#also discovering this is probably a finnish studio by seeing all the finnish names in the credits (which have rolled like... four times now | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

danielbernardgray · 4 years ago

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Howdy!

Are you available now?

Yes

Jus feeding my cat carrots

Do your cats always eat carrots?

No I discovered this a few week ago

How you doing?

I'm well

drinking coffee out of the mug you made me. When I want a non-giant amount of coffee I often opt for the Cat Lover Like No Other mug

Nooooo are you really?!

Awwww

That makes me so happy

I would send a pic but that would slow down the conversation

Lol no it’s fine

is it snowing? I saw snow pics from London

Nope not today but yesterday it was

we had one day of snow, but nothing stuck in our area

What do I do?! Act natural?!

No don't act natural! That'd be the worst thing you could do!

kidding

bad joke

Ffs I am like freaking out do I be me or less me

Well anyhow...

Lol

http://rosalieschweiker.info

Is this a virus?

lol, probably not

She's an artist and has a really nice website

Oh ok

click on it and click on work

you'll get an idea of some of what i want to do with this conversation

Ok ok I see

"it's difficult - I'd like the website to be accessible, but I also want it to be confusing."

Yes that’s true

I have no problem admitting that i'm going to straight up steal this idea

I think the artist wouldn't mind

Lol no it’s a good idea and we won’t be saying the same shit will we

part of the idea is simply that so many artist websites are nearly identical, which is a weird thing for artists to do, do the same website over and over

but maybe not that weird actually

No idea is original anymore

the other thing i'm doing is adding material to my website on a semi-daily basis, to coincide with a show I'm currently in at Texas State University

I thought conversations would be an interesting thing to include, but i also didn't want the conversations to be just about my work, because that seems really self-centered and egotistical

(disregard the obvious contradiction of this appearing on MY website)

Well any type of conversation would do right? It’s all an insight into you whether it’s indirect or directly related to your practice

Probably anything I post will be interpreted as being part of my practice, so yeah, we can talk about anything but i did have a few things in mind.

Let me start with the first thing

We should probably do something of an introduction. Can you post your name, and a link to the clay studio you started just in time for the global pandemic?

Hi I’m Kiran Sattar and I run a little clay studio in Derbyshire, U.K. you can find me on Facebook at @KikiClayStudio and on insta @kiransattarart

as I understand it you were having groups of people come in and make things in your studio, and often they had never touched clay before, right?

or at least not since they were in grade school

Yes! So I ran a range of workshops some one-off ones and others were weekly clay dates with people who found a passion for ceramics and attended each week. We did kids workshops, 1:1s, family workshops and couple ones too. Basically anything you can think of related to clay

A lot of people (mostly the older generation) did clay at school like 40 years ago and they never had an opportunity to do it again ‘til they found me

at least compared to many other art making endeavors, clay/ceramics tends to be something that is often done in a group setting

Yes it’s great to make it in to a social thing, making friends, talking out ideas

Do you have objects that you've made that end up having, or prompting, direct memories of the people you were with when you made the object? Does that work its way into the object?

yes, definitely

Most of its quite random things, I remember vaguely as a child my mum took me somewhere and it was my first experience with clay. I made a little hedgehog and a rabbit

I still have them

I guess that means there's vague memories in the hedgehog and rabbit. I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds nice.

It’s nice to think I was destined to play with clay

the older generation people that came into your studio, would they ever talk about the things they made when they were in school?

They would make the generic stuff pinch pots, hand built bowls. Some had schools with wheels so they’d attempt to make pots, cups and bowls but nothing “usable”. So they enjoy having a chance to have another go.

"usable" is interesting

would they use that term themselves?

Sorry, should have said “functional” ceramics but yes they would have said usable

I'm trying to tease out of myself what's interesting about the nothing usable phrase

Maybe cause people assume it’s always about making something useful/usable? What good is a lump of fired clay if it’s not a cup?

Sitting beside me (actually now right in front of me) is a fired lump of clay that Chris Powell fired for me in my last couple of months of grad school

Ahahahha is it useful?

It's too light to even be a paperweight, zero function

There you go!

but it has loads of memory attachments to it

which to me makes it as usable (or useful?) as the mug you made me

Ahhhh yes ok

And when I say it has loads of memory attachments i think I mean that it makes me think of Chris Powell

more to the point it's an attachment point to a specific human, and a really delightful human at that.

Definitely!

same as the aforementioned mug

I have all sorts of treasures from him that I’ll cherish

I don't believe in ghosts, not in the conventional way the term is understood, but I see no reason why someone's ghost can't be running around and doing things before they die. Preemptively ghosting around seems like it should be totally possible

I guess I understand that? When I lived in my TX apartment I swear I used to trip over my cat

Ohhhh

if a ghost is some sort of essence or remaining traces of a person, to me it makes sense that all you really need is to no longer be in the geographic presence of that person to be able to feel or encounter those traces

Like in dreams? You see loved ones who have passed away?

yeah, but wouldn't you also dream about people who are still alive in Manchester when you were living in Fort Worth? I'm not sure how different that is from the occasional dream I'll have where I'm spending time with my Finnish grandfather, who has been dead now for 15 years

When I got back here or like over holidays at home I would dream of all of you.. well mostly Hayley and I swear I could actually hear her voice

I can’t remember any from being there dreaming of here

If I did, they were in TX with me in the dream but actually in the U.K.

I think I have enough to work with here, conversation as material

I need to go in a minute

thanks for talking with me

I'll let you know when I've posted it. Might not be today's entry but it'll go up soon

Awesome! Thanks Daniel this was fun!

yeah I had fun too

toodles

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cadpadawan · 5 years ago

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Day #2 in the Music Challenge

Music Challenge – Day #2: A Song With A Number in the Title

So, I'm a day late, but I think it shouldn't compromise the balance of the cosmic Space-Time Continuum. Not too drastically, anyway...

