By now, we all know the movie of the summer, Absolutely Fabulous, has its US premiere next weekend (Friday, July 22). But in the meantime, check out Kylie Minogue’s cover version of This Wheel’s On Fire, from the Ab Fab soundtrack, dropping next Friday as well. The most commonly known version was performed by Julie Driscoll for the 90s Absolutely Fabulous series on the BBC, but was originally recorded by Bob Dylan and The Band in the late 1960s. “As a huge fan of the Ab Fab series and both Jennifer and Joanna, I’m over the moon to be singing the theme song, This Wheel’s On Fire,” says Minogue (via NME). You can stream Kylie’s epic version below, and peep the full soundtrack tracklist, featuring Santigold, La Roux, Nancy Sinatra, Eartha Kitt, Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin, and more!

1. “This Wheel’s On Fire” – Kylie
2. “Get Ugly” – Jason Derulo
3. “Can’t Get Enough of Myself” – Santigold
4. “Hangin’” – Formation
5. “Sexotheque” – La Roux
6. “Upright Downtown” – La Roux
7. “Bird on a Wire” – Leonard Cohen
8. “Ready For The Good Life” – Paloma Faith
9. “Le Jeu du Téléphone” – Lucky Blondo
10. “Where Do You Go To My Lovely” – Peter Sarstedt
11. “Boum” – Charles Trenet
12. “At Seventeen” (live version) – Julia Sawalha
13. “Jah Jah” – Deficio & Lindborg
14. “Big Spender” (live version) – Jane Horrocks
15. “MacArthur Park” – Nancy Sinatra
16. “C’est Si Bon” – Eartha Kitt
17. “Il Est Tout Pour Moi” – François Hardy
18. “Je t’aime… moi non plus” – Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin
19. “Absolutely Fabulous score suite” – Jake Monaco

The post Kylie Minogue Covers “This Wheel’s On Fire” For AbFab Soundtrack appeared first on The WOW Report.

Abbott, self portrait

July 17, 1898– Berenice Abbott:

“Photography can only represent the present. Once photographed, the subject becomes part of the past.”

I have a passion for Photography, whether it is formal portraiture, commercial work, art photography, or just found snapshots. I have a sizable and thought provoking collection of vintage photographs of men being affectionate together which I like to share with readers.

My passion for photography along with my keen interest in architecture brings me to today’s #BornThisDay honoree, Berenice Abbott. She is a celebrated photographer of NYC architecture. She shot using a Century Universal Camera which produced 8 x 10 inch negatives. This large scale formatted camera was the instrument that allowed Abbott to photograph NYC with diligence and an attention to detail. Her work has provided an historical chronicle of many of the now destroyed buildings, entire blocks and neighborhoods of Manhattan.

During the Great Depression, Abbott was hired by the Federal Arts Project (FAP) as a project supervisor for the Changing New York project. She took photographs all around the city, but she had assistants to help her both in the field and in the office. This arrangement allowed Abbott to devote all of her time to producing, printing, and exhibiting the photographs. By the time she resigned from FAP in 1939, she had produced 305 photographs that were added to the permanent collection at the Museum Of The City Of New York.

When she first arrived in NYC, Abbott shared a Greenwich Village apartment with lesbian writer Djuna Barnes, philosopher Kenneth Burke and literary critic Malcolm Cowley. Abbott introduced Barnes to sculptor Thelma Wood, who became Barnes’ lover. Later Barnes wrote:

“I gave Berenice the extra ‘e’ in her name and she gave me Thelma. I don’t know who made out better.”

She tried for a career in journalism, but soon became more interested in Theater and Art, inspired by her pals playwright Eugene O’Neill and artist Man Ray. Abbott first became interested in photography in 1923, when Man Ray, looking for somebody who had no interesting ideas about photography and would do just as he instructed, hired her as his darkroom assistant at his portrait studio in the Montparnasse neighborhood of Paris. She hung out with Sylvia Beach, the lesbian owner of the Shakespeare And Company bookstore. She partied with writer James Joyce and artist/filmmaker Jean Cocteau. She frequented the gay bars of Paris with a circle of younger expatriate lesbian writers: Margaret Anderson, Gertrude Stein, and Janet Flanner. Abbott was absolutely fascinated by the Parisian gay world. She fell in love with the model Tylia Perlmutter and within months she became a chronicler of an unforgettable era of the cultural history of the city.

Man Ray was impressed by how fast Abbott learned her way around the darkroom and photographic techniques. He allowed her to use his studio when he wasn’t there to work on her own photographs.

