“Corvette Winter”: The Story Behind the Iconic Photo of Bruce Springsteen With His Corvette by Frank Stefanko, 1978

Frank Stefanko shot this iconic photograph of Bruce Springsteen in 1978 in Haddonfield, New Jersey. He recalled the story behind one of his most popular images, Corvette Winter: “On the day of the shoot, Bruce pulled up in front of my house in a slick, 1960 Corvette. It was freezing cold, with vestiges of snow on the ground. But we decided to go out into the streets of Haddonfield in order to shoot some location shots in town.”

“When we walked out of the house, there was that gleaming Corvette. I said, ‘Why don’t you go over and lean on the hood?’ Bruce leaned on the hood, shot a glance back at me, and I snapped it. I only took one shot with that car. Little did I realize, that singular shot, called Corvette Winter (a play on a movie called Corvette Summer), would turn out to be my biggest selling, and most popular Springsteen photograph. It was later chosen to become the cover of Bruce’s autobiography.”

In the winter of 1978, Bruce Springsteen drove his Corvette to the quaint borough of Haddonfield. He pulled up to the home of Frank Stefanko, a meatpacker by day who snapped photos whenever he was off the clock. They’d been introduced by a mutual friend, Patti Smith, because Springsteen needed a cover for his album Darkness on the Edge of Town, his first in three years, and he wanted something very different from the photo on his last one, Born to Run, which features the rocker slyly grinning over his guitar. Below are some other photos from the Haddonfield session:

(Photos © by Frank Stefanko)

50 Wonderful Photos of a Colorado River Raft Trip in 1980

High in the pristine Rocky Mountain wilderness of Colorado, the mighty Colorado River begins. The Colorado River is world-renown for its legendary whitewater rapids; some of the largest whitewater in North America froths deep within the canyons of Utah and Arizona. These gargantuan and spectacularly clad canyons and landscapes through which the Colorado River plunges are no less famous.

Imagine this: rafting the Colorado River all the way through (if that were possible) would take you past 5 National Parks, and a combination of 6 National Monuments, Conservation & Recreation Areas and State Parks. Endless in scenic wonder and majesty, any trip along this river will be the adventure of a lifetime.

Can you think of any other river that can do all that? These wonderful photos from Debra Wells that show a Colorado River raft trip of a girl named Lisa and her friend in 1980.

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26 Amazing Publicity Photos of Faye Dunaway as Bonnie Parker in “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967)

Dorothy Faye Dunaway (born January 14, 1941) is an American actress. She is the recipient of many accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and a BAFTA Award. In 2011, the government of France made her an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters.

Her career began in the early 1960s on Broadway. She made her screen debut in 1967 in The Happening, the same year she made Hurry Sundown with an all-star cast, and rose to fame with her portrayal of outlaw Bonnie Parker in Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde, for which she received her first Academy Award nomination.

Bonnie and Clyde is considered one of the first films of the New Hollywood era and a landmark picture. It broke many cinematic taboos and for some members of the counterculture, the film was considered a “rallying cry.” Its success prompted other filmmakers to be more open in presenting sex and violence in their films. The film’s ending became famous as "one of the bloodiest death scenes in cinematic history.”

The film received Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress (Parsons) and Best Cinematography (Burnett Guffey). In 1992, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” It was ranked 27th on the American Film Institute’s 1998 list of the 100 greatest American films of all time and 42nd on its 2007 list.

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The Mama Cass Elliot Diet

Throughout her career, Cass Elliot had to face cruel, constant and pervasive fatphobia. She tried to use humor and laugh it off, her friend Sue Cameron recalled, “She covered it up. She was the ‘funny one.’ It was horrible for her to be thought of as ‘the fat one’ and Michelle [Phillips] as the pretty one. People would say that to Cass’ face. She had to suck it up and laugh.” Cass was even mocked in her own band’s songs: “Nobody’s getting fat, except Mama Cass,” the Mamas & the Papas sang in their 1967 song “Creeque Alley.”

