Vintage Connections: Sylvester and Slash

How did I come up with this connection.....well, it isn't too far fetched, at least, I don't think so. 

As much as I love disco I think I love Rock (but I wasn't a Disco Sucks person) more and I love Slash even more.  I have this weird fan thing going that I really never had before.  Actually, Led Zeppelin was my first favorite Rock Band when I was about 11.  Jimmy Page has always been my favorite guitar player.  That was about the time Disco was big too, so you can see How I loved both.  I never thought of Robert Plant or Jimmy Page as super sexy. 

Perhaps because they were older dudes???  Plus in the 70s, guys sported their bulges very freely in their tight hip hugers and since I was a kid, well, they were ALL eye level.   I thought it was super funny, and kinda gross, I wasn't into penis yet.  That is what I am assuming.  I liked guys my own age when I was a kid and I still do.

You see, Robert Plant has a Super Bulge and not afraid to show it. Come to think of it, he looks like a flat chested girl with a swollen Camel Toe.  Jimmy Page is next to him on the Gibson Double Neck Guitar.
 Photo by Ron Pownall  and available for purchase.

I would have been a Sucker and a Fool if met a kid like this as a teenager, especially because he liked Led Zeppelin too!

Now, with Slash, it was a different thing and he is only a few month older than me.   Absolutely LOVED Guns N Roses when they came out!  At first, I thought wow what a bunch of dirty looking dudes....and that Axl had a skinny drug addict ass...not that I am putting him down, since I was no angel in my teens and early 20's, I have just been around enough to know or thought I knew.  Soon after that I was hooked, and I really liked Guns n Roses and their look. I thought that Ok, ROCK is still alive..yay!   Then my weird fan crush started with Slash, he was super hot, plus, I really like the way he plays guitar too.  

Oh...My.....God......

I think, if you are a person that likes guitar music, you tend to favor some musicians over others because they get you in certain way.  It is like you can feel their emotions. They get under your skin and stay there, so this is what happened with me and Slash's music and his hotness.


So, getting back to the Sylvester and the Slash Connection; my husband, Jim, who is also a guitar player (and I get the same reaction to his music too) knows how much I am in love (ok, fantasy Love, cause I don't know the guy) with Slash and always buys me Slash stuff. 


So, this time, he bought me tickets to go see him in Montclair, NJ, with that, he bought me a British Rock magazine with an interview of Slash.  In the interview, they posted his age as 48, which I know he is still 46, because, like I said, I have a weird fan thing...which I find so odd.  I never was a boy crazy teen.  So, I get out his book,titled "Slash" (Jim bought it for me) to make sure of his age (crazy) and the first few pages he talks about his mother Ola.  Here is what he wrote. 

My mom's career as a costume designer started around 1966, and over the course of it,  her clients  included Flip Wilson, Ringo Starr, and John Lennon.  She also worked for the Pointer Sisters, Helen Reddy, Linda Ronstadt, and James Taylor.  Sylvester was one of her clients, too.  He is no longer with us, but he was once a disco artist who was like the gay Sly Stone.  He had a great voice and he was a supergood person in my eyes: he gave me a black-and white rate that I named Mickey. ~ Slash  

     

Slash's mother designed Sylvester's costumes, plus he knew him personally. How cool is that?   


I have always loved Sylvester's music too, see the connection now?  I read this book almost 2 years ago and I forgot about this tid bid which gets me back to Sylvester. It sparked a Youtube Session looking for Sylvester Videos (not that many) for reminiscing about the music.  Sylvester's music was always present in the clubs back in the 80's when I would go with my friends clubbing in NYC and some NJ clubs too.  Even though his popular songs such as "Dance (Disco Heat) and "You Make me Feel Mighty Real" came out in the late 70s, but they were still serving them up in the early 1980s.  "Do you want to Funk" was another great song pumped through the speakers in the 80s too  He was a Gender Bending Singing Sensation (hmm kinda like Robert Plant with his girly shirts and camel toe)  that was dubbed "the Queen of Disco" in addition to the late Donna Summer.  I really dig his style where he wears a suit but fems it up a bit with some heels and lipstick or goes all out in Sequence.   Even more so is that he did what he wanted to do and didn't let anyone stop him.  He broke the rules and inspired other to be themselves.  I say, any man willing to show his feminine side in public has to have big balls. We know Robert Plant did, look at the photo above.  It couldn't have been easy but I would think that the world is a better place because of it.      



This song is part of the "Harvey Milk" Movie Sound Track.  California's first openly Gay Official. 




Come to think of it...Slash did the same thing regarding his music and image too. He wouldn't let the industry dictate how to look or sound.  I got that information from reading his book.   


Here is the Documentary about Sylvester if you are interested in learning more about him and here is Slash's web site so you can check out tour dates and other stuff. 


Thank you for reading and have a Fab Day even though it is raining here in the NY Metro Area..blahh...   ~ Gina