Are you leaving for the country?

I have been listening to 60s and 70s folk music all day.  (That's where the title for the post came...a Karen Dalton song.)  That definitely put me in a certain mood, that being the mood for gold buttons, high collars, obnoxiously bright, wide stripes, and big, furry hats.   People like to make fun of my collection of giant, furry hats, but I enjoy them thoroughly.  The one I'm wearing in the following pictures is equal parts lumberjack cutting trees in the woods and hiker in the Siberian tundra.  And .... to be quite honest ... I'm totally into that.  Also, it's a very special day -- I conquered a fear today.   That fear is the fear of wearing bright orange.  I have always feared bright orange, because of my coloring -- bright orange and red hair can sometimes be really overwhelming.  But, I decided I liked this shirt more than being afraid.  It kind of feels good to break one of my own rules.

I estimate the shirt to be from the 1970s.  It's made of wool, so it's kind of itchy, but I wore my American Apparel double U-neck dress underneath it to make it less itchy.  My hat is also wool, and rabbit fur, and I got it way back when in Beacon's Closet in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (it's vintage, I don't buy retail fur).  Sometimes I really miss Brooklyn, and New York in general.  Today is one of those days.

-kc

the great blizzard of 2010

So there's this weird thing .... one of my dogs is obsessed with gin + tonics.  Seriously.

Blizzard '10.  Staying in the house all day was making me ultra-stir-crazy.

Other stuff....

Baked a birthday carrot cake for my dad.

Shoveling for 2 hours brings a plight I call ... blizzard hair...  And this is after 10 minutes of combing.

Spot the lurker.  Yep...a dachshund.  My wolf lamp is also just chilling there.

Twin Peaks marathon ... totally happened.

I'm in a giant icebox of weird feelings.  I'm finding a way out of here ("here" being the rectangular space created by state lines).  There's too much snow, the soil is made of permafrost, and amidst all of the frigidity, too many bridges are on fire.  

-kc

Blustery Blizzard Snow Day

Today is a blizzard day. Every time I look out the window, all I see is a fog of furious, swirling white.

I am choosing to spend this blizzard day on Ubuweb. Ubuweb has long since been one of my favorite websites for scoping out artists I already love and finding new artists to obsess over. It's really great for video and audio art--I started really getting into it when I took a Cinema Studies class at Tisch called "American Avant Garde Cinema."

My first link way-worth-clicking-on is to a Ryan Trecartin piece. He's seriously a genius. I strongly suggest reading the description under the piece.

Ryan Trecartin "P.opular S.ky (section ish)" 2009 (via Ubuweb)

The next link way-worth-clicking-on is to a piece created using the work of several different artists in the Lux Archive, one of them being Lawrence Jordan (also known as Larry Jordan), a collage animation artist I've admired for a while.

People Like Us (Vicki Bennett) "Resemblage" 2004 (via Ubuweb)

So there you go. Brain fodder for a snowy day. Ubuweb can truly occupy me for hours. When I feel the old attention span start to wane, I'm going to go back to my Twin Peaks marathon. This is probably the 7th time I've watched the series, but somehow it never gets old.

So, basically, right now it's all about coffee, being a human blanket (with my giant plaid fringed shawl), cuddling with mini-dachshunds, and staring into the white abyss of a blizzard outside of my window. I'm not sure why the coffee is necessary, for there is truly no need to be awake.... I can't possibly leave the house. Hey, at least it's warm.

-kc

on the ROCKS

This morning, I searched through my closet (and...oops...floor) to find something to wear.  I realized I wanted to wear something that I wore for one hour yesterday.  It didn't feel right yesterday, but today it felt right.  Really, it HAS TO feel right.  I've changed outfits up to 4 times in the course of a day.   If I exist for an hour or so in it and it doesn't feel right, it goes.  (And that's not including the changes that occur in the morning when initially deciding what to wear.)  Is that weird?  I mean, I'm an actress/performer/artist.  An outfit for the day is like a costume to me, and it has to feel right for the character I'm going to play that day, or the fictional world I see myself inhabiting that day.  Each day brings a different character/place/etc. 

Today it was my 1970s (I think?) Halston blouse.  It's a poet blouse, with really puffy, long sleeves and a collar that ties at the neck.  It's a really rich burgundy color, and it's long enough to be a (really short) dress with opaque tights (with the danger of some potential bum exposure if it is windy), or a (really long) shirt with pants.  Today I wore it with my ultra-skinny Cheap Monday blue jeans.  And a fur collar... always a fur collar.

Right now: Maker's Mark, on the rocks, with a splash of ginger ale.

