Tag Archives: 2020

RIP Michel Piccoli (1925 – 2020)

Michel Piccoli was a French actor of the generation of Philippe Noiret, Jean Rochefort and yes, Yves Montand.

Of note is his work with Marco Ferreri (Dillinger Is Dead, La Grande Bouffe, The Last Woman and Don’t Touch the White Woman!); with Luis Buñuel (Diary of a Chambermaid Belle de jour, The Milky Way, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and The Phantom of Liberty); and Jean-Luc Godard (Contempt).

In The Milky Way (1969) he plays Marquis de Sade.

Then there is the iconic La Grande Bouffe (1973), the story of three bourgeois men who decide to eat themselves to death.

Later I saw Themroc (1973), one of the strangest counterculture films where he played opposite the tragic but delightful Patrick Dewaere.

Watching clips on YouTube, you see him with Romy Schneider in The Things of Life (1970), my god what a beautiful woman she was.

RIP Monique Mercure (1930 – 2020)

Monique Mercure was a Canadian actress.

In the scene above she is Fadela, the housekeeper in Naked Lunch (1991) who chases away the penis-buttocks-cartilage centipede.

The scene is known as the mujahideen’s scene, because that is the name of the typewriter.

In this particular scene actress Judy Davis sits on the lap of Peter Weller. They represent Burroughs and his wife. They take a drug named majoun. Judy Davis is typing on a typewriter. On the paper Arabic words appear. Peter Weller tells her to write dirtier prose, meaning more erotic, more pornographic. As the words become filthier the typewriter starts to enjoy the prose more. It starts undulating under her fingers, giving way, until it finally opens up and shows its fleshy vaginal innards. Judy Davis introduces her hands. She licks Peter Weller’s fingers. A penis emerges from the innards of the typewriter. They start kissing and making out.

Next scene. Judy and Peter are in bed together. Clothed A penis-like centipede with buttocks and cartilage jumps from what appears to be a cupboard with them in bed. We Just before it jumps there is a shot of ‘it’ showing other vagina-like orifices. It flaps around them in bed in a bizarre threesome, making squishy sounds.

A woman comes in with a whip. This is Fadela played by Monique Mercure. She chides the centipede, chasing it outside. It jumps from the balcony and when it hits the ground, it transforms into the typewriter.

RIP Betty Wright (1953 – 2020)


Betty Wright was an American composer and singer.

She rose to fame in the 1970s with hits such as “Clean Up Woman” (1971) , “Shoorah! Shoorah!” (1974) and “Tonight Is the Night” (1974).

Born in Miami, she was married to King Sporty and was part of the Henry Stone, TK Records and Peter Brown circle. She was the vocalist for the latter’s “Dance with Me” (1978) single.

Her voice and the sound of the seventies material is similar to that of personal favorite Loleatta Holloway

RIP Little “A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-wop-bam-boom!” Richard (1932 – 2020)

Little Richard was an American composer and singer best-known for shouting “A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-wop-bam-boom!” at the beginning of the song “Tutti Frutti” (1955).

Without Little Richard, no Prince.

And without Little Richard no “Be-Bop-A-Lula”, “Diddy Wah Diddy”, “Da Doo Ron Ron” and ” Do Wah Diddy Diddy”.

But without “Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay”, no Little Richard.

The boom comes first. The cycle continues.

Over at Tumblr I posted the Paladin 1969 edition of Nick Cohn’s book Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom.

RIP Michael McClure (1932 – 2020)

Michael McClure was an American poet and writer known for his association with the Beat Generation.

Here he can be seen reading poetry to the lions. Apparently the origin of this footage is from the USA: Poetry television series. Michael McClure reads some of his 99 Ghost Tantras in the lion house of the San Francisco Zoo.

RIP Florian ‘Kraftwerk’ Schneider (1947 – 2020)

Florian Schneider was a German musician, known for his work with Kraftwerk.

Of interest in my book is the connection of Kraftwerk to Afro-American music as noted in “Planet Rock”.

Jon Savage noted in his piece “Machine Soul: A History Of Techno” (1993) that:

“In 1981, Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force, together with producer Arthur Baker, paid tribute [to Kraftwerk with] “Planet Rock,” which used the melody from “Trans-Europe Express” over the rhythm from “Numbers.” In the process they created electro and moved rap out of the Sugarhill age.”

Simon Reynolds in Energy Flash (1998) similarly remarked:

“In New York, the German band almost single-handedly sired the electro movement: Afrika Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force’s 1982 smash “Planet Rock” stole its doomy melody from “Trans-Europe Express” and its beatbox rhythm from Kraftwerk’s 1981 track “Numbers.””–Generation Ecstasy (1998) by Simon Reynolds

Apparently, none of Kraftwerk’s material was actually sampled, all was emulated.

RIP Millie “My Boy Lollipop” Small (1947 – 2020)

Millie Small was the singer of “My Boy Lollipop” (1964), her only hit.

She was the first Jamaican artist to break through to an international audience.

Did this mean international recognition for ska and reggae?

Well, not exactly, “My Boy Lollipop” was considered a novelty song rather than ska or reggae.

Thus reggae’s invasion into the mainstream actually only began that same year in the United Kingdom with songs such as “Al Capone” (1964) and “Guns of Navarone” (1964).

But in the United States, the wait was for 1969 with “The Israelites” (1968) to give reggae international repute and recognition.

RIP Dave ‘Strangler’ Greenfield (1949 – 2020)

Dave Greenfield was an English composer and musician, known as the keyboard player of The Stranglers.

Everyone is familiar with their song “Golden Brown” (1982) but few are aware that is actually a waltz.

Next to “Golden Brown”, The Stranglers wrote a couple of enduring compositions. There is “Peaches” (1977), a sleazy track which features the word clitoris and which for that reason had to be re-recorded in order for the BBC to play it.

There is “No More Heroes” (1977), the refrain of which has a childish quality that I find hard to swallow. “Always the Sun” (1986) however, works for me. It has that dreaminess also present in “Midsummer Night Dream” (1983) and of course in “Golden Brown”.

And then there is “Nice ‘n’ Sleazy” (1978), a track which is also dance-able. It’s on YouTube in a Top of the Pops live version and if you wait until 1:29 you see the keyboard solo of Greenfield.

“Nice ‘n’ Sleazy” is at 33:10

That track is also on the marvelous compilation How to Kill the DJ Part 2 (2004) out on Tigersushi Records.