You may not have heard of The King Blues yet, but that’s all going to change, at least if the band’s three members have any say in the matter. Formed in London in 2004, the band has been making waves in their homeland with the recent release of “Save the World, Get the Girl” (available via iTunes and Amazon), a polished, political punk rock classic with shades of The Clash and The Pogues and The Streets.

The King Blues - “I Got Love”
The King Blues - “Let’s Hang the Landlord”

With their catchy choruses, creative arrangements and Cockney accents, the King Blues are Green Day for the next generation. The multi-racial trio has been making plenty of key converts, like influential BBC radio DJ Zane Lowe and Tim Armstrong of Rancid, who the band just played with on their recent tour. We first heard the band on Mike Davies’ “Radio 1 Punk Show” on the BBC, and we’ve been hooked ever since. We caught up with King Blues singer and ukulele player Jonny “Itch” Fox recently via email, and we talked politics, girls and making it big in America.

You guys aren’t yet well known in America. How important is that to you? How do you accomplish that?
Everyone wants to be well known in America. Here in England we grow up with American programs and movies and it becomes an obsession. I have no idea how to accomplish that. I just wanna go there.

What bands have you guys toured with in the UK or elsewhere?
We’ve briefly been to Europe, but mainly we tour in Britain. We’ve been out with Gogol Bordello, Hard Fi, Bedouin Soundclash, Anti-Flag, The Slackers and Gaslight Anthem amongst many others, as well as UK bands like Capdown, Sonic Boom 6 and Skindred.

You seem to have a substantially British sound, but have American bands been equally influential? Which country has better punk rock bands?
Guns ‘N’ Roses are my favorite band of all time. There never has been, nor will there ever be, a greater rock & roll band. Obviously the Ramones, Rage Against the Machine, Rancid (the 3 R’s), NWA, Dead Prez, Immortal Technique — we’re always influenced by American bands. I think we used to have better punk bands, but now you do.

Is punk rock inherently political to you?
Political is a funny word. I think raw, primitive anger is inherent to punk rock and that raw, primitive anger is also political.

Can you talk a little about playing the big festivals like Leeds and Reading? That’s something that doesn’t quite have the same history here.
Festivals are a rite of passage for British youth. You go away with friends, camp in a tent, experiment with drugs, lose your virginity and watch bands. Getting to then play one is an insane experience. Not only is there all the personal history of youth, but also of all the bands that have played before, and the experiences the kids camping there now will be having that year. The amount of people that go is shocking too. Iit’s like doing a whole tour in a day and having the excitement and elation of a whole tour in a day too.

Check out the video for “My Boulder”:

Are chicks (or birds as you like to say over there) just as important in your worldview as saving the world, or is your album title meant to be tongue in cheek?
They’re far more important than saving the world.

You guys seem to push the envelope with a wide variety of instruments and styles on the record. Is diversity on your albums important to you?
We never set about to purposely make diverse albums, but we’re all into a lot of stuff and we just can’t decide on what type of band we want to be. We’re musical sluts. It’s all organic though. It was never contrived like, if we play a hip-hop beat with a ska rhythm these kids’ll like it, and if we do a folk tune those kids’ll like it. We ARE those kids. We just made what we wanted to hear and what we thought was cool.

YuppiePunk has been trying to convince people that ukulele is the next big punk rock trend (see here), but you guys don’t seem to need any convincing – it’s all over your new record.
All our songs are written on ukulele. It is the future yes.

You guys didn’t release records in the age before file sharing, but what challenges does the digital age put on protecting your work?
It makes it impossible to tell how many people have your record. There’s really nothing you can do about it, that’s the sad thing. It just completely cheapens something you really care about and makes it totally disposable. Kids will never let an album grow on them now. They have to have instant gratification, either they love it straight away or it’s deleted and a new one downloaded within 5 minutes. I can see from a kid’s point of view why it’s cool. If I had the chance to do that when I was a kid — I mean I had about 5 tapes and that was it — I would have loved it, but I don’t think I ever would have ‘got’ “London Calling” or “Ziggy Stardust” or all those records I never ‘got’ ’til about the 15th listen.

