owl towel

hey, what's more '70's,' decor-wise, than an owl? an towel decorated with an owl, that's what! hey, don't get me wrong, i dig 'owl decor' as much as the next 'child of the 70's.' like, i remember in my grandparent's house in morganton, north carolina, there was this exquisite 'owl-themed' ceramic salt and pepper shaker rack thing... it was a smallish black wrought iron 'tree,' on the 'branches' of which hung about nine different shakers, all owl-shaped, with tiny little holes in their heads for the seasoning to come out of. i loved that damn chintzy thing, man! hey, it bugs me more than i'd like to admit that the whole set is probably now in a damn landfill someplace. like, that owl-caddy should be mine! i remember my step-grandfather used to make breakfast on sundays, when we'd visit... the small groovy house was filled with the enticing scent of bacon... and when we'd get to the table, there'd be petite glasses of cold orange juice, whitebread toast and margarine, scrambled eggs, bacon, and anything else you could want. i miss those mornings... only because i was in love with that house... and deeply in love with the person sitting beside me. jean-luc, i loved you then, and i am totally in love with you now. here's to the comfort of 70's owls... may the groovy comfortable wisdom live on. (?)

happy birthday jean

okay, i can't do this post without admitting a lesbian crush. i've been wild about jean simmons since the first time i saw her ... playing the 'prim-on-the-outside, wild-on-the-inside' sgt. sarah brown in the 1955 film adaptation of the damon runyon musical classic 'guys and dolls.' she starred opposite a sexy and young singing marlon brando, and she turned me on every bit as much as he did. i loved her voice and her delicate dark features. she and marlon both did their own singing. she's actually english, born in a small part of london known as crouch hill. and in her later years, she was evidentally a bit of a drinker. (good luck, sister.) she was also striking in 'elmer gantry,' alongside such greats as burt lancaster and the sassy shirley jones. i love her because she proves that a smart dark-haired 'good girl' can be every bit as sexy as a blonde slutty one. so happy 80th birthday, miss jean merilyn simmons. i dig you the most. (click to enlarge)

fan book, fan book!

yes, before there was the internet, there was the glossy and glorious 'fan book,' and i daresay no other band (except maybe culture club) had as many fan books as those hot boys from birmingham, the pretty lads of duran duran. most of the best fan books, (not surprisingly) were made in japan, and was full of that cute indecipherable japanese writing. but the pictures needed no translation. they were big and glossy and glorious, and in many cases, 'never before seen.' i had several of those wonderful d2 fan books myself, but i can safely say i never had this one. so i have no idea if it was worth 'the bucks.' but i dig the cover... from the hot pouty shot of le bon, to the cheesy and barely adequate red lettering. i'd love to get a look at the pages. looking back on it, living in the sleepy small southern town i grew up in, its surprising that i got my hands on any decent fan books at all. so um, here's to fan books. perhaps lucynell can tell us if there were similar books released of her two main fave 80's bands, U2 and the police. how 'bout it, lucy? any decent fan books there?

shrimp stamp

hey, hey, it sounds a lot grosser than it looks, right kids?? i'm not talking about some weird new crustacean kabob-fied dish down at 'exotic joe's,' (the place that made 'crab ribs' famous)... no, i'm talking about the achingly mod late 60's celebrity coupling of female model jean shrimpton, and hot male screen actor, mr. terence stamp. here they are together, looking groovy for you. and apparently, they were a real couple, 'between the sheets in real life,' you know. the movie 'blow-up' was apparently based loosely on her experiences with a fashion photographer named david bailey who worked with her at the time. i wonder if its any coincidence that her next relationship was with terence, a bloke who (arguably) somewhat resembled david hemmings, who played the weird photographer in the antonioni flick. terence was something of a golden boy in england at the time, after making well-deserved sexy waves in peter ustinov's 1962 film adaptation of melville's 'billy budd.' (stamp's screen debut.) like another of my fave stars, miss carroll baker, terence booked it off to italy around 69 and made a few italian films, before returning to english-speaking parts around 1969, and was even considered for the title role in 'alfie,' but turned it down. he and caine were even flatmates at one time. (mmm, slashfickers, start your engines, your '...you don't have to say it mate,' engines.) they are a lovely couple though. (click to really enlarge, like... to make them like, the computer equivalent of like, wall-sized.)

tom waits : sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six - video

hey, its from the 'for some reason only released on VHS' -copy of tom waits' genius stage show 'big time.' dig it, it's always been one of my favorites.

jaws is on!

