good morning everyone…i am so excited to announce about the launch of the book club! we have chosen on the road by jack kerouac as the first book featured in the free people book club! this is one of my favorite books of all time, and I can’t wait to hear what you all have to say about it.
since we’re new at this, we’re just going to learn as we go…if you look to the list of categories on the right you’ll see we’ve created one for the book club. you will still be able to see the posts on the main page, but if you ever want to see only book club posts, click there.
here’s how it’s going to work: on the road is broken into three parts, so we’re going to give you all some time to read the first part and then we’ll start discussing! check back for a post – maybe in the form of a question, a highlight, not quite sure yet – on monday november 23 about part one of the book, and leave any comments you have in the comments section as you normally would. but make sure you don’t spoil the ending for anyone who might not be finished the book yet…
happy reading!
i have always loved album covers…i think they’re a very special form of art that tends to get lost in all the online sites that allow you to download music these days. having the actual album means something to me, and to a lot of people who still insist on buying them, and when my dad gives me his old record collection one day (i hope…!), a lot of the albums are going in frames and up on my wall.
so i think it’s really cool that next year, britain’s royal mail will launch a new series of stamps that celebrate ten classic british album covers. for the near-impossible task of selecting which ten to use, they did a series of polls and conferred with music editors, designers and writers. the stamps will have the unique shape seen in the images above, allowing for the vinyl disc poking out of the sleeve.
here’s the full list:
the clash – london calling
rolling stones – let it bleed
led zeppelin IV
david bowie – the rise and fall of ziggy stardust and the spiders from mars
pink floyd – division bell
blur – parklife
primal scream – screamadelica
coldplay – a rush of blood to the head
mike oldfield – tubular bells
new order – power, corruption & lies
don’t be too shocked that no beatles albums made the cut…they have already been on stamps.
do you agree with the british choices? if they did this in the US…what classic album covers would you want to see on stamps?
this would be at the top of my list:
thank you so much for all of your feedback on starting a book club! we’re so glad you all like the idea, and you’ve given us so many suggestions to think about.
stay tuned for an announcement about the fp book club later this week!
did you know yesterday was book lover’s day? what better day to announce that we would like to start a free people book club! first, we want to know straight from our readers if that is something you guys would like to participate in, and we also want suggestions! have you read a great book lately? let us know…it might be the first book in the free people book club!
2 of our knits designers recently traveled to tokyo. while they were there, they met up with their friend ryohei, a very talented artist.
he offered to do paper cuts of them during dinner, and they captured this awesome video of it.
the artist’s name is ryohei tanaka. he has some really amazing work on his website. check it out by clicking on the image below.
by the way, the song in the video is “happy endings” by pizzicato five.
there once was an artist who really wanted to encourage the neighborhood to get to know each other. so, he decided to help them. he gathered all of the neighborhood doormats and brought them to a gallery. the neighbors were stumped by the mysterious thievery. then, each neighbor received an invitation to come and get their property. later, they arrived at the gallery and saw that their doormats were much prettier together than apart. they began to talk and get to know each other – at least i hope that is how it turned out for the sake of kevin harman, the artist behind the installation…
some of you might be familiar with the awesome blog that is summer teeth…it is full of inspirational and fashionable images that always amaze me. we love it so much we decided to ask the awesome person behind the blog, dana, to do a guest post for our blog. but first, we wanted to know about her likes, dislikes, and more…read below to learn more about dana and stay tuned for her blog post later this week!
what is your first memory of free people?
age 15 or so. falling in love with, having to have, couldn’t leave behind so many of the free people tank tops and sweaters that i had a pile of about 20 in my arms. i was at the neighborhood loehmann’s (a discount mecca for the fashion-frenzied) and was dropping bits of clothing as i walked around the store.
what is the inspiration behind your blog?
my blog, as its been said before by many bloggers, started as a place to productively and effectively organize the thousands of images i had been accumulating in a few ‘inspiration’ folders on my computer. i comb the internet like a mad woman, and will save up to 20 photos to that folder a day. i had to find something that would make all the procrastinating from school work worthwhile! that, and for the last two years or so, i’ve been really trying to pick up photography. the best thing i’ve discovered for expanding your own aesthetic is by being exposed to the aesthetic of others. the blog was a way for me to compile this, and create a sort of inspiration board day by day.
what is your current state of mind?
expectant. i’m heading to a dirty projectors concert here in baltimore later tonight!
who are your heroes?
people who have the courage to go their own way, explore, be their own person, discover or at least hope to discover what makes them tick, and pursue it.
if you could choose what to come back to life as, what would you be?
this is a hard question! maybe a beautiful perennial flower. then, i could hide underground in the warm dirt during cold, wet months, regroup, and leap to life again every spring season. though the dying every winter thing might be tricky…
what or who is your greatest love?
john cusack, say anything.
name one thing necessary to your happiness.
things to look forward to (whether it’s a concert, going shopping, meeting up with friends, cooking some fancy and over-my-head recipe… etc.)
what do you hate the most?
cheese on pizza. and musicians who look horridly bored when performing in front of a crowd.
what would the name of your band be and what genre? what instruments do you play in this band?
summer teeth. oops! that’s the name of my blog… oops! that’s the name of a wilco album! actually, i really don’t know what i’d call it, but i think i’d design the sets and try and have a hand in the wardrobe of the band. i’m not so musically-endowed. But i do like to be surrounded by music.
what color are you?
iridescent. depends on which angle and in what light you look!
what is your motto?
don’t feel guilty for being a dreamer in a harsh world.
what is the one article of clothing you can’t live without?
this is much too hard. can i give three articles of clothing for this fall season instead? i’d say: well-fitting, worn-in jeans, my perforated oxford flats, and chunky knits (socks… sweaters… scarves).
“the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars…”
– jack kerouac
“be not the slave of your own past. plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep and swim far, so you shall come back with self-respect, with new power, with an advanced experience that shall explain and overlook the old.”
– ralph waldo emerson
