Mr. TWISTER, FASTFILM in the news!

Off to Lompoc (site of W.C.Fields' The Bank Dick. He made the town's name sound hysterical with every repetition) and its guaranteed, always glorious weather for the Western Combined Sighthound Show, and its Golden State Deerhound Club entry for Lyonhil Karis Eden Pedecaris (so named after the Candace Bergen character in The Wind And The Lion and Sean Connery's [as the Berber Rizuli (!)] Scottish burr muttering of "Yer a lot of t-r-r-r-rouble, Mrs. Pedecaris." Deerhound puppies are indeed, but outgrow it) and yours truly. We won American Bred Bitch (so very apropos) but nothing further up the ladder. Below, Mr. Twister and Sarahbelle the Golden Retriever, the latter having a Walter Mitty moment in front of the place for the Number 1 dog winner.

We also made the local news: check out LINK towards the end.

RUBY FRIEDMAN ORCHESTRA LIVE at the ECHO

The always incredible Ruby Friedman Orchestra live at the Echo, Los Angeles 7.24.11, in prep for their London/U.K. promotional jaunt next week. Replete with hoedown stompers to power ballads with real emotion, their original repertoire remains heartily and lustily all over the map! Lots more on the RFO here LINK.

HEY, that's my job!
Drummer Alex Elena personally outsources rock-documentation from onstage mid-song.

Which reminds me: their portraits but not noms des musique/cladistic nomenclature have been elucidated in these virtual pages, so to rectify, the Orchestra's own description of membership here forthwith:

Alex Elena -- Marching Beats, Orders, and Ranks
Ulf Bjorlin -- Tenderloin Tromboner
Adam Zimmon - String Swooner
Dorian Heartsong -- Vagabond of Bass Vagaries
Ruby Friedman -- Non-Servile Servant and Whistling Dixie Girl
Nicholas Johns -- Ivory Ebony Space Sounder
Nick Page -- Banjo and Iron Horseshoes Player
Jodie Schell -- Will-O-The-Wisp Backing Mega-Mouthpiece

Photo Ops: Above, Paraphilia Magazine's editor Dire McCain and staff photographer Richard Meade, R-Rated antics in the middle, flanked by Dire's pal Christine and far right, Rico Cardinale, hairstylist extraordinaire and Fastfilm's friend since 1966.

Dire and Richard looking marginally more respectable.

NOTE: link directly back to http://fastfilm1.blogspot.com if all elements such as photo layouts or videos aren't here.

STEELY DAN LIVE

Steely Dan live at the Greek Theatre (of 'Get Him To the Greek!' film fame of late) in 1993, a classic journalist-tell-the-story-in-one -shot: left Walter Becker, right Dan Fagen. This was their first live reunion since 1979, the Dan having preferred percolating cauldrons of esoteric but mainstream-popular studio releases (bless their hearts) to performing in the interim.

for SCOTT "ROCK ACTION" ASHETON

photo (C) 2011 Heather Harris

THE DIRTY KNOBS plus AHAB

Fun double bill last night of The Dirty Knobs (side band of Mike Campbell, guitarist of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) and Ahab at Harper's in Tarzana, the San Fernando Valley portion of L.A. not isolated by the major freeway closure that night.

Campbell and band both write and cover exceptional material, with Campbell's plaintive but bouncy wail alternating vocals with guitarist Jason Sinay. Gene Pitney's "Town Without Pity" became an epic instrumental worthy of Mick Ronson's cover of Rodgers & Hart's (!) ballet (!!) "Slaughter on 10th Avenue." The Knobs played the first surf medley in years to sound both soulful and joyfully sleazy, reminiscent of what the late Johnny Thunders brought to such numbers.

I also loved the band's bluesier tunes with chugging bass lines a la Arthur Alexander (think Lennon's Beatles' take on "Bad Boy.") In fact, despite the band's promo listing their influences as fairly standard 1960s elite like The Byrds and The Beatles, I believe The Dirty Knobs, perhaps even unknowingly, have ratcheted up their innate quality to compare to those who influenced that selfsame 60s' league in the first place. The Dirty Knobs deliver compelling rock/R&B/bottleneck slide guitar/surf music, always with a distinctive, great dirty groove.









