Tuesday, October 28, 2008

(Mostly) unsexy men who would make divine best friends.


    James Taylor. Putting aside Mr. Taylor's supposed mental struggle early in his life, he seems like the coolest cat on the block. Especially when he was living in London, cavorting with the Beatles, and released the first non-Beatle album on Apple Records. He looked undeniably cool on the cover of his debut album. Then he moved back to America, and released some of the greatest music of the time. Also, Thanksgiving with James Taylor and Carly Simon kind of sounds fun.


    Martin Scorsese, the ultimate unsexy best friend candidate. Marty just exudes this intelligent, laid back, I'll-teach-you-about-cool-stuff-without-being-cocky air. He seems to know a little bit about everything, and is just waiting for an opportunity to talk about the Red Shoes, the blues, and Ingmar Bergman.


    David Crosby. I'm sure anyone who just read those words is going, "what the fuck?" I adore David Crosby, plain and simple. Before picking up his autobiography, I just thought he was a man with a sweet voice and a nasty drug addiction. He is supposedly a resident of my town, according to quite a few townies, but I have yet to see him. My mother did though, buying peanut butter and fishing rods.


    Brian Jones. Now, Brian Jones is an exception to the unsexy rule. I'm not attracted to him, even in the slightest way. He just seems like an amazingly interesting character, with gorgeous flamboyant style. Brian Jones is the pseudo-gay friend that most girls wish to have. He is the rare man, that isn't a boyfriend, that girls would wish to share clothes with. Had I had the pleasure, I would've asked Brian for fashion advice every day. Everyone says Anita Pallenberg created his style (Keith's as well), but I'd say they all equally influenced each other. He had an ear for music, and could quickly learn how to play any instrument handed to him. Brian Jones was a majestic storybook character.


    Any and all members of the Band. Just another opportunity to show lovely photographs, because that's all it takes to show what incredible friends they'd make. Oh and, they are definitely not unsexy.


    Ric Ocasek. I really don't know why I like Ric Ocasek, but I do. He seems fun, even if he ranked #50 on the Boston Phoenix list of the 100 unsexiest men in the world. That's why he is on this list! I like him, I like the Cars, and I like him with Paulina Porizkova. And he makes a wonderful producer. His name is fun too.


    Mick Fleetwood. I can't say I find Mick Fleetwood unsexy. He has an odd charm, that most people shun. So maybe Mick Fleetwood can be the best friend you incidentally fall in love with. (Stevie Nicks did!) He has a crazed look in his eye, and I want to know why.


    Bob Dylan. The other day while in the car listening to Bob, I turned to my cousin and said "I want Bob Dylan to be like my psychologist, except I don't have to pay him." I suppose a simpler way to put it would be to say I want Bob Dylan to be my confidante, but I liked the former much better. I see past Bob's stupid facade. He is simply a scrawny, Jewish boy from Minnesota who knows how to cleverly piece words together. I'd just like him to cleverly piece words together for me, when I am in need.


    F. Scott Fitzgerald. I wanted an odd non-musician to break the pattern, so I chose Mr. Fitzgerald. He seemed like a lost, wounded bird who spoke frankly and honestly, but in a meek way. At least that is how Hemingway painted him in A Moveable Feast. Just to see him randomly spew out gorgeous words in conversation, and to comfort him when his marriage was in a bad way. Because obviously he wasn't always that way, before Zelda, he was seemingly normal. Maybe Hemingway just made it that way because he and Zelda clearly did not get along, but it shows in the overall history of F. Scott Fitzgerald. "His talent was as natural as the pattern that was made by the dust on a butterfly's wings. At one time he understood it no more than the butterfly did and he did not know when it was brushed or marred. Later he became conscious of his damaged wings and their construction and he learned to think and could not fly any more because the love of flight was gone and he could only remember when it had been effortless."


