CRAVING CRAVING CRAVING STREETWEAR!

fyi, My birthday is coming up.

(Dimepiece Designs, Princess of the Posse, Tank Theory, Hellz Bellz, Nike, Han Cholo, CC Skye, Obey, Steven Shein)

Intimacy breeds expectations
And she just can’t give what they want
Their favorite soul song from the seventies
Are the words that incessantly haunt

The hurt that’s never on purpose
Never seems to sting any less
And her yearning is always fleeting
From the moment that she gets undressed

Inadequacy isn’t a factor
There’s nothing that they could have done
For when she gets up to leave
It’s as certain as the setting sun

© 2009

Hetero life mates.

Friday night, a bunch of 817 cats came northbound. I wore a thrifted tank top that I borrowed from my roomate and bessfren Talia, vintage thrifted Wrangler cutoff jorts (a gift from roommate/bessfren Brittany), a Simply Vera by Vera Wang necklace, a purse I got at Khols, and some not pictured UO gladiator sandals. It was a lot of fun, maybe too much? Probably, because on Saturday I slept until 3pm. But once I did get my ass up, I packed up the Oldsy (my 2004 Oldsmobile Aleroooyeah) and drove south to Mansfield. My grandma is in town for Vince’s graduation on Tuesday, so I’m staying at my mom’s for a few days. I haven’t seen my grandma since Christmas, so it’s been really nice to spend time with her, she’s my last grandparent. She brought me a bunch of RLY cool old jewelry. Saturday night, I went with Jared, Ashley, Aaron, and Jasmin to our friend Isiac’s house. We hung out it his really cool backyard, sat around a bonfire, went night swimming, and stayed up very very late. I met some nice new fwends, and caught up with this really stylish girl I haven’t seen since high school. I am now covered in mosquito bites, but that’s just a sign that this Texas summer season is officially here. It’s only a matter of time before Highly Refined Pirates finds it’s way back into my car stereo and stays there for three months. OVERALL? Great weekend. Stoked on Vince’s graduation and seeing ERYNN MOTHERFUCKING PATRICK, my traveling friend when I get back home later this week. It’s a celebration bitches! SUMMER IS HERE!!

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Redheads are caused by sugar and lust - Tom Robbins

The boyz in tha hood are always hard.

Spread love, it's the third coast way, youngn.

Our friendship is neopolitain flavored.

SCUBA SCOTT

Fucking flossy, right?

Beautiful ruby necklace from Grandma that I am obsessed with.

Jackie Bushnell took all of the party photos.

One of the many creative projects I am currently working on, is a book called The It Girl Gene. As I have mentioned previously, I have always found the idea of “It” girls completely fascinating. The term was coined in 1927, when English writer Elinor Glynn described actress Clara Bow in the now-classic silent film, “It”.

“IT” is that quality possessed by some which draws all others with its magnetic force. With “IT” you win all men if you are a woman—all women if you are a man. “IT” can be a quality of the mind as well as a physical attraction… Self-confidence and indifference whether you are pleasing or not—and something in you that gives the impression that you are not at all cold. That’s “IT”.

This is the type of woman I was raised to be, like my mother before me.

The plan is to chronicle the time in my mom’s twenties when she was engulfed in the 1980s Chicago punk rock/new wave/rockabilly scene, and to compare how similar my experience has been to her’s. I’ve been doing interviews with her for research, and it’s really amazing to hear stories of her life before me. I’m learning a lot of things about her that I never knew before. For instance, one of her first jobs was working the camera counter at Montgomery Ward. There, a suburban hippie fresh out of high school, she met John Fontaine (pictured below). John was the Andy to my mother’s Edie.

A few things I’ve found particularly fascinating and inspiring lately.

I recently took a trip to the best goddamn custom photo lab in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, Barron Photografix. There, I dropped off 13 rolls of film back stock that I’ve been too broke to have dipped and scanned over the last six months. Needless to say, I’ve been spending quite a bit of time editing negative scans. This one in particular, has a really long story behind it, and if I don’t explain it, I’m going to come off looking like a dickhead.

I pride myself on being a self taught photographer. I’ve never taken a single high school or college class. I learned everything I know about photography from independent research and work experience. I spent a year working for a nationwide “custom” photo lab/camera retailer, which proved to be a wealth of technical knowledge. However, this bullshit corporation we’ll call, TITZ Camera (wink, wink), turned out to be yet another white man trying to keep the brown girl down type scenario that I am all to familiar with. I’ll never encourage you to spend your money or trust your images with a company both morally and literally bankrupt.
Moving on, I’d like to think that one of the most important parts of being a good photographer is in the etiquette. This pertains to always crediting models, technical assistance, anyone who contributed to the photograph; and of course, offering them prints or access to the finished result. It’s important to a photographer’s reputation, and it’s the right thing to do. That said, I have to come clean about Limelight.

