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This talk is dedicated to the music & memory of #DavidBowie #FreddieMercury #AmyWinehouse #GeorgeMichael #MarcBolan. It's also for anyone who has ever sat in a suburban bedroom listening to their rock & pop heroes #festivalchat2020 https://bit.ly/2JamyhL (1)
On 10 Jan ‘16 Bowie died in New York, aged 69. Reportedly, he has no grave & the problem for fans is that there is no obvious place for mourning. Thus, unofficial shrines were created as foci for remembrance in both London and New York #festivalCHAT2020 (2)
A plaque in Heddon Street marks the spot where Brian Ward photographed Ziggy Stardust - who fell to earth here in 1972. The iconic photography on the cover of TRaFoZSatSfM has meant that Heddon Street is a long-standing site of Bowie pilgrimage #festivalCHAT2020 (3)
The term ‘spontaneous shrines’ was coined by Jack Santino to mean ‘temporary memorials’ constructed to mark ‘sites of untimely deaths.’ Music shrines tend to located due to a biographical or symbolic associations or an association with song lyrics (rarer) #festivalCHAT2020 (4)
Tunstall Road in Brixton has no direct biographical link to Bowie beyond being a street near where he grew up. This tribute site is located due to the symbolic value of the Aladdin Sane mural (by Jimmy C) that decorates the wall of Morley's Department Store #festivalCHAT2020 (5)
In Barnes, the T-Rex Action Group are the legal leaseholder & managers of the Marc Bolan Rock Shrine, a site of pilgrimage since Marc Bolan died in a car accident here in 1977. The shrine is complex, with a bust, a noticeboard & a memorial stone #festivalchat2020 (6)
There is a memorial statue to Amy Winehouse in Camden Market, unveiled in 2014. People like to pose for photos, take selfies & link arms with Amy. Gary Vikan has noted the tactile nature of pilgrimage. Making/touching is integral to the construction of shrines #festivalchat2020 7
And fans spend time selecting & transporting tribute objects. These often have perceived personal meaning for the artist. Milk & peppers for Bowie. Outside Amy's former home, cigarette packets are pushed into the matting that protects a tree shrine #festivalchat2020 (8)
There are 'lost' shrines. The wall of Freddie Mercury’s home in Earl’s Court was covered in fan graffiti until all material was removed in 2017, apparently due to pressure from neighbours. 'George's Garden' (George Michael) in Highgate met a similar fate #festivalchat2020 (9)
Celebrity veneration isn't new 'tho some think it escalated after Princess Diana's death in '97. In August '77, hundreds of vans delivered flowers to the Memphis Funeral Home. See Getty Images https://bit.ly/35HjMYR #festivalchat2020 (10)
But veneration can be problematic for site owners & managers. Fan behaviour in Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, has led to some conflict due to the theft of busts & grave markers, as well as graffiti. This is 'the' cult location for Jim Morrison/Doors fans #festivalchat2020 (11)
What do shrines mean & what do they do? There is a body of literature that suggests that shrines operate as a form of collective, popular culture & as a therapeutic device where fans heal by paying respects & recording their own stories at them (Recuber) #festivalchat2020 (12)
In so doing, fans cont. to shape the star's trajectory post-death. Frow has written on the entanglement of fame with religion & the ultimate potential transcendence of stars through structures of intercession, repetition & seriality. He asks: Is Elvis a God? #festivalchat2020(13)
To end, tribute practices are acts of love performed thru' tribute choices/placement/travel. Shrines aren't static entities & the extent to which they remain (while the tribute objects change) depends on access, visibility, management & continuing fandom #festivalCHAT2020 (14)
This talk is based on a 3-year longitudinal study of tribute sites in London & Memphis conducted by Hilary Orange & Paul Graves-Brown (as Co-Is). Free to download publications resulting from the project can be found here https://bit.ly/37NiSwB #festivalchat2020 Thanks! (15)
