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Celebrity Homes Lydia Wysocki
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This book is dedicated to my mother the author, and to Paper Jam Comics Collective.
Published by Lydia Wysocki 2012 Copyright Š Lydia Wysocki 2012 First printing November 2012 www.HelloLyd.wordpress.com
ISBN 978-0-9574570-0-3 A copy of this book is deposited in the British Library.
Please do not reproduce the content of this book without my explicit written permission. If you have a good reason for wanting to reproduce the content of this book then please get in touch: my email address is lydiawysocki@hotmail.com
Printed and bound in England by Inky Little Fingers.
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Contents
Chapter One: House Music Chapter Two: Beaten-up Homes Chapter Three: GO Chapter Four: Lenny’s House
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Chapter One: House Music
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1. Bob Dylan
This is the house in Duluth, Minnesota, where Bob Dylan was born.
I won’t insult you by saying he was called little Bobby Zimmerman then, but if you didn’t know that I won’t berate you either. You know now.
My favourite Bob Dylan album is probably anything other than a greatest hits compilation. It just doesn’t seem right to un-album him.
That said, there’s an awesome album of Dylan covers called It ain’t me babe: Zimmerman Framed - The songs of Bob Dylan. It’s probably my favourite Dylan album. It’s what polite people call ‘an eclectic selection of artists’ and I like the album so much I even listen to the songs and interpretations I don’t like.
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3. The Band
This is Big Pink in West Saugerties, near Woodstock. It’s the house where The Band (and Bob Dylan) recorded Music from Big Pink.
I love The Band. That’s really all I have to say about them.
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15. Bob Marley
This is the house in Little Bay, Jamaica, that was Bob Marley’s holiday home.
The roof is made of dried palm fronds. From a distance it looks like a thatched roof, but it’s far looser. If you squint, it looks a little like Dougal from The Magic Roundabout.
I was delighted when I first heard that Dougal is named for Charles de Gaulle. To me it’s an example of the gentle and extremely effective power of cartoons to comment on just about anything.
The original house was damaged by a hurricane. This makes me think of the story of the little piggy who built his house of straw, and the wolf huffed and puffed and blew the house down.
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But there the similarity ends. As a Rastafarian, Bob followed an Ital diet. So no meat or fish, and certainly no piggies. Nothing with a face. But heads are ok because lettuce has a head*.
*a Rastafarian told me this so it’s definitely not me being flippin’ flippant.
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- Beaten-up Homes -
Chapter Two: Beaten-up Homes
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2. Jack Kerouac
This is the house in Harlem, New York, where Jack Kerouac wrote The Subterraneans.
So anyway, Kerouac. I first read some of his work for an undergraduate course on the Beat Generation. Back in my day English universities didn’t tend to offer such courses: it was an academic treat as part of an exchange year.
I enjoyed doing sturdy academic work about the artsy hipster Beats. It was a ‘History of Consciousness’ course, which danced all over many of the squarer history courses I took.
Some years later I was told that the institution at which I took that course has a reputation as “a party school”. Which may be true. It certainly has a reputation as a left-y college somewhere in the mountains, where deer roam and you can see the ocean. And our campus apartment building looked like Barbie’s dream house.
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Many American houses look like Barbie’s dream house to me. English brick houses look like, umm, houses, and are none the worse for it.
I think many people would be much the better for taking a few History of Consciousness courses.
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6. William S Burroughs
This is the house in Lawrenceville, Kentucky, where William S Burroughs lived as an old man.
I am impressed that Burroughs lived to be an old man. I have every faith that he did indeed take hefty quantities of heavy drugs, and whilst I do not condone such behaviour I am impressed that he survived.
I have a lesser degree of the same respect for Keith Richards. I might respect him more if he behaved a little better. At least if Burroughs dated youngsters and fell out of a small shrub he did it in the privacy of his own beautiful home so I didn’t have to know about it.
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Chapter Three: GO
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7. George Orwell
This is the house in Hampstead, London, where George Orwell lived.
Apparently he still worked at the bookshop at this time. There’s a charm and a practicality to living and working in close proximity. There are also good reasons for having a bit more brain- and physical space in one’s life.
I’ve had my fair share of homes, jobs, and (unsurprisingly) commutes. And it’s not always been possible to predict which of them will be more or less enjoyable, practicable, or entertaining than others.
Apparently Krispy Kreme doughnuts once tried selling doughnuts to motorists at busy road junctions. The pilot project was not considered a success by the company. I don’t know why. I think doughnuts are good and would add goodness to any commute or other journey. I wouldn’t let traffic fumes or road safety obstruct this relationship.
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11. George Orwell
This is the house in St John’s Wood where George Orwell lived.
