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Iggy was part Inuit
(or Eskimo to use the vernacular of the day). According to Duggie
Fields she wasn't considered a girlfriend of Syd
(Barrett) although he says she probably slept with Syd on more than
one occasion. He goes on to say 'We didn't want her living with us at
the time but she was so beguiling that it was a difficult situation'.
She was a former girlfriend of Anthony
Stern (Movie Director, writer and cinematographer who was a friend
of Syd in the 60's (he lived on Eden Street in Cambridge in the 60's)
and he was a flatmate of and film asssistant to Peter
Whitehead [Tonite Let's All Make Love In London]). Apparently she
was destitute when she arrived at Wetherby Mansions had no money, no job
and few possessions. According to Duggie
Fields she never wore underwear (when she was wearing anything at
all!) and he recalls her getting off a bus wearing a scarf as a skirt!
Iggy apparently 'vanished as quickly as she had come' and a hippie
couple Rusty and Greta (two casual friends of Syd) decided to move in
and lived in the hallway for a while. Later there was Gilly Staples (who
Syd apparently threw across the room on one occasion) and a girl called
Lesley (who sometimes Syd would see and other times would leave her
outside banging on his door to come in). After that Gayla Pinion moved
in around late '69 and subsequently became engaged to Syd on October 1
1970 but they never married.
According to Duggie Fields after Iggy left Syd she apparently went off
with some 'rich guy from Chelsea and lived a very straight life'.
Note: this was the Church's first blog post, basically to test
how things would look in good old, and now depreciated, html 3.2. Update
January 2017: as of January 2017, the website has been refurbished and
upgraded towards html5.
Moviemaker Anthony
Stern, who knew Iggy before she met Syd, has confirmed that the
person at the Granny Takes A Trip boutique on the IN
Gear movie is indeed her. On his turn he will present a home movie
called Iggy, Eskimo Girl at The
City Wakes festival in Cambridge. A short teaser can be found on YouTube.
According to Mick Rock Syd was touched when she left him:
Once I’d developed the film (from The Madcap Laughs photo
session, note by FA), I went round to show Syd the pictures.
He took this one opposite (page 21 in the PR-book, note by FA)
and scratched some lines and his name onto it. I think there was a bit
of negativity directed at Iggy. He just started scratching the print,
with a big grin on his face. (Taken from Psychedelic Renegades.)
It could be that the scratches on the picture were destined at Iggy, but
why did Syd Barrett scratch (more or less) around her figure? Not (and I
hope my shrink will never read this) her face or body, in my garbled
opinion the logical thing to do if one would try to express negative or
revengeful feelings on a photograph. Syd’s body and face is far more
scratched than Iggy’s and Barrett also cut the letters SYD
on the picture... Perhaps he was just trying to make clear to Mick Rock
that he wanted to get rid of his pop-life alter ego.
Mick Rock writes further that he heard from Duggie
Fields, the painter who was Syd Barrett’s roommate and who still
lives in the same apartment today, that ‘she later went off with some
rich guy in Chelsea and lived a very straight life’.
On an old and abandoned blog (and also on the Late Night forum) I wrote
that none of the Pink Floyd biographers have been really looking for
Iggy. Mark Blake, author of Pigs
Might Fly, responded: “I can't speak for all the PF or SB
biographers, but I certainly tried.”
The only bit of new info I found was that there was a chance 'Iggy' may
have gone to school in the South London area, as she was known as one of
the regular teenage girls at the dancehalls around Purley
and Caterham.
This would have been around 1965. Duggie Fields recalls seeing her some
time after the Madcap Laughs photo session and she was looking a lot
more "sloaney". Most of the people I spoke to who knew her believe Iggy
married a rich businessman and doesn't now want to be 'found'. (Taken
from The
Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit on Late Night.)
Although scarce the above information is about the most relevant we have
had from a biographer in about 30 years.
The most famous dancehall in Purley was the Orchid Ballroom where The
Who, The Troggs and The Hollies gigged a couple of times. It started as
a regular dance
hall (and concert and sporting events hall) in the Fifties and had a
local house band The
Jackpots in 1963 and 64.
In the mid Sixties (1964 – 1966) the Orchid Ballroom was the meeting
place for the Croydon mods who would assemble every Monday night.
Witnesses remember Mike (?) Morton, Tony Crane, Jeff Dexter and Sammy
Samwell spinning the records. Pete Sanders and Mickey Finn used to be
part of the crowd.
Not all these names ring a bell. I could not trace back Mike Morton, but
Lionel Morton was the singer and lead guitarist from the Four
Pennies who had a hit in 1963 – 1964 with Juliet. Tony
Crane was a member of The Mavericks, a band that became famous when they
changed the name to The
Merseybeats, later The Merseys (David Bowie would cover their Sorrow
on his Pin-Ups album, a tune they had borrowed from The McCoys). Mickey
Finn could be the man who was the drummer of T. Rex and who also
played on the record made by Hapshash
and the Coloured Coat, the people who were behind the Granny Takes A
Trip boutique.
Elizabeth Colclough used to work at the bar in 1968: "It was the place
to go to meet friends old and new, weekday evenings and also at the
weekend. We saw some great bands, some who are still going strong today.”
Another witness recalls how Cathy
(Mc Gowan), the queen
of the mods and presenter of the ever popular Ready Steady Go! Show,
came to the Orchid Ballroom to spot for dancers to appear in her show.
Seen the fact that Iggy was present at an RSG!-party,
organised by the show's main choreographer, it is not improbable that
she may have been present at some RSG! television-shows as well, as a
dancer or as a pretty face in the public.
A book about the history of the Orchid Ballroom has been made and the
Church will try to contact its author, there is the (very small) chance
that Iggy is mentioned in it.
Update August 2009: Brian Roote, who studied the history of The
Orchid confirmed later to the Church: 'I have no knowledge of this girl
whatsoever'.
Sources (other than the above internet links): McAleer, Dave: Beatboom!,
Hamlyn, London, 1994, p. 57-59. Rock, Mick: Psychedelic Renegades,
Plexus, London, 2007, p. 20.
On September the 17th the Croydon
Guardian, a weekly free local newspaper covering South London,
devoted an article to Iggy after the Church had revealed that Iggy had
probably been a regular visitor at the Purley dancehall The Orchid. The
article was brought to my attention by Matthew Taylor from Escape
Artists who was so kind to point me to a scan
of the article, neatly hidden in a dark corner from the (long deleted)
City Wakes website.
It all started with a remark on the Late Night forum why no one had ever
tried to locate Iggy. Pink Floyd biographer Mark Blake promptly denied
this and added some extra titbits to the Iggy enigma. He had found out
that she was probably a South Londoner who used to go dancing in
dancehalls in or around Purley. More about the Church’s quest to locate
Iggy’s dancing habits can be found on a previous entry on this blog: Shaken
not stirred.
This ended with the promise that the Church would try to find some more
information about the place and the people who visited it. A mail was
send to a historian of the Bourne
Society but without success. The same message however to a
journalist of the Croydon Guardian was immediately replied. Some initial
information was exchanged and journalist Kirsty Walley did an excellent
job by getting testimonies, not only from Anthony Stern, but also from a
DJ who used to spin records at the Orchid, Jeff Dexter, and who still
remembers Iggy.
So, where did she go to, our lovely? By Kirsty Whalley
In the Swinging 60s she was an iconic model who broke the heart of Pink
Floyd's Syd Barrett. Known only as Iggy she is thought to have lived in
Thornton Heath and was a regular at the Orchid Ballroom in Purley
between 1963 and 1967. Then she vanished and for the past three decades
the former 60's in-crowd has wondered where she went?
Former friends, director and artist Anthony Stern and DJ Jeff Dexter,
are both searching for the enigmatic model, who featured naked on the
cover of Barrett's solo album Madcap Laughs. She was nicknamed "the
Eskimo" because it was thought that she was part Inuit. DJ Jeff Dexter,
who regularly played at the Orchid, vividly remembers the beautiful girl
who used to talk to him while he played his set. He first noticed her in
1963. He said: “Iggy was part of a group of very wonderful looking south
London girls. She was unusual because she did not look like anyone else
at the time. Since she disappeared, she has become a bit of an enigma.”
Dexter says that he met the director and artist Anthony Stern in 1967
and that Iggy became involved with him at about the same time. Anthony
took many pictures of the model and also made a film of her, which will
be shown for the first time at the City Wakes festival this October in
Cambridge. Stern said: “Iggy was my muse. I met her at a Hendrix gig at
the Speakeasy. She was a lovely inspiration and free spirit. I never
knew her real name.” “We used to hang out together, occasionally
dropping acid, staying up all night, going for walks at dawn in
Battersea Park.” The artist said he recently discovered photographs that
he took of Iggy on a houseboat near Lots Road in Chelsea. “She entirely
captures the spirit of the Sixties, living for the moment, completely
carefree.”
Photographer Mick Rock remembers turning up at Barrett’s to take
photographs for his solo album cover. At an interview in 199 he said:
“Syd was still in his underpants when he opened the door. He’d totally
forgotten about the session and fell about laughing. Iggy the Eskimo was
naked in the kitchen making coffee. She didn’t mind either. They both
laughed a lot and it was a magical session.” The most iconic images of
her appear on the album, where she poses naked in the background.
After she broke up with Barrett she disappeared. Felix Atagong, who has
set up a website in her honour, said: “According to the painter Duggie
Fields, she got married to a rich guy from Chelsea and led a ‘decent’
life after that.”
Anthony and Jeff both admit they have spent time looking for her. “the
truth is, if she has not come forward by now, she probably doesn’t want
to be found,” said Anthony.
(picture insert: It-crowd icon: Iggy the Eskimo). An online version of
the article can be found here.
An entirely new and previously unreleased picture
of Iggy accompanies the newspaper article. This comes out of the
personal collection of Anthony Stern. It is believed that more pictures
from his collection may be unearthed on a later date.
A couple of posts ago it was prophesised in Where
did she go? that some of Anthony Stern’s unpublished Iggy pictures
would find their way to the public. And they will… the City Wakes
website now has an Iggy gallery as well. (Update: this website no
longer exists.)
The 15 pictures, sadly in a very small format, come from different
photo-shoots, and with exception of the ironic black and white pictures,
most of them are very representative for the psychedelic era they were
shot in. Signed prints of the Iggy pictures will soon be exclusively
available from the City Wakes website.
Update (2010-2016): Anthony Stern's website no longer contains
these pictures and so the Church has stored these for pure academical
purposes: Iggy
Triptychs. Update (2016): Anthony Stern's 2016 BBC
documentary Memory Marbles contained some new Iggy pictures, they
have been published on Tumblr:Memory
Marbles.
It is far from a coincidence that this blog started more or less when
The City Wakes project was announced. The City Wakes is an official Syd
Barrett tribute, held in the city of Cambridge, and it has been
officially opened past week. But the history of the instalment of the
Church will be told on an other day, promised.
Supported by Syd’s family and friends, The City Wakes is the first ever
official tribute to Syd Barrett – original front-man and songwriter for
Pink Floyd. A celebration of Syd’s creativity, The City Wakes focuses on
Syd’s early life in Cambridge, providing a showcase for his remarkable
talent and painting a picture of the explosive and vibrant early 1960s
cultural scene in which he grew up.
Involving many of Syd’s former friends – not least Storm Thorgerson and
Mick Rock - The City Wakes includes concert performances, exhibitions,
guided tours, music workshops, a 1960s style ‘happening’, talks and a
new book of interviews and memorabilia.
The City Wakes has been developed by Escape Artists, a UK arts and
mental health charity and professional production house. Working with
clients in both institutional and non-institutional settings, it aims to
improve quality of life, health and social welfare, by recognising the
vital importance of creativity to an individual’s well being. Funds
generated through The City Wakes project will be used to support the
charity's work in the mental health sector. Escape Artists has been
working in the mental health sector in Cambridge since 1999. (Taken from
The City Wakes - deleted)
One of the exhibitions taking place is called The Other Room, it is held
in the Ruskin Gallery at Anglia Ruskin University, and is open from
24th October to 2nd November 2008.
At the Ruskin
Gallery visitors can see over fifty of Syd's paintings,
the majority of which have never before been seen in public. Also on
display are rare archival-quality prints from Syd's photo-biographer
Mick Rock and original pieces from Pink Floyd's legendary designer Storm
Thorgerson. The exhibition features rare Syd-related memorabilia,
including diaries and correspondence. (Taken from Anglia
Ruskin University - link no longer available)
But of course the Church is far more intrigued by the pictures from the
personal collection of Anthony Stern that are exposed as well: Pink
Floyd performing at UFO (1967-ish) and his Iggy pictures.
The Other Room: Syd Barrett's Art and Life Date: 24
October - 2 November 2008 Time: 10am - 9pm Monday to Friday, 10am -
5pm Saturday and Sunday (link has been deleted).
Thanks to Dark Globe for the picture, other pictures of the exhibition
can be seen at Inside
The Other Room.
The Other Room: Syd Barrett's Art And Life was a Cambridge exhibition
that ended a couple of days ago. More details about it could be found in
a previous post: Pictures
at an exhibition.
A lucky wind (thanks SgB!) brought me a copy from the catalogue, an 18
pages booklet. The following can be found inside:
Page 2 & 3: introductions by Stephen Pyle and Anji Jackson-Main,
curators of the exhibition.
Pages 3 to 9 are dedicated to the paintings of Syd Barrett. This is far
the most interesting part of the catalogue as many unseen works of Syd
Barrett are represented here, albeit in a rather small thumbnail format.
I’m pretty sure those pictures will find their way to the specialised
Syd Barrett websites and blogs so I’m not going to put them here.
Pages 10 to 12: photographs by Mick Rock. This reminds me that the
Church still hasn’t dedicated some of its holy space to Mick Rock’s
excellent Psychedelic Renegades book. This will be done during the long
winter days when a lonely hungry wolf howls at the suburbs of Atagong
Mansion.
Page 11: some family snapshots taken by Syd's relatives. I don’t want to
sound too snotty, but I’ve seen these before.
Pages 14 & 15: artwork by Storm Thorgerson (Syd Barrett album cover,
Barrett album cover, The City Wakes green doors poster.)
page 17: colofon.
But The Church is of course most interested in pages 12 and 13 that
contain some pictures from the collection of Anthony Stern (see also: Anthony
Stern Photoshoot).
Antony Stern’s Iggy pictures can be seen on The City Wakes website, a
link to that particular gallery can be found at the Galleries section of
their blog. And if you have a quick peek you might find something
more... (Update: The City Wakes website no longer exists.)
I want to thank all the members of the Late
Night forum, who visited The City Wakes, for their impressions,
their pictures, their testimonies and the goodies they have been
distributing amongst the other members who couldn’t attend the festival.
Did I already mention that the people of the Late
Night forum are a bunch of fantastic people? Probably yes, but I
will keep on repeating it. Eternal Isolation found a lecture by Anthony
Stern, held at La
Cinémathèque in Paris in June 2008. Here is how our fellow
Europeans describe him:
Anthony Stern était l'un des secrets les mieux gardés de la
cinématographie anglaise. La Cinémathèque française lui offre sa
première rétrospective. Camarade de classe de Syd Barrett et de David
Gilmour, assistant de Peter Whitehead, Anthony Stern a réalisé certains
des plus beaux poèmes documentaires des années 60 et 70, à la fois
sensuels, endiablés et railleurs. Taken from La
Cinémathèque.
(Translation) Anthony Stern is one of England's cinematographic
best-kept secrets. The French Cinémathèque offers him his first
retrospective. Friend from Syd Barrett and David Gilmour, assistant of
Peter Whitehead, Anthony Stern has realised several of the most poetic,
sensual, boisterous and mocking documentaries of the 60’s and 70’s.
The lecture, videotaped by a member of the audience, has been issued on
YouTube in three consecutive parts, but part
3 is the most interesting for Iggy fans. After the tiresome lecture,
due to the fact that Anthony’s English explanation is translated into
French and back, a copy is shown of his 1969 movie Wheel, followed by
Iggy, Eskimo Girl. Unfortunately only snippets of the different movies
have made it onto the web, but any additional material from our goddess
is appreciated.
