San Francisco Music Blog

The fake band is a staple of narrative television. You know the episode: the kids get together, write a bitchin' song, suddenly know how to play instruments, enter a contest they are sure to win, and then end up fighting when their egos grow to large. Inevitably, they fail, even though success seemed so sure. Everyone learns a lesson about being humble and kind, and the band is never spoken of again. It is completely forgotten that the cheerleader once knew how to wale on the drums. Or some variation thereof. Here are some of the best examples of this trope. And by best, we mean worst.

Full House, Jesse and the Rippers

Three adult men all decide to be roommates and raise one of the dude's kids together. Only in San Francisco! And of course, one of those dudes was the adorable Elvis-loving, motorcycle riding Uncle Jesse, who hung out with the Beach Boys and combed his hair a lot. And had a band. Said band was called Jesse and the Rippers. Jesse and the Rippers had a music video, which consisted of Uncle Jesse rolling around in a bed with his shirt off, standing behind a window with his shirt off, and creepy shots of the character's twin babies blinking into the camera. Watching this as an adult I realize that this is basically Mom Porn. Your kids love the TGIF lineup and you haven't watched the news in six years? Here you go, Mom. Here is John Stamos, shirtless.

My So-Called Life, Frozen Embyos



The intense and pathetic nature of Angela Chase's lust for the idiotic and insensitive (but really hot) Jordan Catalano was one of the most relate-able things about teen drama My So-Called Life. Jordan was in a band called Frozen Embryos with the legendary Tino, who never appeared on screen but always knew where the party was. In a memorable scene, Angela gets invited to band practice, where Jordan warbles out a treacly balled about someone named "Red" who cheers up his otherwise dreary existence. (It's hard to be really hot and really illiterate.) Angela thinks it's about her. It's not. It's about Jordan's car. Because horny teenage boys are really into singing love songs about their cars.

 

Patrick McElhenney

Howerton (standing) in "The Nightman Cometh" with Danny DeVito.

​Glenn Howerton co-writes and produces FX's cultishly beloved TV show, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia; he also plays vain pretty-boy, Dennis R. Reynolds. The cast recently toured with a live version of the show, in which they reproduced an episode called "The Nightman Cometh." SF Weekly chatted with Howerton on the eve of last week's San Francisco performance, discussing, among other important topics, Danny DeVito's balls and the dangers of fingering poop on television.

SF Weekly: What's it like performing "Nightman" for a live audience?

Glenn Howerton: It's so fun. Audiences are flipping out. It's palpable. People seem to really take ownership of the show because it started so small and spread by word of mouth. People are going over to their friends' houses, bringing the DVDs, and sitting them down and saying "You have to watch this fucking show."

SFW: How do you guys strike a balance between being funny and disturbing without just putting people off?

GH: We spend a lot of time talking about that. I guess it all comes down to you have to justify the characters' actions. The audience has to believe that the character believes that what he's doing is going to work.

I think it's a major, major failing in a lot of different TV shows and movies that the writer and the people involved think they can get away with the character just doing something silly or funny and by virtue of the fact they're doing it, it's supposed to be funny. One of the funniest things about the show to me is watching the characters justify their actions. They're trying to basically do the most selfish and horrible things but somehow finding a way to say, "Hey, this is OK because it serves purpose A, purpose B or purpose C."

Via Wikipedia Commons

Olivia Munn

​UPDATE: I have been contacted by Kristina Levsky Senior Publicist for G4 who says Olivia Munn is NOT leaving AOTS. Rumor Quelled.

A rumor* has been circulating on the interwind that Olivia Munn (recently written about here) was leaving or had left G4's Attack of the Show. I have found no evidence to corroborate this piece of gossip despite an exhaustive, minute long search on the Googles. I even looked at Wikipedia. I CARE THAT MUCH.

Anyway, Munn was on vacation in Europe the past two weeks (according to her blog) and while she was in Italy buying tiny bikinis and jumping into Italian pies (heh) or whatever, Playboy Playmate of the Year '07 Sara Jean Underwood co-hosted the show along with Web Soup's Chris Hardwick aka the Nerdist aka Mr. Kiala Kazebee. This, along with the prior appearance of guest bikini wearing host Carissa Walford, may have been the source of the gossip although I'm not so sure as the rumors have been flying around the nerd blogs for the better part of this year.

