Paul Gorman is…

Interiors: The amazing abode of Dickie Lowe

Sep 18th, 2012

Witty companion, workaholic, optimist, stoic, computer-phobe, special occasion facilitator, raconteur, moralist, compulsive green thumb, avid theatre and concertgoer, roof gardener, summer pudding-maker, painter, rememberer of birthdays, punster, voracious reader, film maker, museumolic, snappy dresser, sequiner, harpsichord player, party giver, flower arranger, supplier of bon mots, delightful travel companion, regular sender of postcards (sometimes 6 at a time) for 43 expatriate years…and much, much more.

Richard “Dickie” Lowe – who died earlier this year aged 67 – was a smashing bloke, as the words above from Alexandra and Leigh Copeland’s Melbourne Age obituary attest.

I encountered Lowe on but a handful of occasions; he never failed to charm and delight.

Although he had lived in the UK since the late 60s, Lowe’s Larrikin spirit was undimmed to the last. His singularity was made manifest in the magnificent decor of his central London apartment, which communicated an interest in and knowledge of Egyptian art, miniature Australian landscapes, postcards, bric-a-brac and curios of all varieties, and has now been documented by photographer Peter Waldman.

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Just as the independent labels and self-published fanzines Paul Gorman chronicles built their own alternative economies outside the mainstream music industry, today's digital subcultures are experimenting with decentralised currencies that move value without banks or borders. Part of that wave has reached the world of sports and casino entertainment, where crypto-friendly wagering has found a particularly enthusiastic audience in Turkey under the name bitcoin bahis —a form of play that lets users stake and cash out with digital coins rather than conventional payment rails. Anyone tempted to try it should treat it strictly as entertainment, stake only money they can afford to lose, and first confirm the platform's licensing as well as the gambling rules in force in their own country.

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Sleevenotes: GRIS-gris, DR JOHN the night tripper

Sep 6th, 2012

Sleevenotes for Gris Gris, Dr John The Night Tripper

“To you whom I may communicate with shortly through the smoke of Deaux-Deaux the rattlesnake whose forked tongue hisses pig Latin in silk and satin da-zaw-ig-day, may the gilded splinters of Auntie Andre spew forth in your path to light and guide your way through the bayous of life.”

For prime poetic mumbo-jumbo, look no further than the back cover text of Dr John’s debut LP Gris-Gris.

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Music: Get Free – Major Lazer feat Amber

Aug 25th, 2012

As promonews.tv points out, this is perfect for Carnival weekend (even with this weather). Scenes from Jamaican life in the clip by So Me.

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‘Soho-Italianate’: Gordon Moore’s advert for Vince Man’s Shop in ARK magazine 1957

Aug 24th, 2012


This advert for Vince Man’s Shop – the small Soho boutique which sparked the modernisation of menswear design and retailing in the second half of the 20th century – was designed by Gordon Moore for issue 20 of the Royal College Of Art magazine ARK, published in autumn 1957.

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‘Because of the economic crisis, people are trying to consume as fast as possible. Ideas are dead; there aren’t any to express the mood. Fashion is irrelevant’: Malcolm McLaren + SEX, November 1975

Aug 13th, 2012

//Sex assistant Jordan, Gallery International, Vol 1, no 4.//

It’s unlikely that cities will shake or nations start to rock under the impact of Malcolm McLaren’s sexual revolution. A few people might die though.

Malcolm McLaren, at 30, is a mixture of entrepreneurial cultist, sexual evangelist, businessman, artist, fetishist and political philosopher; a psychotic visionary in the ephemeral subculture of the fashion world.

David May, Gallery International Vol 1 no 4.

In November 1975 – by which time his charges the Sex Pistols had just embarked on live performances – Malcolm McLaren was interviewed by journalist David May at 430 King’s Road, then in full bloom as radical retail venture SEX.

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The King’s Road Music + Fashion Trail

Aug 11th, 2012

These are the first five downloadable clips in the King’s Road Music + Fashion Trail, a celebration of landmark boutiques I am making for the culture section of Royal Borough Of Kensington + Chelsea Council.

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Chavela Vargas 1919-2012

Aug 8th, 2012

Adiós Chavela Vargas.

Read the Telegraph obit here.

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Robert Hughes 1938-2012

Aug 7th, 2012

//Two views of Robert Hughes, London, 1967.//

Sad to note the death yesterday of the great journalist and author Robert Hughes.

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With the Broken Hearts’ + Lloyd Johnson on Strongroom Alive tonight

Aug 6th, 2012

Tonight I am the guest again of the Broken Hearts DJs, this time on their monthly show at Strongroom Alive, the station which is part of the media complex based in the Strongroom recording studio in east London.

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‘Pop culture’s one-man production line’ – Tommy Roberts book in new issue of GQ

Aug 3rd, 2012

Tommy Roberts book in GQ Sept 2012

The September 2012 issue of GQ features this David Parkinson photograph of the interior of Tommy Roberts and Trevor Myles’ Mr Freedom at 430 King’s Road.

One of a number of previously-unpublished photographs in Mr Freedom – Tommy Roberts: British Design Hero, this shot captures the extraordinary fit-out Myles and Roberts’ commissioned from pioneering East End design team Electric Colour Company.

Read my post about ECC’s achievements  – with interviews and many illustrations, still the only piece to be published anywhere about this important but sorely neglected group of British artist/designers – here.

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