RAD Issue 2 A/W

A letter from the

Editor ... It has been a pretty insane time of year,

thank you A levels! But I would like to

thank all the amazing contributors who have

taken on a lot of the work (my articles look

rubbish compared) to make issue three hap-

pen.

A lot has happened since the last issue—the

Royal wedding has taken over my life. I had

a girl crush on Catherine before, but that

dress (I guessed it all completely right– an-

tique lace Grace Kelly style, McQueen– I

was pretty chuffed with myself) cemented her

as a fashion icon and I can‘t wait to spend

the rest of my journalism career referencing

it!

I have also officially finished school (cry)

but what I have learnt from my last day is

that I really suit a hoodie, damn those 18

years trying to be the height of fashion!

And finally I recommend that you rush out

and by Arctic Monkeys new album. Any

band that uses ‗carry on‘ humour really are a

band after my own heart. So go out and

‗Suck it and see‘!

Georgia X

RADmagazine@hotmail.co.uk

Oh and right are some of my

recent obsessions

What's actually in this issue of RAD?

The Editors discusses this issues loose theme

Niall Obrien shoots our ‗Home grown‘ shoot

A postcard from Rebecca Evans

A beautiful shoot from Lauren Withrow

Our editor loves a conspiracy

Josh Wroath on a new date for your diary

Georgia Burgoyne finally plucks up the courage to dye her hair

Stella Berkofsky shows us the new ‗Modern woman‘

There‘s a new feature as some of our readers show us ‗what they‘re wear-

ing‘

Olivia Kate Jaffe is a ‗Rebel without a cause‘

We interview Turned out Blogger Maya Villiger

Vincent Tsang on photos ‗I wish they made this for girls!‘

Kate Edler discusses the music festival Coachella in „The Bad, The

Good, and The Ugly‘

And like a breath of fresh air to finish of the issue there are Leanne Lim

Walker‘s beautiful and powerful photos

Photos by Laura Peta Ellis

The chosen theme for this issue of RAD

is bad-asses, androgyny and the dark

side. All things which have made big

impacts on the catwalks this season.

Come on who does not love a strong

willed woman in a tuxedo or a leather

skirt!

Androgyny was the calling card with

Alexander Wang, he delivered his usual

luxe hipster sportswear but also showed

ruffled tuxedo shirts –which were for-

mal from the front but gave way to a

fluttering of silk. Everything had a

twist even tuxedo trousers had a

slouchy riff, this was real deconstructed

formal wear. Phillip Lim was similarly

tuned with scarf wrap jackets, shirt-tail

silk dresses, and boyish trousers in

greys, ochres and emeralds inspired by

biker girl chic. Even femme fatale‟s Dol-

ce & Gabbana married the boy and the

girl trend, the decorative with the pared

down, in a clever collection of "rude

girl" outsize tailoring with trilby hats.

There's new enthusiasm for black trou-

ser suits, as in Chanel's androgynous

Stormtrooper look - where jackets were

styled in layers of matte tweed and flu-

id trousers were tucked into para boots.

Designers were also

taken by the idea

of a sheath dress,

like Celine's, with

long sleeves and

leather inserts.

Even the godfather

of fashion Karl

Largerfeld said

„Menswear eventu-

ally becomes basic

clothing for girls‟

„Fetish‟ also popped

its cheeky head up.

Marc Jacobs deliv-

ered a collection

where fetish was

combined with old

world Parisian cou-

ture, it was a lesson

in how the seemingly demure can be-

come eroticised with tactile textures.

The story continued with Givenchy‟s

amazing show – I can safely say I was ob-

sessed and if I had the funds I would buy

the pin-up embellished jumper - velvet

bombers, and iris print silks with patent

circle skirts that had see-through tulle

panels created a riveting peep show, as did

Louis Vuitton's collars, cuffs and caps and

Sarah Burton's

elegant multi

zippered polar

white tweed

skirt suits with

flippy hems for

McQueen. Hem-

lines, note, are

definitely longer

- although that

mid-calf length

is going to take

some getting

used to. More

fetishistic edge

came through

in the domina-

tion of furry

gilets and in an

obsession with

straps and

bandaging that

gave dramatic

tension to Mari-

os Schwab's

contoured

dresses and

lean, mean

coats, drama to

Giles' seemingly

puritanical

black gowns and a

knife sharp edge to Antonio Berardi's lace

panelled dresses.