I will NOT get into another discussion about the qualifications of these people-women hosting this particular show. Instead, I present to you a choice bit of information found during my scientific and super-professional research process -  this tweet from Ms. Underwood...

Yesterday morning, I woke up to this in my RSS feed. Might be NSFW but I'm not sure as I'm afraid to look at it for fear my breakfast will repeat itself on me.

Munn: A Fine Example For Little Girls

I just...I mean...WHAT THE HELL DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH VIDEO GAMES? Seriously, someone please explain it to me with words that are not "marketing" or "demographic" because that BS will not fly with me. Hit the jump for more scantily clad ladies and my angry mutterings about them. (Oh hey! I'm a marketing genius! Look at me go! Working the system from the inside out! I hate myself!)

Erban Image Photography

You Go, Girl: Netta Brielle

​Big, big-ups to Berkeley "urban pop artist" Netta Brielle, who appears today at 3 p.m. PST on BET's 106 & Park's "Wild Out Wednesday."

As the singer's PR states, "Netta is a dynamic force that is poised to make her mark in the entertainment world." From the looks of things, that's beginning to happen.

Listen to Netta's music - an engaging take on commercial R&B/soul which actually competes with the Beyonces, Rihannas, and Ciaras of the world, making the fact that it was locally-produced all the more impressive -- here.

Moral Crusaders? Green Day

Looks like everyone who called Green Day sell-outs owes the band an apology. After releasing 21st Century Breakdown, their most ambitious album ever, the band followed up by doing the most punk thing they've ever done: refuse to sell a clean version in Wal-Mart, America's largest retailer, and the #2 retail outlet for music (behind iTunes).

As reported by the Associated Press last Thursday (and picked up by outlets coast-to-coast, including the Chron and the Washington Post), Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong said the band decided to "just say no" to Wal-Mart's policy of not selling any CD with a Parental Advisory sticker (signifying explicit lyrical content).

In the past, Wal-Mart has required popular artists to submit edited versions of their albums, sometimes completely altering their context, as in the case of Nirvana, whose social commentary "Rape Me" because the somewhat more innocuous "Waif Me."

"You feel like you're in 1953 or something," Armstrong remarked - a reference to the McCarthy era, when the House Unamerican Activities Committee engaged in witchhunts against liberals, suspected Communists, and anyone else who didn't pass muster with the Morality Police.

So what is the controversial content, exactly? According to the AP, it's "curses and some references considered adult," which Armstrong said he doesn't consider "dirty."

EKAphotography

Firestarter: Michael Franti

It's hard not to be a Denis Leary fan. The acerbic redheaded Irish-American comic is one of the best things about broadcast TV, and the return of his FX series "Rescue Me" for its fifth season--he plays a nervous, gregarious NYPD firefighter fighting both alcohol and sex addictions, not to mention a tendency to wisecrack at inopportune moments--is welcome news, amidst all the soppy sitcoms and tired-ass reality shows. The show's hipness cachet has been reinforced by their use of indie/underground bands on soundtracks (info about these bands is available on the show's official Website).

What's even cooler, though, is that the current season five promo, which features a supersized Leary and the cast walking around NYC--uses Michael Franti & Spearhead's "Yell Fire" as theme music. It's an awesome ad which offers a new interpretation of the lyric throw your hands up, take it to another level/ and you can never ever ever make a deal with the devil, as well as making the chorus (Yell Fire, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo) seem even more anthemic than it already was. Peep the clip here.

It's not an easy feat to be considered one of the most annoying stars of reality television when the bulk of the competition is fierce, loud, obnoxious and willing to do just about anything in front of the cameras. Like the fat that congeals at the top of a stew, these 10 individuals stand out from the pack:

10. Kate Gosselin
The matriarch of TLC's Jon and Kate Plus 8, Gosselin rules her brood and especially her husband with an iron glare. Poor Jon looks like he's in a permanent state of shell-shock. However, she's clearly got nothing on Octo-Mom Nadya Suleman, so Gosselin is just holding the place on this list until Suleman scores her own reality show.

9. Patti Stanger
As the Millionaire Matchmaker, Patti Stanger claims a 99% rate of success as well as a family history of picking perfect mates for people of means. But even though Stanger clearly has a good heart, she can be just as superficial as the even more annoying clients she tolerates.