Can one be both a yuppie and a punk?
Absolutely not.

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Kat Von D
Real name: Katherine Von Drachenberg
Kat nip: The tattoo artist made a name for herself as a guest artist on the TLC reality series “Miami Ink,” but her popularity soared when she inked her own series, “L.A. Ink,” which eclipsed her former series in the ratings. These days she dates Nikki Sixx from Motley Crue, has her own line of makeup through Sephora and dresses like one of the American Gladiators.
Kat fact: Has 21 stars tattooed on her face.

Katt Williams
Real name: Micah S. Katt Williams
Kat nip: The comic actor has been generating more press these days for his erratic behavior than his stand-up comedy, but the man who starred in “Norbit” and “Friday After Next” has a career on the rise… if he can stay out of trouble.
Katt fact: The night before his Carnegie Hall performance he was arrested on gun charges and released 35 minutes before showtime.

Kat Dennings
Real name: Katherine Litwack
Kat nip: The young actress has just started to make a name for herself after parts in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “The House Bunny” and opposite Michael Cera in “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.” Plus, she blogs.
Kat fact: Her favorite film character is Phil Connors in “Groundhog Day,” played by the inimitable Bill Murray.

Kat DeLuna
Real name: Kathleen Emperatriz DeLuna
Kat nip: At 13, this Domincan-American R&B singer joined the all-girl group Swallower, but eventually found greater success on her own after signing to rapper Akon’s Konvict Muzik label, where her debut album made it to number 58 on the Billboard charts.
Kat fact: Recently gigged in Tanzania as part of the Fiesta Full Kujiramba.

Kat Foster
Kat nip: The New York stage actress co-starred on the FOX sitcom “‘Til Death” with Brad Garrett until this current season when producers wrote her character off the series.
Kat fact: In the “Love Blactually” episode of “Family Guy,” plays Brian’s girlfriend who gets caught cheating with Cleveland… over and over again.

The Great Kat
Real name: Katherine Thomas
Kat nip: This Julliard-trained violinist took famous classical pieces and turned them into thrash metal guitar opuses. She is known for her ridiculously quick playing, and has been compared to fellow classically-trained guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen.
Kat fact: Says she dresses on stage in fetish gear to force men to realize “women can be as violent, powerful, angry, aggressive, competitive and virtuostic as men.”

Kat
Kat nip: A braces-wearing Mexican pornstar who has appeared in over 300 adult films, Kat was recruited into the business by a roommate who worked in the industry. Aside from her youthful image, she is also known for her squirting ability and was nominated for the 2007 AVN Award for most outrageous sex scene.
Kat fact: Would like to be a journalist when she leaves porn.

KAT
Kat nip: Formed in Katowince, Poland in 1979, KAT — which translates to “executioner” in Polish — are one of Europe’s longest running metal acts. Over the course of their nearly 30 years together, their sound has evolved from hard rock to thrash to black metal, and their 1992 opus “Bastard” is considered one of the greatest Polish metal records ever (it’s a short list!).
KAT fact: Have played with Metallica and Iron Maiden.

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1 Blake Schwarzenbach + Aaron Cometbus = Thorns of Life

2 Lars Ulrich + Whining about illegal Metallica downloads = $13.5 million Basquiat

3 David Fincher + Brad Pitt aging backwards = “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

4 Classic KISS + Classic artworks = A new show from Ron English

5 IGN’s 10 Great Punk Singers + The exclusion of Jello Biafra and Joe Strummer = Seriously?

6 The failure of The Ataris last album + a desperate attempt at regaining fans = a reversion to their old style on a new demo:

7 Gaius Baltar campaign posters + Wealthy nerds = “Battlestar Galactica” props and costumes on the auction block

8 Max Bemis of Say Anything + Chris Conley of Saves the Day = Two Tongues

9 Green Day + Converse = (RED) Shoe

10 Weird Craigslist ads + bogus responses = Craigslisting, our new obsession

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PUNK CHICK: Liza Graves
BAND: Civet
BIO: Though she’d probably bristle at her band being called pop-punk, the singer of Hellcat’s Civet fills a void that heretofore never existed: tough punk rock made by pretty women. Bonus points: Was recently featured on an episode of “L.A. Ink” getting a Medusa tattoo.

