Twenty Third & Seventh

Gooey Nostalgia

Yep, I've been sucked into the vortex known as YouTube, the range of things to watch is stupefying.  This one is prompt for a melancholy nostalgia, Culture Club's final Sydney show in 1984 when they were at the peak of their popularity.  Sydney had known no comparable hysteria since the Beatles toured.  I was a dangerously young man and at this concert in the fifth row.  I still consider this to be the night that my youth ended and I was catapulted into the realm of adultdom, nothing would ever seem as magikal again.

Chelsea People in the News- Brett Whiteley

This extended interview with Clive James contains the consideration of former Chelsea resident, Brett Whiteley reproduced below. The Whiteleys lived at the Chelsea in the early 70s.  Significant Whiteley work can be seen at the reception desk.

This article refers to Whiteley's London years, before his Chelsea residency.

"The house had once belonged to the pre-Raphaelite crowd-pleaser William Holman Hunt," James says. "The bunch of recent arrivals I was with all moved into the ground floor and started being poor. Brett lived in a studio in the back yard: he had obviously already left poverty behind.

"He had all the signs of success, including a blindingly beautiful wife, Wendy. Forty years on I know enough about the harsh economics of a painter's life to know that Brett might not have been that well off but he certainly got invited out. It was a tough moment for the rest of us when Brett and Wendy emerged from the studio on the way to dinner with Sir Kenneth Clark (England's leading art historian and academic)," he says.

"Brett, with his bright blond tea-cosy of a hairstyle, a kind of golden helmet, was almost as lovely as his wife. But Brett was no snob and seemed not to mind when I spent hours drinking his beer while explaining to him that technique in the arts was a side issue.

"Brett countered with the argument that one of the reasons Matisse could leave out so much was that he knew exactly how to put everything in. This was a perfectly true statement, but I was years away from realising how true because I had never had to sit down and keep reshaping a sentence while the light changed on the verb.

"One of the things I most regret about my acquaintanceship with Brett Whiteley was that when he carried out his plans to visit the National Gallery before dawn - Sir Kenneth had made a phone call - I was too hung over to join him on his expedition to watch the sun come up on the Piero della Francescas."

Who would wish to live through that wasteful, youthful world again, James wonders. "Another regret is that I agreed to him doing a triptych of nude lovers based on one of my poems, which he was generous enough to admire. I thought I recognised Wendy in the complicated and lascivious flourish of black ink on the white paper. The images of her, I thought, were a lot more interesting than my words.

"When the images were framed at Brett's expense - Wendy looked at me very sharply for that, quite rightly so - he made me a present of them, and I lugged them around for years until I finally left them with a startled landlady in Cambridge in compensation for being late with the rent. Unless she burned them, I expect they will turn up one day and fetch a huge price: not because of my lines but because of Brett's line. And that's just how it should be."

Peter Blake and a New Take on AndyW

I've lifted this wholesale, it's Australian public property.  Highlighted in blue is one of the most provocative things said about Warhol subsequent to his death.  I have a couple of responses but I'm saving them for now, the proposition warrants consideration.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT

LOCATION: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2006/s1672358.htm

Broadcast: 26/06/2006

Pop art icon continues to wow the critics

Reporter: Mark Bannerman

KERRY O'BRIEN: Now to the man who's been called the "father of Pop Art", Peter Blake. Long before Andy Warhol arrived on the scene, Blake realised celebrities and industrial design could have their place in art. In the 1960s he was so hip that when it came time for the Beatles to make a cover for their psychedelic masterpiece 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band', they called on him. And , or Sir Peter as he's now called, has continued to produce art for numerous pop bands and art galleries ever since. Mark Bannerman reports.

MARK BANNERMAN, REPORTER: Say the words "pop art" and one man comes to mind. His name - Andy Warhol. But if Warhol perfected the form, you may be surprised to know, the true father of Pop Art came from the other side of the Atlantic. His name, Peter Blake.