The challenge of day #2 was to pick a song with a number in the title. No brainer. As a typical 90's post-pubertant, who spent most of the dark 80's listening to heavy metal, I could instantly come up with two options, starting the count from the number 1: Metallica and U2.

Why didn't I start from zero?

A good question.

I did listen to Zero by the Smashing Pumpkins quite a lot in the summer of 1997, so it could be a rather good choice for a song that reminds me of summertime (challenge for day #3), and Absolute Zero by Stone Sour, in turn, could serve as a perfect candidate for a song that reminds me of someone I'd rather forget (challenge for day #4)...

Whatever.

Metallica released their war-themed song One as a single from their 4th studio album ...and Justice for All that came out in 1988. My schoolmate Jarno showed me the music video one day after school, maybe a year later, as the video debuted on MTV on January 1989. The grainy footage on a worn-out VHS-tape rather emphasized the feeling of experiencing some sort of freeze-frame-shot in the passage of time. I had no previous knowledge of the band at the time, and just like that, out of the blue, the WW1-themed thrash metal epic kicked me in the nuts. If I remember right, the music video had just premiered on Finnish national TV also, in some awkward boomer music program of the era. In the aftermath, in the course of the next couple of weeks, Metallica was the talk of the town at school. There was a handful of aspiring young guitar heroes in my class, and in no time at all, the guitar tabs for this Metallica classic were doing the rounds, from hand to hand, photocopied with a second-grade resolution at the work office of some guitar geek's mom. Everybody just had to learn the song, or, as in the case of some lazy fuckers, learn at least the iconic, arpeggiated chord sequence in the song's intro. I was one of those more determined sad individuals, who spent night after night repeating the riffs and licks of the song. Excluding Kirk Hammett's guitar solo, which I honestly didn't think very highly of, in terms of musical taste, anyway, I finally learned to play through the song! Of course, it sounded a bit awkward, played through my cheap 15W amplifier, that had an integrated distortion circuit, which sounded like crushing dry bread, to be honest. The matters of sound quality nicely provide me with an awkward transition to the continued issue regarding the nothing short of legendary lack of low end on this classic Metallica studio album. Some internet scholars assume, that the band deliberately turned down the bass tracks, played by the freshly recruited Jason Newsted, as if to suggest that the band had not entirely resolved the psychological trauma caused by the tragic death of their original bass player, Cliff Burton. A theory like that sounds a bit far-fetched. I have played in a ridiculous number of bands, during the past 25 years. I haven't yet met anyone, who would choose to make the collaborative effort of the band sound bad, for whatever reasons. So, I can fully accept James Hetfield's later account of the situation: the band was totally burned-out. Nevertheless, the herds of teenage metalheads, such as me and most of my friends, didn't really mind. When the album came out, it was the best-fucking-shit-ever for some time. One was Metallica's first top-40 hit on the Billboard charts, and in Finland it reached #1 spot in the charts. Yeah, I'm lucky to live in the land of 1000 lakes, and 1.000.000 tr00 metalheads: we eat cast iron I-beams for breakfast, and shit barbed wire after...

One was also the title of the third single from the brilliant U2 album Achtung Baby, that was released in 1991. The album was recorded at the legendary Hansa studios in Berlin, under the supervision of two producer legends: Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno. Whatever we may think of Bono's later trademark way of playing Jesus to the lepers in his head, there is no denying that this particular U2 album is a fucking rock classic. On this album the band kinda re-invented itself.

When I got my driving-licence, on the brink of the summer 1992, Achtung Baby was one of those killer albums I had copied from vinyl to C-cassette, in order to expose my blissfully unaware passengers to some quality music, during those restless weekend odysseys, when I was the appointed driver. With the price of gasoline being as it is now, I'm not sure if the youth today follows this fine tradition of driving around, aimlessly, at the heart of every Saturday night anymore. Probably not. Maybe they're too busy exchanging make-up tips and eating tidepods in YouTube. Times, they are a-changing... However, there probably is no feeling that can come even close to that special feeling, when you're driving home at 6 AM, after a hot long summer night of driving around, watching your dearest friends being entangled in the grandiose act of mental butterfly strokes, in the whirlpool of alcohol and bad decisions, and U2's cordial 90's hit One comes on in the car stereos.

So, I could settle with either one...

Metallica: One

U2: One

Or, I could keep the streak going, and see how far I can get...

For a song with the number two in the title, I could also come up with two options, that both have some personal meaning to me: Iron Maiden and Jonny L. The latter released some quality drum & bass in the 90's, and everybody should be well-acquainted with the heavy metal classics this first-mentioned British outfit released throughout the 80's. After all, the band pioneered the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement.

I musta been something like 10 years old, when Iron Maiden released one of their best albums, IMHO, titled Powerslave. Heavy metal was something that my mom strongly disapproved of, and at the time, my family did not yet have a record player. We did have a cheap ghettoblaster, that I frequently used to record contemporary rock songs on C-cassettes, especially after the brand new rock-oriented Finnish radio station, Radio City, started on the first of May, in 1985... So, I had a habit of going to the local library, that had pretty street-credible music department. My usual after-school activity was to pick a freshly released, kick-ass heavy metal album from the vinyl bins, and then hand it to the library clerks. Then, they would hand me the earphones and show me to the first vacant listening booth. That's how I discovered shitloads of contemporary metal albums, such as:

Van Halen: 1984

Iron Maiden: Powerslave

Kiss: Animalize

and:

Duran Duran: Seven and the Ragged Tiger

I guess, you're wondering now, what kind of contemporary metal did that last band perform, or did I, by any chance, refer to the 80's new wave synth-pop band? Oh, yes! I'm talking about that notorious pop band, that was part of the new romantics movement, or something. It was my guilty pleasure, at the delicate age of 10. Maybe it was also one of the subconscious reasons, why I switched my main instrument from electric guitar to synths and keyboards a decade later. At some subliminal level, I was magically drawn to the textures of analog synth sounds...

