By Paul Chimera

Salvador Dali Historian-Writer

I’m certain that, were Salvador Dali alive and working today, he would have figured out a way to align his unique brand of showmanship with that of Lady Gaga. It would have been a rather perfect match, when you think about it. Despite Gaga’s tamer affectations in recent months, the woman still channels a lot of weirdness as her boundless talent takes the world by storm.

How ironic, moreover, that Gaga is only a letter shy of Gala! Dali surely would have seized on that twist of fate.

Gaga was clearly inspired by Dali.

But back in the day, when Dali was exploring the exciting then-new phenomenon of holography and how its three-dimensionality could be harnessed to the vision of a Surrealist, there was another outlandish and popular music star whose outrageous public persona paired splendidly with Dali’s: Alice Cooper.

Just about anyone familiar enough with Dali knows he created a cylindrical hologram of “Alice Cooper’s Brain.” He fancied the glam rock star because he represented, Dali explained, a great example of total confusion! “The more confusion the better!”, Dali insisted, as he had Cooper join him in a press conference that was seen and heard around the world.

Now comes what I think is a wonderful comment from Cooper, recently reported on the nme.com website. In an interview there, the still popular musician was asked what his favorite Dali memory was. Here’s what he said:

“Well, Salvador Dali was a show unto himself. Just him walking into a room was very theatrical. One time, he ordered drinks for us all, then ordered himself a glass of hot water. When it came, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a big jar of honey. And he starts pouring the honey into the hot water and lifts it all the way up – gets a big stream of honey going on – then pulls out a pair of scissors from his pocket and cuts the stream (laughs). He was inherently theatrical and you couldn’t understand a word he said. But he was the greatest technical artist of all time.”

[All images used under Fair Use provisions for journalistic purposes only]