Leave of absence...
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...
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...
Original prints finally for sale!!!!
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!
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!
Back on air
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.
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.
Riccardo Campogiani
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.
http://gfx.aftonbladet.se/multimedia/dynamic/00426/10s08-rick-218_jpg_426122b.jpg
http://intressant.se/intressant
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.
http://gfx.aftonbladet.se/multimedia/dynamic/00426/10s08-rick-218_jpg_426122b.jpg
http://intressant.se/intressant
London
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.
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.