Abbott:

“I took to photography like a duck to water. I never wanted to do anything else.”

She produced straightforward, detailed, powerful images of such 20^th century celebrities as James Joyce, André Gide, and Peggy Guggenheim, and the photographs made her famous.

In Paris, she discovered the man now regarded as probably the finest photographer of all time: Eugène Atget. Abbott rescued him from obscurity, helped popularize his work, and preserved his negatives and prints after he died in 1927.

In 1935, Abbott fell in love with the art critic Elizabeth McCausland. She moved into McCausland’s Greenwich Village flat. They remained a couple for 30+ years, until McCausland’s passing in 1965.

In the early 1960s, the two women traveled US Highway 1 from Florida to Maine. Abbott shot pictures of small town and automobile related architecture. This project resulted in more than 2,500 photographs. The project brought an important record of a way of life now mostly erased. McCausland contributed the captions for the books: Changing New York (1939) and Greenwich Village Today And Yesterday (1949).

Not only was Abbott a world-class, distinctive photographer, but was also an inventor and innovator. She developed the “distortion easel”, which created unusual effects on images developed in a darkroom, and she came up with the telescopic lighting pole, known today by photographers as an “autopole,” to which lights can be attached at any level. Both devices are still widely used today.

Shortly after McCausland left this world, Abbott underwent lung surgery. She was told by her doctors that she had to leave NYC because of the air pollution. She purchased a rundown house in rural Maine and she lived there until she made her exit from this incarnation in 1991.

Abbott had continued to produce photographs after the move to Maine. Her last book, A Portrait Of Maine, published in 1968, was a bestseller. Her books continue to be published.

Abbott’s photography was straight, even if she wasn’t. I admire her unadorned, unmanipulated style. Always with a camera, she always put her art before her personal life. She never acknowledged her relationship with McCausland in interviews or in her own writing. She left an important history of a fascinating era, done in her a distinctive American style. Abbott seems to me to have been a real feminist hero also, stating:

“The world doesn’t like independent women, why, I don’t know, but I don’t care.”

Abbott had a long life filled with creative endeavors of the highest achievements, making a living from her work. She remained true to her art. Her philosophy was simple, like her pictures:

“Photography can never grow up if it imitates some other medium. It has to walk alone; it has to be itself.”

Like her photography, she often walked alone, but at the end of that walk, her life was a triumph.

The post #BornThisDay: Photographer, Berenice Abbott appeared first on The WOW Report.

Diane Arbus, self-portrait, 1945

“The camera is cruel, so I try to be as good as I can to make things even.” –Diane Arbus

Comments here are from The Met’s curator Jeff L. Rosenheim,

Girl with a pointy hood and white schoolbag at the curb, N.Y.C., 1957.

“Arbus was particularly sensitive to children. They’re in the process of changing their identities as they grow. She’s at the curb — the curb itself is that liminal stage.”

Woman with white gloves and a pocketbook, N.Y.C., 1956.

Little man biting woman’s breast, N.Y.C., 1958.

“We’re at a street festival, and there’s a theatrical aspect. People are performing for her. They’re having fun.”

Old woman with hands raised in the ocean, Coney Island, N.Y., 1960.

“There’s something ambiguous in the woman’s gesture. She could be waving or calling for help.”

Empty snack bar, N.Y.C., 1957.

“She was often looking in from outside. The street was the pathway to the private world.”

Blonde receptionist behind a picture window, N.Y.C., 1962.

“This is the transition year, when she changed to square format. The receptionist is in a kind of diorama, not one made by the woman but by the culture.”

Screaming woman with blood on her hands, 1961.

“This is a shot inside a theater, of a movie called ‘Horrors of the Black Museum.’ The woman is using binoculars and when she focuses, daggers come out and blind her.“

Child teasing another, N.Y.C., 1960.

“She’s interested in how we choose our others, how we choose to behave in public.”

(Photos, Diane Arbus/The Estate of Diane Arbus; via The New York Times)

The post #PictureThis:”Diane Arbus: In the Beginning” at the Met Breuer appeared first on The WOW Report.

