Monday, February 04, 2008

Patches


Six patches representing distinctive musical worlds. I snapped these up in London, 1981-1983 and then never did anything with them until now.

1. Jimi Hendrix created something more like his own universe, didn't he? Often still listen to him, anything from the popular tracks played on radio to unfinished instrumental bits.

2. Zappa. Probably the only one of these I haven't actively listened to in quite a little while, though he still reverberates in memory.

3. The Kinks. Their eclectic range and social awareness is so wide-ranging, plus they rock out every once in a while. The very English period from the mid-1960s to early 1970s is probably their most coherent form; from the late 70s on they tend to sound more Americanized.

4. Sex Pistols. "They made you a moron / a potential H-Bomb" about sums them up. Still have the records.

5. The B-52s. Good-natured, fun-loving party time! One of the strangest little live shows I ever saw was .38 Special opening for them in Chapel Hill. Southern rock and southern New Wave -- odd mix of fans thrown together at random.

6. The Pretenders. When they hit, they hit hard. Was most intensely into their early records, but saw them in Ann Arbor about five years ago, and was still blown away by their latter day intensity.

Now that they're scanned, what should I do with these patches?

Today's Rune: The Self. By tomorrow night, Fat Tuesday, we'll probably have a good idea of Obama vs. Clinton vs. McCain and who shall wear the party crowns . . . Never a dull moment: Giants won the Super Bowl, Ash Wednesday, and Chinese New Year -- the Year of the Rat!

8 comments:

Lana Gramlich said...

Don't you have a jean jacket you can sew them onto? Real old-school-like? You can stick the pins on there, too!

Johnny Yen said...

Get an old army jacket and sew them on!

I love all those bands too. A friend of mine was working as a waiter a few years back and waited on Chrissie Hynde. She was very unpleasant, he said. I was disappointed. I think every guy in your and my general demographic (guys who were in their twenties in the 1980's) had the hots for her.

Charles Gramlich said...

Patches and buttons. I agree with lana. Get those on a jacket and wear it proudly.

ZZZZZZZ said...

haha love the B-52's. I had NASA patches and other science patches and like the dork I am I sewed them to my jean jacket.

lulu said...

I vote for the jacket as well. Very old school.Pretenders are one of my most favoritest bands ever, but like Johnny said, she has a reputation for being not so nice in person.

t said...

Cool idea.
Or if you're a biker, or thinking of becoming one.

the walking man said...

get a Brooks black leather vest...throw it in a curbside puddle and roll a car over it a few hundred times to age it and then sew them on the vest...sort of like a VFW member wearing unit patches and awards on a red vest only cooler.


Peace

mark

Erik Donald France said...

thanks all for the comments! I just might to that -- if I don't sell them on eBay or give them away . . .

Cheers!