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Opal Foxx postcard set
A little under a month ago, a delusional fantasy of mine became a reality. Barbara McKenzie was a Photojournalism teacher at UGA in the 1960s and 70’s, but she was so much more. She was one of a number of collegiate faculty who not just intermingled freely with her open-minded students, but she took her camera with her everywhere. It’s with this camera that she documented ground zero activity in both Athens and Atlanta amidst the escalating scenes in both towns. She shot Cabbagetown extensively in the 1960s and is noted for writing and photographing “Flannery O’Connor’s Georgia” which is still in print and figures large into her body of work.
However, when The B-52’s kicked things off in Athens ‘round 1977, Barbara was already a fixture. Camera in hand. Lurking around the rim of darkly lit parties with her camera. She took the earliest known photos of so many legendary bands: Pylon, R.E.M., Limbo District, Oh-OK, Tone Tones, and on and on. You can see a glimpse of those photos in our first postcard set for Barbara: Music Forays.
It was because of the thriving Atlanta night life that Barbara perpetually hung out at so many of the vibrant venues that catered to the burgeoning queer, drag and punk scenes that were blending together in both town. Most notably, Ru Paul and His U-Hauls along with Wee Wee Pole were flamboyant early adopters to the wild downtown nightlife that was destined to foment his meteoric rise to superstardom.
Amidst that scene of goofballs, drag queens, tweakers, burnouts and flat-out weirdos was Benjamin. Born Robert Dickerson, Benjamin was a notable after-hours server at the iHOP where bands like The Now Explosion soaked up their booze woozies after raging at clubs across the largely abandoned downtown. This was where Opal Foxx was born.
Part chanteuse, part provocateur, all Benji, Opal Foxx rapidly became a fixture at local shows with like minded outsiders across the city. His most notable musical endeavor in those earliest of times was Easturn Stars, but there were eyewitness accounts of one-off performances that’d tear the roof off the joint.
Fortunately for us, Barbara McKenzie sat back and shot the metamorphosis of a gawky kid from Hapeville slicing his clothes off with a switchblade at the Mr. Macho Contest at 688 to his more fully actualized persona he cultivated through later groups like Opal Foxx Quartet and Smoke.
When Ms. McKenzie’s life’s work was handed over to the non-profit my wife and I own, in the paperwork between Ms. McKenzie and our non-profit, it says that we will do everything we can to celebrate and monetize Barbara’s life’s work. And in less than a month, here’s our second release of Barbara McKenzie’s vast archive, the earliest photos of Opal Foxx. From lurking in the shadows at TV Dinner to performing in nothing but a nightie with a merkin, Barbara captured Opal Foxx’s origin story. Now let’s celebrate it.
This postcard set features 24 never-before-seen photographs of the many early permutations of Opal Foxx. We have Benji’s friends at the time to thank in helping us identify venues and dates. The earliest photos are from early 1983 and the latest graze right around the end of 1984. The Chunklet Music Preservation Project celebrate one of Atlanta’s greatest artists with a photographer whose work we just rescued from the jaws of obscurity. The photos are shown in the exact size of Barbara’s famed self-developed silver gelatin postcards. This is a first edition of 50 sets with the majority of profits going to assist Ms. McKenzie in assisted living.
To those who are curious, we’d seriously entertain a gallery show. Inquire within.
A little under a month ago, a delusional fantasy of mine became a reality. Barbara McKenzie was a Photojournalism teacher at UGA in the 1960s and 70’s, but she was so much more. She was one of a number of collegiate faculty who not just intermingled freely with her open-minded students, but she took her camera with her everywhere. It’s with this camera that she documented ground zero activity in both Athens and Atlanta amidst the escalating scenes in both towns. She shot Cabbagetown extensively in the 1960s and is noted for writing and photographing “Flannery O’Connor’s Georgia” which is still in print and figures large into her body of work.
However, when The B-52’s kicked things off in Athens ‘round 1977, Barbara was already a fixture. Camera in hand. Lurking around the rim of darkly lit parties with her camera. She took the earliest known photos of so many legendary bands: Pylon, R.E.M., Limbo District, Oh-OK, Tone Tones, and on and on. You can see a glimpse of those photos in our first postcard set for Barbara: Music Forays.
It was because of the thriving Atlanta night life that Barbara perpetually hung out at so many of the vibrant venues that catered to the burgeoning queer, drag and punk scenes that were blending together in both town. Most notably, Ru Paul and His U-Hauls along with Wee Wee Pole were flamboyant early adopters to the wild downtown nightlife that was destined to foment his meteoric rise to superstardom.
Amidst that scene of goofballs, drag queens, tweakers, burnouts and flat-out weirdos was Benjamin. Born Robert Dickerson, Benjamin was a notable after-hours server at the iHOP where bands like The Now Explosion soaked up their booze woozies after raging at clubs across the largely abandoned downtown. This was where Opal Foxx was born.
Part chanteuse, part provocateur, all Benji, Opal Foxx rapidly became a fixture at local shows with like minded outsiders across the city. His most notable musical endeavor in those earliest of times was Easturn Stars, but there were eyewitness accounts of one-off performances that’d tear the roof off the joint.
Fortunately for us, Barbara McKenzie sat back and shot the metamorphosis of a gawky kid from Hapeville slicing his clothes off with a switchblade at the Mr. Macho Contest at 688 to his more fully actualized persona he cultivated through later groups like Opal Foxx Quartet and Smoke.
When Ms. McKenzie’s life’s work was handed over to the non-profit my wife and I own, in the paperwork between Ms. McKenzie and our non-profit, it says that we will do everything we can to celebrate and monetize Barbara’s life’s work. And in less than a month, here’s our second release of Barbara McKenzie’s vast archive, the earliest photos of Opal Foxx. From lurking in the shadows at TV Dinner to performing in nothing but a nightie with a merkin, Barbara captured Opal Foxx’s origin story. Now let’s celebrate it.
This postcard set features 24 never-before-seen photographs of the many early permutations of Opal Foxx. We have Benji’s friends at the time to thank in helping us identify venues and dates. The earliest photos are from early 1983 and the latest graze right around the end of 1984. The Chunklet Music Preservation Project celebrate one of Atlanta’s greatest artists with a photographer whose work we just rescued from the jaws of obscurity. The photos are shown in the exact size of Barbara’s famed self-developed silver gelatin postcards. This is a first edition of 50 sets with the majority of profits going to assist Ms. McKenzie in assisted living.
To those who are curious, we’d seriously entertain a gallery show. Inquire within.