When most people hear the name Greg Evigan, their first reaction is: Greg who? Our thoughts exactly. Paul Reiser may not be the biggest star in the world, but compared to Evigan, his co-star from the 1980s sitcom My Two Dads, he’s a bona fide A-lister . For those who aren’t familiar with the show, Dads wasn’t a social commentary on alternative lifestyles — it was a family comedy about a teenage girl living with two guys who were apparently too lazy to take a paternity test. Evigan starred opposite Reiser, who later struck must-see-TV gold on the NBC hit Mad About You. As for Evigan, he’s probably just mad.  

Who's Your Daddy -- Paul Reiser or the other guy?

over-the-top exuberance from the 1980s, silk dress of black with multi-color dots, flattering square neckline, ruched and pleated through the bust and waist, lined with boning, asymmetrical vertical pleats on the front skirt, long sleeves, bold shoulder padding, fully lined in black satin except for the sleeves, a truly stunning dress, size 4, makers label has been cut, very good condition with no damage, $125

marcjoseph@marcjoseph.com

www.marcjoseph.com

I wonder………

Does she watch this

21 - 22 years later

and laugh at herself?

Regardless, she can perform

at my Gay Pride, anytime.

Other Stuff about the 80’s

in Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

C3PO is always a fucking snitch.

So what if R2 wants a light one up? Maybe Lando Calrissian slipped him a fucking Kool or something?

“When I want to Keith Haring’s studio, I saw genius. I saw someone with a signature style – a style he seemed to be born with. Haring seemed to me to be like Andy Warhol, someone who knew that what he was doing was important, and he didn’t care if he worked fourteen or sixteen hours a day. His work was his entire world”.
(Henry Geldzahler about Keith Haring; “Keith Haring – The Authorized Biography” by John Gruen, A Fireside Book, 1991).

Pop artist and icon Keith Haring, much like his artistic idol Andy Warhol, used bright colors, bold lines and simple subject matters. He developed a unique visual lexicon. Essential concepts (birth, death, love, and war) were conveyed by the simplest of symbols: energy, waves, hearts, glowing babies (his most famous life giving symbol), barking dogs, and antic “everyman” figures.

Urban street culture became a defining influence on art, fashion, and music of the 1980’s, in particular in New York. Keith Haring was preeminent among the young artists, filmmakers, performers, and musicians whose work responded to these impulses and helped shape the culture of that decade.
Haring’s phenomenal rise from a talented graffiti artist, whose “radiant baby” became a worldwide symbol of 1980s pop culture, remains arguably as relevant today as when it was created despite being universally recognized as representative of that era. Painting with artistic and childlike exuberance, his talent was first recognized on subway platforms where he drew his trademark chalk figures and murals for all of New York to see. “When I did a drawing and went back a week later, the drawing was still there. It was neither smudged nor did anyone try to clean it off. I mean, it seemed to have this protective power that prevented people from destroying them. Another thing that I realized how many people were seeing these things. Within a week, when I’d be doing another drawing, people would come up to me and say, “So you’re the guy who did these drawings!” Because, see, there was never a signature. Nobody knew who was doing this stuff. And I started to realize the power and the potential of what I was doing.”

“It’s treating Warhol like he was part of American culture, like Mickey Mouse was.”
(Daniel Drenger, “Art and Life: An Interview with Keith Haring,” Columbia Art Review, Spring 1988).

Executed in 1985, and painted during an extremely fertile time for Keith Haring, Andy Mouse pays tribute to his close friend, hero and mentor, Andy Warhol, to whom Haring was introduced following his second exhibition in New York at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in 1984. This historic encounter between Warhol and Haring brought together their mutual fascination with an “Art for Everybody,” and an admiration for Walt Disney, a man who inspired both artists. A friendship that developed almost immediately, Haring often visited Andy at the Factory and would trade works with him. Drawing on Warhol’s legacy, and similar to Disney, Haring created a world for both adults and children, in which art became a visual vocabulary and one that could be shared with everyone, as seen here on the animated canvas of Andy Mouse. Believing that cartoon figures could be an component of fine art, and regarding Andy Warhol and Walt Disney as heroes, Haring’s exuberant and enchanting Andy Mouse bonded together the work of these three significant artists.

Adaptating of one the most internationally recognized and celebrated cartoon characters, Haring presents the viewer with his hybrid Andy Mouse cartoon against the backdrop of a New Coke label; the product introduced the same year Andy Mouse was executed. This large-scale piece, evoking his wall drawings and subway posters, skillfully combines three different symbols of commerce: Coca-Cola, Mickey Mouse and Andy Warhol - with a deceptively simple palette of red, yellow, white and black, reintroducing the commercial colors of 1960s Pop Art.

