The Fabulous Russella got busy with a confessional in the shape of The Russella Show at east Londons Bistrotheque. The show itself charted Russella's beginnings as a bullied schoolboy, her brief stint at the local biscuit factory and a further voyage of discovery at dance school. Russella then went on to explore her drag persona as Xtina (a take on Christina Aguilera) and entered Jonny Woo's Tranny Lypsyinching on the very stage she performed on this evening! The show itself consisted of inventive sketches, songs and film excerpts. Russella relived hysterical moments from her life... a chain smoking character from the biscuit factory, her take on Princess Diana and amazing dance routines! Russella's early beginnings as a spotty child, she soon discovered a humourous streak to survival! Life in the biscuit factory complete with a white noise drone soundtrack... Finally a cameo role for o.a.p. tranny Jeannie Dee who after a song and some diatribe sportingly allowed Russella to do away with her in the store cupboard...
It was like any other day, she took the turning that led to her mothers house. The sense of returning home was the familiar feeling she felt as a child coming home from school. Things had changed though, new signs had gone up, people passing seemed the same but different… she trod the pavements she had trodden all those years ago, remembering the familiar cracks in pavements, crumbling cement in the walls of passing houses, the taste or the air and the smells of other peoples dinners.
Her dress clung to her thighs as the wind whipped across her body, ‘ummm’ she thought and shivered, somehow, secretly she felt like crying. Her journey had taken her full circle, she now lived in a place of her ancestors, and as she sensed their lives far away from her mother she walked silently in their ghostly like shadows tracing daily routes she thought they may have taken. Somehow she had fixated on her ancestors etching a direct memory into her present. She strode in their footsteps and remembered stories told to her by her very own mother, wanting very much to feel as they did. The compulsion drove her to near distraction.
The mother laughed and carried on much the way she always did, chatting on about people she wasn’t sure about. “Remember Elaine? You went to school with her… well she had a baby, he’s three now”. She couldn’t recall an Elaine, must have been in the year below her as junior school. Still the mother chattered on obscurely. ‘Do all mothers chatter in a such fashion?’ she thought as something caught her eye, a glint of something. The mother rolled up her sleeves and carried on with a current chore… her arms were etched with symbols of her life, inky lines engraved with the pictorial evidence of her catharsis. Why she had chosen this form of embellishment at her age remained a mystery to those on the outside of her experience, but choose it she had. A personal crisis had entered into the mother’s subplot, hence she had taken up with the tool of permanence, the needle that inked deep into her skin and marked her with indelible lines. Symbols of her existence, a story of her own making, exposed outside out for the world to see. Remarkably these doodles that had emerged over a period of time marked a chapter of change. The daughter could identify the moment they started appearing. Small symbols at first, the name of something or someone, a rose or a character of some sort. They seemed to multiply covering her virgin flesh with some haste. The mother proudly exhibited her stains; they marked a newfound freedom in her life. A life that, although somewhat bohemian had up until a certain point been a straightforward existence. The mother you see came from a line of haberdashers and furniture upholsters. Good with their hands, craftsmen who stitched away the hours creating fine damask chairs. Working folk of the Eastend of London. The mother was engrained with a work ethic of the old fashioned variety and so her life had taken a structured format. School, university, a degree in law and finally a job in the city. She fell in love with a fellow don and her legal career stopped short. One child came then another and she resigned herself to the role of motherhood moving from the city into the rural hills of Kent. Of course and predictably the relationship floundered, it fell apart in the most heartbreaking way, the mother yearned for her freedom now and when the kids grew up enough she threw caution to the wind and left with her teenage girls to find her self. This was exactly when the fleshy adornments appeared. Like ornate hives erupting over the gaps on her body and in her mind. Every time the tattooists needle drilled over her flesh she sighed a sigh of relief, the hum of the needle, the stains of evidence that made her feel alive resurrected her inner being that had been lain dull for so long. The pulse was numb in her as she longed for this stinging sensation afresh; the process of scaring and healing symbolised her own inner hurt slowly repairing, it was the only thing that could push her demons out resulting in a compulsion that literally marked her apart. The feeling was so good and the markings so proud she set upon exalting the craft and duly practised the skill on folk needing the similar sensations she now proudly displayed.
The daughter sensed all this, and relished the eccentricities her mother took on. Nevertheless endless separation was tangible, the gulf between them now took on a new form since the daughter’s had now left home and were finding their own way in life. The mother had become quite eccentric, she brought a monkey, a shy little thing that attached itself to her shoulder. She had become quite outrageous after all those years of playing the dull and dutiful wife, she laughed out loud with a vigour that would frighten the local wolves. She would nowadays more often than not storm into situations dressed in the armour of her tattooed skin pronouncing a formidable presence wherever she went.The daughter was somehow amazed by this, secretly shocked and would giggle nervously as she toyed with the image of her ‘new’ mother.