Update: the Church made a compilation of Anthony Stern's lecture
at La Cinématèque (removing the French translation parts). You can watch
it here: Anthony
Stern Movie Talk.
Update April 2017: replaced invalid YouTube link (2008) with a
new one.
Ranting is normally destined for the main site of this domain, Unfinished
Projects, thank you for visiting once and so often… but rules are to
be broken, even Church rules…That horrible blasphemy of a browser, truly
a work of the devil and its main representative here on earth, Mr. Bill
Gates, messed up the Holy Church’s website the last couple of weeks…
but only if you browsed the Holy Church with the dreadful Internet
Explorer.
The Reverend found out that the objects that broke the layout were the
recently added YouTube movies. It took his holiness hours of his
precious time and a couple of Guinness beers to repair the damage done
but he appears to have miraculously accomplished this gargantuan chore.
The fact that not one single congregant spotted the mistake fills his
Reverend’s heart with joy. Apparently none of you uses Satan’s little
browser. But of course it could also be that none of you actually visits
this blog or gives a damn about it. In that case the Reverend can only
give you Father
Jack Hackett’s advice: feck off!
But let us forget and forgive and lead you through the narrow path that
leads to all things Iggy. Anthony Stern’s movies are distributed by Chimera
Arts and this is what they have to say about our favourite subject:
Iggy The Eskimo Girl UK/2008/4’/16mm/stereo Produced
by Sadia (2008) and Anthony Stern (1968) • Directed by Stern • Edited by
Tayler/Sadia/Stickley Based on footage originally shot in 1968, this
is a portrait of Syd Barrett’s girlfriend Iggy, referred to ubiquitously
and affectionately by those who knew her in the late 1960’s as ‘Iggy The
Eskimo Girl’. Taken from: Chimera Arts New
Films.
The text is accompanied by 5 stills
of the movie that have now been added to the gallery.
Have you ever seen President Sarkozy
on the telly giving a speech? He always thinks he is doing a bloody
Hamlet. His performances, because that is what he thinks they are,
remind me more of Louis
de Funès (or for the non-Francophiles among us: Benny Hill)
than Napoleon Bonaparte, another one of those short short-tempered
little men with a short fuse who think they can rule the world.
This post contains a fairly well hidden review of the Pink Floyd
biography Pigs Might Fly by Mark Blake.
Contents: 1. Flamingoes might fly, about
the very first Pink Floyd biography, written in French, by Jean-Marie
Leduc. 2. Floydstuff, a rant about merchandising
and tribute albums. 3. Pigs Might Fly, review of
the Mark Blake biography. 4. A final word about
Jean-Marie Leduc.
Flamingoes might fly
Eloquence is a French way of speech but that was not what I was thinking
of when I read the following, decades ago:
Je ne sais qui doit le plus à l’autre! La France ou le Pink Floyd? Le
Pink Floyd peut-être. (translation) I don’t know who owes the
other more! France or Pink Floyd? Pink Floyd perhaps.
The above is the start of a French rock biography (1977 edition), called Pink
Floyd, written by Rock & Folk journalist Jean-Marie Leduc
and issued by Albin
Michel. Rock
& Folk was an excellent French music magazine, that started in
1966, hence its name, and that wanted to inform the French public from
the new trends in modern pop music. Jean-Marie Leduc hopped to London
and wrote several articles about the London Underground music scene and
le pouvoir des fleurs. He discovered this incredible band that would
soon be the French progressive student movement’s darling,lePink Floyd.
Although the most common language at London at that time was the
language of love it would’ve helped Jean-Marie Leduc a little bit if he
had actually understood some English. Which he didn’t. Probably the acid
didn’t help either. That didn’t stop him to write a Pink Floyd biography
that was published in October 1973, and that could still be found, a
decade later, in every bookstore and self-respecting newspaper and
magazine shop in France. Selling figures nearly must have achieved the
same height as a regular Pink Floyd album; Leduc’s Pink Floyd was an
instant classic and a steady seller.
It was also full of blunders. At page 19 Leduc wrongly mistakes the Pink Flamingo
club for the band and throughout the book he will name the lads le
Flamant Rose. This (wrong) translation was taken over by all French
rock magazines and it would take Rock & Folk until July 1994 to
officially denounce the rumour that a Pink Floyd is a Phoenicopterus
Roseus. Another botch is on page 49 where Leduc claims that...
...le 2 novembre (1967) (…) un nouveau simple du groupe
“Apologises / Jugband blues” est commercialisé en Angleterre’.
(translation) on the 2nd of November (1967) (...) a new single of the
band is released in England: “Apologises / Jugband blues” .
This one simple sentence has made French speaking Pink Floyd fans look
for this non-existent track of the band for over a decade. At the end of
the book the mistake is repeated at the discography, Jean-Marie Leduc
keeps on maintaining that the Floyd’s third single was Jugband
blues / Apologies (please note the different orthography and running
order).
Update November 2011: it was later cleared out that once again it
had been Leduc's extended knowledge of the English language that made
him misunderstand 'Apples and Oranges' for 'Apologies' or 'Apologises'.
Jean-Marie Leduc’s biography was probably the very first biography on
the band, as Charles
Beterams wrote in the Echoes, a Dutch fan club magazine, and despite
the mistakes it also contains a stunning revelation about the bands
first recording, forgotten by most of the biographies that would come
next. Leduc interviewed Nick Mason in 1973 and asked if Astronomy
Domine was the Floyd’s first composition. Mason answered (translated
from French back into English):
Not true. Our first composition was titled Lucy Lee in blue tight
or something similar. We recorded it on acetate but it was never
commercialised.
Once again Jean-Marie Leduc’s average knowledge of the English language
made him note the song as Lucy Lee, and not as Lucy
Leave, although Nick Mason’s pronunciation of the song title
may not have been too comprehensible as well. It would take ages for
another journalist to re-discover the truth about the band’s first
recording.
Floydstuff
One bloke who does remember Lucy Leave is Mark Blake. In 2007 he wrote a
Pink Floyd biography entitled Pigs Might Fly but because I am such a
stingy money spender I wanted to wait until the paperback came
sailplaning to me. The last couple of years it is raining Pink Floyd
related books and accessories as if all kind of shady people want to
have their free ride on the gravy train. It is of course a double
feeling, here we are Pink Floyd fans wanting to know everything (and we
mean everything) on the band but on the other hand we feel as if we are
inside an orange squeezer (or to use Gerald
Scarfe’s weird world of Floydian symbolism: a meat
grinder). The last thing I’ve read on Pink Floyd merchandising is
that Converse
will bring out a range of shoes
based on the cover art of three of their albums. Part of me is yelling
yuck!, but another part is jumping up and down, not a pretty sight if
you would catch me on my webcam.
About a decade ago, perhaps a bit longer, small record companies
suddenly discovered the tribute album. I jumped on it as a hungry louce
on a passing German shepherd dog. But when my heap of tribute records,
all made to honestly commemorate the band and not to make a quick buck,
started to become bigger than my genuine Pink Floyd collection I simply
gave up. I think that Babies
Go Pink Floyd was the last tribute album I bought, partially because
the concept attracted me. If you also feel tempted to listen to it. Don’t. Not
only the record is tripe and you wouldn’t want to confront any baby with
it without giving him or her a lifelong phobia for Pink Floyd music but
also it doesn’t actually motivates grown-ups either to start
procreating, normally a quite amusing and satisfactory pastime.
Recently I found this add from Dwell
records that goes something like this:
The biggest names in hard rock and avant-garde metal have come together
to pay tribute to the madcap genius of Syd Barrett. Featuring some of
heavy-metals most influential players, this is a hard-rocking trip
through the music world’s most idiosyncratic minds.
Some of the bands present on the record are the following: Dreg, Giant
Squid, Jarboe, Kylesa and my favourite Stinking Lizaveta. Except in some
distant Norwegian fjordic regions where these bands are probably world
famous amongst the local satanic
black metal scene these bands don’t really merit the eptitheton
‘biggest name in hard rock’ to begin with. I would have written the add
for this album a little bit less triumphant:
Several virtually unknown hard rock and avant-garde metal bands that are
constantly struggling to have a record contract have come together to
rip off the musical heritage of Syd Barrett. Featuring some of
heavy-metals obscurest players, this is a fruitless hard-rocking trip
trying to get a fan-base that exceeds the dozen.
Now that is what I call a more realistic description of the project. You
can listen to the songs at MySpace
and I have to confess they don’t all sound like rubbish to me.
But all the above was merely a long, way too long, way to say that I
quit buying Pink Floyd tribute records a while ago as most were, are and
will be… full of crap. I had the same compulsive buying disorder when it
came to Pink Floyd related music magazines and books. Despite the fact
that I can’t play guitar I have dozens of guitar magazines that promise
you the tablature of the third guitar solo in Comfortably Numb and a
brand new exclusive Pink Floyd interview that was in fact already
published in another guitar magazine from three years before that I
already had in my scrapbook.
I define myself more than the average Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett fan,
but less than an anorak, fanorak suits me fine.. Anoraks have the
tendency to start flame wars because someone has told that Syd Barrett
was wearing green socks on the 7th of August 1967 while every aficionado
knows he was wearing brown socks that day. (To avoid death threats: I’ve
just made this whole sock-thing up, but the 7th of August 1967 was of
course an important day in Floydian history, about the importance of
green socks, just check David Gilmour’s inside sleeve of his About Face
album and shiver.)
So I quit buying Pink Floyd books as well, more or less… the last I
bought was The
Rough Guide To Pink Floyd that can now be found at local lo-price
bookshops for the third of the price I bought it for. That is a very
nice Pink Floyd biography by the way, and if you are in search for one,
well don’t hesitate and get it. It’s cheap and cheerful.
Pigs Might Fly
But this post was originally intended as a review of Pigs Might Fly, a
Pink Floyd biography by Mark
Blake and all I did until now is take the piss out of:
a) the very first Pink Floyd biography by Jean-Marie Leduc; b) the
various tribute cds that do exist; c) the growing pile of Pink Floyd
biographies…
So I had given up buying Pink Floyd biographies but when I wrote on the
Late Night forum that nobody had ever tried to locate Syd’s girlfriend
we know as Iggy Mark Blake promptly replied
that he certainly had. I more or less apologised and answered that I
would read his biography.
So I did.
Who am I to post a review about a book that Record
Collector choose as book of the year, that Q
magazine described as a ‘detailed, orderly, first-rate read’, while Mojo
praised its ‘heroic research’. It’s excellent, well written, full of
anecdotes and it seems to please the casual and the more ardent fan of
the band, although it still forgets to mention the colour of socks Syd
Barrett was wearing on the 7th of August 1967. Anoraks will always find
something to grumble about. I did. I found a mistake from microscopical
importance about the Publius
affair but only people daft enough to look for the Enigma mystery will
probably realise that.
A while ago I started a side-project called the Holy
Church of Iggy the Inuit. In it I am looking for the whereabouts of
the girl who appeared on the cover of the Syd Barrett album The
Madcap Laughs. It is rather amazing how many bits and pieces can be
found after all these years, but apparently Iggy was quite a character
in those flowery powery days. The time was ripe as other people
suddenly started to reveal their Iggy memories, amongst them Anthony
Stern who made a four-minute movie about her in the Sixties that was
premiered this year.
I wrote some things about Iggy that I thought were revolutionary but
apparently Mark Blake had unravelled these before in his biography, only
he didn’t need as many space to write these things down than I did and
if this review goes on like this it might be longer than the book itself.
On page 140 Mark Blake writes about how Iggy performed The Bend (Church
article: Bend
It!), on the next page he reveals the existence of the Anthony Stern
movie (before it became an item on YouTube)
and how she used to go dancing at The Orchid in Purley (Church article: Shaken
not stirred). And all this a year before the Church was started and
something of an Iggy hype was created. Hats off to Mark Blake.
Mark Blake is not only an accurate but also a beautiful writer (I’m not
speaking about his physical appearance here), reading the bit about the
Live 8 reunion gave me tears in my eyes although I normally only weep
when I read sweet little things about dying puppies. That more or less
sums it up really; Pigs Might Fly moved me and I thank Mark Blake a lot
for that.
(In America the book has been published under the alternative title
Comfortably Numb, this was the working title of the book but as the
cover has a snapshot from Battersea Power Station, including flying pig
balloon, this was changed
for the European market.)
A final word about Jean-Marie Leduc
One of the funnier parts of the very first Pink Floyd biography are the
translated song texts. The Floyd’s first album is called Le
joueur de flûte aux grilles de l’aube, but my favourite
still is a song that is called Bonbons et pain aux raisins. And
what to think about the following, I let you guess what song this has
been taken from:
De tortueux signes voltigent. Lueur. Lueur. Lueur. Fla. Pom. Pom. Escaliers
d’épouvante et lois de mort…
And a final word for collectors
If you are looking for a copy of the Pink Floyd book by Jean-Marie Leduc
be sure to buy the Albin Michel / Rock & Folk versions (several editions
from 1973 till 1983). In 1987 another book by Jean-Marie Leduc, also
called Pink Floyd, and in the same mini format, was presented to the
public by Le Club Des Stars / Seghers. Although based upon the previous
versions this book has been completely rewritten and most of the errors
have been edited out.
(More scans of the Jean-Marie Leduc biographies can be found on our
Tumblr: Jean-Marie
Leduc.)
If you liked this post - you might be interested in this one as well: Fasten
Your Anoraks (The lyrics above are Leduc's French
translation of Astronomy Domine.)
Update 2019 07 30: This post is no longer valid and is kept for
archival purposes only. It has been replaced by Si
les cochons pourraient voler...
A rather long post about Mark Blake's Pink Floyd biography Pigs
Might Fly has been published on Felix Atagong's (that's me) Unfinished
Projects. It contains some bits and pieces about Iggy as well.
Update 2010: as Unfinished Projects is a thing from the past this
review has been added to the Holy Church blog: Si
les cochons pourraient voler…
(I don't want to go to) Chelsea
Speaking about Iggy, Anthony Stern's Iggy, Eskimo Girl movie was
shown at The City Wakes festival during the first weekend. Unfortunately
one of the technicians mistakenly gave the film back to Anthony Stern.
As the absence of the film wasn't noticed until just before the next
screening it was too late to retrieve the DVD.
After the (first) presentation there was a Q&A round with Anthony. One
member of the audience maintained that Iggy is currently living in
Chelsea. The Church will try to investigate further into this matter.
To all followers of the cult of Iggy: a happy new year!
The Church received a nice mail from Anthony Stern last week:
I see that you have continued to update your website and that the cult
of Iggy is snowballing. Although my Iggy photos were shown on City Wakes
website nobody was interested in buying the framed prints.
If you are still looking for a belated Xmas present: Anthony’s Iggy
pictures are on sale, signed, numbered and framed: £225 for the
Triptychs, individual pictures for £175 (plus postage). For more info
please contact Anthony
Stern Glass. (The Church is not affiliated with or endorsed by this
company.)
Another message came from Mark Blake, author of the Pink Floyd biography
Pigs Might Fly:
Good luck with the Iggy hunt. I spoke to Ant Stern and Jeff Dexter again
last week. They're no nearer to finding her than they were before. I
think it's funny that nobody even knew her real name.
For that matter we don’t even know if she was Eskimaux or
not.
My good old encyclopaedia Brittanica
divides the people that we commonly describe as Eskimo in two
categories: Eurasian and Western Arctic people. The Western Arctic
people are the Eskimo (including Inuit and Yupiit) and the Aleuts who
originate from North America, Greenland and part of Siberia. Amongst the
Eurasian arctic people are the Sami (or Lapps) from northern Fennoscandia
and several other cultures dispersed over the Ural Mountains and Siberia.
According to the Narwhal
Inuit Art Education Foundation there are no Inuit currently living
in England (confirmed to the Church by mail). Is it more logical to
believe that Iggy’s roots originate from Europe rather than America or
Siberia? In that case Iggy, the Eskimo really had to be nicknamed Iggy,
the Lapp by her contemporaries.
Translating these into politically correct terms The Church of Iggy the
Inuit really had to be baptised the Holy Church of Iggy the Sami to
begin with.
