1. Rockabilly : the Twang Heard Around the World – great new coffee table book on the early rock-n-roll sound, covering everything from the first days at Sun Records to later rockabilly revivalists like the Cramps and Reverand Horton Heat. Tons of great photos and lots of artists that you may not have heard of. A solid primer.
2. Norton Records – these folks release some amazing, rare rockabilly and garage records – so many odd little audio gems in there. And it’s getting more and more difficult not to just order the entire catalog right from their website – with discs like these, a life of poverty might not be that bad.
3. Super 8 – best “summer” film I’ve seen in a long, long time. Part E.T., part Close Encounters and part Goonies. If you grew up in the late 70’s/early80’s, you’ll definitely dig the look and vibe. A solid watch and a lot of fun. But, damn, I wish it was still that easy to get super 8 film developed.
4. Mike Anderson’s part in Not Another Transworld Video. Loved his style – lots of weird little wallride tricks (that boneless out of the frontside wall ride was insane!). Very original and super fun. Nestor’s part was sick too. The whole video’s pretty insane.
5. Torey Pudwell – this guy’s been on a tear the last two years and his new Thrasher mag part, Big Bang, is no disappointment. The fact that he filmed the whole thing in 6 months is just mind blowing.
6. Ed Templeton’s Teenage Kissers – got to meet and talk briefly with Ed at the opening of his excellent new photo show at the Half Gallery and he was super cool, a real gentleman. Lots of heavies lurking about (Glenn E. Freidman, Craig Stecyk, Guy Picciotto). The show’s up until July 25 – check it out if you’re in the big apple this summer and pick up the book from the nice folks at Seems.