Saturday, April 27, 2013

Smutty Smith: One Kool Kat



Welllll... if 1954 was the year Rockabilly was born, 1978 was definitetly the year it got a fresh shot in the arm from England's own "Levi and The Rockats". It was the start of a new Rockabilly revolution in the UK and the US and The Rockats got the ball rolling.

I recently caught up with their legendary standup bassman Smutty Smith in Hollywood while he was hosting a party at  Sweeny Todd's Barbershop to promote J.S. Sloane
his recent line of hair pomade. He was in town to play Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend, where 20,000 kids lined up to hear The Rockats perform.

The following interview is accompanied by photographs I have taken of him over the years - here in Los Angeles, London and in Brighton. Smutty has graciously allowed us a peek inside the heart of the rockabilly, punk, glam and rock n' roll scene he was a part of.


Cheers Smut!


Julie Pavlowski Green

April 27, 2013


Julie Pavlowski Green:  
WHEN DID YOU MEET LEVI DEXTER?

Smutty Smith: I actually met Levi at a 'Rock ´N ' Roll roller skating rink around 1974-75. It was in Southend-on Sea, Essex in England above a well established Teddy boy hang out called The Pier Bar. I was still too young to get in but I loved the Rockabilly music coming from the bar. We were often mistaken for brothers around the town. We fast became friends, sharing our love of style and music. Levi shortly after moved in with my family at my house in Basildon, Essex.





JPG:  HOW DID YOU GUYS END UP MEETING LEEE BLACK CHILDERS AND WHAT WAS HE LIKE AS THE MANAGER OF LEVI AND THE ROCKATS?


SS: I first met Leee Black Childers at his house in Islington in North London. At that time he was the manager for The Heartbreakers, featuring Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan from The New York Dolls. They were touring on the Anarchy tour with The Clash, Sex Pistols and other bands. My first introduction to punk was arriving at Leee´s house to meet the likes of Debbie Harry and The Ramones and many more. I must say coming from a totally fifties retro background, I was taken back but soon became fast close friends with all of them! 

Leee was from the old school of Hollywood thought and believed that you could spot a shining star early on. His philosophy was that he could mold, teach and groom raw talent into something amazing and market it to a mass audience. I personally feel that if I had not met him, I would maybe have not chosen the path that I took. He has been and still is like a father figure to me. I owe so much to his old school of thought. He is a star maker in every sense of the word.

JPG: TELL US A PISTOLS AND ROCKATS STORY

SS: The Sex Pistols and their manager Malcom McClarin were all friends and workmates of Leee's. A lot of bands at that time looked up to Johnny Thunders and Leee and his assistant Gail. Leee often would colour his hair electric blue and Gail's canary yellow. Leee´s house on Halton road in Islington was a hub of musicians at the time just hangin' out. Many parties and hair dying get togethers were frequent. 

At the height of punk, when the Pistols were on the Bill Grundy news show and in all the bad and good press, it was war down the Kings Road in Chealsea where Teddy -Boys and Punks hung out. They often got into fights which the press blew up. One night we were all out and met up with Johnny Rotten and invited him back for a beer. We had a great time and Gail took some pics of Levi and Rotten laughing there arses off… The Pistols were just normal blokes from the same background  as all of us! The press made up all the other nasty shit just to sell papers...

JPG: WHO WAS THE FIRST BAND YOU EVER WENT TO SEE PLAY?

SS: The first band I can remember seeing was 'Crazy Cavan and The Rhythm Rockers'. They were a Welsh Teddy- Boy band... I lied about my age to get in and was blown away. I knew at that moment that I was hooked on Rock N 'Roll and nothing else mattered. It must of been at the Pier Bar in Essex around 1974.

JPG: WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST TATOO ?

SS: My first tattoo was done on my Mum's kitchen table when I was fourteen or fifteen by a mate who had made a tattoo machine… I think it was either a small creeper shoe..or the name Gene Vincent…which have all been redone since over and over ! Still keeping the same Teddy Boy old school sailor theme.