Rumor has it that, in the early days, the band didn’t want her because she was overweight. The quartet’s founder, John Phillips, confessed that peer pressure to lose weight took its toll on Cass, leading her to go on diets that were as extreme as they were dangerous. These diets ended up irrevocably damaging her cardiovascular system. In 1968, after fasting four days a week and losing up to 55 kilos (about 121 pounds), Elliot was admitted to the hospital. “I’ve been fat since I was seven and being fat sets you apart,” she said.

“I’ve invented a fabulous new diet. It costs only $2,000 for each pound you lose. It also weakens your natural resistance to disease. I can’t guarantee it, but the Mama Cass Diet can give you acute tonsillitis, hemorrhaging vocal cords, mononucleosis and a dangerous case of hepatitis. At least that’s what it did for me. I lost my health–and more than a quarter of a million dollars in earnings as a singer.”

Mama Cass was both sassy and painfully candid in her talks about her unhealthy approach to weight loss in this 1969 article from March issue of The Ladies Home Journal. She could have chosen to keep her health problems a guarded secret, but obviously she chose authenticity. She admitted that she didn’t consult a doctor about her drastic approach to weight loss because she knew starving herself “was wrong” and she “was in a hurry to weigh 110 pounds.”

Although 1969 was still a time when the majority of Americans were not overweight or obese and whose daily (non-reducing) diet and lifestyle kept their figures, fad diets, starvation, gimmicky gums, magic couches and dangerous drugs were gaining popularity. They were dangerous and/or expensive carrots dangled in front of those who did need help.

Cass in 1969, after losing around 100 lbs.

Sue Cameron, who worked as a journalist for The Hollywood Reporter at the time, wrote the article that linked her friend’s death to the ham sandwich. She was commissioned by the singer’s manager, Allan Carr, who was trying to save the artist’s reputation and avoid hypotheses that associated Cass’s sudden death with drug use. The autopsy did not find any narcotics in her system or food lodged in her mouth or trachea. “Many people don’t realize that [the ham sandwich story is] not even true. Even though I have said — and written — it’s not true, it still goes on. I never thought it would last as long as it has,” Cameron says apologetically.

Before Nirvana, Here Are Some Rarely Seen Photos of Young Dave Grohl Playing Drums for Scream in the 1980s

David Grohl is an American musician who founded the rock band Foo Fighters, of which he is the lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter. From 1990 to 1994, he was the drummer of the grunge band Nirvana.

Grohl was born in Warren, Ohio, on January 14, 1969, the son of teacher Virginia Jean (née Hanlon) and newswriter James Harper Grohl. He is of German, Slovak (on his father’s side), Irish, and English (on his mother’s side) descent. At the age of 12, he began learning to play guitar. He grew tired of lessons and instead taught himself, eventually playing in bands with friends. He said, “I was going in the direction of faster, louder, darker while my sister, Lisa, three years older, was getting seriously into new wave territory. We’d meet in the middle sometimes with Bowie and Siouxsie and the Banshees.”

At 13, Grohl and his sister spent the summer at their cousin Tracey’s house in Evanston, Illinois. Tracey introduced them to punk rock by taking the pair to shows by a variety of punk bands. His first concert was Naked Raygun at The Cubby Bear in Chicago in 1982. Grohl recalled, “From then on we were totally punk. We went home and bought Maximumrocknroll and tried to figure it all out.” In Virginia, he attended Thomas Jefferson High School as a freshman, and was elected class vice president. In that capacity, he managed to play pieces of songs by punk bands like Circle Jerks and Bad Brains over the school intercom before his morning announcements. His mother decided he should transfer to Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria because his cannabis use was lowering his grades. He stayed there for two years, beginning with a repeat of his first year. After his second year, he transferred yet again to Annandale High School. While in high school, he played in several local bands, including a stint as guitarist in a band called Freak Baby, and taught himself to play drums. When Freak Baby fired its bass player and reshuffled its lineup, Grohl switched to drums. The reconstituted band renamed itself Mission Impossible.

