My Life With and Without Big Star

Whenever I think of growing up, I always think of Big Star. There are so many songs and lyrics that capture those little precious moments in time that we would all like to store in a bottle. I can still remember the fist time I ever heard Big Star, it was at my friend Jon Elliot's house on a Friday night in the summer of 78, we were up late and watching the Midnight Special.

I just remember the way they announced them "Young Alex Chilton and his band Big Star" though Alex did have fame from being the young singer of the Boxtops and having a huge hit with "The Letter" I just remember them breaking into Thirteen and my mind went blank. I had never heard anything so beautiful in my life. Every note was played with such perfection and passion. Now this was worth leaving the bay City Rollers for and jumping on the Big Star band wagon.

After this one viewing my life became obsessed with Big Star. I spent my summer vacation doing all the research I could about the band, though these were the days before the Internet and getting media and print was not that easy. But somehow I managed to have quite a collection of information and recordings by summers end.

During college I had my radio show The Pure Years. I always opened the show with a BS song and would ofter have Andy on for BS Q&A. When Alex reformed BS with the Pixies backing him up I traveled from San Fransisco to NYC to Nashville and then nights in LA . I now sit here in Los Angeles, it is the summer of 2010 and Big Star has now lost 3 of the 4 members. This is a huge loss to the music community. Axel Chilton alone severed as a hero to many a guitar player and song writer.

I still get the chills every time I drop the needle down on "Way Out West" And summer will always remind my of driving down the 405 blasting Radio City at the ripe old age of 16.

male white corporate oppression

It's really sad to stay that I am plagued by people like this in the working world. The intense bastards who are more ego than substance. OK balding guy in your polo shirts and white Reebook listening to Coldplay because hes internet company pals told him to.
It's males like this who treat women in the work place like shit and feel that they can never be equal. These are the same men who don't let there wives have any other job being a stage mother to their untalented children who they are hoping to make stars out of one day so they now longer have to work.

This is just a note I had in my journal from the other night when I had a slight meltdown regarding one of these animals.

