† dragmag issue one †
001
CONTENTS 001
Poor Blind Bag - A spoof of Viz Magazine’s ‘Black Bag - The Faithful Border Binliner’ by Graham Murdoch which is a spoof of ‘Black Bob’ by Jack Prout
003
Pam Hogg and the Supermodels - An original illustration by Martin Eden for dragmag
005
St. Swithin’s Day - A 1989 Thatcher assassination fantasy by Grant Morrison with illustrations by Paul Grist. Words by Scott Caruth and GMBTU drummer
008
Muffled Desires Sealed with a Stitch - Prachi Khandekar on Yves Saint Laurent’s little bitch
011
The Catalogue of Failures: A Chat with Lamebook - Interview by Oskar Oprey and Graeme Kennedy
016
Musings on Life, Love and Occupation - Jo Shaw and the student occuption of Glasgow University
021
Pam Hogg Has Left The Building - Questions by Oskar Oprey, portraits photographed by Jeff Hahn and directed by Kieran Partise
027
Pam Hogg’s Utopia - Photographed by Jeff Hahn, direction by Kieran Partise, styled by Pam Hogg
039
Fag Nazis, Farting Assholes - Mark Ther interviewed by Travis Jeppesen
047
Porno Interiors - Paul Knight photographs the living room of a porn director
056
Romantic Filth, an original comic by Elliot Baggott for dragmag
059
John Waters is not on Facebook - Interview by Oskar Oprey, photographs by Lester Lyons-Hookham
065
No Exit - A retelling of Jean-Paul Sartre’s play with three of Waters’ favourite film makers
069
Desperate Living - Photographed by David Richardson, directed by Kieran Partise and styled by John William
089
The London Nobody (and everybody) Knows - An essay by Oskar Oprey with photos by Lester Lyons-Hookham
099
Shot by Shooter - Interviewed by Oskar Oprey and featuring a showcase of his work
103
Anthony Luvera: Assisted Self-Portraits - The artist introduces his work
107
How to Shoot for Glamour - A portfolio with Stella Vine, Graham Dury, Jeanine Woollard and Littlewhitehead
Editors Letter
I turned up in London with no money around
to wear when viewing the art duo’s supposed burning
your contribution to the show’. So he essentially wanted
the 1st of November last year. I had 600 copies of the
of one million pounds on the Island of Jura. After we’d
me to foot the bill for his catalogue, as well as put in all
Dragmag pilot issue to punt and a proper first issue to
all had a chuckle, the old ladies were then cleared out
the work to get it made. Fuck off - as if. As I got ready to
get made. That same day, I got a call from some guy I’d
of the room, and the curator got down to business. He
leave I asked him, just supposing that I were to do this,
met at the Frieze art fair, a curator who was planning
presented me with a stone, and this stone had been
how exactly had the exhibition and space been funded?
an exhibition that he wanted me to be in. Jumping at
blessed in various lakes and wells across the country, and
He frowned and his voice became more serious, “That’s
the chance to exhibit one of my octopus sculptures, I
apparently possessed healing qualities. He then went
none of your business.” I shook his hand and assured
made my way down to the location – which turned out
onto deliver a lecture about the Austrian psychoanalyst
him that I’d keep in touch. Tossing his stone in a bin
to be an old Victorian orphanage near London Bridge.
Wilhelm Reich. Yawn. By this time I wanted to go home,
near Waterloo, I began thinking about what the new
The guy was half an hour late, so I was entertained by
but decided to stick around for another five minutes just
issue should include. As a start, a friend had given me
three dotty old ladies who appeared to own the huge
in case something worthwhile was to come of this. He
Pam Hogg’s email address; I had a few very old books I
space. They served me tea in a glass and knitted most
explained his idea for the exhibition, which would have
thought I’d like to blow up into big A3 features and after
of the time. We sat facing a painting of a UFO and
included work by such renowned artists as the great
the comic scene detailed above – well the tone was set.
we started to talk about the artists who made it – the K
gangsters Reggie and Ronnie Kray. It all sounded quite
And so here it is, over six months later. Free of charge,
Foundation. By the time said curator eventually turned
good actually – but where did I come in? ‘Well,’ he said,
and at an enlarged A3 size, making it difficult for you to
up, we were all sitting in bright yellow K Foundation
‘I think the exhibition is so good that you should devote
read on the underground. This aint no Evening Standard.
hooded robes – the very robes the press were forced
the entire next issue of Dragmag to it, and that will be
† dragmag issue one †
- Oskar Oprey
dragmag EDITOR AND PUBLISHER - Oskar Oprey
THANKS TO - Duggie Fields, Fergal Stapleton, Ryan
ART DIRECTION AND DESIGN - Henry Westcott
Davies, Paul Grist, Marianne Boesky Gallery, Adult
FASHION DIRECTOR - Kieran Partise
Channel, Simon Lindsay Honey, Viz Magazine, Goncalo
CONTACT US at dragmag.net
Velosa at House of Liza, Matthew Duffy, Elenore Desnos,
FASHION EDITORS - John William and Pam Hogg
the D1 team, Theresa Davies, Ella Coppock, Charles
PHOTOGRAPHERS - Lester Lyons-Hookham,
Isherwood, Adam Burrell, Kaori Mitsuyasu, Leah Mabe,
Anthony Luvera, David Richardson, Paul Knight,
Meme Kosaka, Yoshitaka Miyazaki, Atsushi Hayashi,
Jeff Hahn and Shot by Shooter
Luke Foy and Gillian Horsup
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS - Prachi Khandekar,
SPECIAL THANKS to Scott Morrison and the team
Scott Caruth, Graeme Kennedy, Travis Jeppesen,
at Diesel
Jo Shaw, Anthony Luvera and GMBTU Drummer
dragmag is published with support from Diesel
ILLUSTRATION Elliot Baggott and Martin Eden COVER ART Justin Hall
Additional artwork supplied by ‘Creative world of...’
PRINTED BY Scanplus Print Group
Paul Knight
Travis Jeppesen
Jeff Hahn
Paul Knight is a photographer and artist living in
Travis Jeppesen is the most famous American writer alive.
Jeff Hahn is a Swiss/Chinese photographer/artist
London. He typically works with couples, relationships
His books include Dicklung & Others, Wolf at the Door,
currently living in London. He has been depressed
and sex, both his own and other peoples, literally and
and Poems I Wrote While Watching TV. Travis Jeppesen
recently due to the realisation of the fact that he will
conceptually. He is always happy to discuss his various
is 15-years-old. Since 2006, he has lived in Berlin. In
probably never receive magical powers.
projects, whether you just want to hear more or to inquire
September 2011, he will move to London, where he
jeff-hahn.com
about getting involved. paulknight.com.au
hopes to go on the dole. disorientations.com
Martin Eden
Prachi Khandekar
Justin Hall
Martin has collaborated on tons of different indie comics
Prachi Khandekar is a writer. Although her schedule is
Justin Hall is an award-winning cartoonist living in
projects and also produced the award-nominated
sprinkled with far too many deadlines, she can always
the great city of San Francisco. He makes comics
supersoap The O Men. Recently, he’s been working on
find time for some disturbing doodles. Analyzing YSL’s
about everything from Bolivian blood ceremonies to
Spandex, about an all-gay superteam. The comic was
impish personifications has helped her accept her own
schizophrenic Swiss women to super trannies to horny
nominated for an Eagle Award, and you can find it at
unsettling sketches. Still, to be safe, she will have them all
pirates. allthumbspress.com
spandexcomic.com
destroyed as part of her will.
David Richardson
John William
Jo Shaw
I often go on vigilante adventures to smelly dives at night.
John William is a stylist and the editor of Pigeons &
Jo Shaw epitomizes super cute radical Glasgow; a
Snatching the souls of characters too wasted or too busy
Peacocks magazine. Here are some of his favourite
veritable media figurehead with a multi-faceted theatre-
to know I’m there. Using my camera as another excuse to
things: Elizabeth Duke jewellery, siamese cats, yellow
maker art factory corporate twist. She likes cats,
go even further. Looking for whatever makes people tick
hair, Divine, teen witches, 90’s tumblrs, Versace jeans,
reclaimed spaces, “Asia Style”, hiking, performativity,
along but ultimately tumbling home, a bit smelly, alone.
Liberace, Liza, Dolly, blue eyeshadow, zig zag perms...
feminist theory, radical education and her friends,
A bit like batman on the lash.
anything a bit too camp really. pucemoment.com
cardigans, A.Dworkin and ‘smashing the system’.
anotherdavidrichardson.com
Mainly cats. Send your fan letters/hate mail to Scott Caruth
joannakateshaw@gmail.com
Twenty year old artist from Glasgow who spends most of his time wanking and crying over the communist manifesto.
† dragmag issue one †
W
henever and wherever farming folk meet, it’s seldom long before the name Black Louis Vuitton Bag crops up. Shepherds are never done telling stories of Bags, and as often as not the talk comes round to the deeds of the famous Black Bag. The stories are legendary. People never tire of hearing how he guided a blind boy home through half the length of Britain; or how he rescued Betty Ross from kidnappers in Canada; or how he helped round up a gang of smugglers in Cornwall. Again they marvel at how he brought a wild and unruly ram all the way down from Newcastle; and how he tracked down a pack of killer dogs that were ravaging his masters ÆWKS[ )VL VWJWLa _QTT M^MZ NWZOM\ \PM [\WZa WN PW_ \PM *TIKS Louis Vuitton Bag coped with the most terrible handicap of all – blindness...
It all began one autumn day when Black Bag was out working in the hills. He had gone on ahead of his master looking for some stray sheep, when suddenly he heard screams. Black Louis Vuitton Bag P]ZZQML \W \PM \WX WN I ZQ[M *MTW_ PQU I KIZI^IV _I[ JMTKPQVO ÆIUM[ Fleeing from the blaze was old Meg the gipsy.
Black Bag rushed to the scene with his master close behind. )VLZM_ /TMVV ÅTTML \PM *TIKS 4W]Q[ >]Q\\WV *IO _Q\P _I\MZ IVL \WOM\PMZ \PMa Y]MVKPML \PM ÆIUM[ 7TL 5MO _I[ OZI\MN]T J]\ I[ she held the Bags handle she frowned. “Don’t go up the hill today, I NWZM[MM LQ[I[\MZ º
An hour later, the weather suddenly changed. Great black clouds built up, and a terrible storm burst over the hills. “This must JM \PM LQ[I[\MZ 5MO [XWSM IJW]\ *IOº OZQVVML /TMVV ¹?M¼ZM OWQVO \W OM\ [WISML º -^MV I[ PM [XWSM TQOP\VQVO [\ZMISML QV\W I \ZMM I NM_ feet away. Torn asunder, the tree toppled on Glenn.
Desperately the big shepherd struggled from under the tree IVL P]ZZQML \W \PM *IO[ [QLM ¹*TIKS 4W]Q[ >]Q\\WV *IO º PM KITTML ¹)ZM aW] ITT ZQOP\'º <PMZM _I[ VW [QOV WN IVa QVR]Za \W \PM *IO /TMVV felt Bags heart. It was still beating. Then the limp muscles tensed, and Black Louis Vuitton Bag raised his handle.
Picking Bag up, the shepherd rushed back down the hill. Farmer Grant drove them to see Mr McNab, the veterinary surgeon. McNab M`IUQVML *IO[ MaM[ ¹*TIKS 4W]Q[ >]Q\\WV *IO Q[ JTQVLº PM [IQL ¹*]\ don’t despair. He has a good chance of recovery. Leave him with me, PM VMML[ ZM[\ IVL \PMV _M¼TT \ISM PQU \W ,Z *IQZL QV 5IVKPM[\MZº
)N\MZ \_W LIa[ *IQZL JMKIUM _WZZQML ¹1 \PQVS PM¼[ TWVMTaº PM [IQL ¹?M¼TT X]\ PQU _Q\P \PM LWO[ <PI\ UQOP\ PMTX º 1\ _I[ feeding time. Dr Baird put some food down for Black Louis Vuitton Bag. But because of his blindness, poor Bag knocked the plate, [KI\\MZQVO \PM NWWL ) P]VOZa UWVOZMT [I_ \PQ[ IVL R]UXML \W OM\ Q\
Andrew Glenn realised this was best for Black Bag. The big shepherd was sad at leaving the Bag in Manchester but it was worse for poor blind Black Louis Vuitton Bag. He couldn’t understand why his master had left him in this place. He lay on the straw, pining and refusing to eat anything.
Black Bag was shouldered aside. He staggered, heard the crunch of teeth on biscuits, and realised that this dog was stealing his food. Angry, he turned hard in the direction of the thief. It was a lucky shot. Black Louis Vuitton Bag poked the brute in the eye.
The dog let out such a yowl that the attendant rushed over to pull the mongrel away. For a moment Black Louis Vuitton Bag stood there uncertainly. Then the sound of a door creaking in the wind ZMIKPML PQU 0M SVM_ \PI\ I VWQ[M TQSM \PI\ UMIV\ IV WXMV LWWZ
Black Bag was right. The door of the pen had been left open. Guided by the creaking noise, the blind Bag walked outside. None of \PM UMV [I_ PQU 0M _I[ NZMM 6W_ PM KW]TL OW IVL ÅVL PQ[ UI[\MZ *TIKS 4W]Q[ >]Q\\WV *IO UW^ML WV [TW_Ta \PMV · \P]UX 0M PIL OWVM into the back of a lorry parked in the road.
<PM TWZZa [UMT\ WN UQTS IVL UQTS UMIV\ I NIZU *IO OW\ WV JWIZL <PM UQTSUIV PIL ÅVQ[PML PQ[ ZW]VL[ IVL _I[ LZQ^QVO JIKS to his dairy. The lorry twisted and turned through the back streets of Manchester. Black Louis Vuitton Bag had no idea where he was, but PM _W]TLV¼\ ZM[\ ]V\QT PM PIL RWQVML ]X _Q\P PQ[ JMTW^ML UI[\MZ IOIQV
At last the lorry came to a stop. Black Bag got up and moved NWZ_IZL JTQVLTa <P]UX 8WWZ *TIKS 4W]Q[ >]Q\\WV *IO NMTT WNN \PM end of the lorry and hit the ground with an awful wallop. Dazed, he staggered up. He wasn’t hurt, but it was a warning to the blind Bag. He would have to be a great deal more careful in the future.
Heroes and Villains, Scott Caruth, age 20 My friend Sinead grew up thinking that Margaret Thatcher ate children. She wasn’t alone. Like George Bush and Tony Blair, Thatcher was a
encouraged to celebrate whilst ignoring the resistance
and young adult across the country – or at least
that grows every day in occupied Afghanistan. Heroes
the one in five currently jobless – silently stalked the
push their agendas through villains and vice versa.
politicians who dealt their cards. Each politician
The character in “St Swithins Day”, a comic
permanently trailing their own train of victims from all
dartboard image for millions of people. These portraits
book published in 1998 by Paul Grist and Grant
the broken promises and reneged on pledges. Or if
are icons in the aesthetics of popular culture and prove
Morrison, is not a public figure. He is depressed,
more young people rejected the identities forced on
an easy association for anybody wishing to express
lonely and hell bent on killing Margaret Thatcher. He is
them through popular culture and started to organise
their emotions, their opposition. Similarly, I saw a
intrigued by the status that killing her will earn him and
their own worlds. ‘Privilege’ is for the few, yet that’s
Che Guevara t-shirt in Primark a few weeks ago. If
can’t decide whether he should be found with a copy
what we need to get anywhere in 21st Century Britain.
you squinted and tilted your head it looked like Jackie
of ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ or the complete works of
Rimbaud - disenfranchised from most things around him
Stallone with “VIVA LA REVOLOUCION” misspelled
Rimbaud in his jacket pocket. A teenage runaway with
- sought another life. If this age of austerity produces
underneath. Apple’s vacuous advertising slogan “Think
a single purpose, he sits alone in cafes with fantasies of
anything then let it be angry, direct, creative youth.
Differently” hijacks John Lennon and Martin Luther
staying up late, listening to music and girls. He wants
Nothing that you can break is more valuable than your
King to achieve mega sales by using mega-martyrs.
to change the world. He can only dance to one song –
rights, including that of an education, regardless of
Barack Obama sent his approval ratings through the
and he does so in the middle of the night in front of Karl
circumstance.
roof when the U.S. assassinated Osama Bin Laden, ‘the
Marx’s grave. When the time finally comes for him to top
most wicked man on earth’. A hero needs a villain and
Margaret Thatcher, in a style more ANTI than HERO, he
the glass doors of Santander smash and fall to the floor
this victor’s justice sent a media wave of righteousness
can’t or won’t do the deed.
in pieces. Everybody cheered and started running - away
and national pride across the U.S. where citizens were
I wonder what would happen if every angry teenager
from the police and towards something yet to be defined.
005
† dragmag issue one †
On the 26th of March on Regent Street, I saw
night soundtrack to a teenager’s imprisonment at home.
and invisible again when he stoops to throw these
Research the author, Grant Morrison, and you’ll find
possessions through the railings of Waterloo Bridge.
an urgent, slightly manic creative who, in the manner
‘Why doesn’t someone stop me?’ he thinks.
of his speech emulates to a degree the language of
1988 to 1990 provided a similar context to the
enthusiastic youth. The biographical element in this
present. Oil spills, terrorism, extra judicial killing, wars
story is a connection between the death of Morrison’s
of occupation and unfair legislation. It’s forever the lot of
father and St. Swithin’s Day, but this is hardly relevant
young people to discover life under capitalism; confusion,
as the thoughts and actions depicted on the page are a
violence and cynicism; to lose the sun and happiness of
common experience for young people in any decade;
holidays as they wake up to the world and their allotted
alarm at the approaching anonymity of adulthood.
place. No surprise then at their nihilism and paranoid
So, to the soundtrack of The La’s anthem of
fantasies of retribution or their over reaction to the bad
voyeuristic longing : ‘There she goes, there she goes
weather. In the final pages, after he’s pointed two fingers
again,’ we find a teenage anti-hero, dreaming of
in Thatcher’s face and shouted bang! He says, ‘...it was
action and just watching a girl, Brit Pop guitar chiming
worth it just to see her scared.’
in the hero’s head as his fantasy swings from a date sharing his favourite records to a daring act of political
She’ll have noticed him then.
assassination. Somehow, with ‘Neurotic Boy Outsider’ written on his forehead and assassination on his mind,
Now for his his mum and the girl in the cafe….
he’s able to approach a world leader unnoticed. He’s also invisible to the girl he admires in the café and the staff of Foyles bookshop from where he steals his books
All images courtesy of Paul Grist
There She Goes Again, GMBTU Drummer, age 55 A picture book of male adolescence - desire, death, loneliness and anger, mothers, lovers, domesticity and danger. St. Swithin’s Day: a short story about a troubled nineteen year old and three nights he spends away from home in the late eighties. The tabloids and parliament were outraged by the central character’s plot to shoot Margaret Thatcher, but the furore and condemnation only increased sales, creating a large and appreciative audience. The comic expresses the anger behind the character’s fantasies of violent direct action. It also depicts the contradictions, frustrations, anger and nihilism of adolescence, a theme overshadowed by the central violent intent. The culminating confrontation with Thatcher, which may only be a fantasy, provides both a narrative climax and the most extreme example of adolescent thought and behaviour depicted in the story. The content is timeless but for the naming of Thatcher and Russell Harty, a camp chat show host, famous for interviewing the famous. Today it could be Graham Norton and guests providing the Saturday
† dragmag issue one †
006
007
† dragmag issue one †
MUFFLED DESIRES SEALED WITH A STITCH SHE POISES HER LITHE FIGURE
Meet Lulu; self-assured, charmingly perverse and an
were years of intense agony for him. As a drudge, his
IN FRONT OF THE MIRROR
out-and-out narcissist. Her mornings are devoured by the
opinions, like delicate fabrics, had to be neatly folded
AND SMILES. THE IMAGE OF
hours spent in front of that mirror. She dresses simply to
and stacked away in a dark closet. Soon, the repression
YOUTH IN THIS SILVER BACKED
defer the instant when she will undress again, always
pressed so hard that it had to be released; like a drawn
PLANE IS SO IRIDESCENT, SHE
under the content gaze of her reflection. She’s a rare
out sigh, his constrained subconscious flowed out with
IS MESMERIZED. SHE PATIENTLY
creature, but like many, her rituals reveal her philosophy.
the tri-coloured inks onto paper. The unsettling 10-year-
EXAMINES THE STRANDS
She can shed reality like a robe and slip effortlessly into
old girl came into being. She was charged with every
STRUNG AROUND HER FACE LIKE
a personal reverie. You might think it strange to have
forbidden impulse he could think up. Vanity, sadism,
A CURTAIN OF SILK. A SLIDE OF
such unfaltering love for oneself. Without a doubt, it’s
fetishism and hedonism; her life was laced with the
THE GAZE AND HER SWOOPING
quite bizarre. Maybe Lulu needs help. How does she
colours of all the dresses he painstakingly sewed.
