Hangin' With Howard Carter

Sheik Hussein abd-er Rassul in 1999

holding a photo of him, as a boy in 1922, wearing Tutankhamen's Scarab Necklace

On my earliest trips to Egypt, I lived on the West Bank in Luxor and was a regular at the Ramesseum Resthouse, a comfortable lunchtime oasis located directly opposite Rameses 11's Mortuary  Temple, the Ramesseum. At the time, the Resthouse proprietor was an old gentleman Sheik Hussein, an original from the Qurna Village which nestled in the foothills of the Tombs of the Nobles. 

The Sheik was a descendant of the Rassul family and it was his infamous uncles who found the famous cache of Pharaoh's mummies at Deir el-Bahari. In 1874, the three Rassul brothers found the royal mummies of virtually every 18th dynasty pharaoh in a tomb shaft, where they had been hidden from marauding grave-robbers thousands of years before. Their find was only discovered after precious items from the mummies started to turn up on the illegal antiquities market some time after.

For some reason Sheik Hussein took a shine to me and I was invited to stay at his house, meet his family and enjoy many meals and social occasions in their company. I am still good friends with his sons and their families.

Sheik Hussein had a million stories but my favourite was his description of being present at the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in the Kings Valley in 1922. As a 12 year old he was working, as a house-boy, in Howard Carter's house, which is located on the entrance road to the Valley and he often told me how Carter would bring pieces home to photograph, in a studio they had set up in the house.

Tutankhamen's Pectoral Scarab Necklace, now in the Cairo Museum collection

This led to to him showing me a prized photo of him wearing one of Tutankhamen's iconic Scarab necklaces. The Sheik had many other stories about Howard Carter and what life was like back then, some more believable than others, but all were very entertaining.

Howard Carter in 1930

Sadly Sheik Hussein passed on eventually taking all those memories with him. When he died the abandoned Carter house had been securely closed for many years and almost in a effort to collaborate his stories I went to the derelict house one evening and persuaded the guardian to let me in for as few minutes. Sure enough it was all there exactly as the Sheik had described. I felt guilty at ever having doubted him.

Not long after, at a New Years Eve function,  I was talking to a Tourism minister and suggested they should restore the Carter house as it was back then and the obvious attraction it would be for tourists. I'm sure I was not the first person to have such an idea, but I took some satisfaction from attending the official opening of the restored Carter Dig House last year.

Carter's Office in his King's Valley Dig House

Of even greater interest was the bedroom quarters of Lord Carnarvon, Carter's benefactor. I can't imagine how the Lord adjusted to such spartan conditions after being accustomed to the grand proportions of Highclere Castle, his magnificent home in Scotland. [recently featured in the television series Downton Abbey.]

Lord Carnarvon's Bedroom in the Carter Dig House

Bolan Boogie

Marc Bolan - Glam Rock Never Looked So Good

Even though he invented the "Glam" genre, Marc Bolan was a lot more than our perception of the typical Glam Rocker. He was a self-made pop icon. He was a superstar with his band T-Rex. Best of all his music is timeless. T-Rex transcends all music genres. T-Rex is still fresh. T-Rex still has grunt.

Marc Bolan [Mark Feld] was born 30th September, 1947 in East London. At the age of 9 he was given a guitar and in 1959 formed a skiffle band called Suzie and the Hula-Hoops, with a female vocalist - 12 year old Helen Shapiro. He left school at 14, claiming they didn't teach him the things he wanted to know. He was signed to a management contract by Allan Warren. Six months later Warren "sold" the contract to property mogul David Kirch for 200 pounds, in lieu of 3 months unpaid rent.

Undeterred by such a inglorious start, Marc bounced around making demos and formed a band called Tyrannosaurus Rex. But it wasn't until 1969 when he was noticed by producer Tony Visconti that it all came together for him. In 1970 he released Ride a White Swan. He expanded his line-up to a quartet and called the band T-Rex, following up with recording songs Hot Love and Get It On, which reached Number 10 in the U.S. charts.

"Bolan likes to rock now. Yes he does yes he does."

In November 1971, T-Rex signed with EMI and recorded Telegram Sam and Metal Guru, both topping the U.K. charts, followed by Children of the Revolution which reached Number Two. Although no T-Rex single ever became a million-seller, in 1972 their record sales accounted for 6% of total British record sales, selling a massive 100,000 records a day.

"Metal Guru has it been

Just like a silver-studded sabre-tooth dream."