Marilyn and photographer, Sam Shaw

Marilyn Monroe came to New York in 1956 to study acting with Lee Strasberg, after a very short marriage to baseball legend, Joe DiMaggio ended in 1954. In the serious world of New York actors, Monroe fell into the orbit of playwright Arthur Miller, who she married on June 29, 1956. Living in city, the couple rented a simple farmhouse in Amagansett for the 1957-58 summer seasons. During that blissful newlywed time, she called herself MMM for Marilyn Monroe Miller. When she ordered cosmetics over the phone at she’d call herself “Mrs. Miller” and she was often seen driving around town in her black ’56 Thunderbird convertible with their Bassett Hound, Hugo. Marilyn is documented here in these rare photographs shot by Sam Shaw in the summer of ’57. Shaw took more than 900 photos of Marilyn that hot July, nearly 60 years ago.

(Photos, Sam Shaw; via Patch)

The post #PictureThis: Rare Photos of Marilyn in the Hamptons in the Summer of ’57 appeared first on The WOW Report.

Sam Jones is an acclaimed photographer and director who has made some amazing portraits of everyone from President Obama to George Clooney to Kristin Stewart appearing on the covers of scores of magazines. In 2013 he launched Off Camera with Sam Jones which an hour long conversational interview. Right now you can see the great interviews on Netflix. I just watched Judd Apatow, Sarah Silverman and Martin Short.

It’s shot in black and white and the intimate style and Jones’ innate ability to capture the essence of his subject make it VERY relaxing and simultaneously stimulating. You just don’t get to see long interviews and in fact what passes for an interview on today’s talk shows, are really just rehearsed bits in little chunks, never more than 7 minutes.

Here are two little chunk from the Will Farrell interview. Watch.

Laura Dern

Bradley Cooper

Joseph Gordon Levitt

Martin Short

(Photos, Sam Jones)

The post #OffCamera: Sam Jones Likes To Have Long Talks with (Sometimes Nude) Famous People… appeared first on The WOW Report.

Naked volunteers, painted in blue, on the streets of Hull, UK.

It will be happening outside the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio and this particular shoot is titled Everything She Says Means Everything, is 100 naked women will hold up large mirror discs.

“By holding mirrors, we hope to suggest that women are a reflection and embodiment of nature, the sun, the sky and the land. The mirrors communicate that we are a reflection of ourselves, each other, and of, the world that surrounds us. The woman becomes the future and the future becomes the woman.”

In an interview with the Cleveland Scene, Tunick explained the project’s relationship to the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s gross comments about women.

“The work is for my daughters, for their future, for them not to grow up in a society with hate, for them to grow up in a world with less violence toward women and more opportunities for them.”

He says that work isn’t particularly political, but one party’s candidate has trashed women and the other is putting up the first female candidate for POTUS, so… you connect the dots. You can follow Spencer on Twitter here.

Base Camp 1 with #1 collaborator and muse. https://t.co/sxfVk65e55#EverythingSheSaysMeansEverything pic.twitter.com/JWMx1qoIQd

— Spencer Tunick (@SpencerTunick) July 17, 2016

#seaofhull show solidarity with Cleveland by posting self-portraits with mirrors! https://t.co/sxfVk65e55 pic.twitter.com/bC7xRCS99h

— Spencer Tunick (@SpencerTunick) July 16, 2016

(via Huffington Post)

The post #PictureThis: Spencer Tunick Is Shooting 100 Naked Women Outside the GOP Convention Today appeared first on The WOW Report.

Some of is like our jobs, others maybe just tolerate them. But can you imagine that your job is to be and document every move of the President of the United States, especially when that man is Barack Obama? That’s Pete Souza’s enviable job as Official White House Photographer. He estimates that he has shot some two MILLION images of this POTUS over the last 7 and a half years. What makes a good photo-journalist? Access and talent. This guy has both. Here are 50 of Souza’s favorites, one for every state in the union.

(Photos, Official White House photo, Pete Souza; via Twisted Sifter)

The post 50 Incredible Images of President Barack Obama By Official White House Photographer, Pete Souza appeared first on The WOW Report.

UPDATE: CNN is reporting…

One suspect is dead, and two others may be at large in the Baton Rouge shooting, the East Baton Rouge sheriff’s office said.

• Six law enforcement officers were shot — three are dead and three others are injured, Baton Rouge Police Department spokesman Sgt. Don Coppola told CNN.

• No motive has been identified at this time.

• Police are looking for anyone wearing army fatigues, all black or possibly a mask

Kip Holden, the mayor-president of East Baton Rouge Parish, told CNN that the number of officers killed may be as high as three and that the victims may include officers and sheriff’s deputies.

“There is still an active scene. They are investigating. Right now we are trying to get our arms around everything.”