Or whatever...

Quite appropriately, 2 Minutes to Midnight was the second track on the vinyl A side of Iron Maiden's gigantic classic album Powerslave. It's a kind of protest song about nuclear war, with the title referring to the Doomsday clock used by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. That symbolic clock represents the countdown to potential man-made global catastrophe. When the clock hands align at midnight, quite frankly, we all will be fucked. The clock was originally set to seven minutes to midnight in 1947. The current reading is 100 seconds to midnight. So, in a way, it's pretty evident, that the world is progressing forward – because it's going downhill in every fucking way possible. I've been listening to this timeless Maiden classic since the time of its' release, on a fairly regular basis, for the past 36 years...and I still can't get tired of it.

British jungle producer Jonny L released an EP in 1996, titled 2 of Us, on a prominent electronic music label XL Recordings. A few years later, I was practicing the haute couture art of flaneuring at the music department of the now-defunct Finnish chain retail Anttila, right next to the Helsinki main railway station. I chanced to lay my eyes on this drum & bass gem among all the one-hit wonders at the discount section. The sight was so disheartening, that I simply had to rescue this poor and misplaced music artefact to a good home. At the time, I was fooling around in the role of some kind of an art director of a project band, that sought to mix acid jazz, organic drum & bass grooves, and various electronica elements into a unique and coherent whole. I had written shitloads of original material for the project, that initially started as an instrumentals-only outfit. However, the band lacked a prominent lead instrument, like saxophone, for example. So, when we met a promising vocalist, we thought it might be a good idea to adjust the concept a little. The title track on this 2 of Us-Ep by Jonny L was one of the songs we auditioned the singer with. Alas, the project turned out to be short-lived, due to numerous non-music-related reasons. We never even coined a name for the band. At some point, though, some of those original song ideas were brought to a fruition, with a temporary line-up, that was pieced together for a special occassion. We warmed up for an underground funk outfit D-Note Unity in a private funk-themed party in Helsinki, in the late 90's. I can't remember the year. The headliner act of the party later evolved into Kemopetrol, so I think it must've happened before 1998? The funk party was a night to remember, to borrow the title of an old 1958 British drama movie recounting the final night of RMS titanic, as the night culminated in an impromptu freeform jam session, that lasted for hours...that is, until the members of both bands were too damn shitfaced to play anymore...

So, to cut to the chase, the nominees for a song with the number two in the title are:

Jonny L: 2 of Us

Iron Maiden: 2 Minutes to Midnight

Next up: the number 3.

Again, it's almost impossible to make the choice between two options: Jane's Addiction and Between the Buried and Me.

I guess, it was a pure accident that I found out about Jane's Addiction's alt.rock in the early 90's. I cannot remember hearing the band's songs on radio, until much later in the 2000's. I have to thank the Finnish grunge band Slumgudgeon for that. I never actually listened to this band, but I remember reading an interview in the Finnish music press, in which one of the band members praised Tom Waits. Or, if I recall right, the band actually deemed Rod Stewart to be downright gay for deflowering the beauty of the Tom Waits original Downtown Train. The interview was so clever and funny, I just had to check out, who the hell was this Tom Waits, anyway. On a side note, the musical primus motors of Slumgudgeon later ended up as the founding fathers of the Finnish metal juggernaut Mokoma. So, one day I went to the local library to check out whether they had any of those mythical Tom Waits albums...and voilà! I actually spotted the magnificent Heartattack and Vine album! But I spotted something else, too. My eyes were exposed briefly to the exquisite cover art of the Ritual de lo Habitual album by Jane's Addiction, while I was looking for something else completely. I thought: if a band has balls to put something like that on the cover, the music simply cannot be that bad! I borrowed both of these albums. I just had to check them out! And I think I must've been happy like a dog with two tails, for hitting such a bull's eye – twice in a row! I guess, that by now, most people of my age are familiar with the more radio-friendly tracks on that Jane's Addiction album, such as Been Caught Stealing and Stop! In my honest and humble opinion, though, the absolute pinnacle track on that album is the 3-part meditation on death and rebirth titled Three Days. It would make a perfect choice for a song with a number in the title...on the other hand, though...

Fairly recently, some two years ago, or something, Devin Townsend was performing in Helsinki, with the warm-up acts being none other than the Norwegian prog-metal mindfuck Leprous, and the band that I wasn't really that familiar with, Between the Buried and Me. To be honest, BTBAM did not exactly win me over with their performance. Such AD/HD metal sure had its' moments of high entertainment, but an hourful of circus music was a bit too much to chew in one take. In a way, the band's music was like a perfect auditive match for a bad crystal meth experience. However, my wife later spotted the band's magnificent cover of the King Crimson original Three of A Perfect Pair. After hearing this, I simply had to re-adjust my view of the band. Actually, this BTBAM interpretation of the song is much better than the original. I guess, Robert Fripp is going to sue my ass for saying this in public, but that's the undisputed, motherfucking truth. It's not a matter of taste, nor is it an opinion. It's a fucking fact. With all due respect. The song lyrics resonate in me with a particular clang of irony, now that I've got my midlife issues sorted out.

So, the most touchy-feely songs with the number three in the title would be:

Jane's Addiction: Three Days

Between the Buried and Me: Three of A Perfect Pair

Then...the number four.