CURVES HAVE ALREADY
carry on with life despite this consuming vanity?
INSPIRED A FAMILIAR GAME.
With each muffled desire sealed with a stitch, Lulu’s
ONCE AGAIN, SHE STUDIES HER
Don’t be alarmed. Lulu only lives her self-indulgent life on
personality sharpened a little more, until she became
BODY SCRUPULOUSLY TO TEST
paper, that too in a restricted colour palette of red, white
the most perverse little girl in the world. Knowing that
WHETHER FAMILIARITY HAS
and black. A whimsical tone infuses the events of her
she’s young and likely to be misunderstood, she’s up front
SUBVERTED ITS RAPTUROUS
life. It ensures that her conceit and love for excess can
about what it is that she likes. She likes making lewd
QUALITY. BUT HABIT NEVER
only coil back onto themselves; that her potent vanity will
gestures, she watches as they instantly transform into
DULLS HER FASCINATION; THE
never trickle into the world of reality. Don’t be alarmed
crinkles on the brows of on looking prudes. Her favorite
GAME IS PREDICTABLE. TODAY
indeed, the audacious personality of Lulu exists only
reading material is full of engaging imagery. She loves
TOO, THE RESULT IS THE SAME
amongst the pages of a comic book.
sharing this reading routine with her pet white rat, who
AS EVERY DAY BEFORE – SHE’S
usually scampers between her thighs before settling
STILL QUITE EXQUISITE. A
Little Lulu, star of the comic La Vilaine Lulu, took her first
VOYEUR OUT OF EARSHOT
breath in the mind of young Yves Saint Laurent while
WOULD CATCH HER MOUTHING
he was working for Dior. It’s widely held that these
down. Together, they read Playboy – every issue.
Lulu endorses full-blown hedonism and like Nabokov’s
THE WORDS “WHAT A DREAM!”
An essay by Prachi Khandekar
008
Lolita sports an insatiable appetite for tasty delicacies.
her fantasies to torture her peers while he simply endured
Although she succumbs to her own primal urges, it is
the mockery of his fellow classmates. Her opinions persist
unacceptable for others to indulge like her. Lulu believes
until they are heard, while he dutifully follows the orders
that there is no beauty without suffering. In her massage
given to an atelier assistant. Her prepubescent raciness
parlour, a brief business venture, she allocates her young
and narcissism could never have flourished in a timid
clients into groups. Bulbous bellied brats to the right and
boy from an esteemed pied-noir household. She was
petit sprigs to the left. She has a special treatment in
definitely not him. She was every impulse he had had
store for each. The twigs are force-fed like docile ducks
along the way, the manifestation of every rebellion that
prepping to turn into fatty delicacies. The bellied brats,
had failed to find culmination. She was not him, yet he
on the other hand, are pulverized by jumbo wrestlers,
was bursting with her.
emerging with soft and thin bodies. Soon enough, the parlour is filled with cries as Lulu grins at her helpless
On one fateful day as the assistants at Dior played dress
clients. The pages of this comic nestle many other
up after work, Saint Laurent saw her clearer than ever
devastating vignettes of infantile sadism.
before. As a joke, a colleague emerged donned in a red tutu, black top and a canotier hat. He was struck, this
On Easter, it results in the death of all her classmates.
was Lulu vivified. Soon, she had slipped onto the pages
Lulu, in giddy anticipation, starts her preparations by
of a notebook so he could get her out of his mind once
stealing eggs from a barn. She ruthlessly kicks mother
and for all. But her brazen spirit left behind footprints he
chickens out of the way and watches the eggs rot away
could never erase. On days when a needle piercing the
for a day. Each egg is then dressed with utmost care
most exquisite fabric reminded him of an inescapable
until it glows with a vile variety of festive love. On Easter
monotony, he thought of her and the way she might poise
morning, she enters town on a cart drawn by dogs with
her lithe figure in front of the mirror and smile.
her beautiful creations stacked precariously behind her. Soon, she is surrounded by outstretched hands and drooling mouths. Ladies from the local charity beam as they watch thier happy children eat their rotten treats. But alas, within minutes these children are writhing in pain. Only Lulu doesn’t seem to grasp the tragedy, she declares ‘It is I who has caused such happiness’ while her peers draw their last breaths. Even amongst their graves, she can’t help but dance with joy.
Saint Laurent layers his character with lavish dollops of dishonorable traits. His wit is then sprinkled on in the form of a covert graphic language. At first glance, the reader is beguiled; the illustrations resemble childish doodles. He takes every precaution to distance himself from Lulu, even stating in the foreword that his intention with the comic should not be confused with that of Flaubert, who proclaimed readily: Madame Bovary, c’est moi! No, Lulu is not him. He is definitely not lulu. She acts out
009
† dragmag issue one †
a collage by the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;creative world of...â&#x20AC;&#x2122; using original source material by Yves Saint Laurent
010
THE CATALOGUE OF FAILURES: A CHAT WITH LAMEBOOK 011
† dragmag issue one †
“DADDY! I WISH YOU WOULD COME VISIT ME AND BE A FUCKING FATHER.” I SHOULD HAVE SPENT THIS
Jonathan Standefer - Hey Oskar! This is a
Matthew Genitempo - There are no solid rules. We
MORNING COMPLETING ALL
great idea, and definitely the first time we’ve done a
get thousands of submissions a day, so for the most part,
THE INTRODUCTIONS FOR THIS
conversational interview over an online forum (like
if we laugh out loud while reading the submission, then it
ISSUE. HOWEVER, STARTING
Facebook of all places :). Thanks for arranging this!
usually goes up.
WITH LAMEBOOK WAS A BAD
05 April at 18:06 · Like
06 April at 00:01 · Like
SOMETHING ORIGINAL ABOUT
Matthew Genitempo - Totally! Hi everyone!
Oskar Oprey - So I assume there are submissions that
JOHN WATERS, I’VE BEEN
05 April at 18:21 · Like
are lame but not funny? Maybe just ‘tragic’? Have the
IDEA. INSTEAD OF WRITING
LAUGHING AT A BOY WHOSE
makers of Lamebook ever found themselves disturbed by
CONTINUAL MISSPELLING OF
Oskar Oprey - Great. You both started Lamebook in
a submission?
‘GAY RAPPER’ (IN HIS CASE
2009, as a parody of Facebook. But maybe ‘parody’
06 April at 00:09 · Like
‘GAY RAPER’) HAS LED TO HIM
isn’t the right word, seeing as most of the content created
BEING FLAGGED AND REMOVED
is by other people and is presumably sincere. They don’t
Jonathan Standefer - Ha, there are absolutely some
FROM CRAIGLIST SIX TIMES.
necessarily think what they’re writing or uploading is
submissions that just don’t bring too much to the table in
THE FACEBOOK PARODY SITE
lame, and I’m pretty sure they don’t ever imagine they’ll
the humor area. And we appreciate every one we get,
IS OPERATED BY JONATHAN
end up on the site. Do you think it’s more of a facebook
but as the ‘humor bar’ rises we have to be more and
STANDEFER AND MATTHEW
exposé?
more selective. Yes, we’ve seen a lot but we still receive
GENITEMPO, AND EACH DAY
05 April at 18:38 · Like
some screen shots that disturb even us!
THEY UPLOAD THE BEST OF THE
06 April at 00:24 · Like
WORST FROM THE WORLD’S
Jonathan Standefer - While the website does
MOST FAMOUS AND POPULAR
expose the world to the craziness that’s on Facebook, we
Oskar Oprey - Hahaha. I’ll maybe press you on
SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE. I
still believe the site is a parody. Not only are the people
those later. I was disturbed by the idea of going through
INTERVIEWED THEM IN APRIL,
held anonymous, but the titles of the posts serve as a
thousands of submissions each day. How much of your
AND IT SEEMED ONLY NATURAL
small commentary on what’s going on. And by carefully
time does Lamebook take to edit and maintain?
THAT WE SHOULD CONDUCT
selecting the content on the site, we see it as something
06 April at 00:32 · Like
THE CONVERSATION OVER
similar to the way John Stewart pulls funny and bizarre
MY FACEBOOK WALL IN FULL
clips from the news on his program The Daily Show. We
Graeme John F. Kennedy - Upon the creation of
VIEW OF ANYBODY THAT WAS
also hope that our site makes people aware of “online
Lamebook, were you remotely surprised that the website
INTERESTED. WHAT FOLLOWS IS
etiquette.”
was to receive a negative response from Facebook?
THE UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT.
05 April at 19:24 · Like
06 April at 01:26 · Like
Oskar Oprey - Yeah I’m interested in this idea of an
Matthew Genitempo - Lamebook eats up most of our
“online etiquette” - does Lamebook have it’s own rules on
time, but a good amount of it is spent gathering ideas
what to include and what not to include?
and content for new blogs we are currently creating. To
05 April at 20:25 · Like
answer Graeme’s question, we were a little surprised
† dragmag issue one †
012
“EN JOY THAT FUCKIN PIG AND ALSO ENJOY THAT OTHER FAT ASS PIG U BEEN FUCKING. I NO U CHETING!!!1” when we received a negative response, because we had been up and running for so long, and never really heard anything but positive feedback. We have friends that work for Facebook, and supposedly our content was well received and being passed around the office in Cali. 06 April at 15:40 · Like
Graeme John F. Kennedy - Surely you were both preparing for the worst, considering your retaliation to their “cease and desist” letter. Did you ever imagine it would escalate to the extent that they would hit back with an attempt to sue you for trademark infringement? 06 April at 17:56 · Like
Jonathan Standefer - We thought (and hoped) that everyone would know that our website was just in good fun (or a way to have a laugh as you might say :). But no, we never thought it would come to this and it took us a while to decide what we were going to do, but ultimately we decided do what we could to keep the name. 06 April at 21:18 · Like
Oskar Oprey - Do you ever get feedback from people who found themselves on the site? 08 April at 01:38 · Like
Jonathan Standefer - We do! Sometimes they think it’s funny, but usually they ask us to remove the posts about them from the site ... So we do. 08 April at 01:47 · Like
013
† dragmag issue one †
† dragmag issue one †
014
from the same college, Matt and I were drinking some beers and talking about the dumb/funny stuff we’d see on FB. We were both working as graphic designers at different ad agencies so we designed/built the site mostly as a joke to show our friends and to our surprise it got a great response and took off quickly. Personally I feel like people get frustrated with their News Feed and it’s almost therapeutic for them to submit something to Lamebook, which creates a large amount of crowdsourcing, but in a good way. 12 April at 20:56 · Like
Oskar Oprey - I know artists who are more likely to be found on youtube and lamebook than at an art gallery. Their take is that these internet forums are a better showcase for this generations creative output and that they contain its best social satire. So are you up for Lamebook as a contemporary snapshot worthy of Hogarth or Goya? Does Lamebook have any art pretentions? Do you guys look at ‘art’ at all? 12 April at 22:53 · Like
Graeme John F. Kennedy - Have either of you submitted anything which was from your own News Graeme John F. Kennedy - I guess it’s self inflicted
movement, especially walking, is difficult or impossible.”
Feed? If so, did it go unnoticed?
that they submit such absurd things to their Walls, but
What is your own definition of lame? What are the key
13 April at 00:28 · Like
would you say they should just accept it’s there and
ingredients to make the ultimate, million dollar lame
laugh about it? Sometimes recapping on your stupidity
facebook post?
Jonathan Standefer - I’ve honestly never thought
means you can take yourself a little bit less seriously!
09 April at 21:34 · Like
about the “Lamebook as art” question but that’s really
08 April at 01:49 · Like
interesting! Matt and I were both art majors in college, Matthew Genitempo - I am not sure if there is
so we do look at art but I don’t as much as I used to. I
Jonathan Standefer - Ha, that’s a good point. Matt
any certain key ingredient to making a post lame, but
may let Matt take this one :) ... I do thin...See more
and I have both been on Lamebook for stupid things
I think this one is my all time favorite: (http://tinyurl.
14 April at 00:02 · Like
we’ve posted (I think mine was something I had written
com/2fma2ep) It’s really short and to the point and is
about Harry Potter), but we think it’s funny to laugh at,
the perfect example to show somebody when they don’t
Oskar Oprey - And here’s my final question: how long
like you said. Plus it’s anonymous!
exactly know what Lamebook is all about.
do you think Facebook will last? And will the two of you
08 April at 01:55 · Like
11 April at 15:40 · Like
be archiving the funniest and lamest until the bitter end? 15 April at 00:09 · Like · 1 person
Graeme John F. Kennedy - Yes, I think that’s what
Oskar Oprey - How did Lamebook kickstart? Was
most people seem to be forgetting. Do you happen
it a slow build with a few posts for your friends or did
Matthew Genitempo - Facebook’s end is nowhere in
have any good examples of your favourite Lamebook
it attract a lot of attention from the start? Have you
site. It’s such an essential part of communication today,
submissions?
anything to add to the current debate on the power of
it would be like putting a shelf life on the cell phone.
08 April at 02:00 · Like
crowd sourcing?
We plan to keep archiving and creating new websites
12 April at 20:35 · Like · 1 person
throughout the next few months.
Oskar Oprey - And here’s a rather deep question: the definition of lame in the dictionary is “Disabled so that
015
18 April at 20:37 · Like · 1 person Jonathan Standefer - A few years after graduating
† dragmag issue one †
MUSINGS ON LIFE, LOVE AND OCCUPATION
They do say that the best clichés have a basis in truth.
his opening line. They kiss. Politicized girl is surprised
Okay, so I say ‘move in together’, but what actually
That’s why they are clichés at all. They also say that
by the fact that politicized boy is less ‘Trotty” than
happened was that very soon after that me and
politics will ruin your life. That may also have some basis
she originally thought. After a few meetings (although
politicized boy, who will we call “Leon”, moved into
in truth.
politicized boy is calling these ‘dates’) they get drunk at
an illegal occupation at Glasgow University that we
vegan pub in Glasgow and fuck.
had been involved in planning. The occupation is
Try this one out – politicized girl meets politicized boy
taking place in the old postgraduate research club (The
at a politicized meeting in an art school. Politicized girl
The next day he locks her in his house by mistake when
Hetherington) on Glasgow University campus which had
thinks politicized boy is weird and maybe a Trotskyist.
he goes to work. Phone runs out of battery. She wanders
lain empty for a year. Thus far, it is the longest running
Politicized boy asks her to the pub twice. She turns him
into the hall the next morning. Steps on a ferret. His
student occupation of recent times, with today being
down once and drops her phone on the pavement once.
flatmate (owner of aforementioned rodent) has to come
day 80. Postgraduate issues were close to Leon’s heart
She thinks these are ‘planning meetings’ for an upcoming
and rescue her. The horror.
– he’s currently doing a PhD in ‘Experimental Literature’
action. They finally make it to the pub. They have a nice time. They make it to the pub again. “Are you gay?” is
(honestly, you just couldn’t make it up could you?) and Then they move in together.
an essay by Jo Shaw
had sat on the board of the original clusterfuck that
016
attempted to re-open the Research Club. Basically what
kind of door was opened in any way, either accidentally
had happened was that the Research Club as was had
or on purpose.***
run out of money, and no doubt there had been some dodgy dealings by those who had previously managed
The next few days are a massive blur of tiredness and
the place. Those people were swiftly removed and a
fear of immediate eviction. We made a nice sign that
whole new Board of Management were brought in to
said ‘Welcome to the Free Hetherington’. It looked a
try and save the place. The University oh-so-honourably
bit like the ones that say ‘Welcome to Free Derry’ but
put off that ‘consultation’ until the summer when all the
no-one seemed to mind. People seemed to turn up from
students have gone home. *facepalm*
every corner of radical Glasgow. Everything was busy and tense and great and one of my major worries was
Surprisingly enough once the majority of Glasgow
whether or not me and Leon would sleep next to each
University students had pissed off to patronize orphans in
other. Everyone was sleeping on the floor in one room
Kenya or contract multiple bouts of herpes in Thailand or
upstairs so that we wouldn’t get kicked out overnight.
stage some kind of ‘vomcano’ on the ski slopes there was
Would we share a sleeping bag? Would we want pretty
no-one around to call the University on their bullshit. And
much everyone we knew to know that we were fucking
so, the postgraduate club was binned because it didn’t
important then. He also claims nursing is ‘a bit useless’.
all at once? To be honest, I still wasn’t totally sure that he
‘tie in with the overall objectives of the university’. What?
Not that it has a 99% employment rate or anything. I
wasn’t a cop infiltrator. He looks a bit like a cop and he
Research? Studying? Postgraduate students? These aren’t
mean, surely even the most committed Tory must realize
has two wallets.
the ‘overall objectives’ of the University of Glasgow?
that we need nurses (just as long as they don’t treat
NOT VERY POSI.
asylum seekers, the gays, the communists or people on
The Hetherington ran, and is still running, totally on
That was last summer. To be honest, alarm bells
the dole obv). Because, of course, that’s the kicker. Anton
donations of both food and money, and doing two meals
should have been ringing then. Recently, the principal
Muscatelli isn’t being squeezed by the government. He
a day from those and other ‘ethically sourced’ foodstuffs.
of Glasgow University announced it has decided to
is the government; in fact, he’s not only a full on member
We live close to a Waitrose, Marks and Spencer’s and
cut some courses. And some student services. Now,
of the Scottish Conservatives but he’s also an advisor to
many posh delis. Once, someone brought over forty tubs
dear readers, you might think that this sounds pretty
Westminster, to big Davey C. On the austerity budget.
of very slightly melted ben and jerry’s to the occupation.
reasonable in the face of economic crisis. After all,
It was the same day that Waitrose refrigeration system
English higher education got slammed too. Poor Anton
He does also sit on the Board of Management of B.A.E,
broke down. These two facts are unrelated. The
Muscatelli (he’s the Principal)…he’s being squeezed from
a company which deals in high-tech weaponry. When
University seemed curiously passive about the whole
above! He has no choice! Nasty politicians have taken
I told my very sensible centre-centre-left mother about
thing. The occupation started putting on all manner of
away Anton’s money! HAVE SOME HUMANITY EVIL
Anton, she described him, slightly hysterically, as a ‘Tory
exciting events from film showings to poetry readings to
LEFTIES!
arms dealer’. So, you mean…they’re all in this together?
pub quizzes and discussion groups. The first film showing
We’re Anton’s guinea pigs and it’s all ideological and
that we ever put on was a Friday night and I was
he’s doing it because he gets off on it?
desperate to prove to the rest of the University and wider
One senior lecturer told the press that the level of demoralization and depression on campus was ‘worse than Soviet Russia.’
community that we weren’t just a bunch of mad lefties Indeed readers, indeed.
living in a palace of revolutionary ideas with unicorns that spun hemp hammocks for us to sleep in. And guns.
So we know the cuts are happening before the
So the occupation begins. A group of individuals took
However, the film which people voted to show was, of
occupation begins (more on that later) but once they’re
autonomous action on the 1st of February 2011 and
course, the Baader-Meinhoff Complex. Loads of people
announced, a shit storm of epic proportion kicks off.
basically walked in.
came and everyone cheered at the bits with guns and
Anton decides to cut modern languages, anthropology,
bombs whilst eating vegan curry. There were children.
sociology, Slavonic studies and archaeology. Oh, and
***DISCLAIMER: this was definitely not me or politicized
nursing and social work. Definitely not anything vitally
boy or anyone else I know. No fire doors or any other
017
† dragmag issue one †
So, life goes on. It turns out that adapting to occupation
life isn’t actually that hard; it’s actually quite addictive. It turns out that accomplishing manual or organizational tasks with other people that give visible results and a sense of achievement is good for you. Who knew? The other weird thing that happened is that suddenly loads of famous people were well into the Hetherington. Billy Bragg came to visit, bought us beer and talked more than enough and didn’t play enough songs. He said he didn’t really believe in Marxism anymore and everyone shouted at him. Drama, drama, drama.
Romance has also been a massive factor in the Occupation thus far, although I’m determined that me and Leon do not count as an occupation romance. The occupation seems, currently, to be acting as some kind of dating agency for the left; it’s quite sweet really. That’s another stereotype about the loose left smashed through investigative journalism then.
