SCOUT by Jennifer Rose Smith

Ed Ruscha | He likes words, plants and the desert

Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas oil on canvas, 1963

Untitled photograph from the book, Colored People, published 1972

Ed Ruscha | SCOUT by Jennifer Rose Smith

Cold Beer Beautiful Girls, acrylic on canvas, 1993

Pool Portfolio, ecktacolor prints, 1968/1997

Ed Ruscha | SCOUT by Jennifer Rose Smith

Whether it’s the door to an intimidating building or the dusty cover of a giant textbook, it can sometimes feel like there’s a barrier between us and the people who actually create art. A Barrier of Seriousness. And if you’re not someone with the right graduate degree, then proceed with caution. But I see pieces of art that I like all the time, and they make me feel a certain way. And I wonder if the artist felt that way, too.

That’s why this wonderful little movie on Ed Ruscha (found via the Chance website) is so delightful. The short (called Ed Ruscha, Woody, and The World’s Hottest Pepper) reveals Ed’s fascination with words, the city of Los Angeles, and some of the thoughts and experiences that may have fueled his work. He’s laid-back. He’s plainspoken. He’s a guy I could get a beer with. And he creates fine art.

The pieces above are a few of my favorites. They make me think of being alone on the highway, daydreaming in cars, and being apprehensive about the destination. (The pool series reminds me of Andy Spade’s instagram account that I’m so obsessed with.) Cold Beer Beautiful Girls would look great in my guest bedroom, don’t you think?

One of the things I wanted to do with SCOUT was expose myself to more art. With videos like this one and sites like artsy.net, I’m finding that the internet is a pretty great place to do just that. No intimidation required.

MICK’S TAPE VOL. 3 | I’m No Fool, I Know You’re Cool

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On his third installment, Mick continues to do his homework so we don’t have to. While he keeps a well-rounded schedule, most of his assignments are stuffed loosely inside of a mid-eighties Trapper Keeper. His notes reveal four new (to-me) bands: 1. Centro-Matic (these dudes live in Denton? Seriously?) 2. Yuck (a current English band with a really nice Pavement/Hum-esque sound) and 3. Rockpile, a sort of pre-new wave super group. The song “When I Write the Book” is from their 1980 album, “Seconds of Pleasure”, which I learned very quickly online is certifiably a cult record. That said, my absolute, absolute favorite track on this mix is “Didn’t I” by Darondo, who I’d also never heard of. But I imagine that he’s from Galveston, and just hangs out on the seawall looking cool every day. Thanks for all of these, Mick, but especially that one. Stay cool.

1. Red Indians // Felt // The Splendour of Fear, 1984
2. This Charming Man // The Smiths // The Smiths, 1984
3. Eyeoneye // Andrew Bird // Break It Yourself, 2012
4. Love Is The Drug // Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music // Siren, 1975
5. My Drug Buddy // The Lemonheads // It’s a Shame About Ray, 1992
6. Flashes & Cables // Centro-Matic // Love You Just the Same, 2003
7. City of Brotherly Love // Cass McCombs // Prefection, 2005
8. Diamond Sea (Sonic Youth cover) // Cuff the Duke // In Our Time, 2012
9. Blue Flower // Mazzy Star // She Hangs Brightly, 1990
10. Sail Away // Creedence Clearwater Revival // Mardi Gras, 1972
11. Didn’t I // Darondo // Let My People Go, 2006
12. Nobody Has to Know // Spain // Spirituals: The Best of Spain, 2003
13. Can’t Fight Me Down // Ken Boothe // Everything I Own, 1974
14. Return to Sender // Mojave 3 // Excuses for Travellers, 2000
15. That’s the Way the World Goes ‘Round // John Prine // Bruised Orange, 1978
16. Ave Que Emigra // Gaby Moreno // Illustrated Songs, 2011
17. The Wall // Yuck // Yuck, 2011
18. Black Satin // The Raveonettes // Lust Lust Lust, 2008
19. When I Write the Book // Rockpile // Seconds of Pleasure, 1980
20. Cup of Loneliness // George Jones // Cup of Loneliness, 1994
21. So Long You Pretty Thing // Spiritualized // Sweet Heart Sweet Light, 2012

ICONIC WALLPAPER | The Scalamandre Zebra

This fun zebra print wallpaper was created by Franco and Flora Scalamandre for Gino Circiello’s New York Italian restaurant in 1945. Gino’s was located at 780 Lexington Avenue and operated with famously little change for over 50 years. The kitschy wallpaper eventually became a symbol for not just the restaurant, but for the city itself. Wes Anderson payed homage to the iconic design in The Royal Tenenbaums (seen in Margot’s bedroom) and Kate and Andy Spade used an apple green version of the pattern in a bathroom of their home. Gino’s Restaurant may have closed in 2010, but the Scalamandre company has re-released the pattern as part of their “Cabinet de Curiosites” collection. Above are a few of the colors available.

