September 2010 | Page 3 of 3 | Kate's Point of View

Month: September 2010

Rebel Yell

On September 7, 2010

This past Friday I had the pleasure of seeing Billy F’ing Idol rock out in Datyon, Ohio, at the Fraze Pavilion. The set up for the concert was great before we even got there. I mean… Billy Idol?!? That’s just plain awesome.

When I was in college I hung out with all of these music snobs but also this small group of folks who listened to Pennywise and all sorts of other skater rock. I liked both types of music and found that the punk scene was a little more inclusive than that hipster one. (That is still the case but I can hang a little better with the hip kids now.)

Soon after college, I bought every single Generation X album. (Generation X is the band Bill Idol was in before he went out solo.) They sang short, upbeat songs along the lines of the Ramones and it was wonderful.

Somewhere along the lines I transitioned into other types of music, perhaps when I met Wonder Boy, and sold my Generation X CDs. But I still have a secret crush on Bill Idol and his curled lip.

The concert was good – not great but good. Steve Stevens was fabulous and hilarious playing a Hello Kitty guitar. I’m happy my labor day included a good old-fashioned Rebel Yell this year and while Billy Idol might not make the poster wall, his ticket stub will be included with my others as a reminder of good rock.

Being Just a Tad Anal With the Details

By Kate

On September 5, 2010

In house, rock

In the movie Rachel Getting Married the film takes place in this wonderful old house that has hallways filled with old albums and rock posters. The movie is well-done but Wonder Boy and I kept getting distracted by that hallway. And how much we were coveting it and plotting ways to replicate it.

We live in a house built in 1900 with fabulous high ceilings and thick, rich moldings. Our stairway is steep with a sharp turn and lots of wall space just screaming for things to be hung on it. So naturally we knew it would be covered in something related to music.

For the last several years we have been collecting rock posters and framing them all with the same classic, black metal frame so they match, sort of. We have some criteria as to what we will buy and what we won’t because this can be a pricey venture:

We both attended the show or, if only one of us did, that person LOVED it
The concert AND the poster is cool
Not required, but chances are the poster is a sikscreened
Bonus points for posters that are signed and numbered

This hasn’t ruled out as many as you would think. While we’ve had some hung for a while now, I just added the newest batch of five and they look great. (And they should. It took way to long to get those suckers to line up just so, but I was determined. And lord knows if they didn’t line up, my anal retentive self would notice it every day!) Check out all the empty space on the wall, though. We have so many more concerts to attend!

My favorite poster is the one that’s not a rock poster at all. Can you spot it?

Second row, second to the right. That’s the wedding invitation Wonder Boy and I had designed to look just like a rock poster. It fits in perfect and gives us an opportunity to reminisce every time we go up our stairway.

My New Status Symbol

By Kate

On September 4, 2010

In house

I had a birthday not too far back and asked for, among other things, gift cards so I could purchase a KitchenAid Mixer. I was a little hesitant to get one, though I knew it would help it my forays into bread making and cake decorating. I view that mixer as a status symbol of white middle to upper-middle class women all across America. (The true upper class have someone to make their baked goods for them so they don’t need one.)

And yet.

I feel some guilt over my excitement to use this contraption. And to ask for the add-ons for Christmas. I can make my own pasta!!! And to Wonder Boy’s excitement, it has an ice cream maker attachment. Ice cream!

So I will make peace and ogle the new chrome in my kitchen.