So this season add a bit of attitude to

your wardrobe, where that leather jacket

with attitude and maybe swap that flow-

ery dress –a summer staple- with some

tuxedo trousers. Go on man up!

Andrej Pejič who’s been pushing fashions boundaries

For more go to

www.niallobrien.co.uk

Rebecca Evans talks girl crushes

and the allure of squatting...

I have been living in an ex-council house

in South East London with three other

girls for approaching six months now,

and despite all of our area‟s oddities (and

undesirably huge crime statistics) it‟s be-

come my favourite place in the entire

world.

As a decidedly scruffy-boylike dresser I

was a little apprehensive upon moving to

London as I was under the impression

that everyone would dress smarter than

me and more „city like‟ – if that‟s an ac-

tual thing (similarly to a friend who was

told before moving here that everyone in

London was tall, and found this extreme-

ly nerve-racking due to his average

height), this, I am glad to say, is entirely

false in South London.

Androgyny is rife. Which is perfect for

me as I embrace this wholeheartedly. I

am currently writing this in our garden

with dungarees and converses and I sup-

pose that‟s pretty androgynous (or am I

confusing androgyny with being a tom-

boy ?). Here, under the real androgyny

label, the girls wear their hair long

(annoying for me and my short locks) so

as to add a bit of careless femininity to

their otherwise boyish, tiny frames. You

will often see them wearing bomber jack-

ets, t-shirts, jeans/trousers and trainers,

or slightly cropped t-shirts to show off

their waiflike stomachs. They also tend

to be fresh-faced with very little make-up

to speak of (which suits me having never

learnt how to properly put make-up

on…) but is only really appropriate if

you‟re pretty enough to pull it off

(somewhere I fall short), they speak with

a South London twang, all seem to work

for fashion magazines and have extraor-

dinarily enviable lives.

When out I have seen the same girls

adorn Miu Miu heels and Prada bags

(again, annoying for me – what student

can afford that?!) thus mixing things up

slightly, teaming everything with trou-

London Calling

sers or shorts. Nothing is overdone, eve-

rything is in moderation and no one tries,

or at least no one look as though they try.

To me, the girls of South London are ef-

fortlessly cool. And I have become slight-

ly obsessed with them.

Squatting also seems to be the thing

here, and I certainly see the appeal – no

rent, a nice big house, no landlord etc. (I

hesitate slightly when

I think about the lack

of showering facilities

and general hygiene,

but we get mice in our

beds so who am I to

judge?) My housemate,

Charlotte, has even

suggested that we turn

our beloved home into

a squat, but I feel as

though the fact we pay

rent and bills contra-

dicts this idea slightly.

A couple of weeks ago

Charlotte and I went

to a squat party in

Brixton and being innocent country girls

up until now it was a pretty bizarre expe-

rience. We found ourselves in a large Vic-

torian terrace in a quiet street covered in

graffiti and drawings. The house was

packed. Upstairs in every room there

were one or more dirty mattresses and

people we recognised, but didn‟t know,

sprawled on the floor in some drug

fuelled haze, the basement was turned

into some sort of „rave room‟ (ha ) in

which it was entirely dark apart from a

red light, (making it easier for those

slightly more inhibited to engage in sexu-

al exploits without the harsh light of

normality), and speakers on a raised plat-

form pumping out music that I don‟t

generally like but suited the context. At

first the fact we only

knew one person at the

party, (and he was in no

shape to converse with

or share any kind of so-

cial interaction with

other than incoherent

speech and weird strok-

ing), was a massive hin-

drance in terms of en-

joyment (a low being

when we made a pact

that we would take any-

thing anyone offered us,

not cool) but soon we

picked up and actually

attempted to socialise.

