Mumps by Jenny Lens
Jenny Lens is an artist of some note. She and I were side by side during so much of Punk's heyday, shooting complimentary pictures of this amazing time.
Here, Mumps have just come off stage at the Whisky A Go Go and guitarist Rob duPrey believes he has injured his rib. That girl with the Marc Bolan hair is me. I'm indulging Rob's hypochondria by putting pressure on his ribs to prove that nothing is broken. Lance is hamming it up as usual. It makes for a pretty fab photo. And what a setting. The graffiti backstage at the Whisky was always being refreshed by bands who left their mark and their opinions.
In my estimation, Lance Loud was Punk Rock's "Mercutio." A very thoughtful man, he made up for his deep soul by being the court jester, class clown. You may remember him from the very first ever "reality tv show" - AN AMERICAN FAMILY, which aired on PBS. It was highly controversial at the time.
AN AMERICAN FAMILY was much more controversial in the Loud Family's home town of Santa Barbara, CA, which is also where I grew up. The filmmakers moved in with the Louds and they followed their every move. As the Louds were a big family, you ran into them everywhere - at school, in ballet class, riding your bike around Montecito, shopping - every day life. And with the Louds came the cameras.
Lance Loud was famous simply for being Lance Loud. He was the first person to come out to his parents as gay on television in front of millions of viewers.
It was Lance who identified me as a Fabulous Fag Hag back then. He called me "the Elizabeth Taylor of your generation" because of my AIDS activism in the late 80s and early 90s and because of my "fabulous eyebrows."
Rob duPrey went on to play in Iggy Pop's band for about three years. He was Iggy's co-writer on the album "Zombie Birdhouse," which was released on Animal Records, the custom label run by Blondie founder, Chris Stein. Iggy drafted a lot of punk royalty to play in his touring bands after his 1977 David Bowie-led comeback. At various times Clem Burke and Gary Valentine of Blondie comprised Iggy's rhythm section. Ivan Kral of the Patti Smith Group served a guitar stint with Iggy as did Brian James of The Damned.
There's just so much to say about Lance and Mumps. And more will be said!
Please visit the fabulous and comprehensive Jenny Lens Punk Archive for more pictures and stories of every punk thing that mattered.
Comments