Dandelion: Memoir of a Free Spirit by Catherine James

Dandelion: Memoir of a Free Spirit is the autobiography of Catherine James, a groupie and model in the Sixties and Seventies.

Pre-Raphaelite Rock Stars

Ophelia by John Everett Millais

As I said in some older posts, I'm currently obsessed with the Pre-Raphaelite art. For those of you who don't know this art movement, here's a brief introduction: the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) was a secret group of English artists founded by the painters Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais and William Holman Hunt, who were joined by other painters later, such as William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. The group's intention was to take back English art to the freshness and originality they found in paintings of the early Italian Renaissance.
I'm absolutely in love with the PRB's paintings and models/muses (Lizzie Siddal now is on my list of "Women who inspire me") and since I reached my life's purpose, the next thing I want to do is make a pilgrimage to the Tate Britain (or visit a Pre-Raphaelite exhibition, if possible) and Elizabeth Siddal's grave.

OK, now I've bored you enough, so I'll tell you what this post is about: since I knew the PRB through Catherine James' book, I decided to write about rock stars and their connection to the Brotherhood. 

The Who: Live in Amsterdam 5th July 2013

I still have to realize it, but guess what? Last month I went to Amsterdam and saw the Who in concert!!! That was the best night of my life, the show was wonderful and so were Roger and Pete!!

So now I guess my life is complete, but I wish I could go to another Who concert. Love Post concert depression reign o'er me now :'(

These are two of the four photos I took, I didn't post the others because they were awful. Also, I decided to focus on the show, so I didn't take more pictures.

Pete said that a DVD of the concert will be released, so I'm very excited and can't wait to get my own copy!

Book Group on Goodreads

Hi everyone! Just a post to tell you about an idea I had recently: I love reading rock biographies, novels and book about the Sixties and Seventies etc etc... but the problem is that I can never find something interesting. Some months ago I joined Goodreads, which is a social network where you can find new books to read and friends with the same tastes as you, rate books and write reviews and many other things. I found out that you can also create groups and I thought: "Maybe a group could be a good place where to find new books!".

Random Things (aka Today I'm Bored)

Today I'm not at school (here in Italy today is Liberation Day), so this is a good day to make a blog post. This is not about a specific topic, just some random things I want to share with you.

Fashion Inspiration: The Who's Glow Girls (Part 2)

This is the second part of a previous post about The Who's Glow Girls' style. I made it for two reasons:

1. Heather Daltrey's modeling photo from Vogue, November 1967

This is the first modeling photo of Heather I've ever found! It was sent to me by tattoo-the-who (a Tumblr user) for my blog about Heather. After doing research, I found out it is from an issue of Vogue released in November 1967. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this picture, it is so wonderful! I hope I'll find more.

     2.  This collage of Alison Entwistle

I remembered that I didn't include Alison Entwistle in the first post, so I decided to make a collage of her, too.

• Open Front Crepe Blazer
• Silk Crepe Tee
• Skinny Jeans
• Belt
• Flip-flops
• Rhinestoned Pin
• Chanel's Nail Polish
• Eye Liner

An Evening with Buster Keaton

Sherlock Jr.

About ten days ago I went with my mother to this wonderful soiree dedicated to Buster Keaton. Two of his films were showed, but the most amazing thing about it was that my music school's ensemble played during the movie. The music was really good, I think it was better than the original one, and it was composed by a musician from my town.

My Blog Is Carbon Neutral

Since I love the environment and I do the best I can to help it, I decided to join this initiative: My Blog Is Carbon Neutral, which has the goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. If you join, a tree is planted for your blog and then it neutralises your blog's carbon footprint for the next 50 years!

Here's the website of the initiative: 

http://www.kaufda.de/umwelt/co2-neutral/my-blog-is-carbon-neutral/

Here's how to participate:

1. Write a blog post about the initiative and insert your favourite button
2. E-mail the link to your post to CO2-neutral@kaufda.de
3. They plant a tree for your blog in Plumas’!

Please spread the word and make your blog carbon neutral!

Photo Shoot: David Bowie as the Sphinx

 

This photo shoot of David Bowie was taken by Brian Ward (who photographed David for the cover of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars) around May 1971. Brian bought the costumes and the jewels for David, who was also thinking about choosing the Egyptian look for his performances on stage. 

In 1993 David said that was an idea of Brian's, but it didn't last long even if it was probably a good idea.

Here are the other pictures.

Liebster Award and Versatile Blogger Award

Hey there! Today I'm super excited because I've been nominated for two awards! I must thank two lovely girls: Sam at Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out and Rachel at Toby Knows! Thank you so much, I'll love you forever! I'm so happy about it!

   

Rules:

• The award is for bloggers with less than 300 followers
• The nominees must link back to the blogger who awarded them
• If you are nominated write 11 random facts about yourself and answer the 11 questions written by the blogger who nominated you
• Make up 11 new questions to be answered and nominate 11 other bloggers!

11 Random Facts about Me

1. I study Latin and Ancient Greek at school.
2. I'm a vinyl hunter.
3. I'm really getting interested in the Pre-Raphaelites. I also adore their models and muses, especially Lizzie Siddal and Effie Millais.
4. I LOVE pins. My school bag is entirely covered with them.
5. The coolest place I've ever been to is Muskoka Lake, Canada.
6. I want to learn to sing.
7. I want to write a novel.
8. One of my dreams is to travel around the world with my friend Anna on a Volkswagen T2.
9. I love borrowing clothes from my mum (she has a great sense of style).
10. My parents named me after the Italian painter Piero della Francesca because he's my dad's favourite painter.
11. I wrote some lyrics. Now I have to look for someone I can write music with.

