OUR ROCK AND ROLL BATHROOMS

The most eclectic and/or rare art resides in my photo studio bathroom. The studio originally was the barn of our 1912 farmhouse, and the back wall of same had been painted with a mural of The Promised Land (some of it seen at left in the photo above) in place of an altar when it was converted to a church for revival meetings. The Ann Arbor Rock and Roll Revival show poster above the utility sink (dating to when I used this space as a darkroom) is a brand new acquisition, a gift from Retrokimmer three weeks ago when I visited there and photographed the Tribute to Ron Asheton/Iggy and The Stooges gig. Atop the wood shelf is an old art school oil painting I did, with a 1978 theatre flyer below. It's by Edward Gorey of the London production of "Dracula" starring Terence Stamp, which Mr. Twister and I saw there. Below a signature work of Niagara's (Dark Carnival and Destroy All Monsters chanteuse) "This Band Sucks" giclee is an impossibly rare poster of English Boy Ltd., the vintage mid-1960s modeling agency made up of the coolest who's who of Mod/Psychedelic London's fashion, music and art scenes, illustrated with dozens of said scenesters from Brian Jones, James Fox, Suki Potier, Chrissie Shrimpton and Marijke Koger to various Ormsby-Gores and Raineys. And how did Mr. Twister procure this originally? He was one of their models during his sojourn with the cast of Mick Jagger's best film "Performance."

In our upstairs water closet are rock and roll magazines, rock and roll books (plus a Zelda Fitzgerald biography or three,) a large giclee print by Niagara (the Marlene Dietrich at left) and Marijke Koger-Dunham's (besides being featured at English Boy Ltd, the pyschedelic stylist to the Beatles, fine artist and member of The Fool) two fantasy prints. Yes, I have a retro paisley bathroom. Two of these books have appearances by yours truly. Rebel Music by Harvey Kubernik has my shot on the cover, and We Got the Neutron Bomb (History of L.A.Punk) actually quotes me. I had to answer someone's comment of "If I had this bathroom I'd rarely leave it" with my own confession, "I don't do those sorts of things any more."

What's in the downstairs' bathroom? Below, another Niagara giclee ("One of us is loaded,") one of Twister's 60s interior design posters, and an actual original 1973 David Lance Goines print of "Der Blaue Engel" ("The Blue Angel." I guess we like Marlene Dietrich icons in our bathrooms.) Mary Kay, bassist of legendary The Dogs and I both constructed as well as designed this loo, replete with our knocking out part of the wall and tiling over it, building a graceful plaster curve to the tub and, to play up the 1912 aspect, wall-papering all 4 walls and the ceiling (of the latter quoth Mary, "Never again!") During said construction, a faux supervisory Twister would stroll by and ask how Lucy and Ethel were doing!

The more observant will note the barbed wire embedded in the toilet seat, bottom photograph, pun intended.

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