September 25, 2010

How LSD made Jerry Hall a model.

An excerpt from her autobiography that I'm highlighting instead of all the junk about Mick Jagger:
The idea of being a model started when I was invited to a party. A boy gave me LSD without telling me what it was. I locked myself in the bathroom and wouldn’t come out, not knowing what was happening to me.

All I remember is looking in the mirror and thinking: ‘You’re really beautiful. You should be a model.’
She was 16 and 6 feet tall. I can't believe it took LSD to give her the idea of becoming a model. She was 6 feet tall! But anyway... I do believe that, given LSD and a mirror, she had a fine time staring at herself and reveling in her beauty. I don't quite believe that the idea of monetizing the beauty arrived psychedelically.

Oh, I can't resist dragging Mick into this blog post. I just love this sentence: "One evening in New York, I found myself sitting between Mick and Warren Beatty at a dinner party." I just found myself... Yeah, how does stuff like that happen?La la la... there you are, minding your own business, and suddenly — hey, here I am sitting between Mick Jagger and Warren Beatty!
Mick had told me he took LSD every day for a year in the Sixties. He also admitted he was smoking heroin. I was disgusted.
LSD every day, eh? Is that even possible? Did he stare in the mirror and decide he was gorgeous? Imagine yourself as Mick Jagger on LSD and staring into the mirror: What is that experience like? Feel free to answer that question via Photoshop.

This is good too: "He wasn’t nearly as rich as people thought... We bought homes in New York, London, Paris and Mustique...."

54 comments:

TerriW said...

He wasn’t nearly as rich as people thought... We bought homes in New York, London, Paris and Mustique...."

Maybe she should write a blog post about how getting by on a few million or so a year doesn't *feel* like being the super rich. People dig that.

Capt. Schmoe said...

"LSD every day, eh? Is that even possible? Did he stare in the mirror and decide he was gorgeous? Imagine yourself as Mick Jagger on LSD and staring into the mirror: What is that experience like?"

A bad enough experience to cause him to start smoking heroin!

Anonymous said...

That's funny. Normally LSD and the music of ELP, The Moody Blues, or Renaissance (the band) caused one to feel that they figured out the secret meaning of life - the DNA of everything that is going on in the room, or the park.

Or if you were a slightly insane risk taker, in the high school classroom and hall

yashu said...

"Imagine yourself as Mick Jagger on LSD and staring into the mirror: What is that experience like?"

See the movie "Performance."

chickelit said...

Prairie Rose aka Jerry Hall.

The Crack Emcee said...

"You're really beautiful."

Women are the biggest narcissists in the world.

Hey, Ann, look how beautiful Jerry is.

Fucking hilarious.

chickelit said...

I bought that album at Lake Street Station in Madison. It had dark blue plastic around it and after I unwrapped it I had to hide it from my mom.

Anonymous said...

Who's Jerry Hall?

yashu said...

Ah Pollo, I love Roxy Music. (That's JH on the cover of Sirens.) Anyway, Brian Ferry was much more beautiful than Jerry Hall.

prairie wind said...

It is odd that you don't believe Jerry Hall would need any help understanding that she could be a model. It is a very unusual 16 y/o girl who can see herself clearly. Being 6 feet tall does not automatically make one a good model. At that age, being 6 feet tall--most of the time--only qualifies the girl as being very tall. Being a model requires more than height.

prairie wind said...

It is odd that you don't believe Jerry Hall would need any help understanding that she could be a model. It is a very unusual 16 y/o girl who can see herself clearly. Being 6 feet tall does not automatically make one a good model. At that age, being 6 feet tall--most of the time--only qualifies the girl as being very tall. Being a model requires much more than height.

Finding oneself between Mick Jagger and Warren Beaty...what an unfortunate happenstance. I can think of dozens of more interesting men.

Unknown said...

Agree with Schmoe on the LSD for Lunch Bunch nonsense.

He wouldn't have a mind, but would look worse than Keith Richards (if such is possible).

As for Ms Hall, kinda doubt she needed the acid. Sounds like she had enough narcissism to begin with.

chickelit said...

yashu wrote That's JH on the cover of Sirens.

Yeah I know. But when I was 15 I thought that was her on the right on the cover of Country Life. That fantasy never hurt

The Crack Emcee said...

LSD every day, eh? Is that even possible?

Oh yea - trust me on this one.

Ann Althouse said...