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It looks a bit like an authoritarian holiday camp, but then I think many large blocks of flats or hotels look like that.
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13. George Orwell
This is the house in Islington, London, where George Orwell lived.
It was his last home in London.
I’m amazed he managed so many homes in London. I’m not that keen on the place, and that’s with a far more modern public transport system*.
Or maybe it was better back in the day and that golden age is never to return.
*OR IS IT? Transport for London users, this is a discussion question offered as an intellectual diversion to your slow, delayed, or AWOL mode of public transport. Or just a multi-hour journey within the same city. The Tyne and Wear Metro system is far superior to your commuter tubes.
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Chapter Four: Lenny’s House
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1. Lenny’s House
This is Lenny’s House in Pittston, Pennsylvania.
It’s not the house where Lenny Bruce lived.
I wanted to draw that house so I looked it up on the internet and there were many references to his untimely death in his house.
And that made me uneasy.
In making this book I stumbled upon a number of websites about the places where celebrities died. I thought they were a bit sinister, so this book doesn’t include houses that were publicised as such ’death houses’.
I think it’s more relevant to focus on where people lived and worked.
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So this is Lenny’s House, which is a rehab centre run by Lenny Bruce’s daughter Kitty Bruce. Who has demonstrated that she’s an outstanding person in her own right.
For each copy of this book I sell I will donate 50p to Lenny’s House. I have no affiliation with Lenny’s House beyond an abiding love and respect for what it stands for.
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4. A note about ownership
The drawings and writings in this book are all my own work. I could not have made them without other people's help. Particularly:
the creative people who lived in the houses I’ve drawn, whose work, legacies, myths and rumours continue to mean a lot to me
the architects and/or bricoleurs who designed these houses, and the builders who built them. I like the hotchpotch of architectural styles and am (a) glad to have them in one book and (b) glad they’re not all on the same street because jeez what an eyesore that’d be
the people who administer and promote the English Heritage blue plaque scheme for identifying and cataloguing buildings that have had notable residents, and other more or less formal equivalents to this scheme. It’s a nice*, geeky** thing that gives many people much joy.
*my secondary school English teachers forbade our class from using this word but sometimes it’s the only one to go for. **a term of endearment.
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the people who took the many and varied photos available on the internet, which have been invaluable points of reference for my drawings. When the photographers were credited I’ve included these credits in the ‘thank yous’ page of this book. Not all photos were credited and, the internet being the internet, it was not always possible for me to determine which was the original posting of a photo. Most of my drawings are based on more than one photo of each house, and a fair bit of artistic licence besides
the current residents of these houses, in whose interests I decided to include nothing more specific than city and county/state/country locations for each house. Please do not disturb the current residents of these houses
the people who sell maps and/or guided tours of celebrities’ homes, particularly in Los Angeles. I applaud your cojones but not half as much as I applaud those of celebrities who are pottering about, taking out their rubbish, only to be ambushed by a busload of tourists. And respond by smiling and waving.
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Q. Is this your first book? A. It’s the first softback one. books are:
My other
What can you do with an ex-boyfriend? A colouring book for broken-hearted girls and boys (2011)
Tea/Coffee (2011; also called Coffee/ Tea)
Where can I hide? A colouring book for boys and girls who want to be left alone for a while (2011)
Darling, you have beautiful eyes (2011)
Overachiever (2012)
POWER (mini comic, 2012)
The seven ages of mini comics (mini comic, 2012)
Wanna buy one? Start by looking at Hellolyd.Wordpress.com There’s also a Master’s dissertation about talking in the classroom, contributions of varying quality to Paper Jam jam comics, one page in the Beard-growing octopus anthology (2011), two pages in the Alcohol… and that anthology (2012), and all manner of odd bits that never got as far as a book.
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Q. What advice would you give to someone who wants to write a book? A. If you haven’t written at least one book by now then there’s a good chance you never will. If you’ve written one book there’s a good chance you’ll write more and they’ll get better each time.
Q. What’s your next project? A. Making a bacon sandwich and eating it.
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It includes epic tales of country music, George Orwell, education, history, biography, slang and bad jokes. If you haven’t yet put down this book you’ll probably like it. If you need to file this book file it as any of the above themes, or in the comics section.
www.HelloLyd.wordpress.com
The price of this book includes a 50p donation to an inspirational organisation you may never have heard of. Turn to pages 95-96 for details.
Lydia Wysocki
Well, did you like the free preview version? The full book has 114 pages and is printed on genuine paper, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Celebrity Homes
This31 is a book of words and pictures about - Celebrity Homes awesome houses and the legendary people who lived in them.
LW
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