Check out my Kim Fowley retrospective on Factory 77. Kim is the greatest photo subject since the beginning of rock and roll!
At BowHaus yesterday signing a gorgeous Joan Jett print for my Factory 77 exhibition which opens on Thursday, June 28 at Kana Manglapus on Abbot Kinney Blvd, in Venice. Meet me at the opening 6-8pm!
Swiss pop artist Marco Pittori was barely born when I took this photo of Joan Jett in the smelly dressing room of the Whiskey A Go Go during the summer of ‘77. You can see his original print of my photograph and meet us at Galerie Eulenspiegel in Basel tomorrow evening between 5-8pm.
In 1978 when Joan Jett and I were both teenagers she checked into The Tropicana Motel for an extended stay. We ate giant hamburgers in the coffee shop and watched John Wayne on the TV. While I was in awe of everything, I stood in the corner of her room taking photos.
I was like a Factory in 1977. I did not drink or take drugs. All I did was take photos. One day I drove Joan over to Hollywood Blvd to see our pal Rodney Bingenheimer, The Mayor of The Sunset Strip. After the meeting, it was just me, Joan and my camera.
At the end of the 70’s, the party was over! Punk was history, The Runaways broke up and heavy metal came on the scene. I literally put all of my cameras and photos in boxes and stored them away for almost 30 years. It is only recently that I took out the photos and cameras again.
This Curie Currie photo was at the bottom of those boxes. Cherie is having a smoke at her family home in the San Fernando Valley. I find this picture so compelling that I will print it for the very first time for my summer exhibition at Kana Manglapus in Venice. I will keep you posted on the exhibition!
The invitation for NUDE HOLLYWOOD June 2012 at Galerie Eulenspiegel, Basel Switzerland! I will be there!!
Photo: Brad Elterman-Marco Pittori