Ahab, a band who thankfully might be rechristened in the near future, play their mix of originals and covers with boisterous expertise, thanks in part to new members Tony Matteucci (also of The Dogs) on drums and lead guitarist Apache, once of Little Caesar. Apache ushered in a similar sense of band camaraderie as shown in my photos.

BEHEMOTH FESTIVALS! 1970-1980

 Lordy, this is from 1980, the last year ever of our Behemoth Festivals. Yes, this selfsame underwhelming-in-person (incorrectly interpreted as shy,) soft-spoken professional photographer/photojournalist used to stage, with her co-hostess, an annual soiree for 500 of our closest personal pals at my unknowing parents house when they were invariably out of town.*

We featured lots of sangria, fruit and veggies from the downtown L.A. Produce Market obtained in the wee hours just before, live bands such as punk legends Chainsaw, retro All-Stars The Fabulous Sheepskins or Rhino-ites Mogan David and the Winos, plus weird movies such as "Deep Throat" or "Bullitt" (basically anything we could scrounge from film collectors) projected on sheets in those dark days of the pre-video, dvd or streaming Pleistocene.

  










It was a 70s' bacchanal for music biz types, musicians, art-heads and, memorably one year, a fully costumed F Troop Cavalry from Calabasas, California. No matter how professional the engineers or producers we cajoled into mixing the soundboards were (and some were quite semi-famous,) year after year they invariably became too drunk ever to have recorded the bands effectively.

Highlights besides the live music? Famed writer Richard Meltzer plunged headfirst through the plate glass door with a hole about a foot off the ground which meant he executed a low-aiming swan dive. He wasn't hurt at all. Kim Fowley photographed (not by me, I was hostessing) pulling Karen S.'s blouse off. Mr. Twister once broke a watermelon over the head of the brother of a genuinely famous child-star, both now grownup at a Behemoth (grumbled Twister, "I was aiming for someone else, actually.") It was the last recorded instance of Mr. Twister wearing his silver platform boots from Kings Road, London (although they still grace the Twister Museum.) It was said that more marriages broke up at these parties than from any other provocation during that decade. What a legacy.

 
Behold our satirical post-Mod proto-post-Mad Men copy in the above, last invitation, and be privileged to view each of the decade's invites at the bottom. We both liked dinosaurs, hence the perpetual saurian theme. We also both appreciated the high concept of terrified masses fleeing the inevitable made incarnate. (See LINK of my own art with this theme.) It fit. 

Co-hostess Elyse Wyman, who now resembles a short-haired version of the above, sports the taffeta "...with oodles of this year's smart ruffles..." next to yours truly in the Dalmatian-spotted, vintage '60s Rudi Gernreich pajamas and London-bought, petroleum-product thigh-high boots which subsequently self-destructed, hunkering down with a life-sized baby plesiosaur skeleton made of balsa wood. I do not exactly look like this these thirty one years on, so don't go thinking it's a damned portrait.

Why did we cease and desist, considering how little we were troubled by law enforcement all things considered throughout the years? It was a strain on our college student and post-grad budgets, however economically we had cut those hairpin corners. After a decade's worth, that seemed like a the perfect place-marker for closure.

*clue that the parents caught on for the last two years, although they allowed themselves to be run out of town for those remaining Behemoths: the tiny print in the invite above, warning "...Please, no setting yourself on fire with drugs (special request from Heather's parents.)"
 

DENIZ TEK in ANN ARBOR

Deniz Tek in my studio, 2010 and...

depicted above sporting an Iggy and The Stooges shirt presaging his appearance at the Tribute to Ron Asheton starring Iggy and The Stooges 4.19.11. Deniz, legendary guitarist of Australia's Radio Birdman in the genuine punk 1970s and beyond, was being interviewed for Ron Perry's filmed documentary on the entire span of the Detroit and Ann Arbor music world, "Detroit Rock Project," the day before the gig. Deniz is in fact an Ann Arbor native despite his still ongoing, peripatetic global performing schedule. For instance, you can find info of two new 2011 summer gigs Aug. 26th and 27th with the Godoy twins in NY and NJ at Retrokimmer's LINK, and more of my studio pix of Tek and the famed tattooed twins here LINK.

Take a gander at that movie star smile! He remains a genial and extremely photogenic soul (perhaps it's that military discipline from his Top Gun jet pilot days, as well as his doctorate in medicine,) even when he asserts his game face, seen below in his stint as guest artist at the Tribute to Ron Asheton in Ann Arbor MI 4.19.11. I'll let the photos at the Tribute speak for themselves.

