Catching Up

Finals are over and my computer is back to normal. Now it's time to catch up on everything that has happened in the Billies world that I missed over the past couple of weeks.

Although finals week was rough (i.e. two business proposals as final projects, one 30 pager and one 15 pager), there was one grand light at the end of the tunnel. I was able to complete the first installment of the All The Billies Radio Hour. That will be posted as soon as I can work out the legalities and make sure that the RIAA won't burn down my house for posting the show. The first show is a historical view of the development of Billes music.

Next....

Of course the Billie world was hit hard by the loss of one of the most iconic figures of the genre, Bettie Page. So much of the "kitten" style was made popular by her. However, it is hard to say that she will be terribly missed because the last half of her life was spent in hermetic isolation (she gave her life to the Lord and refused to have any pictures of her taken of her in her later years), and her wonderful pictures are all we ever really had of her. We still have the pictures. We still have the style. We just don't have Bettie.

However, living a life shrouded in secrecy leaves me curious about a few things with regards to Miss Page. The movie adaptation of her life made her out to be naive as to the full extent of what she was doing. She just thought that she was modeling for exotic pictures for shutterbug clubs, or doing naturalist style photos? Did she really pose for all of those pictures without the slightest hint that what she was doing was being distributed across the country for men of all ages to....well, you can fill in the rest. Something tells me that half way through the millionth photo shoot where I'm being whipped by a women in a leather studded corset with a ball gag in my mouth, I might get a little suspicious as to the true intent of my photographer.

Either way, if there is a Bettie Page expert out there who wants to shed some light on the truth of her big screen depiction, please comment and set the record straight.

This is all for now. Check back for the posting of the radio show and I will be more vigilant in my keeping up with the blog.