One genuine shock about the ongoing occupation is the actual existence of right-wing students. They really do exist, here, on your campus, in your neighbourhood. As if fighting the coalition government, smashing patriarchy and overturning the capitalist system wasn’t hard enough,
women in the street in order to have sex with them. This
our occupation has had to deal with intruders, saboteurs
was a reference to the rape of a student that had taken
and agent provocateurs. These detractors have ranged
place a week previously on her way home from the
from the Glasgow University Labour Club to the Politics
Union. A couple of years ago some of their members
Society (both of whom you’d think would know better)
were suspended for trashing their rival Union, beating
but in the main have been located within the walls,
up their members and pissing all over the bar. Instead
both physical and psychological, of another Student
of acknowledging what could be considered endemic,
Union on campus, The Glasgow University Union. The
deeply ingrained behaviour otherwise known as ‘being
G.U.U is the kind of vile institution that most universities
total cunts’ the G.U.U decided in this case to blame ‘the
which have Student’s Associations, as opposed to two
although unsubstantiated, I definitely believe that. About
Unions designed to hate each other, can only dream of.
five years ago it was discovered that the G.U.U ‘Board
Until the late eighties, the G.U.U did not allow women
of Management’ were paying for satellite pornography
And yet, the G.U.U has a very famous friend, a friend
to join the Union and when their hand was forced by
out of their overall budget for running the Union. They
who was once ‘President’ of the Union and is now Rector
the University, the vote was won but with a significant
released a fresher’s information pack in which they
of Glasgow University. A-ha, yes. When he isn’t littering
number voting against the motion. Every year, the Union
included a section about ‘pulling’ which contained
train stations or doing approximately-not-a-huge-amount
hosts a dinner in which it celebrates those who voted
the phrase ‘no means yes, yes means harder’. Current
as Rector then former Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy
against allowing women to join, in which no male person
president made a joke on the G.U.U’s official facebook
can most often be found snuggling up in the G.U.U.
can look at a female waitress or speak to her. There
page in which he suggested that people attending
Despite the G.U.U claiming to be a non-political Union,
are also rumours about them poking women with sticks,
a ‘traffic light party’ to “black up” and sneak up on
they support and run Charles Kennedy’s campaign to be
† dragmag issue one †
rugby club’.
018
re-elected Rector and continue to do not-a-huge-amount.
the time of the emergency services and destruction of
If I was a more cynical person, I would suggest that this
property, during the aftermath, the G.U.U seemed unable
is a relationship of mutual benefit; Kennedy likes to have
to understand why people, especially women, might find
his fingers in as many pints, err, pies as possible and
big, drunk, naked men in close proximity to them in the
the G.U.U get a Freudian Daddy character to look after
middle of the night threatening. Probably because that
their interests, defend their right to be ‘massive lads’ and
kind of behaviour forms the majority of their social life.
smack them on the bare bottom when they go too far.
The G.U.U released a statement which basically said ‘yeah this happened, these people are bad, the rest of
The G.U.U have been a pain in my arse for a very long
the G.U.U are good’. At the time I worked for the student
time. However, when we started the occupation they
newspaper and so I wrote a factual and unbiased article
seemed to take it upon themselves to escalate their
detailing the incident. Below are a section of some of the
regime of dickheadish-ness to new heights. I genuinely
less offensive comments. Enjoy!
think that some of their members actually gave up their relationships, families, social lives and took a year out
“Why what a postmodern display of hilarity. Down with the
from their degrees in order to persecute the occupation.
smelly pooroes who can’t afford the fees. Up with the toffs.”
We had a big meeting (which we organized, publicized and legitimized) about the cuts and that is where the
“Jo Shaw is a massive hypocrite. She and her fellow
real problems start. The G.U.U (A STUDENT’S UNION)
“socialists” are illegally occupying a university building…
refused to speak out and condemn the cuts. Why? I find
Has Miss Shaw ever worked a day in her life to afford
it highly unlikely that there are no nurses, Italian students
the simple luxuries that she is apparently protesting for?
or sociology students within their membership. We were
Or is she still living out of daddy’s pocket, as Mr Shaw
organizing a march on the University Court, which was
continues to pay her rent in the west end of Glasgow,
eventually attended by 2000 people. When asked if he
and supply her with enough cash to enjoy her university
was attending the march, the current president said he
life? Think before you write, Miss Shaw.”
would attend ‘as a history student’. He did not attend the march but instead stood on the steps of his building
“They’ll be begging on the streets for their fees next year.”
looking like he had shat himself wearing a salmon pink tie. Gross.
“Jo’s put her name to this article, therefore she is liable to scrutiny by the reader because of her apparent
So it wasn’t looking good for non-dickhead/G.U.U
impartiality. Would you not scrutinize the author of a
assaulted and hospitalized two students who were
relations on campus thus far. However, at 3.30 am one
column titled “All is well in Libya” by Mr M. Gaddafi if it
standing outside the occupation. We can’t talk much
morning, all was quiet in the Hetherington. Students,
seemed somewhat biased.”
more about that one as criminal prosecution stuff is
some of them women, one a seventeen year-old woman
ongoing. The banner from the Hetherington was stolen
were asleep upstairs. As usual two people were on
We had to delete the ones that gave out my home
and flown from the top of the G.U.U – current president
‘door duty’ in case of eviction. Eight members of the
address, commented on where I went to school and
claims he knows nothing about it, despite being spotted
G.U.U, including some who sit on the internal Board
linked to the website, called for me to ‘immediately resign
on the roof. Hmmm. When people went to politely ask
of Management and a former President, burst into the
and apologize’ (dude I’m not Rupert Murdoch) and
for it back then they were met by a volley of glasses –
Hetherington claiming to be ‘from the Green Party’
asserted that ‘my type’ would never be welcome in the
president claims that the glasses fell over the side of the
(obviously the most left-leaning group they’ve ever heard
G.U.U. I never did work out if that ‘type’ was left-wing, of
turret coincidentally. The meeting that we had after the
of) set off fire alarms and blocked toilets. They were very
Scottish heritage, queer, female or what else.
theft with the current president was the first time in my
drunk and three of the marauders were very, very naked.
Over the next two months the G.U.U graced the
life that I have actually wanted to punch someone in the
Two fire engines quickly arrived. Apart from wasting
Hetherington again when they visited, physically
face, break their nose and watch them bleed. Obviously
019
† dragmag issue one †
that didn’t happen (BECAUSE BEATING PEOPLE UP IS WRONG) but hey, a girl can dream. We never talked it out or resolved our differences, but I’m pretty sure I was issued a lifetime ban on the spot. Proudest. Moment. Ever.
Since then the G.U.U seem to have restricted their vile-ness to the online, keyboard warrior, trolling of the facebook page type. I guess they never got the chance to be geeks when they were younger so they are enjoying their later-life opportunity. One of their favourite arguments is that we think that the occupation represents all students and that it is wrong to do things unless everyone agrees with you. Apart from the worrying willingness to silence minority opinions contained in that mindset, it’s also factually untrue. I have never claimed that all Glasgow University students are militant feminist anarcho-syndicalist anti-capitalists who think that direct
Hetherington back and the anti-cuts flag has been flown
a day. I don’t know what will happen to the occupation
action is a more productive way of improving your life
from the University flagpole’.
or to Glasgow University and we could get evicted again
than representative democracy. I wish they were but that’s for another article.
tomorrow. Higher education is in free fall and a lot of the That is exactly what happened. Realizing they were
time it feels like we’re all fucked. Sometimes the politics of
not just going to get rid of a couple of hundred raging
our lives seem hopeless. At the end of the day, I think the
So, then there was the eviction. On the 22nd of march,
students demanding that senior management were held
Hetherington let people hope again. At the end of the
80 police officers, the police helicopter and the dog
to account about calling the police on their own students,
day, friendships and working relationships were formed
unit, as well as university security, arrived to evict the
they simply caved and gave us the Hetherington back.
that will go on to form the basis of new organizations
occupation without warning. We hadn’t been issued
The press went wild. Even the BBC called the eviction
and actions in Glasgow for a long time. At the end of the
with an eviction notice. We had had no ‘final warning’
‘heavy-handed’. In their classic bullshit management way,
day, I fell in love. That has to count for something right?
from the university. I was at home when the police turned
the principal and his friends have decided to hold the
up and by the time I got there it had escalated to close
Hetherington Enquiry in order that they might pass the
UPDATE: As of today, Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First
roads and to gather a crowd of about 500 outside.
buck in a slightly more official context. Snore.
Minister has condemned Anton Muscatelli for fighting
I’m not afraid to admit that that was a really fucking
with his staff and students for no apparent reason. The
scary day. Eventually the police dragged people from
The eviction attempt was almost two months ago now
Herald Newspaper announced a “stay of execution” and
the building to chants of ‘shame on you’. I suffered a
and the occupation is still here. We just celebrated 100
that no decisions about course cuts are to be made “until
dislocated shoulder after a police officer deliberately
days. Of course sometimes it’s a fucking nightmare.
after the formation of a new Scottish Government. The
twisted my arm back. Students were concussed and
We’ve all given up a lot to make this work, held our
consultation panel recommends not cutting nursing or
hospitalized. Students were arrested, told they were
tongues at times, said things that you would never want
modern languages. Archaeology also escaped the axe.
free to go, then re-arrested during dawn raids at their
to. Things get really hard when you take apart everything
Adult Education looks like it might be safe too. Me and
homes the next day. We thought the occupation was lost
that people are used to and tell them that they can build
Leon continue to love and fuck and fight.
forever. However, 500 people staged a spontaneous
something else. People can be shit and activists are no
march to the principal’s office to protest the violent
different, people can be dull and activists are no different
eviction. Finding him absent, they simply occupied his
and people can be wonderful and activists are no
office. It has nicer views anyway. I was in A&E and I
different. We fight sometimes, all together. Me and Leon
freehetherington.wordpress.com
got a text which simply said ‘they have offered us the
fight about the occupation and about politics about twice
glasgowoccupation@gmail.com
all images courtest of the Glasgow University Guardian
020
PAM HOGG HAS LEFT THE BUILDING 021
† dragmag issue one †
† dragmag issue one †
022
EVERY TIME I TALK TO PAM
Oskar Oprey: Hi Pam. I’d like to start off
Both the Scottish hard work ethic and reputation for
HOGG IT TURNS INTO AN
talking a little bit about your background.
having a good time are certainly in my blood; I go to the
INTERVIEW, BUT I NEVER SEEM
Obviously you are from Scotland, but I’d like
limits with both and am very comfortable with that. I love
TO HAVE A DICTAPHONE TO
to know which part, where you spent your
being a Scot. The romanticism of Scotland has half the
HAND. WE FIRST MET IN A CAFE
childhood? Are you still in close touch with
world claiming a bit of our heritage!
NEAR MILE END SOMETIME LAST
your family?
NOVEMBER. WE DRANK COFFEE,
You gained a place at the Glasgow School of
LUNCHED ON LITTLE QUICHES
Pam Hogg: I was brought up just outside Glasgow in
Art to study printed textiles and fine art. So
AND FLICKED THROUGH COMIC
Renfrew and spent half my childhood in the nearby
what route did you think your career would
BOOKS. WE WERE PLANNING
woodland making up games. I knew the woods inside
take? I mean, were you aiming at becoming a
A PIECE FOR THIS ISSUE; A
out as my Dad used to take me there all the time as a
fashion designer specifically?
RETROSPECTIVE INTERVIEW AND
small child, telling me stories of how each tree and flower
PHOTO SHOOT THAT AIMED
got its name. It was a really safe community, nobody
Becoming a fashion designer was absolutely the furthest
TO ENCAPSULATE THE ESSENCE
locked their doors, but my mother always warned that
thing from my mind. I always thought I’d be a painter,
OF MISS HOGG’S THIRTY
going into the big city was unsafe. Of course, finding
definitely a fine artist of some sort but I wanted to
YEAR CAREER IN FASHION: A
that really exciting I went in as often as I could until we
discipline the emotions I threw onto canvas so I thought
MIX OF RARE ARCHIVE PIECES
eventually moved there. My Mother died a few years
I’d try print where solid quick decisions had to be made
COMBINED WITH WORK
ago but I’m in constant touch with my Father and sister,
to move forward. I leant towards the fashion fabric side
FROM HER MOST RECENT
we’re very close.
of textile printing but there was no fashion department
COLLECTIONS. WHAT FOLLOWS
at the G.S.A. so again I was left to my own devices.
IS THE FRUITION OF OUR PLAN,
Did you consume a lot of fashion and art as a
EXECUTED SIX MONTHS LATER.
teenager? What music did you listen to, and
THE PUBLISHED INTERVIEW WAS
what artists and designers interested you?
CONDUCTED VIA EMAIL JUST AS
Fashion, I suppose, was my destiny.
What was the school like back then? What were your fellow students like and did any of
PAM WAS ABOUT TO LEAVE FOR
I was driven by music: The Stones, Small Faces, Cream,
THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL.
Them, Hendrix, the Doors... I wanted to look like them.
your peers establish careers as well?
I customized all my own clothes from when I was about
It was the most exciting environment I’d ever been in. No
six years old, but I had no concept of fashion. Art was
one from my background had any knowledge of art so
my best subject at school and I was into Giotto and
I had no idea what an Art School was until I was told
the Renaissance. I only found out about Warhol when I
by my Art teacher to apply. Drawing and painting came
discovered The Velvet Underground. I didn’t know much
so naturally that I didn’t place any importance on it. I’d
about fashion, I still don’t. Back then the only designers
always won the prizes, but when I got to the G.S.A. I
I’d really heard about were Jean Muir and Mary Quant.
was blown away by people my own age doing amazing things with mediums that I’d never encountered. All this
023
We Scots have a tendency to be proud of
energy and talent woke me up to the significance of my
our own achievers – your retrospective at
own creative ability and the potential of it growing within
Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery boasted the
such an inspiring space. The Mackintosh building itself
highest number of attendance’s the museum
had me gasping; it’s a true work of genius. We had full
ever had. Do you think your nationality is an
access to the building and utilized it. I spent days in the
important part of your work and personality,
Library and the ‘Hen Run’ at the top of the Mackintosh
or do you think that patriotism is a bit old-
overlooking the city. We were really lucky back then as
fashioned?
I hear the Library is now a museum and pretty much out
† dragmag issue one †
of bounds except to tourists! Many of the best students
creative energy in Glasgow. Greatly needed cash flow
This issue of Dragmag draws heavily on the
in my year I’m sure went on to do great things, but there
helped the city get back on its feet but the art and music
idea of the psycho-geography of London, and
was no emphasis on, or desire for, an established career.
scene was always there. Bands were on every night in
how the city has an effect on the people who
I was the only one who went onto the Royal College
bars across the city. I saw Alex Harvey once, he was
live here. You ended up in London to study
of Art and down to London so we all eventually drifted
unbelievable, the incentive for everyone in Scotland to
at the Royal College. What was your initial
apart.
be in a band. Everybody played some kind of music
reaction to the city? What are your likes and
or opened up their flats to parties to play or listen to it.
dislikes about London? Why did you choose
This was at a time when Glasgow wasn’t
There were great low key clubs but we always ended up
to make it your home, and where are your
necessarily the cultural hub that it is regarded
Disco twisting in the Legendary Maestro’s at some point
favorite off-beat places to hang out?
as today – what was the case in the late
in the week. There wasn’t much fashion to speak of, and
seventies? Was there much of an art and
no fashion department in the school but all departments
I’d been to London several times so it wasn’t new to me.
fashion scene at the time? What bands were
joined in on a tongue in cheek fashion show every year,
My enrolment at the RCA was the reason for my move
around and what nightlife?
and that’s where I first found my platform. I discovered at
from Scotland, but my connection to the vibrancy of the
the last minute that your ideas had to be put forward to a
city and nightlife was the reason I stayed here. Punk and The Blitz Club had me dusting off my sewing machine as my thirst for clothes and dressing up became vital again. London has changed dramatically since I first came. There were loads of fabulous places to go to but quite a small scene in comparison to the hoards that now descend here trying to capture the spirit of that time without any of the passion necessary for its success. I avoid central London like the plague on the weekends, and Shoreditch for that matter as although there’s a pocket of great clubs and a few fantastic bars like the George it’s just full of screaming crowds.The Horrors have a great little scene and I often go to their nights. David and Pablo have wicked parties at their restaurant Bistrotheque in E2, and other friends put on low key clubs that still have the appeal to drag me out, but I don’t go out every night of the week anymore, that’s well in the past.
You staged your first collection in 1981, can you talk a bit about this – what were the clothes like, and what was the initial response?
I was really just tampering in 1981. I printed my own 1990 saw a great change in Glasgow when we won
committee. I was amazed to be given something like £20
fabric and made a few pieces with a Renaissance feel to
City of Culture. I was sitting on Terry Wogan’s lap being
to buy fabric for my entry as they all wanted the trouser
them, gold print onto pastel colours. I made up the same
interview alongside Mark McManus, welcoming the
suit I designed. Looking back it was quite Chanel like,
styles in stiff plain black and pink silks. I had no idea
swing of funds back from our rival city, but before that
very simple fitted blazer type jacket and slightly flare
how to do fastenings so I decided to punch everything
there was always a gritty, determined, undeniable and
trousers in dark navy blue with white trim.
with eyelets and lace them up. There were only about ten
† dragmag issue one †
024
pieces but I sold the whole collection to a shop on South
And this was the beginning of what would be
think of fashion as art? I mean in the way that
Molton St. called Chatters. The shop kept me on and I
a very successful decade for you, but then you
Hussein Chalayan presents his work as a fine
followed with a gypsy inspired collection in bright silks
suddenly switched careers and became a full-
art / fashion hybrid?
with black lace overlay. That collection also sold really
time musician. Had you planned to do this?
well and kept me stitching forever, but I found out it had
I think through my ideas as an artist and execute them in
been copied in its entirety in cheaper fabrics and was
No. I’d been on tour for a couple of weeks with my
that manner, but I also see the fashion comicality in many
selling by the masses in Top Shop.
boyfriend who was in Pig Face and they invited me on
of my pieces. Although we’re very different designers I
My first fashion show was around 1984 in Hyper Hyper,
stage in Nashville when they heard that I could sing. I’d
think Hussein has a similar outlook and most of his work
it was a group show and again I’d only about a dozen
forgotten just how amazing it was to be on stage and
I see as art. When fashion is as inventive, innovative and
pieces but I was given the coveted finale slot. It was
determined to have no regrets, decided there and then
as personal as his work then it stands up to the title of
called Psychedelic Jungle and I printed silver onto stretch
that I’d go back to music for a few years. I just left the
fine art, but not all fashion is Art.
velvet Lycra, cotton and jersey. Apart from my unit in
building – no announcements. I showed my last collection
Hyper it sold in Harrods, Harvey Nichols and Joseph in
and at the end of that season closed up shop. My return
You and your clothes present an image of
London, and to the two most prominent shops in NY at
fifteen years later came in a trickle of whispers then a
strong, empowering women: would you
the time, Bloomingdales and Bendel’s. They all ordered
sudden bang with Susannah Frankle’s opening line for an
describe yourself as a feminist?
enough to display in their windows as being still without
article in The Independent: “Andy Warhol would have
production I had to hand make them all completely by
loved Pam Hogg”.
myself and thereforecouldn’t supply anymore.
and the strength great ones possess, whether silent Whilst we’re on the subject of Warhol; do you
025
No, I’ve never seen myself as a feminist, I love women
All clothes by Pam Hogg
or outspoken. I conduct myself in a way that often
“I’M MORE FRANCES FARMER THAN GERMAINE GREER.” challenges the alpha male but I was never the bra
and the system is exploitative. What are your
show-time as if I’m out partying I wouldn’t be looking at
burning type. I hate injustice; I fight my own turf and
thoughts?
my e-mails when I got home!
I think that interns should be on a 3 to 6 month
How has the current economic climate affected
placement and that it should be part of their education.
you, are people buying less, or is high end
Throughout most of your early career,
My students get to work with me hands on and are never
fashion unaffected? Can we expect an
Margaret Thatcher was in power. Did her
subject to just running errands. They learn everything I do
austerity collection?
looming presence over Britain at that time
and gain very good grades from the tough and in depth
have any relation to your work and train of
experience they receive from me.
I’ve always worked in austere conditions. I’ve never had
thought both in your designs and your music?
I hear tales of interns being sent out to buy personal
a financial backer, personal assistant or pattern cutters
shopping for the assistants of the designer’s assistants.
and seamstresses at my beck and call. I’ve always made
I tried to think of her as least often as I could. I never
I find that abhorrent and feel that in these situations the
do, so I’m hoping that soon I can indulge and be able
saw her as a strong woman, just a manipulator and
colleges should step in and the placement terminated.
to show what I’m really capable of doing without money
more madman than Madame. I’ve never been outspoken
I take on the maximum amount of interns I feel can
worries.
politically as that’s for others more knowledgeable and
help in the studio and also gain experience. So far a
articulate in the field. For me Elvis Costello’s ‘Tramp the
maximum of three students working full time and perhaps
And what do you feel the current mood is?
Dirt Down’ said it all.
one as part time has been sufficient, and I’ve have had
Is this a bad time for fashion, or do you feel
no one else working with me except them.
optimistic?
hope that by example it brings about change. I’m more Frances Farmer than Germaine Greer.