My Top 100 Power Pop Songs of All Time

1. No Matter What - (1970) Badfinger
2. September Gurls - (1974) Big Star
3. Go All The Way - (1972) Raspberries
4. Please Please Me - (1963) Beatles
5. The Kids Are Alright - (1965) Who
6. Starry Eyes - (1978) Records
7. When You Walk In The Room - (1964) Searchers
8. I Am The Cosmos - (1977) Chris Bell
9. I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better - (1965) Byrds
10. Cynical Girl - (1982) Marshall Crenshaw
11. Love Grows - (1970) Edison Lighthouse
12. I Wanna Be With You - (1972) Raspberries
13. Dover Beach - (1984) Bangles
14. What I Like About You - (1979) Romantics
15. Lies - (1965) Knickerbockers
16. Girl Don't Tell Me - (1965) Beach Boys
17. Friday On My Mind - (1966) Easybeats
18. Baby Blue - (1971) Badfinger
19. My Sharona - (1979) Knack
20. I've Been Waiting - (1991) Matthew Sweet
21. Cruel To Be Kind - (1979) Nick Lowe
22. There She Goes - (1988) La's
23. Needles And Pins - (1964) Searchers
24. The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em) - (1981) Greg Kihn Band
25. Rock And Roll Girl - (1979) Paul Collins Beat
26. What You Do To Me - (1991) Teenage Fanclub
27. If I Needed Someone - (1965) Beatles
28. If We Never Meet Again - (1988) Reckless Sleepers
29. Red Rubber Ball - (1966) Cyrkle
30. Southern Girls - (1977) Cheap Trick
31. The Way - (1998) Fastball
32. Ever Fallen In Love - (1978) Buzzcocks
33. Just A Smile - (1974) Pilot
34. She's Not There - (1964) Zombies
35. Baby's Coming Back - (1990) Jellyfish
36. Another Girl, Another Planet - (1978) Only Ones
37. I Can't Let Go - (1966) Hollies
38. I Only Want To Be With You - (1963) Dusty Springfield
39. We Got The Beat - (1981) Go-Gos
40. Girl Of My Dreams - (1979) Bram Tchaikovsky
41. The Trains - (1986) Nashville Ramblers
42. Ballad Of El Goodo - (1972) Big Star
43. Someday Someway - (1982) Marshall Crenshaw
44. And Your Bird Can Sing - (1966) Beatles
45. Baby It's Cold Outside - (1977) Pezband
46. What Do All The People Know - (1982) Monroes
47. She May Call You Up Tonight - (1967) Left Banke
48. Behind The Wall Of Sleep - (1986) Smithereens
49. Look Through Any Window - (1965) Hollies
50. Live - (1967) Merry-Go-Round
51. A Million Miles Away - (1982) Plimsouls
52. Precious To Me - (1981) Phil Seymour
53. Tonight - (1973) Raspberries
54. Seems So - (1997) Apples In Stereo
55. Making Time - (1966) Creation
56. Pulling Mussels (From The Shell) - (1980) Squeeze
57. Goody Goody Gumdrops - (1968) 1910 Fruitgum Company
58. Shake Some Action - (1976) Flamin' Groovies
59. Solar Sister - (1993) Posies
60. Fresh As A Daisy - (1970) Emitt Rhodes
61. Just A Little - (1964) Beau Brummels
62. That Thing You Do! - (1996) Wonders
63. Hearts In Her Eyes - (1979) Searchers
64. Surrender - (1978) Cheap Trick
65. I Can't Explain - (1965) Who
66. Whenever You're On My Mind - (1983) Marshall Crenshaw
67. I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend - (1979) Rubinoos
68. Senses Working Overtime - (1982) XTC
69. Don't Worry Baby - (1964) Beach Boys
70. Rock And Roll Love Letter - (1975) Tim Moore
71. This Beat Goes On/Switchin' To Glide - (1980) Kings
72. I'm On Fire - (1975) Dwight Twilley Band
73. James - (1984) Bangles
74. Saturday Night - (1973) Bay City Rollers
75. Dreaming - (1979) Blondie
76. Alcoholiday - (1991) Teenage Fanclub
77. I Got You - (1980)Split Enz
78. Til I Hear It From You - (1995) Gin Blossoms
79. Couldn't I Just Tell You - (1972) Todd Rundgren
80. Back Of My Hand - (1979) Jags
81. Fox On The Run - (1975) Sweet
82. Girlfriend - (1991) Matthew Sweet
83. She Don't Care About Time - (1965) Byrds
84. Hanging On The Telephone - (1976) Nerves
85. Daydream Believer - (1967) Monkees
86. Little Mascara - (1985) Replacements
87. Teenage Kicks - (1978) Undertones
88. Open My Eyes - (1968) Nazz
89. Big Brown Eyes - (1982) dBs
90. Tomorrow Night - (1979) Shoes
91. Hackensack - (2003) Fountains Of Wayne
92. Outside Chance - (1966) Turtles
93. Yellow Pills - (1979) 20/20
94. Get Your Radio - (1979) Secrets
95. Golden Blunders - (1990) Posies
96. Where Were You When I Needed You - (1966) Herman's Hermits
97. Getting Closer - (1979) Wings
98. (I'd Go The) Whole Wide World - (1977) Wreckless Eric
99. Do Anything You Wanna Do - (1977) Eddie & The Hot Rods
100. Teacher Teacher - (1980) Rockpile

It's just too much!

It's bad enough that the music community has been overrun for the past ten years with fake hipsters and people who claim to be alt-country tree huggers. Being raised as one of these boho types I am really starting to get ill at the mass marking of the Laurel Canyon scene. I went to purchase clothing online at the Lucky Brand website. As I glanced that the new and upcoming summer wear. The swimsuit pages tells young size zero hipsters what to purchase for each music festival.

