Gegen den Strom

Just heard that Clyde Grimes of the American ska band The Untouchables died.  Clyde was a very handsome, stylish black boy who I didnt really know at all, but I had several dealings with people in the two tone movement and mod scene as I was a features editor with the mod fanzine Twist Magazine back in the early 80s using the moniker of Kayle Hilliard.
The editor of Twist Magazine was Dave Lumian who also managed The Untouchables, Phranc Downey Mildew and a few other post punk groups. Clyde lived in West Hollywood in a very cute apartment on Fountain Avenue near Fairfax near the church where they held Gay AA and NA meetings.  During this time when I was staying  at 7850 Sunset Blvd at the flat that was also my Hag Gallery back in the 1980s.  I was surprised when  Clyde came to a few of my Hag openings with a retinue of very cute boys, as my gallery scene wasnt necessarily part of his cosmos. 
Looking back I didnt know anything about Clyde other then he was close with a woman named Maris Sofra another Twist Mag staffer who had gone out with one of the Untouchables and was a good time Charlene of a fun girl with a middle eastern background who loved her black boys.  She even lived in South Central Los Angeles.
I always got the feeling that there was a little sugar in Clyde's tank, but I have no evidence to back that up. Mr. Grimes was very sexy and sleek who looked like a hot boy from the early 1960s.
He was a very good musician and had quite the stage presence.  Seeing the early performances of the Untouchables at the ON Club in Silverlake on Sunset Blvd was electric.  The mod scene in LA and Orange County was also a fantastic and exciting youth culture movement.  The Northern California scene was even more devout then the Southern Cali.  There was even a regular mod club hosted by a pimply faced kid named Bryan Fox at the Lhasa Club on Santa Monica Blvd and later it moved to the Haunted Studios off of Hollywood Blvd and Cahuenga.
Oh and the scooter rallies were majestic.  I hosted and MC'd a rally sponsored by Twist Magazine at the Federal Building where I put on a fashion show featuring the Buffalo culture designs of Fertile La Toyah Jackson where I used some cute East LA Chicana girls and some rich Hancock Park white teenage boys.  For some reason there were a lot of mods from Hancock Park and Larchmont Village.
Had a sweet reunion with the talented novelist Lisa Teasley who stopped off in Berlin to meet with her new German beau before going off to Shanghai for a two month writers residency.  Miss Lisa is a gorgeous beauty if ever there was one.  She hasn't aged a bit, and is the ultimate vision of the phrase "black don't crack".
My protege Christophe DeRohan Chabot is doing very well for himself in the art world.  He has a solo exhibition at the prestigeous Berlin gallery Exile that you should check out:


EXILE. christophe de rohan chabot. august 1-31,

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