Well, whadda'ya know...the number four proved to be the easiest so far: I could only come up with one option: Four Chords that Made a Million by Porcupine Tree. I refrained from resorting to any progressive rock suites with multiple parts. This particular Porcupine Tree song is from the album Lightbulb Sun. I think I was introduced to the band by my dear bandmates in Souldump, with whom I played for a couple of years cirka 2005. I kinda passed the torch, by introducing the magnificence of Porcupine Tree to my wife later, in 2009. I've got my beloved wife to thank for quite a lot of new artists, that I mighta never discovered, if it wasn't for her tireless hunt for new music via Spotify and such. So, just before this magnificent British post-prog band, fronted by Steven Wilson, went on to an indefinite hiatus, it performed in Helsinki in 2009. I bought the tickets, and took my wife to see the show. After the gig, she was a full-blown fangirl. This particular track here might not be the exact Porcupine Tree song that I love the most, but it's good stuff nevertheless.

Porcupine Tree: Four Chords that Made a Million

I guess, I could go on forever...

Maybe I'll just list the rest of the songs, and see what number I can reach up to:

The Dave Brubeck Quartet: Take Five (one of the first jazz tracks that I fell in love with)

Sneaker Pimps: 6 Underground (everybody had that triphop phase in the mid-90's, right?)

Sting: Seven Days (Ten Summoner's Tales is a kick-ass album!)

The Beatles: Eight Days A Week (who's to NOT like the Beatles?!?)

Jimi Hendrix: If 6 was 9 (the best guitarist of all time, no questions!)

Juan Atkins: Track Ten (Techno is intriguing stuff)

Sigue Sigue Sputnik: Love Missile F1-11 (this was in the Levyraati TV-show, back in the day...)

Creamstar: The 12th of Never (A random finding from some discount bin, Anttila, probably...)

Pantera: 13 Steps to Nowhere (It's a shame I didn't find Pantera any earlier, like when I was 20...)

Swallow The Sun: April 14th (from a killer album!)

Radiohead: 15 Step (In Rainbows is probably their second best effort, after OK Computer!)

Billy Idol: Sweet Sixteen (Nice song, despite the dubious connotations, considering the artist...)

Stevie Nicks: Edge of Seventeen (yet another song about death...)

Skid Row: 18 and Life (Nostalgia...eww...)

Paul Hardcaste: 19 (the chorus was a reason for much laughter as a kid...)

Isis: 20 Minutes/40 Years (went to see their last ever gig in Finland, with a fever of 38 degrees...)

Green Day: 21 Guns (who didn't like skate punk in the 90's?)

Iron Maiden: 22 Acacia Avenue (and who did NOT listen to Iron Maiden in the 80's?!?)

The Brother Johnson: Strawberry Letter 23 (via Jackie Brown, obviously...)

Stevie Vai: Ballerina 12/24 (One of the few guitar wankers that I like, in moderation...)

Chicago: 25 or 6 to 4 (that particular track that converted me to like this band in the early 90's!)

Tuomo: 26 (one of the best Finnish nujazz-or-whatever-jazz artists!)

Walking Across Jupiter: -27 (a recent finding, interesting stuff indeed!)

John Murphy: 28 Theme (one of my favorite film composers, check out Adagio in D minor, too!)

Robert Plant: 29 Palms (This too, was in the Levyraati TV show, back in the day...)

August Burns Red: Thirty and Seven (I guess, djenty emocore is my guilty pleasure nowadays...)

Aimee Mann: Thirty One Today (she has a way with words, been a fan since mid-90's...)

Carpark North & Sandra Nasic: 32 (there's something rotten in Denmark, their indie/alt.rock scene rocks! Awesome bands, like Mew, Carpark North, Veto, and I think Vola is Danish, too...)

Protoculture: Thirty Three South (of course, everybody needs a bit of trance music now & then)

Cult of Luna: Thirtyfour (awesome sludge!)

Egotrippi: Asunto 35 (Class A Suomi-rock)

System Of A Down: 36 (is AD/HD metal an official genre now? It should be.)

Drowning Pool: 37 Stitches (everybody went thru a nu-metal phase in the late 90's, didn't we?)

Eclipse: 38 or 44 (a random finding via Spotify, decent enough to include here)

Tenacious D: 39 (you simply cannot dislike this band!)

Static-X: Forty Ways (I guess, you could write this band off as a Korn rip-off, but they DO have a few decent tracks...)

Azam Ali: Forty One Ways (Enigma-esque etno artist, with nice ambient soundscapes)

Coldplay: 42 (not entirely crap band, though this is not their best track)

Karma to Burn: Fourty-three (Some stonershit is called for here...)

Megadeth: 44 Minutes (I'll hafta admit, that I'm more of a Greatest Hits-type of a fan, when it comes to Dave Mustaine's endeavours...)

Shinedown: 45 (this band: pure fucking awesomeness!)

Tool: Forty Six & 2 (Ruisrock in 2006, a gig to forever remember...)

Boards of Canada: Seven Forty Seven (these electonica bastards are onto something...)

Bones: 48843 (A fresh finding...not sure yet, if this is pure genius or not...)

Röyksopp: 49 Percent (from the kick-ass album The Understanding)

Paul Simon: 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (killer drum groove by Steve Gadd!)

Van Halen: 5150 (The soundtrack of my childhood)

That's how far I managed to go...I counted that I've got 37 of these in cd format, in my personal collection, and the rest of the songs are ”just” in my Spotify playlist, or as a mp3 on my laptop. Tomorrow I shall challenge myself again to dig into the dark depths of my conventional wisdom, in terms of music.

Stay tuned! Cheers!

