RIP MICK ROCK, COVER GIRL JO JO LAINE ON WILD ANGEL

 jo jo laine photographer Mick Rock 

RIP @ 72

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/19/1057450818/mick-rock-photographer-bowie-queen-blondie-dead

Once dubbed "The Man Who Shot The '70s," rock 'n' roll photographer Mick Rock has died at age 72. His death was announced on his Twitter page.

"It is with the heaviest of hearts that we share our beloved psychedelic renegade has made the Jungian journey to the other side," the statement begins.

Mick passes away Nov 19, 2021

I purchased three copies of Nelson Slater's WILD ANGEL album, produced by Lou Reed in 1975.

It is a truly great "lost" Lou Reed album with cover photo by Mick Rock.  But who is the S & M Lady on the cover?  I had no clue until Jo Jo Laine told me like in the 1990s that it was her (and Nelson Slater confirmed it) ...too funny, such a beautiful woman, ...with the chain in her mouth, well, it could have been any model.   

But it was our Jo Jo.

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The first night Jo Jo Laine was at my house was in 1986.  It was an amazing night.  We were in Ed Bread's limousine (a famous restaurant owner who hired boyfriends of mine to drive his limo. Ed was notorious for investing in heavy metal bands, which is how he got the name Ed "Bread"...he was well known in the rock community of the day.)  

Ed was driving that evening in June...and one of my ex boyfriends (one of the limo drivers) ran off with another ex boyfriend of mine in a little blue Volkswagen (not Adam Knight's Volkswagen, Adam was but a tyke when all this debauchery was going on)....What added to the magic was Aerosmith's Joe Perry's ex sister-in-law Nikki was with Cheeta Chrome of The Dead Boys at Fenway Park yelling at the Rolling Stones producer who may or may not have tried on her silk stalkings...err...stockings, and she was furious with him.  Jimmy denied it.    The strange thing was for such a close friend to be in a rage and walk by us for like sixty seconds refusing to come over ...it was like some bizarre cameo appearance full of anger.  Nikki discussed it with me later on the phone, but you can see it was all like being in some kaleidoscope of life with space aliens filming it or something.

This is the night I met Jo Jo Laine after she was sending the producer letters covered in little red hearts to my famous P.O. Box, Ultrabox 2392 in Woburn.

Nikki was a dear, dear friend of mine (and I always wanted to name her band JOE PERRY'S EX SISTER IN LAW) BUT SHE and Cheetah were across the street from our limo-to-the-stars (ask me about the night Jo Jo emerged from the limo, took her shirt off and waved it in New York City when the Mets stole the World Series from the Red Sox...the wild Mets fans were rocking our limo, a guy mooned the windshield, Jo Jo doing her Lady Godiva thing and the Mets fans rocking our limo back and forth...it was actually as frightening as it was humorous, driving through thousands of crazed Mets fans.)

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My roommate Karla was absolutely in love with our other roommate and my blonde-haired soldier (he was in the army) Brian who, of course, was an ex of mine.  Karla had no idea we were homosexuals.   You can't make this up, there is the Nile and Denial and Karla was IN DENIAL. Then again, Brian's long-time boyfriend didn't know about any of us, so there's denial #2, but I digress.

Side note: A Medford gangster type saw me and Brian and my boyfriend Mark together on Halloween. We were in the gangster's house near Pat Fiorello's house ...the gangster's mother, he called her Ma Fia (and she was) said to me "Mark is going to be trouble for you." (No, we remained good friends after we broke up,) but her son said 

"It's easy to get a chick in Boston, Joe's got all the good looking men.  

The soldier guy, he's so good looking that I want him and I'm straight!" 

(You had to be there.  Happy Halloween.)

The next morning, Nov. 1, the gangster kept badgering me..."What did you do with those  two men?"  Now let's be professional I said to him.   "What did you do?  You're cracking a smile!" (what?  straight guy wanting to know what went on after the parties?   I'll never tell.)

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But back to Fenway Park/Avalon/Boston Boston on Lansdowne Street:

So here's the Rolling Stones producer eying sweet, young thing Karla in the limousine crying her eyes out because handsome ex of mine Brian is running off with handsome ex of mine Michael (Michael was obsessed with me and it was a turnoff...he showed up at midnight at my house every night while watching STAR TREK. That's how to really piss me off, interrupt my Star Trek, I don't care how good looking they are!)  I think he lived in Malden, while I had a major crush on another Malden guy at the time...took him to see Journey at the Garden (the other guy, forget his name, whom I picked up at the nightclub Cantones that I booked, but so many years, who can remember all these names. We'll call him Michael 2 ...and both Michaels knew each other, go figure.)   So here's this silver-haired guy about 45 at the time looking like he's sixty pawing at Karla ..."Pardon me for being a dirty old man, but It's IMPOSSIBLE with Brian..." the legendary Rolling Stones producer said running his hand down Karla's crying face. She just burst into more tears.  The psychology of straight women in love with homosexuals has always puzzled me, because so many women would hit on me, the rock singer, and I wasn't interested...not in the least!  But Karla was from another planet.

