Buzzblu

Well, the wonderf of the Internet!!! A few days ago I received a mail from a dear old friend, Diva, the lead singer of a band I used to play with in London. I had been looking for him for ages but never found a single trace. The band was called Risqué (Flex in the beginning). Amazing surprise also because Diva sent me some pictures that I had lost, pictures of us on stage newspaper articles about us, backstage passes, etc. We started to remind each-other of different episodes of our youth, like a tour with the Eurythnmics, gigs at the Rock Garden, a mythical gig at the Hyppodrome where I left my drum kit, never to be collected again. I had officially put the music business behind me at that point. I can't quite remember if I started playing with Pleasure and the Beast and with Naked Lunch after that or if that period was prior to Risqué, which is a terrible sign of senility from my part.
Soon Diva will come to visit me in Stockholm, hopefully for the release party for my book, and then he will bring me the DVD of that famous gig at the Hyppodrome. I can't wait to see it, but more than that, I can't wait to see Diva again.
Here are some of the pictures from those glorious days Diva is the singer and you can see me hidden behind the drums...)
Thank you Diva!

Nästa vecka blir det Bok & Biblioteksmässan i Göteborg mellan den 25 och 28 september. Där kommer jag att officiellt presentera min nya bok Swedish Fetish och jag kommer att hålla ett föredrag om boken i Svenska Fotografernas Förbundets monter på söndagen.

Den stora nyheten är att jag kommer även att ha en fotoutställning på mässan på en 30 metersvägg med STORA bilder ifrån boken. Printarna är riktiga fotoprintar med kemiskt process gjorda av dne underbaraste fotolabb Pro Center i Stockholm och de är monterade på kapa.




Jag hoppas på att få dem sålda och på att få lite press på det hela...inte lätt att vara ens eget förlag och finansiär för en bok fast jag kan verkligen itne klaga på hur bokförsäljningen går och på hur stort intresse det finns för både boken och bilderna.



Om ni vill länka till min boks hemsida ni kan använda er av denna banner nedan och länka till http://belluso.com/fetish


Det blir dessutom flera fotoutställningar med olika tema från min sida under vintern och kommande vår...här är ett litet smakprov på idéeskisserna för en av utställningarna...fast slutbilderna kommer även att målas på av konstnärinnan Caroline Wersall.

This picture was taken last sunday on my last flight for the day. Very exciting moment since at this stage I only have two flights left to go until I get my glider pilot's licence, which hopefully will happen next weekend, time and weather permitting...
I am sitting here in a Discus B just before take off. A single-seater glider that at first feels wild because of the lightness of its controls, but once one understands it it becomes the most gentle and pleasant of gliders. To make me understand the Discus it actually took a bad take off and a hard landing that followed with suggestions and coaching from Gunnar and Anders (my instructors for the day at Stockholm Segelflygklubb). I now feel at home in the Discus just as much as in an ASK 21.

This has been an extremely exciting summer with an indredible amount of flying experiences, new friends and fantastic weather here in Sweden. Experiences both from Långtora (my club) and Ålleberg, where I spent one week as a test student, flying with numerous teachers and learning something new in every flight. Here follow some pictures from my days at Ålleberg:








Gliding is really something I could strongly recommend to anyone. The feeling of freedom and concentration at the same time, forgetting one's problems for a while and the feeling of being in control of something as big as flying.
As soon as I get my licence I gladly invite anyone I know up in a glider as a passenger jst to be able to offer this great experience.

It's been a while since I've been blogging, sometimes because of lack of time, some other times because of lack of energy. But many have been the times I have been wanting to write for some reason or another. The summer has gone by and it has been an unusual one. It began with an operation that hopefully has put an end to my discal hernia. This put me out of action for over two months. Two long months of morphine, inactivity, pain and often being delirious. Then came a trip to Miami for Salming where I shot a fun campaign with Kim Halling and Louis Dubois as models. My old friend and agent Alain Teale did an unforgettable production. In the meantime I also published my first book, Swedish Fetish. The response is very good. Moderna Museet is now selling the book, among several other bookstores in Sweden, which feels great. What I really need now is an international distributor. The business in general is taking a plunge all over the world, which feels scary. We'll see what this autumn that's just begun has to offer. Apart from promoting the book at book fairs and fetish festivals I am planning some campaigns for some Swedish clients. It feels like ages ago since my last production. I've spent the summer flying gliders, my new passion. I am very close to my licence, only a couple of flying days left. I have almost flown 60 hours. I hope that my birthday presents to myself will be my flying licence and a couple of new, big clients. Happy birthday to me on the 28th!

