Posted by: Morgan Wolf | June 24, 2007

Nick Cave and Blixa; B-day

Hate Every Cop poster

Today’s my birthday. Although I’m sick as hell with a sore throat and fever, I managed to get out of bed and share a Chinese dinner with my roommate.  Also, I got some lovely cards, sweet phone calls from friends, and my favorite present, a copy of the 1982 Nick Cave ”Hate Every Cop” poster (at top left) which I promptly hung on the wall above my computer desk.  It’s fabulous having such an “arresting” image of ‘Young Nick’ over me, at all times. :D

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, I was browsing YouTube and found that someone had uploaded a rare live video of Nick Cave and Blixa Bargeld singing “Where the Wild Roses Grow.”  Wolf howls!!!!!!!!

What you are about to see was taped for Rockpalast, a German TV broadcast of live concerts. In this particular show, the crowd evidently expected Kylie Minogue to show up and sing her now infamous duet with Nick. Instead, the band managed to pull off something original and entertaining for their cheering fans. It was pure genius. The duet is played to the hilt for a wildly appreciative crowd, with Nick giving Blixa ‘the flower’ in a teasingly sweet kind of way, and taking Blixa’s hand for the final bow. I wanted to share something so truly precious with all of you Nick Cave freaks. So here it is, a unique and wonderful Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds live theater performance:

Nick Cave and Blixa Bargeld: “Where the Wild Roses Grow”

I loved witnessing Nick’s obvious pleasure at Blixa’s delivery of Kylie’s part, in what must have been a difficult vocal.  Blixa was a good sport to take it on, frankly.  It’s a testament to the band’s talent and ease with one another.  The display of genuine affection between these two men is uncommon in macho-man American rock culture. Here is another example, an unusual photograph of Nick and Blixa, found by accident:

The Nick and Blixa Kiss

Is is not beautiful? I think so, whether it is perceived as homoerotic imagery or as a snapshot capturing the natural expression between two men who have made music together for nearly 20 years, times during which they shared an intensely creative passion.

(I got the picture off somebody’s weblog - I think her name was ‘Irish Girl.’  It was a scanned image and of poor quality.  What you see is the result of my tweaking the contrast and noise ratios in Photoshop.  IF anyone knows this image’s origin or  the photographer, please let me know?)

(NOTE: 5-17-08: Be sure and read the comments and add your perspective on this video/photo. )

Now it’s time for Grinderman.

Grinderman, Nick’s latest project, is Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey and Jim Sclavunos — all members of the Bad Seeds).  Watch them live on Jool’s Holland’s “Later,”May 2007:

“Honey Bee (Let’s Fly To Mars)”

Next, is the official promotional video of Grinderman’s “Electric Alice.” It reminds me of something you’d see and hear in a backroom of the East Village’s Electric Circus, circa 1967. (I understand they give walking tours now to show you where the hippies tuned in and dropped out.)  Since Nick was only 10 y.o. and halfway around the world at the time, he couldn’t have gone there, but man, he’s got the vibe down with this tune.  BTW: Warren Ellis (sitting cross-legged on the floor) perfectly evokes the kind of wacked-out dude you’ve run into in that place and time. LOVE IT! A favorite on this album.

“Electric Alice” by Grinderman

Finally, we come full circle, closing with the older, grim-faced Nick Cave, performing the promotional video for Grinderman’s title song:

“Grinderman” by Grinderman, solo by Nick Cave

That’s it for now, Cave fans. 

If you would like to save those precious YouTube videos, Google “Quivic“. It is cheap and fabulously user-friendly - I think it cost me about $10.00 and it was worth every penny. Enjoy it.

Also: check out Nick Cave Video Fixes, my collection of NC&tBS vids, hosted by VodPod and the Nick Cave Fixes Blog (new).

Cheers,
Morgan  (Wolfmoon Lady)

Attribution: MartinRocksMySocks, who uploaded the Nick and Blixa duet to YouTube.  Thanks, mate!

EDITOR’s NOTE: Page and links were updated on 5-2-08.

