This gig is happening on Saturday, and I can't wait. I'll get to see lots of friends, my ticket and travel are already booked for me and my beautiful wifelet Sera, and it's going to be great.
Two...
This is the dress I'm going to be wearing... it's not quite finished yet, I've got to appliqué the hearts onto the back and add a halter strap and maybe some sort of giant butt bow. This is the most tailored garment I've made in latex, it's from sheet rubber I already had in my stash and has a boned bodice and a zip.
Three...
Friendtimes! Some of my friends are putting on the gig, this picture is from the October Halloween special where we saw The Caravans, and was taken just before we got a slightly inappropriate cuddle from Ed Tudor Pole.
Brought to you via the lazy magic of Instagram pictures. I use Instagram pretty much every day now as my phone camera is a lot more reliable than my actual camera which eats batteries and doesn't like picking up bright colours. If you're on Instagram, follow me: @kalandrajane
A few weeks ago Clare, Bethany and I packed up our little stalls and headed off to the arse end of nowhere (a.k.a. Spalding, Lincolnshire) for the 3rd Kustom Kulture Blastoff.
I managed to put up my 'vintage' (ahem hem) bright orange boyscout tent in what was possibly record time before it started raining. We lived in our tents for the weekend, and I didn't always look this well put together! Thank you Clare for waking me up with a delicious brew each day and putting up with my terrible morning moods (ie. grumpy hangovers)!
I didn't sell that much, and it was all a bit quieter than expected really. I spent most of my profits on feeding myself over the weekend, and on a couple of treats. I got a new wallet from Hot Rockin' Belle (who will soon be stocking my hats!) to replace my decrepit Bettie Page one, and a very reasonably priced new bangle from Kool Kat pinstriping, I also got a super cool hip flask from him but I forgot to photograph it.
It was dark and freezing at night in our tents, and the organisers wanted to charge the traders extra to get into the evening entertainment, so we spent most of our time gossiping over jugs of sickly cocktails at Frankie and Benny's, which was the only eating establishment within walking distance.
We got free cocktails at the bar because the new barman didn't know what he was doing! Hurrahs!
Helium was sucked from balloons! (Especially hilarious when you are full of terrible gin cocktails).
Ice cream sundaes were eaten sexily!
Upon returning from the restaurant we snuggled down for girly wine time in my tent, but not before wandering into a Si Cranstoun performance which was full of dodgy old blokes who had just come for the evening gig, jiving to music so clean and sanitised it made me want to punch someone in the face then smear my body with their spurting nose blood just to dirty myself back up a bit.
The fantastic Vince Ray and the Boneshakers had been booked and would have saved our starving musical souls, but they sadly had to pull out at short notice. Needless to say, we were unimpressed by the "rockin'" Michael Bublé soundalike, and I think that considering it's supposed to be a Kustom Kulture event, they should look into booking some acts and having some DJs that play something with a bit of an edge. The daytime event was full of tattooed hot rodders, vintage lovers and psychobillies, all of whom ended up in the pub with us both nights because the evening entertainment was, shall we say, not their cup of tea.
Anyway! Beth and I wandered out on the Sunday for a bit of ridiculous car show posing, as is traditional at these events. I made the top and lime green leopard capris, unfortunately I was feeling pretty bloated and grim this day, hence my slouchy, rotund appearance.
Finally it was time to leave, so Clare and I trundled off through the cabbage fields and into the sunset. On our way home we stopped in at the OK Diner at Carlton on the A1, and were really glad we did!
O, shining beacon of delight!
Clare had a lovely veggie burrito with Mexican rice!
I had a spicy beanburger with curly fries and guacamole! Our waitress was an absolute star, running back and forth getting me ingredients lists and checking things were vegan for me. It was a lovely surprise to be able to actually get a decent vegan meal at a roadside restaurant, I just wish there was an OK Diner closer to where I live!
I also got an amazing pink double hair lily, which Paul says makes me look like Jodrell Bank. All in all I had a really good weekend, despite not having made huge profits and having been forced to listen to the Big Bopper over and over again until I wanted to stab myself in the ears, I loved spending time with two of my favourite ladies, making some new contacts and getting to gab over cocktails!