Some say Marc Bolan and T-Rex did not reach their full potential. However two of his albums T-Rex The Slider and Bolan Boogie are still regarded as epitomising the "Sound of the Seventies."

And Marc's unique guitar sound was highly admired, imitated and sought after. Ringo Starr asked him to play on his Ringo album and Marc played on Ike and Tina Turner's Nutbush City Limits.

Marc mostly played on Gibson Les Paul guitars and occasionally picked up a black Gibson Flying V and who can forget his Veleno all aluminium guitar, which was in the Hard Rock Cafe Sydney collection and on the wall before the venue closed in 2009.

"What can I do. We just live in a zoo.

All I do is play the spaceball ricochet."

On September 16th, 1977, Marc had dinner at Morton's Club in London with his love Gloria Jones, with who he had a two year old son Rolan. Marc did not drive, so after a few drinks, at about 4am, Gloria and Marc climbed into her purple Mini GT and Gloria drove them home. On the way, travelling on Queens Ride, South London, Gloria lost control in thick fog, the car left the road and hit a tree. The impact was all on the passenger side and Marc was killed. A genius lost.

Marc's funeral was attended by Rod Stewart, Elton John and David Bowie. His ashes were scattered under a bush in the Keats Rose Bed, at Golders Green.

"And when I'm sad

I slide

Watch me now I'm gonna slide."

Sphinx Avenue of the Gods

 Once again basking in the Egyptian sun after 3,000 years buried under the sand

3,500 years ago when the Egyptian city of Luxor was known as Thebes, the female pharaoh of the day, Hapshepsut  [1502-1482 BC] built a ceremonial avenue between the ancient temple complex at Karnak and the now Temple of Luxor. The 18th dynasty Queen Hapshepsut lined the 2,700 metre long avenue with over 600 Sphinx statues on plinths, all with faces fashioned to her likeness.

100 years later, the boy king Tutankhamen, who was renovating the Luxor Temple, continuing the work started by his grand-father Amenhophis 111, also renovated the Sphinx Avenue by paving its way with sparkling white alabaster. Tutankhamen then re-dedicated the Sphinxes and staged another opening ceremony to coincide with the annual Ophet Festival.

In what must have been an amazing spectacle, Tutankhamen and his entourage paraded the full length of the Sphinx Avenue, strewn with garlands of flowers for the occasion.

Twelve dynasties later, Pharaoh Nectanebo 1 rebuilt the Avenue and replaced the sphinxes to carry his likeness. He also added temples and rest stops along the way and re-dedicated the strip with great ceremony.

The Avenue of Sphinxes. Work continues to be ready for October 2011. 

Sadly, however, over the next 2,000 years the Avenue was lost. The Greco-Romans cleared a section of the area, building wine factories and workshops using the paving stones as materials. Then centuries of  encroaching sand gradually buried what was left. Medieval squatters built houses over the top, some using the Sphinx sandstone blocks as foundation stones and streets constructed to criss-cross the area.

Ten years ago the Luxor Governornate embarked on an ambitious and highly controversial plan to convert the city of Luxor into the world's greatest Open Air Museum. Built up areas around all temples and sites were to be cleared and Luxor was to be restored to look like it did in Ancient times.

The plan called for the mass demolition of historically significant 18th and 19th century era residential housing, every major street widened and thousands of people to be compensated and relocated. Entire villages were torn down. People were forced out of houses their descendants had occupied for generations and the compensation paid did not allow them to re-settle into suitable alternate situations.

Excavating the Sphinx Avenue seemed an impossible task as it lay under one of the most densely populated areas. The main road to the airport ran parallel for a distance and more importantly a very old mosque had to be re-located. And the archeologists were not sure what they would find. Fortunately, after the houses were cleared and they sand removed, they discovered the remnants of enough sphinxes to make restoration worthwhile. Some were complete, some sawn into blocks and able to be resurrected, others destroyed with just the plinths remaining.

The end result will be worth it - if you prefer history presented as a "theme park" The local egyptians who paid the price don't think so and neither do the regular visitors to Luxor who liked the "quaint" vibrant village life that gave the city a soul.

The good news is the restored Sphinx Avenue is scheduled to be completed in October this year. An amazing feat and a wonderful sight to see the statues exposed after all this time. I for one cannot wait to make the walk from Luxor to the Karnak in the footsteps of the ancients. 

