The Last Bohemians

House of Hutch
The Last Bohemians

The Last Bohemians is an award-winning, critically acclaimed podcast that meets maverick and radical women in arts and culture and takes listeners on an evocative trip through their extraordinary lives. From subversive musicians and style icons to game-changing artists, these are women who have lived life on the edge and who still refuse to play by the rules. The series was created in 2019 by host and journalist Kate Hutchinson and is produced by a team of rising women and non-binary talents in audio, with photography by Laura Kelly. Season 1 features Molly Parkin, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Pauline Black and more; Season 2 stars Judy Collins, Gee Vaucher, Zandra Rhodes and P.P. Arnold; Season 3 is with Maggi Hambling, Cleo Sylvestre and Dana Gillespie; Season 4 goes to LA with Angelyne, Gloria Hendry, Linda Ramone, Penny Slinger, Johanna Went and more. In 2020, The Last Bohemians published a lockdown special with performance artist Marina Abramović and the series returns in 2025 with the late Nikki Giovanni. The Last Bohemians has been a podcast of the week in the Guardian, Observer New Review, The Financial Times and on Radio 4. It has been featured in The New Yorker, Frieze, Another, Dazed, Refinery29 and many more. The podcast won silver for Best New Podcast at the British Podcast Awards 2020 and was a finalist for the Grassroots Production Award at the 2021 Audio Production Awards. Follow us at http://www.instagram.com/thelastbohospod. PRAISE FOR THE LAST BOHEMIANS “This series is a delight… Run to this podcast right now”  The Observer "Unusually intimate portraits of spectacular lives… Buoyed by exquisite production, these conversations are atmospheric, contemplative and fabulously candid" Financial Times "A beautifully intimate set of portraits made by an all-female audio team – what more could you ask for to celebrate International Women’s Day?" The Guardian Feisty, heartfelt and bursting with wisdom" NME "A rhapsodic, necessary retelling of trailblazer stories" Dazed thelastbohemians.substack.com

