Drawing of Nick Cave I did in March, 2007. This is the kind of raw shit I need to re-learn how to do - the point of the circle-project.
another hair collector. creepy, yet, mysterious and sexy, suuuure. coffee, cigarettes, heroin. yeah sounds good. I think this was his room in Berlin when he was writing “And the Ass saw the Angel….”
Today was really rough - busting ass nonstop for 7 hours, having to tell off a fellow employee’s friend for calling a parking checker a cunt (“…stupid bitch, what a cunt; no offense.” “Well don’t say it then!”), piercing pains in my back & feet, but at the end of it Stagger Lee came on the radio & made everything better THANK YOU NICK CAVE.
I am thinking about the difference between hearing genuine sexism on the street and hearing it in a song from the point of view of a narrator telling the tale of a mythological murderer - what is the difference? Why did that guy infuriate me, but I was then calmed by a song with the lyrics Just then came in a broad named Nellie Brown/Known to make more money than any bitch in town, among other unsavory things? Is it the humor of it, the anxiety reaction to its uncouthness? The stress-relief caused by imagining the absurd amount of violence? The fact that Stagger Lee is a terrible person AKA not cool/not someone you’d want to emulate, therefore one gets some kind of pleasure in pointing that out?
my jean jacket has a patch that says “Stagger Lee”
I use it as a test — does anyone recognize it?
And as confidence booster. When I need to feel like a bad motherfucker.
Ah that’s a good one. Reminds me of how, when I was first getting into Nick Cave, one of the things that really struck me was the video for Stagger Lee. Nick’s in this baby pink t-shirt singing the song, and I just thought wow, this guy’s obviously not taking this that seriously, not pretending he’s some kind of badass, yet is channeling the badassness of Stagger Lee & creating art. ‘Course I didn’t know he actually was a badass yet, but whatever.
(I have a big patch of Nick Cave’s face on the back of my hoodie with the words “Nick Cave” on top and maybe 3 or 4 people so far have known who it was - several have asked if it was Frankenstein.)
Birthday Party-era Nick Cave
I used to have a poster of this photo, & whenever I felt low I’d paw at it & feel better.
lol me too, i wonder what happened to it