JPG: TELL US ABOUT HANGING OUT AT THE FACTORY IN NEW YORK AND MEETING ANDY WARHOL

SS: I was first introduced to Andy Warhol by Leee Black Childers. The whole band ''Levi and The Rockats'' went together.. If I remember correctly, we were not that excited.. it was just one of Leee's old mates..Leee told us that Andy always put on nice lunches and we were always starving hungry back then.. Andy was very polite and strange at the same time. Looking back now, I think he was an observational type of person, just taking everything in. He really liked us and I hung out there several times with some of the guys and on my own. 


One time he said to me ''Smutty can you take your shirt off so I can take a picture of you?'' And I said ''what are you going to give me?'' he laughed and said ..''What do you want ?" So I said a book signed or something..so he gave me a book...Another time I said why don't you draw something on me and I will get it tattooed. So he did. A small champagne glass with a girl in it. It was in biro pen. So I was going to get it done the next day but that night, I got really drunk, woke up and looked at Andy's drawing and it was a blur! So I  never got it done... haha... could have had an original piece of art...oh well. 

JPG: WHO IS YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE BASS PLAYER?

SS: My Favorite all time bass player would probably be Ray Campi. He taught me too slap ..and stand on it! But for style it would be Paul Siminon from the Clash.

JPG: HOW DID YOU END UP BEING PHOTOGRAPHED BY ROBERT MAPPLETHORP? TELL US A STORY ABOUT THE PHOTO SHOOT.


SS: I met Robert from hangin in the NY club scene..clubs like Area.. Mud Club.. Dancerteria..Peppermint Lounge...The actual scene then was not that massive ,as far as people attending these venues..You would see pretty much the same crowd at most of the clubs..people like Robert..Andy Warhol..Keith Haring..John Belushi  were regulars around town..Robert came to many Rockat shows.  think he loved the style and hair do´s..We talked a few times backstage and became somewhat friends.

I do remember him really wanting  a hair style from the fifties. I told him that I could help because of my hairdressing background...and I guess he invited me to his loft, which was in Soho around mercer street. I remember going there alone and going into the apartment and noticing that it was kind of bare..flame torches ..which looked liked a mexican jail..and a primitive jail type bed..I thought this guy´s cool... He said that was a photographer and would I like to see his work. I said yes and started looking thru his portfolio…then as i turned the pages, I started to see some pretty hardcore graphic images..thinking then ..'shit what have I got myself in too? 

He was so nice and polite, you could not help but love this man. He asked if we could set up a photo shoot and I said yes. We did the shoot and I was thinking what if he asked me to strip off, shall I? But he never did... It was a great shoot and we became very close friends. I shot with him a few times..and ..I miss him dearly..He always promoted me and featured me in his gallery shows ..and until this day I still am..at the moment on exhibition at the Tate modern in London with two pictures of me...nothing but fond memories... Robert R.I. P..x

JPG: YOU’VE BEEN PHOTOGRAPHED BY SOME OF THE GREATEST PHOTOGRAPHERS OF ALL TIME: MICK ROCK, ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE, BOB GRUEN. DID YOU EVER CONSIDER BEING A FULL TIME MODEL?


SS: I have been a model actually, not for a long time ..but in the early 1980´s I signed to click models in New York and did runway stuff for Betsy Johnson and Steven Sprouse. I  also did some shoots for German Vouge, Italian Vouge.

JPG: WHEN DID YOU MEET TIM SCOTT MCCONNEL AND WHEN DID YOU GUYS FORM THE HAVALINAS?


SS: I first met Tim Scott Mc Connell around 1980´ish. He was in a CBGB´S band called The Decks. He joined The Rockats around then and played on ''Live at the Ritz'' as well as touring the United States.The Havalinas came much later, when I moved to Los Angeles in 1988. We were still very close friends after he split from The Rockats. The Havalinas were signed to Electra records.

JPG:  YOU DID A TOUR WITH BOB DYLAN. WHAT WAS THAT LIKE?

