Though we met in the late 1980s, this would be only the second time Alex has shot my portrait. Except that it is the first. In an earlier attempt I was a stand-in for Gregor Robertson, then Vancouver’s newly-elected mayor, whom Alex was shooting for the short-lived myvancouver magazine at his old Robson Street studio. Alex managed to break his trusty cable release of countless years moments into the test shots so I (and Gregor, when he arrived minutes later) ended up shooting our own portraits with a shorter, substitute cable release, using Alex’s camera and lighting setup. Ask Alex for the technical details. 

I’ve been inconsistently following the rebozo series for years. In my epic smallness of spirit I have wondered whether I’d ever get the call, although I also had every reason to wonder why I should, given that the series is a who’s who of the city’s — occasionally the world’s — creative, moneyed and political cadres. Finally I just had to ask Alex when it would be my turn. He invited me immediately. 

I arrived at the house on Athlone Street, we took whatever shot Alex has chosen plus a few others, then spent the afternoon over tea and stollen in the kind of meandering but probing, enervating conversation Alex’s friends will know is inevitable with this old-world gentleman. It was through this series I learned the Spanish word rebozo from Alex, understood it to be a small blanket or scarf. But Alex had only just uttered the word — with his just-so accenting of the hard-soft ‘z’ sound — when I immediately associated it with Bebe Rebozo, the Florida millionaire friend of Richard Nixon whose near anonymity (except for his Nixon connection) made him a figure of indistinct menace to my ‘70s circle of anti-Nixonites. After Nixon’s fall from grace (did Richard Nixon ever inhabit a state of being that might be called grace?) Rebozo suffered a number of Congressional and IRA investigations and though he settled an overdue tax bill or two no more serious allegations of wrongdoing ever stuck. Although he and Nixon originally bonded over their ardent McCarthy-era anti-communism, Rebozo claimed no interest in politics of the electoral kind. He and Nixon were just buddies, he claimed. According to his New York Times obituary, “A few years before Nixon's death in 1994, Mr. Rebozo described his friend as ‘a strange animal, just not like anyone you'll ever know — a very sensitive man, very thoughtful and of course very brilliant, with a memory like an elephant.’” 

Those of us with memories of more human dimensions at least have Alex, his mother’s red rebozo and his photographs of the fabled and me.


 


 Art Bergmann Singer-Songwriter- Guitarist

Homero Aridjis Poeta

Zippy Pinhead Musician

Caitlin Legault Art Model

Holly McRea Model - Poet - Creation Conduit.

Lisa Ha Model - Volunteer - Friend

Carmen Alatorre Diseñadora de vestuario

Roberto Baschetti Sociólogo, Investigador Histórico - Amigo

Jennifer Froese Youth Worker

Rachel Cairns Actor

Jennifer Landels Espadachina

Judith Currelly Pilot- Artist

Jim Erickson Set Decorator

Alexandra Hill Soprano

Georgina Elizabeth Isles Figure Model

Emma Middleton Actor

Mark Pryor Author/Lawyer/Assistant DA Travis County TX

Brother Edwin Charles Reggio, CSC Mentor & Teacher

Veronica Vex Burlesque Dancer

George McWhirter Poet

Raúl Guerrero Montemayor Padre-Compadre

Alexandra Waterhouse-Hayward Maestra

Shirley Gnome Singer/Provocateur

Yeva & Thoenn Glover Dancers/Choreographers

JJ Lee Writer

Jacqueline Model

Cathy Marsden Psychiatrist

André De Mondo Wanderer

Colin MacDonald Saxophonist/Composer

Nina Gouveia Yoga Instructor

Stacey Hutton Excercise Physiologist

Colleen Wheeler Actor

Sarah Rodgers Actor, Director,Mother

Tim Turner - Real Estate Agent

Kiera Hill Dancer

Johnna Wright & Sascha Director/Mother - Son/Dreamer

Decker & Nick Hunt Cat & 19th century amateur

George Bowering Poet

Celia Duthie Gallerist

Linda Lorenzo Mother

Katheryn Petersen Accordionist

Stefanie Denz Artist

Ivette Hernández Actress

Byron Chief-Moon Actor/Dancer

Colin Horricks Doctor

Ian Mulgrew Vancouver Sun Columnist

Jocelyn Morlock Composer

Corinne McConchie Librarian

Rachel Ditor Dramaturg

Patrick Reid Statesman, Flag Designer

Michael Varga CBC Cameraman

Bronwen Marsden Playwright/Actress/Director

David Baines Vancouver Sun Columnist

Alex Waterhouse-Hayward Photographer

Lauren Elizabeth Stewart Student

Sandrine Cassini Dancer/Choreographer

Meredith Kalaman Dancer/Choreographer

Juliya Kate Dominatrix