I had a good laugh but is was quite disturbing at the same time. So you need to know how to dress at Coachella, Love Fest, Redding, Pitchfork or whatever festival is in fashion and the flavor of the month. You can now log on to Lucky Brand and find out what to wear.

This now proves that there is nothing really left for the indie community. A community that many of my dearest friends have helped build over the years. It's really make me ill when I go to see bands and every fool in this city is there just to be seen because it is the thing to do. It's funny when you go to see someone like Randy Newman, Terry Allen, Butch Hancock or The Flatlanders. Where are all of these so called hipsters then. I guess they either spent too much money on a pair of 1968 used Frye boot on ebay or the trust fund transfer is just being wired a day late and a dollar short.

Glen Friedman has said it best. When you get a whore like Tony Hawk out there claiming to be vegan then doing a "Got Milk" ad and then see him a DEVO wearing leather shoes it only proves there are no real heroes in this community.

People just blow a-lot of hot air. I know many great artist who have work hard at bringing something beautiful and special to this city. Yet they are over shadowed by the loft party downtown who is just having members of the BMRC DJ for the night. Come one people if you are really part of it support it.

What are these little waifs doing to better our community. Where were they when people were fighting to smash the PMRC. They are only there to suck up the air and make the economy tighter by the ways of the internet millionaire what-to-be-cool school. I am sure Patti Smith has it out for these people too.

It's a real sad thing, that no one thinks for themselves or just is happy with the way they are.

All I can say it the Faint was right! "THE GEEK WERE RIGHT" just remember it was the nerds, geeks, queers, dorks, and outsiders that built this community that so many want to be a part of and it truly saddens me. I would like to see theses peoples the Regan years and I would dare and of them to sit down and lunch with the likes of Kinky Freedman, Leggs McNeal or Ian Mackaye.

30 punk Records that changed my life!

1) THE SONICS—Here are the Ultimate Sonics No history of punk would be complete without a bow to Tacoma’s Sonics, who, in 1964 and 1965, anticipated the whole thing on two LPs worth of crazed noise before terminal obscurity set it. Amid a spastic frenzy of riffs lifted from Chuck Berry and lots of demented screaming, the Sonics ravaged the classics of rock and roll. They also came up with three twisted originals: “Witch,” “Psycho” and “Strychnine” indicated that when they weren’t pillaging rock’s roots, they were seeking inspiration from comics and bad horror flicks—all this an easy 10 years before the Ramones had similar ideas. This compilation includes two albums, alternate versions and some live cuts as well.

2) MC5—Kick out the Jams Back when punk was something you didn’t want to end up becoming in jail, these boys thundered out of Detroit with a live record inspired by Motown, free jazz and drag racing that spit high-energy guitar scree in the face of all that laid-back Sixties hippie rock. As defiant as a molotov cocktail, the original pressing of the album included the word “motherfucker” and even had liner notes that called for a revolution based on “smoking dope and fucking in the streets.”

3) IGGY AND THE STOOGES—The Stooges Iggy Pop hasn’t made a record worth listening to in years, but back in 1969 his band virtually invented punk on this, their premier outing. It’s all here: the bad attitude, the three chords and the mind-and-body-in-the-gutter-imagination. From the dead-eyed desperation of “1969” to the twisted sexual references of “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” this lean masterpiece became a primer for the next generation of drug-addled idiot savants, proving that less was ultimately more.

4) NEW YORK DOLLS—New York Dolls Some say the New York Dolls created punk rock; others say it was the MC5 or Iggy. But in reality, the Dolls were just a poor man’s Rolling Stones in drag with more heroin and dirtier clothes. The reason they and this album remain important is because of guitarist Johnny Thunders, who created the classic punk rock lead (ultimately derived from the style of Chuck Berry) which changed the face of guitar playing forever. His haunting string bends and primal wailing live on today.