Police said that the shooting occurred one mile from police headquarters and that the scene has been “contained,” according to AP. This is a developing story.

(via Washington Post)

The post #Update: 3 Officers Dead 3 Others Shot in Baton Rouge Siege; Two Suspects Still at Large appeared first on The WOW Report.

Yes, as you’ve heard, the circus is in Cleveland this week but the Trump/ Pence ticket has apparently had a tough time getting any celebs to speak. Trump had promised an “all-star” gathering of “winners” the likes of which we’ve never seen, but who do they come up with? Mega-stars like Scott Baio and Antonio Sabato, Jr?

Yes, on Saturday night’s edition of the Fox News show Justice with Judge Jeanine, Baio announced that he’d been personally selected by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to speak at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. It’s looking pretty opportunistic, on Baio’s part, that is. He was positively beaming over the amount of “interviews” he’s conducted since his endorsement.

“It’s been fantastic, Judge. It started with you, and from that I’ve gotten so much time to talk about Donald Trump, a man that I believe in, and I’ve done I don’t know how many interviews, and radio, and print, and things like that. I was at a fundraiser for Mr. Trump the other night with my wife, and he invited me to speak at the convention –which was completely unexpected and out of left field. I mean, he had given a speech and he was walking out and I looked at him and I said, ‘Mr. Trump, Scott Baio…,’ and he said, ‘Oh my god!’ And he said to me, ‘Do you want to speak?’ and I said, ‘Here?’ and he goes, ‘No, no, at the convention!’ And I went, ‘Ugh… o…okay,’ and we went inside the house where the fundraiser was.”

Baio says he’ll be speaking Monday night at around 8 o’clock, with all the confidence of an actor who just got a part that he has no idea who the character is,

“I don’t know exactly what it is that I’m talkin’ about [at the convention].”

Baio has in recent months taken to Twitter to feud with trolls on his desired POTUS’s behalf. He’s tweeted a meme calling Trump’s opponent Hillary Clinton a “cunt,” and back in April earned himself some conservative talk-show hits when he tweeted out a photo of a Starbucks cup with the name “Trump” scrawled on it, claiming that the barista refused to call out the name on the cup—which apparently led to some sort of altercation, Baio V. Barista.

The addition of Baio means that Trump’s YUUGE “celebrity” speakers at the RNC will include not one but TWO former VH1 reality show hosts. (Baio starred in Scott Baio Is 45… and Single) Sabato is another big name that Trump talked into appearing. He was on the dating competition My Antonio, where a group of women vied for the heart of the ex-model. The General Hospital/ Melrose Place veteran told People,

“It is refreshing to have a candidate like Trump who is so honest about his feelings because he speaks for many of us when he says we are in a bad place.”

Natalie Gulbis and Herschel Walker
on “Celebrity Apprentice”

Baio seems to share Trump’s views towards women. In 2007, in an interview with Howard Stern, Baio bragged about his numerous female conquests and confessed that he’d slept with ‘less attractive’ women as a way of ‘giving back.’

Baio said during his recent FoxTV appearance,

“I wish that people could meet Donald Trump. I really do. He’s such a regular guy, and every time I’ve been with him and talked with him, he’s a guy… he’s just a guy… who is very successful. And that’s one of the things I hope will connect with millions of Americans.”

This just in, added to the roster of speakers tonight, Melanie Trump who Donald will be presenting as the Jackie O for the 21st century. As they say, good luck with that.

(via The Daily Beast)

The post Trump Lands D-Listers, Scott Baio & Antonio Sabato, Jr. To Speak at GOP Convention appeared first on The WOW Report.

According to the Daily Mail, Donald Trump intends introduce his wife Melania as the “Jackie O for the 21st century” at the Republican convention when she speaks tonight. He’s even enlisted the help of a producer from his show The Apprentice to make the idea… believable? Interesting? Plausible?

The focus in Cleveland will supposedly be on celebs, rather than politicians, and the billionaire businessman’s family and his famous friends (Scott Baio? Antonio Sabato, Jr?) will be the stars of the show….

When Trump explored the possibility of a presidential run in 1999, Melania was asked what kind of role she would play if he ever became commander-in-chief.

“I would be very traditional, like Betty Ford or Jackie Kennedy.“

I hope there are drag Republican National Convention viewing parties tonight with hybrid Jackie/ Melania looks… and orange-face with cotton candy hairdos. This is going to be GOOD. If you want to see what kind of public speaker Melania is, check out the video below.

