Less Than Six Degrees - Tammy to Joe
Back to Joe-Pourri Joe-Pourri Archive		Hollywood makes strange bedfellows...but you don't have to sleep with someone to get ahead. I mean, a headshot. If you've done yourself the favor of checking out the documentary The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2000), it's unlikely Joe Dallesandro came to mind during the story of the first lady of televangelism--Tammy Faye Bakker-Messner--but there's a connection for those who enjoy the little things in life. Tammy Faye goes for a glam photo shoot before the celebrated camera of Greg Gorman, who has twice shot Joe and included him in his coffeetable volumes of celebrity images.
		Among those images is the one shown below. For the record, since it has been misidentified numerous times on the Net, the photo is of Joe and his son Michael (not Joe, Jr.). Michael also appeared as an extra in Paul Morrissey's comedy classic Spike of Bensonhurst (1988), the boxing movie that Mr. Morrissey had always wanted to make. You'll remember that when Morrissey approached Joe about doing their first solo feature, boxing was the subject. Joe thought Flesh was going to be the story of a boxer until the last minute change to the life of a hustler.
		So, perhaps you're unimpressed by this Joe/Tammy Faye connection. I don't blame you. Thousands of famous people have had their photos taken by Gorman. Yes, but look for the pony-tailed hairdresser in the Gorman sequence of Tammy Faye's session. Not only is he also Joe's hairdresser, but he's a longtime personal friend...and even mentioned in The Warhol Diaries. Hardly the kind of thing to rattle your world, I realize, but trivia can be fun. too.
		©2005, Michael Ferguson | webmaster@joedallesandro.com