Brooklyn Psychobilly Luau - July 10th & 11th

Woah nelly! Another rockabilly music festival in Brooklyn?? What the hell is going on here! I just heard about one going on from the 16th - 18th of July at the Warsaw in Greenpoint called the Rebel Night Weekender, but didn't post about it because I just didn't have the time. That one is much more traditional rockabilly sounding (The Trashmen, Sit & Die Co., a lot fewer bands), but who knows! Could totally rock.

So about the Luau: a few weeks ago I was at my friend Mike Fisher's band's show at the Lit Lounge in the LES. Mike's band is called D.I.S., punky death metal at its finest! Mike is also a great artist; check out his work at www.maxiumumflouride.net. While there, I met a guy who works for Rebel Angel productions, and though I forget his name (I wrote it down somewhere but lost that piece of paper), he was super nice and told me about how Rebel Angle had recently put on the first Deadbolt show in ages a little while back and said I should check out their site.

Rebel Angel is putting on music events for the hot rod set in NYC constantly, and the Psychobilly Luau, already in it's 4th year, is coming up next weekend! Good thing I finally got around to looking at their website, eh?


Psychobilly Luau @ the Bell House, July 10th & 11th, Brooklyn NY.

In addition to a zillion great bands playing over the two days, there will be all kinds of other rod-related revelry to partake in: sideshows, vendors, fashion shows, burlesque dancers, hot rods, BBQ, contests and more!

Just check out the list of bands:
(Saturday July 10th - ALL AGES!!)
GUANA BATZ (Midnight)
The Goddamn Gallows (10:45)
Memphis Morticians (9:45)
The Hypnophonics (8:45)
Stellar Corpses (7:45)
Psycho Charger (6:45)
The Arkhams (5:45)
The Othermen (5:00)
Viva Le Vox (4:15)
The Rebel Angels (3:30)

(Sunday July 11th - 21+ only)
THE NEANDERTHALS
The Swingin' Neckbreakers
Jukebox Jodi & her 45s
Labretta Suede and The Motel 6
The Thunderfucks
King Sickabilly One Man Band
Thee Atomic Cavemen
Amy Rose and Her Trouble Makers
The Twang Bangers (Germany)

Damn...that's a lot. Tickets can be found on the Rebel Angel website and are $25 for Saturday, $20 for Sunday and $40 for a weekend pass. See you there!

Rolling Bones Hot Rod Shop

Sometimes, I think New York must be heaven on Earth. Around every corner I turn or every city I look up on the internet holds some gem, some oasis from the sea of crap and mediocrity that our world generally is these days. And today, I found a fresh breath of garage air called the Rolling Bones Hot Rod Shop, located in Greenfield Center, NY. It's kinda stupid that I haven't heard about them until now, because they are masters of what they do and quite well known in the hot rod community. Way to go, me! Always two steps behind.


Image from Hot Rod Revival
The two proprietors of this old school speed shop, Ken Schmidt and Keith Cornell, appear to be (I say appear because I haven't been there or anything) churning out some really well-built, classically styled hot rods prime for melting salt out in Bonneville. They even have a documentary out about a trip with their cars to the Mecca of rod-racing, aptly titled "The Road to Bonneville".

I highly recommend checking them out if you are anywhere in that area. They seem like a bunch of like-minded good guys who are worth supporting. Check out more photos of their shop here and a Deuce frame buildup process article at Street Rodder mag.

Another Icon Passes On

Almost everyone in America is familiar with this icon image of a young sailor in Times Square on VJ Day, August 14, 1945, smooching the bejesus out of a lithe young nurse, in one of the most palpable images of spontaneous passion I've ever seen. It was photographed by Alfred Eisenstaedt, a German-American photojournalist known for his candid portraits, specifically this memorable snapshot, most shot with a Leica M3 rangefinder camera.

Well today marks the passing of Edith Shain, the lucky nurse in that photo. Eisenstaedt was in Times Square as the end of WWII was announced, and went to photograph the celebrations. He remembers the moment thusly:

In Times Square on V.J. Day I saw a sailor running along the street grabbing any and every girl in sight. Whether she was a grandmother, stout, thin, old, didn't make a difference. I was running ahead of him with my Leica looking back over my shoulder but none of the pictures that were possible pleased me. Then suddenly, in a flash, I saw something white being grabbed. I turned around and clicked the moment the sailor kissed the nurse. If she had been dressed in a dark dress I would never have taken the picture. If the sailor had worn a white uniform, the same. I took exactly four pictures. It was done within a few seconds.

So much was happening so quickly he didn't have a chance to record the names of the couple in the photo. For years no one knew who the woman in that classic photograph was, until she came forward in the 1970's to identify herself. The identity of that sailor remains unknown.

IRON FIST

I happily stumbled onto this alterna-wear clothing line called Iron Fist while looking for swimsuits on my lunch break today, and holy schmoley! Do they actually have some shit worth buying.

Obviously I'm obsessed with their zombie-wear. (PS that swimsuit is totally sold out!)
Men's clothes, women's clothes. Even kids junk! All reasonably priced (a pair of green and purple sequined skull platform shoes that are actually in my size only cost me $50!), all well designed, splattered with flair and their shoes are even 100% Vegan. They've won me over already.

Now all I have to do is get to their site when they release new product, because their items, from what I can tell, fly off the shelves like hot cakes!

Rod-A-Day

1959 Chevy El Camino, via Flickr by John P. Sullivan (great photographer based in Brooklyn. Check his stuff out!)

1950 Mercury brochure cover, from the Old Car Manual Project
After 71 years of production, the Mercury auto brand is ceasing production. Granted, they probably haven't made a decent vehicle in the last thirty years, but it still marks the end of a vehicle that is nothing if not a long-standing, steel-bodied staple of the hot rod and kustom car world.

For an entire run-down on the history of the beloved Ford marque, check out the ol' Mercury Wikipedia entry.


Mercury Monterrey hood ornament, by CosmicShip