From Sasha

I just got my latest issue of Bust magazine (one of my fave reads– the thinking woman's Cosmo, I like to call it) in the mail, and I was excited to see an article about Buffy Saint-Marie. Buffy started her career as a folk singer in the wild and wacky 60s, and I knew about her because my friend Angela in high school had her record Illuminations:

I didn't really get folk music back then, since I was mostly into goth and British guitar bands, but I totally got her cool "Vampire" song. That chilling voice with its sustained vibrato, that haunting melody and dark lyrics– amazing.

Even though all the big names covered her songs at one point or another (she wrote songs that were huge hits for Donovan, Chet Atkins, Janis Joplin, and Taj Mahal- even Elvis covered her music!), I personally don't recall that Buffy was ever considered "cool" until the recent Folk Revival. Come to find out this was probably because her music was blacklisted for decades in the U.S., due to her strong political stance.  She continued to play in Europe, but her main venue in the U.S. was as a regular member of Sesame Street. She even breast fed her son on one groundbreaking episode!

A few months back I found this record in a clearance bin, and I picked it up based on the merit of the remembered "Vampire" song, and of course also for the great outfit on the cover:  Continue Reading... (321 words + 3 images, estimated 1:17 mins reading time)

From Amber and Sasha

While The Great Republic of Rough and Ready has an very imposing name, in reality it is a small rural community situated just outside of Grass Valley. Though it is just a five minute drive down the road, it feels like worlds away. Rough and Ready made motions to secede from the Union in 1850, in protest of a tax on new mining claims and the prohibition of alcohol in Nevada County, but the community voted itself back in when they realized that they could no longer celebrate the 4th of July if they were independent from the Union. This doesn't stop anyone from celebrating "Secession Days" every year in late June, and there is an outlaw vibe in Rough and Ready that remains to this day. When my in-laws moved from the suburbs of the Bay Area to the foothills, they looked at a house there. Their conclusion? "It's too rough, and we're not ready!" 

We, on the other hand, were ready to take on the historical downtown, if for one afternoon– with bags of vintage clothes and a camera!

 Continue Reading... (261 words + 34 images, estimated 1:03 mins reading time)

Last night I got home too late to take pictures at my house, which is in the shade of a big hill and gets dark early. I was hot to capture these two cool pieces, though, so I did something I have never done before– got fully dressed, hopped in the car, and went looking for a roadside that still had lots of light left. I found one! Such lovely meadows and cat-tails… even a lane lined with blackberry bushes. The funny thing is that, even though I look like I am in the middle of nowhere, I am actually standing right at the side of the road, with the occasional Ford pickup driving by with someone on their way home from work, people walking their dogs, etc. I even got buzzed by a car full of teenagers who were hanging out of the windows of a dusty beater and (quite genuinely) yelling "whoo!". The things we do for art… 

 

I've spent the last week in a shopping frenzy, and I have a pile of gorgeous dresses to photograph for the shop! Now for some inspiration… I spent a very indolent Sunday hiding from the blazing sun in my blacked-out living room, poring through an issue of Vogue from this May that a friend had lent me. This was possibly the best issue ever, since it focused on the models, complete with Juicy Model Gossip! If they were all like this I would have continued my subscription. Natalia Vodianova did a photo shoot where she channeled famous models from the past several decades, and I was so happy to see that Penelope Tree was included in the tribute. Her outfit was the best, by far:

…but then I like things pretty Dramatic.

The real Penelope Tree does not disappoint, in fact I think she trumps Natalia and all the modern models for the fact that she was one of the very first to carry off that "I'm sorry, I was communicating with aliens, did you need to say something to me? How terribly dull" expression whilst wearing her entire closet inside out on top of her head. I heart a good juxtaposition, and this girl had it down.  Continue Reading... (339 words + 6 images, estimated 1:21 mins reading time)