Punk Fashion vs. 50s Rebel Fashion vs. New Rebel Fashion Wave

Does history seem to repeat itself every two or several decades?   The 50s rebels had the greaser thing going on with their leather jackets, jeans, and t-shirts James Dean style.  The 70s punk fashion came packaged with something similar: leather jackets, jeans, tees, and rock patches/pins on the jackets by way of the Sex Pistols and Ramones.  I’ve had a fascination with “rebel” fashion since a young age, wearing custom-made patchwork pants and dresses to high school bohemian style.  Nowadays, I wear light wash ripped jeans, a leather jacket with a pop of color, and pearl adorned sneakers with faux diamond rings, hoop earrings, and cat eye shades for a statement.  The glamorous rebel look is my thing, where diamonds meet dirt, gutter to the stars.  My love of glamorous movie icons like Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn meet rebel heroes like Sid Vicious or Marlon Brando in a Hollywood back alley.  The dust kicked up by non-conformist attitudes marries with a love of flaunting beauty and bejeweled spectacle.  Happy almost-weekend!

James Dean Greaser

Sid Vicious Leather Jacket

Reign Diamonds

Halloween

It was a nice night to walk around Upper Haight Street with my boyfriend and neighbor Stina on Halloween.  The vampire look really came together.  We took lots of photos.  Here are some:

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Enjoy your weekend!

In the Spirit of Halloween

In the spirit of Halloween, my boyfriend and I have decided to be Victorian Vampire Rockers.  A bit of lace, leather, and blood…  I studied up a bit on makeup tricks and tips on Youtube and came across Bailey Van Der Veen’s channel.  She is a Canadian makeup artist.  She does a smokey red and black eye, white natural painted face, and reddish black lips with blood streaks dripping from the corners of the mouth.  We went out yesterday to purchase the makeup in SF.  The first store we stopped at was Kryolan on Union Street to buy a clown white face makeup.  Next, we drove over to Fillmore and headed into the Discount Beauty Supply for a smoothing face primer, white setting powder, and a package of three blending sponges.  The last stop was Goodwill on Fillmore for vampire teeth including face paint.

STEPS:

I first wash my face with a Skin Resource MD Cosmeceuticals Soap Free Total Facial Cleansing Gel.  Bailey Van Der Veen starts with a Smashbox spritzing primer, but I just plan to spray a bit of rose water on my face.  I add a Kiss New York Pro Touch Smoothing Primer and then go to filling in the brows with a Malibu Glitz 2 in 1 brown brow pencil and filling powder and angle it upward to give the brow character like in the video.  Next, I apply Milani eye shadow primer to the eyelids and under areas.  After that, I put on red eye shadow all over my eyelids plus the under areas.  Black eye shadow goes over the lid and underneath and blends out.  I take a Lancome black eyeliner pencil and draw it into the waterline of the eye and above as well as along the crease of the eyelid.  In addition to what she does with the eyeliner, I paint on a Rock N Glitz Silver Liquid Liner for some added sparkle.  Next, Bailey glues on fake eyelashes, but I simply apply Vibely XPress Control black mascara to the lashes.  Next, I dip a blending sponge into the Kryolan Clown White Makeup and blot it onto my face, smoothing it in to give the face a natural dead look without being too clownish.  After that, a Kiss New York Pro Touch Setting Powder is applied with a medium brush to the face.  She also addresses contouring the cheeks and forehead areas with brown eye shadow and gray for the nose.  I may or may not use this tactic for my boyfriend and my faces.  A cool tip I learned for the lips is to blend black and red lipstick and Cinema Secrets Pro FX blood with a syringe for the corners of the lips, but I’ll probably line the lips with L.A. Girl Sexy Red lip liner and then apply Sinful Color Legacy black lipstick and layer it with Smashbox red gloss as well as to the corners of the mouth for a dripping blood look.

Vampire Face Makeup Products Used:

Kiss New York Trio Blending Sponge- $6.99

Kiss New York Pro Touch Smoothing Primer- $11.99

Kryolan Clown White Makeup- $27.95

Kiss New York Pro Touch Setting Powder- $8.99

 

Stay tuned for the REVEAL!

Violin as a Lead Instrument

Rock music typically has guitar as a lead instrument.  The concept of taking the violin and making it a central instrument brings forth an interesting trend in playing and listening.  Though Lindsey Stirling and Brian King Joseph perform in a different genre, they bring violin to the forefront of mainstream music, which is truly groundbreaking.  Lindsey Stirling, who came out of America’s Got Talent does an act involving dance, singing, and violin.  Though I don’t really listen to this type of violin music, the entire spectacle involving various art mediums thrown together is captivating.  Her music goes from rock to dance to pop.  Brian King Joseph from America’s Got Talent does an electric violin hip hop/pop mashup.  His layering of violin over popular pop/rap songs and his virtuosity makes him unique.

