John Leven "The Brave Face of Sleaze"

For todays ORotW shout out we go "across the pond" as the Brits would say, to the tropical paradise of Sweden. Known for it's pancakes, meatballs and volleyball, the quaint little country has been overlooked for it's greatest contribution to humanity so far, the birthing of one of glam-rocks most prodigious icons....John Leven. Providing the bong rattling bass for the mega-band Europe, John kept hidden a secret that could have ripped the band apart in a fashion that would have made Sammy Haggar proud. John was harboring a terrible secret, he was suffering from a condition known as "Severe Photo-malignment disorder". The illness makes it impossible for it's host to remain in the center of any photo taken of their face. In a world where rock wanna-be's rained from the sky like so much raining rain, the disorder had the potential to deal a haymaker punch to the rising star from Stockholm. Leven managed to hide his handicap by convincing his bandmates to take nothing but group photos during their formative years, thereby masking his agony with some of sleaze-rocks most cherished photographs such as this, that single handedly sparked a leather shortage most countries still haven't recovered from. But the winds of change were about to blow....
In 1986 the stardom of Leven and his fellow Europeans would be set in stone with the release of The Final Countdown. The mesmerizing keyboard rifs had sung their siren song and captured the hearts of the worlds angsty youth. Knowing that their rock-god-dom was secured, Leven finally felt that the time was right to drop his media a-bomb and come clean with the world. In an emotionally charged radio interview, the news of Johns harrowing life tale was shared with the world. In a stunning display of support, an estimated 87% of Europes fan base congregated on the small radio shack in Santaquin Utah (home of Gary Coleman incidentally) to tell their idol, "we don't care how damaged you are...we love you" Once all 27 people were inside the reception room for the radio station, emotions overflowed as people cryed and hugged before they found out the radio interview was actually conducted over the phone and Leven wasn't there.
In one final shocking twist of fate, Europe lead vocalist Joey Tempest announced that he too suffered a debilitating photo related disability. Known simply as "Photo auto-confusion", the disorder forces it's victim to look as if they are highly confused when pictures of them are taken. The 2 band mates allegedly shared a very tender "high five" moment when the 2 saw eachother next.
So where is he now?
John Leven has become a champion for photo-disabled people worldwide. From the guy that always thinks it's funny to flip the bird surreptitously in company photos, to the habitual blinker, Levens work is being seen across the globe. His last known location was working for National Geographic in Africa convincing women to wear shirts during their shoot.

Brought to you by Ben Thomas and the Flying V.