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goftor-blog · 5 years ago

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Vampira V

Maila Nurmi was the original Queen of the Modern Gothic. Vampira, her iconic macabre creation, influenced generations of filmmakers, musicians, artists and lifestylers. Sadly, she shuffled off her mortal coil on January 10th, 2008. She was aged 86.

A Finnish-born model and actress, Maila had posed for Man Ray, Vargas and Bernard of Hollywood before being discovered at a masquerade ball by a TV producer. Her pale-skin and tight black dress complete with black wig and long, haemorrhage-red fingernails were quite unique in 1953. A year later, she became the eponymous star of The Vampira Show bringing a distinctive mix of sex, horror and death.

As the world’s first TV horror host, Vampira’s sardonic wit and eye-popping hourglass-figure made her the ghoulish fantasy of guys and ghouls across the globe, despite appearing on a show that was only broadcast in LA. Every week the voluptuous vamp would unleash blood-curdling screams and utter puns in an exotic and alluring Marlene Dietrich-like drawl – ‘I am…Vampira. I hope you all had the good fortune to have had a terrible week.’

After her show was cancelled, Maila accepted a tiny fee to appear as the reanimated corpse bride in Plan 9 From Outer Space, a role in the unfairly dubbed ‘Worst Film of all Time’, but it was one that would ensure Vampira’s immortality in popular culture.

As a star in the Golden Age of Tinsletown, Maila gigged with Liberace, dated Orson Welles, was friends with Marlon Brando and formed a tremendous kinship with James Dean, whose spirit, she claimed, haunted her for six months after his death.

Even as lady in her eighties, she was an incredible bright spark, a feisty old dame and a terrific raconteur, recalling stories from the old days with childlike glee. Like her icons-in-crime Bela Lugosi and Ed Wood, Maila Nurmi died nearly penniless, but she left behind a legacy that will endure forever.

Here’s the article I wrote for Bizarre Magazine…

The Lady is a Vamp

I’m sat in Pioneer Chicken, a fast-food joint off Sunset Boulevard, deep in discussion with Vampira, the world’s first TV horror host. Maila Nurmi, the Finnish-born performer beneath the famous black wig and nails was a phenomenon in the nineteen-fifties. Her iconic gothic style, sardonic wit and eye-popping hourglass-figure made her the ghoulish fantasy of guys and ghouls across the globe, despite appearing on a show that was only broadcast to the Los Angeles area. Every week the voluptuous vamp would emerge from dry-ice studio fog to the sound of creepy organ music. She would unleash a blood-curdling scream and utter puns in an exotic, sexual, Marlene Dietrich-like drawl – “I am…Vampira. I hope you all had the good fortune to have had a terrible week."

But this is not simply an interview with a vampire. Conversing with Naila Nurmi means taking a voyeuristic journey through the lives of mythological cult icons of fifties Hollywood. It seems that Vampira’s finger was firmly on the jugular pulse of the tinsletown scene during the beat generation. Captivating tales with James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Elvis Presley pour from her octogenarian lips, memories recalled with intensity and insight.

Since Maila claims psychic capabilities, one can also add a touch of the paranormal to this Hollyweird concoction. She speaks of clairaudience, strange premonitions and visions. Most sensationally, it was such psychic sensitivity that found her haunted by the spirit of James Dean, whose death profoundly affected her.

She’s certainly one tough cookie though, that’s for sure – strongly opinionated and gutsy. Before international fame, back when she was modeling for the likes of Bernard of Hollywood, Vargas and a young Man Ray, she still wasn’t taking any crap from studio big shots. Even movie mogul Howard Hawks – who discovered Maila performing a skeleton striptease in a New York show – suffered the wrath of Vampira’s razor-witted tongue, despite having just turned Lauren Bacall into a household name.

“I thought he was stupid, so I tore up my contract,” she giggles, tucking into her rice. “I told him to kindly find a place for it in one of his numerous waste baskets.”

Yet in 1956, her outspoken manner caused her blacklisting from the system. Broke, she accepted a measly $200 to play the reanimated corpse-bride of Bela Lugosi in the trash sci-fi epic Plan 9 From Outer Space. Irony, for this movie cemented her position in popular culture and led to Tim Burton’s marvelous biopic of director Ed Wood, one that cast model Lisa Marie as Maila.

At eighty-three, she’s still hip and sharp like Vampira’s fingernails.

So how did your famous horror host role come about?

I decided I wanted to become an evangelist. I had to sponsor myself and I thought I needed $20,000. How could I do it? Well, television was just warping people’s minds, so I thought could do that – and they paid big. I thought I’d satirise soap operas, I’d take improbable people and make them do all these bourgeois things. Since Charles Addams had already done it in comic form, I wanted it to bring it to television. So that is why I made the dress, went to a masquerade ball and won first prize. They discovered me and that was the end of it. But Vampira wasn’t really acting. It was television, just a lot of hogwash.

What went wrong with the revival of Vampira in the early eighties and the subsequent launch of the Elvira character?

Well I was dealing with KTTV for three months and then they suddenly didn’t want me to come to the studio anymore. They eventually called me in to sign a contract and she was there (Cassandra Peterson). They had hired her without asking me.

So it was going to be the Vampira name?

It’s Vampira all together. She did the whole thing with the Rocky Horror people. They stole it. They stole $100 million dollars. She was in 51 markets at one time with 350 kinds of merchandise; milked my cupboard bare.

Did you successfully sue?