Monumental in scale, Andy Mouse originated from a new body of work in which Haring focused on his passion for both drawing and mass production. Sharing with Warhol an understanding of the effect of mass media’s visual dynamics, Haring intuitively understood that good mass media imagery could be seen at any size and still make a strong visual impact. The use of scale that typifies mass media imagery is atypical of fine art, yet it runs through most of Haring’s art and appears as a common thread amongst his works.

Unlike the black line Haring frequently drew to define space in his work, the caricature of Andy Mouse is framed by the hard-edged white line of the New Coke label. By appropriating this brand logo and combining it with the repetitive use of the dollar sign, Haring brilliantly manipulates the concept of Pop into his own unique hand- drawn style.
Both Haring and Warhol liked Coca-Cola a lot. Warhol once described Coca-Cola, often served at Haring’s openings, as a highlight of democratic equality. Swept up into the Pop Art scene himself and endeavoring to present iconic images in a hand-crafted way, Haring blends this classic symbol of American mass culture into his own hand- painted canvas in a playful and energetic way.

Andy Mouse is a brilliant culmination of Haring’s entire oeuvre. Its bold graphic quality, complex composition and glorious color are high water marks for the artist. Andy Mouse’s large scale and brilliant postmodern referencing of Pop icons such as Coke and Mickey Mouse - by way of Andy Warhol - mark this as a seminal Haring work which remains relevant to contemporary art today.

By the time that Haring (1958-1990), a major supporter of good causes and Aids research and awareness, died at age 31, his work had moved from underground New York to the most prestigious galleries and museums around the world. Just like his hero Andy Warhol, Keith Haring has left a huge impact on the Pop Art culture world. Even though the master behind the creations has gone nearly two decades ago, Keith Haring’s art and messages are still alive.

Sources: Keith Haring, exhibition catalogue, Dexia Banque Int. à Luxembourg, 2007; Keith Haring, exhibition catalogue, Musée Art Contemporain Lyon, 2008; Christies auction catalogue, 2008; The Authorized Biography” by John Gruen, A Fireside Book, 1991.

“Machine” by Plastic Bertrand, early 1980s

www.youtube.com/marcjosephcalifornia

Arnold Scaasi couture dress and jacket set from the 1980s, custom made for Barbara Davis, 100% silk jacquard, knee-length short-sleeved dress of red with black and white, drop-waist, bold shoulder padding, fully lined in white silk and exquisitely finished, matching short jacket of black and white lined with red fabric matching the dress, four covered buttons, bound buttonholes, bold shoulders, most closely fits size 8-10, very good condition with no damage, $300

marcjoseph@marcjoseph.com

www.marcjoseph.com

absolutely gorgeous fabric, olive green silk crushed velvet, softly pleated ankle length from by Yves Saint Laurent, made in France, side zip, unlined, from the Rive Gauche line dating to the 1980s, size 40, very good condition with no damage, some light crushing of the velvet from storage can be greatly enhanced by a trip to the cleaners, $80

marcjoseph@marcjoseph.com

www.marcjoseph.com

With each new gunshot, I sank back into the earth, onto my knees, down as far as I could go, sure a bullet soon would ricochet off a solid pine and burrow into my skull. I strayed farther and farther behind the last group of them, lugging the lunch pail, and the cooler of beer. I understood. I never want to describe that day again. The way the patch of blood sprouted in the animal’s side, and the triumphant glee that erupted once the deathly blossom came. In the end, as night fell, the bodies of the wolves were dumped in the back of one of the pick ups and hauled off to the dump, where I watched as they buried the bodies in a hole they dug.

Some say eastern Kentucky differs from its western parts. I say no. It all coagulated out of embellishments and truths that split families into factions, balanced by the scripture, producing a singularity of place, a bonafide region. Sure. Kentucky blends together like its whiskey, from Paris, and Lebanon, to Florence, and Cadiz, to Versailles, Warsaw, Glasgow, Sparta, Athens, Bagdad, Frankfurt, and Melbourne, to London, to Salt Lick, and to our evaporating village of Peasticks. And while the ground is no more blue than the grass it proudly grows, the truest Kentucky, like Ellard’s beloved mythology, comes out only at night, and it towers above us all. Like Daniel Boone. Born elsewhere, died elsewhere, buried elsewhere, too. United we stand, divided we fall.

