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Topic: EXILE MAN Return to archive
01-06-03 12:02 AM
exile On the cover of Exile on Main Street
the most striking photo of the man with three balls in his mouth
Does anyone know the origin of the photo or anything about it?
is there a colour version
who was the guy?


01-06-03 12:19 AM
VoodooChileInWOnderl The infamous Pako Gerte from Madagascar, you can see a color photo in our archives here http://novogate.com/board/968/Archives/02-28-2002/45233-1.html

Also here LOL http://novogate.com/board/968/Archives/11-26-2002/126719-1.html
01-06-03 12:20 AM
VoodooChileInWOnderl
01-06-03 02:01 AM
stonedinaustralia exile

while voodoochile calls him paco gerte and has on more than one occasion displayed the colour shot he has - he is yet to divulge the origins of either that name or that pic.(so far)althhough to me the colour shot of voodoochile's looks like an interpretation of the pic on the cover and not vice versa (but i could be wrong - and please voodoo correct me if i am)...madagascar, voodoo please expand

as to the cover of exile: what you see on the front cover of the album (and i mean the entire front cover) is a single photograph - it is a pic. of a wall in a barber shop (or something similiar)- that wall being covered in the pics. (including that of mr. gerte) that you see - it was taken by robert frank (he of CS Blues fame)- who took all the pics. for the entire exile cover

as i have mentioned before most (if not all) the pics. on the front cover have a circus/freakshow/vaudeville (sp?) vibe to them

what i'd really like to know is what is the meaning of his having those things in his mouth and what exactly are they??

is it some kind of show-biz schtik (sp?), a punishment, a rite of passage, a party trick, a propititory act??

speaking of colour Can't Catch Me sent me a shot of that exile image on a '72 tour poster in a yellow/orange two tone colour scheme - looks good - i'll send it to you if you want

actually i wonder if there is a way i can colourize my avatar - or should i stick with the authentic b&w exile feel?




[Edited by stonedinaustralia]
01-06-03 02:34 AM
fmk438j I'm pretty sure the shot comes from "Ripley's Believe it Or Not". Either they created it, or at least used it.

This was like a syndicated feature thing that was printed in newspapers and comic books etc. early to mid 20th C. There are actually Ripley's 'museums' around the world. One is on our Gold Coast. They house all the wierd shit that appeared in the print version throughout the years. It was basically a freakshow thing, but they go off on all kinds of tangents about people who walked backwards across US, and all kinds of weird world records bla blah.

I'm guessing that the other photos may have something to do with Ripley's, but that's purely a guess.

http://www.ripleys.com/riphome.htm




[Edited by fmk438j]
01-06-03 02:56 AM
stonedinaustralia thanx fmk - if you haven't shot my theory to shit - and i didn't make it up - you've certainly added to the intrigue

i'll check out that ripley's site

but still, why is he doing it??

perhaps that can be my new life ambition post enmore - get to the bottom of paco gerte (in a manner of speaking) - what a legacy to the sum of human knowledge!!




[Edited by stonedinaustralia]
01-06-03 03:13 AM
fmk438j Well your theory still holds except Robert might have collected the photos rather than taking them himself, which I guess would mean it's more authentic.

Maybe you could track down pako's decendants and, maybe make documentary for discovery channel. I can see it - you and a camera crew beat your way for days through thick Madagascan forest until you reach an isolated village where you finally find Pako the 5th. You retrieve your original vinyl pressing of Exile from your tattered backpack, place it on the turntable you brought, and then, with whole village, go nuts to Rocks Off.
01-06-03 04:13 AM
stonedinaustralia cool fmk - now i know catching up with you will not be a waste of time ('tho i still owe you that beer anyway)

see you in a month or so

byw/ got mail from ticketek today - they said expect the mailed receipts in a month or so - contrary to their verbal advice of 7 - 10 days -

in some respects it doesn't matter - come hell or high water we will be there!!
01-06-03 04:53 AM
fmk438j Yes, the scariest Tongan security could not stop my 62kg of stone's fandom from entering the venue.

01-06-03 05:05 AM
stonedinaustralia fuck those guys - they are only pawns in the game
01-06-03 05:09 AM
stonedinaustralia having said that - if you know chess - you know pawns, despite their diminutive stature, are the most important pieces on the board - but we are emmissary's (sp?)to the bishop (at least) - keep the faith!!



