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Stained glass windows of Aleister Crowley, Serge Gainsbourg, Johnny Cash, JG Ballard & many more


 
In 2010 and 2011 the English artist Neal Fox executed an utterly gorgeous series of stained-glass windows in imitation of the iconography of saints found in cathedrals all over Europe. The series included Johnny Cash, J.G. Ballard, Hunter S. Thompson, Albert Hofmann, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Serge Gainsbourg, Aleister Crowley, William S. Burroughs, Billie Holiday, and Francis Bacon.

Now, it’s perfectly possible that you will see these images and think, “Wow, those paintings in the stained-glass style are awesome.” So it’s important to emphasize that these are not paintings, Fox actually created the stained-glass windows themselves—in fact, he worked with traditional methods “at the renowned Franz Mayer of Munich manufacturer” in order to produce a dozen windows, each using leaded stained glass in a steel frame and standing 2.5 meters tall.

Put them all together in a room, as the Daniel Blau gallery in London did in 2011, and you have “an alternative church of alternative saints.” Here is what that room looked like:
 

 
The Daniel Blau show was called “Beware of the God.” Alongside the well-known provocateurs and trouble-makers like Crowley and Hawkins is a figure that might challenge even the most astute student of antiheroes, a man named John Watson. Far from the complacent invention of Arthur Conan Doyle, this John Watson is the artist’s grandfather, described by his loving grandson as a “hell raiser” and “a World War II bomber pilot, chat show host, writer and publisher, who in his post war years sought solace in Soho’s bohemian watering holes.”

Quoting the Daniel Blau exhibition notes:
 

As traditional church windows show the iconography of saints, through representations of events in their lives, instruments of martyrdom and iconic motifs, Fox plays with the symbolism of each character’s cult of personality; Albert Hoffman takes a psychedelic bicycle ride above the LSD molecule, J G Ballard dissects the world, surrounded by 20th Century imagery and the eroticism of the car crash, and Johnny Cash holds his inner demon in chains after a religious experience in Nickerjack cave.

 
You can order prints of some of these images for £150 each (about $214).
 

 

 
Many more after the jump…

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Posted by Martin Schneider
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04.15.2016
02:27 pm
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Vintage photos of female starlets and musical icons chilling with their turntables
09.30.2015
11:08 am
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Marlene Dietrich and her turntable, 1956
Marlene Dietrich and her turntable, 1956
 
Originally known as a phonograph (or gramophone), turntables have been around since 1877. I think it’s fair to say that many of us have fond memories of our first Fisher-Price record player, and that most of you who are reading this right now still probably own a turntable and a fat stack of records to boot.
 
Bille Holiday, her pitbull Mister and her turntable
Billie Holiday, her pitbull Mister and her turntable, 1945
 
I’m sure you’ve probably seen many photos of your favorite rock stars or celebrities posing with their prized record collections, or spinning said vinyl on a sweet portable turntable in a hotel room. That said, I’m going to hedge a bet that the vast majority of the photos in this post will be new to your eyes.

From screen icons like Marlene Dietrich to musical chanteuse Billie Holiday, they all adored their turntables. And I’ve dug up photographic proof of this love affair that in some cases dates back all the way to 1925. I’ve done my best to attach dates to the images. The “good old days,” have never looked better. Enjoy!
 
Jean Harlow in a scene from The Girl from Missouri, 1934
Jean Harlow in a shot from The Girl from Missouri, 1934
 
Gloria Vanderbilt
Gloria Vanderbilt
 
Lauren Hutton around 1960 with her record player
Jill Melford
 
More after the jump…
 

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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09.30.2015
11:08 am
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Billie Holiday: Drug bust with chihuahua, 1956
06.03.2015
09:13 am
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Transcendent jazz vocalist Billie Holiday, whose centenary birthday was celebrated earlier this year, has turned up on a rather strange bit of memorabilia, simultaneously lurid and cute. A friend of DM passed along an original Philadelphia Daily News photo that just sold on eBay, showing Holiday after a 1956 drug bust (hardly her first rodeo—the gifted singer’s life was a tragedy of addiction culminating in her premature death in 1959, not even 45 years of age). It’s not really an unknown photo, but I’ve only seen it with this cropping:
 

 
Which leaves out an incongruously adorable detail:

PH…4…INP SOUNDPHOTO PHILA,.PA…“DOPE RAID.” Nightclub singer Billie Holiday was picked up by Phila., Police in an early morning dope raid at her hotel today. She was held under bail on charges of using dope. She is currently filling a singing engagement at a night club here. Held with her on the same charge was her husband and road manager, Louis McKay, 46. The 41-year-old singer insisted on bringing her pet Chihuahua dog to City Hall. Photo shows Billie leaving the Central cell with her pet dog. Detective Capt. Clarence Ferguson who lead the raid is behind her. DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY SAM PSORAS….2/23/56….

 

 
Continues after the jump…

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Posted by Ron Kretsch
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06.03.2015
09:13 am
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Rock stars with their cats and dogs

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Cool pictures of musicians with their pet dogs and cats, which show how even the most self-obsessed, narcissistic Rock god has a smidgen of humanity to care about someone other than themselves. Though admittedly, Iggy Pop looks like he’s about to eat his pet dog.
 
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Patti Smith and stylist.
 
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This is not a doggy bag, Iggy.
 
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There’s a cat in there somewhere with Joey Ramone.
 
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Tupac Shakur and a future internet meme.
 
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Bjork and a kissing cousin.
 
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O Superdog: Laurie Anderson and friend.
 
More cats and dogs and musicians, after the jump…
 

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Posted by Paul Gallagher
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03.27.2014
04:30 pm
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Amazingly Restored Billie Holiday, Beatles Footage
10.30.2009
04:05 pm
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image
 
I’m not sure exactly what kind of digital voodoo LiveFeedVideoImaging applies to their historical footage, but the clarity of the following clips is pretty astounding.  In clip one, from ‘57, Billie Holiday performs Fine and Mellow from the Seven Lively Arts episode, “The Sound of Jazz.”  To compare and contrast the resolution, you can check out the extended YouTube clip here.

 
Even more amazing—in terms of clarity, anyway—is the following brief Beatles clip from ‘63’s Royal Variety Performance:

Posted by Bradley Novicoff
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10.30.2009
04:05 pm
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