As Mark Blake stated above, we don’t know if Iggy was her real name.
Iggy could be an alias or perhaps an anglisized version of a foreign
name.
If she has Sami roots her name could be Ing,
originally meaning progenitor, ancestor, leader – which of course she is
for the Church – Ingegerd
or one of the many variants such as Inge, Ingine, Yngva, Ingar, Iŋgir…
The more popular Ingrid also has its roots in the Nordic countries and
this could have easily been shortened to Iggy by her relatives or
friends.
The problem is that not a lot of Sami people have the so-called Inuit
look Iggy is famous for. There is however a part of Europe (although
geographically it belongs to North America) that was originally
populated by Inuit people and was later on colonised by Iceland, Norway
and Denmark. The Church is of course referring to Greenland.
The Inuit are believed to have crossed from North America to northwest
Greenland, the world's largest island, between 4000 B.C. and A.D. 1000.
Greenland was colonized in 985–986 by Eric the Red. The Norse
settlements declined in the 14th century, however, mainly as a result of
a cooling in Greenland's climate, and in the 15th century they became
extinct. In 1721, Greenland was recolonized by the Royal Greenland
Trading Company of Denmark. (taken from Infoplease)
In November of last year 3 out of 4 Greenlandic voted yes on a referendum
that could eventually lead to the complete independence of the country.
About 88% of the Greenland population has Inuit(-mixed) roots. The
following link
shows a (slow-loading) picture of premier Hans Enoksen voting for
Self-Governance in Greenland with 5 year old Pipaluk Petersen (added
here to show the Inuit characteristics).
So Iggy’s ancestors could have come from Greenland.
Well perhaps... at least one other Iggy enthusiast
believes she is not Inuit at all, but (partly) Japanese, probably
belonging to the Ainu
people of Hokkaidō (who had their own language and were maybe the first
settlers on America). Iggy could then be a nickname for Igumi.
And aside from that there might be a very slim chance that Iggy hides
behind the Philippine Maria Ignacia as another author from a
Floydian biography has whispered in the Church's confessional box.
Update: the above post is somewhat redundant as Iggy Rose's
mother came from the Himalayas: Little
old lady from London-by-the-Sea Update March 2018:
Iggy's mother did not live in the Himalaya's, but at the Lushai Hills, a
mountain range in Mizoram and Tripura, India.
Thanks to a Syd Barrett acquaintance the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit
has got a first hand testimony about Iggy that, although the facts date
from over 40 years ago, contains some very interesting new titbits and
an anecdote contradicting most Syd biographies. But that is for later as
the article is still in the make… but do visit this place from time to
time or check its rss
feed.
The producer and editor of the Iggy Eskimo Girl movie, Sadia
Sadia let the Church know that a DVD release of the movie is not
foreseen for the near future:
The film is quite new and we would hope that it would continue to do the
rounds of film festivals before becoming more widely available.
It will also shortly be submitted to the British Council for inclusion
in their UK film archives. At that point the film may become available
through the British Council but we are still in very early stage
discussions with them.
"Chimera Arts wish not to release this material for the time being and
prefer not to see it appear in the public domain.", thus the official
statement goes.
The Church understands this position but keeps on praying that one day
the Iggy movie vaults will be opened and that this relic will be
revealed to its true believers.
It is now time to disclose one of the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit
prophesies that recently came to the Reverend in a vision; alas it is no
prognostication of the future, but one of the past…
About 15 years ago the founder of this Church, Reverend Felix Atagong,
and his en-route companion drove for hours through pastures and
fields to attend a mini-moving-picture-festival promising to show at
least 3 different movies by Anthony Stern (and Peter Whitehead). One of them
movies was going to be San
Francisco, featuring an unreleased track of a band called Pink
Floyd. Although he led a life of alcohol, drugs and women abuse the
Reverend remembers it very well because his first thought had been:
"What the fuck Pink Floyd has go to do with San Francisco?"
Anyway, they drove and drove and drove... Arrived at a hippie den where,
at the bar, 3 very smelly people were staring into empty beer glasses.
The Reverend and his missus had a beer, then another one, and one
again, and when the time was there for the first movie to start he asked
the bartender when the first movie was going to start. Thus he spoke:
"Bartender, when the first movie is going to start?"
"The movie festival has been cancelled.", replied the bartender, "For
lack of interest."
It appeared that Reverend Felix (and his LA-girl) were the only two
people in Belgium who had showed up. The 3 smelly guys guys at the bar
just happened to be the 3 smelly guys guys at the bar who happened to be
always there. The reverend and his spouse had another beer and drove
back home.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, this story is true. The Reverend still
wonders if (parts of) the Iggy Eskimo Girl movie were scheduled at the
festival, if… ...if only… ...if… ...and thus
the seeds of the true Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit were sown...
It has been awfully quiet at the Iggy front. Call it spring fatigue,
problems of the heart or plain laziness but the Reverend was a bit
depressed. When The Holy Church started on eight
eight eight (the number of the beauty) this little blog shook and
stirred like a dry martini ogling in front of Mr. James Bond.
While the quest was new and aloof and thrilling enthusiasm was flowing
through the Reverend’s loins it actually felt that the mission was
leading somewhere, and the Head of the Church felt like Robert Langdon
manoeuvring towards that mythical pyramid in front of the Louvre,
safe-keeper of the holy grail.
The Church did dig something out however, one post evoked an article at
the Croydon
Guardian and the Reverend managed to have chats with entre-autres
Anthony Stern, Barrett-biographers Julian Palacios and Mark Blake,
culminating in the publication of the memoirs of a first-hand witness
who happened to know both Syd and Iggy and who may well have introduced
the one to the other, although she refuses to take credit for that.
There are a lot of unverified rumours around Syd Barrett, the one more
ludicrous than the other; a recent (French) biography
even managed to produce some the Reverend was not aware of, like the
fact that Roger Keith, at one point in his eccentric career, tried to be
an airline pilot. Probably the biographer mixed him up with Bruce
Dickinson or Nick Mason, who used to fly the Maiden’s and Floyd’s
tour planes. Anybody who saw Syd Barrett on a bicycle in and around
Cambridge will testify that a plane was not going to be his most
favourite transportation vehicle.
There are several unverified facts about Iggy as well, some of which
have never been published before and will not be published here until
witnesses willing to approve (or disapprove) are found.
Over the past months the Church contacted (this is just a sample out of
a long list): a British amateur historian, who was going to publish
the definitive history of The
Orchid Ballroom at Purley and who told the Church: 'I have no
knowledge of this girl whatsoever.'; a member of Dusty
Springfield’s backup band (after it had been testified that Ig once went
to an après-gig Dusty party); a surviving organiser of
the decadent party where Syd’s When
Syd met Iggy... (Pt. 2) was raffled off; a few photographers; and
even… a 1966 flatmate of someone who may (not) have been in
contact with Iggy at all…
Most of the time no reply was received at all and if a reply did come it
was a polite thank-you-but...-note, a bit like the hasty apologies one
makes when interrupted on the street by a madman who asks if you can’t
lend him a 7 inch knife for a minute or so.
The Reverend felt like Moses, who guided his people for 40 years in a desert
any sane person on a camel can cross in two weeks time, hence the reason
why Moses is probably the patron saint of all taxi drivers in the world,
but suddenly he, the Reverend - not Moses, found salvation on Walpurgisnacht
by a flickering flame.
What better way to celebrate the coming of the new dawn than to
introduce two new Iggy stills by Anthony Stern, presented to us by
Chimera Arts on a renewed Iggy Eskimo Girl webpage?
The future smiles upon us, dear brethren and sistren, and
will be coloured Iggy… Go in peace, my flock, and don’t do
anything that Iggy wouldn’t have done...
An (updated) image gallery with stills of the movie Iggy, Eskimo Girl
can be found... at
the gallery.
Last week
the Reverend revealed two new Iggy pictures appearing at the Chimera
Arts website that distributes the Iggy Eskimo Girl movie in various
parts of the world (alas, not those parts of the world the Reverend is
familiar with).
Anthony
Stern who, should you not know, shot the movie in question recently
updated several pages on his site and for those that want to dive into
Stern’s work there is an interesting essay
about his work as well.
Iggy the Eskimo Girl (1966/2008)
Update 2016: Anthony Stern's main website has been updated and
all relevant movie links have disappeared. He has a Film
Archive website as well but at the time of writing (November 2016)
not much can be found there.
The (now deleted) filmography page has got the following to say about
the movie:
Iggy was a model and the girlfriend of Syd Barrett, and appeared on the
cover of his album The Madcap Laughs (1970). She was terrific fun to be
with and to photograph. I made a short film of her dancing in Russell
Square, which portrays her as the ultimate flower child of the 1960s.
That particular page also has a (now deleted) filmstrip dedicated to
Iggy showing some screenshots that have never been shown before.
Stern did not only film Iggy, he also made some pictures of her that
were premiered after 40 years on The City Wakes Syd Barrett Festival (a
glimpse of those can be found in the catalogue
of The
Other Room). A (then also unpublished) black and white picture of
Iggy also accompanied the ‘Where
did she go?’ article that appeared in a (free) London newspaper and
that was published after some mild excruciating techniques administered
by the Church.
Stern’s pictures form the so-called Iggy Triptychs,
5 in total. His website
has to say the following about these:
I re-discovered these photographs in my cellar in an old suitcase. All
the optical effects were obtained in-camera. The colour images of Iggy
were taken on a houseboat at Chelsea Reach. In the background you can
see Lots Road Power Station. The distortions were achieved using a
flexible mirror material called Malinex, as well as a magnifying fresnel
screen. I have presented these images at the Ruskin Gallery as
triptychs, because they remind me of Francis Bacon images in the same
format. (Taken from iggyphotos - link no longer available)
Every triptych also has a page of its own and on these the following
titbit can be found:
Iggy was terrific fun to be with and to photograph. I knew her before
she was introduced to Syd by JenS,
and I remember walking through Battersea Park in the early mornings
together.
Page 1: http://www.anthonysternglass.com/iggytrip1.htm (link no
longer active) Page 2:
http://www.anthonysternglass.com/iggytrip2.htm (link no longer active) Page
3: http://www.anthonysternglass.com/iggytrip3.htm (link no longer
active) Page 4: http://www.anthonysternglass.com/iggytrip4.htm
(link no longer active) Page 5:
http://www.anthonysternglass.com/iggytrip5.htm (link no longer active)
The photographs on Stern's website are were for sale, signed,
framed and numbered, either as triptychs or single images. (Note:
prices in 2009 were £175 for single images and £225 for the triptychs,
not including postage).
Ig's close encounters of the photographical kind were not limited to the
Anthony Stern triptych
series alone. She can be found as well on the cover of the Syd Barrett
album The
Madcap Laughs, still available in any qualitative cd-shop what means
that it is a hell of a job to actually find it. But on top of her
picture you get some decent music as well what is a rather nice bargain.
Storm
Thorgerson from the arty farty collective Hipgnosis
claims he shot the cover, although Mick Rock more or less hinted the
same. Both photographers were present at the same place on the same day
for the same purpose. Rock writes that he was asked by Syd Barrett to do
the shoot and that Storm agreed to take him on in the team.
Syd asked me to take the pictures. We had talked about the shoot for a
while, and the day before it happened I told Storm from Hipgnosis, so he
came along because they were putting the package together.
Thorgerson probably was despatched by Harvest
director and Barrett producer ad interim Malcolm Jones and has
stated that another photographer was present as well but that he didn't
know what the fuck he was doing there, although in a slightly more
diplomatic way:
Friend and photographer Mick Rock, later famous for his Bowie photos
amongst many others, also came on this photo session, but I can’t
remember why. I think it was to help me, which seems ironic given his
subsequent lensmanship and success in the rock business.
It surely was one of Rock’s pics that was put - uncredited - on the back
sleeve of the Barrett
(his second solo) album. For the third release, a repackaging of the two
previous ones, aptly called Syd
Barrett, some other shots from that day in April
1969 were used, but it is not certain if these came from Rock's
second-hand Pentax 35mm camera, bought from that other Hipgnosis team
member Aubrey
‘Po’ Powell, or from Storm Thorgerson who also claims he
used a 35mm for the job. (Although his favourite camera at that time was
a Hasselblad 500 c, as used for the Floyd’s Ummagumma cover a couple of
months later).
There will always be an enigma surrounding the cover shoot of The Madcap
Laughs. The 1978 book Walk Away René (The Work of Hipgnosis) contains a
detailed description of every picture in the book, except for… The
Madcap Laughs. Unfortunately Storm’s negatives have been lost,
so there will never be a Psychedelic Renegades from his hand.
Psychedelic Renegades, and then we finally get to the subject of
this blog entry, is the photo book Mick Rock made in 2002. The first
edition, by Genesis,
had 320 copies autographed by R.K. Barrett that are worth a small
fortune nowadays. In 2007 a regular edition was published by Plexus
Books (European edition) and Gingko
(for the USA).
There is a possibility that the Mick Rock photo shoot took more than one
day. The pictures in his apartment were taken, together with Storm
Thorgerson. The outside pictures date (perhaps) from the next day.
Nobody can be really sure and Rock isn’t the most reliable witness to
say the least. On page 18 he writes:
We shot The Madcap Laughs in the autumn of 1969 and I don’t think that
Syd and Duggie Fields had been living in the flat that long.
The above is a contradiction as Syd moved in the apartment end 1968,
furthermore the research of JenS,
who was a friend of Syd and Ig, shows that the pictures were probably
taken in April of 1969. Rock also states that:
Syd’s car was a conspicuously bright pink Pontiac Parisienne convertible.
However the few colour pictures of the car show it was (midnight) blue.
But the Church will no longer go further in this matter, if you want you
can read all about in some previous posts, for instance When
Syd met Iggy... (Pt. 2).
About 20 pictures of the book show us a glimpse of Ig, who is described
by Rock as follows…
Known only as Iggy, the half-Eskimo girl had momentarily made her way
into Syd’s life, and flat, at the time when these photos were taken.
Though not part of the original shoot plan, Iggy was an intriguing
accomplice. With no job and little to call her own, Iggy epitomised the
free natured spirit of the psychedelic underground.
The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit is very proud to announce you 3 new
Iggy galleries: Street
Life, black & white pictures of Iggy in front of the house and
car. Bare
Flat, colour pictures of Iggy, walking around in the nude and
posing on the background in Syd's apartment. Rock
Bottom, black & white nude study of Ig.
Sources (other than internet links mentioned above):
Rock, Mick: Psychedelic Renegades, Plexus, London, 2007, p. 18,
p. 20, p. 23, p. 46. Thorgerson, Storm: Mind Over Matter,
Sanctuary Publishing, London, 2003, p. 204.
Brethren Dan5482 visited the several Church locations (see underneath)
that can be found on the World Wide Web and confessed the following to
the Reverend:
Despite all that collective amnesia I think that Iggy can still be
found. There are journalists, detectives... who have found more
difficult "targets".
However, an intense and widespread interest for her is a necessary
condition. Your Church is a source of hope in this sense. It lets many
people know that once such a mysterious woman existed.
It occurs to me that many people simply don’t want to know who or where
Iggy is. Imagine finding a 70-year old woman and to find out that her
words about that period are as simple and disappointing as "I don't like
to remember that period. I was out of my mind..." That could be the end
of a romantic dream.
Besides the fact that Iggy herself is an extremely intriguing figure,
there is also the possibility of obtaining a new narrative and facts
surrounding Syd Barrett's life in that fabled year of 1969.
Wise words from a wise man.
If JenS’
assumption that Ig was born at the end of World War II is true she is 64
or 65 years old at the moment (provided she is still amongst us). True
believers know the following story for sure… in April, or early May of
1970, Ig closed the door behind her at Wetherby Mansions and was never
seen back… Update: obviously this was written before Ig,
or Emily, was traced back by Mojo magazine.
Mick Rock has apparently stated that he heard from Duggie Fields, the
painter who was Syd Barrett’s roommate, that Iggy ‘went off with some
rich guy in Chelsea and lived a very straight life’ afterwards.