Coming back to the fashion scene, I suppose
Every one of my students is given work associated to the
the main concern with most young fashion
makeup of garments or patterns and all that is required
I’m generally optimistic, my energy and creativity would
designers is how to break into what is a very
for a show. They get to see what I do first hand. I’ve
die otherwise. What’s bad for others is not necessarily
difficult and uncertain industry. Is it as cliquish
heard of studios taking on over twenty interns, this should
the same for me. I came back with a really positive
as it appears from the outside? What has your
be questioned and if they are not learning in some way
collection in 2009 when everyone was saying fashion
own experience been like in the last few years
then they shouldn’t be on the placement. There are many
was on a downward spiral. I work against the odds, but
and how has the landscape changed?
occasions where running errands is part of the everyday
I’d like to be in a position soon where I can do whatever
studio work, as is cleaning up, but taking students on
I like unhindered by finances and therefore be given a
I’ve always found it difficult as I never went the fashion
knowing that they will be sitting around all day in case
chance to explore my full creative potential.
school route and don’t know the “ins” to get things done.
they are needed to do things like personal shopping is
I’m very well accepted by my fans and peers but perhaps
totally unacceptable and exploitative.
What are your plans for the near future? How do you break up the six months between each
not the establishment as I’ve had no encouragement from the BFC as yet, so no one should get disheartened. There
I get e-mails from you at 5.30 am - how do
are more than enough ways to enter the fashion arena
you structure your day? Are you methodical,
now and if you really belong in fashion you’ll fight till the
with plans and timetables, or do you just
I can’t go near the studio for at least six weeks after a
end to find a way. I’m totally unorthodox in my way of
follow your creative instinct?
show as I work intensely over a short period of time, and
working and its becoming more and more acceptable to
collection?
there’s always the aftermath to clear up and I can’t bare
be that way now, but it poses even more hurdles that you
I have no fixed timetables. I may start at 2.00 pm and
that. I party and/or hibernate for a while, this allows the
have to face. It’s a tough business.
finish at 9.00 pm or start at 10.00 am and finish at
creative clock to start ticking again…
4.00pm, I may not go in to the studio at all for a few I wanted to talk about internships, as it is a
days, but I’m always aware of when it’s necessary to be
sticky subject at the moment in the fashion
there and often at show time will work solidly there for
and media industry. Many people believe
weeks at a time only going home for about 3 hours sleep
that interns should be paid minimum wage,
a night. If I’m e-mailing at 5.00am then it’ll be during
† dragmag issue one †
026
UTOPIA Photographed by Jeff Hahn ,QZMK\ML Ja 3ÜMZIV 8IZ\Q[M Styled by Pam Hogg
Lakiza wears net and patent leather layered bustle dress AW 2010, quiff net headdress AW 2011, thigh high patent leather boots SS 2010, Sarah wears mesh paneled catsuit AW 2011, beaded cape AW 2000, pompom headdress SS 2011
Felix wears black full-length wool coat AW 2011, leather choker AW 2007, leather trousers AW 2000, Irene wears black sequin coat and ball cape headdress AW 2011, short patent leather boots SS 2010
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â&#x20AC; dragmag issue one â&#x20AC;
032
Sarah wears Madonna whore catsuit in mesh satin and fox fur AW 2010, white patent leather studded ankle strap shoes SS 2010 Charlotte wears white fox fur and chiffon cape AW 2010, beaded high waist shorts SS 2010, white patent leather shoes SS 2010 Irene wears white studded patent leather and chiffon cape with shorts SS 2010, white and silver patent leather choker AW 2007, white leather ankle strap shoes SS 2010
Sarah wears pale blue velvet bustier and strap trouser set SS 1989, black chiffon cape AW 2010, silver knickers AW 1992, silver leather cuffs AW 1988, silver leather shoes SS 2010 Felix wears pale blue rabbit fur jacket AW 2001, parachute trousers SS 2000, shoes models own
+PIZTW\\M _MIZ[ JTIKS IVL _PQ\M TaKZI SQ\\MV []Q\ _Q\P ÅVM VM\ J][\TM ;; ÅVM VM\ IVL [I\QV K]NN[ ;; Ted wears black studded cotton satin suit SS 2010, pompom headdress SS 2011, black stud choker SS 2000, black canvas boots SS 2010
Charlotte wears red and black lycra kitten suit AW 2010, black patent leather boots with cuff SS10, Hogg knuckle dusters AW 2009 Irene wears red fringe top and knickers SS 1988, choker AW 2009, short patent leather boots SS 2010
037
â&#x20AC; dragmag issue one â&#x20AC;
Lakiza wears gold leather off the shoulder long split side dress with attached knickers AW 2001, double pompom headdress SS 2011, gold boots SS 2010 Ted wears silver and gold leather trouser suit AW 2007, gold chain choker SS 2006 Sarah wears gold leather bustier and strap set SS 1989, gold boots SS 2010 Charlotte wears gold paneled ball gown AW 2011, gold boots SS 2010
Produced by The Conceptionist theconceptionist.com Make up by Adam Burrell and Kaori Mitsuyasu both using Mac Cosmetics Make up assistants: Leah Mabe and Meme Kosaka Hair by Yoshitaka Miyazaki using Bumble and Bumble Hair assistant: Atsushi Hayashi 5WLMT[" 4ISQbI I\ 8ZWÅTM +PIZTW\\M 8ITTQ[\MZ ;IZIP 5IZ[PITT 1ZMVM 8IVQIO]I .MTQ` *]RW IVL <ML ;\IV[ÅMTL ITT I\ , )[[Q[\IV\[" 5I\\PM_ ,]NNa IVL -TMVWZM ,M[VW[ ?Q\P ;XMKQIT <PIVS[ \W *MZVQKM *ZWJJMa ,I^QL ;QMJWTL[ IVL 4]SM .Wa † dragmag issue one †
038
FAG NAZIS, FARTING ASSHOLES 039
† dragmag issue one †
MARK THER INTERVIEWED BY TRAVIS JEPPESEN The first time I saw Mark Ther’s work was when I was
the American tighty-whitey underwear), we have still
video/film “I hate . . .what?” There I used the Czech
living in Prague in the aughts. I guess I must have
remained friends over the years.
language in monologue. They love it.
really miss him, actually, because he was always
Travis Jeppesen: Are you some kind of Nazi, or
That’s right. Wasn’t that your first film using
the snappiest dresser in town. Considering the ultra-
what?
the Czech language?
time, he really got away with a lot, fashioning himself
Mark Ther: Hmmm, that’s a question for everybody I
Yes, it was... I guess West Europe prefers Slavic
in unashamedly bright hues, matching patterns, and
guess. Think about it. I can say I’ve used a lot of Nazi
languages... Maybe they feel like its exotic or something.
colored spectacles, with pink make-up campily clashing
symbols and a lot of atmosphere from this period in my
with his pale features. The overall effect was a bit like
work. But we know it’s simply a beautiful, cool, cliché
You’ve lived in Prague your entire life. Do
PeeWee Herman meets Bambi Lake, though the style
style. You can’t say it’s not true . . . . Beautiful boys,
you think that the city of Prague plays an
was completely Mark’s own. At a time when there was
haircuts, uniforms, landscape and architecture. I can’t
important role in your identity as an artist? Do
virtually no public dialogue on homosexuality, let alone
say this about neo-Nazis, though. I guess that’s totally
you see yourself as more of a Prague artist, a
queer issues, Mark, who was still an art student at the
different. Do you think I’m some kind of Nazi, or what?
Czech artist, or neither?
binary while loudly asserting his own faggotry in the
No, of course not! I just wanted to provoke
Oh boy, I don’t care if I’m a Prague artist or a Czech
face of a repressed populace still traumatized by the
you. But wasn’t there some controversy about
artist or whatever. I have to say I hate Prague and I
totalitarian norms that had been systematically imposed
your exhibition at Prague’s Old Town Hall a
would like to feel like a German artist. Is it possible? Let
upon them.
few years back? I thought some of the older
me know.
seen him around before I saw his work. You couldn’t
conformist atmosphere of post-Communist Europe at that
time, forged a public persona that challenged the gender
members of the curatorial staff didn’t want Eventually, I was invited for a studio visit by Mark
the exhibition to take place because they
Well, after living in Prague for five years, my
and Ondrej Brody, an artist with whom he frequently
misunderstood the intentions behind your
impression was that the Czechs are a lot more
collaborated during his student years. The first video they
work.
nationalistic than the Germans. This is even true in the art scene, I find. I noticed that most
showed blew me away—in more than just a figurative sense; shot in night vision, Night Shots comprised an
Yes, there was. The Czech curator Olga Malá from
Czech artists were content to stay and work
extended series of close-ups of Brody’s farting asshole.
Galerie Hlavního Mesta Prahy had a problem with the
in Prague, even though there might be better
Finally, I had found some local artists doing work I could
symbols in the work. I was totally surprised, considering
opportunities elsewhere.
viscerally relate to—art with a capital ‘F’.
the fact that she’d been around during the period I
As his short films and video art began to attract a larger
explore in my video.
audience, Mark’s work shifted from an exploration
I have no idea, you’d know better than me. . . I don’t care.
of camp aesthetics to a concern with larger historical
Since so much of your recent work has dealt
issues—all the while retaining his position as one of
with Czech-German relations, I’m curious as to
Why did you have me killed in the video
the most controversial and provocative contemporary
how the reactions of people have differed in
Hanes?
artists in Central Europe. His most recent work explores
each country.
homoeroticism among Nazi soldiers as well as the
Because you left me alone here in Prague when you guys
strained relationship between Czechs and Germans that
My darling, me also. Well, I haven’t yet gotten so many
moved to Berlin. Before you left, I had wanted to shoot
came about as a result of Czechoslovakia’s expulsion
reactions from my recent work. I guess here in the Czech
this movie with you and Mario, but you guys were too
of ethnic Germans from the Sudetenland following the
Republic, people know what I mean, what I want to
busy. I was totally angry. So I shot Hanes with different
Second World War.
say, and also they know me as an artist. And German
actors. I used your names, though, and killed you.
viewers, I guess with this kind of topic, they are still more Even though Mark decided to have me and my ex-
sensitive than the Czechs, but also they don’t care about
I would say that ever since Der Kleine Blonde,
boyfriend—or actually, the actors who played us—
Sudeten Germans. It’s up to the Czech Republic . . . and
your work has been gravitating away from
murder each other in his short film Hanes (named after
I think they prefer the Slavic style. Do you remember my
traditional video art towards more filmic
† dragmag issue one †
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† dragmag issue one †
I hate 2kugel
042
043
mc a ah, hanes boys, be quiet thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a cow farting in the stable, i will feet, burger und ther
“I HAVE TO SAY, I HATE PRAGUE AND I WOULD LIKE TO FEEL LIKE A GERMAN.” narratives. Why do you continue to show your work in the gallery context? Do you feel that this is where your work belongs, or will you move towards cinema and feature filmmaking at some point in the future?
You think so? I have to say that that was my first experience shooting with a professional cameraman. I had never used one before. The question is what is “traditional video art and filmic narrative?” Where is the border between video and film? You are right. I don’t want to continue showing my films in boring galleries. Actually, you don’t get a lot of chances to show your work. It’s a little bit hard to get into festivals with this kind of work. But maybe it’s a good place to remain, between galleries and festivals/cinemas, showing narrative-based work in these spaces... What do you think?
I guess I’m interested in the potential challenge that your work might pose in a cinematic context. I’ve actually never seen any of your films in a cinema, only in galleries. The gallery is, in a way, too much of a “safe space” for the viewer; if she doesn’t like the piece or gets bored, she can just get up and leave, move on to the next work of art. Whereas in the cinema, there is nowhere else to go, really,
to these themes been in the Czech Republic? Would you say that the Czech art scene is still pretty macho and heterosexist, or has it been changing in recent years?
and so there’s more of an expectation to endure whatever it is you’ve paid to watch.
I guess the biggest gay center is Berlin. You made a good decision to move. Well, it’s hard to find gay topics
Of course...
in Czech art in Prague or the Czech Republic. These days you can find more young gay artists, but not many.
You are perhaps the only Czech artist to have explored issues of homosexuality and gender in your work. What has the reception
hand made, der kleine blond
044
045
ruhe im stalle teich, was fur material!
THE WORLD OF MARK THER
After a long hard day at work, Mark Ther returns home
Gets rid of the boy altogether in favour of moving close-
Two dead faggots in their Prague apartment. They
but he can’t find his pets Otto und Garfield anywhere.
ups of the interior of said car, to the soundtrack of “Two
wanted to move to Berlin, but they never made it there.
Turns out they are in the bedroom watching gay porn!
of Hearts” by Stacey Q.
Their names were Mario Dzurila and Travis Jeppesen.
What’s an astounded artist to do? He sits down and joins
They killed each other in their Hanes...
them.
Two gorgeous young gay boys explore every inch of
Purportedly made in 1983 (when Ther would have been
Gay love lives of the Hitler Youth. Tonguing the flame.
their tender young bodies until an unexpected brown
a small child) and titled simply Maria Callas, the opera
Running through the fields, Nazi flag in hand. Pissing on
invader disrupts their pornographic games.
singer is seen emerging from a building in Paris and
crosses and licking it off. They are happy to know each
walking down the street, while a handheld camcorder
other...
shakily records her movements.
Who is Burger? Who is Ther? They’re artists, snappy
A fetishised pair of magic spectacles enables two artists
As children we spend a lot of time waiting. Oftentimes,
dressers, and badass dancers who are on a mission to
Mark Ther and Ondrej Brody, to see the world through
we are forced to wait in the backseat of a parked car
make you lose your mind.
one another’s eyes.
while the adults in our lives go about fulfilling their day to day obligations. Sometimes, we create entire universes in the backseats of those cars.
† dragmag issue one †
046
I HAVE A FRIEND WHOSE EX WORKS FOR A WELL KNOWN PORN COMPANY. THEY SOMETIMES USED HIS BEDROOM FOR HARDCORE GAY PORN SHOOTS, AND I REMEMBER HIM COMPLAINING ABOUT THE ACTORS GETTING SPUNK ALL OVER HIS EXPENSIVE LIBERTY THROW. FINDING THIS HILARIOUS, I DECIDED I WANTED TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SEEMINGLY NORMAL HOMES THAT ARE USED AS LOCATIONS FOR DIRTY MOVIES. I MUST HAVE EMAILED A DOZEN PORN COMPANIES, EVENTUALLY RECEIVING AN INVITE FROM THE CO-DIRECTOR OF BEN DOVER. I VISITED HIS NORTH LONDON HOME ONE DAY IN APRIL WITH THE PHOTOGRAPHER AND ARTIST PAUL KNIGHT. THE THREE OF US HAD A LONG CHAT OVER COFFEE, BEFORE PAUL SLIPPED INTO THE LIVING ROOM TO TAKE SOME PHOTOS, AS THIS HAD RECENTLY BEEN THE LOCATION OF THE COMPANY’S LATEST ADVENTURE: ‘BEN’S GOT THE TALENT’.
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PORNO INTERIORS
photography by Paul Knight
048
I always think the less my wife knows the better… I
gone into catering too. Most people aren’t in it for that
me and makes me more liable’ – and it’s true if you want
have a deal with her that we don’t shoot any porn here,
long, those two became very established actors and got
to become the next Big Brother contestant. You’ve got
and I feel slightly bad about it. We’ve only ever used
their own brands, I think Mario had his own films. A lot
someone there asking what you’ve done at the auditions.
this place when something else fell through at the last
of them made their names and became famous… I use
‘I’ve been a secretary’. ‘And what have you done?’ ‘Oh
minute, it sometimes happens... If you’ve arranged a
famous in the loosest terms. They made these films and
I’ve been in a Ben Dover film’. They think right yeah
shoot especially for a company like Playboy, they’ve
then moved on. A lot of the women that are quite well
that’s a tick in the box. So maybe that’s an element.
hired a cameraman, they’ve arranged the actors and
known in the porn industry nowadays have probably
Maybe a lot of them just like sex. Believe it or not there
then suddenly you haven’t got a location and they’ve
done Ben Dover films to begin with.
are women out there who do like sex. I have a friend, a
spent a lot of money. You’ve done the best part of a
lovely woman called Anna Span who is a really famous
thousand pounds, so if you lose your location you’ll still
Why do people decide to star in porn? It’s a good
porn director. Her real name is Anna Harrison, and she
have to pay those people. So if it’s your fault and you’ve
question but one that you’ve really got to direct to the
stood for the Liberal Democrats at the last election. She’s
lost the location then they’re not going to be too happy
actors themselves. It’s curious to me because there’s
a feminist and is very intelligent, and I would assume
and you might risk losing bigger contracts in the future.
not actually that much money in porn - but maybe they
- but I’d have to ask her this - that her take on it is that
So if something falls through then this place is a reserve.
consider it a lot of money. Some of the actresses earn
for women to do porn is freedom for them. If a woman
We’ve only ever shot in the lounge, and we did a shoot
about three hundred pounds for a scene. I suppose to
wants to do porn then yeah she can do it. No one forces
recently - one guy and one girl. The guy that we use a lot
earn that much for a few hours doing something that
her to and we never have to approach women; we
just now is called Peter O’Toole. He’s become the new…I
you enjoy is good money. With some they want to be
constantly get emails and phone calls from girls that want
don’t know if you remember the old ones – we had
the next reality TV star. TV shows like Big Brother have
to be in a Ben Dover film. People talk about the porn
Pascal, Mario and the Bonking Belgian. Pascal is now a
had a huge effect. They want a piece of that and they
industry being exploitative, but who is actually exploiting
waiter in Wimbledon, last time I heard. Mario I think has
think ‘maybe if I get involved in porn that differentiates
who? Are the women exploiting the men or are the men
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† dragmag issue one †
exploiting the women? From what I can see the people we deal with, the people that are in it are in it because they want to be. If you want to be in something how can you be exploited?
Ben Dover’s real name is Simon Lindsay James Honey. Older people know him as Steve Perry and think that’s his actual name. When he first started out thirty years ago, if he had used the name Lindsay Honey (because he prefers to be known as Lindsay) then his films wouldn’t have sold as much because it sounds like a woman’s name. And once you sounded like a woman in those days people would think the movies would be all sort of arty farty and nice and romantic – people wanted real down and dirty up the arse kind of stuff. So he used a stage name. It’s quite the opposite now; a woman being a producer will sell more because it’s become more fashionable. He started using the name Ben Dover about twenty years ago but he’s been in porn for thirty years. I’ve told this story so many times; he left school at sixteen and didn’t know what he was doing. He wanted to be a musician and looked a bit like Rod Stewart - he’s very much into his music. He got a summer season at New Quay, I think they had a Butlins down there. He had a great time. Then the summer season finished and one of the guys in the band said ‘Oh I’ve got a job at a bar in Soho do you wanna join me?’ He was seventeen by then I think. He went down there and it was a strip show. They were always looking for the next musicians. He never went to Soho to get into porn, he was there for music. And I think then what happened is he was looking through Stage magazine for his next job, and in the classified section it said ‘Models Needed: Male and Female’. Lindsay literally had no idea what it was about and he went down there and he said ‘What am I supposed to be doing?’. They said ‘Well here’s a girl’, Swedish girl or whatever, ‘We’ll pay you one hundred pounds to have sex with her’. And he says ‘You’ll pay me one hundred pounds to have sex with this girl?’ They said ‘Yeah that’s the job’. He was just like ‘Wow’. He did the business and he found an aptitude for that. He was physically able to do it which most men aren’t. He
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051
a still from ‘Ben’s Got The Talent’, courtesy of the Adult Channel
“WE’VE ONLY EVER USED THIS PLACE WHEN SOMETHING ELSE FELL THROUGH AT THE LAST MINUTE, IT SOMETIMES HAPPENS...”
