It's Lexi, Bitch!

The NYT Magazine Style Section relied on the old standby of dressing up musicians in designer wear for a fashion spread this week. They did a great job, though, by casting some amazing and unique musicians instead of awful, awful, heartbreakingly ridiculous groups like Panic at the Disco (or Panic at the Dickhole, as some might say…). They focused on some pretty fantastic women, most importantly!

Kazu Makino, the extremely brilliant singer, songwriter and guitarist of Blonde Redhead.

I’ve been fortunate enough to get to spend some time with Kazu a bit over the last few years and see Blonde Redhead many, many times, and I just adore her. She’s such an incredible lyricist, talented musician, and independent spirit. You see her playing fetch with her dog after a show and it blows your mind that someone who’s doing this totally human activity was just singing couplets and melodies that cripple you and bring you to tears. Kazu’s strength and personality are exemplified in the fact that she was nearly killed by a horse trampling her several years ago (she had her jaw restructured and had to re-learn how to sing), yet she still seeks out places to ride horses every day while on tour.

Natasha Khan a.k.a. Bat for Lashes.

Oh my goodness, Natasha. She goes by Bat for Lashes when she’s in musician mode, while the rest of her band are hired players. My friend Jay introduced me to Bat for Lashes’ music about a year ago and I was instantly mesmerized by the spooky, echoey “What’s a Girl to Do?” Her first album, Fur and Gold, ended up being one of my favorites of last year, and I only fell in love further when I saw videos and pictures of her. She looks like a wee forest mouse or sprite, she adorns herself with feathers and bright blue streaks across her eyes, and poses with taxidermied bears in press shots.

The revolutionary Iranian artist Shirin Neshat.

Shirin is an incredibly poignant photographer and video artist. Her subject matter is almost entirely Islamic culture and women’s roles in Islamic societies. She takes truly touching photographs and makes haunting video installations that bring forth important examinations of women’s lives. How much does she look like fellow goddess PJ Harvey in this picture?

Check out all the shots from The Fusionistas spread here.

Fellow shorties of the United States, get ready for our queen bee’s arrival next week! The original Five Feet of Fabulous, Kylie Minogue, is releasing her latest album X here next Tuesday, April 1st.

Stream the new album on her MySpace page and then pre-order it here on Amazon. “2 Hearts” was the first single outside of the U.S. and is so much fun, and “Wow” is the best thing that’s happened to dance music since Kylie’s last album, and “Speakerphone” is SO AWESOME.

Her schedule is packed with appearances and I can think of no better way to spend my birthday week than by seeing my muse on American TV for a whole week!

Here’s the schedule:
Monday, March 31st:
-Interview with Matt Lauer on the Today Show

Tuesday, April 1st – RELEASE DAY!
-If you didn’t pre-order X here on Amazon, download the album on iTunes or get to the record store when it opens to buy it!
-Kylie performs her new single “All I see” on Dancing With the Stars.

Thursday, April 3rd
-Kylie will be interviewed and perform on the Ellen DeGeneres show. Just the thought of her coming out and dancing with Ellen MAKES ME SO EXCITED I CAN’T STAND IT!! She’s going to be too wee to walk over the table like Ellen does! It’s going to be SO CUTE!

I’m so excited Kylie’s going to be back in the States and I really hope her album does well and she comes back to tour. She’s been through so much in the last couple of years, she has worked her tiny and hot rump off for 20 years straight, and she is the tiniest, sweetest person. She is amazing and I support everything she does (which is why I have her t-shirts, perfumes, posters, buttons, dolls, cards, etc. and listen to her every single day). If I won the lottery tomorrow, the first thing I would do is book tickets to follow her on tour in Europe.

Watch her new video for “Wow” here:

and her gorgeous and bouncing performance of “2 Hearts” on “Wetten Dass?” here:

I’m not ashamed of the fact that when I watched that performance in December I cried my eyes out when I saw the fan holding the red sign that says “KYLIE’S BACK.” Kylie IS back, and I am so excited!

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On the recommendation of an old coworker, I rented the film Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey from Netflix over the weekend. It was amazing – I had no idea that the history of the theremin and the story of the man behind it would be just as creepy as the sounds a theremin produces. The electronic, stringless and handless instrument was invented by Léon Theremin, a Russian inventor. He brought the instrument over to New York, where he set up a 4-story brownstone to include his living space on the 4th floor, a dance studio on the 3rd floor (dancing to a theremin, of course), a theremin studio on the 2nd floor, and a theremin workshop on the 1st floor. It was in New York that he met a fellow Russian named Clara Rockmore. They started dating and for her 18th birthday he built a theremin-inspired table to hold her birthday cake…..as she walked closer to it, the table started spinning, and when she walked away from it, it stopped spinning. This bit in the movie is so cute, I can’t even.