So we all get to my house at 30 Dragqueen Court...ooops, I mean 30 Dragon Court and I pull out my Denny Laine "Ahhhh Laine" album (Jo Jo's ex husband) and she kisses the paper innersleeve with the lipstick and those wonderful lips and writes "Remember these? (the lips,) "You Will."   She got that right.  That was the first night I met Jo Jo.

SO WHAT'S THE POINT?

The point is that the S & M woman IS Jo Jo Laine on the Nelson Slater album...and I had 3 copies of the 1975 LP in the house and had no clue in 1986 that it was Jo Jo on the cover.

Now the next year Jimmy, Jo Jo and I flew to New York (we were in New York monthly for business meetings, and our office was at 1775 Broadway across from the Rolling Stones' office at 1776 Broadway, coincidentally) Bert Padell #79643. License Status: Resigned. Address: 1775 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.  Bert Padell was the accountant to the stars. We were in the same office as Alice Cooper, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, etc.  EVERYONE rented office space from Bert.

Our office mate and client, Ava Electris, had a session with Mick Rock.  What an exciting day, we were going to be in Mick's office/photo gallery.   Mick sees Jo Jo Laine in our party and embraces her..."jo Jo, Love...Jo Jo...it's so good to see you."  Now I know Jo Jo knew everyone but this was over the top.   It was years later that Jo Jo told me she did the Wild Angel cover with Mick...my good friend Nelson Slater (Lou Reed's guitarist in the early days who played with my band in our Lou Reed tribute!) Nelson noted how the S*M (sado masochism) cover ruined any chance of airplay - even with Lou Reed producing and singing "Complete the Story Now" by Nelson on tour...Lou said to me once "You know so many of my friends" - and he was impressed with Visual Radio interviewing them - Suzanne  Vega, Eric Andersen and Lou's wife, Laurie Anderson) Oh my God it was an honor to tape and/or interview all of them.  Dick Wagner, Steve Hunter, just such an honor in my life. 

Jo Jo was in my life for two decades, 1986 to her passing in October 29 of 2006.  Lou Reed would pass October 27, 2013, Dick Wagner July 30th 2014 and now Mick Rock, reportedly Nov 19, 2021.

Mick was in touch with me over the years, the passing is truly sad and continues an ending of a golden era in Rock and Roll.

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Guess I should go on about Brian and Skip and Karla and me.   One of my lawyers at the time represented an African American bar which was about to turn into a homosexual establishment on the border of the South End.   The interesting thing with our minority bars was that the Black community and the gay community set the wardrobe trends. 

What we all were wearing in the minority communities would show up six months later in Avalon and other mainstream establishments.  Here we are the minorities and our wardrobe became mainstream months later. Kind of like the house music coming and going, very trendy, very interesting.  

I can assure you that none of us dressed like this:

However, Adam Hurtubise did get the white sneakers right. They were trendy for a few months,

except when I wore them to a party at the old club across from the Wang Center they refused to let me in!   Sneakers were now out.  Can you believe this?  The trends change so quickly, they had banned sneakers into the club...and I was working for 93.7 FM at the time.  Too bizarre

Attorney David Skerry "He's been thrown out of more places than I have"

True, but because of wardrobe, not for being a dick, David!

So my lawyer had invited us to the opening night of this particular club on the border of the South End and Brian and Skip are together roaming around the place and Karla is left alone with me (Clue #1, HE'S NOT WITH YOU, Karla.)  

So I said to her "Jimmy was right in the limousine when he told you that it was "hopeless."  

She still didn't get it.  

Now there's all these homosexuals running around and I said to her "You know that I'm gay."  

She gasped "You are?"   

Karla is in the grand opening of a gay bar and thinks we are there because of Stu, my attorney.  She is deluding herself into thinking that we are a bunch of heterosexual guys - SKIP, her boyfriend's long-time boyfriend as well - and we're just going to a gay bar because it's the grand opening.   You, really, can't make this stuff up!

She was flabbergasted, to use Paul Donato's favorite word.

KEEP IN MIND, SHE'S A ROOMMATE WITH ME AND BRIAN

                     ...AND SHE DOESN'T KNOW?????   

Please.  She didn't WANT to know.  She had to know, right?

Brian overhears me and comes over "Don't you dare."   

I was about to break the news to her that the love of her life was not interested...

Ok, enough of the gossip from thirty five years ago....

As Lou Reed said "My day beats your year."  

So true, and that's why the city council is so jealous of me.

The eighties were so much fun...

 
Rest in Peace, Mick Rock. You were a part of those memories.

*This name-dropping essay is a rough draft, maybe some year I'll re-edit, but enjoy on this Sunday morning.   It is a sad day in rock and roll...thought that Mick would live forever and be immortal.