The return of the first 'true fairy' ]OBRIA TH REVISITED by Charles Herschberg photos John Michael Cox It was 1973 and the public was cared for. He and his band The Creatures hungry. The man who discovered Carly ("beautiful and talented creatures with Simon and brought the Rolling Stones to fabulous bodies who throw me about America psyched out the mentality of a the stage") continued on Elektra with generation turned off to war and on to light to moderate sales. Peter Frampton drugs, and fed them a billion of the dropped by the recording studio one day sweetest promises ever kissed from a so they put him on a record. Things like Svengali's lips The impresario, one Jerry that. Brandt, presented Iobriath. In the midst of recording' their third Not fond of understatement, Brandt LP, the artist accused the manager of simply described his new find as the sinking the advance money into a per- superstar of the Seventies and the big- sonal venture called the Erotic Circus. gest artist in the world. "It's Sinatra, This take-off on Brandt's own once- Elvis, The Beatles and now [obriath." successful New York rock club the Elec- Brandt announced. "[obriath is a com- tric Circus, folded in virtually one. night. bination of Dietrich, Marceau, Nureyev, [obriath, who had refused to perform for Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Nij in s k i. the opeing. vanished completely from Bernhardt, an astronaut, the best of the music scene. Jagger, Bowie, Dylan, with the glamor of Independently, his Creatures have Garbo. He is a singer, dancer, woman, gone on to other things. One wrote a man." piece of mood music for a sex scene in a Brandt said he believed the energy bisexual porn film. Nobody remembers force of 1973 came from homosexuals the name of the movie but "More, and Puerto Ricans. [obriath, who was not More, More" as breathed by Andrea Puerto Rican, wore magenta lipstick and True, became a classic disco hit for pancake make-up hued robin's egg blue. Gregg Diamond whose Diamond Touch Elektra Records signed [obriath for Productions also brought former $300,000 down, and he became the first Creatures Jim Gregory and Steve Love and only pop/rock artist to describe to TK Records as musicians on the Star- himself as "a true fairy" in Newsweek and cruiser, Bionic Boogie and Hol Bullerfly LPs. Rolling Stone. The New York Times called As for [obriath. there was a rumor that Iobriath "a brazen parody that celebrates follow. "I'll be dressed like King Kong he'd become a Jesus Freak. Or a guru in outrageousness for the sake of and I'll swing from a rope onto a replica India. Some said he'd gone to Europe for outrageousness and heralds transvestism of the Empire State Building. We're try- a sex change and was living in Paris as a and pseudo-homosexuality as one's most ing to work it out so that the Empire wined and dined showgirl. cherished idiosyncrasies." Naturally. State Building will turn into a squirting "[obriath committed suicide in a drug, Jobriath and his idiosyncrasies penis which will feature a piano and alcohol and publicity overdose," says the assaulted New York City from a 41 x stairs for me. As I descend the penis, I'll one who should know-the person who 43-foot billboard high above Times turn into a Marlene Dietrich lookalike." was once [obriath, 'That whole hype just Square, the billboard being a reproduc- On all frontiers, [obriath promised too drove him crazy," he says over the tion of the nude cover photo of his first much, too soon. He did record several telephone when finally reached for his album, Jobrialh. The haunting freeze songs of homosexual love and a tribute first interview since dropping out in frame of him floating in space, his lower to the movie queens he always wanted 1974. "He was meant for hype. If he'd torso crumbling like a plaster statue at to be, but the music never came close to had multiple sclerosis, he probably the snapped-off thighs, gave the record the type. Even Andy Warhol's inieroieio would have been the MS poster child. album its collector's item status. put [obriath down with the critique, "Be- His lifestyle was hotel suites and They talked about the Paris Opera ing a 'fairy' these days just isn't enough." limousines and enough drugs to get him House for [obriath's performing debut. While the Warhol set rejected his from one to the other. He struck back by And Radio City Music Hall at Easter. As decadent excesses, [obriath received fan