Stay on topic here. Use the café post for other things.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure about the LSD every day thing. Considering what it does to your serotonin levels, I'd expect that he'd either be taking massive doses or was only getting a little piddly effect from it after the first few days.

Taking LSD and staring into a mirror...not recommended by 4 out of 5 doctors.

miller said...

Your house, your rules.

Ann's house, her rules.

Learn this and you will be happy.

Fail to learn this and you will not only not be happy, you will find yourself tagged as unreasonable.

Free advice.

Lincolntf said...

Still, Fen, demanding that a blogger post something never works out well. I'm hoping we'll get a post eventually. I'm dying to talk about the case/its implications/the characters involved, etc.
Maybe tomorrow.

jamboree said...

I started to read that on some brit tabloid, and it was effing boring, so "oh I was so cute and he was after me and so was brian and blah blah" ...it elongated the inevitable so much I clicked off. Couldn't deal with being that bored for days until I got to the sparse insights....

Anonymous said...

"I'm not sure about the LSD every day thing. Considering what it does to your serotonin levels...."

It losses its potency as a hallucinogen if you do it every day.

But it sure will make you dumb. Your brain will be a dim bulb.

As it has been said, "Day Tripper - one way ticket, yeah."

Fen said...
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Fen said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Palladian said...

Fen, darling, the more you bitch, the less likely she'll write something about it. She's contrary that way...

Roxy Music went downhill when Eno left.

Will Cate said...

Now Syd Barrett, THAT'S someone who took LSD every day for a year. A look what happened to him.

Anonymous said...

FEN, give it a break.

It's Saturday and Ann and Mead putter around doing various outdoorsy things, and that's what we get on weekends.

Maybe on a weekday she might hit your hobby horse, but only if it strikes her fancy.

If you want non-stop outrage and DoJ bashing, watch Fox News Channel. The story is probably on there every 5 minutes and will be for the next week.

If, on the other hand, you want glimpses (and I'm getting tired of only glimpses - I want to see the whole thing!) of Mead's yard redesign and upgrades, stay tuned here.

Fen said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
yashu said...

"Roxy Music went downhill when Eno left."

Eno is a genius, adore Roxy w/ Eno, but the next few albums after he left-- Stranded, Country Life, Siren-- are nevertheless CLASSIC.

Anonymous said...

...after it falls out of the media cycle.

I think we're already well beyond the relevant cycle, and in blogging terms, light-years beyond.

Ann Althouse said...

On topic comments only. Everything else will be deleted.

Anonymous said...

I thought that when you take LSD, instead of staring into a mirror, you stare at the Sun until you go blind.

Peter

Ann Althouse said...

There are plenty of café posts to talk about what you want. Not going there is bad faith and destructive. See the policy:

"Join our community of commenters. I'm big on free speech, but if you want to push its limits you'd better be interesting. You can't just stop by to drop an insult or a lie that you can't defend. Earn it. Or be circumspect. If you have a question about a deletion, you can email me. Don't complain in the thread."

If you can't follow this, go away or I will make you go away.

yashu said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fen said...

And its interesting how you deleted my responses to the other commenters but not theirs, even though all are "off-topic". Destroys the entire context of the thread.

You've never come down this hard on off-topic chatter. So it looks like this is more about deleting posts that reflect poorly on your judgement.

miller said...

Looks to me like Jerry Hall has aged far more gracefully than Mck Jagger, I'll tell you that.

rcocean said...

Judas Priest. That picture of Mick and Jerry turned my stomach. Talk about Beauty and the Beast. I hope the kids look like her.

Example no. 9,422 that what women find attractive is a complete mystery.

former law student said...

I can't believe it took LSD to give her the idea of becoming a model. She was 6 feet tall!

The tallest woman I know currently reminds me more of Olive Oyl than any model, even a runway model. When paired with the next tallest, they appear gawky/awkward, not coltish/attractive.

And I agree with the comment that many teen girls don't realize how attractive they are. If they did, Seventeen wouldn't have been so full of ads.

prairie wind said...

if you want to push its limits you'd better be interesting.

Fen's comments were interesting. Also thought the comments were meant for more than entertaining you, Althouse.

wv: wookessi - Michelle, my belle...

ndspinelli said...

I find it interesting that a post regarding Jerry Hall, Jagger, and LSD has caused so much conflict and admonitions from Ms. Althouse. It's probably serendipitous, as is so much of life

Sixty Bricks said...

