Picture Perfect; Farewell To The King Of The Shutterbugs...

Harry Goodwin, 89, has died after a period of illness.

His iconic images included those of The Beatles, Dylan, Hendrix and my personal favourite The Rolling Stones.

Manchester born Harry, became an air force photographer with the RAF during the Second World War but his work was spotted by the BBC and he was asked to take photographs for the Radio Times on the Harry Worth show. 

Famously he snapped The Beatles at their Manchester Apollo show, it was this that earned him his big break by joining Top Of The Pops over on Dickenson Road in 1964.

The exhibition of his work, titled My Generation: The Glory Years of British Rock: Photographs from Top Of The Pops 1964-1973 by Harry Goodwin, ended at the Lowry only last week which attracted over 100,000 visitors.

Mike McCartney, from The Scaffold  said: 

"He was an amazing character and had an incredible knack of putting big stars at ease, which helped him produce really memorable images.''

This afternoon Tim Burgess, the lead singer of The Charlatans, tweeted: 

"Sad to hear of the death of Harry Goodwin - a true unsung hero of music photography."

He's one cool cat who's given us so many iconic images that Harry Goodwin will never really die...

R.I.P 1924-2013

It's Only Rock n' Roll... A Few Moments With Miss Pamela Des Barres

Pamela Des Barres, Cynthia Plaster Caster, Lori Lightning, Cherry Vanilla; all names you associate when it comes down to girls and Rock 'n' Roll.

Though, certainly, the most iconic is Pamela Des Barres, former groupie, musician and celebrated author and journalist.

Miss Pamela is probably best known for the book I'm With the Band (1987), the groupie confessional memoir describing her relationships with Jimmy Page, Mick Jagger, Keith Moon, Gram Parsons and Jim Morrison -to name just a few - in the late '60s and early '70s. She recently published its followup, Lets Spend the Night Together, in 2007.

Des Barres grew up in Los Angeles in the early '60s, idolizing the Beatles and Elvis, and fantasized about meeting her favourite musicians. After leaving school in 1966, she became friends with Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa, which opened the door to the scene on L.A.'s Sunset Strip and with rock musicians. During this time, she carried on with a diary that had started back in school, which lead to her writing.

She was also a member of the GTOs (Girls Together Outrageously), an all female band that combined music, spoken word and performance art.

And now, without further ado...

Nona: What is R'n'R to you?

PDB: The actual term Rock 'n' Roll means having sex, so it has always represented desire, rebellion, joy, ecstasy, danger...

Nona: In 1969, you released Permant Damage with the GTOs, which is famously backed by Zappa and Jeff Beck. Due to some of its members being arrested, this was the first and last album the GTOs made. Did you for see this as a start of something which got hindered?

PDB: Yes indeed, Mr. Zappa was totally anti-drug, and I lived in fear of him finding out that a few of the GTOs were into hard drugs...

Nona: Rock stars, wives and groupies; is there any understanding between them?

PDB: They don't like to admit it, but I think anyone who marries a musician knows that that's a possibility, for sure. But more and more lately, [rock stars] are getting involved with actresses and models, and I don't think those women are as accepting of the old rules that the groupies used to go by.

Nona: The meaning of the word ''groupie'' was somewhat of a status symbol back in the '60s; these days it is used a negative term. How would you describe groupie mentality?

PDB: A true groupie is just a music lover who wants to get as close as possible to the people who make the music they love. They want to share ideas, love, experiences, intimacy, and show their appreciation for making them feel sooooo damn good!

Nona: Beatle Paul was your first love; did you ever get to 'hook up' with him after the whole Beatle phenomena passed?

PDB: No, we met a few years back, at a party after his concert in L.A... Paul was meeting and greeting people. He looked beyond fabulous. I shook his hand, stammered my name before thrusting my book into his hands.

He looked bemused, raised his eyebrows questioningly, a bit fearful...uh...did we...uh...we haven't met before have we? I said... unfortunately no.

He looked at Heather and smiled and said 'see dear, I'm innocent, I have never met her before!'.

He seemed to get a kick out of the whole thing.

I had my moment with my favorite Beatle, and it was glorious.

Nona: Many groupies had longtime relationships with rock stars. It wasn't just about sex? Has that changed now that rockstars tend to live from stage to bus and back again?