SS: Touring with Bob Dylan was great, he has a pretty hard core following. We toured Europe with him, got to meet him and even went to his house for a party... As a person I cannot really say what he was like, never really got to know him. We got the tour after he saw us opening up for John Doe at the Roxy. 

JPG: HAVE YOU ALWAYS PLAYED THE SAME UPRIGHT BASS? WHAT MODEL IS IT? WHAT KIND OF PICK UPS DO YOU HAVE ON IT? 


SS: I have had several basses over the years. I like Kay basses, still have one that I played in The Rockats and The Havalinas and 13 Cats. But for live I have a King bass. They are no longer around.The pick ups I designed myself back in 1980. I could not get the volume that I needed to keep up with The Rockats. At that time I had just met Brian Setzer from Long Island New York. He knew the guy who made the ampeg baby bass, an electric stand up. So I met him, took his idea and made one for an acoustic bass... I think I was the first Rockabilly bass player to have EMG pick ups on an upright bass. 


JPG: YOU’RE DJING IN ICELAND THESE DAYS ON X 97.7  DID YOU EVER DJ BEFORE? WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT DJING ON THE INTERNET?


SS: I have not been a DJ before but I do have a love for music. Everything from Beethoven to Gene Vincent. I just love music so much. I was offered to do a show in Iceland where I live. A Rockabilly show to help promote the scene which is fairly small here. The show is on FM radio live at 10pm Friday nights. It started out that way but when I started to play some other stuff that I liked, the show grew and grew. So now its a Rockabilly, Punk, Old Ska, Glam and Sixties Garage and more... It's now all over the world via the internet.

JPG: YOU STARTED OUT AS A HAIR DRESSER. TELL US ABOUT JS SLOANE AND YOUR NEW LINE OF HAIR POMADE.

SS: JS Sloane was formed with an old friend of mine Joann Kuno, because we shared the love of vintage and that old Hollywood style. I had always wanted to have my own hair grease and had a hairdresser background. With Joann´s business background, we talked and decided to go into partnership together. We actually started out with one product and now have several. All of our products and marketing focuses on the Elegant styles of a time gone by. We are both big fans of film noir and that classic gentleman's look.

JPG: WITH THE NEW ROCKATS ALBUM “ROCKING TOGETHER” ON LANARK RECORDS OUT THIS WEEK, WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT PLAYING WITH THESE GUYS 25 YEARS LATER?


SS: My favorite thing about playing again and recording with The Rockats is that after playing with the same guys for so long, we really don´t need to discuss anything in detail. We just know each other so well. When you have been in or around the same band for over thirty years, you know each other pretty well.





























Saturday, April 20, 2013

American Native



What does it mean to be a an American? 

That question is sure to elicit varying answers from each person you ask. Whether your parents moved here or you are a seventh generation citizen of The United States, how you identify yourself as an American may be based on your family upbringing, how extensively you travel or how you see yourself in the context of the world. You man even identify solely with the city or state you live in, more so than The United States as a whole. It is a very personal view and one that isn't often discussed in a casual setting. We Americans have an unsaid understanding that each individual has the right to feel anyway they like about how they view themselves and this extends to how we assimilate into the vast landscape that is America.


The land of the cultural melting pot contains all customs and civilizations of the world. Our unifying culture if you think about it, really is Pop Culture. I haven't yet visited a country that didn't try to
emulate American Pop Culture in some way shape or form. Perhaps it is because it transcends the standard social division in a traditional society which consists of communities and families bound by religious, social, economic or blood ties. Anyone can pull on a pair of jeans and jump right into the popular culture of American Consumerism! Yet Pop Culture cannot fulfill deeper meaning in ones life. It cannot continuously sustain the sense of oneness and well being I believe an individual ultimately seeks in the pursuit of happiness.