disappearing in thin air. [obriath is dead, [obriath envisioned it, the 45-minute en- mail froin twelve-year-old girls, a but he had a reason for being. He was a trance would be a difficult opening to response he neither understood nor vaccination for t~ rest of us." Omega One / January 19, 1979 page 17 The rest of them are active fantasies dwelling inside the body which was once [obriath's. "Schizophrenia is my lifestyle. I think everybody is schizophrenic but they'll all fighting u.t. or should I say we, are not fighting it. Come over," invites one of the person- salities. "I'll ask some of us to come out and play." He, or they, play in a pyramid on the roof of the Chelsea Hotel, New Yark haven for avant-garde creative types from Dylan Thomas to Bob Dylan, although it is Sid Vicious and the ghost of Nancy Spungen who roam the Chelsea halls now. After an elevator ride and a secret stairway, we enter the quarter acre of private roof garden through a door marked Emergency Exit Only. Cole Berlin is in the pyramid play- ing a white piano. Since this self-proclaimed amalgam of Cole Porter and Irving Berlin used to be [obriath. it is a bit startling to find him physically closer to Robert Redford than David Bowie. Dashing, tan, seemingly page 18 January 19, 1979 IOmega One broad of build in a white tuxedo, Cole ly one of us who actually works for a liv- [oby is at first reluctant to reflect upon taps the keys and speaks of himself in ing, maintaining us in the manner to lobriath. "Her? Do I have to talk about the third person: "If sex, sugar and which we are accustomed. [obriath her?" he groans. Even though there are plutonium are too excessible; if rape, squandered hundreds of thousands of still a few Mary Quant crayons lying terrorism and hypoglycema are all too dollars in record advances and [oby somewhere around the pyramid, this rampant; if imperialistic pigs are destroy- Johnson has always been kept." one is much more into "Macho Man." ing the world and if people are drinking It's a segue-way. Moving behind a "Disco is perfect," he grins. "It's such too many pina coladas, then Cole Berlin screen, Cole emerges moments later as bullshit, I love it. 'Macho Man' is such a the piano lounge artist doesn't want to [oby-less Cole Berlin, more Peter Berlin, funny record. [obriath sang Tmarnan' know it." filling out a pair of red shorts and at-shirt (I'm a Man) in drag. That was retarded, Between melodies he describes this ripped to expose at least a nipple. wasn't it? His music is confused, ecclectic self as a magnum of champagne. "Pop Introducing himself as the boy nymph and debauched. It seems like a long time his ivory cork and let his eighty-eight within us all, [oby narrates his own story ago. [obriath was an insane genius nostalgic bubbles tinkle away your from the objective point of view. "You unstructured for the pop industry. Clive memories of Apocalypse. Throw an in- can find [oby on Christopher Stret trying Davis who discovered Patti Smith and flated buck or two into his tip jar and to buy mustachioed clones with his Barry Manilow said that. So much for select any escape from 'Stardust' to 'Star looks." sanity and structure." Wars.' However, you must remember [oby is the blond brat who's always [oby slips into his origin when asked this ...as time goes by ...there is a limit to getting mail from the public health clinic. to explain Iobriath's failure. "Mr. P.T. the depths of rum-soaked Muzak to "Sometimes the rest of us think he goes Barnum Brandt was so busy getting his which anyone can sink. Even Cole out and gets us all in trouble just for the name on posters and buses, he neglected Berlin, human jukebox though he is, punishment," one of the characters adds. to get me on tour or get my album refuses to play 'Feelings'." "He's the only one who doesn't know played. They used a mannequin's ass for Cole, it is explained, has an un- that sexual fulfillment is the banana life the poster and it wasn't as round as fathomably corny repetoire because "he dangles in front of us just to keep us run- [obriath's. That is probably why [obriath has to support the rest of us. He's the on- ning." didn't make it, even though in 1973 he Omega One / January 19, 1979 page 19 Jobriath and The Creatures: Jim Gregory, Steve Love, Jobriath, Hayden Wayne and Gregg Diamond came up with 'World Without End', one When [oby Johnson is not playing at someone called [obriath. the explanation of the first disco tunes.