Jag vaknades av en brandstege utanför mitt fönster kl.04.30 denna Julafton och tog dessa bilder...Läs mer på http://www.city.se/nyheter/1.980150/brand-pa-stripklubb-pa-hornsgatan

I have been away from the blog for a few days...quite a few things have been happening and I have not had the time to come in and write.
Two fun reunions have taken place since I was in here last.
The first one was at Café Opera in Stockholm, when Boy George was DJ'ing. I managed to meet George atfer 25 years of not having met each other. I used to work with him in London, in a club called Planets, when he was DJ and I was working in the cloakroom. It was a great and fun period of my life. The fun thing about our reunion is that even after so many years he remembered me and his first words where "what the F**K are you doing here?" with his usual smile. He is as great a DJ as he's always been, even if when you ask him he would say that in the beginning he was not a good DJ but just someone with good taste in music...I disagree, he is both a good DJ and he has great taste in music!
The second "reunion" was with Robert Pereno, the lead singer of a band I used to play with in London around 25 years ago. I payed drums for Pleasure and the Beast and we where on tour in the UK atfer the release of the album "Doctor Sex", that got banned by the BBC but got to Nr. 2 in the charts in the US.
Robert is getting married soon and I wish him all the best. I can't wait to meet him again soon.
This week I am showing my work for my forthcoming book "Swedish Fetish" at a fair here in Stockholm. I am also in the middle of preparing a whole bunch of productions that must be ready before Christmas, which is very soon...
Today I will remove all of my photographs from my Facebook group, sadly enough. I felt it was a good way to keep people updated of the more interesting shoots I do, but after finding out that Facebook actually owns all the rights to everything on Facebook, I feel deeply cheated and really cannot afford giving the rights to my work to people I have never met and for no reason whatsoever.
For those interested in ym work I will keep updating my own sites www.belluso.com and www.belluso.com/fetish

Talk again soon...

I have just published the new gallery to sell original photographic prints from my forthcoming book Swedish Fetish.
Many people had been asking to buy prints from the book already since my exhibition at Marie Laveau in January, but I had decided to wait until the actual publication of the book was a bit more imminent, which it is now.
To see the gallery, and hopefully buy a print or two, you should go to http://belluso.com/fetish/prints/index.htm
There you can also find some original prints in a limited signed edition.
The quality of the prints is really high, these are not inkjet cheap prints but the real mc. coy.
Here is just a little taste of some of the various images and styles you can find there.

Well I am now wanted in the studio since they are ready with the make up on yet another fetish girl waiting to be photographed for the next edition of the book.
Have a nice evening!

This weekend has passed and Friday also passed, with a fantastic turn out at the anti-street violence rally in Stockholm in memory or Riccardo Campogiani. 12.000 people showed up in the cold and rain.