There is the theory that daughters are destined to turn into their mothers or some such codswallop. The daughter considered her fate at length, weighing up the pros and cons of this event occurring. It seemed unlikely but then again the daughter; an artist herself had lately become attached to the tool that splattered the eternal ink. She herself had etched pictorial images into the skin of friends and harboured a fascination with her own kind of skin art.
The chain of events were now merging, the mothers journey and the daughters, inextricably linked by inking. The trail of etchings carved indelibly into their skins seemed to smile as the two women now sat mulling over their unsaid circumstance, a silent knowing between them that was as old as time itself.
One of the most hysterical trips I've had for a long time, Steve Strange is a legend, the front man for 80's band Visage and host of numerous clubs from The Blitz onwards. This trip was for a personal appearance at Italian club 'Decadence' in Bologna.
First of all we missed our afternoon flight-derailment in Cardiff? Leisurely beauty bath while Steve's sister Tanya tried to bang the door down? Who knows and who cares! We got the next flight in the evening, Steve managed to forget his shoes, he turned up to the airport in flip-flops... Upon arrival in Bologna we were greeted by this fabulous lot, club kid Kichman (left), promoter Midge (center) and drag entertainer Naomi as his real self Orinocho (right). Midge pointed out the club Decadence enroute from the airport. 'I thought it was in a Castle', I said, 'That looks like a shed in an industrial estate!'
After supper we decided to go to the local gay rave set in the grounds of a park, lovely location and a very lively crowd of topless boys! Ok, so after an exhausting rave-up we decided to sample the delights Bologna had to offer, i.e. a vintage market, a search for some onstage footwear for Mr. Strange, and of course the sound check! Here's Steve getting ready for an airing... note new tattoo on neck, it's an interpretation of a leopard scratch. The club itself was full of 'toys' er, shackles and stretchers... what kind of kinky sex club is this? Steve wasn't fazed! 'Echo, echo', he said at the sound check, more reverb on the voice! Echo in Italian means every thing's ok... still it got sorted in the end! Very professional, here's Steve with a lot of 'echo' at the sound check. Yes, yes so we got some suitable footwear, a very nice vintage pair of sports shoe. Good to see the night being promoted with a poster, Steve looks happy as well, even though he said his voice was about to go. Luckily we found some throat spray at the local Pharmacia... In homage to Steve, Kichman did the poster look, can you tell the difference? He turned up to the hotel like this below.
So the club was some sort of kinky sex club it was revealed while sharing a pizza later that evening... sorry Steve, i couldn't stop laughing when Drag Naomi and Kichman told us! A lot of fetish going on, fan DJ Mouse (below) got a signing on his original pressing of Fade To Grey, he looks well happy with it as well! P.S. he had a spare mask in his pocket!
And these two below, Francesca and her bf from the local piercing shop look very loved up in the crowd! So Steve Strange comes on to an ecstatic crowd and really does put on a show... All the hits, Mind Of A Toy, Night Train, Fade To Grey plus a new one... 'Click, Click, Click'... A lot of devoted fans turned up including this one Carlo, he runs the Pete Burns fan site... Here's Drag Naomi and friend below, backstage... I wasn't lined up to dj till 4.45 (who's idea was that!) So i hung out with the most fabulous drag queens of Bologna instead! And this lovely lady Federica, what a glamour puss! Still, you'll be glad to know we managed to get the flight back to London!
Not sure how this video is going to turn out... SS doing Night Train for 30 seconds!
Here are the stars of Divine Incest, London's monthly club that combines a love of 'dressing', music and art as featured in the forthcoming issue of Disorder mag. Disorder kindly gave me permission to blog this shoot so here's a sneak preview!
Joan Collins needs no introduction, with a career that spans five decades she's a woman who can swan in anywhere. That's just what she did down at the BFI the other night at a screening of 1958 film Rally Round The Flag, Boys! She's quite a vision to behold as well, Joan stands her ground in the glamour stakes.
After the screening she took her place centre stage and chatty Joan engaged in conversation. The whole thing kicked off with a reminisce of her starlet days and she can remember everything and everyone. Meeting Marilyn Monroe who warned her about Hollywood casting couch scenario's, taking diet pills to control her weight (obviously they were speed based... Joan on speed can you imagine!) Her 5 marriages the latest to Percy being her ideal, getting broody in her late twenties and bringing up her kids whilst very nearly on the dole, being 'forced' to try cocaine which she didn't like, her archive films, directors names, parties, more parties and yet more parties!
