Anya Phillips

Searching around the net this morning, I read somewhere that Anya died on July 23, 1981.... 27 years ago today.

Wow, great pics from ObsidianFist!
They really capture that moment.
(I wish he didn't capture me in it though. I was feeling very Bruce Springsteen that day).

Thurston Moore & Byron Coley's new Book is really beautiful.
I just saw it for a second but it looks great.
(It also has some very unfortunate pictures in it. What was I thinking?!)
But if you are interested in this period of Downtown Herstory... then this book is a must.

Anya

Here is the book.
No Wave Post Punk Underground 1976-1980

That looks like a must have! So great these photo books covering that time are coming out now--love them.

Regarding Anya, I first heard heard her name in the Nomi documentary; Kristian Hoffman says that she called him to say she had seen Klaus perform (his Samson and Delilah aria)at the New Wave Vaudeville and she suggested that Kristian put together a band for him...

27 years today...looking at her photos, it's hard to believe. everything i learn about her reinforces my image of Anya as a force to be reckoned with.

Fantastic book - this book was my introduction to Anya. Though I had some James Chance records back in the day, I did not know about Anya. But something about her pictures captivates me. I would love to know more about Anya if you would indulge us with some stories. Thanks.

I read Please Kill Me yesterday - that has some background info on Anya... I also found an interview with James Chance on youtube in which he briefly discusses Anya. The wikipedia entry on Anya is feeble - it saddens me that such a vital force is little noted today. I would like to help rectify that.

I was just reading that book last weekend and didn't it have the year of her death listed incorrectly in the back? Before you pointed out that it was 1981, I had thought it was 1982 based on another source, and I think the book has it even later. Details, details, I know but I think it is important to get them right as much as much as possible out of respect. Of course, books are usually are not fact checked that heavily. Fleshing out the Wiki entry is a nice idea.

I thought she died in 1982. Didn't know the date, tho -- thank you very much for that. Does anyone remember when her birthday was? I understand she was 24 when she died, is that right?

Tad Among's website mentions that Anya's ashes in marble box were in his Bowery hallway for a while -- would that be the same bldg as Needles Jones's loft? Daddy quotes Chris Stein as saying he had Anya's ashes under his bed. What was up with those ashes?? Why were they floating around so? Anyone know where they finally ended up? Family? Is there a memorial to her anywhere?

I loved that memory Hattie tells of finding Anya's clothes tucked in a corner of the loft. Poetic, beautiful.

I completely agree, it is long past time for a book on Anya Phillips.

I was talking to Pat Place last night (at the Jean Michel Basquait 20 year memorial).
I was telling her how big Anya was now.
She was in awe.
She also told me that The Contortions are going to play at PS1 on (I think she said) October 30th.
Don't want to miss that one!

Daddy, Very curious about the Basquiat memorial. Is one held every year and could you describe the goings-on/proceedings of this year's a bit? A formal remembrance or a party or both? Thank you-- and apologies in advance--I don't mean to hijack the Anya thread!

No, it was a twenty year memorial.
Not every year.

It was great to see a lot of the old faces (and by old faces I don't mean to imply anything).
Everyone seemed good.

Anya appears at the end of 'Guerillere Talks' (Vivienne Dick's first film, made in 1978 and shot on Super 8 film). Luxonline has made it a temporary online exhibit and you can download the entire ~25 minutes here:
http://www.luxvideo.org/exhibition/guerillere_talks.html

*There is actually much more of Pat Place in the film than anyone else, but I wasn't sure I should start a separate topic, and I thought it would be of interest to Anya fans. Apologies in advance to the moderators if I should have posted this elsewhere.

Great find! Always interested in Anya. Thanks so much.

Thanks to participants in this forum about Anya Philips - I'm fascinated by her - and saddened that her contributions to and influences on the music, art, fashion and film of the era are not well documented.

In piecing together the facts of her life, I am starting at the end. I am about dig into the archives of the NYPL in search of an obituary. Might any of you know of one? Where it may have been published? East Village Eye and Soho Weekly News are my first targets. Any other publications you could suggest? I believe she died July 23, 1981, though I have read other dates that I know are wrong - can anyone confirm this date?

I understand some of you are reluctant to post stories about Anya, presumably because of heroin and associated tragedies of the day. If so, omit the dirt - I would just like to know more about her.

And of course, any pix you could post would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

Correction on the date of Anya's death: I found the obituary that Kurt Loder wrote for Rolling Stone. Anya died June 19, 1981, in Valhalla, NY.

Of course she would leave this world in Valhalla, the great heaven known to ancestral Vikings.

You might also read Terence Seller's forward for " A Downtown State of Mind" where she writes in length about her relationship with Anya, as well as photos of Anya from the period. You can read the entire forward by Terence without buying the book by clicking on BOOK PREVIEW. You can also order the book in paperback or hard copy if you are so interested.

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/310348

Thank you Bobby! Just read the forward, very interesting. I also read the "unpublished tome" referenced earlier in this thread with a fictional character "Madame Anya" -- I am fascinated. I've been doing some research and the picture is starting to slowly come together, and I am hungry for more. Thanks again for posting the link. The book looks great.

A note in remembrance of Anya Phillips, for those who knew her, and for those who didn't but are captivated nonetheless...Today marks the 28th anniversary of her death (in Valhalla at the Westchester Medical Center). She was 26 years old.


"I think now about Anya Phillips who so briefly illuminated this fleeting world. I think about clothes worn by people so recently and yet how long ago it all seems that Anya would show up in those cocktail dresses and of all things, a Chinese girl in a blonde wig. And now all the girls in their cocktail dresses who never heard of Anya and how quickly each generation catches the look of its creators and forgets the moral underneath. I think about how one must become the iconic representation of oneself if one is to outlast the vague definite indifference of the world."

From The Radiant Child by Rene Ricard.
ARTFORUM Magazine :: December 1981

Thanks so much for this marking of the date - it made me smile to think of Anya just now, and wonder what she would have thought of the present time.

RIP Anya. Love and kisses to you.

I am simply stunned looking back now and realizing that Anya was only 26 years old when she left this world. She always seemed to be a much more ancient soul, more advanced than I, though she never seemed old... and she was in fact, only a year older than I. Blessed be, Anya!

Thanks very much for the date of her passing, and the reference to the Rolling stone obituary -- it's good to know her passing was officially noted in that way.

I had read somewhere that someone was writing a book about her.  I have a couple of old, very interesting pictures of Anya--certainly not the way most of you remember her--from her senior year in high school where she was voted class flirt---imagine that! lol