8. Ongina
Recently eliminated from the Logo series RuPaul's Drag Race (think America's Next Top Model for drag queens), the only thing worse than Ongina's name is the obvious delight s/he takes in it making people feel uncomfortable.

7. Mystery
This sassy specimen of manhood is referred to on television (and in the buzzed about book The Game) as The Pick-Up Artist. With no irony at all. None. Ladies, are you throwing your panties in his direction yet?

6. Heidi Montag
A star of the scripted reality drama The Hills, Montag's fake fights with her boyfriend/Mexican wedding husband Spencer Pratt on the show are in hilarious contrast to the overly lovey tones of the absurdly staged paparazzi pictures the couple take on a regular basis as some sort of perverse part-time job. Despite such ardent attempts to annoy, Montag might not have placed so high on this list were it not for her insistence on giving a career in crappy pop music a go.

Feeling Lucky: Chris Isaak

If you've been wondering where local-boy-gone-pop-star Chris Isaak  has been, the answer is, just about everywhere. In a career that's had more legs than ZZ Top in '83, Isaak's gone from an up-and-coming Rockabilly crooner/Elvis impersonator, to Big Time hitmaker ("Wicked Game"), to TV and film star. If there's one thing Isaak embodies, it's retro cool, and just when you thought we'd never see another musical variety show that wasn't "American Idol"-derived (remember "Sonny & Cher"? "Captain & Tenille"? "Donny & Marie"?), Isaak's back with a new interviews-and-tunes series on A&E's Bio channel, "The Chris Isaak Hour." The show, which airs Thursday evenings, premiered on Feb. 26, and you can peep a segment, with Trisha Yearwood, here . Chris also has a new album, Mr. Lucky, which his PR says is "his first non-holiday studio album since 2002."

Isaak may have hit the big time, but he's never forgotten his local roots. Yes, he left his heart in San Francisco, and this Monday, March 2nd, he'll be performing an in-store at Amoeba Records in the Haight, previewing selections from the new album, and (quite possibly) signing autographs. It's his only scheduled public appearance (other than the "Today" show), so if you're an Isaakophile, you'll wanna be there or be square.

Courtesy of The RZA

Your kung-fu cannot defeat mine, you pathetic fool! My medallion is also a thowing star!

Is it just our imagination, or has Wu-Tang producer the RZA become even more prolific since leaving the slums of Shaolin for La-La land? Having freed himself from the burdens of making gritty yet epic tracks for the likes of 60 Second Assassin and U-God, Bobby Digital's creative rebirth -- call it a RZA-ssance -- has taken him into the worlds of scoring and composing gritty yet epic tracks for the likes of Jim Jarmusch and Quentin Tarantino, and he's also repped for the Hip Hop Chess Federation and onscreen in American Gangster. His current gig as beatsmith for the anime-with-soul TV series Afro-Samurai is cooler than a polar bear with stunna shades, yet he still finds time to get out on the road and show new-jack MCs how he mastered the 36th chamber.

Having just dropped the awesome Afro-Samurai: Resurrection soundtrack, RZA headlines a bill any true hip-hop head worth his or her hoodie would be blinder than Zatoichi to miss. Sunday at Mezzanine, he appears with Pariah, DJ Radius, and Who Cares, with local support from the Bayliens and the similarly-kung fu-influenced  Delinquent Monastery Here's some  Digi-snacks for disciples; for show tix, click on this.

By Meredith Brody

Broadway queens -- you know who you are: you’ve seen The Best of Broadway before they make it to Market Street, your favorite queue is the TKTS booth in Times Square, and you’ve read William Goldman’s The Season more than once) -- if you get Showtime, you’re in luck. The riveting, award-winning documentary called ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway, about the 2003-2004 Broadway season, is currently playing on the network, with the next showings on October 15th, at 3:45 a.m. and 6:45 a.m.

All Shook Down's Jackie Lopez stopped by Parc 55 this morning to talk to some American Idol aspirants from the Bay Area who were on the hotel's fourth floor for the show's second round of auditions. Security wasn't letting anyone off the listed family and friends in for the taping, so she hung around the lobby and the curb outside, where she met nail-biting, defeat-shrugging, mascara-streaming contestants and family members -- well, not in that order. —Janine Kahn

Notes and photo by Jackie Lopez

Security wasn't budging, so I walked outside, lit up and ran into Joni Faga and Taralyn Satele-Ambrose, cousins of contestant Tatiana Barrios -- they, alongside Tatiana's dad (Naapulu Barrios) and others were smoking as well. We tried calling Tatiana since she was upstairs, but she had her phone off. She was preparing to sing “Stand Up for Love” by Destiny’s Child. (A good pick because it's an original and no one really knows it.) A total of seven family members were in attendance. “I think we’re more nervous than she is,” Mr. Barrios said and kept on smoking. They were camera shy and didn't want their pictures taken.