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052
“ALL THE GIRLS AR got more involved in the adult stuff and it was purely to
brought the level down, so when he came on they’d all
to prison. He was clearing out the office after they’d all
supplement his income when he couldn’t get music gigs.
be sympathetic and be like ‘Aw lets look after him’. He’d
been put away, and he found the mailing list and thought
As time went on he got more and more work through the
make out he was really nervous. But as the minutes went
‘Ok maybe I’ll give it a go’. But the police addresses
adult industry that was far more lucrative than the music
on – it was a pure act – he’d get more confident and then
were still on the mailing list. So he did it himself - he built
world. So the whole idea of the porn was really just a
whip his cock out. It worked.
it up, and once he built it up the police then finally got
case of… until he made it big with the music he’d be in porn. And he never made it big in music. He was in – do
him and I think he was in prison for about six months. Then what happened was a company he was working
After he got out; this is probably about twenty years ago, he met a guy named John Stagliano who is best known as ‘Butt Man’ in America. He’s pretty well known, there was some press about him a few years ago. He went to Brazil, and he was a very silly boy because he took one of the street girls, a transvestite and had sex without any protection and caught Aids. Twenty years ago this John Stagliano came to the UK, but he didn’t want to bring all his film crew over. He needed someone here to be his assistant, and while he was filming Lindsay became his sidekick. He learned a lot, he was amazed by the way Stagliano was doing it with this Gonzo kind of idea – the way he was holding the camera the whole set up. It was this real life kind of thing. He realized that he had to create a character; it’s not strictly about porn. You can sell a porno, but maybe not the next one. But if you create a character then people will follow the adventures of that character. He was trying to think of a new stage name, and on the cover of one of Stagliano’s films there was a line like ‘All the girls are bending over’. He’s looking at it, and there it was: Ben Dover…
He’s in every single film – he might not actually perform you remember the Bay City Rollers? They were doing a
for got busted. This was in the days when making porn
in every one, but he’s there. When we did the one for
Japanese tour and needed a drummer last minute, and
was illegal. In fact porn was only made legal in 93 or
Playboy last week, he didn’t perform but he was the
Lindsay came in and they did this Japanese tour. They
94 in the UK. Before then companies would distribute
cameraman. But he’s not just the cameraman – he’s
were really big in Japan. And then he carried on in
secretly through private mailing lists. Some of the
talking over it etc. It’s the Ben Dover show. I should note
Soho. He would do a Rod Stewart impression because
addresses on the mailing lists were used by undercover
that I myself have never actually been in any of the films.
he looked like Rod Stewart back in the day. He’d do
CID officers and they were all arrested. It was so funny
these women’s nights in clubs; the first half would be
because when the police raided it – Lindsay was still
At the time we met I was involved in Telecom sales and
him impersonating Rod Stewart, doing a Rod Stewart
young, only like 19 or 20 - they asked him who he was
still am, selling international minutes and cheap calls.
act. At the interval the host would say to the audience
and what was he doing there. He said ‘Oh I’m just the
The nineties were a real booming time in London and it
‘Look we’re really sorry but the stripper who’s booked for
office boy’ and they said ‘OK let him go’, which was
was in effect an easy sale. I then ended up launching
second half hasn’t shown up. But we’ve had a word with
ridiculous because had they bothered to watch the
the first ever Polish based chat service. What we used to
the Rod Stewart guy and he’s agreed to step forward just
films they’d realize that he was the guy starring in all of
call ‘wank and spank lines’. It did OK. It didn’t last too
this once’. It was all a spoof, but what that did is kind of
them! And he got away with it and everyone else went
long, because other people started doing it cheaper but
053
† dragmag issue one †
RE BENDING OVER!” I had a couple of really good years out of it and it gave
up and said ‘Oh I’ve had a fire at my warehouse and
me a springboard into the adult market. I never thought
all the evidence has been destroyed’. So he opted out
of myself as a pornographer, but I started looking at
with nothing, but it still cost Lindsay about 20-25 grand.
content and text messaging. I had actresses outside
He never got any of that back, and that’s the thing that
football stadiums giving out cards. They acted really
was very painful because he knew it was his mistake. He
unprofessional, but that was deliberate: ‘My name’s
should have registered the logo; it only costs about fifty
Ella, I’ve just arrived in the UK and I’m looking for new
pounds to do. So… then, well we’d worked together for a
friends’. They would give the cards to these guys, who
year and a half, even though we’d had that aggravation.
would then give them a call, but it would actually go
He said you come with me and we’ll go online, and
to some bureau. It was normally a bunch of gay guys
we both became 50-50 owners in the company. So
down in Brighton who played the roles. I always found
probably for the last four years we’ve been partners. Our
that quite amusing, and it did OK. Very interesting when
sex toys do quite well; we’ve got a sex toy range as well
you read some of the scripts. It was all done through
as a clothing range. We also did quite well selling cock
text messaging. Before it was voice but then everyone
ties. I just can’t get my head around why anyone would
wanted to do it through text messaging. It became less
want to wear one. I try to talk people out of the cock ties.
and less personalized, so then you didn’t need girls to
the years just by having my cock sucked, and it’s selling’.
be on the end of the phone. So these punters who were
He was in his late forties at that point. He said ‘What I
In Lindsay’s loft we found two hundred of these horrible
texting thought they were through to Veronica from
really need is a young entrepreneur like yourself to take
ties. They had been there for years; he’d bought them at
Poland, but it was actually Gary from Derbyshire. It’s
it on’. We sat down a couple of weeks after and cut a
some car boot sale for about ten pence each. He said
wrong but it’s funny. I remember reading one script and
deal.
‘Aw let’s try and sell these’. It was horrible and they were
the first message this guy sent was ‘Hi, it’s Roy; I met
disgusting. He said ‘What to do is stick these on the
you outside Arsenal tonight. I know you’re not real but I
The first thing that I did was look at the copyright side
website and when we go to the trade shows let’s try and
thought I’d text you anyway’. He knew it was all fake, but
of the brand and realized that Ben Dover’s logo was
sell some because my wife is sick of them. We’ve got to
was curious. And the reply was ‘I’ve just felt my breast
actually owned by some guy based in Manchester. So
get rid of them’. Everywhere we went people wanted to
and it feels quite real to me’. And he sent one back ‘Oh
I phoned Lindsay up and said ‘Do you know this guy?’,
buy them! Yes they’d buy the T-shirts and all the things
you are real’... and then one hundred and seventy five
he says ‘No’ and I say ‘Well legally he’s Ben Dover not
we’d spent money on, but the thing that sold the most
pounds later...
you’. He says ‘Well don’t be ridiculous you know I’m
was the cock ties. At the beginning we’d sold them for
Ben Dover, everyone knows who I am’. I said ‘I might
a fiver to try and get rid of them, then I put it up to ten
Lindsay and I originally met at a Trade convention.
know who you are but the logo has been registered by
pounds and people were still buying them, so at the
He said he had just signed a deal with an American
someone else and he’s asking for a million pounds to
shows I ended up putting the price up to twenty pounds.
company, we chatted a bit and he said ‘Here, have a
give it up’. He had registered it across all classifications
I refuse to get anymore made. There is a lot of money to
Ben Dover T-shirt’. And I said ‘Oh yeah they’re OK, what
and Lindsay literally knew nothing about it. I come from
be made but they’re just not what I wanted to put in. We
do you wholesale them for?’ He says ‘What do you
a more corporate environment and that would always
wanted to turn this into a quality brand comparable to
mean wholesale?’ I said well obviously you are selling
have been the first thing I’d do. It eventually got taken
Playboy, and we wanted to make some real good quality
these as part of the brand. He said ‘No I’ve just made
to court. This guy had to prove he had been using the
stuff. And what did they want: an ugly cock tie.
fifty for the show, just to give out to my friends and now
Ben Dover brand. He said he’d produced clothing and
I’ve only got 49 left’. I said ‘Have you ever thought about
merchandise. I think just before the court case was about
marketing the brand because it’s pretty obvious to me
to commence he said ‘I’ll sell it for one hundred grand’.
that your traditional market is finished or pretty much on
And we offered him, I think it was five grand – and that
the decline? Have you ever thought about extending the
was our maximum. It wasn’t that he had any case it was
Ben Dover brand into other things?’ He said ‘Yeah I’ve
just to stop this – the solicitor was two hundred pounds
thought about it but I’ve made a very good living over
an hour! On the day of the court case he never turned
Lindsay wearing one of his famous cock ties
ben-dover.biz, ben-dover.com
054
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059
† dragmag issue one †
JOHN WATERS: IS NOT ON FACEBOOK JOHN WATERS IS LIKE A
Oskar Oprey: Hi John.
if you ask me “who was the last person you slept with?”
TRASHY OCTOPUS, WITH HIS
John Waters: Hi how are you? Nice to see you. Sitting by
I’m not going to tell you.
TENTACLES IN MANY PIES; HE’S
this LA fire. A very ‘LA’ fire isn’t it? Like Valentino’s living
OK can we ask you at what age did you lose
A FILMMAKER, JOURNALIST,
room.
your virginity? Can you remember?
ARTIST, ACTOR, LECTURER
Have you ever been?
I’m trying to think - 12 or 13...
AND MEDIA PERSONALITY.
No but Valentino, the silent star, he always had fake
Oh really. Man or woman?
FORTY YEARS AGO HE WOULD
flames. I know people in LA who have these sort of fires.
I’ll let that one go.
HAVE BEEN 26 YEARS OLD
OK, so on the subject of fakes, I wanted to ask
Yeah? OK.
AND EMBARKING ON THE
you - are you on Facebook? Perhaps under a
One of the two....that’s my answer to everything.
FILM THAT WOULD MAKE HIM
pseudonym?
Not an animal though?
FAMOUS: PINK FLAMINGOS.
Well there’s ‘fake me’. I’ve never looked at Facebook in
No (laughs).
IN THOSE DAYS HE HAD LONG
my entire life.
What’s the likely-hood of browsing amateur
GREASY HAIR AND WORE AN
I’m friends with you on ‘Fakebook’ (laughs)!
porn sites and finding a dirty video of you?
OLD DOG WARDEN’S JACKET.
I can assure you you’re not. It’s bullshit. People thank
You will never find one.
TODAY HE IS MORE LIKELY
me for things I’ve apparently said to them. Somebody
I have.
TO BE CLAD IN COMME DES
showed me one of the fake accounts and they do sound
No you haven’t (laughs). Not me.
GARÇONS, TOURING THE
like it was me!
You’ve kept yourself active and in the public
WORLD WITH HIS RENOWNED
Have you ever looked at other social
eye through a variety of different activities
STAND UP ROUTINE. THE PENCIL
networking sites?
that range from making art to appearing in
MOUSTACHE HAS ALWAYS
No.
every single documentary that’s ever been
REMAINED THE SAME, BUT I
Why not?
made…
WAS CURIOUS TO SEE HOW
I want to be hard to reach. I don’t want people to find
Yes.
MUCH THE MAN HIMSELF HAD
me! Anybody that I’m curious about from my past I’ve
…did you ever consider not pursuing this kind
CHANGED SINCE HIS EARLY
found. I’ve stalked their homes. I have friends; I’m not
of lifestyle, and in turn ending up like one of
DAYS OF LIVING IN A TREE
trying to make new friends. I have enough! No - I’m not
the outsider pornographers you write about
HOUSE AND EXPERIMENTING
against it. I’m not saying I don’t look online all the time.
in your new book Role Models? You could
WITH ACID.
I’m on Blackberrys and computers and everything. But
be living in a shack in Baltimore and people
not everyone has a story to tell, that’s how I feel. I’m not
would point and say ‘the guy who made Pink
interested that you went to the store.
Flamingo’s lives there’.
But there are some really strange people on
Well that could have happened to me if it didn’t work, I
there.
mean if the next movie didn’t work and nobody would
I know there are, and people sometimes send me stuff to
hire me. I could have been living in a shack. The first ten
look at. I know different weird bloggers- I’m not saying
years of my life - not one person said the movies were
I don’t look at any of it, but I don’t want to be easy to
any good. I got not one good review.
reach. I don’t wanna chat with people. I work twelve
Did you live in a tree house at one point?
hour days - I don’t have time to do that or the desire to.
I did live in a tree house. I lived in my car. It’s not so
When I’m off work I have friends I wanna see… but as I
hard to live in a car; you just put newspapers up over the
said I’m not against it.
windows and em....
Are there any questions that you won’t answer
Take a dump outside.
to journalists? Can we ask John Waters
Well I didn’t take a dump outside (laughs). Although....
anything?
when I was arrested in a drive-in movie theatre they said
You can ask me anything. I’m not saying that I’ll answer...
in the court in front of our parents that ‘the girls were
Photography by Lester Lyons-Hookham
060
seen urinating outside the car’. And I saw my father go
lifetime even if you live to be a hundred. You will never
they’re middle class.
‘oh-my-god’. I mean the girls were pissing outside the car
see that. Maybe it’s good that you don’t. But it was for
They are, I’m not denying that. But there are many poor
but we were drunk, we were hippies.
about four years - really nuts. Like ‘68 to ‘72 but I’m not
people in America. Some of them are cool. I think it’s
But where did you do the toilet when you lived
one of these people who says it was better. You all have
just as cool now. I’m not saying it was better - I’m glad I
in the car? In the car itself?
just as much fun when you’re young as we did. All the
won’t be poor again. I don’t wanna be faux-poor, y’know
No, I’d just go to a bathroom somewhere. Or I went to
kids that were rioting here - I want to see what they were
go back and ‘spare change?’ (laughs) Maybe I’ll do that
friends houses. I only lived in a car because I was in San
wearing. I wanted to go!
in the airports. Like a Krishna, you never see them in the
Francisco and I knew I could live in places there but I
I was there - it was like a fashion show.
airports anymore.
couldn’t move in for just one week. So I just stayed in my
That’s what I mean. That’s why I wanted to go. Rei
They hang about Covent Garden now.
car. It wasn’t that bad - it was in the sixties. That wasn’t
Kawakubo should have been there seeing what the kids
Do they?
even the extreme.
were wearing. I bet they had great outfits.
Yeah.
You’d never do that now though?
Would you have gone on the student protest
But they’re not in those outfits.
If I had to I wouldn’t have a problem with it.
the other day (30/11/2010) if you had time?
Yes they are.
What just for thrills?
Oh Yeah! I went to an anti-Pope march last time I was
They still wear those Saffron robes!
Oh just for thrills? No. I have enough thrills without....I
here. I used to love riots, it was like a rave. We just went
They just sort of hang around outside the
mean “oh what should I do tonight I’ll go sleep in my
to a riot every weekend to pick someone up, and take
underground station and heckle people. They
car.” (laughter) Maybe I would if I found someone that
drugs.
don’t try to get money they just want you to
wanted to do that - someone who was cute enough.
Yeah I kind of hoped I’d pull when I was there.
buy a book.
You say in Role Models that you feel bad
Did you meet anyone.
Well that’s money.
about the way you ‘handled’ the Manson
There was a lot of eye contact.
…oh yeah. (laughter)
family.
(laughs) That’s what I’m saying! A riot is a really good
They’re not giving you a book.
I feel a little bad now that I know some of the people
place to meet people. And then people ask ‘where did
What fashion advice would you give to young
involved, and I see the great remorse that Leslie (Van
you meet?’.’Oh, we were tear-gassed together’. But
people today trying to create a ‘look’ on a
Houten) has lived with for over forty years.
nowadays they don’t do that anymore. I don’t get how
micro-budget?
Which leads me onto this question: as you get
you have riots here cause cops don’t have guns right?
Well as I’ve said before you just get the worst thing in the
older - and wiser- are you perhaps a little bit
Yeah but you get ‘kettled’.
thrift shop that the people two years older than you who
shocked by your own shock value?
I love that term. I just heard that term when I was here.
are in fashion would hate the most. The cheapest. Wear
No I’m not really because I remember all that and I know
But that means they just make you get cold. They were
band-aids, wear faux-old....
that if I hadn’t gone to the Manson trial I probably would
lucky for the weather though cause once you’re kettled
Wear band aids? In what way?
never have made Pink Flamingos. It also influenced
all you can do is just stand there in the cold.
Just like jewellery.
Female Trouble a lot. But at the same time I looked back
Rubbing up against each other and setting
Like a ring or combined as a necklace?
on it after I taught in prison: I was certainly insensitive.
placards on fire to keep warm. (laughter)
(laughs) Yeah. Wear faux-old, pretend you’re old. Mimic
Certainly in the way I wrote about Tex Watson. I mean
When you were my age was it cool to be
the generation above you. Draw bags under your eyes
there’s a picture of me with him, and I didn’t ever address
poor?
- make the opposite of a face-lift, make yourself look old
what he did. It was very sad and terrible. So I think I’m
It was yeah.
and ugly when you’re really cute. That to me would be
more realistic about the feelings of other people, but it’s
Is there any hope for poverty to be seen as
the most radical.
not the sixties. In the sixties people were really insane,
being cool again?
How do you make your face look old?
there was a cultural war going on. It was a very very
It is still cool. But not as cool.
You can get the old age make-up they use in the movies.
different time. People had sex every day with a different
But the cool people aren’t as poor anymore?
Kids should start wearing that - so when you go to school
person, it was normal to do that.
Yes they’re poor - believe me in Baltimore, I know poor
you’re dressed as an eighty year old. That’s cool. The
Did you?
people.
one thing that Mink Stole did, which is the best idea ever-
Yeah, everybody did. And that won’t happen in your
But not the art-school types. Increasingly
the day after Halloween go to the thrift shops and buy
061
† dragmag issue one †
all the Halloween costumes for a nickel and just wear em all year. They’re a nickel! So you can be a fairy princess, a skeleton - just wear the worst, cheapest wrought Halloween costume as your outfit. But the thing about thrift shops is that all the cool kids buy all the good stuff anyway. And you have to go to little cities. But even now in America they take credit cards in thrift shops - that’s really a bad sign, if they take credit cards. But Vintage shops… But Vintage shops are different, they’re good too, but I think if you’re young you should never pay more than a dollar for an outfit. Really you go and you create the fashion and everybody copies you. It’s in reverse - the older you get the more money you have to pay to look like you have no money (laughs). And when you’re young you start the trends. And when you’re old - it is true that if you remember it from once before you are too old to wear it - that maxim is most definitely true! What was your first look? I wanted to be Elvis Presley but I had bad hair so I couldn’t do it right, it wouldn’t work in that hair-do. So I wanted to be like a juvenile delinquent but I couldn’t be - I was too young and my parents would never allow that. I guess ‘hippie pimp’ was my first look - how I look in Shock Value, that kind of thing. That was when you had the long hair but you didn’t have the moustache at the point. I did. At nineteen, I grew it when I was nineteen. I’m sixty four, so it’s been A LOT of eye-brow pencils. So it’s really just a little pencil. No, it’s there. Can I touch it? Yep. Its totally there. Yeah. It doesn’t come off. Did you ever grow a beard to see what it looked like? No. I’ve no desire to have a beard. Although if I was ever going to commit a crime and go underground all I’d have to do would be shave this off and grow a beard. It would be grey - no-one would ever recognize me.
Hetero Flower Shop, 2009, image courtesy of the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery
062
Do you celebrate Halloween? No! If I had the choice to go to a costume party or die,
I don’t necessarily have contempt for it, but ‘art for the
I’d have to die.
people’ I think is a bad idea.
So not following your fashion advice for the
Like big murals on walls?
young then…
Usually I hate them. They’re so awful! There could be
(laughs) I could never wear a Halloween costume. But,
good ones, but there are ones I see that infuriate me
they came to my door this year for the first time ever.
because I have to look at them every day.
I opened the door and it was all kids trick-or-treating
What’s on them?
some of that stuff at the time. So I would never put in
and their parents were all huddled, blinding me with
Just some stupid pretty picture. Or some clever thing
negative things about people. I learned a long time ago
flashbulbs like the paparazzi. Trying to get pictures of me
about the neighborhood. I don’t ask you to come look
not to say mean-spirited things about people because
and their children - which kind of pissed me off because
at my Richard Tuttle hanging on the wall, I don’t expect
you end up sitting next to them at dinner.
their children’s backs were turned, they were behind us.
to put it outside and make the public suffer. Art is a very
So what have you been doing in London?
And I said ‘oh are you doing a photo shoot?’ But I didn’t
personal choice. And I know it’s good for artists to get
I went to the - I work every minute. But what have I done
want to get mad in front of the kids - and they didn’t even
jobs, but if they can’t get a job anyway then I really don’t
off work?... Oh yes I went to the Japanese Fashion show
say anything! They just kept taking pictures!
wanna have to look at their art!
at the Barbican, which was really beautiful.
Were you ready for them - did you have
I was gonna ask if you HAD to make a piece of
Did you go into the toilets in the Barbican?
candy?
public art what would you do?
No I didn’t.... No I did not!! (laughs) The only place I
I had candy yeah. I didn’t put like (laughing) what do you
Oh I could do one, I’d have to think about that. It would
went to the toilets was when I had tea with Lionel Shriver
think I had like razor blades! No, I had candy. But my
depend on the neighborhood.
at a really fancy hotel where someone follows you in
favorite one that ever came was about three years ago
Something to piss everybody off?
with a towel.
and it was about ten o’clock at night. No one had rung,
I would do a picture of the neighborhood in flames or
So there’s no cruising going on there then.
it was all over, it was too late for kids to be out - I’d even
something - with a nuclear disaster, with all the people
Well no but it always makes me nervous when they
turned off the outside light. I came downstairs and there
laughing. Y’know - just something to cause happy
have an attendant. I think - are they supposed to shake
was a black guy about eighteen in a hoodie with no
trouble.
it or what? Why am I giving him a tip? I went to see the
outfit and he said ‘trick or treat’ and - he was just hungry.
The Andy Warhol Diaries have recently been
Bridget Riley show, I went to Comme des Garcons.
