3:51 p.m. x 2002-11-19

song of the day: *all tomorrow's parties* by the velvet underground

some of you may be wondering just who that is over there to your right. well, that's nico, born christa p�ffgen.

she was born in cologne, germany (during the reign of nazism), but after her father died in a concentration camp, she and her mother fled. in 1946 they relocated to berlin where nico went to school until she was 13. after that she sold lingerie and modeled.

when she was 15, she was on assignment in ibiza where a photographer named her nico, after his late boyfriend.

by 1959 she was offered a roll in *la dolce vida* by standing in a corner, and after that starred in the french movie *strip-tease* (1960).

in 1964, she made her first recording called *i'm not sayin*, and soon after that had a fling with french actor alain delon, who fathered her son, ari.

bob dylan was a friend and admirer of hers, writing a song for her (*i'll keep it with mine*) and a song inspired by her (*visions of johanna*). he then introduced her to andy warhol.

nico told andy she wanted to sing, thus he introduced her to his pet project: the velvet underground . she took a year off to tour with them, and despite the ill will between her and lou reed, he wrote three songs for their debut album that were very specifically to be sung by nico (*i'll be your mirror*, *femme fatale*, and *all tomorrow's parties*). by the album's release, she was booted out of the lineup because her starpower threatened to eclipse lou reed's and john cale's.

by then she was recording several songs with 16 year old guitarist jackson browne. during 1967 she lived with him and they recorded bob dylan's song, unrecorded velvet songs (such as *wrap your troubles in dreams*), and many songs composed for her by none other than lou & john. this became her solo debut, *chelsea girl*.

from 1969-74, she made ten avant-garde movies with director philippe garrel that were mostly just long, hazy, improvised scenes.

and then 1976�1979, nico was dealing with the loss of her manager and recording career. she moved to london to record drama of exile in 1981 and toured for the rest of the year.

in 1985, she released *camera obscura*, produced by john cale, which put her back on the experimental map and signaled the punk goddess' return!

alas...on july 18th 1988, while bike riding in ibiza, she suffered an aneurysm. she died at cannes nisto hospital, at 8 pm of a brain hemorrhage. her ashes are buried in berlin, in a small cemetery in the grunewald forest with her mother, margarete p�ffgen (1910-1970). the ceremony took place on august 16th 1988, with a few friends playing a song from her album *desertshore* on a cassette recorder.

*sniff sniff*...so yes, that's who's over there beside us. a big thanks to the nico page for the bio ^-^.

if anybody should ask i'm going to a seminar
pieces of the moon
JOBJOBJOB
interviewinterviewinterview
sensitive heart, you're doomed from the start
(& etc)