HAPPY NEW YEAR 2019

As my Happy New Year gift to all, here's the incredibly wonderful Evie Sands singing "Burn Down The Mission." This 2012 cover of the 1971 classic is the closest I get to nostalgia, but still... in 1971 its author was a brand new artist, the most accomplished weirdo ever to burst onto the domestic charts, thanks to Elton John's breakout performance at our tiny L.A. Troubadour club where he was photographically documented solely by my future better half Kurt Ingham. 1971 was our local sea change from hippie to glam, I was working my way through UCLA with photo journalism, and everything seemed bright and different and new and all ahead of us baby media mogul types of the "UCLA Mafia" of future entertainment biz professionals. Flashforward 47 years. Things always will be different and new, the idea is to try to shape the inevitable changes into something good as well. Due to the inescapable logistics of our demographic, 2019 will bring more deaths and physical pain. I will be right there beside it trying to drag it back into the arenas of the good, productive and essential for myself and everyone I know. Help me now! and Happy New Year 2019 from HH...

XMAS PRESENTS DELUXE 2018

 We do try hard... 

 
Great Christmas! My present to my better half Mr. Twister is running around wagging her tail and chewing a bone at 
the moment.

And from Mr.Twister to me, a beautiful art book of luscious Japanese prints plus... this just published tome that's a real find: it's just so rare to find critiquing that matches the quality of its loftier subjects.  I haven't encountered music writing this vivid since Nick Kent and John Mendelssohn in their heydays.
 

A writer of constant, breezy zingers moored to an inquiring, feeling mind, author Nick Coleman is your impassioned pal on a jag about rock and soul, bon mots galore on every page, every paragraph. However, he's emotionally generous with enough depth to make this cynic get teary-eyed with his description of Amy Winehouse's "...terrible, bone-eating pain that is always the result of too much compulsion."  Recommended read, bigtime,* to remind us why we document great music...



*with this warning-- for American readers and others unfamiliar with this British scribe, there's a surprise, unhappy ending.

SUMMER FLASHBACK...

While the weather forecast prognosticated 108 degrees in our area, July 6th, 2018 hammered us where we live at 117 F.  Yes, 117 Fahrenheit. (47.222 C.) A first in recorded local history. Tons of trees perished and most all of our garden was scalded from the top down. This weather can kill you similar to blizzard conditions: unless specific precautions are taken, you will die if you remain out of doors.

MEET BELLA

Meet Bella from Southern California Golden Retriever Rescue, new friend to Gia the Scottish Deerhound and Livia the Borzoi. As depicted herein, she is settling right in. 

All is calm, all is bright...

 

First playdate with visiting Scottish Deerhounds Fain and Eroica. Running with the big dogs!

 Below, Fain is actually howling with delight, not biting! 

Below, guest photographer 

© 2018 Kurt  Ingham 

REST IN PEACE PETE SHELLEY

Pete Shelley, deceased at age 63 from a heart attack. Solo or with Buzzcocks, it was all so damn catchy! 

REST IN PEACE LEA BISHOP of Enumclaw, Washington

Pictured above with her well nigh perfect Scottish Deerhound multiple Best in Show  Champion Rayne An Gael and 3 of her puppies that she bred (daddy was Ch. Benachie's Bobcat); below showing my Scottish Deerhound Karis: Lea Bishop. Little blurbs don't sum up such a life so well lived. She was a survivor, as both her parents died young. She was a self-taught expert on fine hounds and showing them. She was an expert seamstress at stage costuming, which was how I met her at UCLA with Kirk Henry's, John Mendelssohn's, Ralph Oswald's and my future better half Mr. Twister's band Christopher Milk (see LINK*). She became my sighthound mentor, unusual as we both were relatively young to specialize in purebred dogs. 

 

↑ photo © Kurt Ingham. Lea and two of her gorgeous Merridale Farm Scottish Deerhounds in Washington state, in some long ago decade. Mr. Twister and I visited to wallow in the puppies of Rayne, a memorable trip...

She was a fine, self-taught travel photographer who exhibited often. She used her initial relocation to learn a new vocation, and climbed up the ladder until she was the head of the entire Senior Center for which she first worked in the Seattle area. She bought sports cars to drive around in Europe then imported to sell here in the U.S. to finance selfsame trip. 

She specialized in showing, breeding and enjoying Borzois, then Scottish Deerhounds where her Merridale Farm kennels enjoyed its most rousing success, then Petit Basset Griffon Vendèen ("PBGVs," yes, so nicknamed after CBGBs) then Italian Spinones, all lovely, fuzzy hounds. Why did she quit Deerhounds, often called "the most perfect breed under Heaven" as by Sir Walter Scott?  Because, dear readers, Deerhounds are also called "the heartbreak breed," but that's a whole other story although a hint can be found here LINK**...

                                 


 ←Lea with her 
Italian Spinone  
puppies;
UCLA rock and roll
daze 1970: Lea top row far right, Mr. Twister bottom row far left plus the rest of the band, its roadies and their rock press →



 She had a wicked sense of humor, once suggesting naming her puppies "the terrorist litter," which prompted me to call my first Arabian horse the apropos Muslim sobriquet Idi Amin, since most would hear "Idi" as "Edie."  After the breakup of her first marriage she visited a counselor with whom she told me she felt at ease only after he sang "People Are Strange" by The Doors to her at her insistence. On one visit, the comedy Best in Show hadn't been released to her area yet so we enjoyed Almost Famous together at her local theatre, guffawing loudly at the insider rock and roll jokes to an otherwise silent audience.

