Snake America Twenty Seven
Snake America is a bi-weekly newsletter rigorously covering what's rarely covered. This week: a pilot jump suit and Art Pillows. Subscribe.
eBay: Vintage 1960 US Air Force Coveralls: One of these shiny coveralls that airplane fighter pilots wear on the job but the real thing from the 1960s. Like all important pieces of vintage American clothing, these are made for an obese or short man. (The bottom half has the same and silhouette as prewar Lee 101 jeans, which make Marithe Francois Girbaud pants resemble 19cm Dior, and the top half is the same shape as a barn coat, or the half-jersey Doug Flutie, the BC Lions quarterback, wore at whatever college it is he played football at.) The shininess here makes it. Someone in head-to-toe Vietnam-era olive green (called OG107) who is not half their or double their recommended healthy body mass index will look, in that outfit, like a psycho. All that drab. It's no fun. But the shininess--real, consistent top-to-bottom whole-outfit sheen, not Health Goth Clinton-era vintage shininess--makes it. I was riding the F train uptown, from my apartment, a few years ago and the guy across from me was wearing one of these, but brand-new. It was as shiny as this one, maybe more, and looked as flawless. The subject wore aviator shades--also new--and mousse in hair and was not flying a plane. The F train uptown doesn't stop near an airport, or even a connecting train. I remember my dad telling me a story about how a family friend tried out to be a test pilot in Israel and aced the test pilot test but when he landed he threw up, and both him and the tester agreed the job couldn't be his. They didn't even have to say anything. They just understood he failed. Bomber jackets, current ones in production, like made out of the above-auctioned material also look great. Maybe better than the old stuff. That said, when you look bad in this thing your bragging rights take you to the moon and back.
1st Dibs: Peter Max pillows: A few uncollected thoughts about pillows (the house kind, not the bed kind) and Peter Max (the cool artist) as follows:
You really can't game pillows. There's no way to get a good pillow for a bad (good-bad, cheap) price. All ways of buying are flawed: retail is out--any pillow sold in stores in America in 2014 is underwhelming(1). I don't think that's a controversial statement. Vintage is out--who wants to buy a worn-out pillow? They wear out. Deadstock is the only option, but a limited one, since the temptation to give in to and lounge on old pillows is too great for most people to resist.
Peter Max--the more said about him the better. What kind of person forgets about an entire city block full of Corvettes that he owns? And then abandoned the project because he had something The answer is: the only artist whose interpretation of human experience is worth comtemplating.
These pillows seem to be the exact shape all pillows are. You can find folks selling Pendleton pillow covers and they all fit the standard throw pillow size(2). I guess there's only one size of pillow just like there's only one kind of pool table? If the American Throw Pillow Makers' Guild workers could choose, they'd make different kinds and sizes of throw pillows. Why is the market regulating out choice?
These Max pillows don't look comfortable, or practical. They look like they'll puncture if you touch them. Great furniture should be taxing to touch but pleasant to see. Ideally you sprain your neck laying on one of these and get to spend a day at home thinking about how transcendent they are. Whoever thought pillows were worthy of contemplation?
These are a steal. Regular retail pillows designed to impress people run for like $120, probably, and cost $1 in materials. I won't besmirch these pillows' good name by explaining why they have nothing in common with a Crate and Barrel one or why a $590 price tag is missing a zero.
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Snake
ERRATA: Village Voice editor-pimp Nick Lucchesi notes that the Robert Christgau reference in the last email (about Age of Quarrel) is actually an Ira Robbins review from Trouser Press of the AOQ/BW double CD. Here's Robbins:
Although led by a Hare Krishna devotee, these New York hardcore kings neither jangle finger cymbals nor chant religious mantras on The Age of Quarrel, a blaze of state-of-the-art punk aggro. Vocalist John Joseph (co-lyricist with bassist Harley Flanagan) roars through humanist lyrics about peace, trust, independence and justice as the band keeps up the mid-speed speaker-shredding with two guitarists doing their best to update Ritchie Blackmore's throaty Deep Purple sound. Drummer Mackie regulates the tempo enough to ensure an adequate proportion of mosh parts (generally at the beginning of songs rather than the middle), but often unnervingly sounds like he's playing an entirely different song from his bandmates.
With varied tempos, extended song lengths, more guitar solos and effectively threatening atmosphere, an overhauled lineup — now featuring Flanagan on vocals (in place of the departed Joseph) and ex-Kraut guitarist Doug Holland sharing the axe duties with Parris Mitchel Mayhew — made an effective stylistic transition from metallic punk to punky metal onBest Wishes. While most of the tightly structured tracks thunder along with little subtlety (except in the lyrics), Flanagan does deliver his devotional sentiments in "The Only One" with dramatic flair.
Not a bad review! I'm sorry for getting Christgau so wrong. He never would have reviewed the Cro-Mags.
(1) Prove me wrong...
(2) Check that link out, they're all the same size! Even when you design your own you really can't.