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Underground > Art, Fashion & Design >

Bill Drummond: A smell of money underground

yawn - thing's buddy

11:57 / 01.10.02

Hey! I just met Bill Drummond. It was great - I bought 5 pieces of Richard longs - A smell of sulphur underground - there was this strange process where you selected co-ordinates at random from a two bags (acroos and down) and this pinpointed your slice of the picture.

I had 5 euros on me and as this translates directly with a dollar (the price Drummond wants for a slice of the pic) I thought, 'fuck it, do a saatchi - gimme 5 bits!'

So, I wrote down my co-ords on 5 separate cards which I signed then gve them to Bill, who signed them too, and then he proceeded to cut out my pieces.

I said to him that I'd hope to get a threshold slice: basically a slice which included part of the photograph and part of the mounting card frame.....

...and as luck would have it, I did!

He was also pleased for me.

He's talking tonight and thursday at the cca, sauchiehall st, glasgow if anyones interested.

Bill Drummond's up there with grant (and me) for coolest scot.

The Natural Way

12:18 / 01.10.02

Fuck, I'm jealous. He's always struck me as such a nice bloke....

Have you read '45', BTW?

yawn - thing's buddy

13:53 / 01.10.02

runce - 45 is bloody marvelous - I can't fault the guy.

the story about the song he should have written for scotland's world cup campaign had me in stitches.

As did the whole book.

The con about the finnish chanteuse, the tower of tennent's superstrength lager, hanging dead cows from motorway pylons -this guy plays with art n' pop in a highly attractive manner.

He's quite shy by the way - and not 'on the spot' articulate - which makes him more attractive.

Even now, I'm reeling: I didn't take in the process at the time - there was a decimated richard long photo right in front of my eyes - its value would have been around 35 grand - just how much cash does this guy have?!!

The Natural Way

14:00 / 01.10.02

Doesn't he rent out a tower to artists he likes, or something? A mate of mine had a crack at getting in, but he wasn't pushy enough.

yawn - thing's buddy

14:13 / 01.10.02

sounds familiar - is the tower in northern ireland? I think that was mentioned in 45.

we should try and get in to the fucker.

The Natural Way

14:22 / 01.10.02

Yeah, I think he does. Let's go storm it, siege style: chuck diseased corpses over the battlements; bash the front door down with a home-made battering ram...that sort of thing.

14:39 / 01.10.02

Fuck, I've been reading 45 today - on the train to Birmingham - and just hit the bit where he's describing his 98 Scotland world cup song that never was- raised a few eyebrows around the carriage trying to stop cackling into my fist like a psycho.
He's one of those people that you can have a lot of fun describing to someone who hasn't heard of him- maybe someone who's got a sense of humour but comes from a different culture

yawn - thing's buddy

15:13 / 01.10.02

runce - you been watching the sham's repeats on the history of britain ain't ya?

the diseased corpses over the battlements was mentioned in the black death episode - the tartars chucked buboed deid boadies at their enemies: good ole bio-warfare, eh?

16:31 / 01.10.02

God, I love this man. I'm exceedingly jealous, yawn.

20:34 / 01.10.02

Yeah, in Verhoeven's "Flesh and Blood," Rutger Hauer, having lately
fallen out with his fellow marauders, flings bits of a plague-dead
dog into their well.

The Natural Way

08:05 / 02.10.02

Oh, the diseased bodies is an oooold trick.

My Mum used to chuck 'em throught the window when I was sulking upstairs at me old Nan's.

Good old Nan.

Goodness Gracious Meme

14:52 / 02.10.02

Nothing useful to add except expressions of jealousy. And of, erm, seconding your shock over the stunt... depending on which RL piece, could be worth more than that. eek.

And I'm glad to discover that he's quite shy, fits in with my impression of him from 45. Did you ever see/read 33, the limited edition version? Had a glance at it, there was one in a cafe down here, owned by Jimmy Cauty, who you occasionally see wandering around Brighton. He looks the madder of the two....

Goodness Gracious Meme

14:56 / 02.10.02

oh, and love the bit at the end of 45 where he's talking about meeting a journalist after the barbican show, someone who 'got on the bus' early on, being a teenage KLF fan, and who is incredibly excited to meet his heroes. BD talks about how the disillusioned look in the journalist's eye as they shamble off is the greatest creative/artistic act of their careers, the pinnacle.

fabulous.

The Natural Way

08:34 / 03.10.02

I really want to reread 45 aksherly, but I lost it at my Dad's yonks ago and now....Oh well....I'll just have to fork out a few quid.

yawn - thing's buddy

11:56 / 04.10.02

Having been to his 'performance' last night, I've changed my mind quite a bit about Bill.

He's a selfish guy utterly uninterested in other peoples ideas and is obsessed with exorcising various demons he's accumulated while trawling through pop culture and the art world.

I left feeling used and abused, pissed off that his reading style (he read extracts from his books amongst other things) has now ruined my enjoyment of his literary meanderings - I'll have to erase all memory of his voice.

There is no point AT ALL in hero-worshipping a personality like Drummond.

But, I think this emotion is what he would have wanted anyway.

Thsat said, he is a very good story teller and the night was certainly interesting.

AND

I met the legendary Gimpo - so legendary that Alan Moore even worships at his feet.

16:11 / 04.10.02

From a mate who works in Liverpool via e-mail:

As you are no doubt well aware Liverpool and Bradford are locked in a
battle to the death to secure the highly prized European Capital of Culture
2007 crown. For its effort Liverpool is hosting the Liverpool Biennial arts
festival which is pretty good (someone has built a fully kitted out hotel
room around the Victoria monument outside the crown courts where you can
book in for the night). Of course an event such as this is too big an
opportunity for Bill Drummond to miss out on. He has teamed up with Tracey
Emin to stage an exhibit entitled 'Is God a Cunt?' in Liverpool's oldest
Catholic church. It is made up of a crucifix with film footage beamed on to
it of Christ writhing in agony on the cross. At the door is a visitors'
book asking the question 'Is God a Cunt?' (Someone has entered "if he made
you in his image then clearly he is"). Alongside this are three short
stories written in pamphlets which are handed free to visitors. They are
written by Drummond and entitled The Daffodils, The Blackcap Returns and
Roll Over Jenny Holzer. They are very much in the style of his book 45 and
appear to be part of a larger series of pamphlets explaining the Is God a
Cunt poser. There is a web address which I have not been able to check yet
at www.penkiln-burn.com which might shed more light on matter.

Poke it with a stick

12:35 / 05.10.02

The Penkiln-burn site is still not up to speed on Bill's newest works yet - he's going to have a diagram of the RL photo so you can see how far the sale has progressed. I like the idea of burying the money he recoups underneath the subject of the photo though - earth to earth or something...

19:35 / 09.12.02

"Doesn't he rent out a tower to artists he likes, or something? A mate of mine had a crack at getting in, but he wasn't pushy enough."

Alright, Runce.

I think your mate was still at university at the time and didn't really feel ready. If anyone has any information on applying to go to this place I'd love to know. Lost all of my information on it.

21:02 / 09.12.02

Dear old Bill Drummond. When is that Big In Japan reunion going to take place, I wonder?

My path to the mystical was largely inspired by Bill. It certainly led me to discovering RAW.

I've always found his books a great read too and no matter what he seems to turn his hand to, it's always interesting and at the very least fun.