Nanjing - City of Life and Death

Historical images of breathtaking yet unspeakable horror you need to see

Nanjing Nanjing - City of Life and Death is a film made in 2009 by director Chuan Lu. It documents the Rape of Nanking in 1937, when the Japanese Imperial Army swept into China wreaking unprecedented atrocities, mutilations and sexual assaults on Chinese civilians. In this masterpiece, director Chuan Lu recreates groundbreaking scenes in a heartbreaking context unlike anything seen in other films of this "holocaust" genre, such as The Pianist, Schindler's List or Defiance.

The shambolic, cruel and opportunistic Japanese invaders

Shot in black and white, Chuan Lu cleverly adjusts the grain and grading of the film for maximum impact. Sometimes it drifts into sepia for warmth but never colour as if not to glorify the horror.

This is not Chinese propaganda. It is not an account of efficient, organised genocide as perpetrated by the Nazis. Its a factual account of cold, arbitrary murder with a vengeance that could only be mustered after drawing on generations of hate, jealousy and retribution. The Japanese soldiers are portrayed as erratic, unreasonable, undisciplined and mentally unstable. There is no honour in war here.

Xiaodouzi [Bin Lui] the young survivor who keeps us optimistic when all seems lost

Throughout history every nationality, especially the Chinese, have had their own shameful episodes of cruelty they inflicted on their "enemies', but in this case you cannot help but sympathise with the plight of these hapless, helpless peasants and the ferocity of the intent the Japanese have to annihilate them.

Before watching this film I only had high school history exposure to the events that took place in Nanking. But now after seeing it I feel we all should be more aware of this tragedy. Almost like we owe it to those that died and those that survived. Especially the women who were forced to "comfort" Japanese soldiers on an industrial scale. Many of these comfort women were Korean POW's and some are still alive today. Still fighting the Japanese government for recognition and compensation for their suffering.

I see a lot of movies, but rarely have I been so moved and emotionally involved as when I saw Nanjing Nanjing. Full credit to Chuan Lu for his achievement and his contribution. I urge you to seek out this movie on DVD and add it to your collection. It deserves to be there.

Golden Breed's Keep Your Balance

the Golden Breed say

Keep Your Balance

Keep Your Balance was the last Golden Breed poster in the series. It represented a yin and yang approach to the temptations and attractions presented to the youth of the day. The artwork is exquisite and shows our young protagonist stepping from the dark side, wearing his Golden Breed striped polo.

By 1978, the Lizard Feathers consultancy was morphing into sports marketing activities, on behalf of a small group of youth-orientated companies like South Australian sportswear manufacturer Golden Breed. In three years Golden Breed had grown into a major lifestyle brand with an enviable grass-roots image that kids wanted to wear.

Now that Golden Breed had an established image we moved onto creating activities that kids wanted to be a part of. Together we created and sponsored action events like Skateboard Expression Sessions, Junior Surfing contests and Motocross events that wrote the rules of how extreme sports are marketed today.

The Golden Breed posters kept coming but from here were more focussed on promoting the sponsored events.

art by Richard Zaloudek.

Sal Mineo The SwitchBlade Kid

Sal Mineo - "The Switchblade Kid"

Born of Sicilian emigrant parents in Harlem in 1939, Sal Mineo spent his early years running with the local tough Bronx street gangs. By the age of 8 he was thrown out of parochial school, so his mother enrolled him in acting and dancing classes. In 1950 he excelled in his first stage appearance, The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams and starring Maureen Stapleton and Eli Wallach. He also played a young prince opposite Yul Brynner in The King and I, and later, a young boy in Tony Curtis's Six Bridges To Cross.

From the Bronx to Hollywood

After a few lesser films his breakthrough was Rebel Without A Cause [1955], in which he gave an impressive performance as a gay teen smitten with James Dean's character, a role that saw him nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award.

In Rebel Without A Cause, the interaction between Jimmy Dean and sixteen year old Sal Mineo scandalised a homophobic Hollywood. These magic moments set fire to a rumour mill that is still burning 56 years later. They also gave hope and hero-worship to millions of confused misunderstood teens who no longer wanted to live between the straight lines drawn by previous generations.

James Dean's Jim Stark and Sal Mineo's Plato Crawford in Rebel Without A Cause

James Dean and Sal were briefly re-united in Giant [1956], when Sal appeared in a few scenes with Jimmy, Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. But shortly after James Dean was killed in a car accident. Sal Mineo was devastated and turned to Natalie Wood, another member of their "brat pack," in a very public display of confused sexuality.

Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood

But Natalie, who had also received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her work on Rebel Without A Cause, quickly moved on as she developed into one of the most beautiful women ever to grace the big screens in Hollywood.

Looking like a real Sicilian, Sal steps out in Hollywood

Sal Mineo's other stand-out performance was in Exodus [1960], earning him another Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role as Dov Landau, a Jewish holocaust survivor, who wants to join a radical Zionists underground network after the war. He is accepted into the group when Dov finally admits he was a Sonderkommando in Auschwitz and raped by the Nazis.

Sal had a reputation for getting way too close to his movie co-stars including James Dean and director Nicholas Ray in Rebel Without A Cause and Exodus co-star Jill Haworth, who was 15 years old at the time. They went on to have a long affair which confused the gossip media and casting agents.

Even though Sal Mineo appeared in dozens of other films including The Longest Day, Tonka, The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Young Don't Cry and Escape from the Planet of the Apes, his behaviour was increasingly becoming out and proud. Not a popular position in Hollywood at the time.

Sal Mineo went on to become a stage director receiving recognition for his work on the internationally successful play Fortune in Men's Eyes.

Outside Sal Mineo's Hollywood apartment, on the night of February 12th, 1976, a neighbour heard Sal calling for help and then found him in the gutter, stabbed to death at the age of 37.

He had not been robbed and a white male with long hair was seen running from the scene. His accused killer, Lionel Ray Williams was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1979. With no apparent motive for the murder, the conviction remains controversial. Williams claims he was innocent and that homophobia impeded the search for Sal's real murderer.

He is buried in the Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Hawthorne, New York.

With the news James Franco has just acquired the rights to make a biopic called "Sal" to be released in 2013, we about to get a better behind the scenes look at the proud life of Sal Mineo.

I wonder what Sal thinks of all this. Looking down on us, smoking filtered Kool cigarettes and sipping his umpteenth black coffee and sugar.

He famously said in 1975, "I'll never be mistaken for Pat Boone."

Trapped in Khufu's Great Pyramid

 The Great Pyramid of Giza - King Khufu [2589 - 2566 B.C.]

Forty years ago, entering the Great Pyramid at Giza and making the long, steep ascent up into the King's burial chamber was adventurous and quite difficult. There was no ventilation, the stairs were unstable and the lighting in the burial chamber consisted of one bare light bulb, lying vulnerable on the floor.

Back then, whenever I made the climb up to the pyramid's entrance, the old guard at the outside door would give me a condescending look and a sigh as if to say "not you again" and then begrudgingly pull an electricity cable out from a piece of conduit, expose the two bare wires and twist them together to make a contact and so turn on the light up in the chamber.

Now days its civilised and as a result a lot more tourists make the trek. Not only is the lighting adequate, they now have a security camera to keep an eye on visitors.

Inside the King's Burial Chamber and Sarcophagus 

Back in the Seventies, I was in the habit of getting up early to be at the pyramid before it opened. I would slip the guard a few Egyptian pounds and he would let me up into the King's chamber, where I would sit on the floor and read my book for an hour or so, until the tourists start to arrive.

One morning, as usual, I climbed up into the centre of the Pyramid, reached the burial chamber, looked around the empty room and took up my position on the floor. Just as I reached for my book, the light bulb flickered and went out. The chamber was pitch black. The electricity had failed. [blackouts across Egypt were a part of daily life and still are]

I figured the wise thing to do was just sit there and wait it out. No way could I negotiate my way out of the chamber and back down the Grand Gallery in the dark. It was dangerous enough when you could see where you were going. That's when I heard the heavy breathing!

The Great Pyramid Grand Gallery to the Burial Chamber

There I was, alone in the dark, in the middle of the Great Pyramid, and I can hear somebody breathing and moaning. Now I really panicked. It's amazing what visions flash through your mind. I was scared.

After what seemed like an eternity the light spluttered back on. My eyes adjusted and I looked around. Nobody there. The heavy breathing started again so I got up and walked behind the huge granite sarcophagus and finally saw a guy lying flat, out of sight, behind the sarcophagus. He was pale, gasping for air and pointing to his shirt pocket. Sure enough I found his little tin box of small white pills and put one under his tongue, which he was just about to swallow.

Eventually he recovered enough to tell me he was a Brazilian tourist and the climb up into the Chamber was too strenuous for him. Shortly before I had arrived he started having a heart attack and I had saved his life. That was OK for him. He took ten years off mine!

Its those sorts of experiences that kept me coming back to Egypt. You just never know and everyday is an adventure.