This worked surprising-

ly well and we came away having been

taught how to dance, which was nice.

How very „Skins‟…

Presumably you have made the assump-

tion from this article that I have quite a

cool life, just to clarify – I do not, I just

like to observe other peoples‟ cool lives.

It‟s more fun that way.

Photo by Turnedout.tv

“I kept saying „excuse me,

excuse me, excuse me‟ be-

cause I had to get to the

catwalk, but she just kept

posing. So I pushed her ...

It was only a couple of

stairs.”

Lara Stone (Vogue UK Dec 09‘)

Art conspiracy!—historians have revealed that the painting

of the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, one of the most fa-

mous female portraits in history, may have been posed by a

man. For centuries it was assumed that she was a noblewom-

an or the wife of a merchant, but now it is thought it may

have been a study of Gian Caprotti - known as Salai - da

Vinci's long-time male lover.

Josh Wroath on the new date to add to your mu-

sic calendar

In an age where music can be downloaded with com-

plete ease, legally or illegally straight to your hard

drive, mp3 player or phone, it‟s easy to understand

why the release of physical products is in decline.

Last year album sales fell a further 8% showing just

how poor the situation is for physical sales. It would

seem most people, given the option, would rather

just have music quick and cheap (or free) and on

demand than have a clunky, physical product.

This however isn‟t how every music fan feels. Just

having music on screen and not being able to see the

product itself has left some music lovers feeling de-

jected. Chris Brown was one such man who came up

with the idea of Record Store Day, a day where all

fans of physical releases of music could come togeth-

er to celebrate the art of music. Since the first carna-

tion of Record Store Day in 2008 it has become a

day marked on every music fans calendar (now set

to the third Saturday of every April).

Intended to help fans connect to the physical for-

mat, Record Store Day has grown year on year.

2008 saw special limited edition vinyl from R.E.M.,

Vampire Weekend, Death Cab For Cutie and Metal-

lica in America. After meeting Billy Bragg in an air-

port co-founder of the day Michael Kurtz helped

bring the idea to the UK and it soon spread around

the world. This year saw special releases by Radio-

head, The Flaming Lips, Pink Floyd, Television and

The Kills to name but a few.

Heading to Rough Trade East record store yester-

day (16th April) there was a real sense of what Rec-

ord Store Day means to music fans. The queue to

get in stretched around the corner and took an hour

and more for some fans to get into the store. Once

inside (I got in about around 12) most of the goodies

had already been taken, but some specials remained.

A queue remained for the rest of the afternoon, with

fans desperately trying to get in. Everyone was in

high spirits with people buzzing in and out with

some getting their desired treasures.

With such a great turn out and atmosphere, a feel

for what Record Store Day means to music fans was

evident. It‟s more then just getting your very own

special limited edition vinyl; it‟s about getting peo-

ple of all ages connected to physical music again.

With a mixture of ages in the store Record Store

Day certainly seemed to accomplish this feat and as

long as we have days like these then physical releas-

es will still have a place in music history.

„I know many a women that would pay for your hair colour‟ really mother,

really?!

My name‟s Georgia Burgoyne and I suffer from unsightly natural hair col-

our, yes I know it‟s extremely shallow (get used to it I want to be a fashion

journalist!) but I‟m sick of looking at photos on social network sites of my

plain Jane hair.

You see I have what is commonly known as „mousey‟ hair - and you know a

colour‟s not glamorous when it‟s named

after a rodent! Saying this it has taken

me at least 18 years to pluck up the

courage and reach for the bottle.

I forced my grandmother to drive me

down to the drug store where I looked

on in disbelief at all the choices and

colours available, I knew I defiantly

wanted to go darker, not blonde like

the rest of the women in my family,

and I have strong but stupid morals

„I‟m not using anything advertised by

Cheryl Cole‟.

