tinyluckygenius aka the Unicorn's tear

EXTRAS

Things that didn't make it into my Lana Del Rey story for SPIN:

-- When Princess Superstar met LDR 2 years ago she had "crazy ghetto nails" and used to go up to Harlem to get them done. PS immediately took a shine to her because that's what she did, too.
--Primary word Princess Superstar used to describe Lana Del Rey: "Respectful".
--No one that I interviewed on or off the record had a single bad thing to say about LDR, including ex-boyfriends, who insisted "she is exactly the same way now, the same person, as she was when I met her five years ago."
--Her A&R guy started to tell me a story about how she once burned him on the arm with a cigarette, then stopped himself.
--He had previously been at another label where a year before they had passed on signing LDR. He happened to be out sick the day she was there and missed meeting her.
--David Nichtern, who initially signed her as Lizzy Grant is also one of the foremost Buddhist meditation teachers in America.
--A classmate from her prep school in CT described her as "preppy".

WAFFLES WITH IAN AND MAX

“The brew smells like Cheerios dad.” “Yep,” I said. “I should stir the brew some more dad.” “Yep,” I said. “Will those yeasts really nip your finger if you put put your finger in the brew dad?” “Yep” don’t put your finger in there,” I said. We whisked in two cups of flour.

We separated two eggs. “Zelda made these eggs dad.” “Yep,” I said. We dropped the yolks in the brew. We put three pinches of salt in it and three pinches of corn meal. “What’s the corn meal for dad?”

“Search me,” I said. “Search me,” Max said. We stirred in two dollops of Mexican sour cream. We stirred in a half stick of melted butter. “This brew smells famous,” Max said. “I know,” I said. We thinned out the batter with some of the can of beer. I drank the rest of the can of beer. “Can I have some beer,” Max said. “When you’re fourteen,” I said. We whipped the egg whites so they had “stiff peaks.”

Max gently folded them into the brew. “Gently is boring dad,” Max said. “Be that as it may,” I said.

I forgot to tell you

I had to make a tumblr in order to do this other thing, so I said eff it and made one for Tiny Lucky, but I have actually been posting to the TinyLuckyTumblrrrer more. Just one more place to track me down.

DAVID CROSBY'S SAILBOAT

I wanted to write about EMA and Tyler, The Creator all year, and everyone already had it covered and covered and overcovered and so I had all year to just keep thinking about different ideas about them, and finally, suddenly, I got the chance to write about them for the Village Voice Pazz and Jop in a way that came to me late in the year. Also, the parallels between Tyler and Rollins are endless if you think about it.

"OOH, SHARKFACE!"

This one is so good. So, so good.

This documentary about Charlotte Rampling is playing in Chicago for the next few days at the Gene Siskel downtown. If I was not too pregnant to sit in a movie seat for 2 hours, I would go see it tomorrow. Instead, I will watch it on YouTube while reclining in my home. How much do you love her?

Also, did you know they make WATERMELON VANS?

BUT ONLY IN TODDLER AND KID SIZES. I am totally going to make my own. And order some for William. Matching food shoes, mother and son style. Whimsical shoe gang, whaddup.

Dude. Also, sledding. When the mini blizz hit yesterday ( dumping 6 inches of snow the day after 55 degree weather that had the construction dudes next door in short sleeves, thank you global warming!) we literally RACED to Target for a baby sled before things got treacherous. When we got home, I pulled William on it from the car to our front steps and when I went to get him out, HE CRIED. Sledding: all it takes is one time. We went inside and got our snowpants on and such and had a snack and went back out and despite being like, 7.5 months pregnant, I towed a sled--ran even--in a big four block loop around our hood and it was maybe the best time ever. Granted, today, I feel like hell, BUT! Doing something with William that I have such good memories of doing as a kid myself. If you have access to a kid and a sled and some snow, I really recommend you do it to it: get the (s)led out.

SYSTEM

Unreleased LaBelle song, live on Rock Concert c. 76. Can we just talk about the unrealness of this? When Patti gets up in front of Nona and starts going "I know. I know. Who. You. Are!"? Sweat pouring down her face. Nona so defiant looking. HEAVY MESSAGES. Even for the seventies, that shit is heavy. I got chills when Patti just goes for it. Also, obviously, Nona's outfit kind of wins here--the side lace garter boots up to her hotpants/jewelledface/baby bonnet helmet/native-style leather white fringe top makes Lady Gaga look like some mall chick in a THINK PINK track suit and dirty Uggs by comparison, no? Patti's yellow silk skants (skirt pants) jumpsuit is bizonkuliss and dude, Sarah dash's outfit is like gold on copper and a monolith of ruffles. BEST BAND EVER.

AND MORE AND OTHERS FEEL THE SAME AS YOU DO NOW

Es Me and You memorial tumblr where folks are posting mixtapes she made them over the years. As fitting a tribute to her as can be conjured through the internet.

ESME

R.I.P. Esme Barrera, one of the coolest of the cool girls, one of the most genuine enthusiasts I've ever known--she believed in and loved music something fierce, she was so dedicated to rock camp, the future, the idea, the girls. The last time I saw her was at SXSW, she was going to see Sonny & The Sunsets for like, the fifth or seventh time, because she was evangelical about them, but also because she had a sense of fan duty about it. She was fun and impossibly kind and sweet as can be. Her death and the manner of her death is unfathomable.