PUNK CHICK: Emily Whitehurst (aka Agent M)
BANDS: Tsunami Bomb, The Action Design
BIO: Putting the bomb in Tsunami Bomb and the action in The Action Design, Emily Whitehurst combines girl-next-door looks with a strong voice and has fronted two critically-acclaimed underground punkish pop bands.

PUNK CHICK: Allison Robertson
BAND: The Donnas
BIO: Dad penned a song on the “Karate Kid” soundtrack and mom worked at A&M records, but the gorgeous guitarist of the Donnas managed to join the family business and surpass the success of both parents.

PUNK CHICK: Hayley Williams
BAND: Paramore
BIO: With influences ranging from Etta James to Jimmy Eat World, Hayley’s energetic stage presence and catchy pop melodies propelled the band’s sophomore LP to go platinum, scoring a top 40 hit with “Misery Business.”

PUNK CHICK: Yula Beeri
BAND: Star Fucking Hipsters
BIO: The Israeli babe sang and played bass in NaNuchKa before joining SFH, a band where she’s joined by fellow female punk Nico De Gaillo.

PUNK CHICK: Brody Dalle
BANDS: The Distillers, Spinnerette
BIO: Going from one punk husband (Tim Armstrong) to another (Josh Homme) has helped boost the profile of this Aussie export who has the face of an angel and the voice of the devil. Bonus punk points: Her daughter’s middle name is Harley.

PUNK CHICK: Monique Powell
BAND: Save Ferris
BIO: If Joan Holloway from “Mad Men” sang for a mid-90s ska punk she’d be Monique Powell, curvy singer for the now defunct band named after the 1986 Matthew Broderick flick “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” Though rumors have circulated about Monique’s solo career, nothing official has surfaced.

PUNK CHICK: Cherie Curry
BAND: The Runaways
BIO: Though Joan Jett had a big solo career and Lita Ford dueted with Ozzy, singer Cherie Curry had a penchant for performing in lingerie — like a female Bowie… and she still looks great today. And besides, there might not be any Donnas or Distillers were it not for the Runaways.

PUNK CHICK: Stella Maxwell
BAND: Cruiserweight
BIO: Being in a band with her two older brothers means the stellar Stella always has family — and protection — around. The Austin-based band are currently on tour supporting full-length number two.

PUNK CHICK: Karina Denike
BAND: Dance Hall Crashers
BIO: One-half of the singing team (and three-fourths of the looks) behind East Bay ska-punks DHC, Karina harmonized her way through half a dozen records before going on hiatus in the mid-2000s.

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Poor David Marchese. He was just trying to do his job by interviewing Lou Reed for the latest issue of SPIN, and save for a few snotty comments by Reed during the first half of their chat, the interview was going along swimmingly. They touched on Reed’s varied solo work, his new CD/DVD, and begrudgingly, his time in the Velvet Underground. But when Marchese had the audacity to dovetail into questions that (gasp!) weren’t about music, Reed barraged the journalist with a steaming pile of bullshit. Rather than graciously declining to answer something or provide any kind of self-analysis, the apparently humorless Reed instead fires off a series of his own questions: “What answer do you want? Did you find your angle? Do you think you did a good job?” What a douche.

Is Reed really this self-important? Is he intent on being irascible because that’s his myth? Is he a bitter, leathery-skinned intellectual snob who wishes he were Dylan? Or did his childhood electroshock therapies simply zap him of graciousness? From where we’re sitting, nothing offensive was asked, and besides, the dude is Lou Reed, one of the most influential songwriters of his generation. You’d think that during an in-depth interview he might expect to be asked about things other than his music. If you put your life into your songs — and if Reed should be proud of anything in his career it is this — don’t get pissed off when people want to ask about it. You can read the whole interview here, or check out the painful conclusion below.

Tai chi training inspired your most recent album of new material [2007's Hudson River Wind Meditations]. Has studying martial arts affected your approach to music?
Everything affects the way I make music. I don’t understand what you want to know. I could say “yes.” Would that be better?

