Fiberglass Jacket

 When I entered high school I dropped contemporary boy bands. Yes I was once into the Backstreet Boys but my tastes matured. I started listening to the Beatles and the Monkees at that age. This quickly separated me from my peers who were listening to the music popular at that time. I was starting to figure myself out and I learned that I wasn't the typical teenager. From there I only delved more into rock and roll and rock history. When I find something I really like I want to know as much as I can about it. I started with digging through magazines and found a lot of old People magazines that were unwanted. People magazines from the 70's in particular were so interesting to me. Related article:  Music Magazines, Not Beauty Magazines  Since I was a pre-teen I received teen magazine subscriptions from a relative. At first it was cool, but pretty quickly I started to look at them as hilarious. The advice columns in particular were pretty ridiculous. I couldn't rela...

 I recently cataloged my rock music collections and turned them into mini videos. This one features my rock toys & magazines. My rock n roll themed toys are some of my favorite, a Joey Ramone action figure, a Joan Jett big rig, a Lego Yellow Submarine, a Monkee Mobile and more. Rock mags have been an inescapable and essential part of my rock music collections. They drew me into book store more often and got me to actually love reading.   Seeing rock stars on the cover is always exciting but certain ones make it necessary to buy. When rock stars die magazines become a literary time capsule displaying their work, influence and time period of death. I've found and held onto many interesting rock magazines, but the most important ones are the final goodbyes...to people like David Bowie, Davy Jones, Lou Reed and George Harrison. 

 When I was a teenager I read music mags. I didn't understand the allure of Teen Magazines and issues on make up and clothes. It's no secret I was a Tom Boy, but I felt like I could see through the bs. My Grandma was very accommodating to me as a teenager; offering me non-judgmental answers to my questions. But in some aspects she didn't say much, just offering me books on sex education and subscriptions to teen magazines. I didn't ask for them, but I would flip through them sarcastically and make Daria-esque commentary. Not that I was a sex pro, but all the questions and concerns from teens who wrote in were just plain stupid.  I knew my Grandma meant well, but even then I knew magazines like this were obvious traps. Magazines like that are built to boost and then sell to the insecurities of young girls and women. This isn't some conspiracy theory shit...think about it. "Oh no your pits smell, boys wont like you." kind of messages. "Use our...