Opulence, decadence and glamour: The Amanda Lear book

[JussiK]

Read "Mon Dali" by Amanda Lear for scintillating descriptions of jet set lifestyles during the 60's and the 70's. A British Vogue covergirl, left bank intellectual and a wealthy student at The Beaux-Arts of Paris, Amanda first meets Salvador Dali and his menagerie of rock stars, dropouts and scenemakers during the mid 60's. She becomes his muse and we get detailed and very well written inside info on all the tortured mechanisms of the painter's psyche, his relationship with Gala and the jeaulouisies Amanda triggered in her. Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones, Andy Warhol, Paco Rabanne, Pablo Picasso, all sorts of legendary names enter the picture. The phantasmagorical surrealist parties intensify and then we get to 1977 when Amanda's first album is realesed. There are great stories of glamourous scenes at Le Palace, Regine's, all sorts of shrines of the disco era. And you get answers to all the rumours. Get the book right away, there's nothing like it it and if you don't quite master the French language well enough - just like I don't - start taking lessons immediately. If you think it's going to be hopeless buy the book regardless since there are priceless photographs and since you simply need it on your coffee table.

[markydefad]

Jussi, are you Miss Lear's p.r. guy??? You really oughta be on the payroll :lol:

[SandraDee]

I was really surprised to find that Amanda is French; for some reason I always thought she was of german origin.

[Videoskooter]

And she was born in Hong Kong!

One of the true disco-enigmas. Oh, how I loved her deep sensual voice. "Sweet revenge" whith the leather and the whip, what a dream of a recordsleeve! (And that nude photo inside, I always kept it aside since my dad wasn't too happy of me buying records with naked women on it. Glad he never opened the double-sleeve).

"Queen of Chinatown", when she begins to sing, I'm melting!

And I often see her on French television and she still looks très chic.

Classy mademoiselle :D

[Nano]

Originally Posted by markydefad

Jussi, are you Miss Lear's p.r. guy??? You really oughta be on the payroll :lol:

Actually, Jussi is sending you the book to see if some of your agency's representees could make a movie script out of it... :)
I wonder who should play the lead.

[SandraDee]

Brad Pitt would make a good Amanda. :o :lol:

[ladyboygrimsby]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Brad Pitt would make a good Amanda. :o :lol:

Or Nadia from Big Brother...

[SandraDee]

Or Dana International!

[markydefad]

Now I haven't seen her in years...but I'm paging Susan Anton!!! that tall drink o' water who usta date Dudley Moore and was "famous" for the first half of the 1980s.

Susie, baby, call us from Branson, Missouri or the trailer park...whatever!!! Re: lead in the "Amanda Lear Story". Never heard o' her?. Well, where do I begin.... she wasn't really a tranny, like we all thought. :P :P :P

Or so those Europeans who worship her, tell me. :roll:

[SandraDee]

Yeh, stop knocking poor Amanda, it took balls to do what she did. Oops sorry, I'll get me coat. :(

[JussiK]

Inspecting the photos taken of Amanda during the late 60's - fab hairdo, dresses by Paco Rabanne - she comes across as a dead ringer of an actress popular today, Halle Berry. The same mouth, the cheekbones, the legs. In a blond wig, Halle would be the perfect lead for the Lear biopic. Brad Pitt? Maybe as Pablo Picasso.

By the way, following the success of Podium, the Claude Francois film, the story of Dalida is now on it's way to the screen. So, Amanda could well be next.

There's more from France, still. The biography of Jean Marc Cerrone is about to hit Le Hune and other bookstores of prestige. Cannot recall the actual title but Amazon.fr should have it soon.

[markydefad]

But Jussi, Halle is half black; Amanda is very white as I recall. OK, Halle could go to Michael Jackson's skin-bleacher, I spose. :P

Remember the famous words of MJ... "I don't matter if you're black or white" :roll:

[Videoskooter]

Originally Posted by JussiK

There's more from France, still. The biography of Jean Marc Cerrone is about to hit Le Hune and other bookstores of prestige. Cannot recall the actual title but Amazon.fr should have it soon.

The book was released in June and it's called, "Cerrone, ...et pourquoi pas la lune?".

It's the story of his life with many photos and a complete discography.

Mon plaisir, mon cher :D

And the movie "Podium" which I haven't seen yet. The soundtrack includes the hit "Alexandrie, Alexandra" but with the vocals of Benoit Van Poelvoorde, the Belgian actor, famous for his leading part in the cult-movie "Man bites dog".

I'm not a big fan of this cover but the B-side of the single contains the instrumental version, remixed by Bob Sinclar and that one is excellent. Slightly touched with great respect for the original recording. Check it out, you won't be disappointed.

[JussiK]

The re-make/re-edit of "Alexandrie.." was heard during the end credits of "Podium" and it sounded fine - if there's an instrumental one has to check it out, naturally. I didn't bother to check the contents of the soundtrack cd since I thought it would be all original Claude stuff which I already have on vinyl, plus incidental non-rhythmic music from the film. When the dvd appears later this year I hear you get a limited edition t-shirt with it.

So the Cerrone book is out already! The dvd of his Olympia concert of the Hysteria tour is also available.