thistle

yes, i christened a new book tonight. and i found i was a little bit hesitant with the picture choice. hey, don't get me wrong, i love the shot. but, i knew other people were going to see it, and i realize a lot of people don't think the monkees are as cool as jean-luc and i think they are. yes, after all these years, i'm still an immense, crazy, non-apologetic, die-hard monkees fan. and mike nesmith is, and always has been, my hands-down fave. (his solo music is incredible... like, 97% of it is stuff i would want on a desert island.) so lets see... what exactly do we have here? yes, we have an amorous second-season michael nesmith attempting to woo the groovy biker chick. (the actress's name in ginny gann.) its from a mostly-great episode called 'the wild monkees,' where the guys have to 'get tough' to impress the all-girl motorcycle gang... only to find out they're 'tired of the open road,' and want to turn over a new leaf and get all feminine. the whole episode is worth a look, even the contrived and goofy bike race musical sequence near the end. i titled it 'thistle' because it sort of felt like the cold thorns of the remaining winter are still upon us... yet, the dainty, fresh flowerings of spring are not far away. and i've always liked that word, too. in the 'medallions' at the bottom of the main picture we have, left to right: the full moon, a beautiful 1970's 'curly hair' variety julie christie, an orange sweet dripping of honey, the closely-shorn harrison ford in 'blade runner,' an orchid, and last but never, never least, my main lady, miss georgina hale. i have to say i'm pleased with it. now i just have to fill it up. wish me luck. oh, and please forgive the imperfect reproduction... i just laid it down on my carpet and took a picture of it while the cat was being weird. (click to enlarge)

wolf

i christened a new book tonight. i haven't written anything in it yet, i just got the cover on. the stars are the recently-featured-by-me hot bohemian couple of mick jagger and anita pallenberg. its from the nicholas roeg-donald cammell masterpiece 'performance.' actually, i don't think this particular shot is ever in the movie. and i know i featured a shot extremely similar to this shot last night. but that doesn't mean the cover is not extremely groovy, if i do say so myself. i already had the word 'wolf ' on hand for other distant reasons, but i decided i liked the archetype (sp?) of the wolf, and all those wild primitave implications of the bloodthirsty threat that might creep up upon the doors of innocence and domestic comforts.... that proverbial 'wolf at the door' that symbolizes a savage threat to a known and comfortable, albiet possibly ignorant, way of life. when you are blissfully sewing by the fire and entertaining thoughts of folly as you thread and stitch a square of linen with a slim silver needle and silken threads... the wolf is lurking, prepared... so lock your doors, gentle maidens. the wolf trots ever closer... closer...

(click to enlarge)

my newest book

here's a photograph i took of my latest book. i just christened it a couple of days ago. forgive the lopsided-ness. it didn't scan it, i just took a picture of it. not bad... but that accounts for the skewered slant. the model is, of course, the legendary and self-proclaimed 'punk rock warlord,' mr. joe strummer, from his 'clash' days. he's lovely. i was lucky enough to find i already had the name 'john' printed out, which was joe's real first name. the ribbon of color underneath him is made up of shots of military helicopters, a purple galaxy, soldiers in battle, helen mirren, and a tiny rock poster for 'jefferson airplane.' i chose that array of shots for several reasons; the most valid of which was the color of each one. content-and-or-context was secondary. i added some prismatic stickers, glued on the title, and there you are. it probably enlarges real big... my camera works better than i thought, considering i just propped the book up on my phone, which i keep on the floor, and just took one snap. soon it will be full, full of black inkstrokes and truly great, great literature.

...peeping!

(yes, i have to admit, the 'peeping' skit with the staarsgard guy really cracked me up. i don't know who was responsible for it, but i loved it, it chewed on it, my late-nite laugh-bone.) anyway, apart from that, i love finding all those old, sexy, pulpy illustrated 'dime novel' covers from years-gone-by. i'm glad so many of them are quality-scanned online for my convenience. now, this cover isn't all that much to look at, like, artistically, but i love all the copy. if you can't enlarge-to-read it, it says: '...he got his kicks from men -- but the thrills he longed for weren't enough -- and so he became the... Gay Peeper. ' what a scream. and what's with all the women? i thought he was the gay peeper? i guess they could mean 'gay-meaning-happy,' but i'm tempted to think some idiots were responsible for the print, and maybe assumed 'gay' just meant like, kinky. anyway, i think the whole thing is a scream. take me back to Atlas Book Exchange.

poetry

here is a study made of a possible cover for dora english's first published volume of poems. the book never made it to press 'legit,' ...partly because miss english fell out of love with most of the verses within. the cover alone is good enough, though. i love slim, slick, paperback volumes from the likes of t. s. eliot, anaiis nin, and lawrence ferlinghetti. (if i've misspelled any of those, forgive me.) so, although the poems never found an official resting place, i still have the cover. there was at least one more study, and if i stumble upon it i'll post that one, too.

the headmasters

this is the cover for the latest lp from the wildly talented glam-flavored rock quintet, the headmasters. if you haven't heard them yet, imagine something of a cross between early roxy music and the sundays. the vocals of damien barber are bolted down hard via the drums and inventive synth stylings of zachary shawn and jason eric. pure genius. a standout track is the hypnotic and heavy 'quaint and cocksure.' and i love the cover art, too.

back the serge

only not the 'surge' he meant. i'm talking about the purposefully mysterious serge gainsbourg. i must be honest, i learned about serge gainsbourg because of this album cover, which i believe is a work of art on its own. i also didn't learn until later that the model in the cool jeans is none other than the actress and sometimes slinky chanteuse, miss jane birkin. i grew up knowing jane as the weedy madame redfern from the film 'evil under the sun.' i have since made myself acquainted with their musical collaborations. i like the cover better.