I settled on „mahogany chestnut‟ a lot

more alluring than hue of mouse and

the woman on the packet looked like

she was having a lot of fun. I really

wanted to go Florence Welch ginger

but as novice to the world of dye I was

told, quite hastily, that „it is too big of

a jump‟. I guess the „deep dark brown

with red wine undertones‟ would have

to do.

Half and hour really does pass slowly when you are sat in a bathroom not

allowed to touch anything just incase the sink dyes an unattractive shade of

maroon and your grandma shouts at you for ruining her favourite towel. As

someone who can‟t sit still, it really was an arduous task, but the fumes

made me feel light headed so that improved the situation.

The best part is the reveal, the shocked faces and the laughs from brothers.

Suck on it, my red/purply hair is pretty rad and looks amazing paired with a

white shirt and leather shorts, I look older (I got asked for ID when buying

a 15 the week before!) and feel a million time more confident, but for the rest

of my life I will be haunted by roots and damaged hair.

The challenge now what shade will I go for in six weeks time?

The one where the editor dyes her

hair …

Photos by

Stella Berkofsky

http://stellaberkofsky.com/

TODAY I’M WEARING

Sum up your style in a sentence- Pretty

relaxed and simple.

Who is your ultimate style icon?-

Françoise Hardy and Bruce Spring-

steen. I think I am most inspired by

French elegance and American preppy-

ness.

What is the favourite piece in your

wardrobe?- My mum's vintage Ossie

Clark maxi dress that she has handed on

to me.

Any fashion tips?- I think the most im-

portant thing is you should feel confident

in you wear, if it makes you feel good

you can pull anything off.

What is your favourite Film/Book/

Music?- Badlands, Jane Eyre and

Bruce Springsteen!

Naomi ...

http://pearldream.tumblr.com/

TODAY I’M WEARING

Emma ...

http://dresswithflare.tumblr.com/

Sum up your style in a sentence-

I think 'girly with an edge' most the time

but it's always changing.

Who is your ultimate style icon?-

Chloe Sevigny, she gets it right every time

and her outfits are always fun.

What is the favourite piece in your ward-

robe?-

For Christmas I got a pale pink chiffon

maxi skirt, I love it so much as it's some-

thing I can always throw on if I need a

quick outfit.

Any fashion tips?-

Always try on clothes before you buy them

to check they fit/look right, and never buy

clothes with the idea that you will grow or

shrink into them in the future.

What is your favourite Film/Book/Music?

-

Pretty in Pink, To Kill A Mockingbird

and at the moment I'm into Lykke Li, but

it changes.

Rebel Without a Cause ...

Rebel Without a Cause ...

For more go to www.oliviakatejaffe.com

Blogger Maya Villiger‘s site Turned Out has

won her an admirable following—not just

with readers but with international style bi-

bles such as Harper's Bazaar. A New Zea-

land native, now based in New York, she

started her blog in 2008, posting daily up-

dates of street style snaps of her friends, per-

sonal wardrobe and trend mood boards. Here

our editor asks her a couple of quick ques-

tions. Tell us an interesting fact about yourself

Ha, what do you say to that question?!

What do you like about blogging?

It's a nice way for me meet people and to share

my ideas, it gives me a reason to keep making

things and taking pictures - it helps me develop

my work.

Why streetstyle photography?

Because I love looking at people, and I love try-

ing to capture what I see but most of all I love

taking photographs.

Who is your favourite person to photograph?

Oh there are many, I love taking pictures of my

sister - but she hates it!

What cameras do you use?

Leica M6 and Nikon FM2

What is your uniform for this season and do

you have any fashion tips?

Short cotton shorts by Margiela and Prada, short

pleated skirt by Balenciaga, raglan sleeve tees

and new balance. My tip is; be comfortable!

What are you wearing right now?

APC jeans and tee shirt - it's what I wear every-

day working at home.

What or who inspires you?

My husband, beautiful photographs, people I

meet on the street, my family and visiting places

far far away like India.

What is your first fashion memory?