Minutes later, another contestant, Morgan, exited the hotel, tears streaming down her face. She was tall, blond, beautiful and bright red. She wouldn't talk to me but I heard her mother tell her "It's OK, you have so much else going for you." Morgan just sobbed harder. Three of her friends stood in awkward silence in shirts that said "Team Morgan" on them. Sad.

Signs on the 4th floor.

The waiting area.

A friend of the Weekly tipped us off earlier today about American Idol auditions, which were supposedly going on at the Renaissance Parc 55 Hotel downtown. We thought this was strange since the Idol train already stopped at the Cow Palace in July, and the show's website only listed auditions through August 19. Did America not have enough talent? Did the Idol producers have to sneak an extra San Francisco stop in to meet their contestant quota?

We dropped by Parc 55 after work (and, ahem, after an hour-long wait in MUNI's sick underground playground) and found no traces of Idolatry, but a floorman told us the auditions were taking place on the 4th floor. We zipped up there, spotted signs with the show's logo (as well as a "crowd release" notice) and another member of the staff told us the taping had just finished and would start up again tomorrow at 10 a.m. But a line is expected to start forming at 7.

At the concierge's desk, Rossanna Caylao, who has worked at Parc 55 since 1998, told us this is the third year in a row that the auditions have been held at the hotel. There were "not as many [Idol hopefuls] as there were last year," she said. "Last year they clogged up the pathways outside."

*Update on Sept 11: Well, now it all makes sense. ASD correspondent Jackie Lopez reports that this is round two of the SF auditions, and everyone showing up is on an invite-only list. No judges on the premises (as our helpful readers guessed below), just producers. --Janine Kahn

(Summer Bishil and director Alan Ball on the set of Towelhead. Photo: Dale Robinette)

By Tamara Palmer

When we meet at the Ritz Carlton San Francisco, the Academy-Award winning screenwriter Alan Ball smiles and says, “I’ve been on seven planes in the last 10 days!”

His easygoing attitude makes clear that it’s more of a novelty than a chore that’s wearing him down as Ball, most famous for writing American Beauty and Six Feet Under, simultaneously takes on the launch of two new projects he's directing: The vampire series True Blood, which premiered on HBO on Sunday night, and the coming-of-age film Towelhead, which opens in San Francisco on September 19 at the Embarcadero and Sundance Kabuki theaters.

“It’s exciting and fun,” he says. “I can’t stress out too much about one or the other because my attention is being split. I’m glad they’re both happening at the same time so then it’ll just be all out of the way.”

Just as American Idol becomes less and less relevant (does anyone actually remember who won last season?), the show that launched a couple of semi-memorable careers comes to town. Daly City is the first stop on the AI audition train on July 17th, so if you've always fantasized about getting ripped a new one by Simon Cowell, now's your big chance. Details below the fold. --Janine Kahn

With only four ladies left, all the models (except Tranny) started to stress about their status. Whitney felt insecure having spent two weeks solid weeks in the bottom two, but felt that "America and America's Next Top Model are ready for a plus size girl." Let's hope so. Fatima is so thin it's terrifying. Speaking of food, all the girls complained about Tranny's eating habits. Apparently she eats candy and snacks all the time and when she runs out of her own food she eats other people's.

The first bit of Tyra Mail said "Take a picture, you might last longer. Love, Tyra." Finally the girls stopped trying to interpret the message and just let it be. They left for their challenge and found themselves at a park where they watched judge Paulina in a photo shoot. The (apparently) famous photographer with a hysterical heavy accent taking her pictures gave the girls a lesson in shooting photos. They practiced taking pictures of each other when Ann Shoket from Seventeen arrived to explain the challenge -- the ladies would have five minutes to shoot Paulina and they would be judged on how they worked with the model and how their photo looked.

What a ridiculous challenge. Almost anyone can take a nice photo if their camera is expensive enough. The winner would receive 50 extra frames in her shoot.

