cut hair hair cut

So I cut my hair

I feel kind of weird posting pictures of myself on my blog, I mean I want my blog to be more about the art and music and general interest of cool shit I find rather than narcissistic pictures of myself? I know that's pretty hypocritical of me to say since I have posted photos of myself in the past.. but rarely OKAY RARELY.

Anyways, I felt like this was a momentous occasion as i have been thinking about doing it for weeks and the other night I got so fed up I just chopped it off. Feels.. ~~liberating

My mother of course was not feeling the liberating vibes and has booked an appointment at the hairdresser on Saturday.. But mother! It's totally DIY and PUNK. 

And Patti Smith cut her hair herself to look like Keith Richards.. but I suppose being a New York bohemian poet gives her license to do that kind of thing... Alas the perils of being a 'misunderstood' teenager living in the 'slums' of the Eastern Suburbs... 

In recognition, I present to you some celebratory Clearwater Revival (of course) 

.. okay well I couldn't find the original song so I found this really cool video of a stoned dude with a beard playing the song.

AND I got a super cute kitten aptly named by my 7 year old sister, Mrs. Fluffy Pants. I just call her Pants.. it's cuddle parties everday 

Ray Bradbury on the meaning of life and love

'We belong only by doing and we own only by doing and we love only by doing and knowing'

Mark David Chapman interview Larry King Live 12/17/92

Why I think the music business sucks

Here's a tangent I went on about the music business:

There's so much competition musically out there, it's really overwhelming to try and keep up with the new sounds and it makes it easier for me to just pick a couple musicians I really LOVE and just follow them, instead of updating my ipod every 3 days with the latest 'hits'.

But not even 'hits' as in mainstream popular culture stuff, because the general consensus now-a-days is that what's being commercialized is crap, which is true some of the time. But real good music is out there if you're ever so willing to look for it, bands who are actually substantially good that have done well recently like Arcade Fire and Fleet Foxes. In recent years I mean, I'm sure there have been greater bands released but my musical psyche is still stuck in 2009 so if you excuse me... 

In Almost Famous there is a quote that has really resonated with me whenever I feel sad about the music business, from Jeff BB (Okay I've seen it too many times, don't judge) about how the music that is popular is the best music that is out there. Which was probably true at one point, but since the 70s there has been a steady increase in the commercialization of music and for me it has become soulless and almost pointless (if I dare say) in some respects. I truly admire the artists that have been able to manipulate the industry to suit themselves, such as Fiona Apple. But of all the music documentaries that I have seen there is a common theme that becomes prominent; the importance of Good Timing. I would honestly think of nothing worse than basing my entire career on an industry that is purely based around subjectivity and relies heavily on people's approval. The whole success on an artist lies within their ability to build an audience, and quite frankly that is fucking hard to do. 

The real music that exists for me is music that is a collaborative experience. A few weeks ago I went to see Brian Jonestown Massacre and it might have been the crowd, or the alcohol, or even the suspicious smelling cigarette smoke wafting throughout the venue - but something clicked. As much as I appreciated the band and the music and being so close to the stage, I could literally see the bottom side of Matt Hollywood's guitar.. I felt disconnected. And I don't like feeling that disconnection, the idea that the musicians were performing for us. The best way we could express our enthusiasm for the music was by standing there and watch it happen before our eyes. 

Let me explain, 

A few years ago I was invited to go camping with my friend and her sister and her sisters friends for her 21st birthday. All of her friends were musicians and it was GREAT we just stayed up late making sounds and dancing around and it was really beautiful to be in the moment, with the musicians, no pretentiousness.. just love and love for each other and love for music. And I feel that now at gigs because there is such a separation between the music that is being made and the audience that a magic has been lost. And it's really really sad. 

Anyway, it's late and I felt like I had to rant. Posts of actual substance are coming up xxx

17 June~~~

It's sunday!

