In October 1974 Malcolm McLaren conjured an unusual group name for four young musicians who congregated at his shop at 430 King’s Road.

//The group name as it appeared on the ‘right’ side of the You’re Gonna Wake Up t-shirt//

At the time the transition from the premises’ previous incarnation as Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die to Sex was nearing completion; in fact the teenagers Paul Cook, Steve Jones, Glen Matlock (who was also a sales assistant on Saturdays) and Wally Nightingale assisted McLaren in applying the finishing touch with the erection of the pink vinyl shop sign constructed at his direction by carpenter Vic Mead.

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Tags: Alan Moore, Archie Shepp, Bernard Rhodes, Bob Marley, Bryan Ferry, Continental Keyholes, Continental Kuties, Eddie Cochran, Gerry Goldstein, Glen Matlock, Iggy Pop, James Brown, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, King Tubby’s Sound System, Kutie Jones and his Sex Pistols, Lou Stoppard, Marianne Faithfull, New Musical Express, Nick Kent, Paul Cook, QT, Sam Cooke, Steve Jones, Vic mead, Wally Nightingale

//According to artist Kevin Whitney, the "strange boy in drag" was the German fashion model Jurgen (surname not known).//

A couple of months back I wrote about a photo-session conducted at David Hockney’s Notting Hill house* in May 1974 by photographer Willie Christie.

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Tags: Antony Price, Celia Birtwell, Frances Lynn, Jonathan Meades, Jurgen, Kevin Whitney, Marianne Faithfull, Michael Roberts, Ossie Clark, Pierre Laroche, Thems, Willie Christie

I am beguiled by this photograph, which is entitled Pierre’s Breakfast and was taken by Willie Christie at David Hockney’s house in Notting Hill on May 18, 1974.

The identities of the two individuals on the left are a mystery*; with Clark (in the white jumpsuit) are make-up artist Pierre Laroche, Marianne Faithfull and Michael Roberts (then writer/photographer at The Sunday Times, now Vanity Fair’s fashion/style director). Behind the group are a selection of artist Mo McDermott’s signature painted wooden tree sculptures.

Laroche, who had worked at Elizabeth Arden for five years before taking up with rock & roll when he was recruited by Brian Duffy for the cover of David Bowie’s 1973 album Aladdin Sane, engaged Willie Christie for the May 74 session for a potential magazine feature.

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Tags: Aids, Aladdin Sane, Alkasura, Any Day Now, Brian Duffy, Charlton FC, Chelita Secunda, David Bowie, Elizabeth Arden, Henrietta Rous, Humble Pie, John Lloyd, Kevin Cann, Marianne Faithfull, Michael Roberts, Mick Jagger, Mo McDermott, Ossie Clark, Pierre Laroche, Rod Stewart, Roxy Music, Suzy Menkes, The Rocky Horror Show, The Who Lou Reed, Willie Christie

//Front cover photo by Harriet Crowther.//

A brown envelope I’m always glad to receive is that containing the latest BeatBooks catalogue.

Each quarter the arrival of the 8″ x 6″ booklet soon results in the tapping out of the url of the online order form for Andrew Sclanders’ site.

And the catalogues are treasurable in their own right.

Over the last decade or so Sclanders has carved out a niche for BeatBooks as collector central for all publications – literary, musical, graphic – springing from “beat” and moving through the counterculture and punk to the outer reaches of the avant-garde.

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Tags: Andy Warhol, Angus MacLise, BeatBooks, Charles Manson, David Felton, Gladys Brooks, Ira Cohen, Jack Smith, Jeff Nuttall, John Giorno, John Knight, L. Ron Hubbard, Marianne Faithfull, Mary Ann McClean, Mel Lyman, Mick Jagger, Mindfuckers, My Own Mag, Nova Express, Process, Robert De Grimston, Scientology, Velvet Underground, William Burroughs, Yugen