Money’s Too Tight To Mention

I’ve been whinging to all and sundry about my self-imposed clothes ban. No new things to October. For reals. Only only only, my friend Layla’s headed off to the New World for a month next week, and will be visiting not one, not two, but three different states. All of which have huge American Apparel stores.

We don’t have ‘Merican Appy in Dublin, and elsewhere in Europe, all the prices are directly translated into dollars. So, that means that:

$45 or €42?

$22 or €22?

$25 or €25?

$28 or €28?

Oh dear oh dear. I think I might have to break my promise to myself.

don’t go breaking my heart

oh deary me i almost forgot.

abandon those electric picnic tickets people*, the curved street cafe market is on again this saturday!

1pm to 5pm

and the market’s brand spanking new myspace page is here.

add add add
buy buy buy

*ahem…i’ll be at the picnic…

katie-lilga

Bring It All Back to You

M.I.A. is no longer M.I.A. (That was a clever, and unexpected turn of phrase, I know.) Her song Paper Planes was used in the trailer for the new Seth Rogen vehicle ‘Pineapple Express’, and has consequently fired her little legging-ed self into the hearts of mainstream America.

Says she to Entertainment Weekly

As an artist you want to play around with mediums and see if you can get the point across in a different way. I wanted to stay an outsider and prolong the process of getting accepted.

When you performed at Bonnaroo this year, you said it was going to be your last ever show. Did you mean it?

Well, it was my last ever show. And it still is. I stopped touring after that and I didn’t want to make music again. I was quite happy to just leave it all behind. I was happy with what I had achieved. Now, with the success of “Paper Planes,” there’s pull for me to make another record. Even my mum believes in me more [laughs]. It’s a nice encouragement. But I was planning my life as a fishing woman on the outskirts of Cambodia. That’s a joke.

Does that mean that her clothing line is going to be shunted to the side?

ooh black leather

while on my vacation we stopped into Aaardvark’s Odd Ark Vintage Store on Melrose Avenue in L.A. it’s a place where dreams of the likes of the fullest petticoats and the frilliest knickers really do come true. but for me, my dream of owning not one, not two, but three (my dreams are very specific) high-waisted leather pencil skirts became reality. one yellow, one blue and one black. perfect. or so i thought. my my those skirts sure know how to make themselves heard, the sound of the lining moving against the leather would..well…it…it would disappoint someone who had just bought three high-waisted, lined, leather, pencil skirts. i set to researching what would happen if one were to carefully detach the lining from the skirt. well…

“A lining makes it easier to put them on and off and keeps them from bunching on your underwear — but you shouldn’t be wearing any underwear anyway. You want to feel the leather against your skin and your cock and balls.”

thinking it wise to follow this helpful advice, i whipped that lining out.

not so wise.

twas a well made skirt, with the lining intricately attached in various places. the seam at the back weakened without it and it eventually ripped. i did get some wear out of it, i enjoyed most of the night, bar garlic chips outside harcourt diner and the taxi ride home, with a fully intact skirt. i felt a little like cinderella. i can go to the ball in my fancy new clothes as long as i make my exit by 3 a.m. when the magic goes kapoosh.

anyway my point is, please people, leave the lining in your leather skirts. “your skin and cock and balls” will forgive you for one night of hardship but your skirt will hold a grudge in the form of a big rip in the most inappriopriate place. now, does anyone know how to repair leather?!

katie-lilga

Pretty in P!nk

In P(!)nk’s new song [does she still have an exclamation mark in her name? I don’t know when/or if she dropped it. Wikipedia is no help.], she lashes back at her husband, through the medium of angsty pop-rock. Well, ex-husband. She uses clever rhymes, like tonight/fight. She also calls Jessica Simpson ‘Jessica Simp-shit’. This is because she is feisty and doesn’t care what anyone else thinks. She claims that her ‘rock-moves’ will help her ward off woe.

I’m not sure. While she’s full of vitriol and emancipation during the song, her final line sounds deflated. Also, her rap ‘Uh, Check out my flow, uh’ has less lustre than her rap in ‘Get This Party Started’.

P(!)(i)nk premiers the official video tonight-ish on FNTV. On the site there is a poll, asking what viewers are most excited about:

a)P!nk performing!- what she does best!

b) P!nk chopping down a tree!

c) P!nk riding a lawnmower down the street!

d) Everything! It’s P!nk – how can I choose one thing?

I’m most excited about P!nk doing things to do with gardening- that way I get to choose both the lawnmower and the tree-cutting.

Hey Dad!