Grohl said he did not take formal drum lessons; instead, he taught himself how to play the drums by listening to Rush and punk rock. Rush drummer Neil Peart was an early influence: “When I got 2112 when I was eight years old, it fucking changed the direction of my life. I heard the drums. It made me want to become a drummer.” During his developing years as a drummer, Grohl cited John Bonham as his greatest influence, and eventually had Bonham’s three-rings symbol tattooed on his right shoulder. Mission Impossible rebranded themselves Fast before breaking up, after which Grohl joined the hardcore punk band Dain Bramage in December 1985. In March 1987, Dain Bramage ended when Grohl quit without warning to join Scream, having produced the I Scream Not Coming Down LP. Many of Grohl’s early influences were at the 9:30 Club, a music venue in Washington, D.C. In April 2010, he said, “I went to the 9:30 Club hundreds of times. I was always so excited to get there, and I was always bummed when it closed. I spent my teenage years at the club and saw some shows that changed my life.”

As a teenager in Washington, D.C., Grohl briefly contemplated joining Gwar, a shock rock band that was seeking a drummer.

At age 17, Grohl auditioned with local Washington, D.C., favorites Scream to fill the vacancy left by the departure of drummer Kent Stax. In order to be considered for the position, Grohl lied about his age, claiming he was older. To Grohl’s surprise, the band asked him to join, so he dropped out of high school in his junior year. He has been quoted as saying, “I was 17 and extremely anxious to see the world, so I did it.”

Over the next four years, Grohl toured extensively with Scream, recording a live album (their show of May 4, 1990, in Alzey, Germany, being released by Tobby Holzinger as Your Choice Live Series Vol.10) and two studio albums, No More Censorship and Fumble, on which Grohl penned and sang vocals on the song “Gods Look Down.” During a Toronto stop on their 1987 tour, Grohl played drums for Iggy Pop at a CD release party held at famed club the El Mocambo. In 1990, Scream unexpectedly disbanded midtour following the departure of bassist Skeeter Thompson.

Below are some rarely seen photos of a young Dave Grohl playing drums for Scream from the late 1980s:

Stunning Fashion Designs by Paco Rabanne in the 1960s

Paco Rabanne (1934–2023) was a Spanish-French fashion designer. He rose to prominence as an enfant terrible of the fashion world in the 1960s with his use of unconventional materials such as metal and plastic in his clothing, and for his incorporation of futuristic elements in his designs, gaining notoriety for his space-age style.

Rabanne collaborated with a range of iconic fashion houses and designed costumes for films. Rabanne was also the recipient of several awards, including the Legion of Honour, which recognized his contributions to the arts and fashion.

In addition to his fashion work, Rabanne was known for his fragrances. He created a number of highly successful scents, including Paco Rabanne Pour Homme, 1 Million, and Lady Million. These stunning photos captured portraits of classic beauties wearing fashion designs by Paco Rabanne in the 1960s.

Françoise Hardy in her famous Paco Rabanne mini-dress, photo Jean Marie Perrier, 1966

Kathy Carpenter in tricolored discs by Paco Rabanne, photo David McCabe, 1966

Model in Paco Rabanne’s silver Space Age designs, photo by Helmut Newton, October 1966

Model wearing a Paco Rabanne dress, 1966

Donyale Luna in linked disc dress by Paco Rabanne, Vogue, April 1966

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Charles Loupot: One of the Best Poster Artists of the Art Deco Era

Born 1892 in Nice, French poster artist and painter Charles Loupot was one of France’s most significant poster artists, along with A.M. Cassandre, Paul Colin, and Jean Carlu. His pioneering use of the lithographic technique was widely celebrated across his fifty-year career.

Loupot’s visual sophistication and innovative technique paved the way for a radically new conception of commercial poster design. He was a draughtsman and painter, an expert in the arts of lithography and typography, and a pioneer in the use of the aerograph — an early form of airbrush.

Loupot was commissioned by some of the most creative minds in advertising including Eugène Schueller of L’Orèal and Max Augier of St-Raphaël. Notoriously a very private man, few interviews exist with the artist.

Loupot died at home in Arcs-sur Agent in 1962. Here below is a set of impressive posters illustrated by Charles Loupot in the 1910s and 1920s.

Parfums Naturels, Butterflies, 1916

Bonneterie de Sport, J.G. Weith, 1918

Corsets Innovation, Lausanne, circa 1918

Innovation, Lausanne, circa 1918

Seiden-Grieder, Zürich, 1918

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