Chromium Dumb Belle Blog

Posts Tagged ‘the cockettes’

While i was in San Francisco for my art show last month i  managed to meet up with Billy Bowers (one of my favorite designers) at his home… Billy had given us his ‘Key West’ jacket as a gift 3 years ago and i still had a little applique i had been wanting to give him as a thankyou gift so Sarah and I went over to see him in the apartment he shares with his oldest friend Snapdragon. Snappy was house-sitting for a friend tho and we also missed Rumi Missabu by minutes which was a shame….but…

Billy is the sweetest, most modest man ever in the world and almost all he talked of was his happiness for his friends success in the recently re-united Cockettes…He works just as much as he ever did and is still friends with all the old gang…He showed me his portfolio of photography over the years and talked me thru every character and scenario he shot…we got a sneak peak at his glitter and sequin embellishments on the last copy of the Cockettes colouring book, talked about photographer Wendy Mukluk and we tried on jackets and skirts and wrapped ourselves up in a giant plastic toy covered multi zebra, faux fur and glitter hangings covered in old gay porn. His room was covered in original Cockettes paraphernalia and he very sweetly gave me his own copy of a Cockettes poster from his wall which now hangs in my Sewnut…His room was just like a modern day equivilant of the Mukluk photos you see of him surrounded by odd nik naks….I love the big gap in his teeth and that he still has specs of glitter on his face and that he keeps a big box of it and sequins on his work table….He kept the plastic flowers i glued onto his present for one of his art pieces and we moaned about the cost of doilies these days. I told him how i copied his doilie stuff for myself and he told me how he constructed those back in the day…He told us more old stories….I asked him about my absolute hero…Kaisik Wong..he said he’s ‘a genius’ so….obviously Billy RULES! We planned on a picnic or old movie date with Snapdragon for next time…

READ ALL ABOUT BILLY’S ART… HERE

BILLY BACK IN THE DAY….

WITH BILLY AT HOME….

THATS THE SATIN PORTRAIT I MADE HIM ON HIS LAP…

“You will see the questing and vulnerable souls of people you might never meet outside these pages”

LOTTA LOVE

MARIO MONTES

ALEXIS DEL LAGO and ANDRES

JOHN RAVEN and CAROL

LEON

TAYLOR MEAD and FERNANDO

REGGIE and  ZAMBA

TAYLOR MEAD  and  AL HANSEN

GAIL and  ROXY

JOHN NOBLE and  CARLA

JUAN  and PRICILLA

MORALES TWINS & PRISCILLA TINKERBELL, BEAUREGARDE

JESSICA and  JOSEPH

JOHN NOBLE and HARVEY FIERSTEIN

KIERSTEN and friend and LOTTA LOVE

JOSEPH FAY CHANNELL and LEAR DOLL

BEAUREGARDE and  JOHN NOBLE & OLIVIA

HARCEY FIERSTEIN and CHARLES

KIRSTEN and friend and ALEXIA DEL LAGO and  BEAUREGARDE

AGOSTO and ALEXIA DEL LAGO and  BEAUREGARDE

SOBECHANSKAYA

WALLY  and  GOLDIE GLITTERS