished June 1967 photograph of Jim Hendrix not in Carnaby Street as captioned, but outside the tobacconist Finlay’s, which was in Foubert’s Place. It’s evident from the carrier bag in his famous left hand that the guitarist had just visited I Was Lord Kitchener’s Valet, which was next door to Finlay’s and the place where he bought the Hussar’s jacket worn in this photograph and at Monterey Pop that same month.
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The Peter Small connection: George O’Dowd at Street Theatre, The Regal + The Foundry
I’ve been acting as a consultant to artist Lucy Harrison on her latest site specific project Carnaby Echoes, which focuses on the culturally fertile area of central London adjacent to Soho.
With the starting point of the opening of Murray’s Club in Beak Street in 1913, Harrison is mounting her artistic response to 100 years of musical history with archival material and fresh interviews with some of the area’s leading lights.
The Photo Kid: Ben Kelly at the Royal College Of Art, 1974
This is designer Ben Kelly at his 1974 degree show at London’s Royal College Of Art.
Kelly adopted the alter-ego The Photo Kid, who is portrayed in the work by which he is standing. The Photo Kid wore clothes – in particular brothel creepers – from Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s shop Let It Rock, as did Kelly; the shoes, pink socks and belt in this photograph all came from there, while the Hopalong Cassidy & Topper top (see Ian Harris’s comment below) was picked up at a Paris flea market.
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I’ve been stupefied from Burundi Black to Grimes and back: Stupefaction posts my playlist
I was flattered to be invited to contribute this playlist to Tim Broun’s great blog Stupefaction:
01. Cocoa Song from Moon Over The Alley OST
02. I Start Counting – Basil Kirchin
03. Say You Don’t Mind – Colin Blunstone
04. Cut The World – Antony & The Johnsons
05. Burundi Black (Part 2) – Burundi Stephenson Black
06. Bo Diddley – Bo Diddley
07. Boogie Children – John Fred & the Playboys
08. Jump Sturdy – Dr John
09. Natty Dread Taking Over – Culture
10. Love A We Deal With – Big Youth
11. Train To Rhodesia – Big Youth
12. Sadness Is A Blessing – Lykke Li
13. The Lights Of Tucson – Jim Campbell
14. Coz I Luv U – Slade
15. High – Ssion
16. Inside Out – Odyssey
17. Genesis – Grimes
18. Baby’s On Fire – Die Antwoord
19. Sick Of Myself – Matthew Sweet
20. You Shouldn’t Do That – Hawkwind (full live version)
Stupefaction features a 15-track Spotify and 20-track video version here.
You may go direct to the Youtube version here.
Enjoy.
Alchemy: Malcolm McLaren on Paris, Capital of the XXIst Century
Paris, Capital of the XXIst Century is a personal and subjective journey that began firstly by ambling through a century’s archive of thousands of cinema commercials about the city (its inhabitants, what it sells, how it looks…), secondly by gathering impressions (choosing what to exploit, covet and keep), jotting them down only when I returned to my studio. Then, using these specific scenes as a palette and my voice as a brush, twenty-one portraits emerged of a Paris I had never witnessed before.
Malcolm McLaren November 2009
Tomorrow (June 10), Art Basel will host a screening of Malcolm McLaren’s final artwork, Paris, Capital of the XXIst Century.
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The Man Whose Mind Exploded: Toby Amies’ envoi to his extraordinary friend Drako Oho Zarhazar
I can’t wait to see documentarist Toby Amies’ envoi to his extraordinary friend Drako Oho Zarhazar.
Over the last year or so when we have bumped into each other socially, Amies has shown me snippets on his phone. Each tasty morsel has increased my hunger for this portrait of the late Brighton dweller Amies describes as “muse for Dali, actor for Jarman, dancer at Les Folies Bergère, outsider interior decorator, hero and legend”.
“Bring me your dented and bent out of shape”: Johnny Moped documentary is on the way
In an age clogged up with boil-in-the-bag popular music documentaries, I’m looking forward to Fred Burns’ Basically, Johnny Moped, about the unpredictable outsider who emerged via associations with The Damned and Chrissie Hynde during the post-punk period to strut and fret his hour upon the stage.
Moped and his band – Dave and Fred Berk and Slimy Toad – were out and about a lot in 1977 and 1978; I caught them a couple of times, once as part of a bigger bill at Camden Town’s Music Machine (now Koko) and another time in the West End (possibly The Marquee).
Their single Darling, Let’s Have Another Baby was (and remains 35 years later) a stand-out song of the period and Barney Bubbles’ artwork for that and other Moped releases and promotional material sealed the deal.