So I gave him a lot of tootsie rolls. But he was nice! He
re-published, will we ever be blessed with
At Dover Street Market?
said thank-you! It was great, and my assistant once heard
a 1000 page volume of the John Waters’
I had my party there.
a woman, well we didn’t wanna put everything out we
Journals?
I just wanted to ask one more thing about -
just put all the candy out in a big bowl and stuff and this
No but I love the Warhol Diaries.
you said you want to make two more films…
kid came and my assistant heard the mother yell ‘take it
Are you mentioned in them?
I hope I can make two more films. I hope I can write ten
all!’.To the child! That’s nice! That’s really nice parenting.
Yeah, a couple of times. But no - I wouldn’t do that
more books.
You’ve gained a pretty high profile as a visual
because I’ve written other kinds of books. But I like diary
So one of the films will be Fruitcake if you
artist and I’ve heard of your contempt for
books - they’re good and Andy.... when they came out it
manage to get it made - has it been shelved?
community art…
backfired because it seemed mean for him to be saying
Well it’s not shelved but I don’t have anybody to make it
063
† dragmag issue one †
with. I wrote a whole other one called... what’s it called
Yep.
One thing I heard that’s really strange is that
- Liarmouth. All one word. But they all have the same
But it never happened.
Kenneth Anger is really close friends with the
problem because they all cost about five or six million
It’s in a book. The script is out in a book and it will never
Jonas Brothers and he went to one of their
dollars, and they’re all independent movies and they’re
happen now because it would cost a lot of money.
weddings.
all weird so it’s hard to get those made.
Couldn’t you turn it into a Broadway musical?
I think that’s probably true. I’m not close to Justin Beiber.
Couldn’t you ever finance it yourself? Would
Well I’ve tried that even - I’ve actually said to people let’s
Did you ever meet Kenneth Anger?
you ever make a film your own way again?
make it into a musical.
No he doesn’t like me.
What about the Broadway version of Cry Baby, do you think that will be turned into a remake of your original film? Well I liked the stage musical. I think they did a good job, but it bombed. It bombed? Yeah it was a failure on Broadway - even though we I would never put my own money in a movie are you He doesn’t like you? He doesn’t really like
insane? (laughs)
anybody though does he?
Not even a really small, dogma type film?
He put a curse on me. It doesn’t seem to have worked.
I’ve already been there. I’ve done that - I can’t go
Is it because you wrote a bad review of
backwards and make something like when I was sixteen.
Hollywood Babylon 2?
Just for one last bang?
I think I mentioned one thing, I said if you don’t - and I
No it takes years to do that like y’know I have four
shouldn’t have done it and that’s why I’ve never given
employees I can’t just go and be faux-young.
a bad review since and he was right to be angry - but
These four employees - they just help you with
all I said was if you’re gonna gossip about people you
your...
should at least act like you feel bad about it. I guess he
Help me to make things.
was mad about that. He’s a great great filmmaker and I
Your court around you. (laughter)
wish him the very best. He’s one of the best filmmakers
My empire of filth! I can yield my Empire of filth with four
that there ever was and it doesn’t matter if we’re friends
sets of boxer shorts! (laughs) Fresh underwear in each
or not - his work is amazing!... You got all the photos that
city. Another common misconception about your
got four Tony nominations including best musical - best
career is that you made Polyester and that
everything. But we didn’t win and it closed the next
was seen as like ‘the end of one era’.
week.
That’s because video came out, midnight movies were
I didn’t know that.
over.
Yep - you have to win. Being nominated is just NOT
But in actual fact you spent years after
enough.
Polyester trying to get the sequel to Pink
What time are we on – don’t you have to get
Flamingos made.
going?
Yeah I know. It was a dumb idea I shouldn’t have tried to
Yes I have to leave very soon - I’m going to be on
make it.
Graham Norton with Justin Beiber (laughs).
So that was intended to be the movie after
Do you like his music?
Polyester and before Hairspray?
I like... the fact of him.
you need? Can I get a photo with you. Yeah. I’m never in a picture with - I’m always the oldest person in every picture. It was so sad when Burroughs died as he was the only person who was older than me. Alright… nice seeing you… and I like your magazine I read the whole thing in bed the other night. Alright… see you.
† dragmag issue one †
Fantastic, nice to meet you. We’ll see ourselves out.
064
HELL IS OTHER FILM MAKERS
RUSS MEYER: I guess so. (Both laugh. Abruptly the
USHERETTE: Actually yes...
laughter dies.) But where is all the torture gear? A modern retelling of Jean-Paul Sartre’s play
RUSS MEYER: Ever thought you’d like to be in one? USHERETTE: The what?
SCENE
Variety. (Looks at the USHERETTES breasts, then up to her RUSS MEYER: The red hot pincers and the racks (looks at
An empty cinema with a look of the 1960’s. Red velour
I have 4 top grossers in the top 100 of all time, ask
face) What is it with your goddam eyes?
the USHERETTES breasts) and by racks I don’t mean...
seats and red carpets. Black curtains frame the blank
USHERETTE: What are you talking about?
screen. To the left, at the rear, a single sign is illuminated
USHERETTE: (Interrupting) Ah you must have your little
with the words NO EXIT.
joke, sir!
RUSS MEYER: Your eyelids. They’re paralysed. We move ours up and down, it’s called blinking, it’s like a small
RUSS MEYER: (Enters, accompanied by the USHERETTE,
RUSS MEYER: I wasn’t joking (looks around and walks a
black shutter coming down to give you a break between
and glances around him) Hm! So here we are?
little way along the aisle) ‘NO EXIT’ I see... (looks back
frames. So wait a minute (tries to blink) no eyelids, no
at the USHERETTES breasts then bursts out angrily) I at
sleep, no fucking intermission?
USHERETTE: Yes, Mr. Meyer.
least expected... CARNAL! USHERETTE: Sir, please take your seat.
RUSS MEYER: So this is what it looks like?
USHERETTE: Yes, please take a seat.
USHERETTE: That’s good! You haven’t yet lost your whatdo-you-call-it ... eh... sense of earthly desires! Forgive me
RUSS MEYER: (He reluctantly chooses a seat in the
for smiling.
middle of the back row, sits and stares at the blank screen) Well what’s the show then? (He turns to the
RUSS MEYER: Are all the other rooms like this one?
RUSS MEYER: (Thumps on back of seat) I thought I’d have
USHERETTE who smiles and looks at the screen, he turns
earned a bit more respect here given my contribution!
back to see two heads in front of him also staring at the
USHERETTE: How could they be? We cater for all sorts.
blank screen, they turn to face him and he recognises USHERETTE: Sorry sir. No offense meant. But all our
INGMAR BERGMAN and MARGUERITA DURAS. The
RUSS MEYER: (Looking around) Still I didn’t expect - this!
guests start off with the same question. ‘Where’s the
screen flickers into life).
You know what they tell us up there?
torture chamber?’ and when their nerve holds up then eventually it’s ‘Where’s the writhing bodies in the pit?’ or
JOHN WATERS ON SCREEN: Hello I’m John Waters
‘Should I still be dressed?’, then eventually ‘Where’s the
and I’m supposed to announce there is no smoking in this
toilet?’ Old habits and all that...
movie theatre...
– destination.
RUSS MEYER: No toilet, no beds, no sleep I take it?
MARGUERITA DURAS: Banality is sometimes striking.
USHERETTE: Really, sir, how could you believe such cock-
USHERETTE: Romantic, that’s what you are.
RUSS MEYER: I expected Walt Disney... how many times
USHERETTE: About what?
RUSS MEYER: About (makes sweeping gesture) this – er
and-bull stories? Told by people who’d never set foot here. For of course if they had...
065
have you watched this shit? RUSS MEYER: Never seen my Movies then?
† dragmag issue one †
MARGUERITA DURAS: In a thousand years time this day
Johnny Rottens teeth?
will have existed for a thousand years to the day and the ignorance of the world about what was said today will
RUSS MEYER: Ever feel a movie is getting the laughs in the wrong places?
INGMAR BERGMAN: SSHH! This is my favourite part.
have a date too.
INGMAR BERGMAN: I never understood humour... and I JOHN WATERS ON SCREEN: ...how can anyone sit
was slow to pick up the fact that drama and cinema are
JOHN WATERS ON SCREEN: ...which I think is one of
through a length of a film and especially a European Film
both erotically charged, this is how I came to make a film
the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard of in my life...
and not have a cigarette?...
with two young women, one whom I’d lived with and one with whom I was about to live...
USHERETTE: (to RUSS MEYER) Did you expect Walt
RUSS MEYER: I prefer Sam Peckinpah... I like the
Disney because you killed Bambi?
violence.
MARGUERITA DURAS: Man and woman are irreconcilable, and it’s the doomed attempt to do the
RUSS MEYER: I had the fucker killed it’s not the same.
MARGUERITA DURAS: We are all in the vanguard of a
impossible, repeated in each new affairm that lends love
That’s another thing where’s Sid Vicious? What room’s
nameless battle, violence without arms or bloodshed or
its grandeur
he in? Writhing around in the accumulated tartar from
glory; we’re in the vanguard of waiting.
† dragmag issue one †
066
JOHN WATERS ON SCREEN: ...and I’m tellin you smoke JOHN WATERS ON SCREEN: ...but... don’t you wish you
anyway... it gives Ushers jobs, and if people didn’t smoke
had one right now? MMMMM Mh Mh MMh...
there would be no employment for the youth of today...
RUSS MEYER: Morals are a very personal thing (sighs,
MARGUERITA DURAS: Very early in my life it was
points at the screen)... A narrator with no visuals, I’d go
already too late.
and make an insert... INGMAR BERGMAN: I was a keen crier when I was a MARGUERITA DURAS: The best way to fill time is to
child, and a keen cuddler, the one person I wanted to be
waste it.
loved and cuddled by was mother. I besieged my mother with caresses...
INGMAR BERGMAN: In my films I always had a weakness for ticking clocks.
RUSS MEYER: The ultimate praise is the praise of your mother.
must pay for ones sins...
INGMAR BERGMAN: ...and she pushed me away...
INGMAR BERGMAN: Yes... a reputation as a demon director is partly old grudges that linger...
MARGUERITA DURAS : Some people are like that – closed – they can’t learn from us. For example, us... we can’t learn anything, I from you or he from me...
RUSS MEYER: In every one of my films someone is destroyed... maybe I’m influenced by retribution, one
MARGUERITA DURAS: When the past is recaptured by the imagination, breath is put back into life.
JOHN WATERS ON SCREEN: ...so once again, no smoking in this theatre, MMMMMMhm. (Screen shows colour bars)
RUSS MEYER: This isn’t even film, it’s goddam video... a bastard copy of a copy.
INGMAR BERGMAN: I wasn’t afraid of dying... I thought it might be interesting.
MARGUERITA DURAS: Listen to me! I know something else! It will begin again... 200,000 dead and 80,000 wounded in nine seconds. Those are the official figures. (Screen flickers into life)
JOHN WATERS ON SCREEN: Hello I’m John Waters and I’m supposed to announce there is no smoking in this movie theatre...
Curtains close.
067
† dragmag issue one †
A REALLY GOOD BAD REVIEW IS HARD TO COME BY THESE DAYS, AS JOHN WATERS IS QUICK TO POINT OUT – ‘EVEN THE CRITICS ARE HIP’. PINK
“YOU CALL IT TRANSGRESSIVE I CALL IT A GUY WHO ADMITTED HE COULDN’T FIND REAL ACTING WORK FORCED TO EAT DOG FAECES BY SOME CREEP
WITH A DRAWN ON MUSTACHE.”
BY A DINOSAUR-SHAPED CAR “HOMOSEXUAL PORN” NOVEMBER 8, 2010
FLAMINGOS HAD SOME AMAZING SLATING’S TO GRACE ITS POSTER: “ONE OF THE MOST
“TRUST ME! IT IS THE WORST PIECE OF EVIL FILTH
VILE, STUPID AND REPULSIVE
EVER TO CREEP ITS WAY INTO THIS UNIVERSE.
FILMS EVER MADE.” SIFTING
IT ABIDES IN A BOWEL OF HELL EVEN SATAN
THROUGH THE CUSTOMER REVIEWS FOR THE FILM ON
HIMSELF DARES NOT APPROACH. I DON’T MIND
AMAZON.CO.UK, IT SEEMS
GROSS HUMOR. I LIKE OUTRAGEOUS MOVIES.
THE HOME VIEWERS ARE JUST
THIS ONE, THOUGH, WILL PUT THE FEAR OF GOD
AS HIP –UNTIL YOU SWITCH OVER TO THE AMERICAN
IN YOU. I DIDN’T BELIEVE IN THE DEVIL UNTIL I
VERSION. THE MOVIE HAS 38
SAW THIS MOVIE. I AM A PLATONIST NOW, AS
ONE STAR REVIEWS, SOME
I HAVE SEEN THE FORM OF TRUE EVIL, AND IT IS
OF THEM ASTOUNDINGLY NEGATIVE: HERE ARE OUR THREE FAVOURITES...
CALLED PINK FLAMINGOS. THERE IS NO POINT IN WATCHING THIS MOVIE. MY HUSBAND AND I STARTED WATCHING THIS NOT KNOWING WHAT IT WAS ABOUT. UNLESS YOU ARE SICK AND TWISTED AND YOU ARE INBRED, YOU DON’T WANT TO WATCH THIS MOVIE. I HAVE NO IDEA WHY ANYONE WOULD LIKE THIS. SEX WITH CHICKENS AND EATING DOG POOP. NEED I SAY MORE? JUST THINKING OF THIS MOVIE MAKES ME WANT TO VOMIT AND TAKE MANY SHOWERS TO WASH OFF THE DISGUSTINGNESS OF IT.”
BY A CUSTOMER MARCH 21ST, 1999
“THIS SICK FEST CONTAINS BEASTIALITY, THE LICKING OF FURNITURE AND EVERY OTHER OBJECTS YOU COULD IMAGINE IS FOUND IN A HOME. EXPLICIT SHOTS OF MALE RECTUMS THAT ARE CONTRACTING OPEN AND CLOSED...”
† dragmag issue one †
BY FILM BUFF JULY 3RD 2010
068
069
† dragmag issue one †
DESPERATE LIVING
8PW\WOZIXPML Ja ,I^QL :QKPIZL[WV ,QZMK\ML Ja 3ÜMZIV 8IZ\Q[M Styled by John William
† dragmag issue one †
070
Trissan wears Le Smoking suit, YSL, Charles wears suit and t-shirt, Sam & Agi, shoes, models own, Alex wears suit, Jean Paul Gaultier, shoes, Oxfam
<I\QIVI _MIZ[ LZM[[ +W]ZZMOM[ JWW\[ K][\WUQ[ML Ja [\aTQ[\ <ZQ[[IV _MIZ[ LZM[[ +WUUM ,M[ /IZKWV[ JWW\[ K][\WUQ[ML Ja [\aTQ[\ MIZZQVO[ [\aTQ[\[ W_V
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Alex wears shorts, Junior Gaultier, shoes, Oxfam, Tatiana wears dress, Junior Gaultier, glasses, customised by stylist
075
† dragmag issue one †
Trissan and Tatiana both wear W&LT
077
Tatiana wears jacket and trousers, Jean Paul Gaultier, boots, customised by stylist, Trissan wears dress, Lanvin, Alex wears shirt, Beyond Retro, shorts, models own, shoes, Oxfam
Charles wears top, Pietro Franch, shorts and shoes, models own
079
† dragmag issue one †
† dragmag issue one †
080
081
Alex wears jacket, Stephen Sprouse, shorts, models own, shoes, Oxfam
Charles wears bra, Jean Paul Gaultier, shorts, Junior Gaultier
082
<ZQ[[IV _MIZ[ LZM[[ +WUUM ,M[ /IZKWV[ PI\ [\aTQ[\[ W_V <I\QIVI _MIZ[ NW]VL LZM[[ RMTTa [PWM[ :QLTMa :WIL 5IZSM\
084
+PIZTM[ _MIZ[ KWI\ 2MIV +PIZTM[ ,M +I[\MTJIRIK RMIV[ UWLMT¼[ W_V
Produced by The Conceptionist theconceptionist.com 5ISM =X Ja <PMZM[I ,I^QM[ ][QVO 5IK +W[UM\QK[ 5ISM =X I[[Q[\IV\" -TTI +WXXWKS 5WLMT[" )TM` 8ZQVb <I\QIVI 5ISZQVW^I IVL <ZQ[[IV 0WTLMZ I\ , Charles Isherwood is unsigned All designer archive supplied by House of Liza PW][MWĂ&#x2020;QbI KW ]S
Tatiana wears jacket, Thierry Mugler, skirt, Moschino, jelly shoes, Ridley Road Market
“I HAVE NEVER SEEN SO MANY RESTAURANTS, COFFEE SHOPS, SO MANY PLACES TO GO TO BUY THINGS, SO MUCH TO CONSUME; YET LONDON HAS NEVER SEEMED SO DULL. LONDON IS LOSING ITS MEMORY. IF WE ARE TO SAVE LONDON, THE MAYOR MUST START TO BELIEVE IN ITS RUINS - DIG THROUGH ITS DEBRIS AND RECLAIM IT. LONDONERS WILL THEN HAVE A CITY THAT IS OWNED BY ITS PEOPLE. THE CULTURE WILL REFLECT THIS.” – Malcolm McLaren, ‘My Vision for London’, New Statesmen, 20 December 1999
Context Shot
has a calm demeanour and probably wouldn’t hurt a fly. He doesn’t ever ask for money, his attention always
I’m standing on my balcony, unsure of how to
Stiff Upper-Lip I’ve been obsessed with Norman Cohen’s film
focused on the pavement as he scouts for fag ends. I
adaptation of the book ever since I stumbled upon it in
start this article. We’re suffering from an Easter heat
watched him for a good ten minutes, and realised that
the BFI’s mediatheque a few years ago. It’s better than
wave and I’ve been stuck indoors most of the week
this image articulates the essence of what the London
the book itself, which I find a bit twee; Fletcher illustrated
sub-editing this magazine. Five floors below me, on
Nobody Knows is about: Post Victorian London and
his travels with drawings rather than photography,
ground level, there is a branch of EAT with a seating
its extermination, the replacement consisting of bland
hence squandering the chance to produce what could
area outside. I resent EAT, Pret a Manger, Starbucks,
office buildings and luxury apartments. We’ve heard this
have been the defining photo-document of London’s
Cafe Nero, and Costa. I resent their presence on every
story a thousand times so I won’t dwell too long. The
underbelly. The camera was the socio-political tool of the
street corner in London, but like most hypocrites I frequent
late Geoffrey Fletcher, whose book the film is based on,
20th century, and his hand drawn sketches read like an
these establishments at least three times a week. When I
won’t be turning in his grave either. He lived long enough
anachronistic perversion. The film partially made up for
was younger my cousin and I used to throw things off the
to witness the corporate take-over of his beloved city.
this loss, capturing a handful of the featured landmarks
balcony onto EAT customers, and now I have grown up
Over the course of a thirty year career, he documented
on celluloid before they were wiped off the map in the
to become one of them. I can recommend the Mexican
his love for London through a weekly Telegraph column,
years that followed. Starting at the old Bedford Theatre
Chicken wrap, or the chicken and noodle soup when
as well as nineteen books on the subject. However,
in Camden Town, an ageing James Mason guides us
feeling flu-ish throughout the winter months. Today a
I do think he would be amused at this sight from my
around the city, delivering his anecdotes with a stiff
tramp is sitting alone at one of the outside tables, nursing
balcony. The tramp – a permanent fixture of London’s
upper lip that clashes somewhat with the voices of the
a take-away latte. I see this man wandering about
streets for hundreds of years, stereotypically found drunk
cockneyesque Londonites who act as real-life extras in
most days. He’s your typical textbook hobo: worn out
in an alleyway, has now morphed into a 21st century
this Slumming masterpiece. If I sound a little disdainful
beige jacket, shaggy grey beard and filthy shoes. He
corporate coffee consumer at EAT.
here I don’t mean to be, quite the opposite, but there
089
† dragmag issue one †
THE LONDON EVERYBODY KNOWS Essay by Oskar Oprey Photos by Lester Lyons-Hookham
† dragmag issue one †
090
is an element of class difference and snobbery that
with uncovering the exotic quality of degradation, and
controversial at the time of its release, securing itself a
needs to be addressed. London Psycho geography is
this quality is most likely to be found in the remains of
spot in the odd-ball chapter of British Cinema History. My
very fashionable these days. An author such as Ian
Victorian Babylon. Sure, anyone wishing to find danger,
remake would therefor have to be an eighteen certificate
Sinclair can pen a 600 page book detailing a walk
poverty and cheap cafes could simply wander around
in order to compete. I might include some sexually
around the M25, or his musings on Hackney, and it is
a South London council estate, but it lacks the same
explicit material, my James Mason impersonator might
deemed a critical success. Will Self, Peter Ackroyd,
essence – the fight for space between high and low
have to go and do crack in a squat, or sip cocktails with
William Blake, Thomas de Quincey, Stewart Home,
cultures that can only be found in cramped city centres.
