John's Children

Sixties English mod band John's Children 1966 single Smashed Blocked from the album Orgasm (1967 / 1970).

Marc Bolan joined the band as lead guitarist for a brief four month period in 1967. During which the single Desdemona was recorded. The song featured the rather racy lyric "Lift up your skirt and fly" to which the BBC replied, "Err, no, d'rather not" and promptly banned it.

Fancy a drink at the Korova Milkbar, Droogs? (Marc Bolan at right)

The band's fetching all-white attire (rather like mod Droogs from A Clockwork Orange, sans bowler hats and combat boots - interestingly, the band went by the moniker The Clockwork Onion in 1963) was the idea of their manager, Simon Napier Bell (of Yardbirds fame).

While Bell has also been credited with devising the band's stage act, band sources suggests that such performances were developed prior to Bell. A John's Children "happening" involving mock fighting (complete with blood capsules for effect), instrument trashing, flower stomping, pillow shredding and feather dispersion with Bolan chain whipping his guitar, incited Ludwigshafen audiences to riot during a German tour with The Who in 1967. Beware violence against soft furnishings and vegetation whilst touring Deutschland, ya?

The drummer, Chris Townson, has a fleeting resemblance to Pete Doherty don't you think?

John's Children official website

Performance anxiety

Sorry is probably something Mick Jagger should have said to Keith Richards after the shooting of the movie Performance. Magic Mick shagged Keith's girl Anita Pallenberg during filming (so rumour has it). Not that Anita wasn't an active participant. I guess she got the silver and the gold

Sorry

Sorry, did I sound bitchy in that last post? I promised myself when I started this blog that I would avoid being negative and nasty, based on that old adage "If you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all". Get's a bit boring but doesn't it?

Apologies aside, and hello Fantastic Planet... I just love the type on this vintage board game, The Great Game SORRY!

Pop Levi - 'Terrifying (for Kenneth Anger)'

For such a stylish man, whose taste in blouses can not be doubted, I hate the way Pop Levi's video clips always seem to feature girls in such a boring and perfunctory way. I take it the girl in this case is Bunny Hollywood with whom I see Pop Levi has recorded 'Mmm Yummy Yummy' the most moronic song / video I've witnessed in a long long time.

I'm actually in two minds about Pop Levi in any case and this collaboration is not helping. One hand weighs awesomeness, the other senses talent lost to the fetid winds of artifice. By all means paint your nails silver, make me envy your blouses, dance your Ian Curtis-James Brown-moonwalk-dance, live in LA if you must but don't forget yourself. Too many artists cease to being artists when they start believing their own myths.

Bobby's tripper art

A grin in the void

To think all of this started with me borrowing 'Mick and Keith' from my local library. Anyhoo, while I wait for my Kenneth Anger box sets to arrive from Amazon (an estimated 6 weeks international shipping - yes that's right I'm a patient tight arse who never bows to expediated shipping), I've found the world of Bobby Beausoleil an interesting diversion. Yes, the guy committed a heinous and grizzly crime in the 60s under the "auspices" of mad Charlie Manson and without a doubt there are far more deserving people worthy of attention and recognition than he, but my, hasn't he created some wonderful tripper art while he's been serving time for the murder? It's like looking at one of those dated pseudo psychology textbooks, a la 'Altered perception: art of the schizophrenic mind'. If you're keen you can buy printed copies from his website.

AND



The dreamer



King Tut dream



Eye of the infinite

Sunset over Springfield



Flames of transformation



Jigglin' Jill
[there's a also male version called Jumpin Jack]



Green man



Mushroom people

Uni



Transformania

Kenneth Anger exhibition!

Talk about synchronicity... Kenneth Anger exhibition in New York on now! Pity I don't live in New York. Exhibition press release below. Let me know if you get to see it & what you thought.

Kenneth Anger
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Centre, Feb 22, 2009 - Sep 14, 2009

Kenneth Anger, Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954-66)

'P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center presents Kenneth Anger, the first major survey of the filmmaker’s body of work at a U.S. museum in over a decade. Making films since 1947, Anger is considered internationally as a pioneering and influential force in avant-garde cinema. His ground breaking films have inspired the likes of Martin Scorsese, Gus Van Sant, and Guy Maddin. The exhibition will focus primarily on Anger’s early iconic works including Fireworks (1947), Puce Moment (1949), Eaux D’Artifice (1953), Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954 - 66), Scorpio Rising (1963), Kustom Kar Kommandos (1964 - 65), Invocation of my Demon Brother (1969) and Lucifer Rising (1970 – 81). The exhibition is presented in the 2^nd floor Kunsthalle.

Kenneth Anger’s work constitutes a radical critique of Hollywood, often evoking and referencing pop icons within occult settings and depicting youth counterculture in the midst of violence and eroticism. Anger does not use a narrative-based style, but rather lyrically explores themes of ritualistic transformation and transfiguration. His films are imbued with a baroque splendor stemming from the heightened sensuality of his opulent colors and imagery. They are often accompanied by a haunting soundtrack, composed by renowned musicians such as Mick Jagger and Bobby Beausoleil.

The exhibition design, consisting primarily of red and silver vinyl partitions and wall and floor coverings, is evocative of the atmosphere of Anger’s films. It extends the sumptuous settings that are depicted on screen into the exhibition space, creating an immersive viewing experience..

Kenneth Anger (b. 1927, Santa Monica, California) has been creating films since the 1940s with his first being Who Has Been Rocking My Dreamboat (1941). Anger’s six-decade-long oeuvre includes most notably Fireworks (1947), Puce Moment (1949), Eaux d'artifice (1953), Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954-66), Scorpio Rising (1963), Kustom Kar Kommandos (1965), Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969), Lucifer Rising (1970-81)), Rabbit's Moon (1950-79), Mouse Heaven (2004), Elliot’s Suicide (2004), and the recent Ich Will! (2008) and Foreplay (2008). He also performs as Technicolor Skull with Brian Butler.'

'Scorpio Rising' part 1 - Kenneth Anger (1964)

Under the spell of Kenneth Anger

This weekend my mind has been blown wide open by the films of Kenneth Anger. It's been such a long time since I was taken unawares... Thank you Kenneth Anger, thank you for making this planet so fantastic, for giving me these beautiful, breathtaking mysterious wonders, for jabbing your creative dagger into my eyes, my ears, my heart, my mind and melting the ice of numb cynicism.

If you're interested in more about Anger there's a fantastic interview from 2004 which is comprehensive, well researched and also hilarious.

Meanwhile I'm off to order Anger's box set from Amazon.