PDB: Groupies will always become wives and girlfriends and always have. Even the girls who only get ten minutes in the bus really want ten years with the rocker they adore...but will take that ten minutes and remember it forever. It really hasn't changed, except that it it harder and harder to meet the rock gods.

Nona: The day John Lennon got shot is the day many people claim that R'n'R changed forever. Do you perceive this to be true?

Yes, security was certainly beefed up, and rock also became a big business with a capital ''B''. Jimi Hendrix or Jim Morrison never waited around for a paycheck. And actresses and models became groupies, and had easier access to their ''peers,'' making it more difficult for the ''regular'' groupie.

Nona: There is the famous story of you high on PCP doing acrobatics on Jim Morrison's Persian rug; that through this you got to know Jim pretty well. In I'm With the Band you said there was a time where Jim threw your drugs out of the car window. There has been plenty of speculation that Jim was working for the government, your thoughts on this?

PDB: Hahaha! That is a good one. I saw Jim groveling around in the gutter too any times to believe that loony idea. Jim and many other long lost rock gods have become mythologized to the point of insanity. He was always in trouble with the law!

Nona: I'm with the band is a book I return to again and again. It's a very personal account of a time which has been described as 'Opening up your mind to the world of philosophy and psychology of the ego manic guitarist' did you expect it to have had such an impact on the history of rock literature?

PDB: I just wanted to tell my story because I knew it was a doozie-a female point of view from within the center of the rock renaissance. While I was living it, I knew people would want to know about my life and times in the middle of that magnificent maelstrom.

********

Thanks again, Ms. Des Barres, for humouring us!!

The Countdown Begins.... March against Monsanto 12th October 2013.

May the 25th 2013: over forty countries, hundreds of protests and an estimated over two million people made a stand against food cultivators Monsanto - a company already banned from many countries, but which are still operating in both the UK and the USA.

A business which claims their research into agriculture could be revolutionary - letting farmers grow more, and faster.

But at what cost?

Genetically modified plants are grown from seeds which are engineered to not only resist insecticides and herbicides, but contain added nutritional benefits and increase the global food supply.

Research studies have shown that Monsanto’s genetically-modified foods can lead to serious health conditions, such as the development of cancer, infertility, birth defects and is thought to be a possible cause for the increase of developmental disorders and illnesses like Parkinsons disease. There are loopholes in the laws due to the fact that these foodstuffs are grown from seed.

Now I'm not going to tell anybody what to eat... nor am I going to come on all militant regarding this, as it is none of my business what goes past your lips.

However, I do believe everyone has the right to know what we are actually eating, and if that product contains genetically modified produce and therefore is a health risk. The environmental consequences could be disastrous; GMO effects our biodiversity, making a serious impact, killing wildlife and being a potential catalyst for cross pollination of crops.

Many countries have banned GM produce, as they cannot sell it.

At any rate...

I was one of those millions.

I did a total of six hours travelling in May, to join my nearest protest, where I met a lot of interesting people from all walks of life:

A scientist who worked for Monsanto in Argentina, and witnessed first hand the damage it can do.

Microbiologists, Farmers, Doctors, Students, the young and the old alike.

People willing to speak out, using their professional experience, about concerns and the possible dangers that we are being unwittingly led into.

My usual routine, first thing in the morning is this: running late. Today was no different, so I called a cab to get to the nearest tram stop. On the journey, the usual cabby / passenger chitchat occurred... so it came out where I was heading.

The cabby told me that he admired people like me as I was going out of my way to make a stand.
He was in full agreement with my motivation for going; he didn't want to eat GMO, and said if there had been a protest in Manchester, he would have probably joined in.
But then if the football wasn't on, and so forth...
Due to the length of my journey, I had plenty of opportunity to reflect on this.

It's a great shame that society may agree with something and have some serious opinions on these things, yet this man's voice, for instance, would never get heard as speaking out just would not take priority if it meant doing anything which wasn't everyday routine.

So joining your local activist movement might not be for you; getting off your arse in any shape or form might not be for you, but if you are reading this you have one of the best resources of our time at your fingertips:

The Internet.

STAY INFORMED. You get to keep abreast of the facts - facts that our governments won't necessarily tell us. Moreover, at present many of us are not asking for them! Nevertheless, the answers are there to be found.

With a quick internet search, you can find independent research on such matters like Monsanto; google the pictures.

I dare you!

So what's the one thing we all do??