Feel like dancin'

This was a 1977 TV disco dance show from Montreal.
Everything about this makes me so happy - from crowd swaying to the beat being played in the background while the presenter was talking, to the feathered hair and glistening lights.
I love the way the presenter's silk shirt is unbuttoned to reveal a few specks of chest-hair and Brian's deep voice. Brian's story about them trying to make it in LA made me think of how hard it must have been like for a disco singer to 'make it big' in the competitive music environment of capitalist 70s LA. Imagine! like a starving artist but a starving disco queen.. all the money going to sequins.. .can't eat this week.. must sequin.. pants

My grandfather. Don Draper

On Sunday evening it was my grandfather's 80th birthday party.
It was a nice event? I guess there was like.. finger food and.. wine and stuff..
Anyway as the evening progressed, speech time approached.
After a few speeches were read off of new-age palm cards or iphones by my respective relatives, it was my turn to say a 'few words'. Taking my place on the brightly-lit podium, it suddenly dawned on me that maybe not having either iphone notes or palm cards pre-prepared was probably a bad idea. My stubbornness and arrogance got the better of me and in my arrogant haze I thought I would be able to muster up a brilliant speech telling tales of the greatness of my family history.
It suddenly dawned on me that this was probably not a great idea and I fumbled around at the podium thinking of things to say.. anything. I was beginning to regret the two glasses of wine I had had prior that were now swirling around in my stomach.
'Uuugh.. you're a suave guy' I managed to choke out. Before scurring off the stage and taking refuge in my cousin's satin lapel.

Okay. The last part of that paragraph was a lie. I remembered and told a story about how I once sneaked into my grandfather's bedroom, trying to smoke his pipe. Trying to imitate his nonchalant style. Resulting in what was an inhalation of bugs and dust because you're obviously meant to put tobacco in the pipe. This didn't cross my 11 year old mind at the time. However I hoped to dear god that my unrehearsed speech came across as adorably heart-felt and not awkward and insulting unprepared. (For the record, the very latter part of the paragraph was true. I did run to my cousin after I told my speech. And he was wearing a satin lapel)

But what I said about him being a suave 'dude' is true. I mean he was a movie star! I found this photo of him being played on a rotating slide-show and it only confirmed what I had already realized. These old photos of him in finely cut suits and caddys, smoking cigars only confirm my suspicions that he was Don Draper. His finely brushed hair and fantastically retro sunglasses radiate all class. I love this photo of him.


MY GRANDFATHER IS DON DRAPER.

Lee Hazlewood

Probably one of my favourite musicians of all time is Lee Hazlewood. He is an American singer/ songwriter/producer most well known for his collaborations with Nancy Sinatra and Duane Eddy in the 50s and 60s. Hazlewood was known for always looking forward, for the next project or next sound. In this endless search for a defining genre, he was able to invent Cowboy Psychadelia. A fusion of the west-coast rock movements and native American story-telling, his distinctive bellowing voice gives him an authenticity that places him as a key influence amongst modern American music. And this influence is undeniable, you can hear elements of Hazlewood from Primal Scream to The Jesus and Mary Chain.
Despite his solo success, Hazlewood is best known for his work with Nancy Sinatra. He wrote the original hit 'These Boots were Made for Walking' in which he also produced an awesome satirical version where he reflects the way he 'made a song about boots with a darlin' named Nancy'


(sorry for the quality)



  Nancy's Version of course

Together they combined their powers of awesomeness to produce some rad collaborational albums feauturing hits like 'Some Velvet Morning' and my personal favourite 'Summer Wine'.





This is a beautiful documentry feauturing Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra in their las Vegas show in 1972. Their backstage candid interviews highlight their relationship and the mutual respect they had for eachother. I particularly love Lee's denim jackets and Sinatra's amazingly 70s vegas outfits AND THAT FEATHERED HAIR

and some awesome Hazlewood record covers

                                                                     (B.O.S.S)

Lee Hazlewood - The Nights (cowboy bad-ass)

David Bowie embroidery I completed a while a go

D. Bowie embroidery. My first one 

I'm an emotional Idiot so get away from me - Maggie Estep

Made as part of the 'United States of Poetry' series in the 90s. James Duval and Johnny Depp also appeared reciting poetry on the show.