SAXON IN THE SKY WITH BETTIE

Wow. Three celebrity deaths within 24 hours, and one of them being one of the great musical pioneers whose best work is long behind him but whose influence is evident to this day. Allow me to pay my respects.

No, not Michael Jackson. I was referring to Sky Saxon of The Seeds.

Okay, so most of you have never heard of him (apart from bedsitter23 , who hipped me to the Seeds, and also tipped me off on his death). But with Saxon at the helm, The Seeds were at the forefront of American garage rock and psychedelica in the 1960s, and helped lay the groundwork for punk.

So I’ll pay tribute with something I’ve posted before, but is worth repeating: Bettie Page (another worthy icon, also dead) dancing to “Can’t Seem To Make You Mine”.

As for Jacko ... well, I liked the Thriller video, though the gratuitous use of zombies and Vincent Price (with John Landis directing) was more of a factor. But apart from that, and as talented as he was, I can't say I was a fan. And while I do recognize his status as one of the biggest pop icons in history, I can’t say I’m looking forward to the next four weeks of non-stop 24/7 coverage you know this is going to get.

Pushing too hard,

This is dF

MY VERY FIRST CHEESECAKE

Despite the previous post, I can understand why Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson are making all the headlines in the celebrity death category.

No prizes for guessing which one had more influence on my impressionable teenage years. (See picture, right)

As you might hear somewhere between the 24/7 Jacko coverage, that’s the best-selling poster ever. According to Fox News (who would know – Neil Cavuto probably has a dedicated server for this kind of thing), Farrah made more money from poster royalties than she did for her single season on Charlie's Angels.

No thanks to my mom, of course. I owned that poster for approximately 30 minutes – including the time it took me to walk home from Walgreens with it, and the time to walk back and get a refund after my mom made me.

I was 12. Going on 13.

Still, the poster marks my first ever direct experience with cheesecake photography and the appeal of the pinup. Of course I already knew who Farrah was via Charlie’s Angels, but up until then, the posters in my room were mostly Peanuts or Lucasfilm products. So the decision to add an ash-blonde in a swimsuit to my visual media display was a milestone.

To say nothing of The Nipples.

Ironically, Farrah wasn’t my favorite Angel. (That would be Kate Jackson.) But she was the one with the poster, and she helped a generation of TV critics and parents dither over the invention of “jiggle television” that would surely lead to no good. That’s a worthy legacy right there.

So Farrah was as good an icon of the late 70s as any – as well as an icon of how vicious Hollywood can be to women regarded as eye candy first and actors if they’re lucky. So respect.

Also ironically, I'd planned to post that very picture in my Happy Mondays retro-cheesecake series. Too bad I'm posting it under sadder circumstances.

Sorry Charlie,

This is dF

BONUS TRACK: On the bright side, you’ll be pleased to hear that Jeff Goldblum is not dead.