Reading German Vogue living as a kid in Swit-

zerland. Also when I was very young I always

pulled my skirts and shorts down low on my hips,

I knew then that it looked better on me - I hate

wearing things around my waist.

If you could raid somebody's wardrobe whose

would it be?

Probably Sofia Coppola - because I know I

would get some really good, really useful, really

expensive, really beautiful stuff that I would re-

ally wear.

If you could wear one designer for the rest of

your life, day in/day out, just one, who would it

be, and why?

Probably Balenciaga, because they make my fa-

vourite jeans and really good sweaters and my

fav boots so I could live in that - plus kinda

amazing stuff to wear at night.

What was your biggest fashion disaster?

Oh there have been many, but I would say in high

school - wanting to wear expensive stuff. I

should have just stuck to check shirts and baggy

jeans; I hate young kids trying to look fancy

now.

Any place/city/country you want to visit ?

So many, Cuba is one - we are going later this

month - can't wait!

Favourite:

Music - old dorky rock n roll - Bruce Springsteen

and stuff

City - New York right now

Shop - I‘m a bit of a sucker for department stores

like Barneys

Piece in your wardrobe - LV Sofia bag

Film - so many, I really do love Lost in Transla-

tion like everyone else - and Love Story gets me

every time

Blog – probably self service blog

“I wish they made this for girls!”

―The amount of times I‘ve actually heard a girl say

―I WISH THEY MADE THIS FOR GIRLS‖

when looking at boys‘ clothes goes beyond memory.‖

say‘s Vincent Tsang and from that quote, he began a

little Photo Series project. ―Done right, the series

should have that inexplicable umph most guys feel

when waking up and seeing a girl in his t-shirt and

boxers‖. Dressed in Vincent‘s clothes, the beautiful

girls really make a masculine wardrobe look sexy.

Name? Vincent Tsang

Star Sign? Sagittarius

Favourite?

Book: Ishmael by Daniel

Quinn

Film: The Lion King

Musical Artist: A Tribe

Called Quest

Where are you from?

Montreal

Who would you like to

play you in a film about

your life? Bobby Li

“I wish they made this for girls!”

What cameras do you use? A Canon 7D

How long have you been shooting? 6

Years

What's inspiring you right now? I don't

think anything really sticks out as an inspi-

ration to me... but I do think that the

alarming amount of "new" photographers is

pushing me to work harder and get better.

Where did you get the idea for „I wish

they made this for girls‟? I was shopping

with my girl and she must have said that

sentence 2-3 times that day, and it just

clicked in my head that it would make great

photographs.

How do you know the women you feature

in your photographs? I wish I can say I

dated all of them, but I know them from

very distinct settings; I've met some through

friends, the others from school or work.

The women are all dressed in your clothes

– what is it about women in men‟s clothes

that is so sexy? I call it the "inexplicable

Umph".

Sum up your style in a sentence? Modern

day ninja, who listens to Neil Young.

Is there an item of clothing that you wish

„they made for boys‟? Shoes with hidden

wedges... I‘m a short dude!

Your photos are quite clean and minimal-

ist, are you like that in real life? Yes.

(how‘s that for a minimal answer, ha)

Recommend a photographer for our read-

ers - Neil Bedford (http://

www.neilbedford.com/)

COACHELLA 2011: The Bad,

The Good, and The Ugly

―You can see what I‘m doing,

but you don‘t know what I‘m

thinking.‖ - Some dude‘s t-shirt

at Jack‘s Mannequin

The Bad

There are two ways to attend Coachella. I‟ve decid-

ed to call them The California Way and The LA

Way. If you‟ve ever been to LA, you understand

that this makes social if not geographic sense. For

those who haven‟t, here‟s the difference between the

two.

This is something fashion journalists will never tell

you about Coachella, but I will tell you for free.

Everyone wearing clean and well-thought outfits on

tan skin looking fresh-faced and relaxed – in other

words, any attendees you ever see in these maga-

zines and websites - rented a thousands of dollars

condo, bought a hundreds of dollars VIP wristband,

and saw a show. A show. One show. From a box.

