I first saw this mask, called the "Medico Della Peste" (or Plague Doctor), on the band The Knife. Recently, I learned about them on some online forum. They were used during the outbreak of the plague to supposedly prevent contagion along with a uniform of white gloves, and a black hat and cap, very grotesque. The mask was used basically as a gas mask because they thought the nose provided proper filtration; there put spices in the mask as well to stave off the stench of the corpses that were everywhere during the Plague. It could best be described as the first hazmat suit. A great Halloween idea: I'll post an instruction manual for the mask.
oh yeah if you liked that mattress album you should check out this band "suicide" their first album, its really weird electro-drums and synths from the early 70's
ReplyDeletedamn you guys are lucky that you own those pere ubu vinyl.
ReplyDeleteI'm proud of my gang of four "entertainment", discovery, all the Velvet underground, and my deerhunter cataloge but I haven't bought a record in while...last one was probably evangelicals.
I have a lot of Gang of Four cassettes which are pretty useless. I'll definitely check out Suicide, but it might be hard to find.
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