  1. Michéle Lamy: the subversive style shaman on couture, chaos and Kim Kardashian

    21/09/2022

    Michéle Lamy: the subversive style shaman on couture, chaos and Kim Kardashian

    For the final episode of The Last Bohemians: LA, supported by Audio-Technica, we meet French fashion disruptor and true original, Michéle Lamy. She’s been married to the designer Rick Owens, her former pattern cutter, since 2006 and is often referred to as his 'muse'. But Michéle is a chameleonic creative in her own right, forever staging art happenings, musical collaborations and style projects around the world, as well as co-designing the furniture for the Rick Owens line. She’s so in-demand that she’s tricky to track down: we did this interview partly in London, at Claridges in Mayfair, and partly at the Chateau Marmont in LA, the city Michéle lived in for 26 years until the early 2000s. In those days, she was better known as the owner and host of cult Hollywood nightspot Les Deux Cafe, where anyone who’s anyone would dine as Michéle performed smoky jazz numbers in her thick drawl. Now Michéle is more nomadic, splitting her time between Los Angeles and Paris, and attracting beautiful freaks wherever she goes. A gothic style icon (she’s been called a vampire, ageless, the ultimate eccentric…), her signature look is ink-dipped fingers, a line of kohl on her forehead, a voluminous outfit and a cigarette always in her hand. Listen out for her many bangles too, which clank as she speaks!In this hypnotic episode, Michéle talks to us about the influence of French philosopher Gilles Deleuze, her style awakening in the Moroccan desert, how she decides who to collaborate with, her unlikely kinship with Kim Kardashian, why she loves boxing, how she got gold teeth, following her instincts and the importance of “finding your tribe”. That’s it for the LA series but listen out for some bonus episodes very soon.  CREDITSFollow us: instagram.com/thelastbohemianspodPresenter and Exec Producer: Kate HutchinsonEditors: Holly Fisher and Mariana Sousa AguiarAdditional production: Sefa NykiPhotography: Matilda Hill-JenkinsWith thanks to Janet Fischgrund and everyone at OwenscorpAll music by Mara Carlyle with the exception of 'Laman' by Imdukal'N' El Hussain Safir and The Last Bohemians theme music by Pete Cunningham, Ned Pegler and Caradog Jones. ABOUT THE LAST BOHEMIANSJournalist and broadcaster Kate Hutchinson launched The Last Bohemians in 2019, pairing the audio with stunning portraits by photographer Laura Kelly. It featured 86-year-old Molly Parkin’s stories of self-pleasuring, LSD countess Amanda Feilding’s trepanning tales and Pamela Des Barres’ reflections on supergroupiedom. The series won silver for Best New Podcast at the 2020 British Podcast Awards and was a finalist at the 2021 Audio Production Awards.Season two featured folk legend Judy Collins; British fashion icon Zandra Rhodes, dealing with the aftermath of losing her lover while celebrating 50 years in fashion; anarcho-punk innovator and illustrator Gee Vaucher; and the controversial witch at the heart of the 1970s occult boom, Maxine Sanders. In 2021, The Last Bohemians launched a lockdown special with performance artist Marina Abramović; it returned in 2022 with the UK’s greatest living painter, Maggi Hambling, as well as Bowie’s former best friend Dana Gillespie and theatre actor Cleo Sylvestre, and launched an LA series, supported by Audio-Technica. ABOUT AUDIO-TECHNICAIn 1962, with a vision of producing high-quality audio for everyone, Audio-Technica’s founder Hideo Matsushita created the first truly affordable phono cartridge, the AT-1 in Shinjuku, Japan. Since then, Audio-Technica has grown into a world-renowned company devoted to Audio Excellence at every level, expanding the product range to include headphones, microphones and turntables. Audio-Technica’s commitment to the user experience and their devotion to high quality design, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution has placed them at the forefront of the industry for the last 60 years. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelastbohemians.substack.com/subscribe