So it seems that once again, I have fallen victim to that old devil, blog neglect! So here's the first in a series of recap posts of some of the fun stuff I did over the last couple of months! I'm going to write a few now then release them over this week to ease me back into regular writing.
During the first week of August we went off to Blackpool for Rebellion Festival! This is our Summer holiday every year, as unlike me, Aerospace Boyfriend doesn't get much time off to go to gigs during term time, so for him it's one big catch up.
Outfit, Day 1! I made the fascinator, necklace, bracelet and capri pants! This was my first foray into trouser-making and I have to say, I have no idea why I was always so nervous of it. They're easy! I bought a really basic capris pattern and have adjusted it to my measurements, it's proving invaluable. The pattern is Butterick 5614 and despite the mumsy-looking envelope photos, this is the perfect pattern for vintage-styled bad girl capris! The shoes are by Melissa and are so ridiculously comfortable and flexible that I can now wear heels for an entire festival.
Much horseplay was had by Areospace Boyfriend and our darling friends, possibly encouraged by the excessive consumption of Guinness and cider...
One of the absolute highlights of the festival for me was The Hillbilly Moon Explosion, they're one of my favourite bands at the moment and absolutely amazing live. Emanuela's coy stage presence and sweet, jazzy voice coupled with Oliver's rock 'n' roll showboating and the band's all-round passion made for a fantastic show, their songs are like beautiful lullabies interspersed with butt-shaking badass rockabilly rhythms and definitely worth checking out!
On the Friday night we saw King Kurt! These boys never fail to put on a great show! Thankfully the eggs, Marmite, jam etc. that their performances are notorious for were left at home, and the only antiquing we received was a light sprinkling of flour from a jubilant audience member. Some filthy comments from singer and reknowned pervert Smeggy even managed to get psychobilly-shunning Aerospace Boyfriend giggling and enjoying the scene's messiest stalwarts and we both had a great time.
Outfit, day 2: jeans, top and jacket all modified by me in various ways over the years, chopped up/dyed/embellished etc! The big mirror in the hallway of our hotel was perfect for taking ridiculously vain pictures of myself posing before we set out each day to watch the bands. I had pictures of days 3 and 4 but I appear to have lost them in a haze of whiskey and disorganisation.
The big headliners of the festival were Rancid and Social Distortion... I've loved both these bands for years, especially Rancid, but frankly the less said about them the better. I don't know whether the sound engineers were incompetent or whether it's just impossible to get a good result from hundreds of decibels bouncing around an arched, high-ceilinged, tunnel-shaped Victorian Ballroom covered in twiddly Rococo bits, but the sound in there was so bad that I could barely distinguish some of my favourite songs until they were almost over, which was really disappointing.
On a much more positive note, for me a huge highlight of the festival was having some brilliant aftershow gigs to go to, presented by Misery of Sound. Organiser Andy worked really hard to put some brilliant psychobilly and horrorpunk bands on and did really well! I missed the first one featuring Vince Ray and the Boneshakers, but the next two with Th'Loveless Bastards (featuring members of Mad Sin and The Hyperjax, keep an ear out for them!), Luna Vegas and Graveyard Johnnys were absolutely storming, hence there aren't many pictures from these nights because everyone was either too drunk or too busy having fun!
I'll get moaned at for this by Aerospace Boyfriend who does not appreciate me taking a little of my love and giving it to other boys, but you need to watch this... my darling Welsh friends and favourite little rockstars, the Graveyard Johnnys:
If you're in Europe they'll soon be on tour, keep an eye on their facebook page, go and support them because they're lovely boys!
I also made two amazing new friends from Sweden and Holland Respectively, Marie-Louise and Ivo! These guys made my weekend and I hope to see them at the festival again next year, maybe sooner!
I finally got a haircut! It only took me a year and three months. I went to my friend Bethany Davies, vintage make up and hair artist extraordinaire, who runs mobile beauty services, pop-up salons and has a gorgeous little salon in her home too. Here I am ready for Th'Legendary Shack Shakers / Dirt Daubers gig on Sunday.
Here's what I wore - my tiki dress and bolero, which I made a couple of months ago after planning it for over a year. It's already a bit too big for me, bah! (But also yay for bodily shrinkage!)
