つれづれ詩 (Tsurezure Uta): A series of photos of John Frusciante wearing Long Wing Blucher shoes throughout the years

So by pure coincidence, two of my favorite things on earth converged: John Frusciante and Long Wing Blucher shoes (also sometimes referred to as "Gunboats"). I don't remember exactly which was the first picture I saw of him wearing this kind of shoe and realizing so (although I think it was this one), but I sure liked LWBs ("Long Wing Bluchers") by then —Heck! my college thesis was all about them...—, because that's how I must have noticed them on him immediately.

After that I went on searching for more pictures of John wearing LWBs that led me to find out that he wore them regularly (more frequently in the "Spectator" configuration) and not limited to a particular era of his career. There are pictures of him in them that go as far back as BSSM and as recent as The Empyrean, so we could potentially argue that this is not a trend he's hopped on, nor a part of his band persona's look, if there ever was such a thing going on with John.

What I'm trying to say is that it's not like he's been wearing them as part of a concert outfit, like some k-pop singer would a spiky leather jacket, for example; or as a defining trait of his appearance in the context of the entertainment industry —enter... Jamiroquai's assortment of crazy hats, for instance—; John wore these shoes because he had them and he liked them; they made their way into his wardrobe organically.

And I wouldn't assert that he indeed likes this particular style of shoe if I hadn't noticed him wearing at least 4 different pairs among all the pictures shared here. Oh, but there's also videos: You can see John wearing one of those pairs (a black-on-white spectator) during the infamous SNL performance he and Peppers did in 1992. He most likely wore the same exact pair during this performance in 1992. There’s also a less-common burgundy-on-white pair that he wore at this concert (a photo of this one can be seen below), 6 years later, right after coming back into the band for the first time. So it is, I believe, evident that he had a soft spot for LWBs, and for spectator LWBs in particular, at least back then.

Such a tendency to wear this kind of shoe was not rare or particularly original among the common folk, especially at the peak of their popularity and availability during the 80s. They were never a trendy style, like, for example, ’70s platform shoes for men; LWBs were normal, everyday, somewhat dressy shoes, readily available at the nearest shoe store back then. No surprise that Hillel had at least a pair himself (in the go-to color: black), of which there are several pictures. I have included some of those in this post.

Granted, the spectator style has always been far more rarely chosen for normal wearing by the ordinary buyer in comparison with its monochrome homologues, maybe because most people would consider it excessively showy or too jazzy. But that’s their problem; spectators look great, and they’re more than just a fancy golf shoe that should be confined to the court and not beyond.

Ok, now the pictures*. It took me quite a few hours searching for each one of these in the best quality I could find them; I succeeded most of the time, with some being a little bit too crappy in quality, unfortunately. If anyone has a higher resolution version of any of these photos, I would greatly appreciate it if you shared it with me so I can improve my files. That being said, I've arranged the pictures in such a way that they appear chronologically: those of a younger John progress on to those showing an older John.

[*Disclaimer: I credited every photo I could find the appropriate information of (author, event, publication, place, date). Where you don't find any, there I failed at it. Should you know the corresponding credits of those, please provide accordingly. I would appreciate it dearly.]

Gus Van Sant - BSSM era (Probably during the recordings of the album and the Funky Monks shooting) - 1991

Gus Van Sant - BSSM promo photo session - 1991

Chris Cuffaro - Photoshoot for Warner Brothers Records' publicity for BSSM CD
Los Angeles - August 1991

Ian Dickson - Backstage - Germany, February 1992 - Redferns Music Picture Library

Steve Double - Munich, Germany - 1992

Author unkown (Possibly Neil Zlozower) - Stockton Civic Memorial Auditorium, Stockton, California
September 1998 - Guitar Player's September 1999 issue