It is now 1.10 am and I intend to start this week on a more frivolous tone than last time I wrote this blog.
Trying to fill you in on my last days in London last week.
On the Saturday I went to the Rubber Ball, a great fetish party with amazing artists and a realy good crowd and excellent DJ's. The highlight of that evening must have been when a dressage cavalier showed up in full top hat and uniform and his two (human) horses, two tall and very beautiful women that played the lipizan horse part amazingly. It really was fantastic showmanship and it gave me the insiration to shoot such a picture as the last picture to be shot for my fetish book, at least for this coming edition.
On the Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning I strolled through London together wit my very good friend and colleague (well, she's almost part of the family, in fact we say that we have adopted her) Camilla, who's a real sweetheart.
Camilla took some pictures of me (here below) going through some monuments of my past in London, like for instance Shakespeare Tower in the Barbican, where I lived with my parents for a few years and then alone onc my parents left to go and live in Kuwait. The Barbican was a great architectural project of the 70's in the City of London. I loved living there. I lived on the 11th floor of Shakespeare Tower with my parents but very often I would spent a lot of time on the 42nd floor, in the apartment next door to Roger Moore's, in Paul Raymond's penthouse where I had my friends Danny and Debbie, two models working in those days for Paul Raymond.
When my parents moved out of home (yes, it happened that way in my life since my father got transferred to the Italian Embassy in Kuwait and I did not want to follow them), I moved to the appropriately named Andrews House, also in the Barbican, shown behind me in this picture.
The walk through London ith Camilla continued through Hyde Park and onto Kensington, past Sloane Avenue, where I lived for the first part of my life in London with my parents and down the King's Road.
First I took Camilla to see where i used to hang out when I was not in school, together with the other punks of the time and often even with Sid Vicious, outside what was then called SEX, Vivienne Westwood's shop, that then changed he name to Seditionaries and then to its current name of World's End.
Unfortunately the boutique was closed, but through the window I managed to notice that thy still sell the old pirate boots and shirts, of which I had several of but lost everything through my frequent moves around the world...but I have promised myself to re-buy most of the things I had in those days, they really where great and still so modern!

We then walked back up the King's Road towards Sloane Square and into Glebe Place, where I first workes as a photo assistant to Bardo Fabiani, a true master of fashion photography in those days, ex-assistant to David Bailey.
The studio in Glebe Place lookd just as good from the outside and memories began rushing through my mind of those days when I worked for Bardo during the day and at Planets at night time, together with Boy George, who at the time was working there as a DJ and I was working in the wardrobe.
Boy George will be in Stockholm this week and I really hope I'll be able to meet him, wondering if he still remembers those days...
I wonder why I am being so nostalgic at the moment. London really brought back a lot of very nice memories. Maybe it's because I'm getting old? Maybe it's because I miss the stimuli of a metropolis...who knows?
One shop that still exists on the King' Road is a shop whose contents is nothing to write home about, but the name of which always brings a smile to my lips:


A quick word about Facebook. While in London and reminiscing, I managed to get in touch with an old school friend of mine, Christiane, and I also got in touch again with another school friend from London, Alain, who has now become my Miami agent. The wonders of the net...
Also on Facebook I found a great looking model, Ida, that I hope to be able to shoot this week, if I do you'll probably see the pictures in here soon...or on my Facebook group.
Well, it's quite late and it's time for me to say good night and have a great week!

PS: my site www.belluso.com is undergoing a minor face-lift. Please be patient if you experience some layout problems and do visit again on tuesday.

I have been meaning to blog from London, writing about my trip down memory lane and interesting things that happened there, but I have been totally destroyed by the terrible news that hit the Swedish newspapers the other day. A 16 year-old boy got brutally murdered by some other 16 year-olds that he actually knew, not only, whose parents where friends with the victim's parents.
The boy was the son of a friend of mine, Dado, one of the kindest and warmest people I have met, and also one of the people who has had most sorrow in his family life.
What really makes me be speachless is the brutal way in which young Riccardo was killed. Being a father myself I wonder what one can do, as a parent, to keep our children in safety, when they are obviously not even afe in the company of their own friends, whose parents we know.
Where have we come to? What is this terrible place I have brought my son into? How can teenagers be so brutal these days? Is it the influence of films, computer games or lack of close family contact?
These are serious social problems, especially since e live in a so-called civilised country that is supposed to be one of the safest in the world. This terrible incident should be a real eye-opener not only to parents and teachers but to everyone.
I send you, Dado, my deepest condoleances. Riccardo, may you rest in peace. And you four cruel animals that brought his death, I can only wish you that someone has mercy on your souls when your day comes.
This blog will be in silence until next week as a sign of respect and deep grief and if you want to participate in our grief and also as a sign of protest against street violence, please send everyone you know to this blog and either simply pass by and read these lines or simply reply by just putting a + sign.