I sued for eight years but not successfully. Finally I ran out of money. To continue would have cost $60,000. I wrote to the judge and said, “I’m sorry, I have no money. I have to close the case.” So he charged them to pay all the expenses. That money was meant for animal welfare and she spent it on cocaine and red limousines. Boy has the devil got that bitch—it’s the devil in her blood. That slut was a big player in porno movies – she was trying to hide her background. They deemed it unwise to reveal that fact so they told her to make up stuff if she was asked. But she said, “Why make it up when it is written here?” She was pretending to be me. How dare she? She’s such a low-life, such a no talent. She’s so stupid and she has no sense of timing. No sense of humor; such a common slut that speaks Americanese. Nasal. Phlegmatic. You know, the limousines and the lovers and the houses—they can take all that. Initially they wanted me. I wouldn’t do it because I didn’t want Vampira to be anything but perfect. I certainly didn’t want it to be a streetwalker-slut like that. Angelina Jolie would be a good Vampira.

Didn’t Vampira lead you to James Dean?

With the character I had been handed the keys to the city. I wanted to see who’s who and so I attended a movie premiere. But all I could find was vapid identities, people of whom I had no interest, except for one fellow who was with Terry Moore. I thought “him, that’s the one with the tuxedo and the collar, the farm boy hair that wouldn’t stay down.” Twelve hours after, I was sitting in Googies, and Jimmy rode up on his motorcycle, the windows rattled and the rest was history. We were never apart again. We were best friends instantly, like psychic Siamese twins.

Was he openly gay to his friends?

No. As he said, “do I look like someone who would go through life with one hand tied behind my back?” That was a courageous statement in those days. Jimmy was primarily heterosexual but he used men sexually to get ahead, and if he saw someone he liked, he liked them. More often it was women, but maybe that was because he had never got the really pretty girls before. He had always got the ugly leftovers that nobody else wanted.

How much time did you spend with him?

Seventeen-hundred hours, every moment to treasure. But he was just a little boy in search of his mother. Everyone must have seen it, maybe not known what it was, not how to read it, but they saw the feeling. I was a little more psychic so I knew what it was. He had the impression she had abandoned him. But after, I found out she died of cancer and hadn’t abandoned him at all, but she did go away and leave him all alone in the world. He was an only child and it was impossible for him to relate to his father. The father had probably married his mother for her boobs or something and had nothing in common with her. She raised a boy whom she named after a poet, James Byron. And the father didn’t know poetry from a hole in the ground. He was a nice, practical, and sensible dentist.

Do you remember when you heard that James Dean had died?

Yeah I was at home with Tony Perkins (Psycho). Jack Simmons (actor in Rebel Without A Cause and friend of Dean) had just left to visit some lesbian whores that lived a block away. We knew we had to tell Jack before someone else did, but then we had to go tell Ursula (Andress), Jimmy’s ladylove. We drove up and I waited in the car because I didn’t really know her very well. It was in a dead end street, and now dark. Then suddenly, Marlon (Brando) appeared at the car – he had been hiding in the bushes. Ursula had called him in hysterics screaming, “They are trying to kill me. They’re threatening me. They think he killed himself because of me. I’m frightened! You have to come. I’m alone.” She would have used any device to get to Marlon at that time, even though she was trying to break up John Derek’s marriage. She wanted Marlon above all; she even bought the same car that he had. So he went, but looked in the windows first to be sure that she wasn’t putting him on and that she was really upset. Then Jack found him in the bushes. “Maila’s over there, in the hearse,” he said.(laughs) So he came over to offer condolences.

I heard that the spirit of James Dean visited you.

He visited a lot of people. He was very active. Now a lot of people made it up too I’m sure, but even people who weren’t psychic had experiences. He was that strong. Jimmy was following me around and was with me a lot of the time for the first six months. There would be an ashtray, I’d look and say “don’t anybody touch the ashtray, it’s gonna go up. That’s Jimmy’s sign that he’s here.” And it would go up!

Did you have psychic tendencies early on?

Yeah, I was very psychic in those days. My first husband Dean Eisner (writer of Dirty Harry and Play Misty For Me) and I lived in Laurel Canyon. He came home from work one day and said a story editor was writing a TV series about us. TV was very new and it was very easy to get anything you wanted done. He said they called it “Laurel Canyon”, but apparently sold it under the working title Bewitched. That was written about Dean Eisner and I. You see my mother was a witch. She wasn’t practicing, but she couldn’t help but be a witch. It was natural. It exuded from her, the very essence of her. And I was very psychic too.

Didn’t you share some strange, paranormal experiences with Marlon Brando?

We were sitting around and chatting in the dining room and Einstein had died just three weeks before. Marlon always had a wonderful portrait of Einstein on his headboard and sometimes he would just shove it in your face. Suddenly Marlon says, “There’s someone here. It’s Einstein. He has a message for us.” I was included in the message. “You young ones have to hurry up,” That’s what Einstein told Marlon, who wasn’t inventing it – he believed it. He may have seen it or heard it. The point is that Marlon really wanted to believe that he was a humanitarian, and Einstein was urging him to hurry up with his duties. Marlon was a very humane human being, though he didn’t know how to be humane with his own children. Some of his best friends despised him and said he was a brute and a beast and nothing in-between. He’s either the gentlest, noble of human beings or the coarsest and grossest. How do you like them apples?

What was your first introduction to any of the Ed Wood clan?

I was a young girl window-shopping on Hollywood Boulevard. I was bending low to see the detail of some shoes and someone whizzed around the corner on roller skates, almost bumped my fanny and crashed into me. “Pardon me,” said he, and “Pardon me,” said I. He was wearing an ascot and a beret. It was Bela Lugosi on roller skates. He was on his way to a cigar store.

Had you heard of Ed Wood before you met him?