Daddy came from miners, all of whom had miner children, and raised them up to charcoaled indifference as black lung took them down. My father’s father mined, and his father mined, his father mined, and before him, they were in another country altogether, digging ore, not anthracite from earthen walls of doom. That black diamond, though, spreads throughout the hills and valleys of Kentucky. At one point it told the rest of the country, here is a place of power. Here is a place where fuel combusts. And combust that fuel did in infinitesimal, but lethal shards of coal granulating in the lungs of poor men in need of quick money. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, black lung to black lung. Daddy spoke little of his people, instead he offered me their hands when we made it in to Salt Lick. Each trip a new hand thrust down into my own, attached to a body born with the same useless smirk Daddy wore, raccoon faced by coal dust. Each one wheezing a rattle that urged all who did not understand it not to try.

I danced to music passed on from these miners. And each song hailed something sacrosanct rising from its own ash. They railed against the stupor of life. Collected holy mountains, and rotten lovers in a unity established by proxy- the songwriter became the reverend, the song became the sermon, the night became the service, and all sin was anointed, as in the church, by spirits. Music fell from instruments because of a fear of God, not from respect, his stature not decayed by the passage of time, or the grip of reality. Hoedowns, corn liquor, pipe smoke, and toothless grins transmitted a calculation. And that calculation said, merriment is the path to enlightenment, but merriment also leads to damnation. A fine line. A line toed and ignored by the men and women who consecrated it as a law. The music I discovered on the radio waves drifting in from Louisville, the screeching arpeggios driven by back wood stomp stuck to the same deliverance offered by the murder ballads that came before. They sought out disapproval. They burrowed in nebulous regions. They yearned for an us and a them. Rebellion is rebellion, whether it rails against your parents, or rugged mountain living. Kentucky’s past is replete with dissent, and divergent beliefs. That’s mountain music, an old banjo plucking out the timeless tune.

Definately one of the best films released in recent history, in 2006 won numerous awards at Sundance and the Independent Spirit Awards.  A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints is based on the true-life memoirs of Dito Montiel portrayed in the film by Shia Lebouf and Robert Downey Jr. growing up in Astoria Queens in the 1980’s.  

“In the end, I left everything and everyone, but noone has ever left me”

exquisitely finished 100% linen dress from Claude Rap, 1980s, made in France, persimmon color trimmed with around the shoulders and hips, covered buttons down the front, fully lined except for the sleeves in matching satin, bold shoulder padding, seductively fitted waist and hips, size 38, very good condition with no damage, $80

marcjoseph@marcjoseph.com

www.marcjoseph.com

Tengo este aburrido bolso negro que vino con mi portátil, y ahora creo que he encontrado un reemplazo. Tal vez estoy atascado en la década de los 80, pero sigo pensando que Pac-Man y sus fantasmales amigos están de moda.

Creado por Rockza, el PacManiac serie de maletines es la manera perfecta de llevar alrededor de un pequeño ordenador portátil, documentos y libros, o como un peso ligero de llevar-para su próximo viaje.

Las bolsas están disponibles en varios estilos, entre ellos uno que es cubierto con cientos de colores, pixelada habitantes de Pac-World, y otro con un poco más sutil gris-negro-en el diseño. Parece que Rockza también hace una versión en blanco y una versión azul, sino que son más difíciles de encontrar (y no se ven muy bien, IMHO). Cada bolsa mide Aproximadamente 14 ” x 10.25″ x 6 “, que deberia de almacenar bien un portatil de 14″ o más pequeño.

Ahora las malas noticias. No pude encontrar a alguien fuera de Corea que la venta aún. Si usted está dispuesto a bucear y hacer un poco de la traducción, puede ser capaz de obtener sus manos sobre ellos en  HIPHOPER estan a un precio de 54.000 KRW (appx. $ 39 USD) en pesos RD$ 1,500.

Fuente: Technabob

Along with my agent at Seven Towers, I’m continuing to work towards getting a publication deal for my book, which covers my involvment with Radio Caroline’s final years at sea in the late 1980s. I can’t comment on these discussions right now, but would hope to be able to announce some positive news in the near future.

Meanwhile tonight (Thursday 13th November 2008) I will be reading from the book at a Seven Towers event in Dublin city centre - details below. The theme is “Winter Chill” so I will be reading a short storm sequence.