    Dennis Wilson, my favorite Beach Boy. One night during conversation someone said "Who really even knows all of the Beach Boys by name?" I tried my best, but came up a couple short. So that night I did my Beach Boys research, found out all of their names, their background stories, and decided my favorite was drummer Dennis Wilson. He is probably best known for housing the Manson family before the Cielo Drive murders. I like Dennis because he seemed to be a smart, fun loving man. Very quotable-- "Fear is nothing but awareness. I was only frightened as a child because I did not understand fear – the dark, being lost, what was under the bed! It came from within." "I give everything I have away. What I am wearing and what’s in that suitcase is it. I don’t even have a car. I have a 1934 Dodge pick-up truck which someone gave me. I could have anything I want. I just have to go out and get it. If it’s worth having, it’s worth giving. The smile you send out will return to you!" I just love the second quote. The fact that Dennis picked up those hitchhikers and sheltered the Manson family shows his wonderful character. He cared for these people who he hardly knew at all, simply because he knew they needed it. How much Dennis knew about the murders is unknown. "I know why Charles Manson did what he did. Someday, I'll tell the world. I'll write a book and explain why he did it. Over the years, people have always wanted to know what happened, what my relationship with Charlie was. We were just friends." He also had a relationship with Fleetwood Mac badass, Christine McVie. It turned out that he was a little too eccentric for Ms McVie, and they ended their relationship. Dennis faced his death by an alcohol-related drowning in Marina Del Ray on December 28, 1983.



    Jeff Lynne, the teddybear-looking genius behind ELO. Listen to the detail on any of ELO's records, listen to his fantastic production on any album he has produced. Look at his amazing beard! His voice is just glorious. I just love Jeff Lynne. I saw him one night in Hollywood, and my heart was beating so incredibly fast.Source URL: https://jimhensons.blogspot.com/2008/10/
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Thursday, October 23, 2008

CC RIDER IN CALGARY

    While on the subject of the dead - I wanted to post this video from when Festival Express hit Calgary in 1970. Check out this version of CC Rider. Ian and Sylvia Tyson destroying. OMG.

    Source URL: https://jimhensons.blogspot.com/2008/10/
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Monday, October 20, 2008

Walkin' on Gucci, wearin' Yves Saint Laurent.

Friday, October 17, 2008

DEAD DO DISCO

Monday, October 13, 2008

WICKED LESTER



    Scott and Brian from Wicked Lester are bascially idols of mine. They are awesome producers, musicians, djs and all around great guys. Scott (Vinyl Ritchie) has been voted Best Dj in Vancouver for something like 28 years in a row. He plays 45s alot when djing and doesn't use Serato - if he ever starts using it i will kill myself, and he will have to change his name to mp3po. They tend to link up with really good singers and MCs as well, this song "Go" featuring Jahrahnimo is on the Bigfoot EP "Dance or Die". The sub-bass in this song is awesome - it makes me want to eat mad Roti. You can cop it on vinyl at Juno.

    Go (feat Jahrahnimo) - Wicked Lester

    BUY THE 12" AT JUNO RECORDSSource URL: https://jimhensons.blogspot.com/2008/10/
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THUNDERHEIST

Friday, October 10, 2008

HARD RAVE

Monday, October 6, 2008

Five places.

    The first five places I would visit if some incredibly generous genius dropped a time machine on my doorstep!





    1.)









    (All photos by the marvelous Elliott Landy, who captured the times so perfectly.)
    2.) Woodstock, New York and the surrounding communities. The first photo is of the Band's legendary clubhouse, Big Pink, in West Saugerties. The second photo is the Band, minus Richard, playing outside of Richard and Garth's house above the Ashokan reservoir in Woodstock. The next is Bob, Sara, and Jesse Dylan on the porch of Bob's Byrdcliffe home in Woodstock. (By the way, the history of the Byrdcliffe art colony is quite fascinating. The first batch of many artists to take up in Woodstock.) The last is the Band playing ball outside of Levon and Rick's home in Bearsville. Woodstock was another true artist mecca. A rural town in upstate New York surrounded by the Catskill mountains, Woodstock has been attracting artists since the beginning of the 20th century. In 1902, the Byrdcliffe art colony was founded. They began teaching about ceramics, metal work, weaving, and started the first painting school in the area. Soon enough, philosophers, poets, and musicians started to arrive. Though all this sounds interesting, I would've liked to arrive quite a bit later. Preferably after Bob Dylan's infamous motorcycle accident, which brought the Band to Woodstock. the Band settled in Woodstock for a number of reasons: Bob wanted his friends around, they needed a place where nobody was going to tell them to stop playing music due to the volume, and Peter Yarrow, of Peter Paul and Mary, was working on a film up there that a few of them were a part of. I believe it was Rick Danko and Richard Manuel, who were working with Yarrow, that began house hunting. They found a fantasticly ugly pink house on Stoll Rd, with tons of land, and settled in, along with Garth Hudson. Levon Helm soon joined them. He had left them on the Dylan tour, due to the boos, and was in Arkansas at the time, after wandering a bit. (Mexico, Memphis..) Robbie Robertson took up with his new wife, Dominique, on the nearby Ricks Rd. Everyone knows what happened from here.. They hooked up with Dylan on the Basement Tapes, made the legendary Music from Big Pink album, etc. etc. Though by the time the Big Pink album was released, the Big Pink house was history. Garth and Richard got a house together above the reservoir on Spencer Rd, and Levon and Rick got a house in Bearsville. Robbie and Dominique were by then living on Glasco Turnpike. The Band's best music came from their time in Woodstock. Though they could certainly drink like men, they were still mere innocents. Then, in addition to be handsome, talented young bucks, they were rich, famous, handsome, talented young bucks.. A dangerous combination. They ended up with a little too much free time on their hands than necessary, and soon left the quietness of Woodstock for a faster life on the beaches of Southern California. Again, taking a cue from Bob Dylan. Sounds changed, and I don't think it was personally a good time for any party involved. Some never returned, at least not to live. That's all unimportant, because I would want to go when everything was swell and quaint. I would want to hangout at Big Pink, with Hamlet, the big dog they got from Dylan, and then perhaps go down the road and see Bob and Sara Dylan with all of their then-itty bitty children. And stay throughout all the beautiful season changes, while Big Pink was being created. I love the serenity, normalcy, and just the down-home vibes that Woodstock seems to have had. It seems while the rest of America was getting caught up in the madness, Woodstock went unaffected, and I think that's what everyone who lived there was looking for at that moment. It seems Woodstock still has what attracted everyone there in the first place, and still attracts the most interesting people.