This is The LA Way. And anyone who is under thir-

ty who subscribes to this method is either famous or

with inheritance. One would be loathe to attend this

festival on an average person‟s salary with any hope

of cleanliness, cool, or ease-of-mind. You‟ll be dirty.

And burned. And trapped in the desert with a

bunch of techno-loving, drug-aided, neon enthusi-

asts with no means of escape save for one shuttle

that only takes you to Ralph‟s Grocers and will re-

fuse to do even that past noon. For this is The Cali-

fornia Way, and it‟s full of neo-hippies and fake

rave kids financially fortunate enough to obtain a

$300 wrist band, reluctant to admit so, and full to

the brim with the ability to accurately portray mor-

al abandon as if performing in their very own epi-

sode of Skins Goes to the Desert. To those lovers of

music to which this does not sound like an adven-

ture but rather like hell (or those safe-decision-

makers who long to be a bit rebellious and who are

at this very moment convincing themselves it does

sound like an adventure whilst their stomach knot

calls them liars) – don‟t save for a year just to camp

at Coachella. Save for two and get a hotel at SXSW.

No matter what your affection for denim shorts

may try to tell you, this is not the droid you‟re look-

ing for.

And that‟s the problem. There are but two ways to at-

tend this festival. And the majority of music fans fit into

neither category. It can leave one feeling frustrated and

terribly left out, particularly when your negative

thought processes are accelerated by dehydration. I

doubt Coachella was always this way, but like any

good person with ambitious intentions, too many

years in LA has turned it into a monster.

Let me put it this way. I‟m writing what you just

read in my little Moleskin standing at the main

stage rail during Death From Above 1979 while in

front of me, a large crowd surfer – feeling more than

just the power of the music – tussles with a group of

security guards who taze him for resisting removal

from the crowd. Later that night this same space of

grass on which our enthusiastic fan now writhes will

be occupied by David Hasselhoff dancing drunkenly

to Duran Duran.

Mental picture complete.

The Good

All of this complaining has no doubt made me

sound like a thoroughly old lady. To the contrary,

nearly 87% of my time is spent actively trying

not to age (FYI, the other 13% is for try-

ing not to eat when I‟m full or acci-

dentally insulting someone I‟m flirt-

ing with). This is why, when I sat down

to write this, I wanted to put the bad stuff

first. Because you should know, after all of that,

I‟m so happy I went and I had a wonderful time.

How is this possible?

As I walked with my friend Michiko to the festi-

val grounds on the last day nostalgia began to

sink in, and I had a rare,

thoughtful moment sans

heat delusions and Porta-

Potty rage. My frustration

with the event, I decided,

could be traced back main-

ly to my frustration with

the uncooperative ele-

ments which I felt was pre-

venting me from letting

loose and having a better

time. But what I hadn‟t

been giving myself credit

for was the fact that, despite being unable to push

myself to what I deemed the appropriate level of

engagement and enthusiasm, I still continued to

push myself at all. This, for me, is the sign that

someone is getting old – when they stop looking

for new things and resign themselves to the com-

fort of routine. While I can‟t force myself to be

joyous over a showerless three day romp in the

heat, I can keep trying to get as close to joy as I

can. And that will always keep me young. So here

are my moments of joyous, epic, and youthful

Coachella abandon.

Finding a creative take on personal hygiene.

It‟s easy to look fantastic if you‟re Alexa

Chung. You have many genetic ad-

vantages over most of the human race on

top of which, at Coachella, you also have

running water and a mirror. Denied access

to both baths and coltish legs, the means

by which us of The California Way rede-

fine festival fashion is utterly inspiring. On

Saturday I‟m proud to report I achieved

one of the best buns I‟ve ever had by stick-

ing my head in a bowl of water and tying it

with an old elastic. Jealous? I saw girls

with beautiful red lips, bubble gum pink

hair, filthy floral garlands and shorts that

looked like they‟d genuinely been cut off

just that morning at their tents. It‟s a

mandatory effortlessness one cannot possi-

bly achieve when they have the means and

the time to try. It‟s like a band that loses

all their sex as soon as they‟re given proper

studio equipment. They air-

brush out the flaws. It felt

better to embrace them.