    26 min
  2. Penny Slinger: the feminist surrealist who was too erotic for the art world

    07/09/2022

    Penny Slinger: the feminist surrealist who was too erotic for the art world

    Penny Slinger was a mover and shaker in Swinging London's art scene – though you might not have heard of her. She went to Chelsea Art School at the height of the Pop Art boom and, inspired by Max Ernst, went on to mix up self-portrait, collage, film and sculpture to create surreal and feminist images that still provoke today. Among these were her “full frontal collages”, including ones where Penny appears inside a wedding cake, the slice between her legs removed. Her 1977 collage masterpiece, An Exorcism, meanwhile, evoked the darkness of the English psyche, stitching together ghoulish images of the countryside, genitals, nuns and manor houses. In the UK, Penny counted the photographer Lee Miller among her friends and, at one point, lived in a turret in Soho, where her boyfriend – the counterculture film-maker Peter Whitehead – kept falcons. How’s that for bohemian! Penny appeared in experimental films and wrote a number of books on themes of sex, mysticism, eroticism and inner goddesses, including groundbreaking books of her collages and poetry, such as 50% The Invisible Woman. But after a solo show in New York in 1982, she abandoned the art world, tired of its sexism and narrow-mindedness. She moved first to the Caribbean, then to Northern California and finally settled in LA. It isn’t until recently that Penny’s work has been rediscovered. In 2009, she was included in the Angels of Anarchy show of female surrealists in Manchester and she was the subject of a 2017 documentary by Richard Kovitch. In this episode of The Last Bohemians: LA, supported by Audio-Technica, Penny covers a range of topics, including her sexual and sensual liberation, finding her voice in a male-dominated art scene, starring in the only feature film directed by a woman in the 1970s, how she hopes to see a retrospective in her lifetime and how desire doesn’t diminish with age... CREDITS Follow us: instagram.com/thelastbohemianspodPresenter: Kate HutchinsonProducer: Holly FisherPhotography: Lisa Jelliffe.With thanks to Zoe Flowers.Theme music: Pete Cunningham, Ned Pegler and Caradog Jones ABOUT AUDIO-TECHNICA In 1962, with a vision of producing high-quality audio for everyone, Audio-Technica’s founder Hideo Matsushita created the first truly affordable phono cartridge, the AT-1 in Shinjuku, Japan. Since then, Audio-Technica has grown into a world-renowned company devoted to Audio Excellence at every level, expanding the product range to include headphones, microphones and turntables. Audio-Technica’s commitment to the user experience and their devotion to high quality design, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution has placed them at the forefront of the industry for the last 60 years. ABOUT THE LAST BOHEMIANS Journalist and broadcaster Kate Hutchinson launched The Last Bohemians in 2019, pairing the audio with stunning portraits by photographer Laura Kelly. It featured 86-year-old Molly Parkin’s stories of self-pleasuring, LSD countess Amanda Feilding’s trepanning tales and Pamela Des Barres’ reflections on supergroupiedom. The series won silver for Best New Podcast at the 2020 British Podcast Awards and was a finalist at the 2021 Audio Production Awards.Season two featured folk legend Judy Collins; British fashion icon Zandra Rhodes, dealing with the aftermath of losing her lover while celebrating 50 years in fashion; anarcho-punk innovator and illustrator Gee Vaucher; and the controversial witch at the heart of the 1970s occult boom, Maxine Sanders. In 2021, The Last Bohemians launched a lockdown special with performance artist Marina Abramović; it returned in 2022 with the UK’s greatest living painter, Maggi Hambling, as well as Bowie’s former best friend Dana Gillespie and theatre actor Cleo Sylvestre, and launched an LA series, supported by Audio-Technica. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelastbohemians.substack.com/subscribe