Joan oh Joan, she's had her ups and downs and through it all she's retained an image that sparkles through adversity. And it's really that image that we all seem fascinated by. She's stated that she must have been born with the 'happy' gene, and it's true she does sail through life with a cheery optimism. She once said 'You get the face you deserve after 40', so if it's all about attitude Joan scene steals every time. She's at home with her iconic status and knows she deserves it even though some have dashed her acting abilities saying Joan basically always plays herself!
Joan Collins is camp, kitsch and all those things we love her for. But her attitude is thoroughly modern and grounded, she's led a life with an honesty that stands up for itself. Ask Joan a question, any question and she'll relay an answer in direct fashion. Joan put's her youthful image down to her gene pool, exercise routines and denies any surgery. She knows all the tricks and even though she laughingly said when remembering her figure in younger years that she wouldn't ever have that waist again, it has to be stated Joan's figure is that of a 50 year old, er actually younger if you really have to compare! What doesn't Joan not do? Joan likes working and actually has to work to maintain her lifestyle. She has three homes internationally, she's a self made woman. I do sense that Joan really doesn't know the word 'retire' and why would she, her philosophy on the subject as she sees it is that people that do retire drop dead after a few years! Primarily an actress, Joan includes writing on her list of talents. Once again some people are quite flip about her turn of phase but does she care, not on your nelly! It seems Joan is quite a modest creature, stripping off apparently not until the late 70's with various film's most notably The Stud, but actually from quite early on she appeared to be in some state of undress, perhaps her pin-up days seemed quite demure compared to some of her later scenes. Joan doesn't dwell on regrets though, even when it comes to her selection of husbands who disappointed her in various ways she tends to close the book rather swiftly, preferring to dwell positive aspects even when there appears to be none. Perhaps her general outlook indicates Joan's tireless ability to remain astute and clear thinking. From her so called dubious roles in 'B' movies Joan eventually found herself one of the most highly paid TV stars in Dynasty. The early 80's saw Joan emerge as Alexis Carrington, a role she relished. Aspects of the character allowed her to investigate a statement wardrobe appropriate for the role, almost single handedly Joan Collins invented 'power dressing' in one fell swoop. Gradually Alexis came to represent a camp version of a powerful 80's woman. Her ideas on image affected the whole cast and soon they were all interested in the most outrageous designs of the time. Does Joan have a motto? Well she's got quite a few including, 'There are two kinds of human beings. There are drains and there are heaters. Some people drain you and some people warm you. If people become too much of a drain, I say, 'That's it. Time to say goodbye'. Obviously not one to suffer fools gladly, Joan comes out with these common sense pearls of wisdom on a regular basis. On preserving her looks, 'Base not Botox' and 'Skill not surgery'.
Joan continues a career in TV and film, her appearances always cause a bit of a stir. These sort of dames never cease to amaze me, come think why isn't Joan 'Dame Joan Collins' yet! She bloody well should be, then she and Dame Shirley Bassey can have a laugh together! Paul Newman and Joan were great friends, and for Rally Round The Flag, Boys! Paul insisted Joan be cast. Joan has a whole heap of stories about her Hollywood days... Joan's art of spanning decades seems quite effortless, probably the original 'yummy mummy', and she's even commented on this, she combines style with function.
So it’s like the early 70’s and there’s this ‘Glam Rock’ thing going on in London. Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars have arrived with an avant-garde entourage. Angie Bowie and their son Zowie have become the alternative family unit. Biba is instated in Kensington High Street and theatrical rock star ‘looks’ have become all the rage. Hard to imagine what it must have been like…
ANGIE BOWIE… I’m hungry that’s what’s the matter with me, lets have some sandwiches, I don’t know about you…
PRINCESS JULIA…Yea, I’ll probably have a nibble… Going back to then, I remember you being integral to, you know, the whole ‘Ziggy’ image and everything, you might not want to go on about it too much but it was such a pivotal moment for me and my comtempories, you were like always in the loop…
ANGIE BOWIE… Yea, thank you… yea I guess I was, I hadn’t really thought about it like that, I guess it was bizarre and it’s pretty true… like with David, David was used to theatre and costumes, where I just didn’t think his choices were accentuated enough… Where as with the boys, in the band, who had never dealt with theatre… What I did was very naughty…
Meeting Angie Bowie is an intense experience, her multi-tasking mind darts from one subject to another, connecting experience and revolutionary thinking with something like an abstract common sense.Her dedication to the subversive/ underground is where circumstance has led her. Angie’s tough inner resolve leads her to question the fringes of society and her place in it.
ANGIE BOWIE… but I’m a naughty person and I’m a Greek Cypriot, I like to get a result without anyone knowing they’ve been maneuvered into doing it. So I just concentrated on the boys until David got pissed, I just made those boys so fabulous, that finally he (David) said ‘What about me?’. So I said, ‘Oh, I thought you were gonna’ handle it all yourself, Oh, you want me to do it, little ole me…! Ok, I don’t know about that!Ok, sit still, watch this.’…You know how it is, you can’t get people to do stuff if they don’t wanna do it.
