it's been 40 years since I first set eyes on Michael. so I no longer recall if he was on stage or walking outrageously on campus. for that period he was flamboyant. in good weather he'd be teeteering around on platform shoes wearing a halter & looking like a cross between Gloria Grahame & Carmen Miranda. & in winter he'd be wearing more layers than I've ever seen on one body.
we had many friends in common so I began hanging out with him around 1976. he cd be flamingly over the top one minute & dead serious the next. but he was never dull. I remember us lunching with Lowell Nesbitt at Ray's & with Connie May at Red Radish. there were dance concerts -- both ones he was in & those of others -- & of course movies. we shared the dance floor at a gay bar in Akron & my bed in Twin Lakes.
& when I moved from the lakes into town he was there -- along with David Meredith & Paul Ludick -- to help me move. & he made this for me:
as an artist he was prolific & generous. I think he had a bit of trouble with the art school. it probably was the first time some profs saw students present male nudes accompanied by quotations abt masturbation. but he was a meticulate draftsman with a personal vision.
we collaboratd on a sequence calld Visions of Jan-Michael Vincent. here is a photo of our mutual friend Michael Pierce with legendary James Broughton on my bed on Morris Rd. the drawings on the wall are from that suite.
& here is his lovely image of Marie Windsor who was the sequence's leading lady:
1 comment:
somewhere I have a picture of me and michael at my kent opening, he is in drag dressed if I recall as a ballerina, he signed it to me I think. He was wonderful ditto charlie miller and deny nielson to me when I was a visiting artist at OSU, and made my stay there easy and fun. The last time I saw him was in new york he was visiting with Charlie who had moved here, but he seemed very uncomfortable with the city.
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