    41 min
  3. Johanna Went: the cult performance art-punk on feminism, fake blood, embracing ageing and inspiring Lady Gaga

    18/08/2022

    Johanna Went: the cult performance art-punk on feminism, fake blood, embracing ageing and inspiring Lady Gaga

    Speak to anyone from the 1980s punk scene in Los Angeles and they’ll tell you: Johanna Went is an underground legend. While the bands like Black Flag, Fear and X were thrashing out their three chords and the truth, Went would take to the stage at clubs like The Masque, Club Lingerie and Hong Kong Cafe and perform between the live shows. The crowd hadn’t seen anything like it before. She wasn’t a punk musician per se but the “hyena of performance art”, whose transgressive spectacles of New Wave theatre, experimental noise, elaborate and crude costumes, chaotic rituals, and gory props like pig heads and fake blood – lots of blood – built a cult following and predated Lady Gaga’s meat dress and Peaches' raucous stage antics and costumes by decades. Johanna’s shows were wild, depraved and often grotesque, boldly taking on themes like female pleasure and menstruation. Take her 1988 performance Passion Container, in which she pulled giant bloodied tampons out of a silk vagina and chucked them into the crowd – this was pre-riot grrrl and before L7’s legendary tampon-flinging performance at Reading Festival in 1992.  Many aren’t sure where Johanna Went went but The Last Bohemians: LA, supported by Audio-Technica, found her living a quieter life, in the beach town of Ventura, California. Across her garden table, she looks back at her transgressive work and talks about the magic of the 1980s punk scene, growing up an outsider, the beauty of performance art and why embracing ageing is the punkest move of all. CREDITS Presenter and Exec-Producer: Kate Hutchinson Editor: Georgie Rogers Additional production: Holly Fisher Mixing and mastering: Mariana Sousa Aguiar Photography: Kate Hutchinson With thanks to Sarah Cooper at the Getty, Alice Bag, Mara Carlyle and all at Erased Tapes. MUSIC Theme music: Pete Cunningham, Ned Pegler and Caradog Jones Piano Scapes 3  Written and performed by Qasim Naqvi Courtesy of Erased Tapes Angelus Novus Written by Saki Sugimoto Performed by Hatis Noit Courtesy of Erased Tapes Away With These Self-Loving Lads (Instrumental) - Mara Carlyle Pearl (Instrumental) - Mara Carlyle  Bowlface en Provence (Instrumental) - Mara Carlyle Bonding (Instrumental) - Mara Carlyle Nerveskade - Sickhead Apache Tomcat - Alright Rock N Roll FURTHER READING/LISTENING X-Trax Hyperallergic ArtForum Bandcamp ABOUT AUDIO-TECHNICA In 1962, with a vision of producing high-quality audio for everyone, Audio-Technica’s founder Hideo Matsushita created the first truly affordable phono cartridge, the AT-1 in Shinjuku, Japan. Since then, Audio-Technica has grown into a world-renowned company devoted to Audio Excellence at every level, expanding the product range to include headphones, microphones and turntables. Audio-Technica’s commitment to the user experience and their devotion to high quality design, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution has placed them at the forefront of the industry for the last 60 years. ABOUT THE LAST BOHEMIANS Journalist and broadcaster Kate Hutchinson launched The Last Bohemians in 2019, pairing the audio with stunning portraits by photographer Laura Kelly. It featured 86-year-old Molly Parkin’s stories of self-pleasuring, LSD countess Amanda Feilding’s trepanning tales and Pamela Des Barres’ reflections on supergroupiedom. The series won silver for Best New Podcast at the 2020 British Podcast Awards and was a finalist at the 2021 Audio Production Awards. Season two featured folk legend Judy Collins; British fashion icon Zandra Rhodes, dealing with the aftermath of losing her lover while celebrating 50 years in fashion; anarcho-punk innovator and illustrator Gee Vaucher; and the controversial witch at the heart of the 1970s occult boom, Maxine Sanders. In 2021, The Last Bohemians launched a lockdown special with performance artist Marina Abramović; it returned in 2022 with the UK’s greatest living painter, Maggi Hambling, as well as Bowie’s former best friend Dana Gillespie and theatre actor Cleo Sylvestre, and launched an LA series, supported by Audio-Technica, in summer. thelastbohemians.co.uk patreon.com/thelastbohemians instagram.com/thelastbohemianspod twitter.com/thelastbohospod  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelastbohemians.substack.com/subscribe

    35 min
  4. Lynn Castle: LA's first lady barber on Elvis, the LSD-soaked Sixties and her secret music career

    11/08/2022

    Lynn Castle: LA's first lady barber on Elvis, the LSD-soaked Sixties and her secret music career