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A shout from London, a step in the past and hopefully in the future too.
I arrived here on Tuesday and I will be here a few more days on business, as well as pleasure.
London was my home many years ago, for a period of 12 years. London was where I became one of the early punks, believe it or not. I played with different bands, to name a few, a band called Flex that was on tour with the Eurithmics on the "Sweat Dreams" tour. We also pleyed a gig at the Rock Gardn in those days and David Bowie was in the audience. That was a funny evening and it did not end there. Several years later I met Bowie at a friend's palac in Venice and he still remembered having met me at the Rock Garden. I really appreciated that kind of attitude from his side, a totally humble and extremely pleasant man that I hav an utter respect and admiration for and I consider myself very priviledged to have met him and spent some time with him during the Venice carnival many years ago. Grace Jones was also part of our little group that week, adorable and crazy as usual.

Then I went on to play with anoher band called Pleasure and the Beast, and if anyone out there knows where Marty, Robert, LA and the rest of the band are today, please do let me know. We ejoyed quite a bit of success with Pleasure and the Beast and it was one of the funniest periods in my life, especilly touring with them, a really wonderful bunch of old friends that I wish I had not lost touch with.

So as you can imagine, London is a well of feelings and memories for me, especially since before last time I was here a few months ago, I had not been back here for many years.

Yesterday afternoon I was at a fetish exhibition (http://www.thexpo.co.uk/), which is being held at the Barbican (http://www.barbicanliving.co.uk/). I used to live at the Barbican, first with my parents, then by myself, and I had not been back since. Wonderful and melancholic memories came to mind and kept me breathless for a while.

Today I am planning to take a stroll down the King's Road, where I used to be every single day in my early days of punk in 1977, when we used to sit outside SEX, Vivienne Westwood's boutique at the time, when often there would also be Sid Vicious, Jordan, Siouxsie, Sue Catwoman, etc.
I also played with another band called the Kelvinators, quite underground and unknown since we mainly did the college circuits and got banned from a few, but another great bunch of guys.

Yesterday I met a childhood friend of mine, Alain, after several years of having lost touch. He is such a great man, a truly positive energy that would make anyone feel good. Alain is now my agent in Miami, which I am really happy about, since I do not think I could get a better person than Alain to represent me there.
Incredible to meet old school fiends as "adults", with families and kids of our own, responsibilities, and especially a past that at one point got divided simply because of distances and moving to different parts of the world, as most of my school friends did becaue of the nature of buiness of our parents. I have often wondered how it would be to see everyone again. There are some people I would love to meet up. Diane de Beauregard, Emmanuel Moreau, Christiane Barakat, just to menton a few.

While here in London I live in a fabulous place in Portland Place, of which I include some pictures below. It is a huge and very beautiful town house built in 1773 by the Adam brothers, at that time very famous architects.





Last night I went with a whole big group of Swedish friends to Torture Garden and tonight we will all go to Rubber Ball, two parties that are part of www.skintworubberball.com, one of the biggest fetish parties in the world. Extremely fun, friendly people, good music with good DJ's and for me an insight on the fetish scene outside of Sweden, which I have got to know through my book project over the past two years.
Now I'm hitting the town for another dose of memory lane, making me feel like an old fogey.
One thing before I leave...last night I was thinking the following about London, and it probably is because it was my home during my teenage, or maybe it's just the town itself, but whether happy, sad, excited, depressed, no matter what the situation is, London does make me feel. This is both in a good and bad way, since the highs are very high and the lows very low, but it really does awaken my senses.

Today I read an article in Resumé about a campaign shot by Oliviero Toscani. Here below is the discussed picture. To read what Resumé wrote go to Resumé's site.
Here is my comment (in Swedish for once). Feel free to comment in here...

