Volunteer Profile Kristie Billings

Kristie Billings could be the girl the Heads were singing about in "Punk Lolita."  She is free spirited, unedited and unapologetically herself.  Not to mention her distinctly punk aesthetic.  As Kristie tells it, she marched to a different beat early on.  On Saturdays at 6PM, you can hear her on WERU as one of the hosts of Daydream Nation.  Kristie plays an eclectic mix of everything:  punk, blues, rock 'n' roll, reggae, Motown, 1980's.  "Whatever," she says, "I feel like busting out that night!"
You might not guess it when meeting her, but Kristie grew up in a fishing family in the small coastal village of Deer Isle.  She describes a time when there weren't many kids who had dyed hair or shaved heads or rocked the goth look.  She says people could be judgemental about the way she looked.  "Why?  Who knows?  I didn't look like anyone else.  That scared some people."  Kristie says that her early love for music, especially punk rock, gave her an important outlet to express herself and shaped her into the person she is today.
Kristie asserts that she is a Mainer through and through.  Her childhood in coastal Maine gave her a deep love for the ocean.  She affectionately describes lobstering with her dad, who sadly passed away last year, and her frequent swims in the crisp coastal waters of the Atlantic.  "I like to make things interesting," says Kristie. "Still do."

1. Favorite genre of music?  I would have to say punk/rock/post punk.  The first LP I ever purchased was a Beach Boys' record.  They were my first favorite band.
2. First music memory?  I was a little girl.  Maybe 3?  For some reason, I believe that Donnie Osmond was coming to Stonington to play at the Legion Hall.  Who knows how I came up with this?  I went and got myself all dressed up and waited and waited for one of my parents to take me to see "Donnie Marie."  My mother did not know what to make of it.  She told me to wait until my father came home from lobstering.  Typically, when my father returned home from after a long day of fishing, the last thing he wanted to do was go see a concert.  But he was a good sport.  He played along with his youngest daughter's funny ideas.  He told me to go ahead and get in the truck, and we'd find Donnie Marie.  We drove to the Legion Hall, and he proceeded to drive me all over Deer Isle looking for the elusive Donnie Osmond.  I was a bit disappointed to have missed him, but I was happy to have had a reason to get dressed up and cruise around the island, listening to the radio, with my dad.
3. If I could hang out with anyone who would it be?  Oh boy.  Jeez.  This is a tough question.  I am such a geek.  I would have to say Henry Rollins.  I have been a huge fan of his and his music since high school.  I would love to spend a day with him; record shopping, book shopping, drinking coffee, anything.  I have great respect for him.
4. What animal would you be?  If I could be any animal I would be a seal.  I used to think I would want to be a cat.  I am a crazy cat lady.  However, I love to swim.  I think seals are gorgeous, graceful, and playful.  Just amazing.  I would like to spend my days sunning myself on the rocks, slipping gracefully into the ocean and being a seal.  Sounds perfect!
5. What would people be surprised to know about you?  I think people would be surprised to learn that I am shy.  
6. What three words best describe you?  Goofy, loving and funny.
7. Who has inspired you?  My family, Henry Rollins, Ian MacKaye, Nick Cave, Sylvia Plath, Michael Gira, Boy George and many others!
8. What is your favorite color?  It's a tie:  black and purple.
9. What makes you laugh?  Nearly everything!  I laugh every day.  I laugh all the time.  I can't pinpoint what I find funny.  Silly, nonsensical, the everyday blah...all of it!
10. What did you want to be when you grew up?  Here's a list of things I have wanted to be since I was a child:  A nun, a race car driver, a fashion designer, a fashion merchandiser, a writer.  Now I believe I would be a great cat sitter.  Or a vinyl sitter.  Let me come and sit with your vinyl records!

Mainland - "Leave The Lights On"

The video for "Leave The Lights On" has New York City transplants Mainland breezily zipping around the city proper on skateboards with the languid ease of adolescents everywhere.  There is something captivating about the grainy home movie quality of the video set against a summery cityscape with the quartet hitting Eight Avenue, hanging out by the Hudson River and meeting up with some unintentional costars along the way.  The song itself has a certain retro quality with the angst of the 80's alt bands that defined my youth (think the Pixies) and the rock out energy of a punk band, a genre that Mainland has appropriately coined as "puke-up punk."

Mainland came to be through an eclectic music collection, a rehearsal space under the Manhattan Bridge and a spontaneous recording session with Jim Eno of Spoon.  The NYC by way of California band consists of enigmatic frontman Jordan Topf, who also plays guitar and synths, Corey Mullee on lead guitar and synths, Alex Pitta on bass and Dylan Longstreet on drums.  "Leave the Lights On" is a track from their second EP, Shiner, which debuted with the title track "Shiner."  As a follow up to their first EP, Girls Unknown, Mainland has secured a name for themselves in the local music scene, and the word is starting to spread. Two more video installments chronicling life in the city will be released this summer.  Can't wait to see what else the boys have in store!

Mainland on Facebook

Halloween Costume Ideas Inspired by Gary Numan

Gary Numan circa 1980

If you're looking for inspiration for a Halloween costume, Gary Numan's long and illustrious music career is a virtual gold mine of looks.  You need not be a fan of Numan to recognize the definable eras of electronic music in his incarnations over the years. Numan's style ranges from late 1970's punk, during his early Tubeway Army days, to 1980's New Wave, which has seen a resurgence in popular culture, to his current steam punk incarnation for his newest LP, "Splinter."
Science fiction, a desire to appear cold and unemotional, and a robotic stage presence shaped Numan in his early career. Interestingly, the look that most people associate with Numan, from the early 80's "Republicas" era, was purely accidental.  Just before an appearance on Top of the Pops in the UK, a make up artist put a layer of white make up on Numan's face to cover his "spots," otherwise known as acne.  His eyes looked like "pissholes in the snow," so they were lined in black.  And viola!  The Numanoid look was created.
Over the years he's had an all white with blue hair look, an all black and skinny tie look that screams 1980's, a suit and fedora look, an industrial look that is all about the 90's, possibly inspired by his admiration for Nine Inch Nails, an all leather look, a military inspired look, a goth look and a hip rocker in a black tee and jeans look.  I'm always interested to see what he's going to come up with next.
Enjoy taking a walk down electronic music history in the Numan photos below.  I've also included some photos of Numan's vixen of a wife, Gemma.  She supplies some female specific costume inspiration., not to mention great concepts in hair color.

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Gemma