From what I understand, tai chi has a spiritual component as well as a physical one. Has that spiritual component found its way into your music?
It’s a really profound study. I couldn’t possibly sum it up for you. The problem is that I don’t think you know what you’re asking about. When you say tai chi, you’re just saying a generic thing like yoga. If you want to ask a question, you should know what you’re asking about, don’t you think?

It’s hard to find a story about you that doesn’t mention your reputation as a difficult interview. Does that perception bother you?
You could judge for yourself, can’t you? You want me to comment about other critics as though they matter. You save this question for last? I don’t know why you brought it up, seeing as we got along fine. Unless I’m mistaken. What answer do you want?

I want to know how you feel about the way you might be perceived.
You’re talking about critics and journalists. Listen, you’re not talking about music. I don’t want to get into this stupid subject with you. You brought it up. You shouldn’t have. We had a good conversation, and now we’re done. You feel better now? Did you find your angle? Do you think you did a good job?

The question wasn’t a trick.
I didn’t think you were trying to trick anybody. This is the kind of shit you wanted all along, and you saved it for last. What should I say?

I’m not looking for any particular answer.
You could’ve talked music, but this is what you wanted.

Haven’t I been asking about music this whole time?
You’re not interested in music. We’re done talking.

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As punk turns the corner into its fourth decade, it seems fitting that there are finally affluent buyers waiting in the wings to snatch up relics from punk’s salad days. Punk rock may have started on the streets, but it certainly didn’t remain there, having been co-opted by everything from Madison Avenue to Hot Topic. Christie’s, the world’s foremost auction house, recently announced their Punk/Rock sale, which, along with standard rock & roll relics like Jimi Hendrix’ hand-written lyrics and the original artwork for “Master of Puppets,” includes important punk rock items from the likes of the Ramones, Black Flag and the Misfits. We sat down with Simeon Lipman, the head of pop culture for Christie’s, and the curator of the auction, to get the scoop on where the items come from, how they’re appraised and the most notable items in the sale. The auction will be held Nov. 24th at Christie’s in New York City, but you can browse the items online here.

Have you been pleased with the amount of attention the auction has been getting?
Yeah, I think it’s great. It just shows you that people are interested in this type of material and it’s a good time for it. I’m glad we’re able to offer it now.

Is this the first auction Christie’s has done with punk rock items?
Christie’s itself has done Sex Pistols stuff in the past and we’ve sold some Ramones things. Certainly in our London offices there’s been a lot of Sex Pistols stuff sold over the years. But this is the first time we’ve done a comprehensive collection of like 120+ items that are specifically punk-related.

Why was this the right time for a punk auction?
I’ve been in this business a long time, and when I first got into it, all you ever heard about was the Beatles. And then suddenly you started to hear Jimi Hendrix’ name. Then it starts to creep. The generation who can now afford to buy this stuff is interested in different things. They’re not as interested in the Beatles as they are in the Sex Pistols or Nirvana. You’re seeing a whole new generation getting involved in collecting what they like and what they’re nostalgic about. There’s a giant group of people, including myself, who find the punk stuff fascinating. From that era, the material is quite rare because it was so ephemeral in nature – these were flyers and posters and things like that. Very few of these things were kept over the last 30 years.

Where does the stuff come from? How do you find the items that end up in the collection?
In this particular auction, I recruited the help of a gentleman by the name of Johan Kugelberg, who’s well-known in punk circles. In fact, for record collectors out there, he’s the guy who came up with the “Killed by Death” series which brought super-rare punk records to the masses. He knows where all the bodies are buried, so we were able to really draw out some phenomenal material for the sale.

How do you verify the validity of an item? It seems that something like a flyer would be easy to duplicate.
This has rendered a new world. Certainly things were xeroxed and things were mimeographed but there are ways to tell. With mimeographed things, there are ways to tell with the paper and the age, and of course provenance is very important — where is this stuff coming from? You know if it’s coming from someone from the era, who was involved in some way, you know it’s legit, but certainly you have to be careful.