[Edited by stonedinaustralia]
01-06-03 06:49 AM
exile Exile has always been my favorite album and favorite album cover
(hence my online name and URL)
i had seen the freak show theme photo maybe taken while walking past one of those travelling circus's

I have seen some books on Robert franks photos and seen cocksucker blues his work always has that gritty dirty down low feel...which i love

I have always been facinated by old "three ball charlie" a facinating character for sure....

thanks for the info and photos


01-06-03 08:19 AM
exile By the Way Stoned in Australia
I would love to see that yellow orange pic of "Mr Pako Gerte from Madagascar " you can email it to me if possible

My girlfriend gave me a silkscreen for christmas to do Screenprinting on Tshirts my first design will feature Pako Gerte from Madagascar I believe

01-06-03 10:27 AM
Cant Catch Me
Please let me take this opportunity to warn all of you that you should never attempt the �Three Balls� stunt yourselves without the proper training, physical conditioning and medical supervision. No matter how �nifty,� fun and easy it looks, it�s just not some sort of around-the-house �gag� like bobbing for apples at Halloween. Whether the men in SIA�s and Voodoo�s photos are the same or not, the degree of skill required and the levels of danger involved in performing the stunt mean that they doubtless were trained stunt professionals with emergency medical personnel and resuscitation equipment on hand in case of a mishap.


There is one documented case of a guy who tried the stunt without the right training and without getting into peak physical shape beforehand. He was going to start with something more manageable, just two, smaller and more malleable (softer, that is, �more squeezable�) balls than the billiard balls in the photos, but despite his more modest start, he still got in way over his head, or bit off more than he bargained for. The exact sequence of events is somewhat unclear, but basically at the critical juncture when had bent over to take the balls into his mouth, the blood rushing to his brain caused him to become disoriented, his head took a drastic wrong turn and, well you can see the tragic results in this picture . . .





Sadly, at that point, the point of no return, if you will, he sneezed, perhaps because a hair had tickled his nose, and just like he had been warned by his mother, he became permanently stuck in the pose you see here. The poor guy didn�t live much longer than another week, may he rest in peace.
01-06-03 10:33 AM
Cant Catch Me Watch for the big yellow and red Exile '72 poster in a visible spot on the board, hopefully soon. I was going to post a smaller one in this thread but didn't want to spoil the anticipation. Still could, if public demand warrants it . . .

More on the "Three Balls" later . . .

(And, my apologies to all of you who had seen that "tragic" pic before on another thread, I just couldn't resist the opportunity to recycle it.)
01-06-03 10:57 AM
Nasty Habits
quote:
stonedinaustralia wrote:


actually i wonder if there is a way i can colourize my avatar - or should i stick with the authentic b&w exile feel?

[Edited by stonedinaustralia]




stick to the b+w, sia -- the color is interesting, but I agree, it's the carriage drawing the horse. B+W Paco is more stonesian, regardless.

01-06-03 11:13 AM
Cant Catch Me What the hell, I just can't keep this all to myself. This is a very small version of the poster, which ran in National Lampoon magazine in 1972 for the Stones' '72 U.S. tour. This pic is reduced in size and compressed to about 20k, while I think the full-sized one is 900k and takes up a full computer screen almost.

And, SIA, I think Nasty Habits is right, it's best not to mess with a classic. Although a mosaic-effect could be cool for variety, say with a bunch of small images, each in a different color scheme, arranged in a tile pattern.

01-06-03 06:30 PM
Cant Catch Me Here�s an explanation of the Exile cover, taken from a site called www.superseventies.com, which ranked the Exile cover as the third best album cover of the 1970s. (I didn�t investigate further to see what #1 and #2 were.) If this account is right, you were close, SIA, but the wall was in a tattoo parlor. Charlie must not have been very happy if he ever heard Marshall Chess�s comment that he (Charlie) looked like the three-ball guy! -- CCM

EXILE ON MAIN STREET
The Rolling Stones
Rolling Stones, 1972
Designer: John Van Hamersveld
Photographer: Robert Frank

The general tone of the time was one of anarchy -- drug dealers and freaks and crazy people left over from the Sixties, all defiant and distorted," says John Van Hamersveld, designer of the cover of the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street. The album's chaotic, slipshod look captures the time perfectly.
Van Hamersveld was working on a songbook with the Stones at a Los Angeles mansion where they were staying when legendary photographer Robert Frank walked in the room; he was quickly recruited for the cover of the band's upcoming album.
The cover shot, assorted pictures of circus freaks, is not a collage but a photo Frank took in 1950 of the wall of a tattoo parlor somewhere on Route 66. The comparison to the notorious Stones -- jet-setting tax exiles, cocaine-fueled satyrs and perpetual outsiders -- is clear. To drive the point home, an identical layout on the back cover features Frank's photos of the Stones themselves, shot on L.A.'s seedy Main Street. (Frank's 1972 film documentary of the Stones, the unreleased Cocksucker Blues, would explicitly portray them as freaks.) The inner sleeves were even more casually slapped together, with titles and credits hand-lettered by Jagger himself. The layout perfectly complements the sprawling, ramshackle sound of Exile itself.
Perhaps the most memorable photograph on the cover is one of a guy holding three balls in his mouth. Marshall Chess, who was then the Stones' manager, needed an image for billboards and other advertising; Van Hamersveld had a great idea. �Lookit,� he said, �why don't we take the guy with the balls in his mouth. That is the most amazing photograph I've ever seen. And doesn't it look like Charlie!