American Apparel in peril?

The once hipper than hip hipster clothes store American Apparel may have been saved from bankruptcy today by selling it's shares at a discounted rate to a Canadian led group of private investors.

Reports of financial instability have been rife since August last year when their auditors resigned over "material weaknesses" in the company's financial controls. The store, considered the coolest thing since fixie bikes upon it's arrival in London in 2004 and Dublin (belatedly) in 2009, has been dealing with a long running sales slump as well as several sexual harassment suits filed against controversial CEO Dov Charney.

Beloved of the trendy youth, American Apparel specialises in cotton basics - tshirts, leggings, tracksuit bottoms, hoodies - made in an entirely vertically integrated way at their LA factory, with an emphasis on environmentally friendly manufacturing, and a pro-immigration stance. But, the brand seems to have been unable, or unwilling, to develop. As Amelia Hill wrote in The Guardian last August "for a company who took the humble T-shirt from basic item to fashion icon, to fail to catch on to this year's hot look – the soft jersey cotton T-shirt – is quite a lapse."

In a way, they have pigeon-holed themselves, at least on this side of the Atlantic. They have a reputation for being the brand of choice for a certain type of 'there's something retro on my necklace' hipster and their advertising, their staff, and their recruitment policies may have alienated them from quite a large demographic who would buy responsibly sourced basics.  As The Guardian points out, with the onset of the recession, the company has also found itself trapped in the limbo of the high end of the middle market. And, they have a peculiar policy of rarely having a sale. A sale in London last spring ended in hipster handbags at dawn.

It would be a pity if they went as there are a lot of good things about the company,  but at least if they end up liquidating they might have a decent sale...

Whose Hair?

London based illustrator Christina Christoforou has just released her first book. Whose Hair? contains over 200 original hand-drawn illustrations of celebrities hair. The faces are not included, so you the reader have to guess who they are. The illustrations are quite amusing, especially Russel Brand's crows nest and Andy Warhole's wig. It is a novel take on celebrity culture and perfect for any coffee table. Here are some of my favourite hairstyles.

Rocco's Weird Stuff: LES and his vintage top hat

It's been too long. Rocco has busily been accumulating more weird stuff so it's time for another installment.

Here are some photos of his latest (though temporary) acquisition. It's a very fine moleskin top hat of unknown vintage, made by royal hatters Woodrow of Westmoreland Street and once owned by someone called Les (or of course more sensibly, someone whose initials were L.E.S.).

The best bit is that it comes in a beautiful leather hat box, lined with red velvet that even has secret compartments for love notes and what not.

The other best bit is that the hat belongs to John Boorman, director of such pieces of celluloid gold as this:

O Irish Bank

Workmen dismantling the sign on the former Anglo Irish Bank

We happened to be walking past the former Anglo Irish Bank building on Stephen's Green yesterday as the sign was being slightly ceremoniously taken down. There was a small gaggle of photographers and a news crew and some official looking men (NA-men?) as well as the two men pictured who were performing the historic task. Our economic woes seem to have been somewhat forgotten with the impending bank holiday fever and a long stretch of summer like weather. It was an interesting sight to see.

Pete Doherty Plays Lead In French Film.

Enfant Terrible of English music Pete Doherty or Peter Doherty as he prefers to be called, has just wrapped on his first film. Confessions of a Child of the Century see's Doherty take the lead as Octavian a 19th-century dandy from the book of the same name by Alfred de Musset. The story revolves around a love triangle in which Charlotte Gainsbourg will play one of the corners. Director Sylvie Verheyde who has a César to her name had initial reservations about casting Doherty but has been impressed with his performance.

"It went really well. I wasn't a fan before and of course I knew his reputation, but I laid down the rules and he kept them. He was on time every day, he didn't turn up with a hangover and he never missed a single shoot. In fact he was much more pleasant and less of a pain than many professional actors. He's cultivated, literary, sincere and has emotional depth."

She has stated that Doherty's reputation did get in the way of funding for the film, which is €25,000 short of its modest €3m budget. Doherty's not speaking French led to the film being shot in English which meant it received none of the generous grants France normally allocates to productions.