Rain dancing (without the rain).

One might not generally

come to Southern California

to find a traditional, natural-

istic vision of the Earth, but

let me tell you, I‟ve never

felt more in touch with

Mother Nature than when prancing

around in the grass to Jenny Lewis sur-

rounded by gorgeous mountains. There‟s

no place like Coachella for feeling the con-

nection between music and the elements, if

only because you‟re forced to live in some

of the harshest there are to offer during

your stay. From Bright Eyes to Animal

Collective, Coachella lineups are construct-

ed to dance in the sun, and if you can find

a way to do it without turning into some

Urban Outfitters take on Native American

culture, it will be a pretty good time.

Bands that are too big for anything less.

The last place I want to be when “Juicebox”

comes on is in a room full of discerning mu-

sic snobs nodding along with muted appre-

ciation. The first place I want to be is in a

crowd so big and so enthralled with Julian

Casablancas‟s rasping voice that even if you

don‟t want to jump up and down wailing

complaints of frigid behavior to the un-

named subject of the song, you have to. Be-

cause whether you like it or not this band is

going to make this crowd take you with

them. I want to take fewer pictures because

I‟m afraid my camera‟s going to break. I

crave the release that can only come when

it‟s finally 9 o‟clock, cool outside, and your

favorite band is playing your favorite song.

This is my most memorable moment of the entire

festival. Arcade Fire closed their first set prior to

the encore with Wake Up, which, if you‟re familiar

with the band‟s usual show, convinced me pretty

readily that this was in fact the last thing we would

hear them play. This was an incredibly depressing

thought given the fact we had nothing to go home

to but a nasty tent and a long number of years

without another Arcade Fire show to look forward

to, but it also prompted us all to make the most of

it. Shortly before the song, twenty or so volunteers

were pulled from the crowd to help with a “special

project for Arcade Fire” – my friend and I declined

to participate as we were afraid we‟d miss some

songs (and by “afraid we‟d miss some songs” I do

mean “afraid we‟d miss one second of one song and

that would be horrible” – we‟re fans). Shortly after,

we watched as one after another after another the-

se volunteers – aided by Marcus Mumford and his

bandmate from Mumford & Sons, who had played

earlier that night and had since joined the crowd to

watch these enrapturing performers – rolled out

huge balloons that flickered and glowed in every

color. As “Wake Up” neared its climax, the volun-

teers, Marcus and friend, and a handful of cranes

surrounding the stage released the balloons into the

audience.

If you ever want to knock a good few years off

your life, get your adrenaline rushing with a great

song, get light headed as you sing along to every

note, get winded bouncing on the balls of your

feet, and play a game of keep away with thou-

sands of your closest friends. One thing Arcade

Fire does best - besides play their instruments

with authentic vigor and lead the kind of

crowd participation that can shake the very

desert floor - it‟s transport their listeners back

to a time when things were a lot more simple.

Before you worried about looking good, eating

right, staying hydrated, keeping schedules or

charging cell phones. Before you cared what you

were doing, what you were thinking or what oth-

er people thought of either of those things, let

alone wore those concerns on a t-shirt. No divid-

ing line between The LA and The California

Ways. Just me, Michiko, Marcus Mumford and

50,000 other people singing and dancing and

tossing balloons up into the sky.

The Ugly

Know this. No matter what the exuberant sales

clerk at Sephora tells you, no sunscreen will keep

sensitive skin from breaking out without a wash.

And no matter what I myself tell you at Fire Is-

land in two month‟s time – Italians burn.

By Kate Edler

For more go to - mymissus.tumblr.com

For more go to

http://www.leannelimwalker.co.uk/

―I just don't

want to die

without a few

scars.‖ Chuck Palahniuk