As a kid, I served as some sort of wallpaper apprentice to my mother who was a very ambitious decorator. We had a system down — I soaked, she pressed, I rolled. We got good. Real good. Busy Laura Ashley florals? Vertical stripes? Tight corners in bathrooms? No problem. Unfortunately, hanging wallpaper is only one of my Super Gen X Skills that has yet to pay off for me as an adult… Let’s not even talk about C++. But I’ve been thinking about doing my bathroom in the yellow zebras, so maybe it’s about to come full circle.

Let’s just hope Mom’s up for it.

image sources below: top two photos from Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York , The Royal Tenenbaums directed by Wes Anderson, 2001

Solutions for those of you uninterested in making the mistakes of the eighties all over again (read: PERMANENTLY GLUING trendy paper to the walls.)

01. yellow pillow // 02. red scarf // 03. red umbrella //04. red tray

DRAFTHOUSE NITE OUT | Django Unchained

Quentin sure does know how to blow a gal’s skirt up. And then shoot a bitch in the knee cap. His latest effort, Django Unchained, rocked my world for three hours (and four beers) last night at the Alamo Drafthouse Village. Without going near any of the usual debates Quentin’s movies tend to spark, I’ll just tell you what I liked about it: Not only do we get a black western hero, but Django gives us an ass-kicking German Texan as well. And if you’re a Texan who knows that many Germans living here openly opposed slavery, this all makes beautiful sense. Dr. King Schultz is probably the best character I’ve seen in any western for the past decade, and Christoph Waltz gives an incredible performance as the mysterious dentist-turned-bounty-hunter from Germany. In fact, I’m not sure if it’s because the character is so intelligent and kind, or if it had more to do with the very dapper costumes created by Sharon Jones… but Dr. Schultz is kind of hot. I have confirmed this with another reasonable female. And if Mr. Waltz isn’t enticing enough, then please go see this movie for the horrifically funny moments that could only happen in a messed up Tarantino version of the Old South. You will be rewarded with a healthy dose of QT’s trademark dialogue, a soundtrack that surprises and, of course… revenge.

WHEELS | ’74 VW Bug

It won’t surprise many of you that the first installment of “Wheels” features a certain orange Volkswagen. This was my very first car that I drove all through high school (and college as well.) It currently lives at my parents house but lately I’ve been thinking about bringing it back down to Austin. I took it out for a spin the other day and fell in love with it all over again. It brought back all kinds of memories of fun road trips, cigarette smoking “routes” and awkward makeout sessions. There was also a Franz Ferdinand cd in the player. I decided that it would be a fun idea to style a costume around each car in the “Wheels” series. You can read below for more information on both the costume and the car.

THE CAR

MAKE: Volkswagen
MODEL: Superbeetle Convertible
YEAR: 1974
ENGINE TYPE: horizontally opposed air-cooled 4 cylinder
CC: 1600
PLACE OF MANUFACTURE: Karmann, Germany
TRANSMISSION: manual 4 gear

THE COSTUME

HAT: vintage Liz Claiborne
ROMPER: BCBG
BOOTS: Madewell
GLASSES: RetroSuperFuture
RING: James Avery
HANDBAG: vintage Caro-Nan
LUGGAGE: vintage American Tourister
TURKISH BEACH TOWELS: JM Drygoods

ART PRINTS | Holiday offer from Samantha French

The latest guest I’ve interviewed for Camille Styles is none other than artist Samantha French, the talented painter featured in my very first masthead on SCOUT. She has been an absolute joy to correspond with, and her gift guide went live today! She’s offering a very cool offer of 10% off prints in her etsy store to our readers. Hop on over to Camille Styles to get the offer code. And, if any of Santa’s elves are reading this, I’d like a large print of “Deep Dive”.