5) ELECTRIC EELS—God Says Fuck You This slab of fear and loathing came out of Cleveland. Recorded in 1975, it is a prime example of punk’s first wails, when it was still covered in slimy afterbirth and before anybody suspected it might survive. This album features 17 primal poundings straight from the ugly subconscious, none of which were released during the band’s short life span (give it a spin and you won’t have to ask why). No venue in town would give this dangerously disturbed brat pack a gig.

6) DEAD BOYS—Young, Loud, and Snotty The very essence of punk rock, distilled like the cheapest, nastiest rotgut you have ever imbibed. With songs like “Sonic Reducer,” “I Need Lunch,” and “Caught With the Meat in Your Mouth,” this band, with vocalist Stiv Bators and psycho guitarist Cheetah Chrome, captured the ears of the Blank Generation. The album title says it all.

7) SEX PISTOLS—Never Mind the Bollocks (Here’s the Sex Pistols) The Sex Pistols were always scammers. Created by Malcolm McLaren to advertise his clothing store, the Pistols embodied everything the entrepreneur had learned from his brief stint as manager of the New York Dolls. But true to the best traditions of rock, the Pistols proved greater than their inspiration and made an album of raw, passionate pop tunes that foretold of the collapse of England well before all the university-trained pundits had a clue that there was no future left for that soggy isle.

8) THE DAMNED—Damned Damned Damned This one holds the honor of being the first punk album released in England. In 1977, when lumbering guitar heroes ruled the earth, the masses were blown away by the Damned’s raw speed, muscular energy and radical disregard for technique. Alas, 20 years later, the kids probably just file it away as Rolling Stones outtakes. But a true aficionado will appreciate the afterburn of this steaming load of unabashed rock as it clears their speakers.

9) THE CLASH—The Clash Until the Clash, punk was merely a bad attitude with no place to go, but on their 1977 debut, these working class wanabees introduced the rhetoric of class revolution into the genre and gave losers on both sides of the Atlantic something to believe in. It may have been just another defiant posture, but it was also great rock and roll. Inspired by Mick Jones’ fiery garage guitar and Joe Strummer's cockney rage, rebel anthems like “White Riot” and “London’s Burning” infused even the most passive art student with an incendiary ardor.

10) STRANGLERS—No More Heroes Unlike most of their peers, these Brits didn’t blow their wad their first time out but left the motherlode for their sophomore effort. Always iconoclastic, the Stranglers managed to imbue this rabid late-’77 assault with a little pop flair to further hone the ironic edge of anthems like “Bring on the Nubiles” and “I Feel Like a Wog.” It all made for a great album, but also unfortunately laid the foundations for New Wave.

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11) ADVERTS—Crossing the Red Sea with the Adverts
One of the least celebrated of punk’s class of ’77, these Brits were in reality musical primitives who made up for their lack of technical finesse with a bellyful of imagination and came up with a nearly perfect album for their trouble. Taking punk’s snotty pretensions seriously, they neither spared themselves (“One Chord Wonders”) nor their audience (“Safety in Numbers”). The Adverts are also notable for being the first punk band to have a female rhythm section, an innovation that seemed wildly radical at the time.

12) DEVO—Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
This record was to punk rock what the Residents and Captain Beefheart are to rock and roll—a deranged mutation that somehow manages to catch the essence of the genre. Devo’s music was off-the-wall and extremely catchy. Their dress style—yellow chemical suits and 3-D glasses, new standards in the art of punk-rock show biz. And the track "Gut Feeling" is as soulful as any song ever written.

13) STIFF LITTLE FINGERS—Inflammable Material
These Belfast natives put out an album that was a poppy, punky, raw-vocaled masterpiece and an utter joy to behold. Listening to it now, it sounds like everything the Clash wished they could be, but never were. Stiff Little Fingers also inspired a great number of bands to come, including the Undertones.

14) BUZZCOCKS—Singles Going Steady
Great, snappy songwriting, hilarious lyrics and tons of cool harmonies. They did great takes on teenage life that hadn’t been dealt with in such an upfront, funny way before, as with the song “Orgasm Addict.” The Buzzcocks’ sound was the predecessor for the whole Gilman Street scene in San Francisco and, by extension, most of Cali punk.