I have no fucking idea who any of these people are!

Last Halloween, I met a nice young skate park employee named Callan. He was particularly knowledgeable when it came to photography and hip hop alike, so naturally, I let him take me out a few times. One of those times, he took Ashley Ann and I to the Fallout Lounge in Deep Ellum. Callan was friends with this couple from Dallas, the feminine half of which, was a photographer. She had rented out the bar in the early evening, and was shooting a very detailed editorial. She had invited Callan and whomever he wanted to bring (Ashley and I) to come equipped with cameras, so that she could use us as extras for the shoot. It was a vague invitation, but I had never been to a high production value shoot before, and wouldn’t pass up the opportunity. So I grabbed the Holga 120GN, attached a Holgon flash,  and east to Dallas we went.
When I got there, plastic toy camera in hand, I felt instantly ridiculous in the presence of high definition digital SLRs, professional models, stylists, makeup artists, and a lighting system that I’m pretty sure I dreamt about for a few nights afterward (NERD ALERT). Callan’s photographer friend was very talented and friendly, as were her husband and friends. She explained that the shoot was part of her final project for art school, an examination of the concept of the “it girl” (something I find infinitely fascinating as an artist),  based on the life of illustrious French muse, Kiki de Montparnasse. I was particularly enthralled with the concept, and found her production and proof shots beautifully executed. When she had asked about the Holga, Callan exaggeratedly praised my quirky little color splash 120 portraits. I just smiled and shrugged, feeling like a technical toddler in comparison.
The model portraying Kiki was a professional, and her male companion, was a bartender friend of theirs whom I’m almost positive is named Robbie (I’ve met him briefly a couple of other times). The shot blocked was for them to be walking through the front door of the bar, fighting their way through a swarm of paparazzi (IE, Callan, I, and other camera toting extras). Before she started to shoot the first walk through, she asked if my camera was loaded, and encouraged me to make a couple negatives, that her lights would drown out my flash. So, I haphazardly (we were at a bar, people) did. After she got her shot and production stopped, we had a couple more drinks and listened to this really good DJ set, a guy named Fishr Pryce.
So, things transpired as they sometimes do, and Callan and I only went out together those few times. He was a nice guy but you know, I’m dating challenged. Seven months go by, I’m going through my raw negative scans, and what do I come across? Kiki de Montparnasse and the best little happy accident I’ve ever captured.
For the past six months or so, I’ve been experimenting heavily with overlapping and double exposing frames. But the technique I’ve always fallen short from executing is the very one I did this tipsy night on a hijacked set. Limelight is two medium format 6 × 4.5 frames shot with a multiple flash, overlapping each other, creating a  sort of time lapse within panorama. I’ve wasted many an exposure trying to achieve this effect before, and can’t for the life of me figure out how I did it accidentally (two cocktails deep, no less).
So if you’re the photographer or her husband, or Callan or Robbie and you happen to stumble upon this while you’re surfing the interwebz, please get at me with the names that I’m sure you told me, but I have completely forgotten. Because I am really proud of this photograph, and I don’t want to feel like a dickhead every time I show it to someone.

The caffinated sun and the boozy moon
Shine down on your pretty young face
They watch you pay your bills
or get your thrills
Then they just will not get off your case

And in passing, they hen of your inordinate existance
placing bets on when you’ll finally fold
But what they don’t notice from so far away
Is the ardent flame in your soul
it burns so bright
it must be right

it keeps you from losing
control

©2008

There is something really sexy about a man with a gun. Not that it’s a quality I look for in a dude, but for as long as I can remember, I’ve always loved cop movies. Don’t get it twisted, squadcars and cops in passing still strike fear into my heart like anyone else. Fictional cops, however, one can sympathize with. All that power and privilege, no one to relate to, and the Hollywood face and body to boot. Woo. Oh Mr. Officer, Mr. Officer, I bet you wish your ass was Vanessa’s huh? Put on a pot of coffee, go out for a big box of donuts, and spend this Sunday Picture Show learning the difference between justice and street justice.

1. The Departed

2. Serpico

3. Training Day

4. LA Confidential

We’re coming up on a very special time of year for music. College aged hipsters are finishing up their semester, scrounging cash, and trying to decide which summer music festival to blow it on. The lineups have been announced, and tickets are going fast. But with all these time crunches, rising ticket prices, and fine print flyers- how the hell are we to decide which one to go to? Well, I’ll be putting all my paper into moving this summer, so I’m not going to any of them. But, YOU have quite the decision to make. And just to prove I’m not jealous and bitter, I’m going to help you out. I’ve critiqued and highlighted the four heavy hitters of the season, and weighed the pros and cons of blowing your leftover financial aide money on three to four days of partying.