    In the north of Los Angeles, in a neighbourhood called Glendale, an unassuming bungalow is home to one of the first women in Hollywood to cut men’s hair. Today she goes by the glitziest of names, Madelynn von Ritz, but back in the 60s she was called Lynn Castle and hung out with key people of the era, lopping off Jim Morrison, the Byrds, Sonny Bono and Neil Young's locks. She was also a secret musician. But despite her childhood friends being musical svengalis like Phil Spector – who she once dated – as well as Jack Nietzcshe and Lee Hazlewood, it took her a while to reveal her talent. Eventually, however, she cut a number of intimate, melancholy demos in the hazy 60s with Hazlewood, who later famously teamed up with Nancy Sinatra and helped define the decade’s psychedelic sound. Lynn is now 83 (going on 53!) and still writes music to this day, with a home studio tucked in the corner of her living room. Those old demos, meanwhile, were found by the label Light in the Attic and reissued as Rose Coloured Corner in 2017 – an album 50 years in the making – including her signature song, pop gem The Lady Barber.  In this episode of The Last Bohemians: LA, supported by Audio-Technica, Lynn discusses her 'friendship' with Elvis, her series of almost-famous moments with Bob Dylan and the Stones, her positive outlook and life, and unexpectedly digs out letters from an old flame... CREDITS Presenter/Exec-Producer: Kate Hutchinson Producer: Holly Fisher Photography: Lisa Jelliffe Theme music: Pete Cunningham, Ned Pegler and Caradog Jones With thanks to Light in the Attic Records. MUSIC Lynn Castle - Caroline Gary War - Bounce Four Gary War - Clouds That Went Away Philippa Dowding and Allister Thompson - Sequinned Mountain Ladies Ketsa - Another Day Dez Moran - August Events Psuche - Dance Dance Don Syke - Desert Blues Peter Crosby - Had To Move On Mara Carlyle - Nuzzle ABOUT AUDIO-TECHNICA In 1962, with a vision of producing high-quality audio for everyone, Audio-Technica’s founder Hideo Matsushita created the first truly affordable phono cartridge, the AT-1 in Shinjuku, Japan. Since then, Audio-Technica has grown into a world-renowned company devoted to Audio Excellence at every level, expanding the product range to include headphones, microphones and turntables. Audio-Technica’s commitment to the user experience and their devotion to high quality design, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution has placed them at the forefront of the industry for the last 60 years. ABOUT THE LAST BOHEMIANS Journalist and broadcaster Kate Hutchinson launched The Last Bohemians in 2019, pairing the audio with stunning portraits by photographer Laura Kelly. It stole hearts with 86-year-old Molly Parkin’s stories of self-pleasuring, LSD countess Amanda Feilding’s trepanning tales and Pamela Des Barres’ reflections on supergroupiedom. It won silver for Best New Podcast at the 2020 British Podcast Awards and was a finalist at the 2021 Audio Production Awards. Series two featured folk legend Judy Collins; British fashion icon Zandra Rhodes, dealing with the aftermath of losing her lover while celebrating 50 years in fashion; anarcho-punk innovator and illustrator Gee Vaucher; and the controversial witch at the heart of the 1970s occult boom, Maxine Sanders. In 2021, The Last Bohemians launched a lockdown special with performance artist Marina Abramović; it returned in 2022 with the UK’s greatest living painter, Maggi Hambling, as well as Bowie’s former best friend Dana Gillespie and theatre actor Cleo Sylvestre. thelastbohemians.co.uk patreon.com/thelastbohemians instagram.com/thelastbohemianspod twitter.com/thelastbohospod  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelastbohemians.substack.com/subscribe

    45 min
  5. Betye Saar, Alison Saar and Maddy Leeser on creativity, mysticism and motherhood

