OBAMAHENGE

I suppose I was slightly surprised to learn that, at this point in his life, Barack Obama is already working his way down a bucket list.  I mean, once he leaves office he’ll be able to do anything and everything he wants, so why not wait till then?

Still, when you have a spiritual vortex on your list, i.e. Stonehenge, and you happen to find yourself in England for a NATO summit, I can see that you might decide to make a detour, and use all the facilities of the president’s office in order to go for a walk there.  It would be a great photo op if nothing else.  And so it proved.

The best thing (and the least convincing thing) about the pictures of Obama walking at Stonehenge is that he seems to be completely alone there.  We know this can’t really be the case.  The visit was unexpected apparently, so they hadn’t closed the whole thing down, and therefore you know there must be large numbers of common or garden tourists lurking just out of the frame.  For that matter we also hear that he was being shown around by a curator, who did in fact make it into one or two photographs.

And then, being a man of the people, Obama had a "chance meeting," over the barbed wire fence surrounding the site, with a passing family.  And this is where it all falls apart.  We see now that although the Pres. has managed to appear to walk alone around Stonehenge, there’s no way he can engage with the public unless his secret service men are close at hand.  A good walk spoiled some might say.

RECORD WALKS

 

Once upon a time it was apparently quite easy to design album covers.  You got a photograph of the artist – portrait studio, recording studio, maybe playing live - you did some more or less fancy lettering and there was your album cover.

And then someone came up with the idea – how about we show the artist WALKING?

There are a couple of advantages here obviously, it gives the subjects something to do, and perhaps even more important, it’s a way of asserting they’re men (and in a few cases women) of the people who haven’t lost touch with the street.

When it comes to “most famous walking album cover” it’s probably a toss up between Abbey Road and The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.  I think Dylan just about edges it because even though we know it’s a setup, he actually does look like he’s walking somewhere, whereas the Beatles look like they’re only walking across the street for the sake of the photoshoot.

The Beatles actually looked a bit more natural on this one:

Of course when it comes to Oasis, it’s hard to know whether we’re dealing with homage or barefaced borrowing.  This picture is taken in Berwick Street, one of my “beating the bounds” streets when I go back to London.  Since there’s some motion blur on the cover you might be tempted to think the two men are the Gallagher brothers, but no, don’t be naïve.  The two men are Sean Rowley, who’s a DJ walking towards the camera, and the album sleeve designer Brian Cannon who’s walking away.  Apparently Owen Morris, the album producer, is lurking in the background.

I also suspect that photograph, borrows from this Duane Michael series, titled "Chance Meeting," but you know, in for a penny in for a pound, it’s all appropriation, innit?

No borrowings or homage here on this Dr Alimantado album cover, largely I think because walking down the middle of the street, wearing shorts with the fly open isn’t a look that really existed before or after, but in this case I’m glad it does.

Walking in the street too tame for you?  Then try the railroad tracks:

Earth too tame for you?  Try outer space.

And you can just about imagine what went on in the mind of Randy Jack Wiggins and his photographer when they made this cover.

“Sure,” said Jack, “I know I’m a boring old coot with a salt and pepper beard and dubious taste in shirts, but if we have a couple of good looking girls, and you know, they needn’t be professional models or anything, well if they walked with me holding hands, then that’d be a bitching album cover, wouldn’t it?  Wouldn’t it?”

 Maybe sometimes it’s better just to walk away from the camera.  If it’s good enough for Johnny Cash and Eminem, it’s probably good enough for you.

PEDESTRIAN MISTAKES - HOLLYWOOD STYLE

OK, so you probably weren’t really thinking of walking around Hollywood in wedge heeled shoes like this:

But if you were, then don’t.  Just don’t. Please.

Of course if somebody's standing at the side of you, watching you walk, the 

message will read Wood Holly at least half the time.  But that's not the main 

reason not to wear them. 

WALKING WITH ESQUIRES

I was leafing through an old copy of Esquire magazine - March 1946 if you’re interested - (that's it above) and there amid the many ads for stylish hats and ready-mixed cocktails were a number of ads for shoes.  By far the best was this one for British Walkers.  Those British types know all about walking, y’know.  And in fact I do own a pair of brogues that look very much like this.

Now I enjoy walking more than many people, but even I think this ad is going a bit far. “Naturally walking’s fun!” it announces in the small print, and the shoes provide “Just the walking joy you’ve always longed for.”  Isn’t this overselling the product just a tad?  Could any pair of shoes actually live up to this hype? 

But whether they could or not you’d surely want them to look their best and fortunately there’s another relevant ad, this one for Hollywood Bootmakers Stain Polish – I think I’d go for the “Redwood.”  Who wouldn’t want the soft glow of richly polished leather?  Those Hollywood types know all about looking good, y’know.

So between Britain and Hollywood, it might seem that these ads were talking directly to me (had I been born in 1946, which I was not).  But then, reading the smaller print I see that British Walkers shoes are made in the USA, by JP Smith of Chicago, and that the Hollywood Polish Company is based in Richmond Hill, New York.  Still working out whether this is shameful fakery, or just the way the world works (or, of course, both).