SIR PETER BLAKE, ARTIST: My interpretation would be that there was a dinner party in London with a group of young artists, a critic called Lawrance Adderway, and that at that dinner party he invented the phrase to describe the work I was doing at that point. I mean, that's my story. There would be a million other stories.

MARK BANNERMAN: That's your story and you're sticking to it?

SIR PETER BLAKE: Sticking to it, and it's true.

MARK BANNERMAN: Controversial this may be, but Peter Blake has some major supporters. In the late '50s and early 1960s, Blake's work was deemed so groundbreaking the film director Ken Russell made him the centrepiece of this documentary called 'Pop Goes the Easel'. The emphasis on 'pop'.

SIR PETER BLAKE: Well, what I was trying to do, and it didn't succeed, if you think of an art equivalent to music, you've got classical music, you've got Beethoven and Mozart. At the other end of the spectrum or in a different area, you've got pop music. But what I wanted to do was an art equivalent. If a girl liked Elvis to listen to, I hoped that she would like my painting of Elvis.

SIR PETER BLAKE (ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE): This is a Kim Novak wall. I've done other walls...the Everly Brothers, Superman and Shirley Temple.

MARK BANNERMAN: If making art accessible to the people seems innocent enough, that's not the way it was seen 40 years ago. With their do-it-yourself quality, Pop Art paintings like these created outrage. But there was a sense in which Pop Art was something that apparently almost anyone could do, and it was a kind of a con, was that ever put to you?

SIR PETER BLAKE: Well, again, that wasn't what I was doing. I mean, you could accuse Andy Warhol of that, for instance. I mean, you could say, "Well, there's no reason for instance, why the Warhol industry ever had to stop when he died." Because the technicians could still make it. There must be a library of images that he left and quite often he didn't sign his pieces anyway. So that industry could go on.

MARK BANNERMAN: And that, of course, begs a major question about Andy Warhol. What's your view of him as an artist now, all this time on?

SIR PETER BLAKE: He was, of all people, he was very subversive, I think probably quite cruel. He was incredibly clever.

MARK BANNERMAN: Do you think he was clinical?

SIR PETER BLAKE: Yeah, very.

MARK BANNERMAN: That disturbed you in a way?

SIR PETER BLAKE: It doesn't now, now I can understand - I suppose at the time, too, I was perhaps a little bit jealous of their fame and financial success.

MARK BANNERMAN: Jealous he may have been, but with Swinging London at its peak, Peter Blake was about to be offered a job Warhol might have killed for. The Beatles didn't want Blake to simply paint their portrait, they wanted him to do the cover artwork for their soon to be released masterpiece 'Sergeant Pepper's. The record was set up around a fictional band preparing to play a pretend concert. Peter Blake had a cover in mind.

SIR PETER BLAKE: I think what I brought to it was the idea that by building the whole thing in the studio, life-size, we could make a crowd that could be their ideal crowd. They could choose who they wanted their fans to be.

MARK BANNERMAN: Oh I see, so that was going to be the audience, in effect?

SIR PETER BLAKE: Yes.

MARK BANNERMAN: So, in that sense, how much of it was their idea and how much of it was yours? They sort of gave you the brief and you had to come up with that audience.

SIR PETER BLAKE: Paul thinks it was all his idea. He'll claim the ground. If I don't claim what I did, he would assume he did it all and I think he believes that in a funny way. But I think my big contribution was this idea of the crowd and actually making it, making it happen.

MARK BANNERMAN: For many artists 'Sergeant Pepper's could have been the high point and the beginning of an endless decline. Not so for the now Sir Peter Blake. There have been many more record covers amidst a massive body of work. There had to be a Brian Wilson here, didn't there?

SIR PETER BLAKE: There was always going to be Brian Wilson.

MARK BANNERMAN: But if Sir Peter likes to keep pop at the centre of his work, he also knows like the stars he displays, he is ageing.

