Belinda Carlisle

This photo of Belinda Carlisle with the cut-out of Elvis Costello is one of my “greatest hits.” Next to The Cramps band portrait in the Tropicana, this is the image viewers and readers of my blogs, and attendees of my exhibits like best.

While early punk wanted to have a dress code, those of us who got punked in Hollywood had a whole different approach to fashion - any fashion trend was based on what we could thrift around town. Hollywood’s and Beverly Hills’s cast-offs at the Goodwill and church rummage sales were designer clothes, gently worn by a population who didn’t want to be seen and photographed in the same outfit twice. And then in Hollywood itself, the center of the smoke & mirrors industry - there were places you could get discarded movie costumes - OH THE GLAMOUR! That and our built-in noir sensibility gave Hollywood punks their unique look, and Belinda was on the leading edge.

Belinda and our girl gang - which included Lorna Doom, Pleasant Gehman, and Wyline (Rosemarie Patronette) - were the Hollywood Punk It Girls. Whatever fashion move they made, everyone followed.

It was a regular thing for Belinda, Pleasant and me to hit the Strip and take pictures as if they were Hollywood ingenues posing for publicity stills. Better yet, if we found a dramatic or cinematic scene, we’d make an image for Fucked Up Film Stills. We were doing Cindy Sherman precisely concurrent to Cindy Sherman’s iconic Untitled Film Stills work featuring herself.

In a couple rolls of Fucked Up Film Stills, Belinda is wearing a Norma Kamali style tunic, leggings, kitten heel pumps, and carried a real Christian Dior logo handbag. That’s no knock-off and no Beverly Hills All Saints Church Rummage Sale find. That’s a real Dior Belinda worked hard to buy.

Belinda’s work ethic was as strong as her concert-going ethic. When Belinda and Lorna were camped out at the Famous Lobotomy apartment before they found a place at the Canterbury, I remember Belinda working an office job at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel. It’s at the intersection of Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevards in Beverly Hills, and there was a short cut through the hotel entrance to Century City, which lead to the flats of Beverly Hills, which is where Pleasant lived with her mom, sisters and brother.

If you are a regular reader of this feed, you know how deeply devoted we all were to The Cramps. I found this picture of The Cramps performing at the Whisky a GoGo and noticed Belinda right up front. That was her usual spot. In fact, we traded messages on Instagram a few days ago when she reposted a picture of herself right up against the stage at a Weirdos show.

When rockabilly gained traction within the punk crowd, it was Belinda and Pleasant, Wyline and hairdresser-to-the-punk-stars, the late Connie Clarksville who led the charge. Both Belinda and Pleasant were dating guys who played in The Blasters. Pleasant eventually formed two rockabilly bands - The Screamin’ Sirens and the satirical Honk If Yer Horny.

What we all knew back then, in the clubs and on the streets was that punk and rockabilly were kindred spirits. Are The Stray Cats punk? Yes. Are they rockabilly? Yes. Same with The Blasters. Punk embraced them and their energy. X, the band, also had one foot firmly in each genre.

If you saw The GoGo’s documentary, directed by Allison Ellwood, you saw this image. (It was also part of their induction film at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony) I shot it from the balcony at the Starwood. The Dickies were performing, and Belinda was showing her support from the very front of the stage. At the time, she and Dickies drummer Karlos Kabbalero were a couple.

I could be writing this post for DAYS just telling the story behind each photo Belinda and I have made together - but I’m going to stop here, and leave you with one last image, which coincidentally is the final frame of a short film we’re working on. Belinda and Pleasant on camera and me behind it are a Girl Gang still. They are the face of a unique moment in time. And right now is the moment to wish Belinda a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY.