Showing posts with label the smiths. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the smiths. Show all posts

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Happy Birthday James Dean

James Byron Dean
February 8, 1931- September 30, 1955

Today American actor and screen legend, James  Dean would've been 83 years old. 
Poor thing and such a tragic death he had at 24 in a horrible car crash.
He is one of my all time favorite actors and loves and truly one of my inspirations and idols.
May you have a Happy Birthday Jimmy, Rest In Peace.

I've lived in Los Angles my whole entire life and I've been the Griffith Park Observatory before, but I had never visited the James Dean monument there. So late last year on a class field trip I visited, I paid my respects and wore my Dean shirt.

One of my very favorite favorite singers and idols Morrissey, is also a huge Dean fan. In his music video for his debut solo single he pays tribute to Dean by filming Dean's his hometown of Fairmount, Indiana and his artifacts. He even gets a chance to "play" Jimmy's bongos and straddle his motorcycle.
Often Morrissey used Dean as inspiration during his time with the band The Smiths.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

My Morrissey Weekend

Sorry for the delay. Last month I blogged how I was planning on seeing Morrissey at the Staples Center March 1st and at Hollywood High School March 2nd. Well here's the post sharing my experience with you! Both shows were wonderful and that intimate Hollywood High show was nothing but amazing I even cried!! It was a weekend filled with friends and familiar faces, tons of fun, singing along and dancing to those heartfelt songs! I'm glad I had the chance to see Moz before he became ill and had to cancel his tour. It truly was a performance to remember. Oh and it was great finally bumping into Lidi of the blog "The Pocket Size Housewife" she recognized me! She has a great blog about all her loves and adventures with her Husband being the cutest little housewife! It was great meeting you! We should've took a picture, but there's always next time and thanks for saying hello!

The crowd at the staples center show!

Moz hit's the stage!
I didn't take many pics that night as you can see I wasn't very close to the stage haha But still it was a fantastic show! Loved that he played a lot of my favorites!

One of my favorite parts of that night was during the song "Speedway" Morrissey spoke those all too familiar and true words! Loved it!

This is me in front of Hollywood High the night of the show. I don't know exactly what that orb is? Possibly a spirit, because it's not a watermark! 

My two awesome friends who hung out with me the whole weekend Lidia of the amazing fashion website Fashion Focused (check it out for all your fashion needs!) and my great friend Pablo! 
Together we were one crazy smiths moz loving trio!

I had orchestra tickets, so this is some of the crowd in the balcony including my friends and celebs and musicians Actor/ Comedian Russell Brand who introduced Morrissey, Tony Kanal bass player of No Doubt and Davey Havok singer of AFI.

There he is the man himself! Morrissey! Looking lovely in blue floral!

Such passion!

A stage shot

Taking a bow

You rip that shirt off Morrissey!

Oh Moz, divine and holy one...


One of the most touching moments I've ever experienced! I cried and sobbed (not uncontrollably of course) softly as you felt all this love and energy in the room. I don't think I've ever yet to cry at a show like that.

Morrissey I hope we have you around much longer to continue to spread your love and your music, 
we need you and we love you!
Until Again!

(All Photos By. Victoria Inez Rivera)

Monday, August 1, 2011

He's Like The Man Of My Dreams & He's From My Hood!

Hello Everyone I just thought I'd do this quick post I saw this online article and thought it was pretty fun and hilarious to begin with and once I noticed a specific feature I just had to share it!!
The LA Weekly Magazines' online blog Style Council released an article on July 27th 2011 titled,
"Six LA Neighborhoods With The Most Distinctive Fashion Styles"
And which neighborhood happens to be number 5? My hood, East LA!!! Just what are they going to feature some classic cholo style, some crazy paisa norteno goodness?? No, surprisingly and very much to my liking they featured this:
East LA Greaser/ Goth

Drawing by. Jason Levesque
Uniform: Cuffed Levis; black Creepers; black T-shirt with skull motif; slicked-back hair; sleeve tattoo, including spiderweb elbow; leather cuff watch; crucifix necklace; black nail polish; Pendleton jacket; a Latina gal in a leopard-print dress on his arm
Shops at: Glory, Iguana Vintage, Target, Hot Topic (but won't admit it)
Hangs at: Little Cave, Eastside Luv, Spikes in Rosemead, Lucha Va Voom, any burlesque show
Listens to/watches: Social Distortion, the Misfits, the Cramps, the Smiths
Trending: Less Fonz, more fun with nostalgic rawk style. A blending of the usual '50s looks with '70s garage/punk gear and '80s androgyny, including more spiky stuff, tighter pants and longer hair
Fashion philosophy: As Johnny Thunders said, always dress "L.A.M.F." (Like a Mother Fucker).

