| I’m not unaccustomed to getting communiques out of the blue from Julien Poulson in Cambodia, telling me he’s got some wild and crazy new scheme. And so I wasn’t surprised a while back when he wrote saying he was plotting a Cambodian tribute to Iggy Pop, in the form of an album and an art show. I was maybe more (pleasantly) surprised when Julien next forwarded a note he’d received direct from Iggy himself, who said how was down with the Cambodian Space Project, was spinning sides by the band on his radio show, and fuck-yeah, he was giving all his good blessings to this project. So… it was on. Of course not without a typical bit of Cambodian drama first: After the recordings towards the album Angkor Pop were made at 60 Road Studio in Siem Reap, producer Jason Shaw had his hotel room burgled and among the losses were his laptop and hard-drive that contained all the masters… which were eventually got back after a reward offer… you can read an extensive and often hilarious account of this episode and more here… and so now with the album back on track, the art exhibition, dubbed 'Night of the Iguana', was arranged to go full-steam ahead at the Newsagency Gallery in Petersham, just up the road from where I live, opening on Friday, August 18. |
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| It was a great show, not least, I think, because all the artists involved, including myself, were driven by such a pure motive – a love of Iggy, and the knowledge he was into this idea. The artwork I contributed was a little historical curio. I did a bit of speechifying on the night and it was great to see some really wonderful pieces that I think the man himself would have enjoyed immensely. To see a bit more on the show and some of the work, go here, and a nice Northern Star item on the involvement of one of the artists, Jimmy Willing, here |
 Pix: Tony Lefferts |  |