    3.) France. Two completely different eras, two completely different locations. The only thing they have in common is that they are both in France. The first photo is of La Closerie des Lilas, a cafe Ernest Hemingway and his 1920's cohorts frequented, including Fitzgerald. Though, this photo dates back to 1909. Of all the the places Hemingway talked about in "A Moveable Feast", this is the place that stuck with me. This time and the people in it are now known as the "Lost Generation", but at the time they were nothing but incredibly talented, incredibly starving artists of sorts looking for their big break. On September 3, 1921, Ernest Hemingway married his first wife, the adorable Hadley Richardson. They soon moved from cramped apartment to cramped apartment in Chicago, and Hadley hated it. So on the advice of Sherwood Anderson, they relocated to Paris, France. Hemingway soon became acquainted with Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound, who became his mentors. (In "A Moveable Feast", Hemingway tells a hilarious story of teaching Ezra Pound to box.) Hemingway wrote of also frequenting the intriguing Sylvia Beach's bookshop, Shakespeare and Co. He also wrote about once seeing Aleister Crowley walk by him while he was with Ford Maddox Ford. Ford thought he had "cut" Hilaire Belloc. After Ford left, Hemingway asked a friend if it was indeed Belloc, but is told it was actually Crowley. I believe he is then called the "wickedest man of all". While in Paris, Hemingway had been working as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star. He and Hadley briefly returned to Toronto, and during this time Hadley gave birth to John "Jack" Hadley Nicanor Hemingway, affectionately called Bumby. During this time, he had a falling out with his editor and resigned. Though, this went ignored or they patched things up because Hemingway continued to write for the Star through 1924. He published "In Our Time", and in April 1925, just two weeks after "the Great Gatsby" had been published, he met for the first time F. Scott Fitzgerald at the Dingo Bar. They were close friends and drinking buddies. Scott would tell Hemingway about his woes at home with his wife, Zelda. They helped each other with their writing (Hemingway tried to keep alcohol away from Scott), and Scott tried to do as much as he could to get Hemingway's work to the public. Hemingway became inspired in France, and wrote his first novel "the Sun Also Rises", which is supposedly semi-autobiographical. He wrote parts of "the Sun Also Rises" at La Closerie des Lilas. He and Hadley divorced in 1927 and he married Pauline Pfeiffer, a Roman Catholic fashion reporter from Arkansas. They soon moved to Key West, and Hemingway's time as a struggling writer in Paris came to a close. Quite a few of these sites still remain, and La Closerie Des Lilas became a favorite to all sorts. (Picasso, Sartre, Juliette Greco, Mick Jagger, Lauren Bacall, Johnny Depp, Tim Burton) It still remains.
    As for the second photo, that would be Keith Richards, Anita Pallenberg, and their tot Marlon at Villa Nellcote, located in the South of France, in the summer of 1971. In the spring of 1971, the Stones knew they had to leave England or the British government would expect them to pay a large amount of taxes. After much consideration, the Stones settled in France at Villefranche-sur-Mer. Keith rented a mansion, Villa Nellcote. Nellcote is a 19th century sixteen-room mansion right off the water. Nellcote served as the headquarters of the local Gestapo while the Nazis occupied France in the early 1940's, with the vents decorated with swastikas. In mid-June 1971 , the Stones began recording their masterpiece, Exile on Main St. According to Anita Pallenberg, they lost the keys so it was literally an open house. William S. Burroughs, Gram Parsons, and Terry Southern (who had also been a Woodstock resident) were a few of the many interesting people running around Nellcote. It is a mystery as to whether Gram Parsons appears on the album or not. Keith says it's a possibility, he may be buried in some track, perhaps "Sweet Virginia". The police were very interesting in busting Nellcote, because they were aware of the Stones history. Not to mention, Keith was cooking up a mean heroin addiction at this point. Burroughs, Parsons, and Southern were all already full blown junkies. Mick Jagger was busy with his new wife, Nicaraguan beauty Bianca Pérez-Mora Macías. Bill Wyman wasn't a fan of the happenings at Nellcote, and is only featured on eight of eighteen tracks. At this time, the Stones were split into distinctive two camps. One that enjoyed excessive drug use: Keith, Mick Taylor, producer Jimmy Miller, saxophonist Bobby Keyes, and engineer Andy Johns. And the others who were hardly interested: Bill, Mick, and Charlie. Jagger also had his only child with Bianca, Jade, during the recording of the album. As Keith slipped farther into addiction, Mick gained more control which shows on the albums that followed Exile. Though their time in France was short (they eventually finished the album in LA), Anita Pallenberg refers to it as one of her fondest memories with the Stones, and I like to think of it that way. Any photos you may find of Keith, Anita, and Marlon acting like a normal family were probably taken at Nellcote. Great location, wonderful music, and I'm sure plenty of laughs. Nellcote is still around, though Keith never returned.