But it's not all doom and gloom. Photographs from the shoot show him looking every inch the wastrel dandy in top hat and dress coat. The feeling that he could be using a lot of himself to play the part  might not be a bad thing. Very few actors would be able to draw on a life of excess like he could, which is what the part demands. Also Doherty is now a cult hero in France with scenes of mass hysteria at his concerts and public appearances. The French see him as the troubled poet he wants to be and so they know people will see the film. In fact Charlotte Gainsbourg recently said he reminded her a bit of her father. In France that is a good thing.

Rebecca Black vs Bob Dylan and Sixties Nostalgia.

A young girl called Rebecca Black has recently become an YouTube sensation. This will not be news to most of you. Young Miss Black had a song written for her called "Friday", had a video made and has to date had 105,595,136 views on YouTube. Anyone who has heard the song will know it has a deep lyrical message the likes of which hasn't been seen since the great songwriters of the sixties. Some choice lines include: 

"Tomorrow is Saturday
And Sunday comes after...wards
I don’t want this weekend to end"

"Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday
Today i-is Friday, Friday (Partyin’)
We-we-we so excited
We so excited
We gonna have a ball today"


"Kickin’ in the front seat
Sittin’ in the back seat
Gotta make my mind up
Which seat can I take?"

Poetry.

Now, it is sincerely an awful song but as catchy as the clap. But the real magic of this YouTube sensation is the many responses that have been made by other people. The best of these is a version of the song that is supposed to be a lost Bob Dylan recording from the sixties. Whoever did the voice does an entertaining take on Dylans distinct vocals, but the highlight is the comments underneath.

Here are some of my favourites:

"Then one day - it was the last Friday of the summer - we were sitting there, Jessie and me, singing these words. I was just starting on the line "my friend is by my right", when I realized that there she was, by my right. I turned, our eyes met, and in that instant, we knew we were more than just friends. We kissed for the first time. On Monday morning, I looked for her in school, but she wasn't there. Later that day, her mom told me she'd been mauled to death by a pack of raccoons. Memories."

"A dreary afternoon in ’73, worst part of my life. On the verge of a serial murder spree, in a seedy bar on 42nd St., I’d lost faith in God, humanity, myself. This song played, but I ignored it. A few beers later, night fell and I went out to stalk my 1st victim. Suddenly Dylan's words popped back in my head. It was almost Friday. Wasn’t that something to look forward to? I approached the girl, but instead of stabbing her, I asked her name. Today I'm proud to call that girl my wife."


"Little known fact: Dylan plays at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Dylan's appearance was sandwiched between Cousin Emmy and the Sea Island singers, two very traditional folk acts. Dylan surprises the crowd by playing electric. Many in the crowd begin to boo. After playing "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Maggie's Farm," Dylan turns to his band members and says "Let's play Friday. Play it loud." However, as the band starts up, Pete Seeger pulls the cord. Dylan never performed "Friday" live."

"The driver of the car that JFK was assassinated in, had the name Samuel Kickin (kickin in the front seat, sitting in the back seat...) The assassination occurred on a Friday and when was shot the Secret Service yelled at Jackie Kennedy to "get down" (got to get down on Friday). part about the cold war and spread of communism are also referenced [everybody rushin' (russian)] and to top it all off, in the hotel that morning JFK declined a breakfast of sausage, eggs and toast for a bowl of Bran Flakes instead (got to have my bowl, got to have my cereal) Also, the following Monday JFK was supposed to sign a bill into law requiring all public schools to provide bus transportation for their students. (got to catch my bus...)"

"It's just uncanny -- I haven't heard this song since my tour of duty, back in '68. I was on the last chopper out of Hue City. I tell yeah, it was the strangest thing; there wasn't enough room on the heli to evac everyone. I had to leave some of my best men behind. I can still hear them asking me, "Front seat, back seat... which seat can I take, sarge?"
I didn't have the heart to tell them, they couldn't take either seat."

Someone has also listed Friday as a lost Bob Dylan basement tape on Wikipedia. Hilarious. So here is the original.

And here is the Bob Dylan version.

Cabaret!

 

A new Cabaret night in Dublin - tonight at 9 in Sweeney's on Dame Street. There'll be burlesque, comedians, magicians and music and it'll be fun fun fun! All followed by an electro-swing dj. I am most looking forward to that, whatever it could possibly be. 