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Oh man when I saw this I burst into laughter!! He's literally like most of the guys I've fallen for that are not only from East LA, but just the types of guys that sometimes catch my attention! He's like the man of my dreams bahahaha!!! It's great though, I really love seen a representation of the whole East Los alternative scene that started with those Rebels way back when! (By the way do you remember when I talked about Rebels last, in my Steve Naghavi post?) How cute is he with his cuffed jeans, Creepers, slicked hair, nail polish (woo extra points being a goth cutie!) and how can you forget the very "original" Spiderweb tattoo!! We even shop and hang out at the same places! (Hot Topic, hell no! That place used to be good back when you could get a decent band shirt which was a very, very long time ago!) Taste in music, ehh he needs to work on that if he wants to be with me! Drop Social D and The Misfits for some Depeche, Cure, and a great Psychobilly band like Batmobile and we'll talk!!  Oh man this cracked me up, and yeah I'm not gonna lie, yes I tend to fall for guys like this at times. Oh how embarrassing, am I in love with a cliche! lol But you know what would have been even better? If they featured The Cholobilly!! (If you have no idea what a cholobilly is, I'm just going to have to rant about it soon!) lol 
Have fun reading the rest of the neighborhoods I know I did!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Out and About

Uptown Whittier Antique Faire
(April 23, 2011)
It was my first time going the the Uptown Whittier Antique Faire and I'd have to say it was quite good! There were a lot of deals, a ton of jewelry, knick knacks, furniture and clothes too! I made off with quite a few items that I've really been wanting. My only regret though was not buying a fox fur stole for only $25!! I've been wanting one soo bad! I know it's fur and I'm an animal lover, but if it's been dead for over 40 years I'm okay with it, plus it didn't have a head on it or anything. I some how convinced myself that I didn't need more fur, but one can never have too much fur!!

Some items at the faire

My outfit for the day; I received plenty of wonderful compliments! The dress used to be my mother's in the late 1970's, now it's mine! I paired it with my 1940's hat from Bullocks that I bought at a thrift store for only $6!! Talk about a steal!

Myself and my lovely friend and fellow ReVamp intern Ariana! She's Miss Uptown Whittier!! A very lovely Miss Uptown I would say. She also designs and makes a lot of her ensembles, like this lovely Black and White frock.

My lovely new Vintage Black Patent Leather handbag! I needed a new one my favorite one broke, so this is much bigger, which is great for carrying extras. I believe it's 1960's and it was only $10.

Two new hats!! I purchased both for $20, the Forest Green one is 40's I love it!! It's velour and it has a thin netting draped on the sides. The Red one is early 60's, it's such a cute little Boater hat with a bow and birdcage netting.

I didn't only get myself something I surprised my brother Angel, with a 1940's tie and vintage flask! He's been wanting both, especially the flask (mind you he's only 17). He wants it more for joking around as to use for underage drinking, haha he said I'm allowed to use it anytime. Oh and those are two vintage hair curlers that I bought for my grandma. She recently lost her hair curler that she had since she was 16, she uses it to curl her eyelashes so I bought her these two as a surprise.


(all photos by. Victoria Inez Rivera)

1939's The Women Birthday Party
(April 30, 2011)
I was invited to my fabulous friend Ashley's brilliantly themed  1939 "The Women" birthday party!! Held on the glamourous historic Art Deco luxury ocean liner the Queen Mary. All us ladies were asked and encouraged to dress as a character from the film, guys were invited too but since there was no men in the film they can come as there own glamourous selves.