SIR PETER BLAKE: I'm 74 on Friday and there is a kind of countdown, I think, and I'm very conscious of that. In fact, the date on my birthday, I've decided I'm moving into my late period and so I'm going to have a stencil made that says, "Peter Blake, late period." And everything from then...it gives me carte blanche to be barmy like Picasso's late work. So who knows what will happen. I mean it's exciting now.

MARK BANNERMAN: Who knows, indeed. Sir Peter's latest project has been to redesign The Who's record cover for their new concert album. And while we're asking questions, there is one final one I wanted to hear the answer to, even if it is perhaps a little premature. So tell me this, what do you want them to say to sum you up when you're gone?

SIR PETER BLAKE: Well, um, if it can only be one phrase I I'd like it to be that "he made magic", which isn't really about the pop art so much, but I think "he made magic" would be a good one.

MARK BANNERMAN: Not a bad epitaph.

SIR PETER BLAKE: It would be a nice one.

KERRY O'BRIEN: Mark Bannerman with Sir Peter Blake, now officially barmy

M for Marilyn Monroe - Peter Blake

Film Commentary- 'Oz'

We watched a fascinating film from the 1970s renaissance in Australian cinema called Oz [20th Century Oz in the US] last night.

Oz, released in 1976, is a glam-rock road movie that could sit comfortably with other classics such as the Rocky Horror Picture Show or the Phantom of the Paradise.  Oz is a no budget film that retells the Wizard of Oz story against a dramatically different backdrop.

Borrowing from IMDB:

Dorothy is a sixteen-year-old groupie riding with a rock band when, suddenly, the van is in a road accident, and she hits her head. She wakes up in a fantasy world as gritty and realistic as the one she came from and learns she killed a young thug in the process. A gay clothier called the Good Fairy gives her a pair of red shoes as a reward to help her see the last concert of the Wizard, an androgynous rock singer. She is pursed by the thug's brother who attempts to rape her on several occasions. She also meets a dumb surfer, a heartless mechanic, and a cowardly biker.

This film screams to be seen on the cult circuit where, I believe, it was once paired as a double feature with RHPS.  For the Rocky Horror trainspotters, there are several connections to the original Australian stagings of the Rocky Horror Show and the influence of the show is most apparent, particularly in the costuming.  The Bowie-esque Wizard is a sight to behold.  Extra fun can be had with the awful fashions to be seen. Oz provides a glimpse at how Australia looked, sounded and felt in 1976, when we still had a certain naive charm...

Below, commentary I submitted to IMDB is reproduced in a wilfull ignorance of having handed over my copyright to them.

I imagine that people outside Australia who are interested to see Oz will be rewarded for being resourceful- I have a permanent copy in my collection.

Wow!  An amazing, lost piece of Australiana AND a lost 70s glam-rock film rolled into one. This film warrants viewing simply to see what can be done with next to no budget but a lot of enthusiasm. As a retelling of the Oz story, the film borders on becoming too obvious but it is saved by it's eccentricities. The chance for a glimpse at how glam rock manifested in Australia will delight fans of the genre. This film used to be double featured with the Rocky Horror Picture Show, an indicator of the type of film that Oz is. While not as frivolous or well constructed as RHPS it's hard not to have fun with Oz.

Surprisingly, Oz has aged well, perhaps a by-product of how determinedly set in the real Australia of 1976 it is. The passage of history shows that many of the ideas being explored would eventually enter the mainstream. The willingness of the film to give prominence to gay characters is notable, especially as it dates to the 'revolution' period for the Australian gay rights push.

The performances range from flinchingly amateur to finely nuanced brilliance. The direction is lacking in subtlety and much of the dialogue may have benefited from an extra draft or two. Somehow, these flaws add to the appeal of the film which is mercifully unpretentious. Much like Australia in the 1970s this film has a certain naive charm.

There are several connections to the original Australian stagings of the Rocky Horror Show which will keep obsessives on their toes.