However Mark Blake squeezed a slightly different story out of him:
I have no idea who Iggy was or even what her real name was. She was
never Syd’s girlfriend. They just got together from time to time. (…) I
saw her not long after Syd left the flat and she was looking more like a
Sloane Ranger. I heard she’d become involved with one of the voguish
religious cults at the time.
Mark had some extra comments to give at the Late Night discussion
forum:
Nobody knew her real first name, never mind her surname, or if they did,
they weren't telling. Duggie Fields recalls seeing her some time after
the Madcap Laughs photo session and she was looking a lot more
"sloaney". Most of the people I spoke to who knew her believe Iggy
married a rich businessman and doesn't now want to be 'found'.
The Cinderella story may be a case of confabulation.
One witness supposes that Ig married rich and over the years this story
infiltrates the memories of other people who, decades later, believe
this is really how it all happened. This is not done on purpose; our
memory likes to fill in the gaps and if we need to borrow memories of
other people we will subconsciously do that. Pink Floyd history contains
several anecdotes like that and in the several biographies and articles
Floydian insiders have told about situations that were originally
witnessed by others.
Update 2016: After Syd, Iggy met a rich banker who was a witness
of Jehovah, so the rumours were at least based upon some facts. The
relationship didn't last though and Iggy didn't marry 'rich'.
In February of this year Mark Blake reported to the Church:
I spoke to Emo a couple of weeks back and asked about Iggy and he
immediately said he remembered hearing she had gone back to the Far
East/Asia. But, as I have learned since doing the book, everyone has
conflicting memories about these things. (mail to the Reverend on
23/02/2009)
At The City Wakes festival in October and November of 1988 Anthony
Stern’s Eskimo Girl movie was shown to the public and during the Q&A
afterwards a member of the audience told the director that Iggy was
living in Chelsea. Nobody knows who this person is but if (s)he attended
the festival (s)he must have been a fan of Barrett or one of the members
of the Cambridge or London Underground gang who took this opportunity to
meet again after three decades. The Church would like to invite this
person to come forward and to contact the Reverend.
On the 7th of October 2006 the SydBarrett.net forum got the following
message from a certain YoungForEternity.
Does anyone know roughly how old Iggy would be? There's a woman who
works at a supermarket in my local town who claims to be "the" Iggy and
I don't know whether to believe her or not...I'd appreciate any pointers
or recognisable features? Her name is definitely Iggy, and I've been
studying images but it's difficult to tell... (Taken from whatever
happened to iggy the eskimo?)
The forum in question is no longer active and the messenger only posted
this single item. In 2006 Ig was (probably) 61 or 62 years old so
theoretically she should no longer have been working, as the State
Pension age for women born before 1950 is 60 (in the UK). But of course
there are always exceptions. To qualify for a full basic State
Pension she needed to have built up 39 years of National Insurance
payments and perhaps that may not have been the case. The Church would
also like the author of this post to come forward and to contact the
Reverend.
Update 2016: YoungForEternity was probably closer to the truth
than we all expected. Iggy has indeed been working at a local
supermarket.
Next week, sistren and brethren, the Holy Church of Iggy
the Inuit will celebrate its first birthday and a small and delicate
special treat will be offered. Till then. And remember; don’t do
anything that Ig wouldn’t have done…
Sources (other than internet links mentioned above):
As if the world has suddenly been hit by a temporal rift in spacetime
the March 2010 issue of Mojo
music magazine has inundated the stores bearing a big (slightly photoshopped)
portrait of a mister Syd Barrett. The well-written and rather accurate
cover article, by Pat Gilbert, ranges from page 70 to 81 and tells the
story of The Madcap Laughs, Syd Barrett’s first solo album.
Two other articles are of particular interest to the Church as they
describe the mythical presence of a ‘girl whose naked body graced the
back cover of The Madcap Laughs’.
Who’s That Girl (page 76 insert) is written by Mark
Blake, author of the Pink Floyd biography Pigs Might Fly, and
an occasional visitor (and contributor) of the Church. Out of courtesy
(and for copyright reasons) the Church will not publish the article as
long as the magazine is for sale in the shops. Update: Direct
link to the article: Mojo
March 2010 (hosted at the Church as the article was removed from the
official Barrett website in 2016).
People reading magazines with binoculars will find an odd reference to
the Church as the Croydon Guardian article from the 17th September 2008
has been reproduced as well, however in such small print that one needs
to xerox it in blow-up mode to distinguish individual letters. The
article in full can be consulted at the Church (Where
did she go?) but is also still present on the archives of the
Croydon Guardian (Where
did she go to our lovely?).
Mark Blake writes in Mojo:
In 2008, (Jeff) Dexter and (Anthony) Stern tried to trace the elusive
Iggy, and were interviewed in the Croydon Guardian for leads to the
whereabouts of the “carefree girl who captured the spirit of the ‘60s”.
Actually the motor behind this article were not Dexter and Stern but the Holy
Church of Iggy the Inuit, after - truth has to be acknowledged –
Mark Blake had revealed earlier that Iggy ‘was known as one of the
regular teenage girls at the dancehalls around Purley and Caterham’ (see
also: Shaken
not stirred ).
Researching The Orchid dancehall in Purley, the Reverend found two
articles that had appeared in the Croydon Guardian: In
dance hall days (9th August 2006) and We
remember the Orchid (29th August 2006).
The Church tried to contact Brian Roote in September 2008, an amateur
historian writing a book about the Purley dancehall, but this resulted
more than a year later in the simple comment: ‘I have no knowledge of
this girl whatsoever'.
The Reverend had more chance with journalist Kerry McQueeney author of
the two Orchid articles, but no longer working for the Croydon Guardian.
He passed the story to Kirsty Whalley who was now editor of the Heritage
pages of the newspaper. On the 3rd September of 2008 she replied:
We would like to feature this story in the newspaper next week and
hopefully it will prompt a few people to call in.
In the same mail she also asked if the Church could give some leads and
amongst the people to contact the Reverend mentioned the names of Mick
Rock and Anthony Stern. Kirsty Whalley did an excellent job and did not
only interview both men, but also Jeff Dexter who had been a DJ at The
Orchid.
The next sermon at the Church will cover the second Iggy-related article
from Mojo 196. In My Room, written by Paul Drummond, contains
interviews with Duggie Fields, Mick Rock, Storm Thorgerson and Jenny
Spires.
The Madcap Laughs Again (Mojo Tribute CD)
Mojo 196 comes with a Madcap Laughs cover CD as interpreted by (amongst
others): R.E.M., Captain Sensible, Hawkwind, Jennifer Gentle, Marc
Almond and Robyn Hitchcock. Reviews of this CD can be found at Late
Night: The
Madcap Laughs Again, including the one written by the Reverend.
The Mojo website contains a Syd Barrett top 20 jukebox
and three YouTube links to Syd's legendary unreleased material. One of
those fan-made videos (Lucy
Leave) has been created by limpidgreen aka dollyrocker, a much
appreciated Late
Night forum member. Way to go, dollyrocker! (All links dead, we're
afraid.)
Last week The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit published the incredible news that
Iggy had been traced back. This was a world exclusive as no other news
medium had reported this before.
The news that Iggy had been found was, unfortunately, also all there was
to say. Although discreet investigations were done it was soon made
clear that she wanted to stay anonymous and that she didn’t want to blow
her cover. A short interview was out of the question, even for Mojo
magazine and Mark Blake who triggered these latest events.
The Reverend is by all means not a souvenir collector who wanted to ring
at her bell like all those true fans used to do at Syd Barrett’s
door and her wish to be left in peace was immediately and
unconditionally granted.
In September 2008 The Croydon Guardian published an article about Iggy
after the Church had contacted the newspaper to get more information
about The Orchid dancehall in Purley: Where
did she go? This article unearthed some unpublished pictures by
Anthony Stern that were later shown at The City Wakes festival in
Cambridge and was also mentioned in the March issue of Mojo.
Kirsty Whalley, the journalist who brought us the first Iggy article in
The Croydon Guardian, has now managed to interview Iggy, an interview
that can be found in today’s issue of this newspaper.
When Mick turned up to take the photos I helped paint the floor boards
for the shoot, I was covered in paint, I still remember the smell of it.
In the next weeks however the Church will scrutinize the interview, and
comments will be added where appropriate. For the moment all we wish to
say is hip hip hurray to Kirsty Whalley!
Tranquillity is slowly descending upon the Holy Church of Inuit like
smog upon Victorian London. Several brethren and sistren
of the Church, and one-time visitors who entered through the front gate
to study its baroque interior, have passed some valid information to the
Reverend and these will be further investigated in the future. The
Reverend also wants to apologise to the people that have been contacted
(and interviewed) last year, especially those associated with The
Cromwellian club. The articles about The Crom have been postponed due to
the unexpected result the Mojo Syd Barrett article created, but they
will - one day - hopefully appear.
To all our readers: please keep on going on giving the Church
information, how futile it may be, but remember that the Reverend will
not break its own rules that stay unchanged even now that Iggy (Evelyn)
has been found. Especially now that Iggy (Evelyn) has been found.
The Reverend is not a souvenir collector who will ring at her bell like
all those so-called (and in the Reverend's eyes: messed up) true fans
used to do at Syd Barrett’s door. Evelyn's wish to be left in peace is
and will be unconditionally granted. The same goes for other witnesses
of the Barrett era, the Church will send them a nice note from time to
time, as a reminder of its presence, but will not break their privacy.
Some will call this bad journalism but the Church is not dependent from
sold issues and follows a strict deontological code.
Croydon Guardian
On the thirteenth of February of this year The Croydon Guardian
published a short, hastily noted down, interview with (a quite
reluctant) Iggy, titled: Croydon
Guardian tracks down elusive rock star muse. Here it is in full
(with some comments from the Reverend):
Croydon Guardian tracks down elusive rock star muse By Kirsty
Whalley
An iconic model who stole Syd Barrett’s heart in the 1960s has been
found after three decades of anonymity. Known only as Iggy, the
enigmatic woman was immortalised posing naked for the Pink Floyd star’s
solo album, Madcap Laughs. She disappeared in the late 1970s and has
been living in West Sussex, oblivious to her iconic status. In September
2008, the Croydon Guardian appealed for information about the model and,
more than a year later, we managed to track her down.
The story of how the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit convinced The Croydon
Guardian to assign some place in its columns for the Iggy enigma can be
found at Where
did she go? and (I've
got my) Mojo (working...).
She inspired artist Anthony Stern, who filmed her dancing in Battersea
Park and also took striking photographs of her on a houseboat in
Chelsea. They were released at the City Wakes festival – a tribute to
Syd Barrett – in October 2008, in Cambridge.
The above has of course been extendedly covered by the Church as well: Anthony
Stern.
Mr Stern said: “Iggy was my muse. I met her at a Hendrix gig at the
Speakeasy. She entirely captures the spirit of the Sixties, living for
the moment, carefree.”
Jimi
Hendrix gigged quite a few times at The
Speakeasy and was spotted there on other occasions as well, for
instance on the 22nd of February when he attended a press conference for The
Soft Machine.
Jimi Hendrix
The club has been described in the (excellent) London Live book
from Tony Bacon as follows (most information about the club has been
taken from that book).
When The Speakeasy was opened by Roy Flynn around the end of 1966 in
Margaret Street, just north of Soho, the rock elite soon discovered a
handy new watering hole, a prime early-hours jamming post, and an
altogether useful hanging-out kind of place.
By May 1967 the club was part of the London spot-the-celebrity
circle next to - amongst others - the Scotch (of St. James) and of
course the Crom. On a good night you could having a drink next to The
Bee Gees, Jeff
Beck or The
Who, although, keeping up his avant-garde experimental jazz
appearance, Robert
Wyatt from The Soft Machine couldn't care less: "Rock groups meeting
in expensive clubs that are difficult to get into? What's all that crap?"
On the 19th of January 1967 Jimi Hendrix gave the first of 3 concerts at
The Speak. On top of that he would also jam a few times with other
people on stage, including Jose
Feliciano and Georgie
Fame. That night in January he tried to get into Marianne
Faithfull's pants with the seductive remark: "What are you doing
with this jerk, anyway?" The jerk in question was of course Mick Jagger
who wanted to check out the new kid in town.
Yes-fans
will know the club for its owner Roy Flynn. When, on the 13th of
December 1968, Sly
And The Family Stone didn't show up for their gig an impromptu band
was found to take their place. When Roy Flynn saw Yes's performance he
was so thrilled that he became their manager for a while. The band
eagerly agreed, not because he had some managerial skills but because
the restaurant at The Speak had an excellent reputation:
Roy had never managed a band before and he kind of took us on and then
the whole world of the Speakeasy opened up (laugh). It was a great club,
I mean, it was a wonderful club, it used to close at 4 AM and we would
not only rehearse there, we would play there some nights, and of course
after a gig if we were playing within, let's say 150 miles from London,
we would rush and go to the Speakeasy and eat there, and most of the
meals were completely free. So for about a year I ate pretty good. Most
of the evenings I ate there. Because that was the life style, we would
be in the Speakeasy after 3 AM and the kitchen still would be opened and
the food was not fantastic but thanks to Roy Flynn we would get free
food and quite a lot of few drinks as well. (Peter
Banks, who invented the band's name and left the group in 1970)
The extensive Jimi Hendrix gig database
located at Rich Dickinson only mentions 3 genuine Jimi Hendrix
performances in 1967: the aforementioned gig on the 19th of January 1967
and two more in March: 8th March 1967 and 21st March 1967. So Iggy (and
Anthony Stern) must have attended one of these. For the completists
amongst us the Church gives now the complete list of Hendrix sightings
at the Speakeasy (1967): 67-01-19: Gig. 67-02-22: Press
reception for the Soft Machine. 67-03-08: Gig. 67-03-16:
Launching party for Track records (Jimi gives three interviews). 67-03-21:
Gig. 67-04-17: Jam (on bass) with Georgie Fame (on organ) and
Ben E. King (drums). 67-05-08: Brian Auger Trinity Concert. 67-06-04:
Jose Feliciano concert and onstage jam. 67-12-06: Party for The
Foundations. 67-12-22: Musicians from Christmas on Earth and Hendrix
jam until the morning hours. 67-12-31: New Year's Eve Party where
Jimi plays a thirty minute 'Auld Lang Syne'.
London Live
There is quite an intriguing picture
on page 103 of the London Live book, showing co-managers Roy Flynn and
Mike Carey, sitting at the Speakeasy bar, accompanied by two ladies.
According to CowleyMod
one of the women undoubtedly is Ig. Although most of the members of the
Church do not think it is her the Church wants to give Cowleymod the
benefit of the doubt and the visitors of the Church the chance to make
up their own mind (click here
to see the full picture). Update (November 2010): it has been
confirmed to the Church that the person on the picture is NOT Iggy /
Evelyn.
Iggy said: “I cannot believe there is a film of me, that there are
photos of me.”
Iggy spent a brief part of the 60s
living in Croydon with DJ Jeff Dexter, who used to play at the Orchid
Ballroom. She said: “The Orchid Ballroom was the place to be, the
atmosphere was fantastic. I loved going there, I loved to dance. Jeff
wanted to turn me and two other lovely girls into the English version of
the Supremes, but that never happened.”
She does not
like to talk much about Syd Barrett, but admits she lived with him in
Chelsea in the late 1960s. She said: “Syd was so beautiful looking. We
had a relationship, I lived with him for a while.”
Although the Reverend is aware of at least four witnesses who have
confirmed in different biographies (and directly to the Church) that
Iggy and Syd weren't an item this is now contradicted by Evelyn herself.
It was at that time she became known as Iggy the Eskimo. She said: “In
part I made up the nickname. The rest was the photographer Mick Rock,
who asked where I was from. I said ‘my mother is from the Himalayas’ and
he said ‘we will call you Iggy the Eskimo’.”
Update March 2018: Iggy's mother, so was confirmed to us, didn't
live near the Himalaya's, but at the Lushai Hills, a mountain range in
Mizoram, Mizoram, situated at the North-East of India, sharing borders
with Bangladesh and Myanmar.
