Wednesday, 22 June 2011

Phantom of the Paradise 1974




Phantom of the Paradise was a cult film directed by Brian de Palma. The film follows an aspiring songrwiter (Winslow Leach) who's music is picked up by Swan, a well known music producer. Ecstatic with the musical attention Swan pays Leach, he becomes obsessed with the idea. Only to learn that Swan has taken full credit for all his musical works and has completely dismissed the credit of Leach. Through a series of events, Leach's face becomes disfigured and he soon finds himself held as a prisoner in the middle of Swan's Musical Factory, where he is forced to create musical hits that are performed by  popstar after popstar, churned out by Swan.
The musical is a combination of Phantom of the Opera, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Faust, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. It is described as a rock and roll musical, parodying almost all music genres of the 70s decade from glam rock to country. The music was all written by Paul Williams and there are a few recordings of him performing the songs on the soundtrack. I'm obsessed!

Saturday, 18 June 2011

Friday, 17 June 2011

Wednesday, 8 June 2011

It's been a Jefferson day..

you know that feeling when you're listening to a song.. and it just seems to make everything that happened in that day makes sense? Like a song that captures the exact essence or emotion you're feeling? These are two/three songs that I feel stood out for me today





Monday, 6 June 2011

Pamela Des Barres

Pamela Des Barres is one of my most favourite people ever, I've been meaning to do a post on her even before this blog was started, however I felt completely inadequate both in my flattery and writing skills to portray her wonderfullness as best I could. (See, I love her so much I can't even put together sentences!)

So who is this inspirational lady I speak of so highly? 
Pamela Des Barres was born in California in the early 50s. She grew up as a doting 60s teen, first dedicated to Jesus that later developed into Elvis and The Beatles. Pamela's obsession with Paul Mccartney of The Beatles soon became a driving force which distinguished her love of Rock and Roll from her peers. Through the Beatles, she became infatuated with Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones. In her books (of both I own) 'I'm With the Band' and 'Let's Spend the Night Together' she describes her first memories as a groupie. Stalking Mick Jagger's hotel room and lying in the bushes of his garden to merely catch a glimpse of some roadies. However, these small infatuations with rock stars and the music soon blossomed into her creating her own band called the GTO's. A group of hippie-girls hell-bent on creating small poetry reflecting teenage memories, banging on instruments and singing as out of tune as possible. It is of these girls that I completely admire, and makes me wish I had my own group of bubbling feathered friends. Miss P soon became a regular babysitter for Frank Zappa's children, whilst still following the careers of her most idolised rock stars. Her romantic encounters include: Jimmy Page, Jim Morrison, Micheal Des Barres, Jimi Hendrix and Chris Hillman

If there was any style icon I would have, it would be groupies from the 70s and Pamela Des Barres and the GTO's would be number ONE. 
Here are some of my favourite Miss P and the GTO's images 


(apologies for not crediting my sources.. I've forgotten where i found everything. However I can vouch that a few were scans from GTO's Album, Rolling Stone's issues of Groupies... and collecting from various other bloggy sources)

Sorry did i forget to mention Kate Hudson's character in Almost Famous was loosely based off of her?