hey, three words i never mind hearing. in fact, jean-lucien and i have a sort of unspoken pact that if one of us sees that 'jaws' is on cable somewhere, we drop everything and give the other one 'the call,' ... yes, the '...jaws is on' call. you know what i always say; 'jaws' always puts me in the mood... and what mood is that? the mood to watch 'jaws,' that is! yes, its one of those movies that i know by heart, and still, it never gets old. so you can just imagine my surprise when my darling lucynell let me know that she saw 'jaws' for the first time like, two or three days ago! i'm glad she liked it, but i don't know if she realizes that jean-luc and i have seen it like, an insane 'rocky horror picture show' amount of times. you give me ANY line-cue from the 'jaws' script, and you know i'll come up with the next line like, 99.9% of the time. and the book is great, too! i just snagged this great bloody shot... its the short but intelligent mr. matt hooper, checking out the just-caught jawbone 'bite radius' of the speared-and-docked infamous 'tiger shark.' and it just so happens that this particular picture seems to have been autographed by mr. richard dreyfuss himself. so lucy, i say let yourself fall backwards, 'nestea-plunge'-style, into the vast refreshing gory cresting saltwater roller-coaster ride that IS speilberg's 1975 masterpiece 'jaws!' woo-hooo! 'jaws,' man... 'jawwwwsss!!'

flash ponytail

hey, i'm going fishing tonight. i'm overdue to pearldive for fresh picksh and junk, so i'm leaving 'the planet' in the very sexy and capable 'hands' of valmont's dreamy ponytail. yes, i took this shot from the dvd... hey, you know a guy is 'sexy-from-all-angles,' when you go out of your way to get a shot 'from the back,' like where you can't even see his face. i amped up the color a little bit... well, not too much... more like i fiddled around with the contrast. even that sassy hand on his hip adds to the sultry coolness. hopefully i'll have something more for you guys tomorrow night, because you know i love you all. sweet dreams.

pop trash

hey, i just ran across this gem, and i thought i should pass it along. honestly, i think it more or less speaks for itself. yes, we've got the gangly party animal iggy 'james austerberg' pop, with a brew in one hand, and almost-deb's tit in the other. and deb herself is managing to look almost-conscious as she grabs ig around his spindly waist. and whoa, she's got that tongue out, just to prove what a wild 'nightlife' chick she is. i imagine there was some lofty conversation going on that night. and i wonder who's holding the camera? andy warhol, maybe? alexander gudnov with a coke high? liza minnelli? perchance miss tatum o'neal? hey, who knows? but i dig the picture. sleaze at its finest.

old duran

hey, i know the poster is a bit old and faded, but i thought we could still get a horserace out of it. i never had this poster on my wall, i can testify to that. i had dozens upon dozens of D2 posters, but i know i never had this one. and its from 'way back,' like maybe 81, or somewhere around there. so hey, let's take a look. mmm, as per usual, roger and andy are out, out. so who's left... sadly, i think i have to cut nick at this point, too. so its down to simon and jt. mmm, hey... i'm kind of torn here. simon looks rather butch and sexy up there with his uncharacteristically dark hair. and john looks like he's having a bit of a hair gel overload. hmmm, i think i'm gonna give it to simon. i love that old school striped shirt. and i know john can look a lot better. the 'planet earth' era was not his best look. so i guess simon it is. (mmm, i don't sound like, super-enthused about it.)

happy birthday wolfgang

hey, while i'm busy cranking out the celebrity birthdays, (since i have no real ideas) i might as well give a shout out to an insane genius... yes, apparently the very talented wolfgang amadeus mozart would'v been a cool 253 years old today, had he lived. (mmm, doesn't really make much sense to say that, in this instance. like, i know he died young, be even if he hadn't like, boozed himself to an early grave, i seriously doubt he'd be walking around now, writing jingles like, '...i'm lovin' it!') so, here's a decent shot from the classic milos forman film. you can see jeffery jones as the emporer. hey, he ended up being kind of a freak, didn't he? (jones, not the emporer.) and yes, we see the prodigy mr. tom hulce, as the hyper and screwed-up wolfgang mozart himself. hey, i love that movie. i know it by heart. but f. murray abraham is the real star if you ask me. i love this scene that's pictured here, where mozart plays salieri's own piece back to him, only like, 'mozarted up,' to suit the masses. (and hey, that's christine ebersole as katarina, the songstress... the same chick who gave michael dorsey his 'why are you so wired?' brush-off at his birthday party in 'tootsie.' ) (oh, and as a last footnote: have you seen a recent picture of tom hulce? i have only two words for you: mountain man. google it at your own risk.)