If you missed it last week (I did), here's the update -- the ladies are in Rome (insert screams here). They shot a commercial and surprise, surprise, Lauren was awful. Nothing could help that girl overcome her awkwardness. The judges criticized Whitney for acting fake. Obviously Lauren went home, so this week starts with five girls. It's starting to get down to the wire and hopefully after this season Tyra will realize the show has become a joke and never have another cycle ever again.

Fatima still thinks she rules and that it's OK to judge the other girls. She said Kat belongs behind a desk? How sweet. The girls received their first Tyra Mail (finally it's not electronic) and headed to some Roman ruins where they saw Gladiators fighting. Apparently Fatima believes violence is terrible. Boo hoo. The girls learned how to fight like Gladiators and pose at the same time. They became skilled in the art of ass kicking, but stayed tough and pretty too. They got to battle each other and Tranny and Fatima faced off. I somehow wish they could have killed each other and so wouldn't have to hear from either of them anymore. The ladies went to get changed into slutty Roman clothes (AWESOME) and when they walked out Mr. and Mrs. Jay were there to help out with the shoot.

Next year marks Conan O'Brien's replacement of Jay Leno in the Tonight Show seat, and NBC plans to insert SNL alum Jimmy Fallon as host of Late Night. So unless you want to go to sleep pissed off and thoroughly not amused by Fallon's douchenozzle antics, plan to call it a night an hour early in '09. --Oscar Pascual

The Moz doesn't show up on television very often, but when he does it's worth throwing a party over. You know, like what lame people do for episodes of American Idol. Bust out the chips and dip April 28 and 29 when Morrissey appears on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. That's right, that's two performances, so prepare extra guac. Read more after you click 'More.' -- Oscar Pascual

Each week Top Model comes closer and closer to being the worst television show in the world, but I can't stop watching it. This week carried your typical formula of drama, drama and yes, more drama.

First Fatima faced a big dilemma -- she's in the United States as a refugee on a green card and lost her travel documents in Atlanta.Then Paula Porizkova came over to teach the girls how to carry themselves in public. Lesson one helped the girls practice conversing with important people and number two trained them on interviews. The moral of the story?: "Think on your feet." Later Lauren sliced her finger while cutting onions and had to visit the hospital for some stitches.

For the challenge, the girls received a big gold box with a 7Up card on top. Product placement much? They opened up the box and found it filled with lemons, limes and a card inviting them to the event hosted by Jay Godfrey and "all natural" (ha) 7Up.

It always starts with consumable goods. I thought models lived on a steady diet of coke, cigarettes and water, so why the bickering? This week, Lauren threw out the ground-y coffee Fatima made, so Fatima obviously freaked out and Lauren retaliated in all her bitchy glory. Imagine one of these ladies letting things go. Impossible. Also, who drinks coffee out of wine glasses?

Finally the Tyra mail came and read: "If you don't make it here, you won't make it anywhere. Love, Tyra." Some girls assumed that referenced Broadway, others were too exhausted to inquire.

When the girls arrived at their destination, they met with Karen Lee from Elite Models and some other model chick that no one has ever heard of. They announced the challenge -- the girls must break into two groups and using GPS phones (not cabs) they venture out on go sees.

Group 1 (Claire, Stacy Ann, Whitney, and Dominique) visited Pamella Roland who informs Whitney that plus size won't work in her runway show. Instead of being sensitive, Dominique seemed amused by Whitney's struggle and anticipated her leaving. Meanwhile Group 2 (Katarzyna, Anya, Lauren, and Fatima) visited Shoshanna Gruss and model swim wear. The groups switch and Claire kissed Gruss' ass while Whitney received positive attention because the line advocates for a variety of figures on the runway. Way to represent all the ladies!

Remember when we said that film director David Fincher is working on his vision of Heavy Metal? Looks as though Matt Stone and Trey Parker have beat Fincher to the punch with tonight's South Park episode. According to an SP staffer, the eipisode is titled "Major Boobage," which should be Heavy Metal's subhead anyway. Here's hoping the episode's soundtrack rocks just as hard as the O.G. film. -- ASD Staff Report

Even if I had Top Model potential I'd rather do just about anything than be on the show. The house seems consistently plagued with drama and every girl starts to doubt herself on network television. This week Lauren expressed again that she has confidence issues in panel. Duh. She's the most awkward girl there. She claimed "it's a huge inner struggle that I'm going to have to go through." Already with the drama.