Yes, because there had been an article in a newspaper, saying that he wanted to make a movie with Vampira. The nerve of him! This was before I was blacklisted. After, I had no money and I couldn’t get a job. A guy came and visited me and offered $200 to make this Ed Wood movie called Grave Robbers From Outer Space (later changed to Plan 9). I thought it was a good title at least. Oh boy! So I did it, and he came into my life right after then.

Did you find Ed Wood to be an intelligent guy?

No. But anyone who has become a phenomenon has a karmic current carrying them there. Nobody who is normal has such drive. That’s got to be driven by something larger than life. There was something there that I didn’t understand or respect because I was an intellectual snob, but it was there alright.

How did Ed Wood react when he heard you didn’t want to speak his words?

Paul Marco told him, so I don’t know. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but my God, I could not say those words. I wish I had them today because I threw them away. Do you know what jewels those lines must have been? I tried to say them, but I curdled my own blood. (laughs) They were awful!

Did you go to the premiere of Plan 9 From Outer Space?

Yeah. The theatre was full of people. I was backstage and I could see the images behind the screen. People were in the wings, dictating to me when to walk out, so that I was there on screen at the same time as I walked across stage. The audience booed, whistled and threw popcorn – they loved it! But I never actually got to see the film as I had to leave, then the film was banned in Los Angeles for 26 years. It never played here and Ed Wood never knew why. They hated him I guess or maybe it was because of me. But Criswell told me that the film played in a small theatre in New York for over a year and a half, with just standing room only all the time. When it was on the road in Indianapolis, even though it was pouring with rain, people queued around the block with newspapers over their heads. It was very popular. People knew it was Lugosi’s last film.

What kind of state of mind do you think Ed Wood have when he later made porn films?

He loved the porn. He was in his element. He would have been very unhappy if he had known he couldn’t have done porn again. He just kept writing them so fast. He’d write a whole pornographic book in just two days.

Did Tim Burton talk to you before he filmed the movie Ed Wood?

Yes. He introduced me to his stuffed bat. The film was accurate in some way but he wasn’t really trying to be accurate. It was a docu-drama. He was taking liberties, which he was entitled to do, but he got some of the essences correct—the ones that he should have retained. And then he embroidered a little. Johnny Depp is such a good actor and was believable as Ed Wood. Although it wasn’t exactly the same persona, his essence was there. The enthusiasm was so believable – such gung-ho enthusiasm.

Finally, is it right you had an encounter with Elvis before he became famous?

I went to Las Vegas with Liberace and met a19 year-old Elvis. I was there eating breakfast in the hotel and across the huge dining room in backlight – because the sun was shining through the windows – I could see three older men, smoking cigars, looking plump and eating. A tall, young, graceful man came in, and sat with them. Then on the intercom it said that somebody was wanted on the telephone. This young guy got up, and walked like Robert Mitchum. All I saw was his silhouette, that was it. So I paid my bill and walked past the men and said, “well congratulations, he’s going to be the biggest movie star in the world. I see he has tremendous magnetism.” “Ah,” they said, “thank you.” (laughs). And I hadn’t yet seen Elvis’ face. But the next night when he opened, I went with Liberace and his whole family. A side curtain parted and this kid comes out alone. I had never seen someone boldly standing on a stage – supposedly a heterosexual male – wearing turquoise eye shadow and grinding his hips like that. I thought, “oh-my-god. What am I seeing? This music is great.” The orchestra, one by one put down their instruments. They crossed their arms and refused to play. The audience started booing, and they booed him off the stage. Then a voice said to me – and I wasn’t on any drugs – “go around the side of the hotel and in the back, there’s a swimming pool and you’ll find someone in a canary yellow jacket.” Now I hadn’t seen a jacket like that anywhere. But I went around and in the dark moonless night, far away I could see the double doors of the casino, golden with light. They opened and a figure came into the doorway. It was Elvis, wearing a canary yellow jacket. He looked confusedly into the darkness, so I said, “I’m over here.” We walked towards each other, sat down and talked. I told him that I was a performer and that what happened was absolutely awful. He said, “every night before I go on, I talk to God and he always answers me. But tonight he didn’t answer. When them curtains opened and I saw all those white heads and them glasses, I knew why.“ I told him I admired his courage and that they only did that because they’re sheep and they do as they think they are supposed to do. One person booed and so then they all did. They’ve never, ever seen anything like you and it frightened them. But, Life Magazine are going to discover you (because that’s what they did in those days) and they will kiss your shoes.” He said, “it’s coming out Thursday” and it did. I was thirty-three and he said to me, “I know you’re getting old and all, but if you’d like to come back after the show, I’d be proud to take you back to my bungalow.” (laughs) His hallowed words! And so Elvis went back to do a second show.

Many thanks to Joe Moe and Forry for their assistance with this interview.

(Photos and Words Copyright – Mark Berry)

Posted by Mark Berry – Photographer & Graphic Designer on 2007-05-31 00:12:36

Tagged: , mark berry , photography , maila nurmi , goth , vampire , legend , ed wood , plan 9 from outer space , bats , pioneer chicken , bizarre magazine , sfx , teeth , portrait , B/W , classic , cult personalities , cult , personality , famous , infamous , estoreric , fan culture , vampira , tv , television , horror , host , ghouls , ghoulies , terror , fear , hollywood , california , hot cherry , bristol , uk , us , based , los angeles , LA , www.hot-cherry.co.uk , photographer , designer , writer , سكس , topsense , imagicland

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rbeatz · 8 years ago

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rBeatz Exclusive Interview with Rony Rex

Helsinki DJ, Rony Rex, has been rising the ranks as a DJ headliner, touring from Tunisia to Thailand and England to Egypt on a regular basis. He never had to produce to get these headlining shows. His technical mixing abilities, song selection and humble prowess got him headlining. Last week, he released his debut EP, F*cked It Up, off the Youth Control label. He debuted his first single, Sticky Fingers, only two months ago, and it went straight to #1 on the iTunes Finnish Chart. Soon after that, the prolific DJ’s debut single hit #4 in the Spotify Viral Chart. Now notable DJs and tastemakers worldwide are waiting to hear what Rony Rex comes up with next.