We have to buy food. The best way is to vote is with your dollar, buying organic and boycotting Monsanto owned companies using GMOs in their products.

I hope this has shed some light on the name MONSANTO, which I'm sure many of you have come across in some way or another...

Take up the torch and find out more. It's your right, and might well mean your health. Or your children's take a stand!!

MARCH AGAINST MONSANTO: 12th October 2013, World Food Day!!

Keep up to date by going to: http://www.march-against-monsanto.com/

 

Comics, Sandwiches and Adam Hughes...

Adam Hughes had no formal training in art and he began his career in 1987 where he pencilled two short stories for Death Hawk #1, created by Mark Ellis.
In 1988 DC Comics offered him a job on Justice League America. He did both covers and internal art on the series for two years, before becoming just a cover artist.
Ten years later he began a five-year run as cover artist on Wonder Woman; it was here his good girl style of work caught the eye of comic book fans world-wide.
May 2007, Sideshow Collectibles debuted a miniature statuette of Mary Jane Watson, a perennial love interest of Spider-Man's, based on artwork by Hughes. The statue, which depicts Mary Jane wearing a cleavage-revealing T-shirt and low-cut jeans that expose the top of a pink thong while bending over a metal tub holding Spider-Man's costume. This generated controversy among some fans who felt that the statue was sexist
His work still causes some debate in fandom circles and he caused quite a stir by announcing that he would no longer be sketching at conventions due to the increase of art being sold on eBay a day later for silly amounts of money.
In February 2012, Adam Hughes was announced as the artist on Dr. Manhattan, a four-issue miniseries written by J. Michael Straczynski, and one of eight tie-in prequels to the seminal 1986-1987 miniseries Watchmen.

Last year at the Sequential Arts festival in Leeds I got chance to sit and chat with Adam Hughes and his wife, it has taken a while for this interview to see the light of day but better late than never!

By Nona-The-Above

Nona- Firstly, I must say how much I admire the way you draw women. In this day and age of comix, it isn't all that often as a female reader that I can say that. This is a genre you have become known for. So, what is the drive behind this for you?

AH- Well, everybody who is an artist draws what they like. Bernie Writghtson draws zombies and werewolves because he loves it, you know? And people draw superheroes because they love it! I love beautiful women. I think there is such a charm -- but an innocent charm -- to the area of good girl art.

It’s the area that gave birth to Charles Dana Gibson and started with Elgrin and Vargas; all those guys used an innocent sex appeal. They elevated and celebrated the charm of glamour. They were never demeaning, you know? You'd never see women tied up, or forced to be something which they weren't happy being, and that’s what I like about it.

Comic books are the last bastion for illustration these days. Everybody uses photography and digitally created images, but comics still use 99.9% illustration by a human being. So as long as there is room for illustration, there is room for good girl art.

Nona- Right, but you draw women with a few curves. Waists are small, but you’re not scared of hips, as many are. You see the female form contorted to extremes in comic books but never with your work. This, I believe, attracts a female following, as well as male, to your art.

AH- You know what? I draw women with impossibly small waists and large boobs, and you're right: a lot of women like yourself don't get upset about it, as it's less about how much you are drawing on the female form.

There is a difference between an artist who loves how women look and artist who loves women. I don’t just sit there and go, ''OMG these characters are so hot!''
I don’t care about what their statistics are. When I draw Catwoman, I care about what her favourite colour is. When I draw Wonder Woman, I like to know what her favourite season is. It's not just about the boobs and the hips, lips or whatever, and I think that is the difference. 

Nona- Characterization?

AH- Right; Whether attractive, unattractive, tall, short, whatever you are, nobody likes to be objectified or paid no attention to, and I think the fact that I treat these characters as characters -- they are not just objects of eroticism, although they are sexy and attractive -- I’d like to think of them as real people.
You look in their eyes, yeah… there is something going on there. I think whatever success I have had, that might have been the key.

Nona - I read somewhere that you are a collector of 1:6 action figures. What’s making your shelves pop at present?

AH- Oh well, right now, I’m looking forward to the Christopher Reeves Superman HOT TOYS from China. I just can’t wait for that to arrive. But right now the thing which is popping off my shelves is the 1:6 scale Yoda environment from Sideshow.



Nona- Wow! Is it big?

AH- It’s like Barbie’s Malibu fun house but it’s made of mud! And Yoda lives in it; it’s awesome!