The splash of ginger ale is necessary for two reasons:

1. I'm a ginger. I have the arm freckles and transparent complexion to prove it.

2. It gives just the right amount of fizzing, bubbly sweetness needed to enhance the Maker's.

Maker's is exactly what I need to lull myself into dreamland.  Lately, dreamland has been nightmareland.  But, really, to be honest that's kind of fun--as long as I can kick the creepy in the morning.  Sometimes I do.  Sometimes I don't.

-kc

Black on Black

Today was a day that demanded wearing black.  Lots of black.  Black on black, in fact.  Black opaque tights, black oxfords, black satin slip dress with black mesh tank dress over it.  The only non-black items are my seashell/key necklace, my preserved scorpion necklace, my white fur collar, and red lipstick.  

Now, for a change of subject....

This outfit looks like a weird poster from the 80s that would be hanging in someone's grandparents' tacky Florida summer home.

Not only can you see a gator in this store, you can also record a karaoke CD, buy gag gifts, and get sex toys.  This store is most definitely an unintentional work of art.

This is an example of visual merchandising genius.

The day of the storm, the sunset was pretty brilliant.

Champion snow-covered shoveler.

Fiber optics child angel, Virgin Mary, mermaid sea scene, whimsical fairy, etc.

This is a still life of the supplies needed to party in a snowstorm.

It looks like Merlin's "magic touch" might be a tad too sexy.

A NIGHTMARE LADY POSTER

O haaaai Gramps.

My snowy boots.

My brain split today into three days.  Does your brain ever do that?  Sometimes I slip off into this weird dissolution of time, without realizing.  Then, when I snap out of that parallel universe, the day splits.  Each time this happens, it feels like the separation that denotes a new day.  Today was three days.

 

There is so much snow around here right now.  Snow is only pretty for one day... and then it turns ugly, picking up asphalt rocks and dirt spots.  The snow is mostly amassed in mounds in strip mall parking lots and yards.  I feel like Nanook of the North, I have to wear furry, warm things everywhere.

I need a job.  I've been looking for one for a long time, to no avail.  My problem is one part being too picky and another part bad economy.  It's a real bummer.  Today, though, it occurred to me that nothing would make me happier than just making dreamcatchers all day.  Is that a real job?  I'm part Cherokee--maybe I could work in a tourist roadside stand in the Southwest selling dreamcatchers and making dreamcatchers?  Possibly?  Wow.  That is the ideal job--I might have it all figured out.

 

-KC

All photographs copyright Katelyn R 2010

Flutter by

It's supposed to snow a lot today.  I'm preparing to be forced into inertia for many more hours than I would choose if I could choose.  Owning every single episode of Twin Peaks is really going to come in handy tonight and tomorrow.  

Last night I performed at the Spotlight Cabaret and Piano Bar at Allentown Brew Works again, it was really great.  I performed a Joanna Newsom song (in addition to other songs).  I have a video up on Facebook, I just haven't uploaded it onto here yet (perhaps later).  Anyway, I wore this dress last night for the show, and I decided to wear it again today, the only difference is, due to impending snow, I wore a white fur collar with it today.

This dress was actually free.  I estimate it to be from the 70s.  I love it because it is basically a giant scarf.... the material feels exactly like a scarf.  Also, it has flutter sleeves...  I love flutter sleeves.  Every time I wear a dress that has flutter sleeves, it makes me want to live in a log cabin on the top of a mountain and play the banjo all day, then ride some horses.

ribbon bows and winter snows

It's snowing here in Pennsylvania.  In addition to being slightly ill (instead of immensely ill, which was yesterday), the snow really put a damper on my plans.  It's alright, snow is great for warm living room movie nights and lots of window staring.  I really like it, actually.  It justifies inertia.

Also, not just because the world is overrun with fashion blogs, but because I consider it a form of marking time, I'm going to be posting random photographs of my outfits on here.  Dressed up and nowhere to go is the story of my life (well, no place that dressing up is appreciated, anyway).  Today I was listening to a lot of 60s/60s inspired folk music... namely Vashti Bunyan, Joanna Newsom, Joni Mitchell, Karen Dalton and Townes Van Zandt.  I was feeling a 1960s/Appalachian chic thing.

I found these keys in the basement, so I added them to my seashell necklace.

Apparently, this dress was my Aunt's when she was 12 years old in the 60s.  Also, I got this crazy looking sweater in the thrift store, and as soon as my mother saw it, she said she owned something like this in the 70s, and she wore it to the 70s equivalent of a "pimps and hoes" party... a strumpet something party.  I forget what she called it.  Mysterious...

Peace out