Funk Masters

The Bar Kays were beloved soul hit makers who brought us the hits Soul Finger, Freakshow on the Dance Floor, Son of Shaft, and Shake Your Rump to the Funk as well as a fist full of bold style that included white fringe vests, leather hot pants, metallic pants sans shirts, and chest coverings made of gold chains. Lead vocalist Larry Dodson sported one impressive Prince Valiant cut and looks like he is stepping out of the latest YSL ad on the cover of Nightcruising.

Their stage performances were energetic and fun though sadly, the band was not without its tragedy. In the early years of their success, they were chosen to back Otis Redding on tour, during which most of the band, along with Redding perished on a flight from Wisconsin. The remaining few members rebuilt the band and achieved continued fame and top ten hits.

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Posted on October 7, 2010

Food Artist

With art and food intermingling so much (chef’s are probably more well known today than our greatest working artists) and people enthralled with all things food related, lately this viral video of food rotting, I thought of posting about Daniel Spoerri, in interesting artist whose medium was the aftermath of meals. He called his works “snare-pictures” described as “objects found in chance positions, in order or disorder (on tables, in boxes, drawers, etc.) are fixed (‘snared’) as they are. Only the plane is changed: since the result is called a picture, what was horizontal becomes vertical. Example: remains of a meal are fixed to the table at which the meal was consumed and the table hung on the wall.” He’s world renowned as a major figure in 20th century art but a new name for me personally that I am currently a little obsessed with.

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Posted on September 26, 2010

Lanvin

When it was announced that Alber Elbaz, designer for Lanvin was going to be working on an H&M collaboration, fashion lovers went wild. His collections for the oldest existing fashion house in the world epitomize luxury but never without a sense of whimsy and humor which has made the brand so relevant and dynamic with today’s more daring and self styled.

Of course, most of his biggest fans could only dream of being able to pick up on of his leopard print frocks, or asymmetrical dramatically pleated numbers (unless I am underestimating the number of ladies who have several thousand to throw at a dress)… until now. The H&M collection will be in stores November 20th and I expect that it will be insane (both insane as in awesome, and insane as in high heeled girls in fights between the racks).

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Posted on September 5, 2010

Singing Tough Guy

I know and love Dick Powell from his early musical days where the goofy grinned, wavy style haired gent always starred as a playful “juvenile” role and sang such great Bugsby Berkeley classics as “Pettin’ in the Park” and “Honeymoon Hotel”. I was surprised to read then, that the man whose gentle silliness could be played with aplomb by Will Farell (well, minus the singing) reinvented himself in Hollywood as a tough guy in numerous noirs. It’s even more surprising that as film noir fans we’ve not seen more of them – except for the flashback Kurt Douglas thriller The Bad and the Beautiful. I’ve been sure to add Murder, My Sweet and Cornered to my queue. I will skip the last film he directed before he passed away, The Conquerer that bizarrely cast John Wayne as Genghis Khan.

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Posted on August 15, 2010

Theatrical Artist

Christian Berard seems like the kind of guy I would have loved being friends with. He was a prominent gay artist who with his lover, Boris Koshno was the toast of the fashionable Paris crowd of the 20’s and 30’s. A renowned costume and theatrical scenery designer, Berard’s paintings have a distinct style that found a home in the  fashion world where he painted for magazines like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.

He is probably most well known for his considerable contribution to cinema with his dreamlike designs for Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast.

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Posted on August 1, 2010