    03/08/2022

    Betye Saar, Alison Saar and Maddy Leeser on creativity, mysticism and motherhood

    Our LA series, supported by Audio-Technica, returns this week with a Last Bohemians first: in a very special episode, we speak to three generations of an American artistic dynasty up in the leafy hills of Laurel Canyon: the incredible Betye Saar, her daughter Alison Saar and and granddaughter Maddy Leeser. Betye Saar, 96 (she was 95 at the time of making this podcast), is a revered assemblage, collage and installation artist, known for her use of found objects, and was part of both the Black Arts and feminist art movements in 1960s and 70s California. Her best known works include 1969’s Black Girl's Window, which incorporates elements of mysticism and brings to mind the current #BlackGirlMagic movement, and 1972’s The Liberation of Aunt Jemima, a piece of art that confronted racist and cultural stereotypes. The latter was so revolutionary, said the Guardian, “that the activist and scholar Angela Davis credited it with launching the Black women’s movement.” Betye is currently experiencing something of a renaissance, underlined by recent, pre-pandemic solo shows at MOMA in New York and its LA equivalent, LACMA. She still makes art every day. But, as Harper’s Bazaar recently said, her proudest legacy is her family. We sit around the table and share tea and biscuits not only with Betye but with Alison Saar, 66, one of her three daughters, who started out by working with her father, Richard Saar, in his ceramics studio. A breathtaking sculptor whose work spans four decades, Alison’s pieces often take the form of female figures. They explore different takes on African-African experiences, and the idea of history repeating, often made in response to events and themes like Hurricane Katrina and the AIDS crisis, the menopause and mythology. And we are also joined by Alison’s daughter Maddy Inez Leeser, 28, who makes stunning ceramics inspired by the natural world. The phrase “generational magic” really jumps out during this conversation, as the three women discuss motherhood and creativity, making art out of the everyday, being a mixed race family and the importance of exploring their African-American heritage, and the life and career advice that has been passed down from generation to generation. It was such a privilege to join them one afternoon at Alison’s house in LA. We hope you enjoy hearing their gorgeous slice of life among the birdsong and car beeps. CREDITS Presenter/Exec-Producer: Kate Hutchinson Producers: Sue Merlino and Holly Fisher Additional production: Will Horrocks Theme music: Pete Cunningham, Ned Pegler and Caradog Jones With thanks to: The Saar family, Emma Haru, Lisa Jann, Kimberly David, Lauren Graber and Julie at Roberts Projects LA, and Bobby Lee and Ali at Warm Music for generously donating us the track Walking With Trees. ABOUT AUDIO-TECHNICA In 1962, with a vision of producing high-quality audio for everyone, Audio-Technica’s founder Hideo Matsushita created the first truly affordable phono cartridge, the AT-1 in Shinjuku, Japan. Since then, Audio-Technica has grown into a world-renowned company devoted to Audio Excellence at every level, expanding the product range to include headphones, microphones and turntables. Audio-Technica’s commitment to the user experience and their devotion to high quality design, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution has placed them at the forefront of the industry for the last 60 years. ABOUT THE LAST BOHEMIANS Journalist and broadcaster Kate Hutchinson launched The Last Bohemians in 2019, pairing the audio with stunning portraits by photographer Laura Kelly. It stole hearts with 86-year-old Molly Parkin’s stories of self-pleasuring, LSD countess Amanda Feilding’s trepanning tales and Pamela Des Barres’ reflections on supergroupiedom. It won silver for Best New Podcast at the 2020 British Podcast Awards and was a finalist at the 2021 Audio Production Awards. Series two featured folk legend Judy Collins; British fashion icon Zandra Rhodes, dealing with the aftermath of losing her lover while celebrating 50 years in fashion; anarcho-punk innovator and illustrator Gee Vaucher; and the controversial witch at the heart of the 1970s occult boom, Maxine Sanders. In 2021, The Last Bohemians launched a lockdown special with performance artist Marina Abramović; it returned in 2022 with the UK’s greatest living painter, Maggi Hambling, as well as Bowie’s former best friend Dana Gillespie and theatre actor Cleo Sylvestre. thelastbohemians.co.uk patreon.com/thelastbohemians instagram.com/thelastbohemianspod twitter.com/thelastbohospod  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelastbohemians.substack.com/subscribe

    46 min
  6. 20/07/2022

    Linda Ramone: the NYC punk in LA on love triangles, legacies and keeping rock'n'roll alive