Then Claire made a teary eyed phone call to her husband. Apparently her baby is teething and Claire cries every time she thinks about her kid. I have to ask, what kind of mother just up and leaves like that? She does! Though she says "I'd be cheating my daughter if i didn't go for my dreams. "She still has a particular fondness for discussing breast milk (as we learned in episode one), but tonight we learned her milk is starting to dry up.

Get ready for more unorthodox hilarity, as Variety reported that HBO has picked up a new show from David Cross and Bob Odenkirk of Mr. Show fame. Titled David's Situation, the show stars Cross as himself and will be directed by Odenkirk. Sounds more Curb Your Enthusiasm than Mr. Show to me. -- ASD Staff Report

The advent of TiVo and DVRs made it possible to skip through all those pesky commercials so you can watch your favorite programs in peace. Those programs could get very annoying and obnoxious very soon, as execs for CBS show The Apprentice are being championed for introducing integrated ads to their program. Last I checked, this practice was called product placement, and it always pissed me off when I watched movies or TV and some character took time to enjoy a Pepsi for no good reason. Although it makes sense to have corporate entities involved on The Apprentice since it's about douchebags trying to make ridiculous amounts of money, this trend could very likely turn every TV program into epic commercials. How will your precious TiVo help you then? -- Oscar Pascual

Although the project for a Beverly Hills, 90210 spinoff has yet to be greenlit, reports have surfaced that reveal details about the script and casting. Apparently the show's characters have no relation to the previous cast save for the fact that the main character went to the same high school...in 1980. That, and two teen characters share the same last name as Brian Austin Green's character, David Silver. So expect a spinoff that has absolutely nothing to do with 90210 aside from the location. -- ASD Staff Report

Reports from Variety say that Comedy Central's current production pool includes an animated Snoop Dogg series. The cartoon will be based on Snoop's teenage life in 1980s Long Beach, way back when hardly any words were modified with the suffix "-izzle." Other projects include shows from Andy Richter and David Alan Grier, as well as a sketch comedy program by The State/Stella dudes Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black. -- ASD Staff Report

Usually during the beginning of Top Model I'm so concerned about what ridiculous stuff Tyra will do that I never really payed attention to the intro. Essentially it has Ms. Banks and the rest of the ladies dressed up like old school prostitutes and slutting around the screen. How awkward and uncalled for. The sad part is, from the intro it only gets worse. It seems this season of ANTM the CW feels so compelled to produce absurd television that they've turned it into a total freak show.

This week the ladies' first challenge began at a firehouse. After watching how quickly firefighters changed into their uniforms to go do their thang, the girls had to try it themselves. Only, their idea of firefighting clothes consisted of short black shorts, a white button up, suspenders, a hat and heinous clog-ish boots (or at least they were supposed to look like boots). Fatima missed the shoes and Ms. Jay seemed less than pleased. They practiced their runway walks and almost everyone sucked, but Stacy-Ann felt more than pleased to have firefighters watching her. Shouldn't they be saving people instead of watching runway shows on tax payers dollars? On the way home Amy called the shower (she doesn't like to shower with other girls) and mass drama ensued. Eventually Whitney (plus size babe) got involved, and Dominique (Fergie/Tranny) got angry. She called Whitney "not cultured" and "young." Them's fightin' words.

(Click 'More')

Style doesn't always come from a fashion magazine or a high end designer. However, the inspiration has to come from somewhere. There are style icons (Gwen Stefani), music scenes (gothic industrial), eras ("hippie-chic"), even films (SLC Punk) that serve as the foundation for fashions. However, sometimes tendencies towards particular trends form more as a result of feeling than aesthetic qualities. Let me explain.

Angela Chase ("My So Called Life") serves one of my style icons. I firmly believe no one else can pull off baby doll dresses (both plaid and velvet), over sized flannels or big boots quite like she can. In my mind she coined the feminine with a bad ass edge statement. From the moment she colored her hair that abrasive shade of red (much to her mother's dismay) she became a new person. Everything she said or did seemed so enormously powerful and tough, yet tenderly vulnerable. When I was younger I simplified my fascination with Angela to assuming it was just her style I like. Now I understand it wasn't the way she tied her flannels around her waist or the bizarre shades of lip gloss she wore. Angela represented so much more than mixing patterns, she served as a symbol for my adolescence.