I don't know what that blur is on my mirror, it's been there forever, I can't tell whether it's hairspray which I've managed to miss while cleaning (OK, so I don't clean often), or whether the silvering is starting to deteriorate, it's a pretty old mirror. Also I really need to get a backdrop or something, I'm sure you're all sick of seeing the craphole that is my bedroom.
Even though I saw them a couple of months ago in Liverpool, I just had to go to see Th'Legendary Shack Shakers again, they never fail to put on a great show.
Supporting were the Dirt Daubers, the rather more traditional side project from Shack Shakers singer, raconteur, lowbrow artist and all round mountain music impresario Col. JD Wilkes, his wife Jessica and bassist Mark Robertson. I particularly liked their rendition of the old Appalachian murder ballad Down in the Willow Garden, and of course I can never resist a band with a banjo and a washboard.
They also had girls' t-shirts in different sizes! I almost burst with joy, despite them not having any vinyl records. It really annoys me how on the rare occasion that bands produce ladies' t-shirts, they are almost always 'one size', and that size is TINY. The lovely Shack Shakers had three ladies' designs from s-xl, so I bought two. Admittedly they had run out of xl in one of them, obviously because it is super cool and everybody wants one, so here I am after wriggling into a slightly scandalous large.
Here I am with my darling friend Natalie outside the venue, it was all finished and we were out by 10.45pm! We are old ladies, evidently. Best dressed old ladies in the nursing home, though.
I just realised I haven't blogged in nearly a month! I'm sorry, my dears, it's not that I've had nothing to report, I've just not had much motivation, I must have needed a little break but am back now!
Last week we went to see NoFX at the Ritz in Manchester, they were amazing! They have been my favourite band since I was about twelve, I've seen them twice before but they've gotten into the habit of doing crappy metal festival gigs like Download rather than proper tours, so I jumped at the chance to see them in a smaller venue (the Ritz only holds a few hundred at most). This is where I was standing. Support was from Snuff who are still going strong, Paul was more excited to see them than NoFX, being a child of the early nineties punk scene rather than a whippersnapper like myself.
Curse you, Showsec!
Last time I saw NoFX, in 2006 (or maybe it was 2007) they weren't that good, possibly due to their excessive intake of tequila-soaked carrot sticks and cocaine, but this time they were spot on. I got a place right down the front - see those blue, red and white blobs in the bottom left in front of the speaker? That's our friend Paul, my Paul, and my fantastical voluminous beehive hair. The hair that prompted Fat Mike to take a break from playing and singing to compliment me on it and gaze at it in wonder, and which contained such copious levels of backcombed, hairsprayed fuzz that it protected my head like a crash helmet when I got booted by a crowdsurfer.
Here is my plectrum from El Hefe, he was highly amused by my fringe and eyebrows.
Here's my outfit! Teal Me First and the Gimme Gimmes glittery cocktail print shirt which I bought when they toured about four years ago, this is Mike's other band, punk rock cheesy covers supergroup! This has been in my sewing pile ever since, I have only very recently gotten over my deep fear of wearing colours other than black and red on my top half. This was a man's shirt, I took it completely apart and remade it girl-shaped. (Side note: I've just noticed their UK dates for this year are the sodding Reading and Leeds festivals. Honestly, I will be so annoyed if they don't tour outside those dates, Reading and Leeds are total crud, extortionately priced festivals for gap-year students and stupid girls in Wellington boots and floaty hippie dresses, where you are likely to have your tent set on fire by public schoolboy hipsters off their faces on chemical toilet fumes or get hit in the face by a flying bottle of piss.)
Drunken blur action.
Yellow tartan skirt with braces! This is actually version two, I made one in September and loved it, but I made it a bit too tight and the loose weave fabric just pulled away at the seams. This is hopefully a more robust version that can accommodate the strain of encasing my gigantic rear. This is probably my favourite thing I have ever made, I have worn it every day since, it needs to go to the dry cleaner - there's only so many times you can air something out before it becomes a bit wrong to continue wearing it.
Sweaty! With Kel :)
New fruit hair tie from Clare at Dolly Cool, it's got an AVOCADO on it! My vegan joy knew no bounds when I saw its avocado goodness, and Clare was lovely enough to let me have it after we did a stall together at Big D's Ink, Iron and Hot Rod Show. This was from vintage fabric that she also made into a fabulous circle skirt!