    The Last Bohemians returns with a brand new series set in Tinseltown, supported by Audio-Technica. From forgotten feminist artists to Sunset Strip sexpots and from punk performers to subversive style disruptors (and one Californian arts dynasty!): these are some of the most maverick women in LA, whose stories each say something different about the city. In episode two, Team TLB head up to the valley and to the incredible home of Linda Ramone, wife of the late Johnny Ramone – guitarist in one the greatest punk bands there ever was – and custodian of the Linda and Johnny Ramone Ranch, a paradise of countercultural curios, movie memorabilia and Elvis collectables. Over a morning aperitif, Linda talks about growing up with NYC punk, dating bandmates and younger men, what Lisa-Marie Presley thinks of her themed Elvis room, the importance of fandom, her musical obsessions, how she maintains rock’n’roll’s legacy and the best way to silence your critics. CREDITS Presenter/exec producer: Kate Hutchinson Editor: Georgie Rogers Recording and additional production: Holly Fisher Additional production: Colour It In. Photography: Lisa Jelliffe With thanks to Nancy Sinatra. MUSIC Theme music: Pete Cunningham, Ned Pegler and Caradog Jones Diamondsnake - Rock n Roll Dream Pudge - ABCD X_________X - Black Leather Rock Kathleen Martin - Play on Words (Doo Wop You Do To Me) Overnight Lows - Slitwrist Rock N' Roll Apache Tomcat - Alright Rock N' Roll Elvis Depressedly - Rock N Roll The Whips - Rock N Roll Dance HoliznaCCO - House of the Rising Sun ABOUT AUDIO-TECHNICA In 1962, with a vision of producing high-quality audio for everyone, Audio-Technica’s founder Hideo Matsushita created the first truly affordable phono cartridge, the AT-1 in Shinjuku, Japan. Since then, Audio-Technica has grown into a world-renowned company devoted to Audio Excellence at every level, expanding the product range to include headphones, microphones and turntables. Audio-Technica’s commitment to the user experience and their devotion to high quality design, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution has placed them at the forefront of the industry for the last 60 years. ABOUT THE LAST BOHEMIANS Journalist and broadcaster Kate Hutchinson launched The Last Bohemians in 2019, pairing the audio with stunning portraits by photographer Laura Kelly. It stole hearts with 86-year-old Molly Parkin’s stories of self-pleasuring, LSD countess Amanda Feilding’s trepanning tales and Pamela Des Barres’ reflections on supergroupiedom. It won silver for Best New Podcast at the 2020 British Podcast Awards and was a finalist at the 2021 Audio Production Awards.  Series two featured folk legend Judy Collins; British fashion icon Zandra Rhodes, dealing with the aftermath of losing her lover while celebrating 50 years in fashion; anarcho-punk innovator and illustrator Gee Vaucher; and the controversial witch at the heart of the 1970s occult boom, Maxine Sanders. In 2021, The Last Bohemians launched a lockdown special with performance artist Marina Abramović; it returned in 2022 with the UK’s greatest living painter, Maggi Hambling, as well as Bowie’s former best friend Dana Gillespie and theatre actor Cleo Sylvestre. thelastbohemians.co.uk patreon.com/thelastbohemians instagram.com/thelastbohemianspod  twitter.com/thelastbohospod  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelastbohemians.substack.com/subscribe

    31 min
  7. 20/07/2022

    Gloria Hendry: the Live and Let Die star on Bond, Playboy Bunnies and the blaxploitation era