Anorexia har varit känd sedan 1600 talet och då var det knappt något snack om mode eller reklam. "Redan 1684 beskrevs anorexia av Richard Morton och sedan drygt hundra år är sjukdomen känd tack vare arbeten på 1870-talet av Gull i England och Lasègue i Frankrike, vilka ungefär samtidigt på var sitt håll beskrev sjukdomen med betoning av psykologiska orsaker som utlösande moment." (Källa http://www.hedbergska.sundsvall.se/ps/ps/anorexia/). Det är ett känd faktum att det är psykologiska störningar som orsakar anorexin och absolut att mode ger en bild som unga kvinnor vill leva upp till, men det är definitivt inte den enda orsaken, och som Dolce och Gabbana säger, det har inget med mode att göra. Jag tycker att det är mest mediernas ansvar att informera om att visst det finns anorektiska modeller, men det finns inte så många av dem längre och den bilden modellerna visar är inte något som vanliga tjejer förväntas leva upp till, det är en förvrängning av verkligheten, precis som i SAAB reklamfilmerna där bilen flyger, det betyder inte att alla ska flyga med sina bilar för att reklamen visar det. Det finns en skillnad mellan fantasi och verklighet, precis som i romaner, filmer, etc, och det är upp till medierna att prata just om denna skillnad. Det som medierna gör med att skriva att unga tjejer vill leva upp till anorektiska modeller är bara att säga till unga tjejer att det är just det de ska göra.
Modebranschen och särskild modellagenturer måste ta sitt ansvar och utesluta anorektiska modeller (och det finns flera svenska modellagenturer som har gjort det i flera år), men själva problemet är inte bara relaterad till modebranschen, den är mycket större än så och ett ännu större problem i Sverige idag är faktiskt den motsatta problemet, fetma!

Three weeks after the beginning of my new healthier life I have lost three kilos. But the point is not the loss of weight that became a significant health factor for me, since all the weight was very, or rather still is, very evenly distributed around my waist, and as such is causing me serious back problems with my hernia. Now I sound like an old fogey, I know, but at my tender age, the combination of a bad diet and lack of excercise is not a good one. I now train three times a week and I eat healthy food. I still eat a lot, but the food I eat actually helps me burn unnecessary fats. One more thing is that I have discovered water. Crazy as it may seem, I never used to drink water, in fact I never used to drink, period. The times I ingested liquids where rare and often in those rare social occasions with friends. Of course this transition period is tough. The body takes some time to adjust. But the fact that, in spite of being carnivorous and actually liking meat, I chose to only eat meat in rare occasions is also making me feel better. I first decided not to eat meat because of principles. For many years I lived with the contradiction of loving animals but still eating them. You hear how terrible it sounds. Then a few weeks ago I saw a picture of a cow at a slaughter and I made up my mind. A single picture changed my life. I said this to my personal trainer when we went through my new diet, thinking he would tell me that I would need meat. But the opposite happened. He told me that meat, as well as being very hard to digest, also contains fats that are extremely difficult to break down. Fish instead contains omega 3 that actually helps break down bad fats. Vegetable fats are the easiest to break down. I have not become a vegetarian, but I limit my meat intakes to three or four times a month. Once a week I go on a binge, to compensate my sugar and other needs. All of this sounds rather boring, but it is the awareness of needed changes in my lifestle that is important. The fact that I want to have a healthier body. I want the next half of my life to be better than the previous one. Eating cakes and meat and all of those things that are now only rare treats, was good for my soul and not too bad for my body while young. Now it's different. I want to underline the fact that I am not starving. I am probably eating more than before and certainly more often. I am just eating healthier. Starving would have the opposite effect as well as being dangerous. Now I'll have a nap:)

Today was a perfect day for flying. It felt good to be back in the air after such a long time. Shame the field is so far from home. A few more flights before winter then await several months of studying theory, but that's fun too:). Now an evening with a film.

In the glider, just before take off.

Today I had planned to go flying, but the weather seems a bit unstable. I have recently become a member of the SSFK (Stockholms SegelFlygKlubb) and I plan to take my soaring licence next summer. I will do my theory during the winter/spring then take the final exam in Borås, where I will be for about a week to do the final practice. A bit depressing thinking that winter has not even began....
But I must stop ocmplaining about the long winter, the cold, etc. I chose to live here, I should shut up and stop complaining, agreed :-)
Have a lovely saturday!