Questions from Sam:

1. What is the last film you saw? What is the next film you plan to see? The last one was The Raven, a French film of 1949. The next film I want to see is Frankenweenie.
2. What are your least favorite subjects in school and why? Math because sometimes it's a bit difficult!
3. What subjects do you like in school and why? English and Ancient Greek because both are interesting languages.
4. Do you prefer hand-writing or typing something up? Maybe typing because it's faster. Also, I love writing with a typewriter.
5. Last three songs you were obsessed with. Letter to Hermione, Janine and Space Oddity by David Bowie.
6. If you could have handwriting like any font, which would yours be? Mine would be Lobster. (It's my title font.) Maybe Zapfino or Apple Chancery.
7. One myth/legend you liked a lot as a kid? The myth of Pegasus.
   
8. Three underrated bands in your opinion. Oh my God, I can't really tell because there are many! Girl groups are an example...
   
9. Which bands would you want to be a groupie for? Band-aid, please! Anyway, I think that any of my favourite rock bands would be OK!
10. If you could dye your hair any color and it wouldn't fade or wash out, what would it be? Red, I think.
11. Favorite films seen in the past year. Midnight in Paris, Moonrise Kingdom and probably more I can't remember now.

 Questions from Rachel:

1. Favourite ChupaChups flavour? Coke.
2. Who would you build a 50ft high shrine to? Heather Taylor and Patti Smith, my favourite rock women. They are so perfect!
3. Salty or Sweet Popcorn? (OR BOTH??!! OH EM GEE) Salty.
4. Dream Job? I haven't a particular job in mind. But I'm sure it will have to do with rock music. Maybe I'll be a rock photographer like Linda McCartney, or a director who makes documentaries about rock bands... I don't know...
   
5. Band you would FanGirl for? THE WHO!!!
6. Lucky Number? 3, I guess.
7. Prefered occupation? Vinyl hunter.
   
8. If you were a crayon... what colour crayon would you be?  Light green.
9. Favourite Childhood film? Nightmare Before Christmas. I spent my whole childhood watching it and singing all the songs!
10. Have ya ever made a crown of love? If so post a picture of it Darling, everyone loves DIY. No, but I'd really love to. 
11. So you're walking down the street and someone comes up and says "Would you mind if I took a photo of you for my blog?" Would you say: 
    A. YAR TOTES DARLING, OH EM GEE THIS IS SO EXCITING OOOh LAAALAA WOWZA. *Promptly pulls your best blue steel and swishes your hair* OH MY GAWSH MY GIRLFRIENDS ARE SO LYK GONNA BE SO JEL OF ME AND MY FABALISH BODY OH MY OH ME!
    B. um yeah sure. I guess. *hunches over body into your oversized flannel shirt and glares into the lens* wait this blog doesnt involve "street-style" does it? Cos I dont really want to be defined by anything. I guess. 
    C. Fo Shaw, dude. Yeah sick man. Im up for it *uses natural swag to make your piss-take poses look gnarly with your vintage Adidas jacket* Fankz is that all? Well, cyaa round breh, im off to a skatepark. Lolz
    D. None of the above. Cos Im totes random yah.
    D :)

My Questions:

1. What was your first stuffed animal?
2. Have you ever had a supernatural experience?
3. Sushi or Sashimi?
4. What was the first record you bought?
5. Who is your favourite rock woman (singer, wife, girlfriend, ecc...)?
6. What is your first childhood memory?
7. What was the best thing you did during 2012?
8. Which singers/bands have you seen in concert?
9. What is your favourite artistic movement?
10. Have you ever borrowed clothes from you mum? If so, what is your favourite one?
11. What is the best rock memoir you have ever read?

Bloggers I tag (well, they aren't eleven, but these are my very favourite blogs...):

• Annie at I Don't Even Know Myself
• Tessa at I Broke My Hip Doing the Twist
• Kaitlyn at Born Late
• Samantha at Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out
• Essine at Psychedelic Daisy

Happy Birthday to This Blog (and to David Bowie)!

Dear followers, today is a very special day because we celebrate two birthdays:

• This blog's: I can't believe it's been a year since I started blogging. I must say that it's been very good to me: before I started this blog, I felt quite lonely, because there was no one I could talk about things I like to. Now I'm very happy: I met some cool people who has the same tastes as me and I found out that blogging is really funny and you can learn a lot of new things. Also, it's wonderful when people send me an e-mail or leave a comment saying they like a specific post! Truth be told, when I made this blog I wasn't even sure if I would continue posting: in fact, after two months I didn't know what to write, and since I gained no followers, I was a bit demoralized (I'm very impatient, you know). But then I saw that someone began to follow me and that cheered me up, so I went on! I owe it to all my followers: you are very important to me and this blog wouldn't exist without you. So thank you all!

• David Bowie's: well, I think that's a nice coincidence! When I made this blog, I didn't know that today was David's birthday and it occured to me when I started writing this post! What if it is a sign of fate? Anyway, I began to listen to David's amazing music last year and I must say that he is one of the greatest artists of all time (and a great style icon, too)! Happy birthday Ziggy Stardust! Or Thin White Duke, if you prefer...

 Now, to celebrate here's the most beautiful (and tasty) cake I've ever eaten! It's wonderful, isn't it?