15) THE GERMS—(GI)
Darby Crash was the L.A. scene’s poster boy for the joys of self-annihilation, but then where would punk be without its share of ugly death? On this 1979, Joan Jett-produced album, which is catapulted into greatness by Pat Smear’s raging guitar, the ultimate casualty bawls and brays his way through desperately ravaged tunes like “Manimal” and “We Must Bleed,” making the need for writing a suicide note a year later utterly superfluous.

16) GANG OF FOUR—Entertainment
A very influential album with regard to what we now recognize as alternative music. With power-soaked guitar noise, angular riffs and angry, witty political lyrics, this album is the reason bands like Fugazi exist. Their second album, Solid Gold, was equally awesome—but after that, they completely lost it.

17) MISFITS—Misfits Walk Among Us
Fronted by Glenn Danzig, the Misfits always looked like a zombie football team—ready to crack someone's skull and eat their brains at the sound of the whistle. Misfits Walk Among Us, their first album, was a compilation of many of their early seven-inches, and the music and vocals influenced such major acts as Metallica, Slayer, and every other metal/punk band out there. Lyrically, they were into old movies and scary monsters. They have now returned to the punk arena (sans Danzig), proving you just can't kill a zombie.

18) MOTORHEAD—Ace Of Spades
This is the only album in history that can possibly be called the best speed metal, hardcore, punk, and heavy metal album of all time. Ace Of Spades is a vicious juggernaut of inspired nastiness, with despicable lyrics, Lemmy’s untouchable bass playing and more bad attitude than Pat Buchanan on PCP.

19) PLASMATICS—New Hope for the Wretched
Frontwoman Wendy O. Williams was probably best known for having the greatest rack in punk rock¬—firm, proud and mostly covered in electrical tape. The music on this album is fast and furious, and severely punk rock in the sense that, during the recording of “Dream Lover,” the band went into separate isolation booths and played simultaneously without hearing or seeing one another! And it sounds like it.

20) X—Los Angeles
On their 1980 harmonies-with-an-attitude debut, X anticipated Cali-punk by almost a decade, but they are saved from onus of being the forefathers of that genre by the sheer nastiness of songs like “Johnny Hit and Run Pauline” and “Your Phone’s Off the Hook, But You’re Not.” Billy Zoom’s manic rockabilly guitar injected an extra dose of barbed frenzy into the tunes, and the Offspring would be well served checking him out the next time they’re looking to steal a winning riff.

21) CIRCLE JERKS—Group Sex
The Circle Jerks’ first record shows how a bunch of bored kids from the suburbs of California can be just as pissed off as anyone and play some real punk rock. The tracks "I Just Want Some Skank" is truly classic.

22) DEAD KENNEDYS—Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
Undeniably the best-named band in history, the Dead Kennedys brought politics into American punk on this, their fast and furious debut. Equipped with a vox that claws its way under your skin, Jello Biafra heaped ridicule on the “father knows best” illusions of Reagan's America with an irony and incisiveness that was unfortunately lost on the legions of P.C. punks who followed in his wake.

23) MINUTEMEN—Paranoid Time
This was the first and purest expression by these San Pedro, California, cultural radicals and it really delivered on punk’s anti-pop promise with a sonic spew that only by the most liberal standards could be called songs. There are no choruses or versus here, just one minute blasts of inspired rage loosely held together by D. Boone's ranting vocals and Mike Watts’ blurting bass. The seven cuts rendered in under seven minutes on this 1980 EP are probably mistakenly credited for inspiring hardcore and are now available on CD as part of the Minuteman compilation, Post-Mersh, Vol. 3 (SST).

24) MINOR THREAT—Minor Threat
Punk's first straight-edge band. Minor Threat, fronted by Ian MacKaye (now of Fugazi, who are on indefinite hiatus, and the Evens), defined that early hardcore Marshall stack sound, with lyrics that were truly personal, serious and not about getting fucked up at all. This record is considered a landmark in punk history, and other members of this band have since joined such acts as the Meatmen and Bad Religion.