Steve

Thursday 13^th November, 6.30 Chapters of Parnell St, Dublin 1

Themed reading – ‘Winter Chill’

Friday 14^th November 1.15 Chapters of Parnell St, Dublin 1

Barbara Smith holds a BA Hons. Literature just completed, 2007; and will continue with Queen’s University Belfast, with a MA in Creative Writing. Her debut collection of poetry, Kairos, is just published by Doghouse Books. She has poetry and essays published widely and lives in Dundalk, with her partner and six children. Other publications include Poetic Stage (1998).Barbara blogs at http://intendednot2b.blogspot.com/

(Photo: http://blog.livedoor.jp/omd5555)

A couple of months ago, NPR’s All Songs Considered did a show on how bad the music of the eighties was, which I thought was rather unfair.  Yes, it was the decade of big hair and the Yamaha DX7 - and an awful lot of bad stuff came out during that lost decade - but comparing Denise Williams’ “Let’s Hear it for the Boy” or Hall and Oates’ “Maneater” to Nirvana or Green Day seems a tad… incongruous.  It seems that part of the problem is that music critics today (the sort of people who appear on All Songs Considered - people now in their thirties, and who were kids during the eighties) had access, for the most part, to commercial pop music on the radio and on MTV back then, and nothing else.  The truth is that there was plenty of good music that came out in the eighties - although, admittedly, a lot of it was British and sometimes you had also had to dig a little deeper to get to it.

Examples off the top of my head - Billy Bragg, Elvis Costello, Jesus and Mary Chain, the Smiths, the Police, Kate Bush, Waterboys, Echo and the Bunnymen, the Housemartins, not to mention the college radio fav’s like 10000 Maniacs, REM and Husker Du.  There was also a lot of subversive, off-the-radar stuff like Half-Man Half-Biscuit, and (my particular favorite) Stump:

In case you’re wondering what the hell they’re talking about, they are making fun of American tourists in London (suddenly the song makes sense, doesn’t it?).

Okay, I’m just going to go back to my Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s “Love Missile F1-11″ and John Waite’s “Missing You.”

The ugly picture painted by Treasury’s latest figures  can’t all be blamed on the turmoil in world financial markets.

Treasury has painted a very ugly economic picture for the incoming National government with cash deficits increasing, growth shrinking, tax revenue diminishing and unemployment rising.

Surely some of the blame for this can be laid on the failed policies of the noughties, if only because if labour was in power they’d be sure to blame it on the “failed” policies of the 80s and 90s.

Get out of my parlor, won’t you
Get out of my life
Put on that crazy raincoat
You’re gonna need it tonight

Get out of my parlor
For I cut you with a knife
Don’t want your disease
Don’t need your silly jive

I was an innocent by-stander
I was middle of the roadman for you
Then you took me for a ride, now baby
Showed me all the things you could do
I always listen to the good looking lady
A mistake I won’t make no more
‘Cause you might be a good-looking lady
You’re rotten to the core
You’re all fucked up

I’ve been under your influence
Under your spell too long
Now people keep me at a distance
Everything I do is wrong
My brain’s disintegrating
Devil’s singing my song
This cannot continue
This cannot go on

You’re nothing but a long blond animal

Artist: Golden Earring
Album: Prisoner Of The Night
Release Date: 1981

I’m gonna drive down to LA and punch someone in the nose for this. Variety is reporting that Columbia Pictures is working on a remake of The Karate Kid. Starring Will Smith’s son Jaden. ABOMINATION I declare. Mr. Miyagi is rolling in his grave I tell you. ROLLING. I freaking LOVED these films as a kid.(Ok, not “The Next Karate Kid” starring Hillary Swank. That movie has bowling monks and it’s just plain terrible.) They’re 80s perfection. Get a new idea, Hollywood! And there’s no way they’re going to find a song as awesome as Peter Cetera’s Glory of Love to use as the big romance song. HMPF. Here’s the video with scenes from the movie to remind you of its awesomeness.

Viva Ralph Macchio! Happy Hump Day!

To celebrate the 12th anniversary of the founding of the site, every day during November I’ll be bringing you one of my favourite photos from the past 12 years.

Today we look at a Cork KC with a surprisingly young registration.

As always, you can click on this picture for the fullsize version.

KC169 was the last of the 848 K-family buses to enter service

The entry into service of the very last of the K-family of buses, GAC city bus KC169, did not happen until 1992, by which time the bus itself was 7 years old. Originally delivered with a UZG registration, the KC gained a 1992 plate on finally entering service, following years stored and cannabalised at Capwell depot.

Sadly, the modern registration did not prevent KC169 from being withdrawn along with the rest of Cork’s KCs at the start of this decade.

KC169 was a regular on the 14 in Cork for a long time, and it is seen thus employed on a wet Wednesday afternoon in Patrick Street.