SCANNING | Wes Anderson Book Covers

The good folks at Criterion Current recently published a little slideshow featuring a few of the printed props from Wes Anderson’s movies. Used for quick and funny cutaways, these little gems are definitely worth a closer look. The comment thread on Current was full of readers who wanted to know more about the props (Who designed them? Are these screengrabs or photos of the props? Can I buy a print?) along with one comment submitted by a Christopher J. Garcia who stated:

“I would the read the hell out of Old Custer. — Chris”

So would I, Chris. So would I.

SCANNING | Fleur Cowles and Flair Magazine

Before there was Domino, before there was Sassy… there was Flair. Yes, the unequivocal mother of all cult publications doomed to fail before it’s time: Flair Magazine was created by Fleur Cowles in 1950, and ran for only 12 months of publication. Known for it’s lavish die-cut covers and artwork, the magazine would ultimately fail underneath it’s own heavy cost of production. In the 60-odd years since, Flair (and Fleur) have become icons of creative and uncompromised magazine publishing. Spanning the realms of art, literature, high society and fashion, Flair boasts a serious list of contributors including W.H. Auden, Tennessee Williams, Gypsy Rose Lee, Simone de Beauvoir, Dali, and Jean Cocteau. As a self-professed magazine junkie, I can tell you that I am way, way in to this. These days just one issue of Flair goes for around $45 on eBay. But there are other, less musty routes to the contents of Flair. For only $1,020 you can buy the 1996 “Best of Flair“ box set on Amazon. And since the nearby University of Texas Harry Ransom Center has an entire symposium dedicated to Fleur (who knew?!), I’m willing to bet that they may have some more budget-friendly resources worth exploring… In the meantime, I can’t wait to get my hands on She Made Friends and Kept Them, Fleur’s memoir of what she called a lifetime of “friend-gathering”. In addition to her creativity, Fleur was known for her tendency to befriend the rich-and-famous, her colorful outfits and trademark horn-rimmed glasses.

Oddly, I wasn’t able to find a good image of all twelve covers of Flair anywhere online. I took some time and did a little research… So here they are, all twelve covers of Flair, in order of publication:

* image of horn-rimmed glasses from Attic Eye Wear Vintage

CRUSH | Julia Leach and Chance

*images top to bottom: lounging girl by Chris Shipman, brunette in front of yellow by Lilia Stroker, daisies by Thayer Allyson Goudy, girl with straw hat by Jody Rogac, girl on country road by Jody Rogac, red scarf by Chris Shipman, portrait of Isabel Asha Penzlien jumping by Susanna Howe, portrait of Linda Rodin by Susanna Howe, black mercedes by Thayer Allyson Goudy, girl in white car by Chris Shipman, inspiration board by Julia Leach, photo of Julia Leach from LA Times

Julia Leach is a creative whose work I’ve admired for years. She started out in advertising as an art director, then spent a decade as part of a team that built a hugely successful fashion brand. Now she’s started her own clothing line, Chance, and the branding is really nice. There’s just a certain sophistication to it. Most of the photos above are from the Chance website. I look up to Julia because she doesn’t seem to draw hard lines around design, fashion or fine art. Her approach is always… thoughtful. Smart. Artful. And that appeals to me. When I found out she was the driving force behind my beloved kate spade books, I knew Julia was the cool older cousin I never had. She also seems to get that good solid vintage cars are really the ultimate statement accessory… I think we’d get along.

HOLIDAY HAPPENIN’S | The Last Waltz Revisited, Breakaway Records

Happy short week, everyone! The long weekend is upon us, and there’s a few fun things happening in Austin you should know about: 1. The old gang from Momo’s has teamed up to perform their reenactment of The Last Waltz again, but this year the concert will be held at Antone’s downtown. The show is tonight — doors at 7:30, show starts at 8:00, tickets can be purchased at the door or online here. General admissions is $12, or you can get a VIP table upstairs for $75. 2. Breakaway Records on North Loop is having a 15% off everything-in-the-store sale this Friday. Normally I would rather eat bark than even think about leaving my house on “black friday”, but I may make an exception for this. The sale is from 11am–8pm this Friday. Also of interest: Breakaway Records started a boutique re-issue label, Drop Shadow Records this past spring. So far they’ve produced one debut record featuring two singles originally recorded for the Wildcat label, out of San Antonio, Texas. Maybe I’ll snag one on Friday. I actually think they’re both pretty cool. Give ‘em a digital spin below. And Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

*photo of Susan George by unknown

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