Clara Rockmore became a theremin virtuoso. The scenes of her playing it are so beautiful; she has wonderfully old and elegant hands, not to mention killer style. I love her fortune teller-inspired ensemble!

Clara then….

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Clara later….

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Léon Theremin ended up falling in love and marrying the African-American dancer Lavinia Williams. The interracial marriage was very scandalous, but the couple remained together. From here, details get a little sketchy….in the film, it is said that Léon was kidnapped by the KGB from his brownstone in front of his wife, who watched helplessly and hysterically. His Wikipedia page mentions that he left quickly because of tax problems in New York. Whatever it was, he disappeared instantly from his wife and all of his friends. He then spent 12 years in jail in Russia, where the Stalin and the KGB commissioned him to invent what we now call “the bug” to use for spying during the Cold War! This totally blows my mind.

The story goes on from there….he ended up teaching for several years at the Moscow Conservatory of Music until a New York Times reporter recognized him and wrote an article about him (until then it was widely believed and reported that he’d been executed). The article enraged the Russian government so much that he was fired from the school and all of his instruments were demolished in front of him. The article shocked his friends back in New York, and he eventually returned years later where he was reunited with Carla! This scene in the documentary is really sweet – two old friends who haven’t seen each other in years, fussing over each other and clucking to each other in Russian in Carla’s apartment.

The other awesome thing about the documentary is they weave in different famous scenes from movies where the theremin is used to portray ultimate creepiness and suspense. There’s also some crazy parts with Brian Wilson discussing the song “Good Vibrations” and how his childhood experience with a theremin was his inspiration for the song to begin with, which is why he of course had to play a theremin in the song.

I’m now totally obsessed with wanting to build my own theremin and learning how to play one!

…as someone idiotically inquired over at Melonie Diaz’s IMDB message board.

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In fact, Melonie Diaz is a super-talented and smart young actress who has been steadily getting more attention and critical praise over the last few years. She was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in 2007 for her role in A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints, was adorable and fun in her role as Blanca in Lords of Dogtown, and this year was all over Sundance with four movies! The LA Times crowned her “The Queen of Sundance,” unsurprisingly. One of those four films was Be Kind Rewind, which has brought her more into the focus of the public eye. That will only continue because she has six movies coming out this year alone!

In Be Kind Rewind with Jack Black and the Mighty Mos. (source)

This quote from her interview with Paper Mag is awesome:

“…most of the roles she’s offered are uneducated and lost Latina girls. But this Lower East Side born-and-bred New Yorker refuses to play that game. ‘I don’t do the Latina ghetto girl or the Mexican girl in the ‘hood, and I don’t play pregnant,” she says. “I may be jobless and I may be broke, but I have to keep my integrity.’”

Yes! This is what we need – young actresses who work hard and don’t cave into taking the shitty roles Hollywood throws at young women. Melonie is the type of young actress that we need in the public eye so little girls can stop idolizing the Lindsays. I’m really excited to see what else Melonie does this year (the same cannot be said for Cameron or Lindsay).

I was doing my usual scouring of YouTube for new Nick Cave stuff when I found this ABSOLUTE GEM. Backstage at the Mojo awards, Amy Winehouse walks by Nick Cave. He reacts as any normal human being would.

Nick Cave was a heroin addict who used to collect pieces of hair. If he looks at you this way, it is of utmost importance that you take a serious look at your life urgently. Or maybe he was just trying to figure out how to snag a lock of her beehive for his collection? I think he’s past his “hair thing” these days, though.

Thanks to Lucas for the screen caps.

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On the set of his new movie, Marley and Me. Oh, O! Glad to see you’re doing better!

OK. I fucking adore Jonah Hill. He was lined up to host SNL last fall, but his episode was cancelled because it was the first week of the WGA strike. Major bummer. He wrote a really sweet blog about how sad he was because it had been his dream since he was a wee sprout. And now the strike is over, SNL is back on the air, and Jonah Hill is hosting it! Let’s hope the shithouse writing doesn’t ruin it! I have faith that Jonah will make it hilarious.

I don’t, however, have ANY faith that he can get through the entire thing without swearing. NOT A CHANCE.

Check out the promos (with Mariah Carey, the musical guest) – they’re really cute.

