10%

Lunachicks CBGBS

recovered transparencies

By KH

May 10^th, 2020

Theo Kogan of Lunachicks is my favorite singer, songwriter, and performer, right up there with Joe Strummer of The Clash. That voice, that energy, and that fucked-up fashion style were so advanced! I was a big fan. As much as Theo tried to look ugly in character on stage, her beauty always shone through. I was fortunate enough to photograph Theo when she had only four tattoos! (Now at 50, she sports arms and parts of her legs covered with colorful tattoos.) She always had an amazing style that went beyond punk, more thought through and curated for a broader statement of who she was. Just like her songwriting. I can’t wait for the publication of the Lunachicks book in which I hope her character presentation and style are discussed in depth. Long live the Lunachicks!

I shot this photograph with my Pentax 67 at CBGB in 1995(?). The amber light, her flying hair, the contrasting textures of her fishnets, fringed skirt, and halter top, combined with the happy accident of transparency damage capture the energy and gritty aesthetic of that unrecoverable time I was fortunate enough to have lived through and documented.

Sidney “Squid” Silver, bassist of Lunachicks, takes over lead vocals during one unforgettable night at CBGB in 1995(?). This was one of the best shows ever, by one of my favorite bands ever. Transparency was the go-to film for publication in photography up until the early nineties when negative film became popular, but I was still shooting transparencies, perhaps because I had a stockpile left over from various photo shoots. I shot this on my Pentax 67, my favorite camera of all time. I must have been pretty confident because at a CBGB punk concert close to the stage, I was smack in the middle of the mosh pit! There I was with this big camera, trying to focus and shoot while essentially in a spinning washing machine of pushing and slamming bodies! On top of that, ever try to load a Pentax 67 in a mosh pit? I was bouncing off people's shoulders, trying to feed that damn 120 film onto a spool! Unbelievable. It makes me laugh recalling the craziness and exhilaration of that night.

The photographer is essentially a one-eyed cat that happens to be at the right place at the right time, and a great photograph is a happy accident waiting to happen. In this photograph, the wild colors of the transparency damage serendipitously frame Squid, as the angle of her tattooed arm echoes the angle of her lifted dress, revealing complicated riot grrrl shorts/undergarments.