i wanna discuss trends for a sec…
…lately i’ve been seeing more and more girls with mohawks. i dated the short-haired girls a bit here and there, although the last two latinas both had long hair (as well as zero tattoos or piercings save for ears, i might add) so i’ve gotten used to (and quite enjoy) the longer hair now. that being said, some of you (e) can pull off short hair rather nicely.
but a mohawk? always takes me back to the curfew days…
…not when i HAD a curfew. i honestly don’t think growing up i ever actually did.
no, “curfew” was a club at 222 e. 6th street in austin. it was a “goth” club before the term “goth” was coined. they were referred two as “PIB’s” back then – “People In Black”. the scene INSIDE the club paled in comparison to the scene on the sidewalk going up the hill between sixth street and the alley on san jacinto – that was where all the freaks, gutter punks, x dealers and skinheads intermingled to form their own little society. it was where i saw my first “tragus” piercing, as well as several other piercings and tattoos and mohawks and leather and spikes. for the “odd” kid from a small town in texas i had found my home. my people. i was accepted. no longer was my love of music from depeche mode, the cure, and new order a thing of weirdness – it was what EVERYBODY was in to. if anything i noticed that these kids that desperately wanted to NOT fit in with the acid-washed, big-haired, pastel shirt wearing, jovi & roses loving kids they had grown up with DID want to look like each other. black leather jacket. levis or girbaud jeans. cavaricci slacks. doc martens shoes. generra everything else. i fit in nicely.
and that was 1989 for me – right after all my “skating buddies” had decided to go “cowboy” overnight (almost literally – and i’m NOT making that up) so they could get girls. they all ended up with divorce lawyers and child support payments (save for JAB)…i went the curfew route. none of that shit for me, and no drug habit, rehab, or jail time either.
i guess i did alright. where was i going with this? my fault for typing a bit at a bar while drinking…
…oh, yeah – the curfew/”chick n’ hawks” tie in.
back then i would see girls that i could look at their face, their attire, and their bodies, and think, “DAMN, she’s hot!”. than came the hair…and the magic was gone.
one thing the 1980’s are know for is shitty hair. no apologies. no bullshit. we all, pretty much, had shitty hair. few and far between are the kids that came of age in the 1980’s that don’t have at least one of “those” pictures to hide due to poor hair choices. lord knows i do. but these girls were GORGEOUS…if only their hair wasn’t pink and half-shaved and gelled to all hell.
now it’s twenty years later. they’re in their early to mid-thirties (curfew notoriously catered to under-aged folk, which i can’t hassle as i was seventeen the first time i crossed their doors and was ABOVE the average age of the clientele of this “eighteen and up” establishment) and most of the ones i remember have added me on facebook, have squeezed out a kid or three, and are still pretty hot…now that they have normal hair.
i’ve seen a few girls with mohawks as of late – not TOTALLY shaved on the side, but shaved down enough to get the desired effect. and most of ’em didn’t pull it off well. the lil’ latina at the gym today? she did – but then the “knuckles to elbow” ink with nothing else going just let me know all was done for shock effect…and nothing loses me quicker than people i KNOW are just trying to go for the whole “shock and awe” thing.
maybe ’cause i do it with my personality alone? well, that and motherfuckin’ charm…but now i’m just sounding egotistical, i suppose.
so ladies, lose the ‘hawks. and don’t tattoo from the knuckles up alone…i read an article where a tattoo artist from the west coast said that was the trend and i doubted him…but more and more i see it’s true. austin has “keep austin weird” shirts – but you’ll notice it doesn’t say “keep MANAGEMENT weird” – think about your future, folks…long after you think that AFI logo is cool you still need to pay your bills. just sayin’…