Author: Harry Bartlett

The Queers

Bobby Goodreau was the lead singer for the Queers before Joe King took over and Joe is still at it to this day last I heard. The first time I saw Bobby was at Johnny D’s in Allston, not to be confused with Johnny D’s in Davis Square. This place was an old dive bar with boxing photos and a mixed clientele, to say the least. If memory serves me right Bobby was swinging from a chandelier singing the infamous Queers anthem “This Place Sucks”. It was amazing.

Bobby went on to play with the 8 Balls (4 guys in a band, get it?). I have a recording of him covering Saturday Nights Alright for Fighting by Sir Elton. Couldn’t beat Bobby’s attitude and energy – those were the days.

This photo was taken around 1986 at Chet’s Last Call in Boston which was a bar on Causeway Street across from the Boston Garden. Chet’s didn’t have a liquor license so they sponged it off of the Penalty Box which was another bar right below. You can see the letters behind Bobby saying “Chets”.

Chet’s was a true underground hole in the wall. Jack Stevenson put on many a film night there showing films by Bunuel, Kenneth Anger, and other notables. The photo was used for promoting Queers shows as well as movie nights put on by Jack.

Tom Climbing

This was taken with a Bolex 16mm film camera. Kodachrome 25 most likely shot single frame. It’s from a slide show installation called The Adventures of Tom. This was taken after I had met Tom at Andover and is in Hadley MA when he was a student at UMass. Tom is a talented musician and the soundtrack included a song he wrote called Flashy Flashy about Edie Sedgewick.

Blue Anne

This was taken for a studio lighting class at RISD. It was mostly a portrait class and fashion-oriented taught by Paul Krot. Anne was in Apparel Design. It was shot with a 4×5 camera and Ektachrome transparency film.

Providence

Coming of age in art school can be a precarious time. Certain photos bring back the vulnerabilities and excitement of making images of friends. The one above of Ellen was shot in the Metcalf building at RISD and uses a halftone for a silkscreen class while the one below was of Lani outside the old train station downtown Providence for a photography class taught by Paul Krot.

Self Portrait

Early 80s self portrait (8” x 8” Cibachrome print) taken in the basement of house on Brown Street Providence shared with 6 friends – an impressionable art student mimicking musical influences for better or worse : )

Here’s the source of inspiration.

Bert Beaver

Bert Beaver taught photography at RISD for many years as well as at the Art Institute Chicago. He was hired by Harry Callahan and replaced him as the head of the department in the 1970s. Bert had a great sense of humor. This photo was taken in Provincetown where we headed off one day on a class assignment to see the effects of consuming alcohol and taking photos. Bert is wearing a beret and lost in thought by the waves but you can still see him smiling.

Down by the River

This is a photo silkscreen Carlo Cannell created. It’s of Tom, Larry & Bayard down by the river probably in Lawrence MA. I always associate this with first reading Jack Kerouac and the times we went to Lowell to see where he was buried. We were very inspired and influenced by Kerouac and the Beat writers.

Public Garden

This was taken in the Boston Public Garden for a class at BU taught by Steven Frank around 1981. We had moved to Boston not too long ago and the city was an alluring place. My brother and I shared an apartment in the Back Bay and we wandered the streets quite a bit. Silver gelatin print 9″ x 6.5″.

Another photo from 1981 taken in an alley in the Back Bay Boston.

Dance

Taken in an apartment around Amsterdam and 116th St in New York around 1981 of two friends – Ellen and Tom. My sister was going to Barnard and friends from high school were in town. I remember there was a large poster of Mick Jagger by Andy Warhol on the wall otherwise your typical low rent college apartment on the upper west side. A raw memory of dancing in a raw apartment – those were the days.