The GoGos

The GoGos

I had developed a relatonship with Michael Plen at IRS Records. I would often go to his office on Friday afternoons and share a doobie. We called it, the Bone Club.

One day, I went to Michael and told him that I wanted to photograph his newly-signed band, The GoGos. I want the photo to give to Andy Warhol’s “Interview” magazine, which i was frequently contributing to.

Michael told me that he needed a photoshooting for their new album cover more than they needed a shoot for “Interview”. Talk about being in the right place at the right time…

The band told me that the album was to be titled “Beauty and the Beat” and they wanted to be photographed in a bathtub individually.

Was I dreaming?

The GoGos

Kathy Valentine in the bath. I shot all five of these ladies in the bathroom of their hotel room.

Cramming my lights and myself into the small bathroom in the GoGos hotel made me a little nervous, especially when water began dripping all over the floor. I had heard of several photographers dying from electrocution when deailing with the high amperage of photo strobe equipment.

Each GoGo had their own idea of what they wanted to be doing in the bath.

The GoGos

The day after we made the shots in their hotel bathroom, the gals came to my studio and wanted to be photographed with white towels and face cream.

Again, I thought I had died and gone to heaven surrounded by angels in white towels.

The question arose regarding which face cream to use on their faces. I don’t recall the specifics, but the first product they tried quickly dried and cracked, definitely wasn’t saying “Beauty…”.

What I do remember was that when they put Noxema on their faces, it didn’t dry, but it started to irritate their tender facial skin.

It’s burning! They cried…