As a violinist in Love Lyzardz, I like doing slow melodic passages in the country/folk/rock/psychedelic vein.  I don’t necessarily play at high speeds or lay down technically challenging notes like Brian or Lindsey, though I have had classical training in the past from being in school orchestra for many years, but I shape a distinctive mood or story in my playing.  My partner Johnny Saffire keeps a steady intricate rhythm on guitar, which frames the violin’s sound and texture.  As a duo, we marry guitar and violin, weaving rock and classical music, which creates Classical Rock.  Yngwie Malmsteen, an influence of mine, had done something similar, taking classical music and applying it to guitar.  Johnny Saffire’s background in blues, rock, and punk gives his guitar playing an individual finesse merged with a classical instrument like violin.

Stay tuned for more posts!

Love Lyzardz

Love Lyzardz

Poet’s fire,

Guitar sweeps.

 

Emotional storms aplenty,

Darkness consummated.

 

Beauty evoked,

Traces of dreams

Sprinkled over

Murmuring voices.

 

Journey unveiled,

The Hollywood desire,

Long road from

Home carrying onward.

 

Story to a story,

Love within love,

The artists’ far

Reach

For highest erudition.

 

Peace for the

Ones who listen,

Quiet for those who

Sleep,

A voice for those

Who cannot express,

In amorous oceans deep.

 

Love Lyzardz

The Lizard

My partner Johnny Saffire and I started our duo the Love Lyzardz several years back just talking about our musical interests in his apartment living room.  Here we are with a demo out, an original single, and a Beatles cover song on the way.  Some of our music takes from the darker side of the 60s/70s music with artists like Jim Morrison.  His animal totem the lizard very much resonates with our duo’s spiritual purpose.

The lizard is a creature that is adaptive and can transcend hugely adverse circumstances.  We are a duo that has done just that, having faced the difficulties of a modern and almost apocalyptic world, with a message all our own.  The lizard has a shrewdness and an introverted character, and that is the spirit the Love Lyzardz embodies, a will to carry on in spite of harsh setbacks and weird tumbles through space and time, and a reflective soul.   The lizard is also a symbol of rebirth.  When it comes to the lives Johnny and I have lived, tough times always bring forth the seed of regeneration out of the hard ground.

One of the first demo songs “American Doll” mirrors parts of the Doors “The End” in its psychedelic and hard hitting melody, as an American girl struggles to live up to the men in her life who have shaped her world.  She goes along, floating through the pink fantasy world that has been built for her and recollecting the struggle to be loved in a procession of men who fall for a woman merely because of her physical beauty.

It is the lizard we hold fast to, the one pitted for a stealthy escape, the ultimate survivalist in a world that shifts every microsecond.  What is tilted swingsback the other way, as the music carries on.  It is my hope that this art will be the equalizer of the rotating scales.

Love Lyzardz

American Doll Lyrics- Love Lyzardz

You’re a diamond so cool

Makes me wanna

Makes me wanna

Be like you.

 

Daddy’s pride

Drowning in your glassy eyes

That champagne soaked flag you wave

Makes me feel so brave.

 

American doll

It’s a long way patriot land

Cradled in your pink fantasies

Your pom poms drenched in diamonds

Makes me wanna be like you.

 

American doll

You’ve got it all

Bridled to a magazine cover

Your palm tree heaven

The glass you stroke

Makes me wanna be like you.

 

Diamonds reigning down

In broken shards

Evanescent love your calling card

That yearning burning fire you stoke

Sedate to love

You’ve got that diamond cool.

 

American doll

It’s a long way to patriot land

Cradled in your pink fantasies

Your pom poms drenched in diamonds

Makes me wanna be like you.

 

 

Arise Music Festival Contest

Hey everyone!  I am happy  to announce that Johnny and I have entered into the Arise Music Festival contest.  The festival will be held in early August in Loveland, CO.  The voting ends on June 1st and three lucky winners will be chosen on June 7th.   Select our name, scroll down and enter your e-mail, and click “VOTE”.  Thanks again for your support!  I am very supportive of other musicians/artists, so feel free to follow, like, and/or comment and I will return the favor.  I always like to know about new music on the scene!

Arise Music Festival Contest

 

Love Lyzardz Tour

It seems that the rents are getting higher and higher in our building and my bf’s bonuses at Uber are being cut.  We really want to be musicians, but it’s tough to try to do it in a city like SF that is all tech.  We’ve been looking into getting a conversion van and traveling across the country.  It’ll take several months of planning, but well worth it to live a dream we’ve been wanting to for a long time.  There is a certain freedom that comes with going out on the road and playing music.  For now, we’re working on some recordings.  Stay tuned for more articles!

“Dear Prudence” Recording

Johnny Saffire and I are in the process of recording an original version of “Dear Prudence” by the Beatles.  There will be varying vocal layers, violin, guitar, drums, and bass thrown in.  I’m looking forward to making this cover a special hit.  Visit us at www.lovelyzardz.com.  Stay tuned more articles on our musical journey!