Posted in Entertainment, Grinderman, Music, Nick Cave, Pop Culture | Tags: , , , , , , ,

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Responses

Hi Morgan,
I found your blog following the photo of Nick and Blixa kissing each other on Google.
I’m a new Nick Cave’s fan, since I’ve discovered him just two months ago.
The way you analyse their friendship it’s interesting: I live in Italy, one of the most omophobic place in the world. Here things are black or white: a man simply cannot kiss another man without being a gay.
I’m a woman, so I can look at this photo from a completely different point of wiev, and I wholly agree with you.
This photo gives me a thrill, a strong emotion. It’s difficult to write anything else.
Bye.

By: Darjeeling on May 10, 2008
at 12:21 pm

Hi Darjeeling,

Thanks for your comment. Welcome to the wild and wonderful world of Nick Cave.

I agree with you that viewing the Nick-Blixa kiss photo is thrilling and emotionally evocative. Have you read ‘Ways of Seeing’ by John Berger? I highly recommend it for its perspective on ‘The Gaze.’ It helps answer questions about what pushes our buttons as FEMALE fans, viewers, and consumers, of visual art! Very interesting.

See:
Notes on ‘The Gaze’

Laura Mulvey on film spectatorship

By: Morgan Wolf on May 11, 2008
at 1:47 pm

Dear Morgan,
thank you for your precious advice. I red ‘Ways of Seeing’ and I found a reasonable answer to one of my questions: why are women so tolerant towards the representation of their body as an object? Why don’t they feel abused? It’s incredible how our society conditions our way of perceiving, so a nude used for selling any kind of good seems simply obvious.

By: Darjeeling on May 16, 2008
at 2:57 pm

Darjeeling, you are welcome.

Berger was, in his time, pretty ballsy for saying women SPLIT in two when they’re watching an erotic scene. He argued that women identify with the subject and with the male viewer’s gaze.

In a photograph of two men engaged in an erotic embrace, women become the male spectator AND identify with both men in the image. That vicarious and yet identifiable thrill best describes how I feel when I look at the photo of Nick and Blixa. It doesn’t matter if they were ‘really kissing’ — this image provokes a powerfully erotic stimulus. Wonderful. That said…

When I read Laura Mulvey’s perspective on the two types of gaze — voyeuristic and fetishistic — I felt like the top of my head blew off. Mulvey:

“Fetishistic looking, in contrast, involves ‘the substitution of a fetish object or turning the represented figure itself into a fetish so that it becomes reassuring rather than dangerous. This builds up the physical beauty of the object, transforming it into something satisfying in itself. The erotic instinct is focused on the look alone’.”

Gawd. Consider that we ‘gaze’ on photos all over the web. Indeed, I get hundreds of hits from image seekers alone! We are insanely voyeuristic. And the internet has changed the rules on who can look at whom, for how long, and in what circumstances. In cyberspace, Mulvey’s schizm has merged into one. Technology has leveled the playing field insofar as ‘the gaze’ is concerned. Each of us, irrespective of gender or sexual orientation, is a voyeur who turns his or her ‘controlling gaze’ upon the images of desire, at will. In so doing, we transform them into fetishes — all within the privacy of our bedrooms, with the click of a mouse. Think about it.

I’d welcome more comments on this - if others have had film study or visual anthro classes or if you just have a thought or perspective on topic.