The Church will not deny that Mick Rock may have thrown around the 'Iggy
the Eskimo' nickname to describe the mysterious girl on his pictures but
the epithet dates from much earlier. It was first spotted in the NME
magazine from the 25th of November 1966 (more than 2 years earlier)
where Evelyn was described as 'Another Bender - model IGGY, who is
half-Eskimo': Bend
It!
Mick Rock took the pictures for Madcap Laughs. Iggy said: “When Mick
turned up to take the photos I helped paint the floor boards for the
shoot, I was covered in paint, I still remember the smell of it. In the
pictures my hair looks quite funny, I remember hiding my face behind it
because I did not want my mum and dad to see it."
Again other witnesses tell other stories. They claim that Syd (with a
little help from Iggy) painted the floor boards early in the year,
certainly before April 1969. As Syd only started recording mid-April it
is a bit weird that he painted the boards especially for the album
cover, unless - of course - he (and with him Mick Rock) already had the
cover in mind before the recording sessions started. A theory that is
not implausible.
She broke up with Syd Barrett shortly after the photo shoot and moved to
Brighton. She said: “I have just been living very quietly, I left London
in the 70s and I got married in 1978. I met so many people in the 60s –
the Beatles, the Who, the Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart. I was a free
spirit. I have left that life behind me now.”
The Church would gladly accept to publish her memoires though.
But until that happens, my dear sistren and brethren,
don't do anything that Iggy wouldn't have done…
A new gallery has been uploaded containing the complete Come
with NME for a pic-visit to THE CROMWELLIAN article and pictures
from New Musical Express 1037, 25 November 1966. Photographs by Napier
Russel & Barry Peake. Words by Norrie Drummond. (Just another world
exclusive from the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit.)
Sources (other than the above internet links): Bacon, Tony: London
Live, Balafon Books, London, 1999, p. 101-104.
Those that have been living on planet Magrathea for the past
couple of months may not have been aware that Thursday, 17th of March
2011 was a great day in the life for a Barrett-fan.
The long awaited book 'Barrett',
apparently nobody attempts to use a combination of Madcap or Crazy
Diamond any more, which is a good thing, was launched with a
mega-party and exhibition at Idea
Generation, London.
The Church will review the definitive visual companion to the life of
Syd Barrett in the weeks to come so for the moment you have to content
yourself with the message that it is a splendiferous (and heavy... and
pricey) work of art... and love.
Attending the launch were Anthony Stern, Aubrey "Po" Powell, Captain
Sensible, Dark Globe, David Gale, Duggie Fields, Graham Coxon, Ian
Barrett, Irene Winsby, Jenny Spires, John 'Hoppy' Hopkins, Libby
Gausden, Mark Blake, Miles, Philip James, Rosemary Breen, Vic Singh,
Warren Dosanjh and many others... enough to make a Pink Floyd aficionado
drool...
But for the Church (and not only for the Church) the star of the evening
undoubtedly was a woman of international mystery... and here are some
pictures of her:
Iggy
Libby Gausden and Iggy
John "Hoppy" Hopkins and Iggy
Iggy and Andy Rose
Ian Barrett, Iggy and Captain Sensible
Duggie Fields and Iggy
Brian Wernham and Iggy
Iggy having some fun with the paparazzi
Where is Iggy? and who else can you recognise on this picture?
Some answers: Antonio Jesús: "The tall guy in brown is Warren
Dosanjh." Mark Jones: "Duggie Fields." Jenny
Spires: "Nigel Gordon and Jimmie Mickelson, Will Shutes and Viv's
nephew, Kieren and his partner..." Libby Gausden Chisman: "Roe
Barrett and her husband Paul Breen, Buster and his partner who used to
come swimming with Dave Gilmour and me at Jesus Green swimming pool in
Cambridge."
One of our brethren told the Reverend afterwards:
I saw Iggy at the launch yesterday. She did very well, considering it
was her first public appearance. She had a legion of female admirers so
she was happy, and people were thrilled to meet her.
The Church wishes to thank: Antonio Jesús, Mark Blake, Libby Gausden
Chisman, Dark Globe, Paul Drummond, Jimmie James, Mark Jones, Jenny
Spires, Brian Wernham and the beautiful people at Late Night and
Facebook. ♥ Iggy ♥ Libby ♥
You might or might not know that Iggy Rose was once Anthony
Stern's muse, she posed before his camera
and featured in one of his avant-garde movies,
that – unforgivably – has only been shown about a dozen of times for the
past 47 years. The situation didn't really sky-rocket when Chimera
Arts took over the publishing rights, they were sitting harder on it
than the CIA does on a torture report. Nothing new, as a matter of fact,
as we already wrote this a couple of years ago (2009) in one of our
magnificent articles.
It is rumoured that the last festival Eskimo Girl was billed on was held
in a staircase closet somewhere in the Philippines, but we might be
slightly exaggerating.
But all this is soon to change. Anthony Stern started a brand new blog Anthony
Stern Films that is promising us a book and a DVD.
Update 2016: in October 2016 the movie was premiered during the
Cambridge Syd Barrett movie festival. A couple of weeks earlier a
shortened version was shown at the BBC. No news from a book or DVD
though. More information: Lost
Weekends Memory
Marbles (2016): new Iggy pictures found!
Update 13 February 2022: RIP Ant, 1944-2022.
Auntie Stern
Get all from that ant? (as the movie will be named, it appears)
will be an 80 minutes portrait of London 1963-1970, in still pictures,
film and video, by Anthony Stern who lived, loved and worked at the core
of the pop culture genesis. Countless reels of 16mm film and thousands
of photographic negatives from his archives have been viewed and
digitalised. Sophia
Satchell-Baeza had a look at an early cut:
Although at the moment unfinished, it’s an incredible,
semi-autobiographical portrait of Cambridge / London / San Francisco in
the 1960s, shot by the artist and film-maker who was there to see it all
unfold. Some major highlights include lost (and recently found) archive
footage of Syd Barrett performing with Pink Floyd, and unseen footage of
Eric Clapton, but the film is full of beautiful moments. (Taken from: A
subterranean afterworld of future dreams.)
There will be footage from Syd Barrett with Pink Floyd, the UFO club
and their liquid light projections, footage of The Rolling Stones,
the voice of John Lennon. But something that makes the Reverend
infinitely happy is that the picture
highlighting this release depicts none other than Iggy, dancing in a
park. So there might be a pretty cool chance that her movie, or at least
a part of it, will be on the DVD as well.
Magnetism
The project consists of a DVD and a book that will not only show the
past. Anthony Stern had the idea to 'unite all Barrett heads'. He took a
movie still of Syd playing at UFO and turned it into a magnet, the Sydge.
You can get one or free, as long as there are copies left and provided
you sent him back a picture of your fridge door (or wherever you have
stuck the magnet):
The fridge door can be a platform and a message board for images of
yourself, family, your favourite icons, pin-ups, newspaper cuttings,
poems, memoranda, shopping lists, favourite witticisms, jokes, puns,
tickets and the detritus of day-to-day life, and of course any form of
homage to Syd Barrett. (Taken from: The
Sydge magnet, well he was a very magnetic chap.)
Some of the results that have been sent in can already be seen here
and here.
One Birdie Hop member made it her vocation to distribute several of
these magnets over the States, turning the Sydge into a symbol that will
unite fans all over the globe.
And who knows, if enough people put some imagination and madcappery into
the photos it may grow into a completely different project than it was
intended for, so someone has whispered in our ears. Of course the Church
has already send in its pictures and you can watch these at the Church's
presence on Facebook.
Iggy
& Syd Lookalike Audition
Anthony's book will also have a chapter called: Syd & Iggy: A
Psychedelic Love Story, yes there is our girl again!, and for this
purpose he is looking for Syd and Iggy lookalikes who can send in their
pictures... Those who want to face fame and glory can have a look at Audition.
To immortalise this demand the blog adds something that can be
considered as being the purest, clearest and biggest movie still we have
seen from the Iggy, the Eskimo Girl movie ever. Here she is, holding
that weird device that inconspicuously looks like a smartphone, but
only... the picture dates from 1968. Was Iggy really a time traveller?
Click to see the picture in full resolution: Iggy.
Anthony Qui?
In June 2008 Anthony Stern gave an introduction to several of his movies
at the Cinemathèque
Française in Paris. A video was shot of the event by Lionel
Soukaz. We took the liberty of removing the French translations and
to upload it again. Antony does mention Syd Barrett and Iggy Rose, but
not to spoil the fun we don't tell you where exactly.
And for those who don't know what Iggy, the Eskimo Girl is all about.
Here is the only known 'free-floating' version on the web, an audience
recording taken from that same lecture in Paris.
We just can't wait for that DVD to appear, but for the moment we (and
you) have to be content with our image
gallery that has some (old) stills of the movie. It will be
(silently) updated when new pictures will appear on the Anthony
Stern Film blog, so be sure to check it out once and a while.
For our other articles about Stern's magic, please check: Anthony
Stern. Now if only that Storm Thorgerson movie
would see the light of day.
Many thanks to: Lisa Newman, Anthony Stern. ♥ Iggy ♥ Libby ♥ Birdie
Hop ♥
In April the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit reported about the Sydge that
was part of Anthony
Stern's new project that can more or less be followed on his Anthony
Stern Films blog. Something will, hopefully sooner than later, be
compiled on a DVD that will contain an overview of Stern's career. In
September there was a screening of his movies at BFI that was
immediately sold out and was described it as follows:
In the most swinging of decades Anthony Stern was friends with ‘Pink
Floyd,’ worked closely with cult director Peter Whitehead and also shot
a series of his own vibrant, playful 16mm titles. Infused with the
spirit of the psychedelic lightshow and the French New Wave, they paint
a joyous, celebratory picture of the 1960s counter culture as it came
into full dizzy bloom. In Iggy the Eskimo Girl (1966. 4min), red
double-deckers whizz by while Syd Barrett’s then-girlfriend cavorts
joyously in the bright London sun; and in Nothing To Do With Me (1968.
35min) Stern’s mentor Peter Whitehead – arguably at the peak of his own
creative powers – opens his mind and riffs on the themes of alienation
and his relationship with the camera. Also included in the programme is
the mind-bending, truly psychedelic San Francisco (1968. 15min), which
features an unreleased version of the Floyd’s ‘Interstellar Overdrive,’
alongside never-before-seen footage of the USA in 1968.
The DVD is not out yet, but there is something else you can get from
Ant. Those who didn't get a Sydge (Syd Barrett fridge magnet) in
the past (see: Magnets
& Miracles), can now buy a limited set from him, containing two
magnets: one with Syd Barrett and the other one with Iggy, taken from
one of the triptychs
Ant made from her in 1967. We'll let Stern speak for himself:
The Sydge & The Iggnet have landed! Get your Sydge Magnet and
Iggy Iggnet here! £15 for both (excl. postage) Please email anthony@anthonysternglass.com
An early bird told us these limited collectibles will have a numbered
card of authenticity, signed by Anthony Stern and perhaps... someone
else. So get yours now, as your life will otherwise be empty! You can
take it horse riding or swimming... You can give it to the ones you care
for. Don't leave your house without a Sydge or Iggnet.
Many thanks to: Anthony Stern. (The Church is not affiliated with or
endorsed by this company.) ♥ Iggy ♥ Libby ♥
A couple of weeks ago Iggy and the Reverend browsed through a stash of
mid-seventies photos and selected nearly 60. They have been (and will
still be for quite a while) simultaneously published at Iggy's Facebook
page and at the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit Tumblr
site under the Magical Iggy flag.
How, you didn't know that existed? Here it is again, you ignorant people: The
Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit Tumblr
blog, its Magical
Iggy section and the Archive.
In less than an hour it will be Iggy's birthday. The Reverend fought
blizzards, storms and packs of hungry wolves to go to Louvain's postal
station to find out, then, that he had forgotten Iggy's birthday card at
home.
Should you not know it by now, it is Iggy's birthday! So this is the
time and place to shout:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY IGGY ROSE!
Partytime Iggy
LET'S PARTY!!! Please enjoy this mix of tracks that have been made the
past few years to celebrate our goddess. Swedish band Men
On The Border were so kind to let us use one of their songs from
their latest album Jumpstart.
Thanks guys, you rock!
In 2013 Rich hall made a concept album that has this fine pearl...
(click on the image below for the hi-res Flash version)
For those who haven't got a Flash-enabled webbrowser, let's try it
another way. Here is a, somewhat downgraded, version on Youtube, but
don't let that spoil the fun.
Iggy's Electronic Birthday Card (2011) contains a few seconds from a
super-secret mid-Seventies home movie (and we added a nice tune as
well). Flash link (warning: 5 MB!): Happy
Birthday Iggy Rose!or YouTube:
Crystal Blue Postcards
An electronic book of poems and art, dedicated to Syd and his muses, by
Denis Combet, with a little help from his friends Constance Cartmill and
Allison Star. Digital artwork by Jean Vouillon and some tinkering from
Felix Atagong (more about Denis Combet and his Iggy poem(s): Catwoman).
Guitars and Dust Dancing by Rescue Rangers
In 2011, Pascal Mascheroni, from the stoner power trio Rescue Rangers
donated the haunting (& slightly psychedelic) power ballad Guitars
and Dust Dancing from the album with the same name (buy your copy at
iTunes: Guitars
and Dust Dancing). In the meanwhile enjoy this Youtube clip with the
smashing artwork from Jean Vouillon.
WHY DON'T YOU WISH IGGY A HAPPY BIRTHDAY?
Instead of reading and watching all this you should be heading at
Facebook where you can leave your messages, poems, songs and images at: The
Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit and of course on Iggy's
personal page as well.
Let's make this a birthday to remember, brethren and sistren
and don't do anything that Iggy wouldn't do!
The Church wishes to thank Constance Cartmill, Denis Combet, Phil
Etheridge, Amy Funstar, Rich Hall, Pascal Mascheroni, MAY, Goeran
Nystroem, Allison Star, Anthony Stern, Jean Vouillon, Brett Wilson and
all the others that we seem to have forgotten... ♥ Libby ♥ Iggy ♥
Update 2016 04 03: After the movie was 'found' on Facebook, it
took less than 24 hours before it was deleted from Dailymotion. We hope
that the original uploader will not get into trouble. We are currently
trying to get a reaction from Anthony Stern and Chimera Arts. (More
info: afterword.)
The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit, that wacky blog with an even wackier
Reverend vehemently tries to catalogue all things Iggy Rose, and
although several pictures and movies have been unearthed since then, one
important and most reverential piece was still missing in our collection.
Shot in 1968 by Anthony
Stern, 'iggy the eskimo girl' (all in lowercase) showed Iggy
Rose dancing barefoot through London, annoying the square folk who had
to go to work, creating kerfuffle wherever she put her lovely feet and
using something that resembles a smartphone, 30 years before these were
invented. The movie with its Pink Floyd soundtrack, restored in 2008 by Sadia
Sadia from Chimera
Arts, was shown at the legendary The
City Wakes in Cambridge and would now and then resurface on
avant-garde film festivals all over the world.
The movie never made it to the 'big' public though and several demands
of the Church to obtain a copy were politely refused. A one minute 27
seconds audience recording, taken at a Paris movie festival, was the
longest version we had (Iggy,
Eskimo Girl), next to a teaser from City Wakes (Syd
Barrett - Iggy).
Cut to 2014 when Anthony Stern launched a new website 'Anthony
Stern Films' with the promise to publish a DVD 'Get All From That
Ant' containing his complete filmography (see: Magnets
& Miracles). However the project came to a standstill and some
spin-offs, like an Iggy The Eskimo magnet never came off the ground
either (see: The
perfect Xmas gift: put Iggy on your fridge!).
Since then it was awfully quiet around the movie maker / glass artist
and frankly, the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit had given up hope to ever
see the 'iggy the eskimo girl' movie in full.
Until today.
This morning we were informed by an enthusiastic Iggy that a full
version of the movie can be found on Dailymotion,
where it had already been uploaded at the end of the previous year by
someone who is internationally recognised as a Pink Floyd buff. Quality
isn't too bad, although it isn't really spectacular either. This is due
to the fact that it is an audience recording as well, taken from a 2010
film festival in Lille. Some cropping and editing had to be done and the
audio was re-sampled. But as far as we can judge, this is the most
complete version and the closest to the original.