Oz is most certainly a minor classic and a potential cult favourite worthy of review. Laugh at the atrocious 70s fashion, swing along with the AusRock soundtrack, leave ANY expectations at the door and Oz is likely to delight

Link: Oz at IMDB

Talking Shit

What better way to start afresh after a spell of illness than a pedantic piece about sewage? If forced to explain this blog, “I just write shit” would be as good an answer as many others I might offer.

We’ve been having a miniature media brouhaha in this city about the possibility that recycled sewage has ‘contaminated’ the water supply. As terrible as that sounds, it only demonstrates that very few people bother to pay any attention to the shameful quality of the water we consume in this city for the other 51 weeks of the year.

We also learned, with some amusing imagery along the way, that Sydney journalists cannot distinguish between the urban waste called sewage and the product carried by the infrastructure called sewerage. More reports than warrant compilation had us drinking bits of recycled infrastructure out of bits of recycled infrastructure. Or worse, we had infrastructure in our waste product. In some scenarios it seemed that Sydneysiders shit a terribly large amount of plumbing.

Yep, I’m back.

Blanchett as Dylan?

I sense we're in for a slew of biopics that wil have scenes shot at Hotel Chelsea.  If Capote's success at this year's Oscars[TM] is an indicator, Stanley 'diamond' Baird will be able to buy another yacht from the upcoming location fees.

So far, This Dylan pic sounds promising, pity they decided to make it about Dylan!

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Just like a woman

THINK you know your Bob Dylan? Which one of the following statements about the iconic singer-songwriter is not true? A) The man of few words is doing a radio show; B) The artist is selling rarities through Starbucks; C) He will be played by Cate Blanchett in a biopic.

Though the willowy Blanchett portraying a mumbling Minnesota-born Jewish man might seem the most far-fetched and therefore the correct answer, it's a trick question. All options are true, marking yet another curious chapter in Dylan's history.

Details of the movie, first mooted three years ago, are emerging. Among them is Blanchett's casting as the young Dylan, alongside Christian Bale, Ben Whishaw and Richard Gere, all of whom will place Dylan at various stages in his career.

Heath Ledger has replaced Colin Farrell to play Dylan in the 1970s; Julianne Moore and Charlotte Gainsbourg have joined the cast; and Ledger's partner, Michelle Williams, will play Blanchett-Bob's love interest.

Director Todd Haynes, who made Velvet Goldmine based on David Bowie's life, is said to be still searching for another Bob for the movie, loftily titled I'm Not There, Suppositions On A Film Concerning Dylan, or I'm Not There for short.

British music newspaper NME says Haynes is seeking a young black woman to portray the musician's "inner blackness".

"Bob Dylan was somebody who has rejected all of the various personas that he has embodied over the years," Haynes said in Cannes last week.

"He continues to move forward by discarding himself, so my idea is to put together a film of multiple characters and tell their stories simultaneously."

Haynes has gained Dylan's approval. The man who wrote protest anthems in the 1960s and who turned 65 last week is giving the director access to his back catalogue, which will be reinterpreted by Jack White, P.J. Harvey and Michael Stipe.

Culture Club in Sydney, 1984.

Omigod. 

This night was one of the most exciting of my sordid little life.  I was at this concert in my Boy George bowler-hat and eye makeup.  Life as an excitable early teen to whom English popstars were the most revered of untouchables climaxed this night.  All I recall now is staying up to see the band off at the airport and crying for hours on end with other angsty fans.  I haven't seen this footage for the best part of twenty years.

I think that it was the next day that I started to become cynical and grow up.

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note: The point that this reviewer has totally missed is that this night was effectively the last time that Culture Club would perform as a functional unit.

Culture Club's "Live In Sydney" flat

  RON HARRIS

Associated Press

Culture Club, "Live in Sydney" (Eagle Rock Entertainment)

The mystery success that was Culture Club is on full display in this newly released concert DVD from 1984, the height of all things pompous, hairy and reeking of alternative rock bombast.