NOTE: link directly back to http://fastfilm1.blogspot.com if all elements such as photo layouts or videos aren't here.

I MAKE THE METRO TIMES of DETROIT!

Niagara in Dark Carnival, photo (C) Heather Harris

"...Rock photographer Heather Harris, probably best known for her classic '70s shots of Iggy & the Stooges in L.A., delivered the home run, though. 'The Gaga is closer to Niagara than Madonna.'"

Thank you Bill Holdship for the props as well as inclusion in his thoughtful-but-way-fun ruminations on critics vs. populace (backwards in this instance) and why Lady Gaga is the best thing going in current mainstream pop culture in LINK .

(Lady Gaga, photographer not attributed in source, fair usage for discourse.)

ALICE COOPER, 1971 negs destroyed

Alice Cooper during a 1971 interview at 10 in the morning,
beer bottle in hand festooned with manicured fingernails. The original photographic print was also a silhouette, but the above Xeroxed TM photocopy remains all that exists of this session. Shortly after I photographed this Alice Cooper interview while working for the student newspaper, my parents threw away every negative they could find of my rock and roll shots, impetus to move out immediately although I could little afford same while paying for my own stint at UCLA. They did not acknowledge my work ethic of getting down to business documenting rock and roll since it involved something they detested.

Thereafter, no more negatives were found and destroyed, as longtime readers here will note. I do have a few vintage live 1970 Alice Cooper live prints that I retrieved from a publication at least, since Alice and group also opened for my future better half's band Christopher Milk in the student union building auditorium, see below. Retrokimmer has rather more 1970 photos of Alice HERE.

F-16 FIGHTER JET FLIGHT SIMULATION with MR. TWISTER

Justifiably pleased and making up for lost time, Mr. Twister (former lead singer of Chainsaw and Christopher Milk, also Fastfilm's better half) poses above with high score from his batch of participants who also piloted F-16 Fighter Jet flight simulators. With huge video screens and realistic F-16 cockpits, each person's session lasts an hour, including attempts at the hairiest of all military flight experiences, landing on a sea-tossed aircraft carrier (see second photo from bottom, below.)

JULY 3rd, ACTUALLY, celebrating CANADA DAY!

Above, Mr. Twister (lead singer of Chainsaw, Christopher Milk and also my better half) left, and Tony Matteucci (drummer of The Dogs, Ahab, and a very brief 2003 Chainsaw U.S. reunion tour on the heels of its Euro-touring triumphs) right celebrating Canada Day! at the poolside party of a fun lovin' attorney in the entertainment biz. Many musicians spotted in attendance with, more noticeable at a pool party than even backstage, a lot of ink.

Much athleticism displayed by Peanut Butter, a purposeful Fox Terrier as obsessed with the ball as that mammal critter in "Ice Age" was with its nuts.

CHERIE CURRIE, HEART, FLEETWOOD MAC: Independent women for Independence Day

Cherie Currie's definitely an independent for her survival of the erratic career of the The Runaways, chronicled now in its eponymous movie, and for her post-fame and success penchant for combining her talents with charity work. I've photographed at least three such benefits that she masterminded. Cherie joined Paula Pierce and The Pandoras (see LINK) onstage at Club Lingerie, Hollywood, in the late '80s (above) and...

...joined Burton Averre formerly of The Knack for a charity benefit to aid Redwings Horse Sanctuary of Northern California in the early '90s, staged by all otherwise Goth/hardcore/riotgrrl acts. "Let's do it for the horsies!" encouraged Girl Jesus, a band who arrived onstage amidst "pony play" participants (those who dress up as horses in harnesses, bridles and bits etc. as their preferred fetish,) "Our raffle is for lotsa free tattoos and piercings." I always liked this pic of mine of Cherie, with her lovely face, perfect manicure and copious bling, wailing away at this definitely outsider event.

Heart, above, first line-up of the band. I have no idea when but I probably took the photo at the Inglewood Forum or some such enormo-dome, as they were huge as soon as they broke. This was one of two influential bands to feature two female performers in major roles before the revamped Fleetwood Mac (my rehearsal shot of them below.) The other was the Velvet Underground!