To promote his SNL appearance, he was also on Conan O’Brien this week. It was so goddamn funny I felt nauseous at the end because I was laughing so hard. NBC is notorious for taking down their videos, so watch this while it’s still up. His stories about meeting celebrities at the Oscars are gold. And he says “fuck,” naturally. His reaction when he says it is so cute! He’s so embarrassed. BEW BEW BEW!!! Unfortunately I can’t embed the video on WordPress, so follow the link below.

Jonah Hill on Conan O’Brien

Black and white is the color palette for shoes right now, and I love it! A lot of people think black and white is boring, and it definitely can be, but these shoes look modern and fresh.

First seen on the Chanel Fall ‘07 runway:

As well as the Marc by Marc Jacobs Fall ‘07 runway:

Then the gorgeous Ms. Rachel Bilson wore the MBMJ pair out:

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And now there are a ton of affordable options that are still really cute for those of us with non-Marc Jacobs-incomes (or, um, no income at all, like me).

Charles Albert, available at Alloy.

The Abbey Pumps from Bakers Shoes.

and my favorite, the Nine West Jostle Ankle Strap Pump from Amazon!

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I’ve been reading a lot about The Duke Spirit lately, but it wasn’t until I watched this interview on Jezebel with the band’s singer, Leila Moss, that I decided to seek out some of their music. I’m so glad I did, because I am in LOVE with their album “Neptune.” It has a definite desert/stoner-rock sound to it, so I was not surprised to learn that Chris Goss (Kyuss/QOTSA producer) produced it and that it was recorded in the Palm Desert! Leila’s voice is fantastic – deep and raspy – and I love hearing a woman-fronted desert-rock band (OK, they’re from England, but you know what I mean), as this is something that’s been missing in my life since PJ Harvey sang on the “Desert Sessions” a few years back.

Check out their MySpace page with some great tunes here – I recommend “Dog Roses” and “The Step and the Walk.”

My favorite song, though, is the brilliant “This Ship Was Built to Last.” Check out an mp3 here (courtesy of Local Vertical).

I never liked The Sounds as much as I thought I would, and I think it’s because I always wished they sounded like this.

Francine Maisler is going to be a gay icon soon, and rightfully so. “Who the motherbitch is that?” you might ask. She’s the genius casting director of “Milk,” the biopic of Harvey Milk that is currently in production here in San Francisco. Let me familiarize you with Francine’s work. She’s responsible for putting all of these fantastic creatures in the same film, where they will be bringing gay rights to the forefront of cinema discussion once again.

A look at the cast:

Sean Penn as Harvey Milk.

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Milk was the first openly gay city supervisor of San Francisco and the self-proclaimed “Mayor of Castro Street.” He was tragically assassinated (along with Mayor Moscone) by the city supervisor Dan White at City Hall. Milk was at the forefront of LGBT rights activism, and even started the Pride march. I predict another Oscar win (or at least a nomination) for Sean Penn in this role.

My beloved Emile Hirsch as Cleve Jones.

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Cleve Jones is the inventor of the AIDS Quilt and was an intern to Harvey Milk, and is still very active in gay rights and is a supervisor on the film.

James Franco as Scott Smith, an early boyfriend of Harvey’s.

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Josh Brolin as Dan White.

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Enraging history lesson: White was convinced of manslaughter for the double-murder (as opposed to murder), was sentenced to 7 years, and only served 5 years in prison before being paroled. His lawyers claimed temporary insanity because he had just resigned as city supervisor, was depressed as a result of leaving his job and eating lots of crappy food instead of his usual healthy fare which altered his mental state. This became known as the “Twinkie defense.” Of course his sentencing was – and still is – an outrage, as the public believed this pathetic excuse of a sentence was so lenient because one of the victims was gay.

Diego Luna as Jack Lira, another Milk boyfriend.

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I was also thrilled to read this article in the Bay Area Reporter about Dustin Lance Black, the screenwriter. He’s a young writer (his day job is writing for “Big Love” on HBO) who lived for a time in Salinas, where I was born, and was an actor at Hartnell’s Western Stage, a local college theater company where I took acting classes as a 3rd grader! The article is really interesting – he discusses his upbringing as a gay child in a Mormon military family.

The cast has been shooting all around the city and I’ve really been wanting to go watch the set and filming, but I feel so overwhelmed by all of the brilliance and talent that I can’t bring myself to go! The release is scheduled for November at the moment, but I’m sure that will change. I think it’s fantastic that this film is being made and that FINALLY some of the stigma felt in Hollywood about playing gay roles is subsiding.

It will also be exciting to see Sean Penn and Emile Hirsch share the screen for the first time. I loved “Into the Wild” and it will be interesting to see them working together in a different capacity than director/actor.

Just for good measure…..

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