Rony is everywhere. He runs his own radio show, Bassoradio, leads DJ workshops for RedBull, collaborates with Sennheiser to stream live DJ sets from unique places, and represents Finland’s leading music production company.

The most popular song on the EP is F*cked It Up, and It features the Finish electro-pop band LCMDF, who have worked with major labels like Sony and Kitsuné. The song has a bit more of an uplifting electro-house vibe than what Rony normally produces. It’s playful, nearing bubblegum-house with sharp lyrics, creating a silly yet hype vibe. This production also shows Rony’s versatility in the space. Rony is a GROOVE master, and this is obvious from his EP.

Take a listen Rony Rex’ entire new EP below, F*cked It Up, and read his interview below to get the FULL Rony Rex experience.

INTERVIEW:

Where does the name Rony Rex come from?

My first name is Rony and for the second part I owe much to my good friend Nicolas who helped come up with it when we were sitting in his car in rainy Helsinki around 5am with 3 hours to a deadline to publish a festival gig we had booked with a new alias. I like it since it sounds fun and means all kinds of cool things such as “king” in Latin. Plus, it’s the best dog name ever.

Where are you from and how has that shaped the musician you are today?

I’m from Espoo, Finland which is just next to Helsinki. Classic suburban life. When I was a kid I remember always feeling music a lot but not really playing any instruments. When we got our first family computer, I pretty much made it my own and hid it in my room, searching Napster (good old) for all kinds of music. Remember when people used to rename their songs as “50 cent – In Da Club” to make people download? That’s how I first discovered loads of new music and genres.

Later as a teen I started hosting these house parties at my parents place. I used to DJ together with friends and we even had bands playing in the living room. The parties grew quite big, still get shivers when thinking about the moments when I got caught by my folks. Those were my first steps into the magical world of DJing. I moved on to promote my own clubs and then started to get bookings around Finland and Europe. Even though I’ve been making music for years now I still (and probably always will) consider myself more a DJ than producer or musician.

What instruments did you play when you were younger?

I spent most of my time playing around with a cracked version of Virtual DJ running on an old Windows 98 desktop trying to make all kinds of devices work as midi controllers.

Is there an instrument that you currently wish you COULD play?

Recently I performed together with musicians playing traditional Chinese instruments (don’t ask). Can’t remember what one of the instruments was called but it made a super funny noise like a vacuum cleaner on acid under water. That one.

Tell us the story of how you started creating music on your computer?

The usual one. Got the eJay demo CD in a cereal box and got on with it.

What was your favorite studio moment when producing your newest EP, F*cked It Up EP?

The dance that spontaneously happened in a studio in Berlin together with LCMDF and my friend Perttu when we had just finished recording the first version of the lead track, F*cked It Up. That’d make a solid music video.

What festival are you looking forward to the most this year?

Weekend Festival in Helsinki. It’s been a thrill seeing it grow from humble beginnings into one of the biggest in the Nordics. They have a new stage called focused on House and Techno which I can’t wait to play.

What do you like to do when you’re simply hanging out – aside from music?

I love getting out into nature when I can, run, do body-weight exercises and just wander around breathing. Balances the hectic lifestyle. Gaming is big for me too, when there’s time. Classics especially, challenge me for a round of Age Of Empires 2 anytime.

Who are your musical influences?

In no particular order of any deeper meaning; Daft Punk, Justice, The Prodigy, Boys Noize, Sub Focus, Diplo, Fatboy Slim, Bart B More, Jack Beats, AC Slater, Alex Metric, Laidback Luke & Mr. Oizo.

What DAW do you use and why?

Ableton Live because it is flexible and suits my workflow.

Do you have a typical music production process? If yes, can you explain it?

It could come from anything but often I just start making a loop for around an hour and see if it still feels good, if it has gathered colour in itself. If so, I start thinking where that colour needs to go and moving it that way. What is the story it will play on the dance floor? I use the DJ’s perspective a lot in the creation process.

What is your favorite MIDI Controller or instrument to produce with right now?

The Akai MPK mini Mk2. Fits in the gig bag.

What is one of your favorite or go-to VST Plugin?

Massive. It’s getting kind of ancient but once you learn something it’s easier to get what I want. Rather that than having 1000 plugins I never touch.

What is your biggest accomplishment to date?

Successfully played a gig in the world’s largest sauna with around 200 people dancing in around 80 degrees Celsius heat and the CDJ’s and mixer covered in water and sweat.

What are some of your favorite venues to play and why?

All venues with a good sound where I can get close and intimate with the crowd without any extra bs. Interaction and dancing together with the people is big for me.

What are some of your favorite countries to play and why?

I’ve been playing in Croatia for like 4 years now every season. Love what’s going on there. Such good parties on the Islands.

What is your favorite color?

Black.

What food do you eat the most?

There’s this one perfect Thai restaurant quite close to my house. It’s so weird, I have never been in there but always order in. Basically live on that.

Do you have a favorite in-studio snack

Smoothies. The greener the better.

What is your favorite social media platform and why?

Facebook because of its solid live streaming tools.

What is next for Rony Rex?

I’ve got a good bunch of tracks waiting to see the sun and a remix EP of F*cked It Up coming out in early August.

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#rBeatz.com #rBeatz Exclusive Interview with Rony Rex #Music #Fun #Dance #Love #Baila #rBeatz

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