(via Daily Mail)

The post Melania Trump Speaks Tonight, Billed as the “Jackie O for the 21st Century”!? appeared first on The WOW Report.

Two decades after the original Absolutely Fabulous TV finale, duo of Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley are reunited on the big screen as the hilarious, badly behaved Edina and Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.

Party-loving PR guru Eddy is still obsessed with celebrity culture, but in real life, Saunders – the writer and actress who plays her – is not so impressed with the world’s fixation on fame. Saunders told People of the reality TV obsession that has gripped the nation since the show first aired on the BBC back in 1992.

“It’s ludicrous! All these people taking themselves seriously, taking their own pictures and living their own PR – it’s so dull.

It was a silly thing to do but what happens is people put on their ‘media face’ and I thought, ‘Oh, stop doing your media face and put a proper face on!’ “

Bumping into reality star Kourtney Kardashian at an awards show in London, the Brit comedian couldn’t help but add a little lighthearted humor to the occasion – photobombing the star with one of her character’s trademark goofy faces.

Who is one famous face Saunders approves of? Kate Moss.

“She would come in, in the morning with a little scrubbed face like a school child and say, ‘Who’s doing my makeup?‘”

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie is FINALLY out this week on July 22. Check out this clip from their TV special a few years back, putting the Kardashians on blast.

Watch.

(T/Y, Tad; via People)

The post #AbFab: Jennifer Saunders on Fame & Photo-Bombing Kourtney, “Oh, Stop Doing Your Media Face!” appeared first on The WOW Report.

If you saw the Cohen Brothers Hollywood satire, Hail, Caesar! (not that many did, but I did!) you saw a star being born. When Alden Ehrenreich appears on screen, you could hear Hollywood saying in unison, “Movie Star!” Now the 26 year old is finalizing a deal to make it into legend by playing a young Han Solo in a Star Wars spinoff.

Ehrenreich inherits the star-making role from Harrison Ford. Plot details, of course, are being kept under wraps, but we hear the film is expected to follow Solo before he links up with the rebel alliance. Chewbacca will play a key role, and it’s entirely possible that young Han could cross paths with the bounty hunter, Boba Fett.

Disney hasn’t commented but they will release the “Solo” movie on May 25, 2018. There has been much speculation that Ehrenreich could make his first appearance as Han Solo in the upcoming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which is out in December. While that cameo has yet to be confirmed, numerous Hollywood insiders told TheWrap that Ehrenreich has landed the coveted role, for which he beat out thousands of actors — both established and unknown.

Alden was discovered, Hollywood-style, at a friend’s bat mitzvah by Steven Spielberg, who recognized his “It factor”. Ehrenreich has since appeared in Woody Allen‘s Blue Jasmine, Stoker and Beautiful Creatures. He also stars in Warren Beatty‘s upcoming movie about Howard Hughes and recently wrapped Alexandre Moors’ war drama The Yellow Birds.

Here’s a delicious little taste of him as Hobie Doyle in Hail, Caesar!

Watch.

(via The Wrap)

The post #ManCrushMonday: Alden Ehrenreich To Play Han Solo in New “Star Wars” Film appeared first on The WOW Report.

Kevin Parker of Tame Impala was recently asked about working with Gaga. Without revealing too much, Kevin said, “I’m not at liberites to say. I was there, she was there, Mark was there. Something happened there.” He goes onto say, “She’s extremely nice. She’s one of my new favorite people. She’s full of passion, just loves music on every level. She’s so dedicated and attentive, everything is meaningful. It’s inspiring.”

The collaboration would make sense as Gaga’s last album “ARTPOP” had a lot of synth 70’s vibes:

See? We can’t wait to hear more from both of these artists!

The post Possible Tame Impala and Lady Gaga Collaboration for “LG5” On The Way? appeared first on The WOW Report.

HBO’s critically acclaimed (and two-time Emmy-nominee) “Mapplethorpe: Look At The Pictures“ is making it’s Latin American premiere at the Santiago Film Festival, SanFic12 in August. SmartTrip jumped on board and is offering an exclusive deal that if you book any of their room deals, you’ll receive 2 complimentary tickets to the SANFIC12 Premiere of the Emmy-nominated documentary.

CHECK OUT THE DEALS HERE.

HBO’s Mapplethorpe: Look At The Pictures has snagged TWO Emmy nominations for Best Documentary or Nonfiction Special and Best Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program.Congratulations to our fearless leaders, WOW Co-Founders Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey.