Is it sometimes just a regular Joe who happens to unearth a shoebox full of punk pins in their attic?
The collection that we’re selling is generally about five different collections, so we’re talking about large groups of items – things that were collected over a long period of time in very distinguished collections.

Do they tend to come from people who ran punk businesses early on?
Originally they did, and some of this material comes straight from the people who were there at the time, and some of it is from the secondary market already.

How do you educate yourself about a sub-culture you may not be familiar with?
When it comes to something specific like this, I recruited the help of Johan Kugelberg, who’s our consultant, and we list him in the beginning of the catalog. This is something that auction houses do do because as much expertise as we have, we can’t have all the expertise, and it’s very important to offer only the finest material that we stand behind 100 percent.

Given that there hasn’t been a large punk auction like this before, how do you determine the price of the items? Is it simply guesswork based on age, rarity, etc?
That’s exactly right. With experience in this market you can kind of tell what things should be. That being said, at auction you really never know what’s going to happen. Things can go ballistic. Just recently we did a James Brown auction from the James Brown estate. And one item in particular was this medical bracelet. Just a little, silver medical bracelet that he used to wear later on in life. We had estimated it at $200 to $300, which was very conservative but not overly conservative. It got into a bidding war and ended up selling for something like $30,000. So things like that happen, and those are anomalies, but you’ve got to look at the broad range of items and what they’ve sold for in the past.

Is there an item in this auction you’re particularly fond of?
There are few for me that I think are really important. There’s a poster for the Ramones at the Roundhouse, July 4th, 1976. And that’s a really famous concert because it’s known that the Sex Pistols, the Clash and the Damned were among the audience and were influenced by the concert. It was a seminal event, certainly in British punk history. We have the actual poster from that event. It’s a real rarity. That’s one of the important posters. As far as a flyer goes, we have an original flyer from the Screen on the Green, which was an August 29, 1976 concert that featured the Sex Pistols, the Clash and the Buzzcocks. And these were flyers — so ephemeral – tacked on walls, tacked onto a tree – and here we have one that was kept for posterity. We have it estimated at $3000 to $4000. I think that’s one of the more important flyers in the sale. But we have stuff ranging from the very earliest Bowie-related material too. We have a press release from 1966 explaining why he was changing his name from Davie Jones, a name he’d already had some success with — but unfortunately there was a Monkee named Davy Jones. And he needed to distinguish himself so he changed his name to David Bowie. And this is the actual press release and the only known example of this.

You seemed to draw the line at early ’80s punk memorabilia. Why not include anything punk from the ’90s as well?
Like wine, it has to mature, and that material hasn’t matured yet. We know there’s a market right now for a lot of the punk stuff from the ’70s and early ’80s, and we know that there are contemporary art buyers who are fascinated by that period of time and the influence it had on art. We know there are people out there who dig this stuff, and that’s why we’re able to sell it now.

What about criticism that it isn’t very punk to be hawking this stuff at exorbitant prices?
We’re not trying to be anything but an auction house. It might not be punk to sell this stuff but people collect what they like, and this memorabilia has proven that people want to buy it and put it on their walls. It’s an opportunity for somebody who maybe back then didn’t get a chance to have one of the “God Saves the Queen” posters. This is an opportunity many years later to get that poster they’ve always wanted.

What’s the most expensive item in the auction?
It’s one of the more traditional pieces of rock memorabilia. We actually have the organ that John Lennon played in the 1965 Shea Stadium concert. It was his organ. He played it on the “Ed Sullivan Show.” And he played it in the studio as well and it’s estimated at $150,000 to $200,000.

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Ever since sex and drugs became perfect bedfellows with rock & roll, there have been book publishers willing to shell out big money for rock stars looking to tell their tales. From the biggest rock icons (Bob Dylan) to one-hit wonders (the drummer of Semisonic), plenty of musicians have tried their hand at telling their rock & roll story. And despite the fact that Patti Smith and Chrissie Hynde, two of the earliest rock chicks, have yet to pen their autobiographies, plenty of other rocking women, from musicians to groupies, have shared their stories — and struggles — with the world. Here’s a sampling:

Book: “When I Grow Up”
Rock chick: Juliana Hatfield
Publisher’s Weekly says: As a writer, Hatfield is humble and personable, if at times tedious; a clunky, symbolic prologue—about being unable to buy a pre-show shot of Patron with her club-issued drink tickets—is an early indicator of the book’s need for further edit. Still, fans of Hatfield’s bratty, bedeviled pop stylings should enjoy these glimpses into her life.