I knew a guy who worked at Honeywell and he took acid every day
for two years. He said he just adapted to the situation.
Later on, he devised a thing that would shoot coke into his arm every 15 minutes.

Anonymous said...

what women find attractive is a complete mystery.

Not when it's worth millions of dollars.

Fred4Pres said...

LSD everyday for a year? Well, you have to give Mick credit for when he does something he gives it his all.

Fred4Pres said...

Interesting

This is like when Paully Walnuts rescues the oil painting of Tony and Pie-O-My.

The Crack Emcee said...

I knew a guy who worked at Honeywell and he took acid every day for two years. He said he just adapted to the situation.

It's been known to happen.

miller said...

"...If you have a question about a deletion, you can email me. Don't complain in the thread."

This is part that someone apparently forgot to read and understand.

former law student said...

what women find attractive is a complete mystery.

Not when it's worth millions of dollars.


Especially a rich guy in the prime of his life who was unaccountably famous for his inability to obtain satisfaction.

Though he tried and he tried and he tried and he tried, he could get no girl reaction.

Anonymous said...

It is odd that you don't believe Jerry Hall would need any help understanding that she could be a model. It is a very unusual 16 y/o girl who can see herself clearly.

Eh, I tend to disagree. When I was growing up, younger than 16, maybe 11-13, Becoming a Model was every girl's dream, it was in all the magazines that we read. But the deciding factor was always height- if you're not at least 5'10", no dice.

Of course, I was probably raised more in the "self-esteem" generation (born in 1980, so we're talking early '90's here) than Ms. Hall (and Prof. Althouse, and possibly Prairie Wind, since most commenters here are older than me), so maybe it was different. My generation usually needed objective criteria, like hight, to say that we couldn't do something- no one would dare just say (or accept for themselves) that someone wasn't pretty enough.

- Lyssa

jungatheart said...
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damikesc said...

Its odd that people who think they are amazing spend such efforts to escape their lives.

prairie wind said...

Yes, Lyssa, you are younger than I am. When I was growing up, my parents never told me that I was pretty or ugly or talented or smart. They must have thought I'd figure things out for myself, which I did. So why do I feel so free to tell my daughter that she's beautiful, talented and smart--which she is? Maybe I'm cheating her of the chance to come to that knowledge on her own. However, even if she were six feet tall, I would never encourage her to look into modeling.

cassandra lite said...

i don't believe this for a second. If you look in the mirror while tripping--and don't have sunglasses on--you don't see your face; you see yourself, more or less, as a skull. It's ugly and frightening.

Anonymous said...

Well, not everyone who looks in a mirror while tripping sees their skull, but I flat out don't believe anyone on acid looks in the mirror, no matter how narcissistic, and sees beauty.

You see red,orange,green,blue,purple all out of phase. The edges of everything are arcing out colors, and not necessarily good ones. You see things constantly shifting and in motion, watery almost. The permagrin, the cold clammy skin--not very beautiful.

LSD every day is certainly possible if it was really available. It isn't good for you, though, if you wanted to cope with reality. But if you do it every day, you won't really have to.

After a while, you can't really get more tripping--you start to come down, and you're in this strange state where you're not yet sober, but not back to full hallucination. Unless you add amphetamines. That immediately changes things, actually, picking up where you left off.

I imagine the truth is closer to this: it wasn't until she was hallucinating that she truly believed she could be a star model. She'd wanted to be, wished to be, but suddenly the door in her mind opened and she *was* that model, could envision it all, taste it all.

jr565 said...

All I remember is looking in the mirror and thinking: ‘You’re really beautiful. You should be a model.’


I find it hard to believe you don't know
the beauty you are
but if you don't let me be your eyes
a hand in the darkness so you wont be afraid.

Sad that it took LSD for Jerry to realize she was a beauty. By the same token, perhaps people shouldn't base their determinations on anything while under the influence of mind altering drugs. Because drugs lie! The pink bunny in the corner is not real. It's called a hallucination. As could be the idea that one is beautiful.
How about the beer goggle phenomenon. The more you drink the more attractive women appear. Then you wake up the following morning and realize you picked up ugly girl (and she similarly realizes she let an ugly dork pick her up). Again, drugs lie.

jr565 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jr565 said...

LSD everyday for a year? Well, you have to give Mick credit for when he does something he gives it his all.


I'm thinking the whole band must have been on IV's filled with heroin hooked to their arms 24 hours a day for a year during the Undercover OF the Night sessions. Because that album sucks big time.