Rock Pop Fashion

The Look (rockpopfashion.com) is an ultrahip stroll down the psychedelic, super cool sentimental Kings Road. With impressive images (that are not easily found anywhere else) of Britain’s heyday of cutting edge youth culture and fashion. McLaren, Siouxsie, Mary Quant, Iggy Pop, Vivienne Westwood and Marc Bolan are all here, plus the biggest hangouts of the day like Carnaby St., Granny Takes a Trip, and Westwood and McLaren’s shop SEX.

But even more exciting, especially for those of us that didn’t grow up in a time and place that looks incredibly fun, are the names and places that are new: Dinah Adams, Wonder Workshop, Antony Price, Marion Foale and Sally Tuffin, Harry Gordon, Jah Wobble, Pamela Motown, and the list goes on. I love new discoveries and The Look is spilling over with them.

Click here for the rest of The Look

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Posted on May 9, 2010

Scouring the web for music tix

When it comes to purchasing tickets to live music events, sometimes StubHub and TicketMaster are your only options – but just as frequently someone’s trying to dump tickets through Craigslist and using a whole different rate structure. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a one-stop resource (that defaults to a home page showcasing immediately upcoming shows in your geographic area) that automatically returned all the available ticket options?

Enter Tickets & Music (the brainchild of our friend Marcus), an incredibly useful site that does exactly that.

A couple of days after Halloween, I was thrilled to discover that the one and only Blues Traveler was playing locally – but I was (understandably) stunned by the prices TicketMaster was charging. I checked T&M and discovered that some dude was getting rid of tickets through Craigslist for just $12! Armed with that kind of bargain basement price info, I quickly got in touch with Fred, who had worn a Blues-Traveler-themed costume just days earlier.

Of course, he firmly rebuked me for even suggesting that he’d want to attend such and event but, thanks to T&M, I was able to get the conversation going. Just wait until the Spin Doctors come to town!

See more: Web Sites About Music Guest Writer: Jim Reference

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Posted on December 6, 2009

I put on the 1960 documentary Jazz on a Summer's Day on a recent half day afternoon while Jim was still at work hoping for some pleasant background entertainment as I took care of stuff around the house, but I quickly found myself far more enthralled than I expected – and I even went so far as to pour a smallish glass of wine as this soothing and stunning film washed over me.

Centered at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival and interspersed with the WASPy beauty of a yacht race, the movie is almost without dialogue, except for the the occasional introductions from a radio program and the banter of performers – and what performers they are! From a cooler than cool Thelonious Monk, to a cheery, feather-capped Anita O'Day, from an energetic Chuck Berry to the solemn and powerful Mahalia Jackson, the music will be instantly diggable to any fan of the genre, and possibly even create a few new ones.

Beyond the performances, the style of the film and the subjects are highly inspiring. The director seems to almost know the exact images that would excite the current nostalgic movement: a man gathering old timey bottles, a ragtime band playing on the back of a pickup through the coastal Rhode Island landscape, a woman's perfectly red lips and pony tail – these are the images that can make men who name their babies Miles and open up speakeasy barbershops weep.

It plays like a living, breathing mid-century Sartorialist, and it's little wonder that the pure visual aesthetics (and fashions in particular) are given so much weight once you learn that noted fashion photographer Bert Stern (famous for his intimate shots of Marilyn) is behind the lens. He's just as amazed by Dinah Washington's white silk banded gown as her vocals. Stern's amazing eye, combined with what has to be one of the most impressive lineups in jazz festival history, make this seemingly simple film into an extraordinary experience.

I hope this collection of stills will further inspire you to watch.

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Posted on July 20, 2009

Well it certainly took long enough, but Rotating Corpse is finally here! It's a new collaborative blog Jim and I put together with a number of our most awesomest friends. It's updated daily with amazing things to delight your mind. It's tons of fun to be a part of and just as fun to browse. Please, please stop by, subscribe to the feed and feel free to leave comments!

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Posted on April 6, 2009