chug it!

hey, what's better than those candid black and white shots that reveal the hedonistic goings-on at studio 54? and this is a great shot to illustrate what i mean. its seems like, whoever happens to be pictured, celebrity-wise, seems to illicit the response, "...well, of course they were there." like, if you tried to make up a group of celebs who'd be hobnobbing at studio 54, no matter how mismatched the group seemed to be, you'd still believe they were actually there together. like, if someone told you they had a photo of tatum o' neal, gore vidal, divine, and a naked dude, you'd be like, '...sure, okay.' or like, perchance the grouping of bianca jagger, olivia de haviland, joey dellesandro, lou reed, and a tiger cub, you'd be like, "...i'm not even blinking." in THIS photo, it looks like we have bianca jagger, andy warhol, jerry hall... and are those last two people like, calvin klein, and lulu...? yeah, i'll bet THAT was a wild night that absolutely nobody remembers. i can't lie, though... part of me would love to have been there. coke it!

satis-factory

when asked about andy warhol, i have mixed feelings. it is impossible for me to deny his tremendous, even groundbreaking impact on the world of modern art. still, i think he got really, really lucky. he landed at just the right time, with just the right vibe. at no other time in history would his excuses for art have been accepted and even hailed as actual art. and so, i find myself jealous. if his stuff rocked the world and practically deified him, why isn't MY stuff similarly hailed? then, i have to remind myself, that if it hadn't been for 'weird art' pioneers such as Warhol, then there'd be even less of a path and audience for MY (our) psychedelic, unconventional stuff. i have to remind myself that he dared to push the concept of 'what passes for film,' ...paving the way for the visionary directors i enjoy to this day. and i must keep in mind that his experiments in 'cross-pollenating' from several pop culture 'hives' and disciplines to create new, free, original hybrid schools of Art are almost directly responsible for my large, inclusive embracing of the 'cut-up' method on an almost phantasmic scale. i'm not making any sense, am i? well, Andy might've been able to dig me. as much as i could sit here and 'bag' on him, i DO hope he digs me. Us. i hope he's out there somewhere, going: "...wow, those guys have the right idea... they're following the righteous path..." i can only hope so. (click to enlarge)

ummm, okay

jean-lucien sent me this shot sunday, and as soon as i saw it, i knew it was going on the blog. i mean, do i really even need to write anything? let's see... we've got the very unmistakeable trio of yoko ono, andy warhol, and john winston lennon, all playing a weird and heated game of 'crotch-grab.' you look at a shot like this and you can't help but wonder... what led up to this priceless little slice of 'freak life.' i mean, did they see the guy with the camera and sort of like, on 'the sly' said to eachother, '...hey, let's really give this photographer a shot worth his time.' ? or was it a totally spontaneous moment that was just unfortunately immortalized on film? either way, its still very hilarious. andy doesn't even look like he knows what planet he's on. yoko, who hasn't even bothered to put down her cig, seems to be more or less 'along for the ride.' so, i'm left to draw the conclusion that the whole thing is john's idea. which doesn't exactly surprise me. i have no idea where jean-luc found it, but i think its priceless. rock on, you three. and give peace a chance.

more 54

i love this shot. it looks like it was just taken a few moments after another studio 54 shot i posted recently. let's see... it looks like we've got the designer halston on the far right, getting a completely anonymous and risky liplock from some disco 'shim' leaning down into the shot. i wonder if he's gonna remember that in the morning? and then, we've got the exotic miss bianca jagger with only two thoughts going through her mind. the first thought: '...damn, where can i get some more coke?' and the very next thought: '...my hair!!' then we've got the facially-challenged artistic ...genius? andy warhol, with a rare smile on his face. perhaps he just realized he could xerox and color-tint his parking valet ticket stub and sell it for a zillion bucks. and in the background is the chronically-happy miss liza minelli with some bearded dude i don't recognize. hey, it looks like an average night for the folks at the good ol' Studio 54. (and i like that heavily-made up, androgynous, robot-like profile intruding from the bottom right hand corner. i wonder where that dude is today?) (...mmm, 'starbucks' general manager.)

jerry lights up

yeah, i think this might be another shot taken inside the weird and fabled

'studio 54.' i love almost any studio 54 picture. i tried to find that shot of bianca jagger riding a white horse through the discotecque. (mmm, i wonder if the 'white horse' symbolized anything...? (mmm, sniffety-sniff...!) this one is almost cliche, considering the stars are none other than andy 'white bangs' warhol, and jerry 'hey, i'm just glad to be here, ya'll...!' hall. he's lighting her fire. and i'm guessing that was probably the only female fire he bothered to light that night. she looks wonderful, though. she's living proof that southern girls can at least look sophisticated. i look at her gorgeous flowing hair, long legs, strong cheekbones, and fine teeth, and i can't help but wonder what kind of 'deep-south-livermush-and-biscuits collard-greens-and-grits' type foods she ate growing up. and hey, i'm not bagging on that kind of food... i grew up on that stuff myself. and, for what its worth, i have been to the 'studio 54' of my own mind.