Book: “Petal Pusher: A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story”
Rock chick: Laurie Lindeen
L.A. Times says: “Petal Pusher” is a meandering, often repetitive catalog of road trips, gigs and thrift store coups. Lindeen meticulously recounts her 10-year journey through the rock ‘n’ roll wasteland, detailing every vintage stage outfit and scuzzy club, but the story plods under her unpracticed, three-chord prose.

Book: “Everything I’m Cracked Up To Be”
Rock chick: Jen Trynin
Entertainment Weekly says: Trynin’s terse, hilarious, you-are-there prose is as strong as her songwriting was, and this will remain an excellent primer for any rockers considering signing with a major label…for however many months said labels continue to exist.

Book: “Dirty Blonde”
Rock chick: Courtney Love
NY Times says: It’s the sort of thing that generally appears only when a person is dead, a kind of companion volume to Kurt Cobain’s lost-boy diaries, published in 2002. We get scribbled rants and lyrics, set lists, posters — everything from a Mickey Mouse Fan Club rejection note to an e-mail exchange with Lindsay Lohan. Self-indulgent isn’t a strong enough word. And Love herself seems to know this. A meta-scribble reads: “No I do not want my diaries published. I want my poetry & lyrics published. I don’t want my gobblegook nonsense ‘Romantic’ cathartic unstable keening published.”

Book: “Extremes”
Rock chick: Sharon Osbourne
Entertainment Weekly says: The dark humor and endearing pizzazz Sharon Osbourne exhibited on MTV is utterly missing in print, replaced with inane revelations (”Love, love, love my bed”) or unnecessary excursions (see Sharon go to a dermatologist; see Sharon have lunch at the Ivy). And for a book called Extreme, the prose shouldn’t be so middling.

Book: “I’m With the Band”
Rock chick: Pamela Des Barres
Publisher’s Weekly says: More bragging than confessional, the story explicitly details this particular groupie’s sexual exploits with Mick Jagger, the late Brandon de Wilde, Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page (he liked using whips and handcuffs to enhance sex, we’re told here), future Miami Vice star Don Johnson and many others.

Book: “Chronicles Volume 1″
Rock chick: Kim Gordon
Kim Gordon says: Basically what the book consists of is a loopy text of me having a conversation with someone named Julia about Dylan’s book Chronicles, at a Strokes gig. It’s supposed to seem like an excerpt out of a novel. The text is short, only just over a couple pages. The rest [of the book consists of] pics of me from over the [years]. And the book is titled Chronicles Vol. 1.

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Finally, some good records to listen to. It’s been a long few months with little to get excited about in the way of music, but we’re happy to report we’ve been rocking the below releases loudly in the YuppiePunk Music & Mustache Emporium™ for the past few weeks now. And just in time. We were moments away from unearthing our double gatefold copy of Lou Reed’s “Metal Machine Music” and playing side 4 until the Apocalypse.

The Gaslight Anthem - “The ‘59 Sound”
Though they share a home state with Springsteen and are frequently compared to him, the biggest similarity between the Boss and the Anthem is their working class story songs which blend gruff vocals and punk rock tempos with an arena rock sensibility. Not arena rock in a Scorpions kind of way, but more like John Mellencamp or The Hold Steady, which is partially due to the fact that they lay off the distortion more than most of their punk rock peers, and partially because you want to throw your fist into the air and pump it in time to the snare.
The Gaslight Anthem - “Meet Me By the River’s Edge”

Dillinger Four - “Civil War”
The long-delayed, much ballyhooed about new record from Minneapolis’ D4 was worth the six-year wait between albums. Call it the “Chinese Democracy” of punk rock (and not just because it shares the name of a Guns ‘N’ Roses epic), the record provides tough, non-preachy polito-punk with great song titles like “Clown Cars on Cinder Blocks,” “The Art of Whore” and “Parishiltonisametaphor.” It’s social commentary stuffed into three-minute blasts of sheer brute force.
Dillinger Four - “A Jingle For the Product”