Our Pop Culture has shaped the image we have of the first Americans that lived on this land. The mystery, beauty, rituals and spirituality of the first indigenous peoples fascinates us. Symbolically, they stand as a strong people, close to the earth. That is why I believe Native American's have held such interest for photographers and film makers since the mediums were born. The desire to captured our Native Peoples initially to explore and understand their culture from an anthropological perspective, sadly gave way into exploiting and portraying our Native American brothers and sisters in demeaning and subservient roles. We were just too ignorant and greedy to realize the true riches which laid inside their knowledge.


In 1883 William Fredrick Cody started his Buffalo Bill's Wild West sideshow, which traveled throughout the US and Europe for over 10 years. It instilled a negative image of the Native American with its finale which featured a "reenactment" of an Indian attack on a settler's camp, with Cody himself portraying General Custer.

Thomas Edison's movie production studio Black Maria (or the Kinetographic Theater), actually filmed Pueblo Indians in 1894 and created several short films which were to be seen on the early Kinetoscopes. Unfortunately, the way it was edited, it promoted a demeaning and negative stereotype that would set the standard for future films featuring our Native friends.

Photographers such as Edward Sheriff Curtis, who through funds set up by J.P. Morgan set out with good intentions to record a quickly disappearing culture and produced an anthropological study in a 20 volume catalogue of over 1,500 images of Native Americans from 80 different tribes between 1906 and 1915. Yet, he also created a silent film in 1914 with the sensationalised title of "In the Land of the Head-Hunters" which was a fictionalized account of Native Americans in the Kwakwaka'wakw tribe from the central coast of British Columbia, Canada, in order to pay his debts.


Westerns expanded on this theme and greatly damaged the image of the Native American even further. Their exploitation and representation of stereotypical Native Americans set the tone for many generations to come. The generation of the 50's grew up with these images of Cowboys and Indians. The good guys vs. the bad guys and that mentality literally permeated that generations black and white view of the world.

As for me, I distinctly remember as a child of the early 70's seeing the "Keep America Beautiful" commercial which featured Iron Eyes Cody crying as people polluted the earth. It was a campaign that started on Earth Day in 1971 and certainly had a huge impact on my generation. I don't remember a time I didn't recycle! I'm not saying one little commercial changed America's view of the stereotypical image of Native American's but it did strengthen the image of the Native American as being more wise than our modern day society.

In his upcoming movie "The Lone Ranger", Johnny Depp seems to be trying to undo one of the most famous American Indian stereotypes of all time. He says: "I started thinking about Tonto and what could be done in my own small way too.. 'Eliminate' isn't possible - but reinvent the relationship, to attempt to take some of the ugliness thrown on the Native Americans, not only in The Lone Ranger, but the way Indians were treated throughout (the) history of cinema, and turn it on its head". Plus he's made him look HOT! Hello...



My thoughts on this all started when I remembered shooting these photographs I had taken of my friend Tony "Papa Bear" Martinez, who is indeed a Native American Indian, here in the Hollywood Hills. His ultra smooth demeanor and laid back style reminded me to stop and take a look at the moment. To stop and listen and look without doing or becoming. He was a great teacher to me and is truly a gifted storyteller. I thought it would be interesting for others who don't live in Los Angeles to realize that even in this Metropolis, there is still the land and the trees and those of us who look for it will find it in the crazy chaos of the American Pop Culture landscape.

Julie Pavlowski Green
April 20, 2013

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Mixed Media - Getting the Message


"From Campfires to Rocket Fuel"
20 x 16"
Mixed Media

Art is a process and a journey. It leads us to explore and question and probe. The best advice I ever received was from a colleague, Jason Archer, who upon hearing me complain that I didn't have enough money to produce an exhibition, pointed out that it didn't take money to create art but it did require a lot of thought and a fresh perspective. He pointed to paintings created on cardboard, paper collages with string and glue. But his best advice was to take an image I had created (and loved) and reproduce it in many other mediums. This inspired me to render many photographic portraits and still life's in oil, acrylic, mixed media, ink and pencil.