We find Boy George and the boys performing to a huge audience in Sydney, with a bag full of hits under their arms and at the pinnacle of the band's popularity. Culture Club, at the time, had just seen the "Colour By Numbers" album reach No. 1 in several countries.

But none of that success translates well in this concert footage, which is sorely hampered by lighting and focus problems throughout. A strange pink tint looms throughout the concert, whether from bad stage lighting or a lack of quality post-production tools. It's harsh and annoying.

Equally poor is Boy George's normally magnificent voice. Here, it is warbled in parts, trailing off instead of soaring in others. He hits some horrendously odd notes on songs that didn't deserve them, such as "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" and "Karma Chameleon."

The other band members look like their simply going through the motions, and we are left realizing this is a radio hits band, and not a stellar set of live performers.

So what's to like? Helen Terry, probably the best back-up ever. On the lone highlight, "Black Money," Terry's soulful rips make you wonder why any lead singer would allow her on the same stage with her blow-away power.

Terry's back-up vocals are the only reason to buy this DVD. She's that good, and on this night in 1984 Boy George was not.

In pictures

The demolition of my neighborhood.

Dee Dee Would be Horrified!

Admittedly dodgy snapshots, I had to find a gap in traffic on a busy road to get this image.  Something about this shop makes me feel a strong urge to vomit, it's so symbolic of the yuppie infestation of my neighbourhood.  I try to imagine the real Dee Dee confronted by a shop selling ugly handbags and twee paste jewelery that cost more than the average person's weekly income.  I think he'd have the same impulse that I do. Throw a molotov through the window!

 

   

Since when were over-priced handbags innovative, anyway?

Death brings Go-Betweens to sad end

Very, very, sad.  Another bit of my youth is gone forever.

"THE Go-Betweens have made their final album. They have played their final show. We let it rest at that, being very proud of what we have done." So said singer and songwriter Robert Forster yesterday as he mourned his friend, band-mate and fellow songwriter Grant McLennan, who was found dead in his Brisbane home on Saturday.

McLennan, 48, died in his sleep after becoming ill at his home in the city's Highgate Hill. The musician had been preparing his house for a party that evening. Visiting friends discovered him dead.

McLennan, who with Forster formed the Go-Betweens almost 30 years ago, was one of Australia's most respected songwriters and performers, both with the band and as a solo artist.

Forster was full of praise yesterday for the man with whom he had shared most of his professional career. "The last six months was the happiest I had ever known him," Forster said.

"He was in top form. He was very happy in his private life and had just written an amazing bunch of songs. He was especially pleased with how well the last album had done. That had put a real spring in his step."

The Go-Betweens began while Forster and McLennan were students at the University of Queensland in the late 1970s. They went on to enjoy international success with albums such as 16 Lovers Lane and Spring Hill Fair in the 1980s.

During that time, McLennan wrote some of their most critically acclaimed songs, including their most famous title, Cattle and Cane, which was later named in the Australasian Performing Right Association's top 10 greatest Australian songs.

The Go-Betweens broke up in the late 1980s. But Forster and McLennan reunited with a new band for the album The Friends of Rachel Worth in 2000 and enjoyed a remarkable renaissance, touring internationally with two more albums -- Bright Yellow, Bright Orange and last year's ARIA award-winning Oceans Apart, considered by some critics to be their best work.

Former band member Lindy Morrison said it had been playing McLennan's songs "that made me shine as a drummer."

The early line-up of the band that included Morrison, Forster, McLennan and his then partner Amanda Brown fragmented amid acrimony, but the four were reunited in Sydney several weeks ago where, said Morrison, they were able to resolve some of their differences.

Brown said that as a musician and songwriter McLennan was "articulate, thoughtful, emotional and poetic".

Download 05_cattle_cane.m4a  Listen to the Go Betweens classic Cattle & Cane