British B-Girl...

London in the house! Where were you in 1982? I'm not talking about Vashtie's hip club in New York, I'm asking if you were in London in 1982 when Grandmaster DSt performed? I know Janette Beckman was there 'cause I saw her pictures from that era at her book launch in Taschen, CA 90210 (aka Beverly Hills).

Now I gotta admit, I didn't know Janette was English. "Where are you from, I can't place the accent...," she said. "It's easy...Bristol, London, Los Angeles!" Janette's photos really capture the 80s hip-hop scene developing and are more American than Normski's, another Brit photographer, and his hip-hop photos (remember MC Duke and Hijack?)

Uptown, Downtown I read that she moved to New York in 1982. What I know is that the downtown scene was in full effect and folks like Fab 5 Freddy were bridging the uptown/downtown gap. F5F was key to getting the first hip-hopper downtown: Afrika Bambaataa (who's photographed in Beckman's book) played Mudd Club, Negril, Danceteria. Then Grandmaster Flash went to play to the honkys too ;) Not sure if Janette hit the South Bronx parties like Malcolm McLaren did to capture her art though.

Punk Rock, New Wave and Soul I also read that Beckman started working for coolzines The Face and Melody Maker snapping punk and rock bands which led to her first book in 2005 for Powerhouse Books, "Made in the UK: The Music of Attitude 1977–1983."

Doraemon Janette said,"nice t-shirt," looking at my WrongWroks "Doraemon" shirt. "Let's swap t-shirts," I said to Janette as I spotted her dope Acapulco Gold collaboration t-shirt (yes, the same Acapulco Gold brand that had me chasing around the world! Thanks Keiko!)

So Janette and I didn't strip off, but she did give me an email to try to get a shirt for my collection ;) Here's an interview about the Acapulco Gold collaboration.

And here's a video of Doraemon!

Fatseagulls? Imagine "a blog about the world of t-shirts" ~ yes it exists and I found it as I was looking for the fresh Acapulco Gold t-shirt.