I know I am probably the last person in L.A. to get on the romper bandwagon, but when I saw this little turquoise number at American Vintage in Los Feliz, I just couldn't resist. ($32). Then I spotted some bad-ass cowgirl boots for $55 and thought "why not?". And while I'm at it, I should probably get a nice new vintage brown leather clutch ($15). Right?

I asked Robert, the kind young man behind the counter with a wooden spike through his septum, if he thought the romper suit made my bum look...bountiful. He promsied me it looked good. I still wasn't sure.

ME: "You mean it? You're not just saying that?"

ROBERT: "Yes honey, your ass looks great."

ME: "I dunno..."

ROBERT: "Trust me, I know these things."

ME: "How do you know?"

ROBERT: "Because I'm black." 

There was no arguing with that, so I went ahead and made my purchases. I am going to wear my new outfit tonight - Margaret Cho is presenting a preview of her all-new Sensuous Woman show at the Gay and Lesbian Center in Hollywood, and then after that, it's the Arthur Mag "Back To Life"  party at the Little Joy, celebrating the un-folding of our most favorite pretentious music publication.

Mazal tov Jay Babcock.

Oh man, how did these kids sneak up on me like this? I've been watching the Chromatics with an eagle eye ever since I first heard the dark, moody atmospheres of their song "In The City." From there it was a treasure trove of cool tunes via their Myspace page, including covers of Bryan Ferry's "My Only Love" and Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill." The music is kind of drone-y and weird, with singer Ruth melodically talking over the narcoleptic beats and tinkly synthesizer squiggles. In short, they're tops in my book. Imagine my excited surprise to discover they'll be doing their thing in town twice this weekend.

The Portand cuties start on Friday night at the "Weekend Warrior" party. It's happening at 122 Glendale Blvd in Echo Park on the 2nd Floor. Enter in the back alley behind the Bob Baker Puppet Theatre. Other acts include Hard Place and I Can't Read. DJs are Savage Fantasy and Blazing Lazer. Doors at 10PM.

Our deliciously detached anti-heroes will also hit the stage at the Echo on Sunday, 9/1, as part of the Part-Time Punks Party, which we already love. Talk about a nice way to kick off the Labor Day festivities. Word. I'll be the one coveting whatever they're selling at the merch table. 

 

Look at Seattle getting in on the frozen yogurt action. Obviously the design is a blatant rip-off, but we do like the title, as these things go. We can’t wait until Wackyberry shows up in Portland.

 

Any lovah of independent publishing may have mourned this year's untimely demise of Arthur Magazine. We sobbed and sopped up our tears on its pages of excellent essays, and there was even a wake held at the darling book nook Family.

Well look who durn rose from the dead! Arthur Magazine scraped together funds, did a lil' restructuring and its newly minted pages were recently delivered to Jay Babcock at his Atwater digs by some dude named George (below).

Catch the new Arthurs on newsstands this weekend, and hop on down to Lilttle Joy for the death-defying celebration tonight.

The DJ line-up is as follows, from the mouth of The Babcock himself:

9:30 Ashland Mines deejays
11 Peter Alberts deejays
12:30 who knows deejays

 

 

(George)

I might see you down there, once I'm done interviewing midget chicken wrestlers at Lucha Va Voom. 

 

Another day on the job,