Dabbling in mixed media over the years has provided me with an alternative format in which to explore a different way of conveying an idea or a message. I see these images as illustrations. They would fit nicely in an article on the quality of our food or a discussion on the archetype of the American Cowboy. This particular painting above, "From Campfires to Rocket Fuel", was created based on an idea presented by Sunny Buick for the group show "Sci-Fi Western"and was exhibited in 2003 in San Francisco at the 111 Minna Street Gallery. Combining the genres of Sci-fi and Western motifs was fun for everyone involved and provided us with ample symbology and cultural content to draw from.

"The 4 Food Groups"
Acrylic on Canvas
36 x 36"

When I moved down to Los Angeles in 1999, I joined the Angeleus Matchcover Club. OK, you may think I'm geeking out here but I have to tell you, I met thee most interesting mid-century illustrators who were members, several who had even worked side by side with Alberto Vargas! I really enjoyed going to their meetings. Everyone was so enthusiastic and dedicated to match cover collecting. At the time, I had over 3,000 covers. My membership only lasted a year but it was wonderful to hear the stories told of the ad agencies and prices people were paid for the art they created back in the 50's and 60's.

"Easy Street"
Acrylic on Canvas with Puzzle Piece
60 x 37 1/4"

Out of that experience, I produced two canvases: "The 4 Food Groups" and "Easy Street". I shot slides of these match covers and projected them onto canvases, cropping to the image but leaving a hint of their origins by including the copyright which wasn't always right side up. Often times it would take viewers awhile to discover that it was indeed a match cover. There is a sense of excitement when one finally realises the intent and perspecitve in an image. Enlarging these graphics, which were usually seen at a small scale, added to their interest for me. I created these paintings in 2000. In 2003, I went to the Andy Warhol Retrospective at Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Los Angeles. Boy, did I have a giggle when hanging in front of my eyes was an image I had never seen before. There hung a large scale image of a match cover created by Andy in 1962 titled "Close Cover Before Striking", a mixed media piece in acrylic, letraset and sandpaper on canvas. I knew I was on the right track...

"Old Soak"
20 x 16"
Mixed Media

My collection of mid-century greeting cards is substantial, growing out of my continual shopping at thrift stores since the 80's and my love of all things paper. I have scanned many of them and applied a few of them to mixed media paintings. "Old Soak" contains two of my favorite combinations in illustrations from this time period: figures in black outline, coupled with tipsy old men. The only tipsy woman I ever remember seeing illustrated was "Femlin" drawn by LeRoy Neiman for Playboy magazine. I grew up when it was still legal for alcohol and beer companies to advertise on television and in print. It was all very mysterious to me why only adults could drink their products, since everyone looked like they were having so much fun!

"High Score"
Acrylic on Canvas 
30 x 24"

I cannot do a blog on sign painting, mixed media and advertisement illustrations with out talking about one of my all time favorite illustrators: Mary Blair.  Her color sensibility was unparalleled and in her advertising work, a joyful childlike energy filled the page. Once again the heavy black out line but this time without the booze...  I recently visted The Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio of San Francisco (thanks to a suggestion from my friend. the incredible artist, illustrator and designer Darren Wong from Fresh Squeezed Design), and was delighted to see her original desk, paints and brushes along with many incredible storyboards in gouache she did for Disney's "Alice in Wonderland", "Peter Pan" and "Cinderella". I especially remembered her work from "Cinderella", as I had actually replicated one of her images as a back drop for a homecoming float in high school - no joke!

Mary inspired me to make my most recent mixed media illustration for my daughter's nursery.
This time I reached back into one of my most memorable childhood experiences. I was in pre-school and had somehow won a prize for drawing something. The prize was a crackerjack pinball game, you know the kind that came wrapped in the white and red striped paper to protect it from the gooey caramel covered popcorn and peanuts?  To this day, the color palate of that small toy reminds me of the joy I received in winning something for the first time. So I decided to render it in Acrylic for my daughter so that she too could have a fond memory of that beautiful blue hue and the colorful red and yellow butterflies being chased by a sweet and gentle brown bunny.