In the same breath Iggy also mentioned that she, with a couple of
friends, had some more tricks up her sleeve, but alas as the Reverend of
the Iggy's Church we had to take a vow of silence. But watch this space
if you want to be kept informed.
So for now, sistren and brethren, here is 'iggy the eskimo
girl'. Enjoy and don't do anything Iggy wouldn't do.
If you dig deeper into the reason you get the message: The above video
has been deleted after a copyright claim.
Afterword
After the movie was 'found' and published on the Holy Church of Iggy the
Inuit, it took less than 24 hours before it was deleted. Uploaded at the
end of past year it led a calm life at Dailymotion until it was found by
a Birdie Hop group member, if our information is correct. From
there it quietly expanded to other groups and on other people's
timelines, including the one of Iggy Rose. Reactions were generally
ecstatic, except for one.
It didn't take long for Stephen
W. Tayler to claim that this was a copyright infringement. He is a
mixer, music producer, composer and sound designer who has worked on
hundreds of projects, including Kate Bush, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel
and Howard Jones. As a partner in Chimera
Arts he helped restoring eight Anthony Stern movies in 2008,
including 'iggy the eskimo girl'.
Neither Anthony Stern, Sadia Sadia, nor Anthony W. Tayler wanted to give
comments. (Back to top of the article.)
About two years after the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit came with the
news of an Anthony
Stern anthology, showing an overview of his work, including unseen
Pink Floyd footage and our own Iggy the Eskimo, it might finally get a
release to the general public. Well, sort of. (See: Magnets
& Miracles)
Get All From That Ant will be shown at a Syd Barrett (mini)
festival that will be held in October in Cambridge when also a Syd
Barrett memorial artwork will be unveiled. Men On The Border will
interpret the mad cat’s wacko music with the Sandviken symphony
orchestra, some mystery guests and a groovy lightshow from Peter Wynne
Wilson.
Have You Got It Yet
Although not confirmed (yet) the Barrett movie festival may also feature
Storm Thorgerson’s legendary Have You Got It Yet. This
movie is being finalised by Roddy
Bogawa, whom you might know from the excellent documentary Taken
By Storm, that any Hipgnosis fan needs to have in his / her
collection. We had a chat earlier this year with the movie maker and
here is what he had to say.
I can answer some of the rumours! Yes, we are hoping the film will be
released this year - it is in the editing stage - and yes, Lindsay
[Corner] and Gayla [Pinion] are interviewed in it as well as Jenny
Spires and Libby Gausden... I think it is ok to make that public...
Also Roger, David and Nick appear in new interviews which I think are
quite different than most of the ones they've done before because Storm
was present and he grew up with Syd, David and Roger.
So...it's exciting and once the film gets closer to completion, we'll
talk it up more! (Source: Facebook Chat, 2016 06 03)
Surely a release to be yearning for, even when Iggy wasn't interviewed,
due to unforeseen circumstances.
Sydge and Iggnet
It is not certain if Stern’s anthology will get the DVD release as
promised a couple of years ago. Our efforts to ask Anthony stayed
unanswered. Artists, huh…
In 2014 some extremely lucky people received a Syd magnet, aka Sydge,
for a Stern project that had to culminate in a book. Unfortunately all
the relevant pages on the Anthony
Stern Films blog have been removed, so we fear it has been shelved.
In December 2014 an Iggy the Eskimo magnet was announced (see: Iggy
on your fridge!), but although the Holy Church ordered about a dozen
that project was indefinitely postponed as well. Until now…
Syd Barrett and Iggy Photo Art Collectable Fridge Magnets.
2 Magnets in total.
Taken from original photos by Anthony Stern are these fantastic,
practical and groovy fridge magnets featuring both Syd Barrret playing
live and Iggy during a creative photoshoot with Anthony.
Both images can also be found in the new and upcoming GATA? Get ALL That
Ant? .....biographical film of Anthony Stern's youth when he was friends
with the infamous couple at the start of the Pink Floyd band creation.
An original piece of Uk Rock History documentation and a great gift idea
for the Syd Barrett and Iggy fans.
The Syd and Iggy magnets are now for sale at Anthony
Stern’s Etsy page. Get them while you still can… (The
Church is not affiliated with or endorsed by Mr. Stern's company.)
Many thanks to: Roddy Bogawa, Anthony Stern. ♥ Iggy ♥ Libby ♥
When, a couple of years ago, a Brian
Jones Facebook group wanted to know if any members had ever met him,
Iggy Rose chimed in, in her usual diplomatic style, stating that she
still remembered some of the musician’s anatomical details. As Facebook
groups tend to harbour the bottom layer of human intelligence she wasn’t
believed. Perhaps for the better.
After six decades, Iggy still believes in the interconnected goodness of
people and things, something that was already present in her as a
toddler when she wanted to stroke the cat in the garden and her parents
realised, just in time, that it actually was a tiger. Obviously that was
before they relocated to the UK as there are not so many loose tigers
running around in Brighton. Predators in good old England were mostly of
the human kind and playing rock ’n' roll.
Lost weekends 1967 - 1968
How exactly Iggy met The
Rolling Stones has been shrouded in a cloak of mystery. Probably she
met them through psychedelic nobleman Stash (Stash
Klossowski de Rola) who was in their inner circle. It suffices to
say that one day she met them and that they and some of their
girlfriends liked to have her around.
She was present, Zelig-like as Mark Blake later wrote in his Iggy
article The
Strange Tale Of Iggy The Eskimo, during the Sympathy
For The Devil recording sessions, early June 1968, although there
isn't a trace of her in the Jean-Luc
Godard movie with the same name. Talking about a missed
opportunity...
That Iggy had an eerie timing of turning completely invisible had
already been proven a year and a half before when she was invited to
Keith's 15th century country house, Redlands, in West Withering. In the
early evening of 12 February 1967 police officers raided the place and
arrested Keith, Mick and the mysterious Miss X, who was only wearing a
fur rug, but she was not Iggy.
Other guests present in the house that day were: Nicky Kramer, a
dandy dope head, who was unfortunately repeatedly beaten up by some of
Mick’s rougher associates because they suspected him to be the informant
who gave the Stones away; art dealer Robert
‘groovy Bob’ Fraser and his manservant Mohammed Jajaj; Christopher
Gibbs, a friend of Mick; photographer Michael
Cooper, and last but not least: David
Schneiderman, Sniderman aka David Jove, the ‘acid king’ whose
portable drug cabinet with LSD and dope was never confiscated and who
may have been the real snitch, working for British intelligence and/or
The News Of The World newspaper.
Not present any more were George Harrison and Patti Boyd. They left the
mansion before the bust. Brian Jones and Anita Pallenberg had an
argument in London so they never arrived, much to the disappointment of
the police who raided Jones' house later.
And Iggy the Eskimo was nowhere to be seen because… she got lost on her
way to the doomed place.
I had a lucky escape cause I lost my way after all the directions Keef
gave me. (Birdie Hop, 02 June 2015.)
Photographic Evidence
Michael Cooper has made some 70000 pictures of the Rolling Stones, yet,
the first one with Iggy still has to surface. We know they are there,
somewhere…
Literary hundreds of pictures have been lost. Me and Eric Clapton, Roger
Daltrey, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, Keith Moon… I had quite a few
snapshots with Keef, Brian and Anita…
A great loss happened when Iggy’s suitcase, that contained all her
possessions, was tossed overboard, in the North Sea, after a row with an
abusive friend musician. One picture
that has survived however shows her, Zelig-like indeed, standing next to
John Lennon on Carmen Jiménez’s birthday party, January 1967 at The
Cromwellian.
Georgie
Fame had a gorgeous girlfriend, Carmen, and she took me under her
wings when he was touring. Just around the corner of The Cromwellian
Brian Jones has an incredible pad and we all had a scrumptious paella
there, cooked by her. After Brian I rolled into Keef who had a palatial
place at the Chelsea embankment.
Performance
In July 1968 Mick Jagger, Anita Pallenberg and their entourage could be
found in a London house that was easier to find for Iggy. It was the set
for a Donald
Cammell movie that would get cult status: Performance.
This film was one of the rare occasions where there was no real
difference between what happened before and behind the camera, between
fiction and reality... Iggy told us:
They used real magic mushrooms... I was at the house [Powis Square,
Notting Hill, FA] when they where getting ready to shoot the bedroom
scene, the lady in charge was getting shrooms for the cast and offered
me some as well.
Iggy was also proposed a part in the movie for a bedroom scene, but she
politely declined. It didn't stop her though to be friendly with Anita
Pallenberg and with Donald Cammell's 'beautiful dusky' lady, Myriam
Gibril...
On the weekend from the 23rd to the 25th September 2016 BBC4 handed over
its schedule to Keith
Richards (and Julien
Temple) in what was called Keith Richards' Lost Weekend. Apparently
all programs were hand-picked by Keith, ranging from a Hitchcock movie,
cartoons and comedy, documentaries, interviews and obviously some music.
On Sunday morning, starting at 1:25 AM, some Syd Barrett fans did not
only see the object of their adoration on the screen, but Iggy the
Eskimo as well, dancing in a park.
Probably the documentary was a condensed version of Stern's
autobiographical movie Get
All That, Ant that will be premiered at the Cambridge Syd Barrett
movie festival on October the 21st 2016, and that has The Rolling
Stones, Pink Floyd and, of course, Iggy Rose amongst its contributors.
You can read a tad more about the movie, that will hopefully be released
on DVD, on Stern's new website that looks remarkably like a vintage
eighties web-creation: Anthony
Stern Film Archive.
Miss Rose
Obviously we had Iggy on the phone about this documentary that she saw
through half-open eyes as she was falling asleep by then. But she did
catch herself in the white dress though...
The fact that Keith Richards, Keith Richards!, hand-picked Anthony
Stern's movie about me is thrilling after all these years.
Must be that he still remembers you, Iggy. Those 'not fit for
publication' scenes happening on the backseat of his Rolls Royce must
have left an unforgettable impression on his scruffy brain, even after
48 years...
This article is an updated version of Iggy
& the Stones (October 2012). Many thanks to: Lisa Newman,
Anthony Stern, Yeeshkul. ♥ Iggy ♥ Libby ♥
In our previous post (Lost
Weekends) we told how Keith Richards (with some help from Julian
Temple) took over the BBC4 broadcasting schedule on the weekend from the
23rd to the 25th September 2016.
One of the documentaries shown was called Lost
and Found: The Memory Marbles of Anthony Stern. Unfortunately it was
the only original piece that couldn't be re-watched on the BBC4 iPlayer,
probably due to copyright restrictions.
The Birdie
Hop group, that has a soft spot for Iggy Rose, looked for people who
had a copy, but could only find some pictures and snippets, taken with
mobile phones, from TV screens. Quality wasn't excellent, but it was all
we had.
Then professional Syd Barrett movie collector Hallucalation
chimed in. This man has already unearthed 'lost' Pink Floyd reels
earlier and again he did the impossible and traced back a digital copy
of the Anthony Stern BBC4 documentary. (A 2012 self-Interview with this
remarkable man, taken from Solo
En Las Nubes, can be found at Wondering
and Dreaming (a self-interview with Ewgeni Reingold).)
Even if your heart isn't necessary with Pink Floyd, nor with Iggy the
Eskimo, it is an excellent documentary, not only of the swinging
sixties, but of life in that decade in general. If the documentary was a
shortened version of Take All That From Ant, that has its premiere today
in Cambridge, by the way, then that movie is going to be a killer.
Several entirely new pictures of Iggy have been unearthed, several
'better' screenshots of the Iggy, the Eskimo movie have been grabbed and
these can be seen on our Tumblr Memory
Marbles page. For your amusement we have of course also added some
Pink Floyd at UFO shots.
Enjoy.
This article is an update from Lost
Weekends. Many thanks to: Hallucalation, Antonio Jesús, Lisa Newman,
Anthony Stern, Yeeshkul.
We wish you a very happy 2017, sistren and brethren of the
Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit. Last year was a pretty active one, on the
Iggy, Syd and Pink Floyd front, although that didn't always show on the
site you are currently reading.
Luckily there is a Tumblr
micro-blog that we daily update, with coloured photographs!, a Facebook
timeline and a Twitter
account.
A short and sweet 2016 Tumblr overview
The Church wishes to thank: Mick Brown, Mary Cosco, Rich Hall, Lisa
Newman, Göran Nyström, Anthony Stern, Perse pigs, County cunts and
Cambridge spies. ♥ Libby ♥ Iggy ♥
Don't mind the title of this article as that is a load of bollocky
clickbait, but today...
The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit celebrates its 10th birthday!
Would you believe that the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit actually
started as a joke? And that this happened 10 years ago? On the 8th of
August, 2008?
A New Religion
It all started with a fun thread, titled: Possibility
of new religion, on the Late
Night Syd Barrett Discussion Room. On the 4th of December 2007 Stanislav,
an international Syd Barrett prankster whose Dadaist Photoshop creations
even fooled the official Syd Barrett website (and who still manages to
confuse Barrett fans today!), uttered the possibility of a Syd Barrett
based religion. Dani proposed to name it Barrett's Temple, Felix
asked who would be the holy virgin and Kim Kastekniv suggested it could
be none other than Iggy.
The thread meandered on, not always in good taste, until Felix Atagong,
yes - him again, came up with the Congregation Of Saint Iggy,
adding a picture of Iggy the Eskimo, blessed by heavenly rays. (That
Felix-made picture however, already had been posted on the 29th of
August 2007 on a 'Syd
and women'-thread and may be much older, perhaps even dating from
Astral Piper days.)
It was more a joke than anything else, an early attempt that lead to
nothing. A couple of months later, on the 21st of March 2008 DollyRocker
(not to be confused with Dolly Rocker) recognised Iggy the Eskimo in a
1967 Rank Organisation Look At Life documentary called IN Gear (Late
Night forum link: Iggy
Shopping in Shops?). It lead to another Atagong comment (with the
same picture):
That's it. I'm starting the Church of Iggy! Nice find btw...
But as procrastinating is a pricey synonym for Atagong nothing happened,
again... but somewhere in a dark corner of Felix's mind a minuscule seed
was growing into a tiny plant.
The City Wakes
Meanwhile some people in Cambridge wanted to celebrate Syd Barrett in a
festival that was called The City Wakes. It was announced in July
2008, asking Barrett fans to step in and join their knowledge, and a
semi-official subforum was opened at Late Night, that was pretty huge in
those days and would even grow more popular thanks to the festival. (The
City Wakes forum
is still on the web, and as such, the only 'official' trace it ever
happened. Much kudos to Eternal Isolation for keeping it alive!)
The City Wakes is a series of arts events that together make up the
first ever official tribute to Syd Barrett.
The festival was authorised by the Barrett family and organised by Escape
Artists who tried to swindle the family out of Syd's heritage as
much as possible. Potty mouths also rumoured that the two top dog Syd
Barrett photographers, obviously we won't cite their names for privacy
reasons, filled their pockets with their 'charitable' contributions.
But of course, nobody was aware of this by then and fans were more than
happy to be able to attend the festival, that would be held in October –
November 2008. The festival promised a Barrett art exhibition 'The Other
Room', concert performances, guided tours, music workshops, a
1960s-style happening, a Storm Thorgerson exhibition, lectures and
'talks' with members of the Cambridge mafia and Pink Floyd biographers,
etc..., etc...
The motives for the start of The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit on the
8th of August 2008 have been lost in the mist of time and as such the
Reverend needs to reconstruct his train of thought, but it is certain
that the announcement of The City Wakes festival was an important
trigger.
Another Syd blog
Since the dawn of the internet several Syd Barrett related fan-sites
existed, but many simply disappeared or merely prolonged their existence
in a vegetative state. (A bit like the official Syd Barrett website now,
we might add. Announced with much pride, pomp and circumstance in
January 2016 and doing absolutely nothing ever since, not even
correcting the mistakes that crept in at launch.)
So a new Syd Barrett blog wouldn't be that bad, Felix Atagong thought.
But why Iggy?