Ben Folds - “Way to Normal”
The reliable Folds gives us another dozen songs of well-crafted, articulate piano-driven power pop — personal, intimate and awkward. Many songs are about love gone wrong (”Bitch Went Nuts,” “Cologne”), there’s a response to a former friend’s fuck-off song about him (”Brainwascht”), and even a song about falling off the stage (”Hiroshima”). The piano troubadour has yet to disappoint. Witty and wonderful.
Ben Folds - “Bitch Went Nuts”

Star Fucking Hipsters - “Until We’re Dead”
From the ashes of Leftover Crack comes a new group with an equally terrible name, but an enjoyable batch of sloppy, poppy don’t-give-a-fuck punk rock songs spanning several styles including ska-punk and metal. They also have that dueling male-female vocals thing going on with Nico De Gaillo sounding like Brody Dalle of The Distillers and Sturg sounding like sandpaper. They go a little heavy on the political thing, but it’s an honest, old-school punk rock record, the kind you just don’t hear all that often.
Star Fucking Hipsters - “Immigrants and Hypocrites”

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As long as there have been bands, there have been songs about women, from Marilyn Monroe to Monica Lewinsky to Queen Elizabeth. So why not Paris Hilton, the modern era’s most disposable tartlet, a perfect subject for the modern era’s disposable pop songs. Which isn’t to say that all of the below are lousy, but unlike say “Alison,” “Melissa” or “Angie,” won’t likely be remembered generations from now. Nor for that matter will the lasting cultural contributions of Ms. Hilton.

Cansei de Ser Sexy - “Meeting Paris Hilton”
Attempts to set a new record for the most uses of “bitch” in a three-minute pop song.

Dillinger Four - “Parishiltonisametaphor”
Notexactlyaboutparisbutcloseenough.

Mu - “Paris Hilton”
British electropunk by way of Japan.

Robert Lund - “Bangin’ Paris Hilton”
Set to the tune of BTO’s “Takin’ Care of Business”

South Park - “Paris Hilton Meets the Sparrow”
The last moments of the “Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset” episode of “South Park.” Season 8, episode 12.

Paris Hilton - “Stars Are Blind”
Stars are blind, and you may go deaf if you listen to this one too much.

Vincent Gallo - “I Wrote This Song For the Girl Paris Hilton”
Fuck Vincent Gallo and his bad art.

Steven Mark - “Paris Hilton Generation”
Irritating in its attempt at being literate. Also, can you trust a songwriter with two first names?

Paris Hilton - “Rock the Vote PSA”
Paris gets political.

Big Wassabi - Paris Hilton Blues
Rhyming embarrassed with heiress, now that’s something to be embarrassed about.

Brooklyn UK - “Paris Hilton”
Sample lyric: Rome is red, violence is blue, I don’t give a fuck about your high-heeled shoes.

Eleni Mandell - “I Love Paris”
The song from that Carl’s Jr. commercial she did.

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Shawn Barber has recently begun to learn the art of tattooing, but he’s been painting pictures of tattoos and its surrounding culture better than anybody for most of the past decade. He’s had shows in some of the best galleries on both coasts and his work is in the collections of several celebrities including Robin Williams, Van Morrison and Christian Slater. He is not, however, a famous linebacker.

Barber has a dark, realistic style which depicts a completely modern subject in a classic portrait style. His recent work experiments with ghost-like images ala Chad Robertson or Eric White, which gives the illusion of multiple exposures within the same frame. We also like how despite the precision of the tattoos and body parts in the paintings, some of the canvasses appear unfinished around the edges with the paint simply dripping down the stretched cloth.

He’s also seen Kat Von D naked (see below), which probably pisses you (and Nikki Sixx) off. Check out some of his work below, or peep his recent show at Billy Shire Fine Arts in Los Angeles. Most of the folks in his paintings are either tattoo artists or fine artists, but all of them have tattoos.

And here’s a look at Shawn at work in his studio:

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