THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS PRESENT "DOUBLE TROUBLE" - ICE QUEENS WITH LANA DEL REY AND NICO. DOUBLE DOWN!!

What is the fascination that we have with seductive avatars of oblivion? Carolyn Jones as Morticia Addams indoctrinated the adolescent me to the possibilities of the Succubus, and became my tween age, gothic sex symbol; the painting by Pre-Raphaeite John Millet: Ophelia (who floats beautifully in the river) hung on my dorm wall for years. Today, Double Trouble features a couple of ice queens who inspire detached sexual delirium, one contemporary, and one long gone, but still as magnetic as when she walked the earth: the enigmatic Lana Del Rey and Andy Warhol’s muse - Nico (nee Christa Paffgen).

LANA DEL REY

When Lana Del Rey sings “We were born to die,” you know she’s not fooling around. Her voice might be studiously without affect, but you can sense some psychic turmoil underneath. And when she purrs, “you like your girls insane,” she is obviously speaking from experience. Her Greta Garbo air of mystery smolders like an ember that could reignite and singe you at any moment.

Of course, LDR is vastly more multi-dimensional as an artist than simply existing as a blank canvas on which to project our emo fantasies. Her later work, such as her fifth album, the widely acclaimed “Norman Fucking Rockwell” has generous reserves of humor, complexity, and intelligence to ponder and appreciate. And, her recent marriage hints at even further explorations of domestic bliss. So maybe our gothic goddess will be embracing life going forward.

NICO

Speaking of blank canvasses on which we can project our fantasies - Nico, the fashion model, turned Chanteuse, was the ultimate receptive surface. She wasn’t even a singer at first, veering off key as she often did, but her voice with its hypnotic, Germanic drone had its undeniable charms. And, Andy Warhol knew the socko glamor that he was wielding when he saddled the Velvet Underground with her, making her their front person. Who knows if the group, as brilliant as they were, would have garnered any attention initially if it wasn't for Warhol’s 1960s answer to Marlene Dietrich.

Nico struggled with heroin addiction and died tragically young in a senseless bicycle accident, but before she left us she created, (with the help of Velvet’s veteran John Cale as producer) some unforgettable mantras. Frozen Warnings is one of the most compelling - It’s harmonium and droning viola conjure the sense of tip-toeing across a frozen lake and feeling the ice cracking under your feet as you try to reach the glaciated siren.