The 1939 original trailer, not the crappy remade version with Meg Ryan! This has got to be the original chick flick! Comedy, drama, cattiness, fashion and an all star female cast!! It's a must see, especially since the entire wardrobe is Adrian, including a technicolor fashion show in the film!

Check out these dames!! The birthday girl is in the center with the biggest grin! She's so sweet and I must say on of the most glamourous women I know, I'm always so envious of her outfits and accessories. You can find a lot of her items or findings for sale on her etsy shop:



With my friend Lauren and the birthday girl herself. Lauren was "Peggy" (played by Joan Fontaine), Ashely was "Sylvia" (played by Rosalind Russell) I soo wanted to be Sylvia, she's hilarious and she has the best wardrobe, but there wouldn't have been a better Sylvia than Ashley she even had the eye blouse!!! I wanted it soo bad, I forgot to ask her if it was an Adrian original. I was stuck on just who to be, I thought about being "Lucy" (you know the owner on that divorce ranch in Reno), but at the last minute I decided to be a background character. You remember those fitting room girls wearing black dresses with their updos? I was one of them, my friend Ashley knew who I was as soon as she saw me! A couple of friends told me "Do you know you have a measuring tape around your neck?" haha

Here's a fitting room scene, she the fitting girls wearing black in the background.

Some of us gals going crazy! My friend Sari on the left was "Crystal" (played by Joan Crawford) I loved her dress it was to die for! Other lovely ladies, lysbett wore this awesome powder pink late 50's matching coat and dress with ostrich feather trim and Jayde owner of  Bell Jar Vintage wore her grandmother's late 1930's wedding dress!!

Me and my always dashing, dapper and handsome friend Andre.

Me and my friend 'The San Francisco Song Bird' Mikal Sandoval showing off our gams! As she likes to call it I'm her "Hotcha Muchacha" I love it!!

My brother Angel, looking very snazzy wearing that new tie I got him!!


Sipping away on a cocktail with "Jungle Red" nails haha! My dress is early 40's, I bought it at a friend's yard sale over a year ago for $25 and my 40's clutch though you can barely see it I also bought at the same yard sale for $5.

 (all photos by. Angel Rivera)

2011 Smiths/ Morrissey Convention
(May 1, 2011)
Well this year's convention was quite eventful and  an actual Smith showed up, the placed was packed like crazy, These Charming Men put on an awesome show, I met old friends, made new ones and met a blog fan! And I never thought I would be dancing to David Bowie's "Fame" at a Moz convention (not that it was a bad thing). To be honest I had fun, just not as much fun as I would have liked too. Being that it was so packed the dance floor was really cramped and really really sticky eww, the song selections weren't as good, I didn't get any free items this time. But that won't stop me from going again next year!

The dance floor

These Charming Men!! Even though I've said The Sweet and Tender Hooligans are the best Smiths/ Moz tribute band, I think it's correct to say they are the best in the US, but These Charming Men would be best foreign tribute band being that they are from Ireland. Their singer was a great Moz and swung those gladiolas perfectly!


Richard Blade with Andy Rourke of The Smiths

People went mad for these raffled off banners, they ended up having a dance contest which I found myself in. I personally didn't want a banner, but this guy I met earlier that night begged me to be his dance partner he really wanted a banner. I wonder if he won? haha

Do  you see that (what is it a Smiths single?) up in the left corner? It has Montgomery Clift on it!! Could it be any more perfect! I want it!! I just wasn't willing to pay the $60.

Me and my friends that I met up with later in the night

Literally as soon as I walked in the club, a stranger approached me and asked if I was Victoria. With confusion I said yes. He then asked if I was the "Victoria Vintage Girl", "Yes!" I exclaimed. I had just met a blog fan of mine for the first time! Englebert (or is it Ingelbert?) is a big Morrissey fan and had never heard about the convention until he read my blog, he thought he would check it out and had told his wife he had hoped to meet me. I was so thrilled, I hope they had a wonderful time at their first convention. (Remember Englebert you can find me on Facebook)

(all photos by. Victoria Inez Rivera)

Here's a video shot by my Facebook friend and huge Moz fan, Jay Tando of the 2011 Smiths/Morrissey  Convention. The Fan interviews are a lot of fun, very interesting and oh so relatable.