The post Emmy-Nominated “Mapplethorpe” Screening In Santiago, Chile, SmartTrip Offers Exclusive Deal appeared first on The WOW Report.

Monday just got more sickening, darlings! Season Eight’s winner Bob The Drag Queen stops by Hey Qween purse first for their epic season finale of Hey Qween this week! Bob kikis with Jonny and Lady Red where she spills the T on all the onscreen drama, what happened when season 8 cast was announced, and her relationship with Derrick Barry!

After Lady Red tries to get ahold of Bob’s brother, we get into how Bob got her incredible drag name after a few not-so-successful tries and gives all the hilarious details of working with some of New York City’s funniest and most fabulous performers! Bob gives us some great insight into how she approached RuPaul’s Drag Race and pushes all of our wigs back with her hilarious brand of “show-boating” humor in this amazing season finale! Episode viewing this week should definitely be required; you don’t want to miss any of this T and ALL the shade!

CHECK IT OUT:

The post Bob The Drag Queen On The ‘Hey Qween’ Season Finale Discusses ‘Purse First,’ Derrick Barry and How She Got Her Name appeared first on The WOW Report.

Back-in-the-day, when I lived in Detroit, one of my first gay-ish club experiences was at Liedernacht (later changed to City Club)- a dark and dank space, inside some sort of hotel (I use that term loosely), located downtown. I can’t say I remember the exact music they played, but it was a mix of industrial, goth and New Wave. What I do remember for sure, when they played The Cure’s Boys Don’t Cry, every burgeoning (closeted) queen, adorned with white powder faces and red lipstick, dashed to the dance floor…hahaha! It wasn’t a gay club per se…and the term gender fluid hadn’t become a thing yet, but it was definitely a place where you could be a boy, in a dress, wearing make up, and nobody thought you were weird…at least not in a pejorative way.

This is pretty much what promoter/singer Kayvon Zand’s new weekly party Hitchcock Disco is like, with an added twist, themed around Hitchcock films. Guests, which include a mix of club kids, goths, queers, rockers, pin-ups and drag queens, are encouraged to dress in a look referencing the designated film on that night. Hosts include Nicky Ottav, Justin Tyler Angel, Lady Alchemy, Archie Goats, Sarah Jane Washington, Madame Vivien V. and Beverly Sage. DJs Wren Britton and Johanna Constantine. Hitchcock Disco is every Tuesday, 10pm, at Rumpus Room, 249 Eldridge St, NYC. (Pics by Joshua Janke)

Kayvon Zand:

“The party is a breath of fresh air and hair!…where nightlife is being cross-pollinated from all aspects of downtown culture, rather than just one. My slogan has been ‘Wear the look matches the music’. I know it would be ‘where’, but I like to say wear because so much of nightlife today, you have all these cool looks, but the music is so predictable and safe. Hitchcock is the first party in this decade where we have brave and major looks with just as brave and unique beats. We don’t bank on safe!”

 

The post What’s A Witch Art House Party??? Hitchcock Disco NYC appeared first on The WOW Report.

July 19, 1868– Florence Foster Jenkins:

“Some may say that I couldn’t sing, but no one can say that I didn’t sing.”

I admire anyone who, by sure force of will, can remake themselves into something fabulous. Jenkins was a 20^th Century American socialite and lover of music who identified as an opera singer, a coloratura soprano to be exact. Somehow, she became a sensation.

Jenkins was born into wealth. She was a generous philanthropist. She counted among her many fans, Noël Coward, Cole Porter and Tallulah Bankhead. Her considerable fame came not from her musical talent, but rather its opposite. Her astonishingly terrible singing and clueless inability to find the right pitch was the stuff of legend. She practiced diligently in order to lovingly massacre her way through arias by Mozart, Verdi and Strauss.

At first, Jenkins only performed in private at Manhattan women’s clubs or in her own organization, The Verdi Club, which existed solely to bring flowers to members who were ill.

After years of giving her little recitals, she became in such demand that she went on to sell-out a concert at Carnegie Hall in 1944. Her musicales raised millions of dollars for her charities, performing for polite society snickering, jaws clenched, suppressing laughter as they showered her with applause.

Jenkins still has the moniker: “The Worst Opera Singer In The World”. But, the most amazing thing of all, she was oblivious. She presented herself was a truly great artiste, and she remained convinced of that greatness with the help of her Manager/Boyfriend, a British actor improbably named St Clair Bayfield. She loved what she did and she was convinced that she was bringing great pleasure to her adoring audiences, which, in her very special way, she was.