Facebook/Cabaret Express

Greenpeace and the battle for renewable energy

Now, I'm not normally very inclined to get involved in environmental activism...or activism of any kind really, but an 'Unfriend Coal' Greenpeace talk that we went to in Trinity College on Monday night seems to have changed that. I've become a rabid Greenpeace sticker sticking vandal, plastering any likely space with the things in a sort of environmentalist frenzy. Maybe it's just the vandal in me.

Greenpeace want Facebook to switch to renewable energy to power their vast and growing data centres, where they store all of the various nonsenses that we put up all over the face space. Their idea is that if Facebook do it there'll be a sort of domino effect and the other big internet companies will feel pressure to switch too.

The really startling fact for me was that the internet is the fifth largest consumer of energy, when ranked with countries -  so that's AHEAD of most countries in the world. And that was only in 2007, before cloud computing had really taken off. Apparently it is possible to make the switch to renewable relatively easily.

If you want to know more, and hopefully join the campaign - visit greenpeace.org or join their Facebook page 

And best of all, watch this hilarious video...

Le Creuset mugs and other manias

Need I say more? LOOK AT THEM!

I think this one deserves a close up:

We have the bright blue and the orange ones (so far) and they are the most perfect tea-mugs. Perfect width and depth for optimum tea enjoyment.


They're followed closely by these classics from Nicholas Mosse:

And of course, the Pantone mugs...

Pennie Smith.

Pennie Smith is probably the greatest music photographer of all time. Most of her work is shot in black and white. Her first major photographic commission was to photograph Led Zeppelin's 1970's tour for NME magazine. Since then she has photographed some of the biggest names in rock music and taken some of it's most iconic shots. Her shot of Clash bassist Paul Simonon smashing his bass in New York in 1979 became the cover of the bands album London Calling and in 2002 was voted the greatest rock and roll photograph of all time by Q magazine. She is based in London and still works to this day. But enough of what I have to say, look at the photos.

Paul Weller

Jimmy Page

The Strokes

Morrissey

Paul Simonon

Lovely slippers and old fashioned shopping

I bought these slippers for Sam and I in Vienna last month. They're traditional woollen Austrian made slippers and they're incredibly warm and comfortable. They're from Loden-Plankl, a shop filled with all kinds of traditional Austrian garb - Geiger cardigans, edelweiss brooches, dirndls, Loden coats. All things that I love but that probably seem as touristy and naff to the Austrians as the things in the 'traditional Irish' shops on Nassau Street in Dublin. As this rather amusing review put it: "If you want to deck yourself out like a walrus-moustachioed burgermeister or a Julie Christie lookalike, the Loden Plankl holds the keys to the lederhosen kingdom." Find them here.

 

The Old Fashioned: Don Draper's Drink

So I was just watching Mad Men, I have only recently started watching it and am currently working my way through the boxed set. Yes, a bit late I hear you say, well this is certainly a case of better late then never. Anyway I have been noticing Don Drapers penchant for the Old fashioned. It looks delicious so I have gone and investigated how one goes about making one and found out some interesting things which I will now share with you.

Old Fashioned-The-Facts. 

• The name Old Fashioned is a reference to the age of the drink it is possibly the first drink to be called a cocktail.
• It is traditionally served in a short and round tumbler-like glass. This glass is called an Old Fashioned Glass after the drink.

• The first use of the name old fashioned for this drink was in the Pendennis gentlemen's club in Louisville Kentucky where the drink was invented by the head bartender. It was made popular by a club member and bourbon distiller, Colonel James E. Pepper, who brought it to the Waldorf in New York.

Ingredients.

• 4.0cl Bourbon, Scotch or Rye Whiskey.
• 1 sugar cube.
• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters.
• 1 splash soda water.

Preparation.

• Place sugar cube in old fashioned glass and saturate with bitter.
• Add a dash of soda water. 
• Muddle until dissolved.
• Fill the glass with ice cubes and add whiskey.
• Garnish with orange slice, lemon twist and two maraschino cherries.

Hopefully it will look like this. Enjoy.