Best, Morgan

By: Morgan Wolf on May 17, 2008
at 12:34 am

WELL hope i can express myself..so ..i just can say the result i cant discuss it..and what the writer said was completley strange for me at once..then i think about it for secods and boom…it all made sense…so what was my result..maybe u can discuss it or maybe its just a true example for “the gaze” ..and nothing can be a better example than kissing of blixa and nick…well for me it started like this>>>> i was aware of these two chemistry…in all concerts nick was just interacting with blixa…and that was why i loved blixa more and more…coz i knew how nick respects him and how blixa hold on to him for long long years (you can see him many times that he doesnt play anything..he just stands there and acompony him..even though he has a successfull band..so i had no naswer to my questions about this BUT just seeing this man has a the most love and respect for an artist whom he truly belived in him)…
.
.
then i saw the live version of “where tthe wild roses grow and said yesssss thats it…maybe u cnat belive it..but i was realy waiting for a kiss (without knowing theyve already kissed)..and this pphoto was the most amazing thing that ive been waiting for…coz i was sure about that and it would happen one day and yes atlast it happend…
.
. as i read the analyse of ” the gaze” i dont know what to say…i realy dont sahre myself into the photo…i wish i could…but this is just something i wanted to see from themand just these two….for example…mick harvey is a real real real friend to nick for many years..actually he was kind of like his mother in many ways…he has handled nick through bad years and took care of him and his mind..and direct him in many ways..and for sure nick couldnt go on in late 80’s without him..but if i see a photo from nick and mick kissing..i have no idea what would be my impression about that…offcourse i will undrestad that too but its not a thing and i would love to sit and gaze at the photo..i would just see it and would smile and skip it…
.
.
.
another point: the feminine side of these two…it realy matters…blixa has an abvious _sometimes_dominant feminine side…and obvliously nick has it too…and ye sometimes it becomes too dominant…(i know its hard for some people to accept that when they just see his face but for whom they dug him in many ways its an obvious things)
.
so if i wanna say a thing about this photo…in my oponion its a kiss of two women …and you know for women it happens alot…it just come from a true friendship and love between two female and no sexuality things in it(or atleast after the moment passes two female can easily understand where it came from)
.
. but men dont easily do it and i think thats becoz they see most of the things through their sexuality consciuslynad unconsciusly as well..but they are not comfortable with these things as they mention it as a TABO(for hetrasexual ones)
.
. well again i wasnt succesfulin expressing my idea..hope u underatsnat what ive eant
.
.
Jill
.

By: Jill on May 21, 2008
at 1:34 am

sorry for alot of mistyping :(..my dad always says when i type he can hear running horses…my bad..and sorry

By: Jill on May 21, 2008
at 1:40 am

Jill,

I’m sorry I overlooked this thoughtful comment. Thank you for responding with such honesty and insight. I was most intrigued by your remark:

“so if i wanna say a thing about this photo…in my opinion its a kiss of two women …and you know for women it happens alot…it just come from a true friendship and love between two female and no sexuality things in it (or at least after the moment passes two female can easily understand where it came from)”

I think this gets at the heart of why it’s easy for women to understand and appreciate expressions of affection that might be misconstrued as having sexual overtones. Sometimes, women do kiss one another with ambiguous intentions, perhaps wanting the erotic charge of the forbidden but not necessarily wanting to follow through and go to bed together.

Women have very different ways of expressing their sexuality and fantasy life. The phenomenon of women writing and publishing homosexual fantasies between two well-known heterosexual male musicians, however, is something new to me. Love it! You cannot help but wonder: would it flatter or offend the parties involved to read it?

Interesting discussion! I’ll get back to this next week.

Off to party.

Morgan

By: Morgan Wolf on June 20, 2008
at 5:43 pm

BLIXA-NICK UPDATES:

Since closing down the discussion forum, I am getting loads of interest in this topic, folks.

What is it that you want to know? I have no insider info on why Blixa left Nick Cave’s employ.

That said, I hold my opinions but it doesn’t matter what they are because no one will ever know the truth, whatever that is. It’s all subjective.

It is also titillating. Don’t lie. Most of you are here to gawp at that lip-lock. I am told that it was quite common for the pair to give one another a big smooch after playing that song. Perhaps it was just for a time, who knows? To me, you can see a gorgeous chemistry in that video, and it’s beautiful and I miss them together.

Americans are not used to this level of familiarity between same-sex persons. It is still forbidden. Right? Well, gawp away. If you have a genuinely insightful response, submit a comment for moderation.

FYI: The Photo Gallery page is open, minus the comments. Sorry about that, but hey. Here ya go: http://morgansmusings.wordpress.com/music-pages/nick-cave-pics/

Cheers,
Morgan

By: Morgan Wolf on July 21, 2008
at 4:29 pm

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