Vintage Jane Asher look for Van Nuys High School portrait (which is in our current neighborhood but much changed since then. For instance, no natural redheads like Lea matriculate whatsoever...)

I always had a great time whenever we got together. The photo at the very top represents such a happy memory of Twister's and my visit to her Deerhound-filled farm of that era.

 She sent thrilling accounts of her world travels via Christmas cards with her second husband Emerson. She gave me a fine, vintage Landseer etching of a Deerhound when I had cancer in 1984. After our mutual dog showing friend, acclaimed Deerhound breeder Jana Brinlee informed me how really ill Lea was at this stage of her own cancer, I tried calling all the phone numbers I had for Lea. I never got through. Now I never will. Rest in peace, Lea...

Two of Lea Bishop's travel photos, of Italy and Thailand. 



Below, a dog show in the 1970s, Lea with her Borzoi and our friend Debbie Reinberg.

 

* https://fastfilm1.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-history-of-mr-twisters-rockpunk.html

** https://fastfilm1.blogspot.com/2010/10/secretariat-and-drusilla.html

R.I.P. ROBERT MATHEU

It is with great sadness I report the death of my colleague ROBERT MATHEU on September 21, 2018.  He is survived by his wife Sheryl and three young daughters. Robert is deservedly well known for his extraordinary photos in the late 1960s/early 1970s of his native Detroit acts like The Stooges, MC5 etc., and since then of everyone in music under the sun. 

He is seen here backstage at the Dec. 1, 2011 Iggy and The Stooges show at the Hollywood Palladium with his longtime friend from 'the good old days' Evita Corby, whom he hadn't seen in quite a while and with Allie Shields, daughter of the late Sabel Starr Shields.  (Evita was Stooge James Williamson's girlfriend in the 1970s, and Allie's mother's sister Corel Shields was Iggy Pop's paramore during the same era.) 

 Despite his professionalism, Robert always seemed to be in a great mood and loved to joke around. My friend Evita reminded me of another side of jocular Robert though. When James was onstage, she said Robert was very protective of her, since young beauties like her were a magnet to too many creeps otherwise.

↑Photo on this book cover by Robert Matheu.

↓ Robert Matheu, Ron Sobol and Kurt Ingham at Jeff Gold's Iggy Pop book Total Chaos signing in 2016. All three had photographed the Stooges live back in the day...
 
 ↓ Below, here's Robert in full raconteur mode on the right with Jimmy Recca, one of the three still living Stooges, trading Detroit war stories in Robert's house, 2010. You can go to LINK* for more details.

 Also, please go to LINK **
 to read my obituary of Robert Matheu in prestigious Detroit Rock and Roll Magazine.

Our longtime mutual friend Jeff Gold of RecordMecca.com also wrote a touching piece at LINK***


*http://fastfilm1.blogspot.com/2010/08/swapping-detroit-rock-and-roll-war.html
**http://www.detroitrocknrollmagazine.com/2018/09/detroit-rock-photographer-robert-matheu.html
*** https://recordmecca.com/news/rip-robert-matheu-photographer-music-historian-author-and-friend/

THE HAILERS, PLAY WITH FIRE at Fais Do Do 3.6.18

                   Charismatic couple Robert Mills and April Carson lead The Hailers 

                            

↑The Hailers at the re-emerging Club Fais Do Do packed the venue with an appreciative crowd as well as packing the stage with their rather full ensemble. They continue to perform their appealing original fare that would sound at home on most radio genres. The Hailers frequently open for A List headliners in larger venues, so this was a treat to hear them in the confines of the club.

↓ Mark McKinniss and his band Play With Fire opened, with soulful blues and a cool Commitments-style backup vocals trio. The beautiful young singer with her hair piled on top of her head is Mark's talented daughter Kaylie!

DENNIS DAVISON AND JONATHAN LEA, "the Half Seen" at private showcase 3.16.18

VERY rare treat earlier this year in March. Dennis Davison and Jonathan Lea of The Jigsaw Seen in a Hollywood Hills home performing a showcase that really emphasized the high quality of their songwriting. 

Mr. Twister taking photos and a disruptive purse can also be seen in this small but enraptured crowd...

 

happy member of this exclusive audience!

REST IN PEACE SARABELLE

REST IN PEACE SARABELLE, Sept. 5, 2018

Rest in peace Sarabelle. For ten years she was Kurt's and my loving best friend. A rescue who was dumped in the pound with her puppies who all died then lovingly saved by the breed rescue, we've guessed that she was probably fifteen years old today Sept. 5, 2018, her last day. Like Game of Thrones mother of dragons Daenerys, she was the "mother of sighthounds" to Deerhounds Karis, Gia and Borzoi Livia in their respective puppyhoods, running with, comforting and snuggling these giant creatures. We all loved her so much...

 

with her human friend Sherry, and many of her canine friends...

photo below © 2018 Kurt Ingham

 photo above © 2018 Kurt Ingham.

Now Sarabelle can join her various puppies, her pal Karis, Barbaro (below) and any and all canine and equine friends, and once again be at peace.