    4.) Laurel Canyon in the 60's and 70's. The above photos: Joni, David, and Eric in the backyard of Mama Cass. Zappa Cabin. Joni in the window of "Our House". I would say the Laurel Canyon bug bit me after I read the very lovely, very telling book by Michael Walker, aptly titled "Laurel Canyon". Or perhaps any book detailing the era. It seems as though you could simply talk a stroll down the road and see David Crosby zooming by in his fast car, cape trailing behind him. Or just about any big LA rock star, if you waited around the Canyon Store long enough. (Random fact: After I had my kidney stone, roughly three years ago, I first peed at the Canyon Store!) I love Graham Nash singing about his life being absolutely perfect with Joni Mitchell (and two cats!) for just a moment. I love the overall ethereal, everybody-loves-everybody perfection that Laurel Canyon embodied and still embodies. I love the image of Chris Hillman, and perhaps Michael Clarke, speeding down the road in their Porsches to fire David Crosby from the Byrds. I love that on any given night, Joni Mitchell or Crosby Stills and Nash could randomly show up in someone's living room and give an impromptu performance. I love that bands like Crosby Stills and Nash could form in one of those living rooms! I love the magic that was the Zappa cabin, and the unity felt there. I love that people don't really live in Laurel Canyon unless they love these things too, and are artistic in some way. I love the mystique of the Mary Astor house, where she would have secret trysts with notable studio executives and actors. I love that the Stones later stayed there, and that Marilyn Manson (who I loathe) lived there. I love that I literally have an image in my head of a perfect California day and just walking along the shady streets, and enjoying the music coming from every house. I love that every year the Laurel Canyon residents gather to take a photo in front of the Canyon Store.





    5.) Hollywood, specifically in the 30's, 40's, and 50's. I don't have nearly as much interest in this time period as the ones mentioned above, but I would just love to see how different Hollywood was. I would also love to see all of the wonderful actors of the time, that are all mostly dead now. Also, to see the ins and outs of the studio system would be interesting. Stephen Bogart, pictured above with parents Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, spoke of life in Holmby Hills while he was a child, in his book In Search of My Father. Hanging out with Judy Garland's children who were neighbors, having Spencer Tracy constantly looming around the house (and later wishing he got to know him), and of course life with Bogie and Bacall as parents. He wrote from a five year old's point of view, watching Hollywood try to cope with normalcy and trying to make fit homes for their ever-growing families.
    It's also worth noting that Hollywood obviously had a booming music scene in the 60's and 70's, and though I would love to see the Strip lit up in 1968, I would much prefer to see all the above mentioned.Source URL: https://jimhensons.blogspot.com/2008/10/
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