There had always been a recurring interest for Iggy the Eskimo at Late
Night and, before that, on the Astral Piper forum. For those who are too
young to remember, Astral Piper was a Syd Barrett fan made website and
forum, run by an enthusiast webmaster who was apparently less enthusiast
when it came to money matters. The forum closed down in 2007 when the
internal quibbling between 'astralpiper1' and some unfortunate members
became too distracting to go on. The website, however, was salvaged from
destruction and a copy lives further on at the Atagong domain: ASTRAL
PIPER Redux 2013.
On those fora, Sydiots discussed Iggy's 'history' and her disappearance
since ages and some new (although very scarce) information had been
unearthed with the IN Gear movie. As such there was already some kind of
a small fan-base present.
The only problem, so thought Felix Atagong during a sleepless night, was
that the scarce Iggy evidence was shattered all over the internet.
“Wouldn't it be nice to assemble all information at one place for aeons
to come?”
This question became even more pertinent when Anthony Stern hit the
scene.
Stern and Stubborn
LSD-pioneer Anthony
Stern had been a part of the Cambridge set in the mid-sixties, with
beat poets, aspiring musicians and artists meeting at the local
coffee-bar El Patio. Ant and his pal Syd had a mutual art exhibition, in
the summer of 1964, above the Lion and Lamb pub in Milton. Just like Peter
Whitehead and Storm
Thorgerson he was an aspiring photographer and would-be movie maker.
Around 1967 he and Syd discussed co-writing and -producing a movie 'The
Rose Tinted Monocle' but the project unfortunately never materialised.
(A Barrett-less version was later torpedoed by Pink Floyd manager Steve
O'Rourke.)
However, Anthony Stern did make a few Floyd-related movies and one of
those, using the Floyd's hit-single 'See Emily Play', was the legendary 'Iggy
Eskimo Girl', a relic that had been hidden for four decades. That
movie and a set of unseen Iggy 'triptych' pictures would be a part of The
Other Room exhibition. On the 25th of July 2008 a teaser was
published on YouTube
and it is even more of a miracle that this is still online a decade
later: Syd
Barrett - Iggy.
From Eskimo to Inuit
Surely there was enough material now (and more would certainly surface
in the near future) for an Iggy the Eskimo blog. It must have been at
that point that Felix Atagong's mind went into overdrive and less than
two weeks later the first post at The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit was
published. That first post, titled: Iggy,
was literally copied from a (now untraceable) Acid Mandala forum post at The
Syd Barrett Archives, and turned out well, all things considered.
But why Iggy the Inuit?
Not out of political correctness, a newspeak term that has as much
impact on the Reverend than a fart in a wind tunnel, but as an ironic
nod, perhaps inspired by Metal Mickey's comment on Late Night nearly a
year before:
Not to get all PC on you folks but, 'eskimo' is apparently not a very
nice term and not commonly used anymore...the correct tribal/nation name
is Inuit or Innu...so there! (Metal
Mickey Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 7:01 am.)
It was clear from the beginning that The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit
would not take Syd Barrett, nor Pink Floyd idolatry too seriously. Fun
fact: the decision to call it a Church was directly inspired by a
humoristic Star Trek page that listened (and still listens to) the name: The
First Church of Shatnerology.
It was now time to boldly go where no Eskimo (or Inuit) had gone before.
The Church wishes to thank all of those who started rolling the ball 10
years ago. Unfortunately, many of them have already left the scene. :
Alien Brain, Astral Piper, Sean Beaver, Bell That Rings, Mark Blake,
Charley, Dani, Dark Globe, Bea Day, Dolly Rocker, DollyRocker, Ebronte,
Eternal Isolation, Gnome, Juliian Indica (aka Julian Palacios), Kim
Kastekniv, Little Minute Gong, Madcap Syd, Metal Mickey, Music Bailey,
Mystic Shining, Psych 62, Silks (नियत), Stanislav, Stars Can Frighten,
Syd Barrett's Mandolin, Anthony Stern, The Syd Barrett Sound... (Sorry
to those we have forgotten to mention.)
The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit celebrates its 10th birthday!
Ten years ago the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit started with a (big)
bang, not coincidentally surfing on the waves that were created by the
Cambridge City Wakes festival, later continuing on its own
momentum. On the 8th day of the 8th month of the 8th year a first
article was posted.
A couple of days later it's birth was also announced on the Late
Night forum, the then leading Syd Barrett community:
OK, the old habitants of this forum must have seen it coming and the
forthcoming Iggy the Eskimo movie triggered it a bit.
The Holy
Church of Iggy the Inuit
The first post is just a try-out (to
check parameters etc...). The second Bend
It! is what I would like to achieve, a picture of Iggy and a lot of
information about the who's, where's and abouts...
Let me know
what you think of it... BTW, all information is welcome... (and
errorzzz)... (I hope that the subdomain fully works: https://atagong.com/iggy)
Here is how the first header looked like, created in Xara 3D. (The
'vintage' old-school look was done deliberately.)
In the first year of its existence the Church published 37 articles (for
those who love statistics that is 17% of all Church articles in its
first decade). Those from August 2008 presented and analysed some of the
Iggy material that was already available:
Iggy's presence at the 1966 'Bend' dance contest (Bend
It!); her cameo in the recently discovered IN Gear documentary (IN
Gear) and (obviously) her picture on The Madcap Laughs sleeve (Stormy
Pictures).
The Orchid
After a hint from Mark Blake, author of the Pink Floyd biography Pigs
Might Fly, that Iggy used to go dancing around Purley and Caterham,
the Church contacted (local) newspaper The Croydon Guardian, that
had written a few articles about the dancehall The Orchid.
Journalist Kirsty Walley took the bait, she interviewed Anthony Stern
and Jeff Dexter and officially started Iggymania with her
article: So,
where did she go to, our lovely? (en passant making free
publicity for The City Wakes and The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit).
It gave the Holy Church a certain authority it didn't want in the first
place, but it can't be denied that the search for Iggy was taken pretty
seriously by some people (not in the least the Reverend who also started
to believe in it).
The Other Room
In that very first trimester we obviously reported about The City Wakes
festival, especially when it was Iggy-related. The Trashcan Sinatras
commemorated Syd and Iggy in their song Oranges
And Apples and several articles commented on The
Other Room exhibition where Anthony Stern's Iggy triptychs were
exposed for the very first time: Anthony
Stern Photoshoot.
As far as we know, The
Other Room catalogue is still the only official printed publication
where some of Anthony Stern's Iggy pictures have been published.
Storm and Rock in the Woods, featuring a mysterious brunette
When the City Wakes festival ended the Reverend thought that the rest of
the season would be more at leisure, and that we would have to fill our
blog with book reviews
and the odd obituary
(poor Rick
died in September). But Iggymania had taken its momentum. The snowball
started to roll...
We were informed that Iggy could be found on another Floydian document,
a Syd Barrett Home Movies compilation
that had been shown once (and only once) before a 1990 Pink Floyd
charity concert at Knebworth. The Church (with - again - a lot of help
from Late
Night members) could identify most people in the so-called Lost
In The Woods movie with the exception of 'a mysterious brunette' who
was seen walking with Syd and Iggy (Love
in the Woods (Pt. 1) & (Pt.
2)).
A decade later she still has not been identified.
JenS
Thanks to Julian Palacios, author of two Syd Barrett biographies
and the administrator of a (now deleted) Syd Barrett highbrow 'research'
forum, the Church was contacted, in January 2009, by the person who
introduced Iggy to Syd Barrett four decades before.
This resulted in a few articles that brought forward some new and
interesting findings, promoting the theory that The Madcap Laughs record
sleeve picture had been taken in the spring of 1969 and not in
autumn, as other witnesses used to declare in Pink Floyd and Barrett
biographies. (See: When Syd met Iggy - Pt.
1 - Pt.
2 - Pt.
3 - Pt.
4.)
It gave the Church the reputation of being contrarious, but now, ten
years later, this theory seems to be generally accepted. That you read
it at the Church first, is thanks to JenS,
our witness who wanted to remain anonymous, despite the fact that every
level 2 Syd anorak knows who (s)he is.
Pink Pontiac
It would not be the only time the Church had to confront witnesses, who
were high on the Floydian pecking order, with a 'false memory syndrome'.
One of the weirder ones is Mick Rock's theory that Syd Barrett
had a pink convertible parked before his door, while the few coloured
photographs actually show it was 'midnight' blue. A pink car would also
turn light-grey on the various Madcap Laughs BW pictures, but they
invariably show a very dark-grey, almost black, coach.
Also Duggie Fields, who must have passed the car parked in front of his
apartment for months, remembers it as pink and has even painted the car
in that colour, for the artwork that accompanied the Their Mortal
Remains exhibition (2017).
Of course the Pontiac Parisienne, with license plate VYP74, was later
turned into pink for its role in the movie Entertaining Mr. Sloane. This
movie, however, was shot after Syd Barrett seemingly gave it away to a
bystander, although some witnesses still pretend the contrary after all
these years. Others pretend it was a 'chameleon' car that originally was
pink, then painted blue, then painted pink again. You can't win them all.
Update 20181223: Iain Owen Moor (Emo), friend of the Floyd and
the London underground remembers the car, when it was still owned by
Mickey Finn.
Thought it was black. I went in it a few times in 68 (?) with Sue Worth,
Mickey's then girlfriend. The car seems to have had a life of its own
like The
Yellow Rolls-Royce.
Words of Hope
In May of the Church's first season, however, the Reverend already fell
into a dip, because of... a lack of Iggy. Luckily there was Dan5482 who
gave the Church a thumb's up, adding:
Despite all that collective amnesia I think that Iggy can still be
found. There are journalists, detectives... who have found more
difficult "targets".
However, an intense and widespread
interest for her is a necessary condition. Your Church is a source of
hope in this sense. It lets many people know that once such a mysterious
woman existed.
His words unknowingly predicted the future, but that is a story we will
keep for August next year, if at least the orange buffoon hasn't pushed
the Armageddon button by then.
The Church wishes to thank all of those who started rolling the ball 10
years ago. Unfortunately, many of them have left the scene. : Alien
Brain, Astral Piper, Sean Beaver, Bell That Rings, Mark Blake, Charley,
Dan5482, Dani, Dark Globe, Bea Day, Dolly Rocker, Ebronte, Eternal
Isolation, Gnome, Juliian Indica, Kim Kastekniv, Little Minute Gong,
Madcap Syd, Metal Mickey, Iain Owen Moor, Music Bailey, Mystic Shining,
Psych 62, Silks (नियत), Stanislav, Jenny Spires, Stars Can Frighten, Syd
Barrett's Mandolin, Anthony Stern, The Syd Barrett Sound... (Sorry to
those we have forgotten to mention.)
A remarkable story could be found on the 16th of August 2018 in The
Anglo-Celt, a weekly local newspaper published in Swellan (Cavan,
Ireland). Written by Seamus Enright and bearing the title 'Antique
shop dealer’s brush with luck' it tells how a local antique
dealer bought a €50 (approx. £45 or $58) painting that turned out to be
a Syd Barrett original from 1964, missing since 1994.
Maggie Matthews from the aptly named 'Junk'
store in Virginia (Cavan, Ireland) went to one of Dublin's weekly
'bric-a-brac' auctions and was attracted by a painting of a young girl.
It was her eyes that drew me in. She was sitting on a table, filthy and
covered in dust, as if you weren’t supposed to see her really.
Maggie bought the painting and put it in her shop, with a €100 price
tag. When a customer told her he found the portrait disturbing, she
decided to have a closer look at it. At the bottom right side it was
signed by a Roger Barrett, dated: 12-2-64, at the backside the
painter had left his name and address:
R.K. Barrett 183 HILLS ROAD CAMBRIDGE
She decided to Google
the name and almost fell from her chair when she found out there were
over 9 million results. Clearly this wasn't an ordinary bloke.
New car, caviar
It didn't take too long for Maggie Matthews to realise she was sitting
on something unique... and potentially valuable.
It’s the kind of thing you read about in newspapers or online. As an
person interested in antiques and art, it’s the sort of thing you
secretly dream of happening, but never dare believe it will.
Painted two days before Valentine, Maggie Matthews believed at first it
was a painting of Barrett's girlfriend Libby Gausden, but that doesn't
seem to be the case. At the Birdie
Hop Facebook group, where the find was obviously discussed, Libby
reacted that she has 'no idea' who could be the young woman. Another
member of the sixties beatnik Cambridge mob and a painter as well, Mick
Brown, has about the same to say: “I wouldn't know...”
Update November 2018: in a post to Birdie
Hop at the end of November 2018 Libby Gausden changed her mind a bit
and said that the girl on the picture could have been Frances Treweek,
an art student and friend of Syd.
But another Cambridge mobster, Elizabeth Refna Warner - who took the
famous picture from Syd at the Cambridge Art School - thinks the woman
in the portrait could be 'Diana', probably another art student.
As usual the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit has its own idea. The woman
on the painting could simply be a model from the academy. What we have
is not a picture of his beloved girlfriend, but a school assignment. In
late 1961 Barrett followed evening classes in life drawing at the School
of Art. He would enter that school the next year, until 1964. In
September 1964 he left for London to go to Camberwell Art College, but
instead of taking a brush in his hand, he picked a guitar. We all know
how that ended.
Lambs thrown to the Lions
But before making the great leap forward towards the capital city, he
and his pal Anthony
Stern had an exhibition entitled 'Two Young Painters' at the Lion
and Lamb pub in Milton. It was held between 29 May and 25 June and
as usual different people tell different stories, some say Barrett may
have sold at least one painting, others claim nothing came out of it.
What we can be sure of is that the exhibition was reviewed by journalist
Anthony Day in Cambridge News, titled Milton Art Display.
Barrett's work shows some of the advantages of an art school training.
His prints, monotypes and drawings are slight but necessary student
exercises but in two still-lives and two convincing portraits, he is
already showing himself a sensitive handler of oil paint who wisely
limits his palette to gain richness and density. (Holy Church Tumblr
link to the article: Milton
Art Display.)
Portrait of a Girl could well have been one of the more 'convincing'
paintings at the show. We don't know what happened with the painting
after the exhibition, but luckily a (pretty bad) black and white picture
of it exists. It was published in a 1994 Record Collector when it was
announced the portrait was auctioned for £880. Unfortunately it
immediately disappeared for a second time, until last week.
In their Barrett
art catalogue, Russel Beecher and Will Shutes write:
His Portrait of a Girl, sold in auction in 1994 but not seen since its
reproduction in Record Collector, November 1994, p. 121, reveals to an
extent – despite the poor image available – the sensitive handling of
oils to which [Anthony] Day refers.
Maggie Matthews has some nice things to say as well:
Even at that young age you can see his talent as an artist developing.
He really caught her without over-working it too much, and I actually
love that she’s not trying to look good for the artist. I love too that
he hasn’t tried to flatter her. I find it very honest.
Sydiots and other folk
A photo of The Anglo-Celt front page was put on the Syd
Barrett Fan Page (Facebook) by Paul McCann, minutes later it landed
on Birdie
Hop and was immediately discussed by Sydiots and Barrett brides
alike.
Mark Jones, photo archivist at the official Syd Barrett website, had the
following to say:
So someone bought it for £880 20 years ago, knowing it was by Syd, and
then must have 'lost' sight of it and it turns up for sale for £50?
Clay Jordan replied:
I was thinking perhaps the person who bought it passed away and the
people who dealt with the belongings didn't know what it was.
Mark Jones:
Unless it was stolen?
Others thought it could be a fake, made to fool collectors. People have
been faking $10,000 Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett records before (see: Scream
Thy False Scream), but it seems a bit ridiculous to duplicate this
relatively unknown portrait and then sell it for €50. Gid Giddoni
compared both pictures and concluded:
It might be very well the exact same artwork portrayed in the 1964
photo. (…) If you look at the nose, you'll see the exact same shape.
Same for the mouth / chin. I would give it 95% possibility to be the
same artwork.
Maggie Matthews contacted Will Shutes who said it is nearly doubtless it
is the original, although further investigation might be necessary. The
Barrett family was contacted and although Rosemary Breen does not
recognise the painting she has said that the handwriting on the back
looks like Roger's indeed.
