➤ Four years on: How the Blitz Kids paid magnificent tribute to Steve Strange

Posted on 12 Feb 2019 | Leave a comment

On the fourth anniversary of Steve Strange’s passing
(not to mention the 40th anniversary of his Tuesday club-night
opening at the Blitz), how better to remember the man who revolutionised London nightclubbing than with the massive collection of tributes assembled here at Shapers of the 80s
from every significant Blitz Kid the day after Steve died…

1978, when Steve Strange teamed up with Rusty Egan (Photo © Fin Costello/Redferns)

1978, when Steve Strange met Rusty Egan. (Photo © Fin Costello/Redferns)

➢ Previously at Shapers of the 80s:
Read the fulsome tributes to Steve paid by the Blitz Kids here after his sudden death in 2015

Brief tasters. . .
Original Blitz Club deejay Rusty Egan said: “I’m very, very sad and down tonight because I’ve lost an old friend. We had our disagreements but we did have a decade of the best times that anybody could ever have wished for. We made some amazing music, some amazing parties, clubs and fun and friends. Underneath it all he was a good soul. Steve, I’m so sorry I didn’t get a chance to say I still love you.”

Chris Sullivan, who ran Soho’s Wag Club: “We were both flamboyant club-running Welsh dandies but were never rivals. Steve had too much dignity for that. We were friends and remained so for the rest of his life. And I can say that Steve, despite quite a few hard years, never lost that that spark, humour or joie de vivre, was forever stylish and was always a pleasure to see.”

Princess Julia, writer and deejay: “Getting dressed up, going out and getting noticed… Steve was head of a subculture the likes of which perhaps we will never see again.”

Kim Bowen, stylist, onetime Queen of The Blitz: “Rushing enthusiasm, involving everyone, creating insane parties going round and round on the Circle Line. Some truly bad outfits (his not mine.) Shockingly, ‘Kim, will you be my official girlfriend?’ ”

And many, many more delicious anecdotes…

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Posted in Britain, Clubbing, Fashion, History, interviews, London, New Romantics, nightlife, obituaries, Pop music, Swinging 80s, Tipping points, Tributes, videos, Youth culture, zeitgeist

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➤ Topical issues enliven Leave to Remain, an innovative stage musical about gay romance

Posted on 31 Jan 2019 | Leave a comment
Leave to Remain, Lyric Hammersmith,EDM, Matt Jones ,Kele Okereke, theatre, stage musical, Billy Cullum , Tyrone Huntley ,inter-racial ,gay marriage,

Romantic leads in Leave to Remain: Billy Cullum as Alex and Tyrone Huntley as Obi

➢ Andy Polaris, singer with Eighties band Animal Nightlife, reviews Leave to Remain, a startlingly original new musical at the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith until 16 Feb 2019. Here’s an extract from his blog APolarisView:

“ Leave to Remain is an energetic new musical play jointly created by TV writer Matt Jones and Kele Okereke, the former frontman of indie rock band Bloc Party, who supplies new songs.

Swinging 80s, Andy Polaris,TV review, David Bowie Finding Fame,,singer,pop music,

Andy Polaris

“ The story focuses on the fast-moving tumultuous romance between a young upwardly mobile inter-racial gay couple embarking on what seems to be a hasty marriage of convenience in a Britain seemingly ill at ease with immigration and suffering status anxiety. Obi (Tyrone Huntley) is a rather conservative well educated son of a first-generation Nigerian immigrant, and has started a relationship with visa-less American Alex (Billy Cullum). Alex’s US employer is planning to relocate from London and in order for him to remain in the UK, he proposes a civil partnership with Obi.

“ This is where the play comes alive. What should be joyous news elicits feelings of apprehension as childhood upbringings reveal contrasting experiences of coming out to loved ones. It is these differences that drive the play forward and there is some laugh-out-loud hilarity from Alex’s visiting liberal parents.

“ Tyrone Huntley’s charismatic performances have been acknowledged by an Evening Standard Emerging Talent Award. As an ensemble, the Lyric cast is strong. . . As Okereke is one of a few out black singers, I’m assuming this is autobiographical material and the songs reflect his roots with percussive African highlife rhythms and language peppering the show’s original mix of EDM soundtrack.

“ What set this show apart are the interesting modern dance moves by director/choreographer Robby Graham that fuse all characters while the two leads move in a beautiful balletic embrace. This intimacy is rare to see for a gay couple on the London stage and it’s something that LGBTQ audiences have been quite starved of. It’s a tribute that both leading actors convey touching believability. . .” / Continued at APolarisView

➢ Leave to Remain, a modern love story with music, is written by Matt Jones and Kele Okereke, directed by Robby Graham, and runs at the Lyric Hammersmith, London W6 0QL, 18 Jan–16 Feb 2019

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Posted in gay issues, gay marriage, inter-racial, London, musicals, Reviews, sexuality, theatre

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➤ Sullivan the wag changes hats at the touch of his paintbrush

Posted on 30 Jan 2019 | Leave a comment
Chris Sullivan, Swinging Eighties, Carioca, Blue Rondo a la Turk, Wag Club