She had been a child piano prodigy, but sadly, Jenkins’s singing problems are now partially attributed to her suffering from Syphilis, which caused a progressive deterioration of her nervous system. The horribleness of the disease was compounded by side effects from doses of Mercury and Arsenic, the only treatment available for Syphilis at the time. No effective treatment existed until the use of Penicillin in the 1940s, too late for Jenkins.

Her extraordinary life story has grabbed the attention of many writers, directors and musicians. Works based on Jenkins’s life include the plays Souvenir by Stephen Temperley which ran on Broadway in 2005; and Glorious! by Peter Quilter, which opened the same year in London’s West End and was nominated for an Olivier Award. There is also Marguerite (2015) a French-language film and a new biography Florence Foster Jenkins: The Diva of Din by Darryl W. Bullock.

And in just a few weeks, I am so excited, we will have Florence Foster Jenkins, directed by Stephen Frears, who gave us The Queen (2006), My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) , and Dangerous Liaisons (1988). It stars a great actor who can actually sing, Meryl Streep. You can’t imagine how difficult it is to sing slightly off-key. There is also Hugh Grant as Bayfield, and I expect Academy Award nominations for both these fabulous actors working in their prime, and the director. Frears:

“I loved the script I’d been sent, and I then listened to the real Florence Foster Jenkins on YouTube. She was ridiculous and touching.”

Streep describes Jenkins:

“She was aspirational and terrible, moving and amusing. She was not just bad, she was bad with heart.”

For me, Jenkins fame comes from much more than her being perhaps the ultimate example of the ‘it’s so bad, it’s good’ phenomenon. She was camp, for certain, but her fans went to see and hear her, not to make fun, but because they were won over by her charm and the ecstatic joy she got from performing. Jenkins loved music and wanted other people to love it too. She was totally sincere, and she was a good person. It has been written that she never uttered a bad word about anyone. Audiences genuinely liked her. There is an important lesson there for our own era. You just have to love people with an absolute, authentic passion for the music.

Jenkins’ life story resonates for anyone who’s ever worked hard at doing something they truly love; who has ever tried simply, by sheer force of will, to become something, anything, regardless of their level of talent. You know… something special, like being a daily columnist on a fabulous website.

Of course, it helped that Jenkins was wealthy, but that’s not everything. She loved the art of singing, and she was never in it for the fame. Audiences laughed at her crazy costumes, sometimes appearing in wings and tinsel, and that dreadful singing; but they gave in to the fun of it all.

David Bowie stated that her recordings changed his life:

“Florence’s audience was usually split between people who genuinely cared for her and forgave her eccentricities, people who came to laugh and others who treated the whole thing like some sort of perverted, absurd cabaret. Most of her performances were given to forgiving audiences, friends, other clubwomen, musicians she patronized and so on. People came to have fun but not to be spiteful. The Carnegie Hall show was her only proper public performance, and happened at a time (1944, in the midst of war) when people were desperate for a laugh and a distraction from the horrors of real life.”

Jenkins was 76 years old she finally yielded to public demand and performed at Carnegie Hall on October 25, 1944. Her conductor was André Kostelanetz who composed a special song for Jenkins to sing that night. The evening was a triumph, but since it was her first “public” appearance, critics could not be barred from being in the audience. Their scathing, sarcastic reviews devastated Jenkins. She had a heart attack two days later. A month after that, she took that final bow.

I think Jenkins would have loved that she is so inspiring. She desired to create art. She knew what she wanted and she knew how to get it. She was single-minded in her quest and utterly determined to perform her songs. And here we are in the 21^st century, celebrating her birthday, while she is being portrayed on film by the greatest actor of our age. People are still listening to her and talking about her more than 70 years after she left this pretty spinning blue orb.

The post #BornThisDay: Florence Foster Jenkins appeared first on The WOW Report.

Billy Name with photographer, Marcia Resnick at “Thank You Andy Warhol” opening in 2013

Song Chong of New York’s Milk Gallery wrote in an email,

“It is with tremendous sadness that we would like to announce that our dear friend and iconic artist Billy Name has begun his next great adventure. We mourn the loss of this important cultural figure and are thankful to have had the opportunity to work with him.”

Billy was born William Linich, and worked as a lighting designer in Manhattan before becoming enmeshed in Warhol’s circle. He transformed his East 5th Street apartment into a space age art installation, covering the walls in silver spray paint and aluminum foil and later did the same thing to Warhol’s studio, called The Factory.