    The Last Bohemians returns with a brand new series set in Tinseltown, supported by Audio-Technica. From forgotten feminist artists to Sunset Strip sexpots and from punk performers to subversive style disruptors (and one Californian arts dynasty!): these are some of the most maverick women in LA, whose stories each say something different about the city. Episode two is with 1970s Bond Girl, Gloria Hendry. She made film history when she snogged 007 in Live and Let Die, becoming Bond's first Black love interest. She took on edgy roles in what were known as blaxploitation films, like Black Caesar and Hell Up in Harlem. And before that, she became a Playboy Bunny in 1960s New York at the same time as training as a legal secretary, right when the Civil Rights Movement was bubbling up around her. She's a total trailblazer, whose life story takes us from a broken home in New Jersey to the glitzy casinos of New York, via a film audition with Roger Moore in New Orleans. She remembers filming Bond, her raunchy scenes from what she calls the “Black renaissance” in cinema, how her life unravelled and how California helped get her back on her feet, what the Playboy Club taught her about life, why she stays in shape and how she paved the way for Black women in film. If you want more, do check out her recent memoir, GLORIA, which is filled with incredible Playboy photographs of her from the 1970s and some abs to die for. Trigger warning: this episode contains themes of abuse and suicide towards the beginning. CREDITS Presenter/exec producer: Kate Hutchinson Editor: Georgie Rogers Recording and additional production: Holly Fisher Photography: Lisa Jelliffe With thanks to Anders Frejdh, Dan Moss @ Colour It In, Mr & Mrs Smith. MUSIC Theme music: Pete Cunningham, Ned Pegler and Caradog Jones Lobo Loco - Little Caesar of the Boulevard Juanitos - Do The Kangaroo Dee-Yan Kee? - Sunday Morning HoliznaCCO - Laundry On The Wire Nuisance - Qanisqineq (Instrumental) U.S Army Blues - Oginiland ABOUT AUDIO-TECHNICA In 1962, with a vision of producing high-quality audio for everyone, Audio-Technica’s founder Hideo Matsushita created the first truly affordable phono cartridge, the AT-1 in Shinjuku, Japan. Since then, Audio-Technica has grown into a world-renowned company devoted to Audio Excellence at every level, expanding the product range to include headphones, microphones and turntables. Audio-Technica’s commitment to the user experience and their devotion to high quality design, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution has placed them at the forefront of the industry for the last 60 years. ABOUT THE LAST BOHEMIANS Journalist and broadcaster Kate Hutchinson launched The Last Bohemians in 2019, pairing the audio with stunning portraits by photographer Laura Kelly. It stole hearts with 86-year-old Molly Parkin’s stories of self-pleasuring, LSD countess Amanda Feilding’s trepanning tales and Pamela Des Barres’ reflections on supergroupiedom. It won silver for Best New Podcast at the 2020 British Podcast Awards and was a finalist at the 2021 Audio Production Awards.  Series two featured folk legend Judy Collins; British fashion icon Zandra Rhodes, dealing with the aftermath of losing her lover while celebrating 50 years in fashion; anarcho-punk innovator and illustrator Gee Vaucher; and the controversial witch at the heart of the 1970s occult boom, Maxine Sanders. In 2021, The Last Bohemians launched a lockdown special with performance artist Marina Abramović; it returned in 2022 with the UK’s greatest living painter, Maggi Hambling, as well as Bowie’s former best friend Dana Gillespie and theatre actor Cleo Sylvestre. thelastbohemians.co.uk patreon.com/thelastbohemians instagram.com/thelastbohemianspod  twitter.com/thelastbohospod  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelastbohemians.substack.com/subscribe

    32 min

Trailers

About

The Last Bohemians is an award-winning, critically acclaimed podcast that meets maverick and radical women in arts and culture and takes listeners on an evocative trip through their extraordinary lives. From subversive musicians and style icons to game-changing artists, these are women who have lived life on the edge and who still refuse to play by the rules. The series was created in 2019 by host and journalist Kate Hutchinson and is produced by a team of rising women and non-binary talents in audio, with photography by Laura Kelly. Season 1 features Molly Parkin, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Pauline Black and more; Season 2 stars Judy Collins, Gee Vaucher, Zandra Rhodes and P.P. Arnold; Season 3 is with Maggi Hambling, Cleo Sylvestre and Dana Gillespie; Season 4 goes to LA with Angelyne, Gloria Hendry, Linda Ramone, Penny Slinger, Johanna Went and more. In 2020, The Last Bohemians published a lockdown special with performance artist Marina Abramović and the series returns in 2025 with the late Nikki Giovanni. The Last Bohemians has been a podcast of the week in the Guardian, Observer New Review, The Financial Times and on Radio 4. It has been featured in The New Yorker, Frieze, Another, Dazed, Refinery29 and many more. The podcast won silver for Best New Podcast at the British Podcast Awards 2020 and was a finalist for the Grassroots Production Award at the 2021 Audio Production Awards. Follow us at http://www.instagram.com/thelastbohospod. PRAISE FOR THE LAST BOHEMIANS “This series is a delight… Run to this podcast right now”  The Observer "Unusually intimate portraits of spectacular lives… Buoyed by exquisite production, these conversations are atmospheric, contemplative and fabulously candid" Financial Times "A beautifully intimate set of portraits made by an all-female audio team – what more could you ask for to celebrate International Women’s Day?" The Guardian Feisty, heartfelt and bursting with wisdom" NME "A rhapsodic, necessary retelling of trailblazer stories" Dazed thelastbohemians.substack.com

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