25) MEATMEN—We're the Meatmen, and You Suck!
Originally released on Touch and Go Records, this album was as hilarious, raw and angry-as-hell now as when it was released. When lead singer Tesco Vee belted out lyrics like "Oh Mr. Tapeworm, you make my ring burn,” and “Buttocks, I love buttocks,” you knew this band meant business. The Meatmen pioneered a style that later became a major factor in the sound of hardcore.

26) BLACK FLAG—Damaged
From the first notes of “Rise Above” to Henry Rollins’ ending screams on “Damaged,” this album defined the early crossover from punk to hardcore. Every song on this album is a classic, and Greg Ginn's guitar leads set a new standard in eardrum-piercing insanity. Damaged is the best thing Black Flag—or Rollins, for that matter—ever did.

27) ANGRY SAMOANS—Back From Samoa
Early veterans of the L.A. punk scene, the Samoans came together to create what is now considered the funniest and most psychotic punk album of all time. With songs like “They Saved Hitler's Cock,” “Gas Chamber,” “My Old Man's a Fatso” and much more, this band injected a brand of much needed, willfully politically incorrect humor into the punk scene.

28) CRASS—Christ,the Album
The ultimate album from the ultimate English “Do it Yourself” anarcho-punk outfit originally came with a 24-page booklet of assorted political rants and a poster when it was released in ’82, but you don’t need to sit down for an evening of heavy reading to figure out where they were coming from. In every song these cockney rebels wail away at the injustices of the system, with racism, sexism and militarism all getting their just due. But what could be an hour-plus spent in strident politico hell isn’t because, while Crass may have been crude, they weren’t completely artless. Unlike their hardcore brethren on this side of the Atlantic, they paid attention to individual song structures and delivered their blows in a lively combination of styles. Strings even make an appearance on one tune.

29) BAD RELIGION—Suffer
In the face of the onslaught of their imitators, it’s easy to forget what a breath of fresh air Bad Religion was in ’88. Suffer broke the brutal testosterone-infused chokehold of hardcore on punk and along the way introduced a new generation to the forgotten art of writing lyrics and melodies. It also didn’t hurt that Brett Gurewitz and Greg Graffin knew how to balance their rage with heavy doses of intellect and weren’t such tough guys that the thought of adding a little harmony into a tune didn’t fill them with mortal terror.

30) RAMONES—RamonesMania
Clad in leather jackets and holding cheap guitars, the Ramones are the quintessential punk rock band. They, along with writers Legs McNeil and John Holstrom of Punk magazine, coined the term "punk rock." The music on this greatest hits/sampler album is simple, straightforward and it changed history forever. This is the Ramones at their best. Of course, you can’t go wrong with their debut, Ramones, either.

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11) ADVERTS—Crossing the Red Sea with the Adverts

12) DEVO—Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

13) STIFF LITTLE FINGERS—Inflammable Material

14) BUZZCOCKS—Singles Going Steady

15) THE GERMS—(GI)

16) GANG OF FOUR—Entertainment

17) MISFITS—Misfits Walk Among Us

18) MOTORHEAD—Ace Of Spades

19) PLASMATICS—New Hope for the Wretched

20) X—Los Angeles

21) CIRCLE JERKS—Group Sex

22) DEAD KENNEDYS—Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables

23) MINUTEMEN—Paranoid Time

24) MINOR THREAT—Minor Threat

25) MEATMEN—We're the Meatmen, and You Suck!

