parallel lines

I really like black and white stripes - the thick '80s kind, not the thin Franco/Marine ones, and vertical are superior to horizontal. I think this sprung from the familial love of Blondie I picked up pace with in my late teens - the striking appearance of the 'Parallel Lines' album cover with the black and white and red. Sexy. Of course Debbie Harry is a huge style influence, hell, even the subject of this blog is named as a Blondie-meets-fashion tribute. Let's enjoy some pictures of Debs in some striped glory before we get to my embarrassing homage... 

 

I went shopping in High Wycombe last week with my friend who was over from Australia for 2 weeks. She used to be quite dubious about charity shopping, but (I like to think) I really got her in to it, so we hit up a load while she was back in the UK. Sue Ryder in High Wycombe was FANTASTIC, I'm very loyal to Sue Ryder as it is but I really recommend their shop in Wycombe - watch this blog for more of the goodies we found. 

I picked up this oversized shirt from their sale rail for £2! I wasn't sure how I would wear it at the time, but then I got a wee bodycon from Asda for £6 and lived in this outfit all last weekend. The shirt provided a good cover to the (at times) inappropriate nakedness of the bodycon, which is what I needed for an outfit that had to take me across all hours and various social situations - many train/tube/bus journeys, a going away BBQ with family members, movies with a friend, a pole dancing competition, Dirty Burger eating - yes the shirt did help hide my post meat-meals belly too, score

 Note - how awesome is my friend's vintage mirror?! and the anchor buttons! Of course Harry gets away with the red lippie pout a lot better than I do

bad medicine

What can I say, its an enormous tie dye t-shirt, with two hideous transfers of Bon Jovi on it. From a charity shop in Weymouth. Shit blog photography.

my body's a zombie for you

As you may have noticed, I have spent the afternoon tinkering around with my blog, in much the same way as a man spends a Sunday afternon tinkering away under a car with no idea what he is doing. It is an ongoing work in progress. 

The soundtrack to my tinkering has been Ryan Gosling's and Zach Shields' band Dead Man's Bones. Obviously I am very late to this party, but was I interested to hear them after Gosling's version of 'You always hurt the ones you love' from Blue Valentine - his voice is really distinct. I didn't expect to freaking love them. I love the macabre lyrics and themes, the kid's choir dressed as ghouls, the spooky old-school crooner style vocals.They combine two of my favourite things; 1950s Americana high school, and gothic horror. It's like that Halloween episode of MSCL. Yes, everything can be brought back to MSCL. Stand out tracks for me are 'My body's a zombie for you', 'Lose your soul' and 'Flowers grow out of my grave'. Go and youtube and spotify the shit out of them now. I might even buy the album.Hey girl, and wouldn't you love to hear a duet between Zooey Deschanel and Ryan Gosling?! IKNOWRIGHT

take me by the tongue and I'll know you

I CAN'T STOP LISTENING TO THIS SONG. It's too catchy. The vid is pretty good too. Bit of fun, bit of fun. Really want to go out dancing to this

losing in front of your home crowd

what a fantastic long weekend! Went back to my home town of Reading for four days, a visit which coincided with the annual Reading Festival, which I didn't go to, and haven't been to since 2007. I had a good run of it from 2002-2007 but it is not the same kind of festival (it used to be called Reading Rock festival...) and the line-up and culture of it on the whole doesn't appeal in the same way. I don't rule out ever going again, and I have some fantatic memories, especially of the earlier years when we would camp in a huge group, but now everyone is old and coupled off and gone their separate ways and it just wouldn't be the same.

In homage to the festivities though, I did wear this t-shirt to go and watch the final night's coverage at a friend's house:



I picked this up from the charity shop when I worked there. I was five in 1991 so sadly I wasn't there but I wish I had been there to see Iggy Pop headline on Friday. Notice how low down in the bill both Nirvana and Blur are? The following year was the notorious Nirvana at Reading performance. This t-shirt is a little bit of history and 20 years old this weekend!

appetite for reduction

this t-shirt was only £2.99 in Barnados in Woodley Precinct. My shoes were 20 times that price so it all evens out, yeah....?

raising hell

I have just finished reading 'An A-Z of Hellraisers' by Robert Sellers. He has written a few of these books, I wanted to get the 'Hollywood Hellraisers' one to read on hols, but didn't because it was 8 quid and I am a known tight arse, so SCORE when I found this one in a GQ book sale for a quid. Wheter it exists I don't know, butafter reading this I'd like to read a book that further details the female hellraisers, such as Tallulah Bankhead. Another favourite whose antics are reported in Sellers' book is Dorothy Parker, a jouralist who wrote for Vanity Fair. The woman is highly quotable:

"I like to have a Martini. Two at the very most. After three I'm under the table. After four, I'm under my host."

