Melt! 2008 Festival Fashion Report

Yay! Summer is back from taking its own vacation! Though I'm partial to mild weather, it would've have been nice to have had it this hot the other week at Melt!. But instead, it was cold and rainy the first two days of the festival (it wasn't until the third day that we got to feel the warm glow of some sunrays). I was fascinated though, by how all the hipsters translated their urban street style into functional festival wear.

There was tons of eye candy, but for my Melt! festival fashion report, I shall focus on wellingtons!

I remember when I bought my turquoise pair of wellies at Urban Outfitters; it felt so revolutionary!

But since then, fashion wellies have exploded onto the scene. I seriously couldn't stop taking pictures! The most common motif seemed to be polka dots, followed by florals. And props to the guy who even spraypainted his own (apparently there's a gap in the men's fashion wellington market).

Anyway. Here's a few of my favorites followed by a slideshow of all the cool ones I was quick enough to capture.

The Black Kids Domino Effect

This past weekend when I was at Melt! Festival (more about that coming up), one of the Berlin Battery DJs played a remix of Black Kids' "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend". It'd been ages since I'd last listened to them, so I spent all day at work Monday replaying their myspace playlist. And one earworm tipped off another. You connect the dots.

"Hit The Heartbreaks"


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Kate Bush "Don't Put Your Foot On The Heartbrake"



"I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend"


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Rilo Kiley "The Frug"



"Hurricane Jane"


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The Pippettes "Pull Shapes"

P.S. For more tangents, check here every Tuesday.

The The Chapin Sisters: How To Keep Cool This Summer

I just discovered The Chapin Sisters for myself. I really wish I had heard of them before and can't begin to imagine why I hadn't. At any rate. Despite midsummer's sweat-inducing temperatures, listening to them today gave me goosebumps. I'm sure their harmonized voices will send a hauntingly sweet chill down your spine too. Here's my favorite songs so far...

Kill Me Now:


Toxic (yes, it's a Britney, bitch):

Boderline (Madonna cover):

July Rockstrology!

I admit, I love reading my horoscope. I used to be addicted to checking it every morning, and then at night I'd compare the day's prophecy to its actual events. Sometimes there'd be absolutely no correlation at all, other times it would sort of fit, and every once in a while it would actually perfectly correspond to a current situation in my life as if the stars really were looking down on me. And I just loved that synchronicity.
Over the years, I've started looking at horoscopes not as a forecast of what is going to happen to me but more as advice for how to approach whatever does happen to me. But even so, I try not to take them too seriously and prefer to relish their superficial entertainment value more than anything else.

For my birthday picnic in May I decided to make paper fortune cookies as party favors with song lyrics as the fortunes. I had lots of fun with it (and I hope my party guests did too!) and I thought I'd transplant the idea to my blog. So from now on, I'll be posting my "rockstrology" horoscopes at the beginning of each month (yeah, I realize I'm a bit late with July, but the month's not over yet!) along with a playlist of the songs used in the previous month. You might already be able to name some of the tunes, but I thought it might be more fun (and unbiased) to keep all the artists and song titles a surprise till the end of the month (and if you really can't wait to find out, you can always just google it).

Mind you, I'm not an astrologer (and I'm no happy-go-lucky, always positive-thinking life coach either). I assigned the song lyrics to all the zodiac signs at random without paying any attention to what was matched with what, and they are all open to your own interpretation. So have fun finding out what's written in your July (rock)stars!

Aries ( March 21 - April 19)
Fun and sunshine--there's enough for everyone. All that's missing is the sea. But don't worry, you can suntan!

Taurus (April 20 - May 20)
If they follow you, don't look back. Like Dylan in the movies.

Gemini (May 21 - June 20)
You're flying when your foreign eyes trace the heights of the city.

Cancer (June 21 - July 22)
Boys lie too much. Girls act too tough. Enough is enough.

Leo (July 23 - August 22)
All of your days will be blessed, so put on a smile and get dressed.

Virgo (August 23 - September 22)
Who cares what games we choose? Little to win, but nothing to lose.

Libra (September 23 - October 22)
Advertise to lonely eyes.

Scorpio (October 23 - November 21)
Dance, dance, dance. Words can never make up for what you do.

Sagittarius (November 22 - December 21)
When you go out stepping on the town for a while, your money's low and your suit's out of style. But it's all right if your clothes aren't new. Out of sight because your heart is true.

Capricorn (December 22 - January 19)
Some people claim that theres a woman to blame. But you know it's your own damn fault.

Aquarius (January 20 - February 18)
If you're in love you should make love.

Pisces (February 19 - March 20)
Our paths still cross in these high pressure days. A crowd pattern will emerge. Exchange phone numbers, wither away.

The Black Ghosts: TGIM! in London and SXSW 2008 Recap

I know. I'm such a procrastinator. I have a ton of backlogged photos from various gigs that I wanna share. But hey. I'm only human. And luckily Urban Outfitters just gave me the right kick in the tush to at least upload my photos of the Black Ghosts set from the IHEARTCOMIX SXSW day party:

So London, please do take advantage. You won't ever find a better way to start your week! In fact, forget TGIF. Thank God it's Monday!

Anyway. Here's some of my photos from the SXSW set. And if your dance moves are stale these days, take note of my favorites of the night: James doing "The Hammer" and Josh doing the "Nosepicker". Couldn't have busted a move better myself. In fact. If Santogold ever needs to replace her backup dancers, she'll know who to call.

Oh Snap! Metronomy Holiday Photo Contest!

Omigod, not only is Metronomy's new song "Holiday" the best vacation-theme earworm since Franz Ferdinand's "Better on Holiday", Wham's "Club Tropicana" and Righeira's "Vamos a la Playa (which was all aaages ago)...



...but they're coupling the single release (out on July 7th) with a super fun holiday snaps competition!

here's my entry:

me picking a wedgie at europapark (ca. '83)...

all good now:

Enter your own photo by leaving a comment on their myspace blog post!