This is totes worth almost €50. For me, naturally. When I become a father…

get up on my feet and let go of every excuse

i spent most of my holidays in santa barbara marvelling at how american everything was. such a high level of fascination can only result in one thing…five hundred photos. i shall put them to good use. here begins my photographic tour of isla vista and beyond.

(for harder better faster stronger versions of any images go here.)

in america they have wooden houses. they also have wooden houses in other countries. the wooden house above is in iv, or isla vista, a place where students go to live, drink, party, surf, party, vomit, eat, party, and get arrested by the iv foot patrol for possession of alcohol on the streets. in fields like the one above, they may also get harassed by skunks and/or raccoons, or merely hang their washing out to dry.

stearn’s wharf is one of the most popular tourist attractions in santa barbara. at the very end you will find overpriced and average tasting ice cream, clam chowder, and a candy store. not a sweet shop. a candy store. at the beginning of the wharf, if you direct your squinting eyes (the sun is out) to the right, you will see an example of one homeless santa barbaran’s innovative nature (or alternatively you could just look at photo two in this post). throw a quarter in the dish and make a wish. your wish will almost definitely not come true but you will have provided one homeless person with enough money to get the shuttle back up state street to visit another entertaining tourist attraction, the ratcatdogman.

the ratcatdogman (image 3, above) can be found on state street and, i’m sure, beyond. mtv’s super sweet sixteeners, take note, this man has a party trick that will blow your excited little minds and see you scrambling for your parents’ cheque book, or pockets full of loose change. his three companions, yes you’ve guessed right, the rat, the cat, and the dog, perform a daring balancing trick in which the rat remains on the cats back while the cat lies or stands on the dog. shopowners provide the dog with water while panda express, as seen in this photo, provides the orange chicken. panda express, which can be found in the Paseo Nuevo mall, is scrumptious and filling and often enjoyed by the employees of Captain Jack’s Tours and Stuff kiosk, also located in the mall, on hangover days. visit the kiosk to stock up on all your essential pirate accessories, hand dyed shirts and dresses and to get information on a range of reasonably priced tours.

more to come friends and foes.

katie-lilga

kill me now

in general, i don’t like to discuss or review any form of music because, let’s face it, i probably have no clue what i’m on about. but The Killers at The Academy was just so super splendid that it needs a mention.

to begin the post, i would like to address those of you that attended The Killers in Marlay Park last night. you, my friends, have fine vocal chords. listening from our balcony, the crowd was crystal clear over the music even with my ears still ringing from The Academy gig the night before (although after reading these comments it seems that it may have been due to the bad sound?!).

while i’d still rate The Killers performance at the Olympia Theatre as my favourite gig to date, on Wednesday they seemed entirely transformed into a much more confident, together band. it’s such a rare treat to see a band like them, who seemed at their very best, in such an intimate venue (the capacity is less than eight hundred as far as i know). it was one of those nights that i will probably rave about over and over to my future grandchildren when i’m old and senile and talking the ear off them.

Brandon Flower’s animated stage presence and Ronnie Vanucci’s tireless energy were perfectly balanced by the almost unmoving but ever imposing pillars of Dave Keuning on guitar and Mark Stoermer on bass. my highlights were mostly songs from the second album which I would have never expected but they made a lot more sense to me when i heard them live. Bones, the second single released from the album, was my favourite. from the minute the spotlight shone on Ronnie Vanucci on drums when it’s opening lyrics rang out, right to the end of the song, the place was pumping with that rare, exciting energy generated by an extra special performance. what i see as the big difference between the first and second album definitely adds to the variety of their setlist which also included one or two new songs.

all in all, the stage set was fantastic, the lighting perfect, the addition of violin and piano was a nice twist, and (to end on an entirely shallow note) Mark Stoermer was, as usual, the hottest statue i’ve ever seen ever. ever ever. ever. The Killers were once again perfect in my eyes.

YAY.

katie-lilga

i’m back, that’s why they call me slim shady

hello friends. i am back from the dead. if ‘the dead’ were santa barbara that is. (it’s not.)

i’m leaving for The Killers Academy gig in six minutes but i had to post this. regular readers will know how fond the bluebirds are of helping out people who post notices on various polls across the world (most notably Blackrock…okay just Blackrock.). i now introduce J. J is a smurfs enthusiast with a slight problem with distinguishing the word ‘your’ from ‘you’re’. if you think you can accept someone with such a profound and deeply rooted developmental problem and if you live in L.A., please befriend J. (click on picture below to fully appreciate J’s fabulous FABULOUS handwriting.)

Hello Dolly

Welcome Home Katie. I’m sure L.A. was lovely and full of people like the above, but it’s nothing compared to a currently no-rain Dublin and some tea and cake yes yes.