Warhol and Name were supposedly involved in a romantic relationship for while and as the years passed he wore more hats. As Glenn O’Brien wrote in the intro to Billy Name: The Silver Age, Name soon became Warhol’s

“principal architect and decorator, his secretary, his archivist, his studio manager, security man, night watchman and bouncer, his casting director, his handyman, his photographer, his electrician, his magician. Billy was the one Andy counted on.”

Name captured Warhol’s world, candid, black-and-white shots of Edie Sedgwick, Nico, Lou Reed, Andy, Bob Dylan and anyone else who happened to come through the Factory door. Warhol wrote in his 1980 memoir POPism.

“The only things that ever came even close to conveying the look and feel of the Factory then, aside from the movies we shot there, were the still photographs Billy took.”

But Name himself never had plans to become a photographer. He told The Guardian in a 2015 interview,

“I just took the camera when Andy handed it to me and said, ‘Here, Billy, you do the stills photography.’ I remember I went to the store the next day and bought the manual for the camera. That’s how it began.”

Before long, Name moved into a closet in the Factory, fashioned himself a darkroom in the bathroom, and taught himself how to take a damn good photograph. Later in life, I think he started to get the recognition as an artist that he deserved.

My friend Catherine Johnson wrote the book Thank You Andy Warhol (Billy and I, among others are in the book) I had a solo show up in my gallery called, Good Luck with That, and Catherine and I organized held a book signing, as well as an exhibit of artists in the book. Billy made a rare appearance at the opening and it was the only time I ever met him. He was one of the last links to Andy and that time, now that Taylor Meade and Holly Woodlawn are gone too. Hope you guys are all getting together now.

(Photos, Billy Name; via Huffington Post)

The post #RIP: Warhol Photographer, Billy Name appeared first on The WOW Report.

Forty works from the late rock legend, David Bowie’s collection are on view at Sotheby’s in London for the next three weeks before moving on to L.A., New York and Hong Kong in the fall. The musician’s life as a collector was something he kept hidden from the view of the public, but now, nearly 300 works by artists like Damien Hirst, Henry Moore and Marcel Duchamp are being auctioned off. Most coveted (and valuable) is Jean-Michel Basquiat’s five-and-a-half foot tall painting, Air Power, which Bowie bought in 1995. Oliver Barker, chairman of Sotheby’s Europe said,

“David Bowie’s collection offers a unique insight into the personal world of one of the 20th Century’s greatest creative spirits.“

Bowie himself told the New York Times in 1998,

“Art was, seriously, the only thing I’d ever wanted to own. It can change the way that I feel in the mornings.”

LONDON, Preview Exhibition
20 July–9 August

LOS ANGELES
September 20-21

NEW YORK
September 26-29

HONG KONG
October 12-15

Not many of us can afford the art, but the catalogue, Bowie/Collector, is a great piece of pop culture memorabilia. I’ve amassed a mini-collection of them over the years; Andy Warhol, Liberace, Jackie Kennedy, Katherine Hepburn, Michael Jackson & Marilyn Monroe to name a few. I have to add this one, but at $286 for the 3-volumn set, I might need to sell some of my own art first.

Sotheby’s is open to the public and free of charge. For more info, go here.

Damien Hirst, 1995

Jean Michael Basquiat, 1984

Frank Auerbach, Head of Gerda Boehm, 1965

Peter Layton, 1961

Ettore Sottsass, ‘Casablanca’ Sideboard, 1981

Romuald Hazoumé, 1995

Pier Giacomo & Achille Castiglioni, Brionvega Radiophonograph, 1965

The post David Bowie’s Art Collection On Exhibit in London, L.A., New York & Hong Kong appeared first on The WOW Report.

One of two works by Jean-Michel Basquiat
Depp sold at Christie’s

Maybe you’ve Heard –things have been a little messy in Mr. Depp’s world late. He lately. He and wife, Amber Heard, announced a drama-ridden divorce in late May, which might end up being costly for the actor whose net worth is in the pricey neighborhood of $400 million.

Last month, Depp sold two of his paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat for a total of $11.5 million at a Christie’s auction house. Except for making an initial public statement, Depp has remained mum on the topic of divorce. He’s currently his on tour with his band, the Hollywood Vampires, while he no-so quietly sells off assets, awaiting a settlement with Heard.

(via Vogue Australia)

The post #RealEstatePorn: Inside Johnny Depp’s $10.9 Million Venetian Palazzo appeared first on The WOW Report.