And I got the Hot Toys Spider-Man figure, who is usually re-enacting the cover of Amazing
Spider-Man 120, but currently it’s 122, the last page where Gwen Stacey died.Nona- Really?

AH-Yeah, people come in and see Spider-Man on his knees going "WHYYYYYYY?!" And it’s like, outta all the things you could have posed Spider-Man doing, what was the point?

I’m old school.



Nona- That's really funny! There’s nothing wrong with being old school; that makes you cool!

AH- Well...

Nona- Who are your all-time favorite artists?

AH- My all-time favorite artists… well, right now I am so influenced by early American illustration like Norman Rockwell, J.C. Leyendeker (who is actually German), Dean Cornwell, Maxfield Parrish, and guys like that; so that's why I’m drawing what I’m drawing in comics.

Nona- Do find yourself being inspired by them within your art work?


AH-You know, there are so many artists that are doing cartooning and that dynamic superhero stuff -- which is great -- but that sort of evocative type of illustration... there’s not that much of a call for it anymore, so its kind of like, "oh well..." It’s a frontal field that I intend to reach. So it's artists like those [above] which tend to keep me inspired; and I keep their books handy, so when I’m feeling a little low on inspiration I dive right into their works.




Nona- As a fellow comic art collector, I was aware of what happened at a convention not so long back with a Wonder Woman sketch you did only for it be found on eBay later in the day. I was following the response from you and from fans on the sale of this piece over on Facebook.
Is this a recurring   problem many artists are seeing?

AH -- Yeah… it does affect -- I don’t know if it affects other artists -- but it does affect me, as it makes me not want to do sketches for people. It’s really hard to vet them when they come up and say, "Hey, I’d really like to get a sketch," and if somebody waits in line they have as much opportunity as anyone else. [But] you don't know what their ulterior motive is. And there have been a lot of times where I have only done sketches for people who I know. I go, "I know that guy, has bought off me before," so I know he’s not a flipper. So it does affect you, as I’ve stopped doing sketches at cons.

Nona- I find that rather sad, but can totally sympathize on the situation you have been put in.

AH- Yeah, it is.

Nona- Do you ever let the interior artwork of a book influence your creativity designing the cover?

AH- Not the interior work, but the story I let influence me, and if I think something is important enough I will include that on the cover But no, I don’t let the interior art work affect me, as people do accept that covers can look different than the interior art. My job as a cover artist is to sell comics, so if I was trying to draw like the interior artist I wouldn't be successful at it, and that would kind of hurt the advertising aspect of a cover.

Nona-Have you always wanted to work within comics?

AH- Oh well I have always wanted to work in comics and I can’t remember a time when I considered a different occupation, though when I was a kid in the 70s I did want to be an astronaut but when they stopped going to the moon I was like, well what’s the point? So I guess I’ll do that fall back comics thing I wanted to do.

Nona- What is the earliest influence you can remember, the time when you knew; ‘I want to do that?’

AH- As far as an early comic that made me want to do it? I was a big fan of Jack Kirby and the Fantastic Four when I was growing up and I would think; now that would be a lot of fun to do!
But it is ironic as I have never wanted to draw like Jack Kirby or tried to emulate him.

Nona- Do you favour any medium to work in? If so what is the most loved and why?

AH- Well I am really enjoying this sort of digital mixed media that I’m doing right now.
I pencil and ink or pencil and marker wash a piece in the real world and then scan it and colour it digitally.
I have always struggled with colour and when it comes to real paint. Ever since I discovered colouring on the computer it has come very natural for me and I just realised that ideals are worthless if they make life harder for you so there is no reason why not digital colour in the hands of an artist who is trying to do good art? It’s not a tool as viable as a paint brush or an airbrush…
So, yeah… I’m really loving the medium of what I’d have to call digital mixed media.

Nona- Is there any character you have to draw which you would love to work on?

AH- To this day I would love to do Captain America, someday I’d love to work on that.
Everybody likes to see me draw the pretty girls and you know, I want to draw WW2 Captain America guys in trench coats and mud and there’s not allot of room for the bikini carwash sequence in the battle of the bulge.

Nona- And that kind of rounds my questions up! Thank you so much for your time. This is being published for a pop culture website!

AH- I know! I know!! That’s so excellentNona- It’s been most enjoyable chatting with you and certainly a highlight of the show for me, thank you.

AH- It's been my pleasure!