Carioca then and now: left, the cover for Chris Sullivan’s band’s 1982 single Carioca and, right, his new upfront reworking for 2019

Chris Sullivan,Leah Seresin, caricature,

Leah Seresin and mum Deirdre, newly painted by Sullivan

◼ WHO IS CHRIS SULLIVAN THIS WEEK? That all-round creative dynamo who drove much of the Swinging Eighties and ran the influential Wag club for 19 years epitomised that New Romantic era by declaring “One look lasts a day”. Suddenly he is enjoying another creative spurt. Fans will have noticed a series of bold and comic painted caricatures of his friends appearing on Facebook this month. As affectionate portraits they speak for themselves. But then last week he posted one called Carioca, inspired directly by the 12-inch single sleeve for his band Blue Rondo a la Turk. It was included in their album Chewing The Fat which dates from 1982.

Fans will also recall that Sullivan as vocalist not only put the band together as a septet of crazy soul-jazz-Latin musicians on a 0-to-10 sliding scale of eccentricity – where all of them scored at least an 11 – that won them a £500k contract with Virgin. He also painted every one of their vinyl record sleeves in his own playful version of cubism. So here above we can now compare his restrained vamp Carioca from 1982 with her current rather more in-your-face madame for 2019. So what’s this all about, Chris?

Bear in mind Sullivan was one of that gang of St Martin’s heroes who put London clubs such as the Blitz, Beat Route and the Wag on the map from 1980 on, and had studied first on the college’s fashion course, then switched to fine art. I am off to Soho to find out and will be reporting back. . .

Chris Sullivan,caricature, Soho, beats, art,

Sullivan caricatures: A pair of what the painter calls Beat Peeps from Eighties New York

STEPPING OUT TO CARIOCA ON
THE ITV SHOW RAZZMATAZZ 1982

➢ Elsewhere at Shapers of the 80s:
Yours truly writes the first magazine feature about Blue Rondo a la Turk as they created a new buzz with Latin sounds and an extreme suited dude look – from New Sounds New Styles in August 1981

➢ Razzmatazz, the weekly pop show beamed out to 6 million ITV viewers from Tyne Tees TV in Newcastle

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Posted in art, caricature, New Romantics, Pop music, Swinging 80s, TV, videos

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➤ Magical glimpses into the unreal world of pop photographer Peter Ashworth

Posted on 18 Nov 2018 | Leave a comment
photography, Swinging 80s, pop music, exhibition, Mavericks, Peter Ashworth, Annie Lennox, John Lydon, Corinne Drewery, Blitz Kids,Lever Gallery,

Peter Ashworth seen between his portraits of Annie Lennox in the Eurythmics shot at Bagley’s Warehouse for the cover of issue 42 of The Face in 1983; and John Lydon in PiL 1987, referencing Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s colourful paintings. (Photographed by Shapersofthe80s)

◼ PETER ASHWORTH’S PIONEERING IMAGES detonate a superlative flashback to the vibrant 1980s music scene with his Mavericks exhibition of magically unreal, sometimes surreal photographs of pop stars from Tina Turner, Mari Wilson and Swing Out Sister to Soft Cell, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Associates and the Clash hitmen.

Most of the richly detailed photos are familiar as mood-board sleeves for hit albums and singles, capturing attitude and style and helping build the legend of “An Ashworth Snap”, as a Mari Wilson lyric dubbed them. All push photographic innovation to the hilt which is better appreciated in the room viewing these printed enlargements made from superb digital files than on the web. The room is Clerkenwell’s Lever Gallery and this is amazingly Ashworth’s first solo show‬, curated by @duovision_arts.

Thursday’s nostaliga-drenched preview proved a time-warp gathering of many leading faces plucked from fabled nightclubs (Eve Ferret, Mark Moore), fashion cliques (Iain R Webb, Greg Davis) and the music biz (Glen Matlock, Andy Polaris). More updates to follow…

photography, Swinging 80s, pop music, Corinne Drewery, exhibition, Mavericks, Peter Ashworth, Lever Gallery,

80s clubland regulars gather for a selfie with Corinne Drewery, ex-St Martin’s singer with Swing Out Sister, who were gigging in London last week too. Pic © Corinne.


➢ Mavericks by Peter Ashworth runs at the Lever Gallery, Goswell Road, EC1V 7HD, Tues–Sun until 8 December. All prints are for sale.

➢ Peter Ashworth’s own website

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Posted in Clubbing, exhibitions, Fashion, interviews, London, New Romantics, nightlife, photography, Pop music, Swinging 80s, zeitgeist

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➤ Take two minutes to raise your spirits with this busking sax player

Posted on 9 Nov 2018 | Leave a comment
Busker, jazz, saxophone, high street

Our local saxophone busker: turning heads on the high street

❚ WELL WORTH TWO MINUTES OF YOUR TIME to listen to this superb musician raising funds for his wife’s medical treatment. Let this old guy’s melancholy yet hopeful strains from his saxophone turn the windmills of your mind. . . He sits on the pavement in my local high street in London in those spots reserved for the patient stream of regular musicians whose turn comes every month or so. Here photographed outside Marks & Sparks.

LISTEN HERE:

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Posted in audio recording, jazz, London

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