Image: Feral78
From the chunky knit jumpers to the precariously perched baseball caps, you might have noticed the 1990s is back in fashion. Generation No-one Understands Me (AKA Generation X) has been updated to Generation No-one Understands Me Outside My Tumblr Feed.
Oh yes, early 90s grunge is back to stomp all over any dreams of the 21st century fashion being space agey, in tatty DM boots. Teenagers are mining through the strata of eyeliner and matte lipstick to find some gems from this time – oh hey, you ever heard of this great old band The Smashing Pumpkins?
I have never been one for outdoorsy type events, especially if it entails sleeping in a tent. I remember attempting to spend a night in a tent in an Oxfordshire garden during the summer holidays circa 1992. I think I made it until about midnight before I dragged my cold and creeped out butt back into the warmth of central heated and electric lit shelter and more importantly to the controls of my best friend’s Mega Drive.
Now it’s 2012 and as I awkwardly ‘helped’ put up our plasticy flimsy makeshift home for the weekend of the 24th to the 27th of August, my mate cried out “We’re civilised, the Enlightenment happened, we don’t need to be outside anymore!”
On that first day of Doune the Rabbit Hole – a music festival hidden away in a fort in Carron Valley in Scotland – I agreed but by the end of it I knew how to take on the an outdoors and win! Here are my tips to festival survival and a wee look Doune the Rabbit Hole...
We have all heard people say “it’s the thought that counts” usually in a brave, yet disappointed tone, but it’s true. Provided your thought/idea wasn’t crappy.
I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t appreciate a good mix tape. Ok not so much now since the noble tape deck went into serious decline. But a well thought out and decorated mix CD makes for a very acceptable gift if you can’t stretch to a shop bought present.
What makes the mix tape so touching is that it takes so effing long to make. Someone has spent a long time selecting tracks they want you to hear. Maybe getting into a slightly tearful state, figuring out what to do when the song you ABSOLUTELY must hear doesn’t quite fit on the end of the tape. Start all over again? Write down specific listening instructions to turn tape over ASAP for the rest of the song?
Jen Smith, formerly of
Bratmobile and
The Quails, alleged coiner of the term
riot grrrl and ‘zine maker extraordinaire is preserving the DIY spirit of Riot Grrrl. Smith has turned her hands to pickling.
Squeamish Bikini is a website of its word. Or something along those lines. When I said I was going travelling, I did. When I said I was going to skydive, I did. When I said I was going to learn to drum like
Janet Weiss I…bought some bitchin’ shades that I’m pretty sure give me the air of a drummer.
But I digress. The point is I said in my
Madonna feature that blues singer Bessie Smith, deserved more coverage and as her death day approacheth (26th September) now seems like the time to crack out a short profile of the woman
Betty Davis growls about on her track ‘They Say I’m Different’
In honour of P J Harvey’s second Mercury Music Awards win we’ve put together our 5 favourite P J Harvey songs. Even the Friday whale has got in on the act and fashioned herself a feather headdress to match Harvey’s.
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