And when she was late to turn in her copy to her editor at The New Yorker becuase she was on her honeymoon she gave this excuse via telegram: 'Too fucking busy, and vice versa'.

And this is perhaps my favourite telegram from Dot. I think I will frame this and keep it on my desk at work:



I also enjoyed reading about the Wild West charcters; Roy Bean, Calamity Jane, Wild Bill Hickock and Poker Alice. When I was reading about them I thought, 'this should be a film', which is how I felt when I read bout Titanic Thompson (then 'Boardwalk Empire' came out and I felt slightly robbed, altohugh hes not actually in the series, many other 'characters' from his life are). It turns out OF COURSE that a film was made about Roy Bean in 1972, and the tv series 'Deadwood' features Calamity Jane and Wild Bill, oh well, great minds....

you're welcome

duke of earle

Happy Birthday Elle! xxx

St John, be cool, tell the people they follow you

I have just stumbled on this excellent website of old A&R guy John Kalodner, who I have heard about from reading Steven Tyler's autobiography. He has a massive collection of old photographs, including personal and candid pictures of bands he worked with. It really is a great rescource for rock 'n' roll fashion, and its fascinating, and you will lose hours on here. And JK looks like a wizard, which is only a good thing. Click on Tyler and Kramer's cheeky pizza eating faces to link to the website.

whatever makes her happy, on a saturday night

Alriiiight, last night I went to see Suede perform their album 'Coming Up' (+ mammoth encore) at Brixton Academy. Before you judge me for going to see their most mainstream album, I did have tickets to all three nights but couldn't find anyone to go with so sold them, ha. Yes it was a shame that this album was sans Butler, but last nights gig wasn't so winwinwinwin. Now Suede are not my usual music tastes in so much as I guess they are Britpop/Indie, but aside from them and The Smiths (you can draw a direct link from The Smiths to Suede - poignant, gloomy lyrics, indeterminate sexuality... iconic hair...) I am not a fan of 'indie', which is a bullshit meaningless term now anyway but you get me bruv? I obviously like the thowmping electric-ness of Suede, but also, like The Smiths, they have some great lyrics. I thought the impressive and I'm so glad to have finally seen a band I've loved since I was too young to know what the song 'Animal Nitrate' was about. I watched the Butler/Anderson reincarnate band The Tears at Reading festival in 2005 and was touched by how lovely the fans were and what a great atmosphere there was in the tent, so it spurred me on even more to see Suede. They played the entire album last night but also played a juicy encore of besties from other albums and releases so you got more bang for your buck. This is by no means their best song and I could be here all night trying to play favourites, but for some reason this one really stood out for me from last nights set :



This is obvv not footage from last night, that would shit because a) it would be shit quality and b) I think its shit when people go to gigs and spend the entire time trying to film and photograph it on their camera phones, just enjoy it man, live in the now. I remember seeing a picture of Pink in concert and the whole crowd looked like they were trying to film it, it made me feel a bit sick.

Theeeeen today I went to New Cross to celebrate my sisters 21st birthday with the fam (minus Gregg but plus Furr). We went to the amaaazing New Cross House and ate so much food and it was great, I had such a nice time and hope everyone else did too.









I look like a crim with my hair up like this, but note the reduction in ridiculousness when we are sat down together, and I wanted to give this dogtooth check and with velour collar, jacket a mention as it was £3 from Sue Ryder charity shop in Woodley, it is 90s Miss Selfridge so a bit boxy, although, interestingly, winter just gone they had a more modern silhouette reworking of this jacket in there, must have revisited the archives. Wore it with a pleather mini skirt (copied from Amy, Asda bargains) so the overall look was hopefully less horsey.

the killer

I picked up this bizarre, sheer-with-shiny-leopard-print-cuffs bedjacket for a pound at Chiswick car boot. Ligthing in my room (AND THE STATE OF IT, soz mum) and my indecision mean I've included a few pics. I like how it has that 1950s via the 1980s vibe, it reminds a bit of the jacket with leopard print collar and cuffs that Jerry Lee Lewis wore when he married his cousin.....

"Alright! It's Saturday night, I have no date...

.... a two-litre bottle of Shasta and my all-Rush mix tape. Let's rock!"



Today I watched 'I love you, man' and the two main characters are Rush nuts. I first came across this song thanks to Fry in Futurama (who provided the blog title quote), and I think it walks the line between being awesome and tacky very adequately. Great for air drumming.