Julie Pavlowski Green
April 13, 2013

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Primary Colors: A Love Affair



"Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammer, the soul is the piano with the strings

Color. It's all around us. It has served our species well to understand and decipher the inviting shades and warning signs represented by color. Our perception of color is based not just on our visual interpretation and the juxtaposition of different colors together but our emotional and social cues we have attached to specific colors throughout our lifetimes. These social color codes are inherent in societies and helps to bind a culture together. 

Color is allusive and fleeting. Like photography, it cannot exist without light. Like music, it is a universal language that can convey a multitude of feelings in a single instance. The subject of color is so vast and interesting that from time to time I will come back to color and explore its interrelationship with emotion, music, science, vision, psychology, culture and other elements that intrigue me. Today, I wanted to discuss my initial love affair with color, in the form of the Primary Colors.




I didn't start creating images with color film until the early 90's and then it was only on certain occasions. My visual baby steps took place in black and white. This may be part of the mystery of why I am draw to the most basic palate of the color wheel: red, blue and yellow. I began to experiment with color in my photography for the emotional impact it provided. This can be seen in Modern Merry Pranksters. It was only until I started shooting commercially did I fully employ color in my work. Black and white provided the basis in which to clearly see composition but color filled it with vibrance and subtleties that were already symbolically filled with emotion and vibrations. I even did quite a few paintings during this period in red light to cut out seeing color, so I could focus solely on texture and composition.

Fashion and music also played a big part in steering my visual grammar. Since I can remember, I have been into the 6T's aesthetic and was actually quite involved with the 80's mod scene in San Francisco. Paper dress worn in the 80's, inspired by Yves Saint Laurent dresses in the 60's, which were inspired by Piet Mondrian's paintings from the 20's, were to be found. I grew up with the pulsating psychedelic colors that filled Berkeley and my Mothers muumuu's in the late 60's and early 70's but my eye was always drawn to the rudimentary colors that were seen daily in the aisles of the supermarket and advertising signs.



My favorite artists have always addressed the inherent nature of color and created their own color vocabularies. Picasso's blue period, Van Gogh's yellows, Piet Mondrian concept of neoplasticism, Joseph Albers and his "Homage to the Square", Kandinsky and his views on emotions inherent in color - all of them addressed the visual impact and implications color had on the work they created.

Yet it is the palate of primary colors which the Pop Artists utilized in the mid to late-1950's, that resonates the most with me. They speak to me. Primary colors are not boring. They wake you up and demand your attention. They are independent entities that are bold, since they know all other color are secondary. When presented in their purest form on the same plane, red, blue and yellow evoke excitement and entertainment. The circus tents and fun houses are always painted in primary colors. The fun factor is not lost on them...


The images presented here are apart of an ongoing series I have been shooting for years on the colors and shapes of fast food restaurants. I am drawn to their brightly colored roof tops that can clearly be seen for miles away, whetting your palate for a burger, pizza, hot dog or shake. It was an era that really understood and exploited the psychology of color and its relationship to food. 


Can you believe Orange is supposed to be the dominant color that makes you hungry? Perhaps that is why, besides primary colors, orange is my favorite hue!  (It is also an incredibly cool word - the way it sounds, the letters visually look good together... but I digress and promise to discuss my passion for letter signage, fonts and typeface in the future!)


Marketing strategists make it their job to understand our societies psychology and reaction to color, to sell items specifically targeted to elicit emotion. These fast food restaurants are no exception. The blue and white combination of a Foster Freeze evokes a cool milk shake, creamy and ice cold. The red roof tops of a Pizza Hut remind me of hot slice of pizza topped with pepperoni. Mmmm... I'm getting hungry already!



I work with color all day long. As an artist, photographer and as the head of reproductions for a local artist, I work with color in its many forms. Backlit on a screen, rendered in ink, reproduced in every way possible, I have come to inherently know how color will be translated in the various mediums it will be applied to. The combinations of red, blue and yellow constantly interact and play across the page. They are the foundaton in which all color derives from. 


Julie Pavlowski Green
April 6, 2013


"Three cheers for the lowly termite, who brings the circus tents to town"- Julie Pavlowski Green