Birdie Hop and Late
Night members certainly will have their say as well about the
signature and handwriting on the canvas, looking more authentic than the
fake Barrett poem that was once auctioned for £2,160 (see: Bonhams
Sells Fake Barrett Poem). At least one collector has already shown
interest in acquiring the painting, so let's just hope it doesn't
disappear again, for a third time. Maggie Matthews:
Amazingly, this is one of those unique crossover finds that’s of
interest to both to art lovers and music aficionados. It’s exciting!
Update 2018 12 11 : On the eleventh of December 2018 the painting
was auctioned at Bonhams
and sold for £6,500 (€7,204 / $8,157) nett or £8,125 (€9,004 / $10,198)
including premium. Owner unknown at the time of writing. Apparently the
man handling the sale is the same man who sold it in 1994 whilst working
in Sothebys.
Our Tumblr image gallery will publish even more pictures, the
next couple of days, including a scan of the Anglo-Celt article: Portrait
of a Girl.
All Maggie Matthews quotes and pictures in this post have been taken
from The Anglo-Celt online article: Antique
shop dealer’s brush with luck. Newspaper frontpage picture
taken and send to the Church by Maggie Matthews. The 1964 Anthony
Stern & Roger Barrett exhibition where this portrait may have been
displayed: Lion
and Lamb, 1964.
Many thanks to: Birdie Hop, Seamus Enright, Libby Gausden, Gid Giddoni,
Alex Peter Hoffmann, Penny Hyrons, Mark Jones, Clay Jordan, Maggie
Matthews, Paul McCann, Göran Nyström, Mark Schofield, Elizabeth Refna
Warner. ♥ Libby ♥ Iggy ♥
Sources (other than the above internet links): Beecher, Russell &
Shutes, Will: Barrett, Essential Works Ltd, London, 2011, p. 174-175. Blake,
Mark: Pigs Might Fly, Aurum Press Limited, London, 2013, p. 32.
The sweet smell of a great sorrow lies over the land, dear sistren
and brethren, followers of the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit. But
before we shall dwell on that we want to wish you a Happy New Year. So
here it is. Happy New Year!
The Later Year$
The ending of past year saw the release of The
Later Years, a pretty expensive luxury set of the Diet Floyd.
Basically it is David Gilmour’s scientific method to find out where you
fans really stand.
The set contains about three times the same product, in different
formats, and – although its selling price has descended with about 40%
to 50% - it is still fucking expensive for what it’s really worth. If
you want you can read our article about it here: The
Later Years: Hot Air & Co.
Caught in a cauldron of hate
But that is just economics. What preoccupies us more is that in 2020 the
Waters – Gilmour feud has still not been settled. While in the past it
was Roger Waters who has been designated as the baddy, it is apparently
now David Gilmour’s turn to be the cantankerous one.
In a recent interview, Waters claims that he offered a peace plan to
Gilmour, that was promptly rejected. Polly Samson, from her side,
twittered that it was not her hubby who rejected the peace plan, but the
other guy.
Sigh.
Two bald men fighting over a comb. A golden comb, embellished with crazy
diamonds, obviously. Decades ago Nick Mason had the following to say
about the ongoing Floyd-war: ”If our children behaved this way, we would
have been very cross.” Seems that the 'children' still haven't learned
anything.
Caring about Carin
The Later Years box-set has not only divided fans. There has also been
some grumbling from Jon
Carin, one of the Floyd’s session musicians, who co-wrote Learning
To Fly. It first started with Carin complaining on Facebook that the
Floyd didn’t wish him a happy birthday. We know the Church has been
accused before from inventing stories, but this stuff is so unbelievable
you really can’t make it up.
According to Jon Carin he played the bulk of the piano and keyboards on The
Division Bell (and quite a few on The
Endless River) and not Rick Wright as is generally believed. Why he
has waited a quarter of a century to complain about this is something of
a mystery, unless you mention that magical word that will turn the
meekest lamb into a dog of war: copyrights.
The lost art of conversation
To promote The Later Years David Gilmour has published a 4-part podcast
where he carefully reinterprets the past. Unfortunately what has been
written about Pink Floyd before - by journalists and biographers - can
still be read today, so almost nobody takes the propaganda from Gilmour
seriously, unless you weren’t born yet when he turned a solo album into
a Floyd one.
And where is Nick Mason, I hear you say? While he used to be the
thriving force behind Floydian publicity in the past he is now totally
absent.
Weird.
It’s almost as if there is a saucerful of secrets. Or a true enigma,
this time.
The best of Tumblr 2019
But let’s finally start with our traditional annual overview of our
sister blog on Tumblr
that is daily updated with pictures you all have seen before. Have fun!
The Church wishes to thank: Steve Bassett (Madcapsyd), Steve Bennett,
Jumaris CS, Joanna Curwood, Maya Deren, Esfera04, Jenni Fiire,
Freqazoidiac, Rafael Gasent, Nino Gatti, Rich Hall, Harlequin, Dave
Harris, Jabanette, Dion Johnson, Keleven, Simon Matthews, Joanne Milne
(Charley), Rocco Moliterno, Peudent, Poliphemo, RonToon, TopPopper,
Waelz, Wolfpack, Franka Wright and the many collaborators on Steve
Hoffman Music Forums, Yeeshkul and Birdie Hop.
Anthony
Stern grew up in Cambridge, along with boyhood friends David
Gilmour and Roger Barrett. He moved to London in the
mid-sixties and worked as a photographer for the Immediate record label.
As a film-maker, he worked with Peter Whitehead on several
documentaries that captured the rebellious energy of a tumultuous
decade, such as the documentary Tonite
Let’s All Make Love in London (1967).
LSD-pioneer Stern had been a part of the Cambridge set in the
mid-sixties, with beat poets, aspiring musicians and artists meeting at
the local coffee-bar El Patio. Ant and his pal Syd had a mutual
art exhibition, in the summer of 1964, above the Lion
and Lamb pub in Milton. Just like Peter Whitehead, Storm
Thorgerson and Nigel Lesmoir-Gordon he was an aspiring
photographer and would-be movie maker. Around 1967 he and Syd discussed
co-writing and -producing a movie 'The Rose Tinted Monocle' but
the project never materialised.
Was there something in the water? (…) How come it happened that in
Cambridge, nearly everybody you met was already a sort of
proto-eccentric by the age of fourteen? If you weren’t doing some mad
beat poetry, or jazz or playing the trumpet or something by the age of
fifteen you’d better get a move on, ’cos everyone else is doing
something wacky.” (Irregular Head)
London
In the autumn of 1967 things weren’t going smoothly for the Floyd. One
day Anthony Stern ran into Peter Jenner in the Drum City music
shop in London. He was offered a place in the band as second guitarist
but he turned down the offer: “Oh, no, I’m a film director.”
Anthony Stern made a few Floyd-related movies. One of those, using the
Floyd's hit-single 'See
Emily Play', was the legendary 'Iggy
Eskimo Girl' (1968), a relic that has mostly been hidden for five
decades. The movie is, to quote Stern, a short little film poem about a
girl who was on the scene in London.
Iggy was my muse. I met her at a Hendrix gig at the Speakeasy. She was a
lovely inspiration and free spirit. I never knew her real name. We used
to hang out together, occasionally dropping acid, staying up all night,
going for walks at dawn in Battersea Park.
Stern took many pictures of Iggy and some were shown as ‘triptychs’ at The
Other Room, one of the exhibitions during the Cambridge City Wakes
festival in 2008.
I re-discovered these photographs in my cellar in an old suitcase. All
the optical effects were obtained in-camera. The colour images of Iggy
were taken on a houseboat at Chelsea Reach. In the background you can
see Lots Road Power Station. The distortions were achieved using a
flexible mirror material called Malinex, as well as a magnifying Fresnel
screen.
Iggy was terrific fun to be with and to photograph. I
knew her before she was introduced to Syd by Jennifer Spires, and I
remember walking through Battersea Park in the early mornings together.
San Francisco
Even more famous than the Iggy movie is Stern’s San
Francisco, (1968) where he ‘attempted to duplicate the Pink Floyd’s
light show’ through cinematography. The soundtrack of that short is an
early version of 'Interstellar
Overdrive', dating from the 31st of October 1966. Stern used his
camera as a ‘musical instrument’. San Francisco was seen by him as a
‘jazz music performance’ using still images as notes.
London
Syd Barrett used to crash in at Stern’s apartment, during and after his
Pink Floyd period, but not all was well.
You’d see his mood declining as the evening wore on. (…) Then he’d
disappear into the lavatory and come back and his mood had changed.
(Pigs Might Fly)
According to Stern it was not cocaine Syd Barrett was taking, but heroin.
Dark Side Of The Rose Monocle
When 'Dark
Side Of The Moon' came out Stern was duly impressed, just like
millions of other fans. He proposed to make a movie based upon the 'The
Rose Tinted Monocle' script that he had worked on with Syd Barrett. He
borrowed a projector from David Gilmour and showed a rough version to
all members of the band.
They knew that Syd had been involved with the roots of the film, and on
a purely aesthetic and creative level they all gave it the thumbs up.
They all said, “Of course you can use Dark Side of the Moon for this.”
(…) Roger, despite his immense ego, was incredibly friendly, warm and
enthusiastic about the idea of me using this music in such an abstract,
non-commercial way. (Pigs Might Fly)
The band’s approval was buried by the band’s manager, Steve
O’Rourke, and the movie was never made. Pink Floyd now
belonged to the high-fidelity first-class travelling set and no longer
to the avant-garde underground.
Dancing with Glass
Making avant-garde movies doesn’t bring bread on the table. Around 1978
Anthony Stern found a new way to express his talent in glass blowing.
Film-making and glass-blowing culminated in a short movie Anthony made:
'Dancing With Glass' (2013). Direct link: Dancing
With Glass.
Chimera Arts
With the turn of the century there was some renewed interest in Stern’s
film making. He joined forces with Chimera
Arts, the production company from installation artist Sadia Sadia
and music producer, composer and sound designer Stephen W Tayler.
They salvaged some material from Stern’s archives. 'The
Noon Gun', shot by Stern in Afghanistan in 1971, was released by
Chimera in 2004.
Other rediscovered films had a premiere at the Cinémathèque
Française in Paris, June 2008. Amongst them: 'The
End Of The Party', from 1969 and 'Iggy Eskimo Girl', from 1968.
Stern was present and gave some valuable information that has been
hiding for years in one of the dark corners of the Internet. Direct
Link: Anthony
Stern.
The City Wakes festival in Cambridge (2008) created something of a Pink
Floyd induced buzz, promoting Anthony’s pictures in The Other Room
exhibition. Anthony Stern was also the subject of a 2008 documentary,
shot by Sadia Sadia: 'Lit
From Within'.
Get all that, Ant?
Stern was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and started revisiting his
collection of photographs, 16mm film reels and Nagra sound tapes. A
website was created in 2014, Anthony
Stern Film Archive, that promised to release a book and a DVD
containing Stern’s work: 'Get all from that Ant?' (later re-baptised to 'Get
All That, Ant')
Although the 62 minutes documentary was shown on a Syd Barrett festival
in October 2016 it never was released to the general public. Most of the
relevant pages on the Anthony Stern Film Archive website have
disappeared as well.
Memory Marbles
A condensed, 45 minutes, version was shown at BBC4 during Keith
Richard’s Lost Weekend. 'Lost and Found: the Memory Marbles of
Anthony Stern' made it on national television on Monday 26th of
September 2016 at 01:25 in the morning. This documentary had some
previously unpublished stills and snippets of Iggy and Pink Floyd with
Syd Barrett.
Chimera Copyright Issues
No Church article without some controversy, some people say.
'Memory Marbles' – the condensed version of 'Get All That, Ant?' – was
the only program from Keith Richard’s Lost Weekend that didn’t make it
on the BBC iPlayer and couldn’t be seen ‘on demand’. Copyright issues,
so it seems.
The 'Iggy Eskimo Girl' movie was never generally released and when a
‘bootleg’ version was found by none other than Iggy herself (in 2016) it
took less than 24 hours for Chimera Arts to delete it from Dailymotion.
(See: Iggy
The Eskimo Girl (full movie).)
Over the years Chimera has been as protective over Stern’s movies as
Pink Floyd over the Syd Barrett tap dancing video. They prefer to show
his work on avant-garde film festivals rather than release it to the
masses. (Anthony Stern did send an Eskimo Girl DVD to Iggy Rose though.)
As such it is quite ironical that the Anthony Stern retrospective at La
Cinémathèque Française was organised after they found one of his movies…
on YouTube.
Vanishing Point
Sadia Sadia’s YouTube channel contained a biographical movie about ‘her
friend, the glass artist Anthony Stern’. 'Lit From Within' (2008) is a
cute documentary that has a mid-sixties cameo from none other than Libby
Gausden. A few days after Stern’s decease, the movie mysteriously
disappeared from the channel. It's probably an avant-garde way of
honouring a friend who just passed away.
Old Friends
Another mystery is why Ant’s two Pink Floyd related movies never made it
on The
Early Years set. The 'Interstellar Overdrive' demo of the 1st of
October 1966, recorded at Thompson Private Recording Studios, Hemel
Hempstead can’t be found in the box, an unforgivable oversight. It was
later released on one-sided vinyl for Record Store Day.
It is rumoured that Pink Floyd used a low quality tape to press the
record. It is also believed that the original reel of the track belonged
to Anthony Stern, who used it for the San Francisco movie. Just like
with the BBC sessions the Pink Floyd archivists used low quality copies
instead of trying to obtain the originals.
RIP Anthony Stern (1944 - 2022)
Stern died somewhere in the first or second week of February 2022. With
Anthony we lose another cogwheel from the Pink Floyd time machine. He
used to play with light, first as a gifted avant-garde movie maker,
later as a glass sculpturer. Let’s hope ‘Get All That, Ant’ will get a
release soon and that it will not stay in copyright hell like Storm
Thorgerson’s ‘Have You Got It Yet’.
Thinking that we're getting older and wiser. When we're just getting
old.
There is no better way to describe Pink Floyd in 2022 than with David
Gilmour and Roger Waters fighting their minor squabbles that may have
cost them a
half-billion dollars.
To quote that same song:
And there's a stranger where once was a friend.
A New Machine
While Roger Waters was still licking Putin’s balls after the Russian
invasion in Ukraine, David Gilmour (and his amenable corporal Nick
Mason) recorded the charity single Hey,
Hey, Rise Up!, reluctantly reincarnating Pink Floyd once more.
Pink Floyd 2022
Pink Floyd, anno 2022, looked a bit different than in 1972 or 1982.
Three faces were well known to the fans: David Gilmour, Nick Mason and
bass player ad interim (since 1987) Guy Pratt. Musician, producer, and
composer Nitin
Sawhney joined them on keyboards.
On this first day of the new year, we give you the traditional overview
of what happened on our sister website on Tumblr: iggyinuit.tumblr.com.
The Church wishes to thank all our friends, collaborators and some old
enemies whom we can’t live without: Abigail Thorne, Alexander 'LX' Peter
Hoffmann, Anthony Stern, Antonio Jesús Reyes, Aphexj, Axefeld, Big Pasi,
Birdie Hop, Blackstrat01, Bonhams, Buran1988, DenjiDen, Eleonora
Siatoni, Elizabeth Joyce, Eternal Isolation, Ffrenchmullen, Geoffers,
Glenn Povey, Goldenband, Göran Nyström, Guy Pratt, Hipgnosis Covers,
Iain 'Emo' Moore, Jaman57, Jerry Is Bored, Jon Carin, Julian Palacios,
Kit Rae, Lee Wood, Lennyif, Liam Creedon, Lisa Newman, Little Queenies,
Matt (Brain Damage), Metal Pilgrim, MOB, Moomoomoomoo, Mr Limbo, Nipote,
Peter Jenner, Philippe Spadaccini, PinkSydFloyd, Rich Hall, Rino Di
Lernia, Steve Hoffmann Music Forum, Steve M, Vincenzo Gambino, Warren
Dosanjh, Yeeshkul!, and all the beautiful people we have forgotten. ♥
Libby ♥ Iggy ♥
Song quoted at the beginning of this post: Near
The End.