26) BLACK FLAG—Damaged

27) ANGRY SAMOANS—Back From Samoa

28) CRASS—Christ, the Album

29) BAD RELIGION—Suffer

30) RAMONES—RamonesMania

I came across this beautiful, flannel wearing, songstress soon-to-be YouTube star via Fimoculous. Here she is singing “Hipster Bitch” (that’s the name of the song!). What’s so interesting and weird about this is the mutation of the term “hipster.” According to this song, whose ramifications I can feel twittering across the Internets even as I write, the “Hipster Bitch” wears daisy dukes, compares her poetry to Dylan, and snorts cocaine at overpriced New York bars. I thought hipsters wore flannels, played accoustic guitar, called people out for misquoting Dylan, and posted their songs on YouTube?

Here’s someone I thought was a “hipster” at the American Apparel protest with a sign, “no more hipster scum.”

I would like to reclaim the term and adopt all the angry young hipsters in my neighborhood. A hipster is not someone who lives in mid-town, the Marina, or the Miracle Mile (depending on your city). Hipsters don’t listen to Britney Spears. They certainly don’t wear Daisy Dukes AND snort crack. If hipsters are snorting crack, they’re doing it in their pajamas before heading out to a Flaming Lips concert. They’re on their way to a Meth problem, not business school. And they don’t want their neighborhood to resemble a shopping mall.

I’ve often been referred to as a hipster, or an aging hipster, because I haven’t done much in the way of growing up, i.e. , holding down a job, getting married (or carrying on a successful relationship), And because 60's style Laural Canyon clothing. But I like hipsters. Recently the word hipster is starting to take on new meaning, and I want to take it back.

If, like me, you were born between 1961 and 1977, and you still think Teenage Riot by Sonic Youth is THE perfect album, then you are a member of Generation X. You probably remember the kids in college wearing tie-dyes, sitting cross-legged on top of the table in the cafe reading Baba Ram Dass, and listening to “classic rock.” Those kids wanted to be part of an earlier generation, the boomer generation, but they were too late. Their generation came and went right about the time they were born. They rejected the sullen individuality of Gen X.

Well, those twenty-somethings that we call hipsters, they are that version of us, our version of the twenty-year-old wearing a tie-dye in 1990. Hipsters are Generation X, but they were born too late. Hipsters reject being called hipsters because they don’t like to be grouped. To assign a collective consciousness is an assault on individuality. But hipsters don’t want to be millennials or “Generation Y.” And who can blame them? Who would want to be part of a generation that likes being told what music to listen to? Who would choose Britney Spears over Paul Weller?

Here are some traits of Generation X, shared by hipsters:

More than anything we hate to be marketed to, that’s why our hero appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone wearing a t-shirt that said Corporate Magazines Still Suck. We’re suspicious of corporate America (with good reason). We don’t like to join groups. We usually don’t like anything once it’s become popular (which is a dumb and lame way of looking at the world, but no cohort is perfect). We don’t like to spend a lot of money on clothes that make us look like everybody else. We shop in thrift stores or, if we’re rich, we buy expensive clothes that look like they were bought in thrift stores. We listen to music that was created by an artist, as opposed to music that is created by a marketing team and assigned to the next hot young vacuum. We take huge pleasure in finding great art no one’s heard of before.

The girl in this video singing about the Hipster Bitch, is herself the hipster. The boy protesting the chain-store moving onto Valencia Street is a hipster. We shouldn’t let “hipster” (or “aging hipster”) become a bad word the way “liberal” became a bad word. It’s time we embrace the term, though perhaps doing so would be too much like joining a group, or starting a movement.

If you want to hear what I am spinning

My internet Radio Station
www.http://blip.fm/POWERPOP78

JOB LOSS AND DEPRESSION

There are thousands of people out of work and it's so very sad. I was told by someone that for every job posting there are over 700 resumes coming in as soon as the post go up. What really makes me sad is there are people with degrees from some of the best colleges in the nation applying for entry level positions. I blame all of this on the Bush years and all of the mini internet millionaires who flashed there money and IPO's around like Starbucks coffee. What will happen to the youth who are now leaving college an entering the working world. Such a sad state we are in. My suggestion to the youth of today is take advantage for starting you own business. Be creative and don't fallow bandwagon trends.