Austin City Limits 2009
October 2-4
Zilker Park – Austin, Tx
GA: $185, third wave VIP: $850 (1)

I must say, that I was pretty disappointed with this year’s headliners. Pearl Jam and DMB? Really? You’re better than that, Austin. With that said, there are still a good amount of lower billed acts that I would make me consider a ticket purchase. Overall? Ask your sugar mama/daddy before getting out your wallet.

Headliners

• Pearl Jam
• Dave Matthews Band
• Beastie Boys
• Kings of Leon
• Ben Harper and Relentless7
• Thievery Corporation
• John Legend
• The Dead Weather
• The Levon Helm Band
• Ghostland Observatory

Personal Favourites

• Sonic Youth
• Mos Def
• Toadies
• The B-52s
• Lily Allen
• Arctic Monkeys
• The Decemberists
• Girl Talk
• Bon Iver
• Grizzly Bear
• The Walkmen
• Eek-A-Mouse
• K’Naan
• The Raveonettes
• Daniel Johnston
• Deer Tick

Bonnaroo 2009
June 11-14
Bonnaroo Festival Grounds – Manchester, Tn
GA: $250, third wave VIP: $1350 (2)

Initial reaction? Fuck yeah. Bonnaroo is goin’ hard this year. Headliners are on point, and the thought of Erkyah and Elvis in the same day is enough to make my head explode. This year, Bonnaroo has by far the best and most diverse collection of acts of any Summer festival. Overall? Run, don’t walk, to the box office.

Headliners

• Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
• Phish (2 shows)
• Beastie Boys
• Nine Inch Nails
• David Byrne
• Wilco
• Al Green
• Snoop Dogg
• Elvis Costello Solo
• Erykah Badu
• Paul Oakenfold
• Ben Harper and Relentless7

Personal Favourites

• TV on the Radio
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• MGMT
• Public Enemy
• Band of Horses
• Triumph the Insult Comic Dog Presents Bonnapoo 2009
• An Evening (or Afternoon) with the Daily Show featuring John Oliver, Rob Riggle & Rory Albanese
• The Decemberists
• Girl Talk
• Bon Iver
• Michael Ian Black & Michael Showalter
• of Montreal
• Booker T & the DBTs
• Neko Case
• Santogold
• Kaki King
• Grizzly Bear
• Raphael Saadiq
• Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
• People Under The Stairs
• MURS
• Russian Circles

Sasquatch! 2009
May 23-25
The Gorge – Quincy, WA
GA: $66.50 (per day, second wave) VIP: $1500 (2)

Washington hipsters have plenty of reasons to be satisfied with this year’s Sasquatch lineup. Honestly, it’s this caliber of lineup that I expected from ACL this year. Here we’ve got a great diverse mix of comedy and music, without crossing the mainstream/independent line. And for the second wave price of $70 per day, there’s really no reason not to go.

Headliners

• Kings of Leon
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• The Decemberists
• Animal Collective
• Jane’s Addiction
• Nine Inch Nails
• TV On The Radio
• The Murder City Devils
• Ben Harper and Relentless7
• Erykah Badu
• Silversun Pickups
• Fleet Foxes

Personal Favourites

• Bon Iver
• M. Ward
• Doves
• Tim and Eric
• Mos Def
• Calexico
• M83
• The Walkmen
• Zach Galifianakis
• Santogold
• Grizzly Bear
• Explosions In The Sky
• Girl Talk
• Beach House
• Demetri Martin

Rock the Bells 2009
June 27- August 9th
Chicago – San Fransisco
Ticket prices varying w/ venue

Even with it’s tulmutous history of lineup changes and venue issues, Rock the Bells is the best bet for hip hop heads this summer. The lineup has been better, but those familer with the annual touring festival will know that the flier is usually just a loose guide as to what to expect. Even the official flier states in bold “LINEUP SUBJECT TO CHANGE”, which is code for, “A better chance of catching some once in a lifetime, tell your grankids about it sets”.

Headliners

• Nas
• Damien Marley
• The Roots
• Common
• Busta Rhymes
• Big Boi
• House of Pain
• Reflection Eternal

Personal Favourites

• RZA
• GZA
• Raekwon
• K’Nann
• Slum Village
• Mickey Factz
• KRS-One
• Supernatural
• MURS
• Pete Rock

Future residence of the Fab Four

The girls and I have been doing some preliminary house hunting, and have been lucky enough to stumble upon this amazing hidden gem of Denton real estate. It’s a four bedroom, two bath 1940s built art deco style jawn, with a back patio and a HUGE yard. As it stands right now, we’ll be moving in the second week of July! Hooray! I’m going to have to do some work in the yard, to give Biggie a little fenced in grazing grass, but it will be totally worth it. Who could deny this face??

Biggie Smalls Quilantan, the man in my life