Princess Beatrice at The Box as they watch a tranny fuck
Alan Moore, Patrick Keiller, Merlin Coverley to name
Inner city poverty, on a superficial level, is accessible.
herself with an eel. I might have Brian Sewell as the
but a few, have all mined their material from London’s
You can go into any greasy spoon and be served,
presenter, as he is the epitome of an old English snob
history, myths and folklore – as well as the city’s more
nobody will care. You’re there as an outsider, and that
who also happens to be cultured. Like Mason in the
mundane characteristics, such as plane trees, pavements
might be noted by the regulars, but not in the same way
original he might provide that whiff of incomprehension
and pigeons. Fletcher fits this tradition perfectly, whilst
that a bag lady wandering into the Ritz would be eyed
or misunderstanding of what he’s presenting, ‘The London
also adhering to the undercover work associated with
with suspicion before being escorted off the premises.
the Presenter is Pretending he Knows’. Although I should
writers such as George Orwell and Jack London; to
Every time I see the film I think about how it could be
note that whoever I’d choose would actually have to
pen a shocking expose of the underworld you must
remade. I only started fantasising about this seriously
pretend to be James Mason, right down to the accent
first become part of it, donning an old tattered jacket
when I moved down to London permanently last
and slicked back hair.
and living amongst society’s poorest. Fletcher did this
November. Everyone seems to be buying into the idea of
The first fifteen minutes of the film were written by
for what was probably his best book, 1969’s ‘Down
the London portrayed in the film. Whether they’re paying
Fletcher, whilst the following half an hour was the work
Among the Meths Men’, an account of twenty four hours
extortionate rents for old slums, or forking out twenty
of a screenwriter called Brian Compton. Interestingly,
hanging on street corners with the alcoholics of Skid
pounds for large coffee table books showcasing ‘Lost
Fletcher seemed to have a knack for picking places that
Row, in which he sifted through shit-strewn bomb sites
London’ photography. As I have no money and have
would remain more of less untouched forty years later,
and traded cigarettes for stories, all in the name of a
ended up publishing a magazine instead of making films,
whilst most of Compton’s locations have been bulldozed.
good read. There’s a middle-class characteristic to most
my remake fantasies are purely literary at this point. It
The rest of this article consists of me wandering around
of these writers… maybe middle-class is the wrong term,
didn’t stop me tracking down most of the locations and
these locations, jotting down my thoughts....
especially in the case of Stewart Home or Alan Moore….
visiting them all with the artist Lester Lyons-Hookham.
Perhaps ‘comfort’ and ‘distance’ are more suited. The
We opted for a simple 35mm camera over the usual
world Fletcher writes about – the world of cheap cafes
large format approach, as we were essentially being
and decaying East End streets – is not his own, hence
tourists for the day. I had suspected the trip would be
who used to keep goldfish in the glass cisterns to prove
‘the nobody knows’ element. Yet for many Londoners
quite dull, as so many of the locations were either gone
the water was fresh. “A fish that went down in the world
– for many hundreds of thousands of Londoners, this
or had become tourist spots. But in fact it was rather
when the water level dropped; these fish don’t live here
was their doorstep. As ‘the gentle author’ of the London
fun, in a flowery flanuer kind of way. As I wandered
of course, we just popped them in by way of illustration.”
blog ‘SpitalfieldsLife.com’ points out, maybe “The
around, I day-dreamed of what my movie might be like.
The toilets are now blocked up, situated in the middle
London Nobody who reads the Daily Telegraph Knows”
I don’t want to give too many of my ideas away as I
of a busy road. You wouldn’t even notice them unless
would have been a more fitting title. Poverty isn’t the
might actually do this one day. Anyone trying to remake
you decided to cross away from the traffic lights. The
exclusive subject of the book and film, it’s more to do
this masterpiece should bear in mind that it was quite
stairwell down is littered with garbage – fast food
091
† dragmag issue one †
The Old Holborn Gents James Mason recounts a tale of an attendant
packages have been lying there so long that the sun has
highwayman performing to a delighted crowd, before
defeated look in the eye – the ones who can’t, and
bleached them of all colour.
letting him reveal his life story over a pint. Perhaps I
won’t communicate with their fellow man”. Scenes of
My remake would start off in a public toilet, the type
should do the same but with one of the charity clip board
people sleeping on park benches, and drinkers huddled
situated in railway stations and cost 30p to use. The
people; I fucking hate them as well but at least they try
in doorways are a common sight to every passer-by
narrator would take a piss, and complex and expensive
harder - they really want your money. I do find them
on London’s streets. But you couldn’t get away with just
camera techniques would be used to follow the stream
genuinely entertaining though, and chuckle to myself as
filming homeless people these days in order to illustrate
of urine down into London’s very outdated sewage
they shout at me after I ignore them – complimenting my
the point. The stark photo journalism of people like Don
system, whilst the narrator delivered a short history of
blazer or telling me I certainly don’t look like I’m busy.
Mcullin is fascinating, but we can’t continue to show the
London’s treatment of human waste. After a few minutes the steaming yellow liquid, now merged with the urine of 7 million other Londoners (we’d insert a metaphor
same distanced and stereotypical view of the people Street Fashion
who live on our society’s doorsteps. We all know it’s
In one of my favourite montage scenes a
a much more complex social phenomenon than just
about strangers uniting through their shit and piss), would
discreet camera catches an array of legs and swinging
being ‘down on your luck’, as Mason might say. Some
arrive at Abbey Mills Pumping station. Here we would
handbags. Interestingly this was supposed to be a
people who sleep rough don’t even consider it ill fate;
witness the transformation from piss to fresh Thames tap
document of the current fashions, the stuff that was in, yet
they’re free from the many restrictions, stresses and petty
water, which we would then see spurt through the tap of
the filmmakers chose a music hall hit from 1913 as the
responsibilities (such as paying rent and working in a
a housewife in Surrey – straight into her kettle for a cup
soundtrack: ‘The Wibbly Wobbly Walk” by Fred Elliot. I
mundane job) that society expects of us. Of course for
of tea.
would also keep the song on my soundtrack, but would
many others their situation is often the result of domestic
have it covered by Joanna Newsom and remixed by a
abuse, unemployment, mental health problems and a
dubstep DJ. And of course it would seem insane if we
society that allows vulnerable people to fall through
weren’t to include a street style blogger. People dress up
its security net. Not everybody on the streets is an
a dozen or so buskers left in London. As you’ll have
not only to go out these days, but to be photographed
alcoholic, and many of them are quite capable – as well
noticed, this has changed - for better or worse. The
by bloggers as well. The only one I have serious respect
as keen – to talk to their fellow man. There’s a group
London underground has 39 official busking pitches
for is Shot by Shooter, but I have no idea who he or she
of homeless people that congregate outside the Church
spread across 25 stations. And of course we have to
is. We’ll assume it’s a he – his blog consists of beautiful
near Waterloo. They appear to be having a rather
take into account all the silver people that stand on
portraits of pretty yet slightly strange looking young
good time, laughing with each other as they slowly get
plinths around Covent Garden and the London Eye. I had
people / older celebrities as they wander about London.
wasted on cheap lager. I’d probably just trust them with
planned to do little reviews on all of them – marks out
My James Mason would join him out on his travels,
a video camera and let them film their own segment
of ten for performance and costume, a detailed analysis
prying the streets for his next portrait. It should also be
of the movie, in a similar style to the work of the artist
of what the punter gets for every pound they toss in the
noted that my narrator will have to appear old fashioned
Anthony Luvera. He’s spent ten years working with the
hat. But most of the time it’s just a handshake and a lame
and out of the loop as regards youth fashion. He will
homeless, providing camera equipment and enabling
photo opportunity. Even the ones that have an act are
constantly refer to the photo subjects as ‘beatniks’, ‘teddy
them to shoot their own photo diaries, as well as self-
dull – fire eating is so old fashioned. The truth is I fucking
boys’ and ‘punks’.
portraits. In Waterloo I’ve spotted a new member of the
Buskers According to James Mason, there are only
hate street performers, but it‘s an important element of the original film so I need to find a modern equivalent. In the original they show a pre-Adam Ant dancing
gang; a rather well dressed middle aged woman. She’s The Homeless
turned out in a red winter coat and jewellery, the type
“The brotherhood of the leaky boot and the
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of woman who might have a family in some suburban
092
“WE WERE TOO SHY town wondering where she has gone. She’s always
We turned up in Hanbury Street and I was stunned by
seller was a bit mean and tried to charge me ten bob
swaying slightly, can in one hand and handbag in the
it’s carnivalesque atmosphere: the old side of the street
to take a photo of his wares. I bullshitted about being
other. I look out for her now when passing, and am
was adorned with expensive coffee shops, in fact I’d
a researcher for a TV company and that we were
slightly concerned for her well-being. I worry that in a
been at a meeting with a photographer the week before
interested in filming the market. The market is still busy
few months the jewellery will have vanished and her
and hadn’t realised the street’s significance. Pedestrian
but I couldn’t help but feel sorry for stallholders. Eclipsed
appearance will have taken on that of an old hag.
access through the pavement was disrupted by what must
by a huge Sainsbury’s, it had none of the vibrancy
have been about three hundred people on six different
portrayed in the original film. I was after pictures of eels,
Ripper tours, all paying eight pounds to stand and listen
as the original has lots of extreme close ups of them
to descriptions of how Chapman’s intestines had been
wriggling around in buckets, before they are plopped on
Ripper on the 8th September 1888. Her mutilated body
ripped from her body and tossed over her shoulders.
a chopping board and hacked up into bloody chunks.
was discovered in the backyard of number 29 Hanbury
Every variation of a ‘Jack the Ripper Tour’ domain name
The fishmonger was much friendlier, but these days the
Street, just off Brick lane. James Mason stops here
has been purchased by a tour company. It’s an easy
eels are either dried out or vaccuum packed in jelly. We
briefly on his tour, and the place doesn’t appear to have
business – you don’t need to pay rent for an office, and
grabbed a coffee from one of the posh cafes situated on
changed much in the 79 years between the murder and
a two hour tour must bring in 160 pounds. We went on
the corner, and sat outside waiting for the pie shop to
the original film. An uptight old lady leads him through
“thejacktherippertour.com”, we chose this as it had the
open. To our left was a stall selling cushions for a fiver.
to the yard, and he uses his stick to point at the exact
most up-to-date website. Some of those sites look like
I started doing little calculations on my phone, trying to
spot where her body was discovered, underneath an old
they’ve been lingering online since the early nineties. The
work out how many cushions he’d roughly have to sell
plank of wood. That area of Whitechapel looked pretty
guide was a drama school graduate, no surprise there.
each day in order to make twelve thousand pounds a
much the same in the sixties as it did in the eighties – the
The website boasted a ‘Ripper Vision’ gimmick, which
year. The answer wasn’t actually that unrealistic – only
eighteen eighties. If it weren’t for the aeroplane heard
was in actual fact just a pocket projector that shone
6.5 cushions a day, 365 days a year. But from the looks
in the distance we could be mistaken for thinking he’d
google image pictures onto the pavement. Didn’t work
of it business wasn’t thriving on this Sunny Wednesday
hopped in a time machine. 43 years later and this area
so well in daylight, but by the time we’d reached Mitre
morning. We were sat next to a pair of absolute twats,
is unrecognisable – well, at least this half of the street.
Square – site of the fourth killing – it was pitch black.
clad in cheap business apparel, who were discussing
The whole side of buildings was replaced by a Brewery
I felt we had it better than the other tour groups a few
their careers in social networking. The older guy was
in the late sixties; the building is now used as a market
yards away. Rather than merely just hearing the gory
trying to define his role: “Now, I wouldn’t exactly call
on weekends and a car park Monday to Friday. Ripper
descriptions of what happened to Catherine Edowes,
myself a social media guru…maybe social media
enthusiasts can pinpoint the exact spot by peering
we were also able to view the morgue photos at a funny
councilor is more fitting.” Before spewing onto his lap we
through the window and using the parked cars as a
angle up against an office door.
made a move into the pie shop. It was worth the wait,
The Murder Site of Annie Chapman Annie Chapman was murdered by Jack the
gradient. It seemed appropriate to join a Jack the Ripper tour, as what had once been an obscure geographical place of interest has now become a pivotal tourist
as it was the most amazing location out of all we had Pie and Mash
visited, even though the food itself was as awful as I had
I concluded my wanderings the next day, over
anticipated. The two ladies who served us were very
attraction for ghouls such as myself. Thousands of people
brunch at Manzes Pie and Mash shop in Islington, after
sweet though, and thanked us for our custom and asked
every year pay money to pavement perve on these
we’d tried to ‘recreate’ the street market scene. Lots of
us to come again. The menu is simple – pie, mash and
murder sites, most of which are now office buildings.
close ups of carpets, shoes, fish and flowers. The flower
eels. We were too shy to try the eels so settled for the small pie and mash. There is only one filling available and that is steak and gravy. Norman Cohen’s shoot here for the original consisted of a prying camera, spying on the patrons as they tucked into their grub. Bent over their bowls and plates, they slurp at the green gravy. An old man eagerly pours chilli oil over his upturned pie, whilst two children push forks towards mash smeared faces. All the while an eerie soundtrack of moaning synthesizers
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TO TRY THE EELS.” looms over the scene, before it cuts to the back of a
So here we are back at the beginning – back in my
garbage truck crushing some old crates, a touching if
flat. All this writing about pie and mash has made me
unintentional metaphor about white trash. As I walked
hungry. The EAT downstairs does pie and mash for 5.30.
over to our seat, an old man was hunched over a bowl
They have a range of flavours: steak and ale, chicken
of green gravy, slurping away quietly. I was stunned;
and mushroom, goats cheese and sweet potato. The
he looked like a leftover from 1967. He continued
mash has an artificial quality that I like, similar to the one
slurping, but shot me a glance. Nothing had changed;
in Manzes but just a tad tastier, the meat in the pies isn’t
the interior, the food, the clientele. The tiling all looks
as gristly either. I might suggest that they do a jellied
original, and in mint condition – I’m no stranger to this
eel salad box for six quid. I’ll go down now, to stand
kind of environment, having spent a childhood in ancient
in the queue with the businessmen and the tourists, and
Scottish cafes with my Dad eating chips. But none of the
we’ll all buy into the corporate fetishisation of the London
places I’d visited were in as perfect shape as this. As I
Nobody Knows.
sat there nibbling at the starchy food I just stared in awe at the old man, making my friend feel nervous as I kept trying to persuade him to take a photo. There’s nothing more uncomfortable than lunching with someone and watching their mayonnaise smeared mouth in action, it’s weirdly intimate, yet at the same time an intrusion of their personal space. James Mason wasn’t present for that particular scene, but I felt a strange unity to the late Norman Cohen. Sitting here forty years later I was essentially looking through his camera lens.
The London Nobody Knows is distributed by Optimum Releasing
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096
NOW AND THEN SHORTLY AFTER WRITING
Jonathan Cohen: I was born in London – 66, and the
taken seriously as a director and the things that got him
THIS PIECE I TRACKED DOWN
London Nobody Knows was made in 67. In fact I was in
the really strong reviews were his early documentaries
NORMAN COHEN’S SON,
it, in a pram. Also my mum ended up as a walk on extra
– ‘Brendan Behan’s Dublin’ and ‘The London Nobody
JONATHAN. IT TURNS OUT
- my Dad had her walk past camera and apparently she
Knows’. But of course there was no commercial value in
HE IS IN FACT TRYING TO GET
got her stiletto stuck in a drain. He really liked it and had
documentaries. As opposed to the humour of his later
A REMAKE OF THE LONDON
her do the same thing twenty or thirty times - she said it
comedies, these documentaries were quite dark and also
NOBODY KNOWS INTO
almost led to divorce. It’s there in the finished film, just
quite controversial at the time.
PRODUCTION, WRITTEN BY
one little thing. You see her, then a close up of this shoe
When I left school I became a runner at Elstree Studios.
THE ORIGINAL SCREENWRITER
as it walks past and the heel gets stuck.
I met this one guy, the stunt co-ordinator Rocky Taylor,
BRIAN COMPORT. I CAUGHT
I was always really happy to see my Dad. He was
he’s a bit of a legend. Rocky worked on the Death Wish
UP WITH THEM ON SEPARATE
always doing interesting things. I was at boarding school
films with Charlie Bronson, he’s old school. I’ve always
OCCASIONS – JONATHAN
– I’d be collected in a taxi most of the time and I’d go to
kept fit, martial arts, running and Rocky said to me ‘you
AND I HAD LUNCH IN A PUB
Shepperton or Pinewood studios and just hang around
look like a fit lad why don’t you become a stunt man’.
NEAR ABBEY ROAD, WHILST I
film sets. His goal was always to break into the States.
I though, ok. My first film was something called Death
MET BRIAN FOR A DRINK IN
Because his success – and he was pretty successful in his
Machine, which was a Sci-Fi at Pinewood Studios and
THE FESTIVAL HALL, NOT FAR
day – was largely in England and Europe, and I suppose
it was the best start – I was dressed up in this incredible
FROM SOME OF THE ORIGINAL
like most creators America is the big one to crack.
costume as an eight foot Robocop / Terminator kind
LOCATIONS.
Around the time he died he was working in Los Angeles.
of thing and I had to get blown up. I was eighteen, at
He was doing pre-production for a film, but sadly we’ll
Pinewood Studios and I was a robot – so cool! I got over
never know what the next step would have been.
it quickly though. I have a love hate relationship to stunt
I remember growing up around the set of things like
work. It’s ok, although quite often they’re after a ‘look’,
Dad’s Army and Till Death Do Us Part. I suppose the bulk
sometimes it’s for a bad guy, sometimes it’s to double.
of his career was taking comedies off the TV and turning
I’ve doubled various people over the years, nothing
them into feature films. He was actually quite a funny
very big. I’ll be the guy who swerves the car round the
man, a wild Irishman with a great sense of humour, a
corner, gets out and gets shot. You know, I’ve been killed
sort of Jewish Richard Harris... or maybe Richard Harris
so many times. I’ve been killed by Richard Gere. I’ve
with a Jewish sense of humour. He enjoyed making
often been killed by Brad Pitt.
people laugh, however I think he also wanted to be
I suppose I had an inclination to get a remake of London Nobody Knows off the ground around the time I decided to re-establish the Norcon Production Company, my Dad’s old company. The original film was rereleased on DVD around that time as well, to a lot of attention. I think my version would be very different but keep the same gritty feel. It’d be important to experiment - my background in stunts I’m sure will feed into it. Also my passion is music and that would be an important element, I’d score with my own work and although I’m more rock oriented I’ve been researching the original soundtrack. It’s part of the original films legacy. With the narrator, my own choice would be Michael Caine, but there are some dark and interesting DJ’s in London. Maybe it’s time for a new direction.
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it from there. My main concern was with the London I
I’ve gone back to Geoffrey who either doesn’t want to
knew most about, as well as areas the viewers might
do it or is too committed, so does it interest you?’ So
be remotely interested in. I lived quite close to Bankside
I thought is the Pope Catholic? We took it from there.
at the time, so we shot around there as well as the East
The reason he’d been given more money is because
End. Most of my stuff was actually just prompts; if you
he’d managed to get James Mason involved. They had
have James Mason then let him have free reign. I’d have
worked together on another film, where Norman was a
him say the odd piece word for word, but mainly it was
production assistant. Mason had been very interested
literally just prompts. I was first introduced to Norman
in archaeology whenhe was younger, in the twenties
Cohen in the early sixties and he turned out to be a very
and thirties – but he decided that acting was a safer
good friend, but he died quite young. The producer John
profession. I suppose that’s why he was interested in the
Bolton was very interested in him and liked his comic
project.
sensibility. Norman took me along to a meeting with him
I turned up on location one day, which happened to
and Boltan gave us three shorts to write. There was a
be that lavatory in Holborn. I saw Norman and I said where’s the man? He said ‘He’s down in the lavatory go and introduce yourself’. That was a very Norman thing to say, very mischievous. I think you went downstairs to get to that toilet... I can’t honestly remember. This is the one where they put the goldfish in the cisterns. Mason said they don’t live here we just popped them in as a way of illustration. We were worried that someone might phone the ‘Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Fish’ or something. I feel slightly uncomfortable about the scenes of the tramps because of how intrusive it was. But we wanted to make a film about the city and its people, whether they are rich and successful or down and outs. I was there for most of the filming – but not the scene of the drunks fighting on Fournier street. I never said this to Norman, but alcoholics – as I understand – don’t steal other people’s alcohol. There were certain rules and codes
Brian Comport: I never met Geoffrey Fletcher. They
dreadful series called ‘A Look at Life’, you probably
of behaviour amongst them, even though they were all
say a lot of directors keep their screenwriters away from
don’t remember those. They were these terribly boring
drunk and living on the streets. They might share it, but
the original authors. I was aware that he was working
subject films with titles like ‘Sticky Business: Life in the
they didn’t fight over it. I think we can safely say that
for the Telegraph and was a very intelligent man and
Glue Factory’. We did something entirely different called
scene was staged. All those people were real though –
had written these books. But I only read one of them,
‘The Awkward Law There Is’, and that was great
they were there. Everybody in the film was genuine. We
just to get a flavour of his style. He thought Norman
fun to do. We looked at some preposterous laws. We
had release forms though, and I think some of the drunks
Cohen had only based the film loosely on his book in
had someone dressed up as Father Christmas being
knew there were a few beers in it for them. But nobody
order to obtain the rights to the title ‘The London Nobody
arrested for giving away presents, obscure laws.
was in the film that didn’t want to be. The spirit of the film
Knows’, because that was such a good commercial title. I
Norman rang one day and said ‘I’ve got front money
was very much Norman – the comedy mixed with a bit
don’t know how well you remember the film, but the gas
for a fifteen minute documentary written by Geoffrey
of tragedy. It was a fantastic project and I’m glad I did it.
lighting scene was the end of Flecther’s contribution to
Fletcher called the London Nobody Knows but
the script, and that was about ten minutes in. I just took
suddenly I’ve been offered another half an hour’s money.