Ah man I post too many videos

steven, you are not a well individual

Tony Parsons wrote a good article for GQ about male friendships like these. This could also be me and my sister.

i don't speak french

luckily I can just look at the pictures. Sickly, sweet but stylish 60s/70s couple Sylvie Vartan and Johnny Hallyday who took it in turns to wear the (stripey) trousers, apparently... fyi you can buy stripey trousers identical to Sylvie's in H&M at the moment

from what I can work out she was a bit like Lou Lou but actually attractive. She sang 'Le Loco-Motion' and other rather enjoyable ditties but mainly she was a babe

I'm overcoming gravity

Bit rubbish that this version is censored but the video quality is so good. Also, where can I get a blue sequinned bikini?

i wanna be your dog

your pretty face is going to hell

I've just finished reading the Iggy Pop biography 'Open up and bleed' by Paul Trynka, another £1 GQ book sale find. I had been schooling myself in Iggy before reading, but after reading this I feel like I have been to every Stooges show, been at every album recording and been trapped in episodes of sheer mania and terror! This book is very comprehensive, which is both a gift and a curse and its very interesting being a biography rather than an autobiography as I don't think you are as easily persuaded into the idea of Iggy as a loveable rogue as you might be if he had written himself (which he has done in the past with his autobiography ' I Need More', but I think this book proves the Ig's mind and memories are not really to be trusted). For exampe, whether its fair or not, Anthony Keidis and Iggy Pop have always been closely linked in my mind, which is no way an accident on Keidis' part. Keidis was also a heroin addict, but in his brilliant autobiography 'Scar Tissue', you know he is frequently abhorrent, but ultimately completely charming.

As many succesful performers no doubt are, Jim Osterberg's creation 'Iggy Pop' is a self seeking, melodramatic meglomaniac, with a finger firmly set on the self destruct button. But I would love to be able to go back and see him fronting The Stooges in the late 60s and early 70s as their 'raw power' and fuck shit uppery sounds breathtaking. It is easy to think of wrinkly old orange Iggy in his car insurance ads now, and harder to remember that The Stooges, under Iggy's bent, basically went out there made the music they wanted, and weren't commerically succesful in their time. They were so intense and weird that audiences would cower away from them; they were ahead of their time. Testament to this perhaps is the fact that The Stooges' 'Raw Power' was Kurt Cobain's favourite album, and subsequently Cobain's band went on again to wipe the music slate clean and do their own thing. I really like the first self-titled Stooges album, I guess theres a lot of Doors influencene in there. ' I Wanna Be Your Dog' is brilliant (and put to good use in 'The Runaways', which I watched recently - Kim Fowley worked with Iggy too). 'Raw Power' is also good but at times a bit of an onslaught. Also, like most of the world's best people (ie Steven Tyler) he started out as a drummer before taking over the microphone.

Iggy's work and relationship with David Bowie is enduringly fascinating, mainly because it is still shrouded in quite a lot of mystery. I didn't realise that the song 'China Girl' was co-written by Iggy and appeared on his album before Bowie's version, released six years later. It is usually reported that Bowie helped Iggy's career, but this book really highlights the mutual benefits to the both of them. Of course, as a public figure Bowie was more commercial and acceptable, which perhaps explains how history has been written in his favor. And I don't think any bumming did take place, thanks Velvet Goldmine...

Enough of the music. Of course a big appeal of Iggy's has been that he is utterly beautiful; those eyelashes! I suppose hes not conventionally attractive but then most rock stars aren't are they? There's a pic of his famously proportioned schlong in the book too. Don't mind if I do. He's clearly been a massive shit to women and bandmates, and a terrible father, abandoning anyone who had outgrown their use to him, which I really didn't want to learn. I was suprised to read how intelligent and articulate he is, at school he was voted 'Most likely to succeed' but classmates thought he seemed destined to a career in politics. Iggy for Prez?

'I'm a streetwalking cheetah with a heart ful of Napalm'

Iggy in his famous cheetah leather jacket; he was wearing this when he found inspiration for the song 'Search and Destroy'

His spicy wife Nina.*

I haven't come away feeling like I really understand Iggy, and how much the Iggy persona is a front, or whether it is the real Jim. I think this is perhps unanswerable and I would like him to write his own autobiography now that he is seeminlgy more mature and level. I can't tell if he is really arrogant, or really insecure. This book puts forward the idea that Jim Osterberg is bi-polar, but then it doesn't really want to, and in fact can't commit to this idea. So bi-winning? (Sorry!)

I would recommend this book if you are really interested in Iggy/Jim Osterberg's back story as it is so well researched, draws on extensive references and is by a highly respected music journalist. Don't read it if you just want some stories of salacious rock star shagging or to be told that all was fine, all the time and Iggy is a thoroughly decent chap. I feel like I haven't done it enough justice here but its hard to as it is an absolute tome!


The last fm website is a great source for Iggy photos.

Oh and one more thing, watch this for a good run of archive film and photos:



*damn you Amy Cox, giving me a new adjective