PRINCESS JULIA… That ‘look’ stands up today.
ANGIE BOWIE… I just couldn’t say anymore, I was like, ‘com on guys, you can’t just go up there in a pair of jeans’
The Bowie’s seemed like the most unconventional couple ever, both bisexual and experimental with image and attitude. In ‘pop’ terms they appealed to a young avant-garde generation willing to take risks. Coming ‘out’ became the norm in the 70’s playground…
PRINCESS JULIA… What was it like? Did you feel like you were in on an amazing movement, which you helped create?
ANGIE BOWIE… I’ll tell you what, I don’t know how to answer the question… What did it feel like, er, hard work that was the most important thing, cause all I did was work. See, I get up really early, so while everyone was sleeping and being musicians, erm, I’m not like that, I’m not interested in that, I’m get up and go… come on!
PRINCESS JULIA… What’s your star sign…?
ANGIE BOWIE… Libra, you want it done, lets do it! Don’t think about it, lets go… So I was always up and on the phone, so by 10 o clock …. Then my day was pretty much done, do you know what I mean? From about 6 to 10 I’m really hot. I’m gonna die soon, we’re all gonna die soon, I got 20 or 30 years left, that’s it babe, I got so much shit to do, I haven’t even begun… I mean, I’ve begun, I think I’ve made a pretty good start. So what it was like? really busy, to answer your question. The shows were very exciting, very glamorous, fulfilling, satisfying, all that good stuff, that moment of watching something come to fruition, seeing them up there looking great, with lights on them unlike bar bands, which was how it was at that time, pretty much … they didn’t use theatrical lighting, that was something I couldn’t tolerate, I couldn’t tolerate anyone talking between songs, there’ll be no one talking between songs, no ones interested in the title of the next song, no one gives a shit! Just do the song…
PRINCESS JULIA… Yes.
ANGIE BOWIE… An’ I got the lights right, an’ it started to look good, an’ I made sure that they looked brilliant, how they were dressed… and as soon as they heard that applause, that different applause, not that polite applause, that hurrrggghhh!!! applause, they shut up an’ did what I told them. So then my life became faster… an’ I could deal with them faster, I didn’t have to trick them into doing stuff, I didn’t have to trick them into putting make-up on.
The end of Angie and Dave’s relationship didn’t end to well. Angie’s role somehow became blurred and she became almost written the Glam Rock legacy. Her first book ‘Back Stage Passes’ was a slightly edited version of events due to a gagging order, her second book ‘Free Spirit’ a little more ‘tell all’ and her notes in ‘Bisexuality’ have become strong reference points. Her latest book ‘Pop Sex’ is soon to be with us and along with a body of music entitled ‘Moon Goddess’ that proves this ‘gal’ hasn’t been idle over the years, she is looking forward to hosting the ‘Outsider Film Festival’ this month. As Angie put it herself ‘The bitch won’t die!’
And here is Angie doing a gig at the 100 Club April 2010!!!!
PRINCESS JULIA… You had the attitude, the look, it was obvious from your pictures… So what are you doing now…have you got a boyfriend?
ANGIE BOWIE… I gotta’ boyfriend, yea he is young, I had to order a young boyfriend, because, oh fuck, old hippies become middle-aged desperados, they’re no use, you know, it doesn’t help because they were hippies. Yea, I have a boyfriend who I met Atlanta. I thought about my two most favorite men, Lee Black Childers who is from Louisville.
PRINCESS JULIA… I know him…
ANGIE BOWIE… I thought you would, I thought about Lee and then I thought about Jayne County. This will make you giggle, I remember Jayne telling me that in the country side all they would do is think about going to Atlanta where they would do what she called ‘wrecking’. They would drive through town screaming out of the window at all the cute boys, ‘wrecking’, causing a ruckus, I think that’s cool...
I was intrigued to see Aeaea, a duo consisting of Martin Tomlinson from Selfish Cunt taking the lead and Sam Ant on gadgets and vocal response. Quite simply this was the best thing I’ve seen and heard for ages… the ranting of Tomlinson over synth compositions were aptly hysterical, majorly poignant and I want to see more!
Photo's-PJ from gig at This New Battlefield at The Drop 5/4/10
The show itself consisted of inventive sketches, songs and film excerpts. Russella relived hysterical moments from her life... a chain smoking character from the biscuit factory, her take on Princess Diana and amazing dance routines!
Russella's early beginnings as a spotty child, she soon discovered a humourous streak to survival!
Finally a cameo role for o.a.p. tranny Jeannie Dee who after a song and some diatribe sportingly allowed Russella to do away with her in the store cupboard...
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