I can't stop watching this video. I know that ultimately it's just a house, but there's something telling about the absurd decoration, the brightly painted walls and furniture and the absolutely horrible carpentry, which Barrett and his surviving family members admitted was definitely a talent for which he was lacking. He apparently loved doing it in spite of this, which is really sweet and makes the whole house and its contents very endearing. His music has often been described as "child-like" and I think that's a huge part of its appeal for me. It's interesting to learn that he lived his retired life very much in the manner of the music that secured his permanent legacy in rock and roll.
The house and most of the stuff in it are going up for auction come November and you can bet your sweet boopy-kins that people are going to bid ridiculous amounts of money for otherwise useless stuff because a guy that was once in Pink Floyd for five minutes touched them. I thought I was a big Syd Barrett geek, but I have taken dives into the depths of his online fandom and had encounters with people whose interest can only accurately be described as psychotic, albeit in a harmless manner, at least to the public at large.
I can't get over the hippopotamus door knob. I love imagining a sixty-year-old man living in a house painted like wonderland with a hippopotamus door knob.
I want one.
UPDATE: Now that I've had the chance to watch it with the sound on, can anybody at the BBC say "research"? Geez, how hard is it to read a four paragraph Wikipedia entry to find out that Syd Barrett didn't leave Pink Floyd in 1965? In fact, that's the year Pink Floyd started. Dolts.
Posted by Emily at September 20, 2006 09:57 AM | TrackBack (0) |Emily - do you know where the auction of his stuff will be? In London? I'd love to take a look at some of that stuff, even if it's just online.
Posted by: red at September 20, 2006 12:45 PMIt'll be handled by Cheffins in Cambridge and I believe they will be accepting bids online. I'm really curious to see how much some of this crap goes for. That's what most of it is...crap. You can see some of it for yourself here (look at that silver and red dresser!!!). Details about the house are here.
Posted by: Emily at September 20, 2006 12:53 PMOh man, I love the old-fashioned bike with the basket, too.
Posted by: red at September 20, 2006 01:13 PMSheila,
Check him out in action. BTW, he wasn't even sixty years old in that picture.
I love all the furniture that looks like it's something from a little kid's room. And I got a shit-eating, ear-to-ear ginormous smile when I saw the guitar. He was still playing. :)
Posted by: Emily at September 20, 2006 01:26 PMYeah, I got a little chill when I saw the guitar.
Posted by: red at September 20, 2006 01:28 PMNo, but really, I NEED a hippopatamus door knob now.
Posted by: Emily at September 20, 2006 01:33 PMI think you need to bid on it.
Posted by: red at September 20, 2006 01:38 PMWith the intense interest, I probably wouldn't even come close to affording it. The first day his house was open for show, over forty people looked at it (I'm sure a lot of them had no intention of bidding on the house and were just curious), and they've already had offers well over the asking price of £300,000 (which I am told is a pretty fair price by another Cambridge resident). I can't imagine what the rest of the stuff will run. Besides, I don't think the hippo is one of the items up for auction.
Mick Rock came out with a limited edition book of Syd Barrett photographs he took in the late 60s/early 70s (the ones with that great car). There were 950 copies issued, 320 of which were signed by Barrett. The cheapest you'll find one of the signed copies is around $4,500, if that gives you an idea of how expensive having an interest in Barrett can be.
Posted by: Emily at September 20, 2006 01:48 PMWow.
It sucks. It's like my interest in Marilyn Monroe. I can't even get CLOSE to any of her crap!! I'd love to just have, you know, a PURSE that she owned. I don't care.
But there's no way.
Posted by: red at September 20, 2006 01:50 PMAlright, between Sheila's obsessions with Hamilton, Cary Grant and now Dean Martin, and Emily's obsession with Syd Barrett, it may be time for a group intervention...
Oh, I know what you two are saying:
"I can quit blogging about Syd/Dino, anytime I want!"...
But the first step is admitting you have a problem...
Posted by: JFH at September 20, 2006 01:51 PMIn all seriousness, you know MOST of us just love ya'll's obsessions (and those that don't can just fuck off... oops, wrong post for that)
Posted by: JFH at September 20, 2006 01:53 PMYeah, and considering his influence on music and subsequent artists that would become hugely successful (David Bowie et. al.), he's got some fans with some deep, deep pockets that normal people just can't compete with.
But to be honest, I don't think I'd bid on anything even if I was rich. I just don't have an interest in anything of his just because he once touched it. Maybe one of the paintings or something, but some badly constructed furniture that would make Willy Wonka cringe? No thanks. I'll stick with the music.
Okay, so maybe the hippo. If the hippo went up and I stood a chance, I'd probably go for the hippo.
Posted by: Emily at September 20, 2006 01:55 PMDude, if I were rich, I would get you that hippo.
Posted by: red at September 20, 2006 01:56 PMOkay...my comment above was directed at Sheila and her remarks about Marilyn...sorry.
JFH,
You can have my Syd Barrett obsession when you pry it from my cold, dead hands. And even then, it would probably knock enough wind into me to bring me back to life long enough to choke you. ;)
Sheila,
If I were rich, I'd buy you Marilyn Monroe's house.
Oh, and the way y'all go on and on, ragging on Tom Crooz? You DO realize y'all display the classic psychological behavior of denial:
You really, really have a crush on T.C. but know that y'all are far too glib to gain his attention, so you instead replace your lust with ridicule.
Posted by: JFH at September 20, 2006 02:20 PMOne of the things that kind of bums me out about the house and all the interest in it, is you just practically KNOW whoever buys it is going to turn it into some kind of Syd freak show. No skin off my nose, except that his neighbors had been really good to him over the years in helping protect his privacy and stuff and turning their quiet little Cambridge neighborhood into a carnival ode to a dead pop star is no kind of thanks.
A guy that posts on a Douglas Adams board I visit says he works with someone who lives in Barrett's neighborhood. The guy told his kids if anyone came around asking about Syd Barrett to tell them he lived two or three blocks in the opposite direction. They did that a lot. Lied about where he lived, played dumb, refused to offer info to journalists, etc. I hope they are left in PEACE by the time this is all done.
Posted by: Emily at September 20, 2006 02:21 PMJFH,
You're making me sick. Please. STOP.
Have you seen his haircut recently? I would never have a crush on someone who looks so retarded.
Posted by: red at September 20, 2006 02:25 PMSheila,
Hahahahaha.
Oh, and one more story about Syd's house...I took the title of this post from the name of a song by a band called the Television Personalities. Back in the early 80s, David Gilmour invited them on one of his solo tours as an opening act. One night after performing "I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives," the singer gave out Syd's home address at St. Margaret's Square to the audience.
David Gilmour immediately booted them off the tour.
Posted by: Emily at September 20, 2006 02:44 PMSyd Barrett lives in that house ...still... and whoever gets it will have a ghostly visit from him late one snowy Cambridge night....i wouldn't change too mcuh about it... he'll come back to haunt you.....
Posted by: SAS at September 23, 2006 10:13 PM