psyched for summer

I'm amused by the Summer of Love revival. I realize it's the fortieth anniversary of the moment, but isn't every summer the summer of love, in a way? Maybe it's my upbringing, but don't people reference hippie-related things all the time when it comes to this season? The official mediastorm over it just seems a bit forced. Didn't we just exhaust peasant tops a year or two ago? (They annoyed me, also worth noting that trend coincided with all the late 70's post-punk shit, heh). Even so, I could watch old concert footage from the late 60's and early 70's forever. If the anniversary's an excuse for more television movies and rock docs, that's more than okay with me. Here is where I recommend one of my all-time favorite rock docs, Festival Express (the other being The Last Waltz).

I was talking not long ago about bringing back bellbottom Levi's as a reaction to skinny jeans, and then today I saw this slideshow on style.com. I sewed myself burgundy velour bellbottoms in 1998 that look a lot like the pants Mick Jagger wears in Rolling Stones Rock n' Roll Circus. I miss them. I made a pattern based off 1998-era flared pants. It's funny how this stuff is reprised, and not even ten years later, fashion magazines again parade out this silhouette as completely novel. I guess the cyclical nature of fashion is pretty obvious, right? Oh well.

Also, as every article about the 2007 summer of love has mentioned, the Whitney is currently paying tribute. Jerry Saltz's review in New York Magazine last week was excellent.

Here is an unbelievably good essay on Janis Joplin by Ellen Willis, via Salon.