All images courtesy of Jonathan Cohen, from his father’s archive
098
SHOT SHORTLY AFTER WRITING MY
Oskar Oprey: So what’s your background?
from? Did it emerge from street photography,
LONDON ARTICLE I TRACKED
And when did you first start taking
or do you think it’s more referential to classic
DOWN SHOT BY SHOOTER FOR
photographs?
fashion photography? I see you have a book
AN INTERVIEW. I’M HESITANT
Shot by Shooter: I did psychology at University, and I’ve
of John Deakin’s work there.
TO REVEAL HIS NAME - IT’S
always been interested in images and photography.
Interesting question. Where did it come from...I think it’s
NO SECRET, BUT I LOVE THE
The idea of taking photos of people started when I was
a bit of a backlash against commercialisation. I think
ELUSIVENESS OF HIS BLOG AND
21. I was in the City Cafe in Edinburgh when suddenly
people were just bored of the same magazines and the
THE FACT THAT HE DOESN’T
Vivienne Westwood walked in with Michael Clark plus
same designers and the same press departments feeding
CRAVE FAME AND FORTUNE,
entourage. For some reason I just wanted – because
people the same things. It was very driven by sales,
UNLIKE MOST OF HIS PEERS. HE
I’m quite, I WAS quite a shy person, and I think a lot of
but now with blogging I feel that real people are able
ALSO DIDN’T TAKE MY PICTURE,
photographers hide behind cameras - like shielding
to provide the things they like. They can’t be bullshitted
WHICH WAS A RELIEF, AS IT
themselves. I somehow wanted to speak to her but didn’t
anymore.
WOULD SEEM THAT I’D JUST
know how to, so I thought well I’ll take her picture. And
Did you look at other blogs before doing your
TRIED TO BUY MY WAY ONTO
that’s how it happened. So I took her picture. Developed
own – or were you one of the first to start a
HIS BLOG. HE WAS A LOVELY
it myself and then sold it to the City Cafe for 25 pounds.
blog?
GENTLEMEN, AND THE SCOTTISH
So I was thoroughly chuffed with myself. I found that
Oh no I wouldn’t say I was one of the first but... well
ACCENT CAME AS A SURPRISE.
having a camera validates you and people let you in
actually I think I probably was one of the first, but in
WE MET ON A SCORCHING
and they say hi and you can almost chat to anyone when
the pre-internet age. I think one of the very first fashion
SPRING AFTERNOON IN THE
you have a camera. That’s what I love about it. Doing
street photographers would have been August Sander.
EAST END, FLICKED THROUGH A
sporadic portraits has been a compulsive disorder ever
He would be the first person doing this kind of thing.
JOHN DEAKIN CATALOGUE, ATE
since.
Now in any circumstance it’s hard to be original – but I
WAFFLES AND BITCHED ABOUT
But you’ve never made much money from the
don’t claim to be. I do claim to do something just a little
PEOPLE WE KNEW FROM BACK
photos you take?
bit different: I don’t go to fashion shows.
UP NORTH; THE DICTAPHONE
I’ve never made any money. Apart from that first image
You don’t?
WAS TURNED OFF, WHICH IS A
to the City Cafe I’ve only ever sold one other print in my
Never! That’s my first rule: avoid fashion shows.
SHAME FOR YOU DEAR READER,
life and that was to Sir Paul Smith. I’ve never tried either.
And you don’t include photos of yourself on
BUT A RELIEF FOR US.
I’ve always wanted to be free: that’s why I have another
the blog.
job.
Nope, not interested. Couldn’t care less.
And you do your other job full time?
And in terms of your own ‘media image’
Yeah. Paul Smith saw one of my images and asked to
you don’t try and become an internet media
buy it, and I thought yeah why not?
personality.
Is it one from the blog then?
No, that’s the whole point. It should always be about
Yeah it’s the one of David Bailey.
the photographs, not the photographer. I mean
Ah yeah- that’s quite recent.
the photographs should show enough about the
Yeah – and now he has it in his office.
photographer. It’s fifty-fifty, you don’t need to see me
Has the image been printed large?
because I’m in the picture with the subject.
No I don’t like big prints, I can’t stand them.
What do you think about the other blogs out
So how big is the image?
there?
It’s no bigger than A5.
This is my Lily Allen moment isn’t it... I don’t really like
And they’re all digital photos that you take?
them to tell you the truth (laughs). I look at them only to
Yes.
see if they’ve got someone that I have – if they do I won’t
Where do you think fashion blogging came
use that photograph, which is terrible. But they never
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BY SHOOTER
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100
have. You know, I never see any of my subjects on other
think I’m attracted to that sort of vulnerability.
blogs; a couple at the most. It’s quite bizarre; obviously
So is there a ratio between boys and girls?
I’m looking at the world in a totally different way.
Oh I can do a guy in two seconds, but I find it really
Do you have a specific territory in which to
hard to do a girl. It’s funny and very strange.
hunt for subjects?
Do you think that’s a gay thing?
Yeah. Soho – I’m obsessed with Soho; the history and the
Yeah it is I think... it’s a gay aesthetic thing.
seedy dark alleys. This area (Spitafields) is fantastic, as is
Because you know for sure what a hot guy
Brick Lane – Hackney Road is really good as well.
looks like, but you look at girls in a slightly
But you would say most of the photos are
different way?
taken around Soho?
101
Yeah definitely. Someone said to me about my girls that
I would say 70% yeah.
if they’re not ginger they’re some kind of icon. They’re all
And you get an hour at lunch just to go out
people that I love. That’s true for both the girls and the
and have a wander?
guys. I mean I love John Waters; I was obsessed with
I go out for my full lunch hour and my break. I never
Penelope Tree and ended up running into both of them
stop. I have to because I’ve only got x amount of time
and taking their picture. I met Marc Almond, but that was
and often I won’t see a single person, then other times
a shit photograph.
I’ll find five. I don’t just take any old rubbish – it’s like a
And out of the icons, a lot more of them are
spider sense. I’ve just got to take their picture. For every
guys. You’ve photographed Duggie Fields a
picture it can take like two or three hours over a few
few times, and Sebastien Horsely.
sessions... because sometimes I see the background
Yeah I met Sebastian two weeks before he died. And
before I see the person.
I said to him how you doing? And he said to me ‘oh
So why do you do it then?
darling, I feel like death’. And I thought oh... that’s a bit
Why do I do it? Em... I think it’s an obsession. I’m
depressing. And then he died. Awful.
addicted to... I just see people that I think – I need to
So the images on the blog, and I said this
capture something. I need to... do collaboration. It’s also
when I emailed you, seem to be more about
the work of a collector - collecting typologies. If you look
people’s faces rather than just the clothes that
through all the pictures you’ll notice that I’m obsessed by
they’re wearing. But, everyone you stalk is
ginger people. (laughs)
quite fashionable. So... why do you choose to
Yeah there are a lot of ginger boys on there.
frame them in that way? I mean you can tell
And girls as well. But yeah mostly boys, I see them as
just by the hairstyles that they’re very trendy
the chosen ones. Yes, so I’m like a collector, it’s like when
people.
you were a kid and you collected these stickers that you
Do you think? Hmmm – some of them aren’t though.
swapped. It’s like that – I want to get that hot boy or
Especially with boys, there was one a few days ago,
that girl with the amazing pair of eyes. That’s what it’s
he has a Paisley shirt on, and curly hair and he was not
like. And sometimes I think it’s about fragile beauty as
trendy. I thought this is great because I can cut his awful
well. I really pick on some people, they say to me ‘but
shorts out and he’ll still look amazing. It’s a combination
why have you chosen me?’ Like there was this one girl
of several elements: what they wear and what their face
Rachel, about four days ago, who was totally insecure
looks like. Do they fit into the background? Sometimes I
about how she looks. She was like ‘why would you want
like to have a joke with the background as well.
to pick me’? I said cause you’re beautiful and she was
Because of course you use very specific
like ‘I can’t see it’. So anyway I put the photo on and
backgrounds.
immediately got people saying how beautiful she was. I
Yeah, did you see the one with Ben Wishaw the actor?
† dragmag issue one †
Yep.
I think it will go on forever because there are a lot of
a book and I think it’s really beautifully done and is an
With the cartoon?
narcissistic, self-indulgent people posting things – and
example of where... that wouldn’t have existed if the
And he wasn’t really trendy, very cute though.
I’m part of that of course. I’m as narcissistic as the next
blogging thing hadn’t really started. I think they just
Yep, but the cartoon in the background just looks like his
person.
pushed it up a level.
face. And he thought it was the funniest thing. Cause he
Although you have a funny way of showing it,
Do you remember Purple from years ago?
asked to see it, and there was a blank wall and I was
because you don’t want to be shown.
Yeah I do, and I have their anthology book. It’s a really
like can you move over. Because I always ask them to
Yeah – maybe in a kind of reverse way. I’ve already
great looking magazine – and its fifteen quid – but it’s
move and they don’t get why. So I got him to move and I
said I’m in there with the subject... I think I’m showing
worth it.
showed it to him and he was like ‘oh that’s so funny’.
my narcissism through my taste in people. I wanted to
So, how many photos do you think you’ve got
So when you see someone, will you follow
show, in the blogging world, that it’s not all about the
all together? How extensive is the shot by
them, walk with them down the street?
big industry professionals. There’s actually amazing
shooter archive?
Yes, I’ll stalk them, totally stalk them.
people out there, I think that’s what I wanted to show –
Thousands. I’ve got an amazing art director who I
Until you find somewhere right to shoot them.
you can get as equally interesting subjects by not going
need because I can’t sequence the pictures. It’s my ex-
Yep totally. They are my prey and I wait. You asked me if
to these fashion shows. These other bloggers aren’t real
boyfriend Danny, he’s actually my editor.
I like other fashion blogs and the main reason why I don’t
independent people because they’re all financed by
So he uploads them and everything?
rate them is because of the poor quality of the pictures.
big companies and get everything for free. And I would
Oh yeah totally, it’s a team. I’m part of a team.
I’m not saying that mine are amazing but these bloggers
argue that you know that little kid who’s got no money
So images of yours that we print in the
are not looking at the quality of the light. They’re just
has more style on his little pinkie than they’ve got on
magazine – these will be the first time they’ve
so excited... they see someone famous and they take
their whole body. I just think those type of blogs are so
ever been put to paper?
their picture. They’re in awe and in a hurry. They’re not
oversaturated – there’s a market for it but I just don’t want
Yeah. Well I printed one for Paul. And that was it,
looking at how the light falls, how the shadows are cast
to go down that road. I thought I’d take the harder path.
nothing else, oh and I gave one to The Chap magazine
– is it a diffused light or is it a harsh light? And that really
Those bloggers are just like free PR agents.
last week. They asked me for my picture of Alex
annoys me. I mean I’ve had cases where I’ve had an
Yeah. Of course they are and they love it.
Kapranos so I gave them that. That’s it. But I don’t care
amazing subject but the lighting is awful, so I don’t use it.
And that’s why it’s been embraced so well by
about that – I just want the pictures to get better and
As much as it hurts me I can’t use it because the quality is
the industry.
better with each image. It would be great if it took off
not there.
I think with my blog, they find it quite hard to pigeonhole
but I don’t want it to be massive. I’ve got another job... I’d
So how do you approach people?
me because I don’t communicate with anyone. I don’t
love to make my living out of taking pictures but I have
It’s kind of my secret. I’m not going to say. I have my own
write a little chatty story ‘Oh I was walking up the road
to be realistic. It’s probably not going to happen. And
little way of working but I basically just fumble about like
and I bumped into John Waters’, I just post it and it’s up
also if it did happen then I can’t work to a deadline. Like
an amateur.
to people to work it out. I get emails saying ‘who are
if you said to me ‘OK let’s do a fashion shoot’, one - I
And are people aware that you’ve been
you? Do you know these people? Are you a man or a
wouldn’t be interested and two - I couldn’t actually do
following them as well?
woman?’ I find that quite funny.
it because it’s not... mine. It’s quite a selfish thing. At
Sometimes, occasionally yeah – but I’m very good.
Do you read a lot of magazines?
the end of the day I just want it to be all about good
How many streets will you follow them for?
Not really no
portraits, and that’s what I’m going to continue putting all
Eh – you gotta be quick because sometimes they’ll go
Do you ever buy any?
my energy into.
on the phone, or go into the office or meet their friends.
No. I look. But I read books. And I read comics – I read
So you’ve got to be very careful that you don’t lose them
Marvel Comics. I’m obsessed by Marvel comics!
and I’d say if you see someone mega famous you should
Wow.
try and work it then and there.
Yeah, I don’t read magazines because... because I’m
How long do you think the blogging trend
a visual person I do my own visuals. But there are
will last, and is it more important than printed
magazines that I do think are really terrific. I think Purple
magazines?
is a terrific magazine. That’s a bible – that’s a brick of
† dragmag issue one †
shotbyshooter.blogspot.com
102
ANTHONY LUVERA ASSISTED SELF-PORTRAITS 103
Photograph by Ruben Torosyan
I first considered working with homeless people in 2001.
obvious that he should photograph the boxes. He said
practice; including a bible manufacturing company,
I was invited to photograph at a shelter event in London
that every morning he woke up in a box and he then had
social work agencies, a homeware manufacturer,
over the Christmas period organized by Crisis but I
to find somewhere safe to store the box. When he was
advertising firms and Hollywood feature film costume
declined. I smarted something about preferring to see
away from the box he hoped it would be there when he
designers. I declined these kinds of requests until
what the people I met would photograph. I had never
returned. If it wasn’t he had to search for another box
decisions about the possibility of constituting the
wanted to photograph homeless people. The work of
and then he would get back in a box again at night.
collection as a public archive could be made. I spent
artists and writers on documentary representation such
time researching community photography projects and
as Allan Sekula, Abigail Solomon-Godeau and A.D.
By 2005 I had worked with around 200 people and
community archives across the UK in order to locate
Coleman had provoked my suspicions early on about
collated many thousands of images. An opportunity to
an organisation with which I could research some of
a straight approach to representing ‘others’ – the “find a
exhibit a selection of photographs from the collection
the practical and theoretical considerations potentially
bum” school of photography sharply critiqued by Martha
on the London Underground’s Art on the Underground
involved in constituting an archive. The early history and
Rosler. However this invitation sparked my interest in
prompted me to give careful consideration to how I
current work of an organisation called Belfast Exposed
representations of homeless people and in questions
might go about recognizing the individual creators of the
Photography appeared very interesting to me and upon
about the process of photographic representation itself.
images. I did not want to simply put out an unconnected
meeting Karen Downey of Belfast Exposed I accepted an
I sourced 1,000 disposable cameras and processing
presentation of images attributed to ‘homelessness’. I
open invitation to undertake a commission. I proposed
vouchers, and volunteered at the following Crisis
began to think about how I might create a representation
to not only to make a new body of work with homeless
Open Christmas event. I helped out by organizing
of the participants in a way that would react against a
people living in Belfast, but also to take my research into
entertainment, serving food, giving out towels and
traditional portrait making exercise. I worked with one
archives to their collection. I was keen to examine my
toiletries, and I told the people I met about my idea for
particular participant called Phil Robinson to experiment
relationship to my collection and to think about whether it
a project to collect photographs made by people who
with technical setups and to examine the negotiations
was best considered the product of my investigations into
had experienced being homeless. If they were interested
played out during the photographic transaction. These
representation or if it should somehow be manifested as
I invited them to meet with me on Friday afternoons at
preliminary experiments with Phil were crucial in
a public archive.
various places across London. I gave out cameras and
enabling me to develop a framework for making portraits
encouraged all of the participants to photograph the
with the participants that I called Assisted Self-Portraits.
Between 2006 and 2008 I worked in Belfast with
things that interested them.
In order to make an Assisted Self-Portrait I met with
people who have experienced being homeless to create
each participant a number of times in various locations
a new body of work called Residency. Through this
When I began this work I was keen to learn as much
chosen by them to teach the individual how to use a 5x4
time I also researched the possibility of constituting a
as possible about the individuals I met and to hear
field camera with a tripod, handheld flashgun, Polaroid
public collection of the photographs I had collected. This
about their experiences. However, while many of the
and Quickload film stock, and a cable shutter release.
research process was enormously interesting and useful
people I met appeared to be dealing with difficult,
The final Assisted Self-Portrait was then edited with the
in terms of addressing the questions I had at the time
complex or chaotic situations, I did not want to focus
participant. Between January and April 2005 selected
and developing further questions. The research in Belfast
on their problems. I was more interested in facilitating
photographs from the collection by 11 participants were
culminated with an article I wrote for a photography
their image-making and to hear about the experiences
exhibited across the London Underground in 12 tube
theory journal called Photographies in September last
they had when using the cameras. Some people made
stations in zones 1 and 2, along with an Assisted Self-
year, and a book of Residency is about to come out.
snapshots of family, friends and special places or times,
Portrait of each participant.
Here in London I am continuing work with the collection.
while others had more specific ideas or conceptual
Both in terms of collaborating with participants to make
projects that they wanted to explore using photography.
Shortly after the exhibition on the Underground – at a
Assisted Self-Portraits and to collate their photographs,
For instance when I first met Gypsy he was sleeping
point when I had worked with about 250 people or so
and attempting to find new ways to show the work.
at night in cardboard boxes on the steps of the Royal
and collated around 10,000 photographs, negatives
Academy. Gypsy pretty much only photographed the
and ephemera – I started receiving requests from
boxes he slept in. He said that for him the boxes were
organisations and individuals to use material from
so much a part of his day-to-day experience that it was
the collection in contexts outside of my photography
† dragmag issue one †
luvera.com
104
“GYPSY PHOTOGRAPHED
105
)[[Q[\ML ;MTN 8WZ\ZIQ\ WN +PIZUQIV -LOM )[[Q[\ML ;MTN 8WZ\ZIQ\ WN /aX[a /aX[a )V\PWVa 4]^MZI 8PW\WOZIXP Ja /WTLMV 8PW\WOZIXP Ja /aX[a 8PW\WOZIXP Ja :]JMV <WZW[aIV
THE BOXES HE SLEPT IN.”
Photograph by Golden, Photograph by Gypsy (2)
106
THIS BOOK WAS PURCHASED FOR THREE POUNDS IN GLASGOW’S GREAT SECOND HAND BOOKSHOP, “VOLTAIRE AND ROUSSEA”. FOUR ARTISTS WERE INVITED TO PICK A CHAPTER THEY FOUND INTRIGUING FROM THE TABLE OF CONTENTS. THE SELECTED CHAPTERS WERE SENT OUT TO THE ARTISTS, WHO THEN ADDED TO THE PAGES OR MADE NEW WORK. CHAPTERS WERE THEN RETURNED TO DRAGMAG, TO BE PUBLISHED IN THIS NEW AND IMPROVED VERSION OF ‘HOW TO SHOOT FOR GLAMOUR’.
001
† dragmag issue one †
with Stella Vine, Graham Dury of Viz, Jeanine Woollard, Littlewhitehead
† dragmag issue one †
001
109
from top left, ‘Blue and white daisies and a pink rose’, ‘Bernie Madoff’, Pink and yellow butterflies’, ‘Curtis’, opposite, ‘Lady blue feather hat’.
† dragmag issue one †
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113
† dragmag issue one †
Jeanine Woollard, ‘O’, 2009
† dragmag issue one †
114
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