happy birthday mischa

okay, can you tell i'm still 'light' on stuff to post? so hey, i'm falling back on another celebrity birthday. yes, today the ballet legend and acting lightweight mr. mikhail baryshnikov turns a graceful yet powerful 61 years old. hey, i've always thought he was a good-looking guy... and i do dig that cat fight from 'turning point,' the one where anne bancroft and shirley maclaine kick eachother's asses in a windy parking lot wearing evening gowns. (i've you've never seen that bit, yes, its every bit as fantastic as it sounds like it would be.) but i'm also using this opportunity to post a very groovy time magazine cover from the 1970's. i loved the style of illustration like the style used here. i know i should know the name of the artist, but i can't think of it right now. i also really like that lettering. i don't know if that 'font' has a name or whatever, but i love it... its the 70's 'modern' most. (click to enlarge)

not so shy-acting

man, i am so sleepy tonight... like i can literally almost not stay awake long enough to post this 'just for fun' shot of miss shia lebeouf beginning to 'throat-down-on' a banana snack. and hey, i mean no disrepect to shia... i think he's both very hot-in-the-looks-department, and talented. but man, he's gonna show that tropical fruit who's boss; namely, him. so hopefully i'll be more alert and awake tomorrow... until then, bon apetite, shia.

joe in greece

ah yes... air travel. i suppose i've become somewhat phobic; but i don't care if i never have to do it again; namely, get on a damn plane. like, i've flown enough in my life. like, as i often say: the day i fly is the day i HAVE to. like, i'm not all that afraid of crashing... its just that i 'rainman' do not like, indeed cannot handle, such situations over which i have almost zero control. like, once you hand over your ticket and strap yourself in, that's it. zero control over almost every single possible variable. that's why i prefer to stay grounded for travel. hey, if you're on the ground, worst case scenario... you can always conceivably 'get out and walk.' still, here is a charming shot of my darling joe strummer in some grecian airport, awaiting his flight. i have never been overseas, and, if i end my days never having ventured from this great expansive slab of land that IS north america, then so be it. call me square. i have absolutely zero desire to 'go rock climbing in dublin,' or to 'go clubbing in amsterdam' or to 'cruise the shops in paris,' or any of that. i'm not knocking it, its just not in my blood. any wanderlust i once had has been contentedly replaced by a wild real need for Security. so, enough airports and train stations for me. when all is said and done, i'd rather be right here. (i guess i really didn't say much about joe strummer, did i? oh well... i got sidetracked. perhaps he'll forgive me... he was known to be a generous soul.)

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)

young steven

hey, i wanted a black and white shot, and i ran accross this older shot of morrissey in my archives. its obviously from 'the smiths' era. and anyone that knows me, knows i think he's much sexier with a few more years and a few more pounds on him, still... i think this shot is particularly lovely. it looks like he got his hair cut like, seventeen minutes before the picture was taken. i'm sure i probably cropped out johnny marr. i always try to crop out johnny marr when at all possible. wow, he was so young. so ummm, dig the youthful coolness of his face, and do yourself a favor and dig up some old smiths tracks. i think you'll be pleasantly surprised. their stuff sounds even better and more original and cool to me now than it did 20 years ago. they really did know how to play. and nobody sounded like them. sometimes i have to remind myself that it was only three instruments and a voice. good stuff. damn good.

happy birthday dean

yes, i realize i might lose some 'cool points' in the eyes of some people for this post, but i just had to give a heartfelt happy birthday to the very talented dean jones. i grew up with dean jones, thanks to his extended stint in various live action disney movies. 'million dollar duck' comes to mind. and of course, the 'darn cat' movies, a couple of 'love bugs,' and the surprisingly entertaining 'snowball express.' but a lot of people don't realize that dean was a very talented vocalist. i developed the warmest crush for him and the sound of his voice several years ago when i discovered the original soundtrack to the 70's sondheim musical 'company.' the soundtrack to that show is in my top three favorite broadway albums. i never get sick of it. dean's voice is so warm and expressive. so, who cares if he looks alarmingly like ted bundy when he wears a turtleneck, i still have real love for dean. his vocals from 'company' always takes the edge off when i'm feeling lonely. i guess a lot of credit goes to sondheim, too, for writing such terriffic songs. so, hey... call me square if you want to, but i'm blowing a kiss and saying; happy 78th birthday dean... i dig you! (the girl in the shot is susan browning. they're recording the magnificent number 'barcelona.')