Rockabilly-Online

Photo by Terral Bouman

All of my 22 years here on earth I’ve lived in Rotterdam. I grew up with wild rockin’ stories about jivin’ in Jailhouse Place, and late nights at The Flaming Star. But those places are no more 🙁 So I traveled all over the country for party’s, thinking that rockabilly in Rotterdam is gone. Until the last few months!

It started with a event called “De Rotte Tiet”. In english, translates to ” the rotten titty”. But let me explain! The name came from a parody of The Titty Twister, from From Dusk Till Dawn! Born from the brains of Jesse van der Heijden and Dennis Klootwijk, the plan is to organize a party, where you can just be yourself. Guys can be just classy lads, girls can be pretty ladies! Not like the disco,hipster and hiphopin’ folk on the regular places. The evening is filled with dirty Rock’n’Roll and Rockabilly, boppin’ tracks! Hans Worst is there to still you’re hunger with sauce, right from the grill. You can have you’re picture taken! And it goes on till late! I know, because I spinned the wax there! I danced like crazy when I didn’t spin. But the best part, I saw the older generation rockers and the newer generation in one place! So I highly recommend to go there! And I Look forward to the next edition!

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The 1940’s Victory roll hairstyle is often said to acquire its name from the fighter plane maneuvers of World War II. The planes created an exhaust roll that remained in the sky after leaving the area and inspired many patriotic civilians to adopt the name in honour of the soldiers returning home.
Victory rolls became popular in the 1940’s among every day women as well as the silver screen starlets of the time. Although victory rolls are perceived as glamorous, they also served a practical purpose.
Victory rolls became useful during wartime when women were shipped off into the workforce and were required to keep their hair off of their faces. This style proved useful for this very reason, while still maintaining a very feminine appearance.  

Nowadays it’s one of the favorite hairstyles of the women within the Rockabilly-scene; first of all because it’s indeed a very feminine but also a glamorous hairstyle and the second reason, it’s not so very difficult to create the rolls. If you have the right tools and the skills! 

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Hello fellow Rockabillies,

This article isn’t about music, or about pin-ups. This article is about a barbershop. But not just A barbershop!

Schorem haarsnijder and barber started in 2011 with a old principle: that there has to be a place where a man can be with ONLY other man. Sure, we like women, but sometimes we just need some alone-time!

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Once upon a time, I found myself on tour with the blazin’ hot band, Johnny Hootrock, barrelling through the even hotter Death Valley (117 degrees during the day!) in a darling RV, with a less than darling broken air conditioner.  When we pulled up to the honky-tonk in Arizona, my cohort Coco Lectric and I had to quickly get into glamour mode and put on a top-notch show for those fine folks.  That was some challenge, let me tell you!  Just a couple of hours earlier, we’d decided bikinis were the only acceptable outfits to wear on this trip, and had taken to spraying ourselves down with water bottles to keep from spontaneously combusting!

Coco and Ruby in the desert...

Now that was a rather extreme situation, but since we seem to be having a global heat wave, I wanted to share some tricks I’ve learned for maintaining that glamorous demeanor, from growing up in Texas…

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I was pulling double (maybe even triple?) duty this year at Austin’s annual celebration of sex, hot rods, and rock ‘n’ roll.  I was there to help promote my own event, the Spring Shock Hop.  I was also there to observe the yearly insanity and report it back here at Rockabilly Online. This year being the ten year mark, made my trek through the cars and the carnage a nostalgic one.  I remember when they could fit the whole Roundup in a High School foot ball stadium.  Now it’s grown into something that rivals even the mighty “Viva Las Vegas” out west.  As a Texan, it’s hard for me not to be proud.

Models: "Rockin' Couple from Austin" Photo: Cherrybones Photography!

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Coco Coquette set up shop in my hometown of Austin, Texas recently, opening up a little boutique of masterpiece wigs, vintage clothing, and a salon.  She also produces hybrid dance + fashion extravaganzas, and has even been featured on National Public Radio (NPR).  In celebration of Valentine’s Day, she presented her latest vision, “Cherchez la Femme.”  Twelve designers paired with twelve dancers or duets, and twelve songs representing every stage of love from New Crush to Heartbreak, to Marriage.  I was ecstatic when I was asked to create a burlesque striptease routine representing Marriage for the show’s finale.  My assigned song was Billy Idol‘s “White Wedding,” and I was paired with designer Chia Guillory.

Ruby Joule and Chia Guillory (photo: John Leach)

I met with Chia for several fittings, and swooned each time as the gown began to take shape with its strapless fitted bodice, petite shrug, and flared mermaid skirt.

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Hello my Dumplings!  After a brief hiatus of non-stop performing, I am back to dish the skinny about all those adventures.  Starting with… The Dallas Burlesque Festival, produced by Black Mariah, Elisa, and Ginger Valentine; three amazing performers in their own right!

The third annual Dallas Burlesque Festival was one of the most anticipated burlesque events in Texas, taking place over two nights, and attracting performers from New York City to New Orleans.  My fellow Jigglewatts, Jolie Ampere Goodnight, Coco Lectric and I headed up to “The Big D” for the Saturday night showcase at the House of Blues.

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Make sure your hair’s in a good shape; that’s very important in the scene. Us women need to arrange this with a lot of blood, sweat and tears, but for the men among us it’s a lot easier. And especially the lucky ones who live in the Netherlands. We have a real “quiffbarber”. I’m not talking about a barber who thinks he has some sense about ordinary hairstyles. No, a real rockabillie who’s made his hobby by cutting quiffs and this of course to the delight of the rockabillies in the Netherlands who travel to Hoorn for a good hairstyle.
Ritchie Mensingh is his name and he manages to have free time, besides his job and the cutting techniques, to be a drummer in the rockabilly band Buzz Barton’s Brothers.
Time to ask Ritchie a few questions about his hobby.

Tell us how you’ve come so far to begin cutting quiffs?
As a teenager, you’re being a bit like everyone, looking for your identity and I didn’t want to be like the rest (in the eyes of an adolescent anyway hahaha).

Ritchie Mensingh aka The Rockin' Barber

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Ok, so I’ve been out of the loop for a while and haven’t had a moment to breathe much less write. But with the new year comes a new start and so many new opportunities!

So What the hell has been going on?

Well one of the biggest shows my burlesque troupe (www.blackwidowburlesque.com) has ever undertaken happened in November! It was the first annual Spanksgiving! A burlesque festival and it was a huge success! We had a great show, a lot of fun, and are really looking forward to doing it next year bigger and better than this year! And….we totally created the best new holiday deity, the Spanksgiving Turkey! He wanders about the festival doling out spankings to all the good boys and girls!

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Wert Whirl is a “Retro Sexy” photography project by two talented San Antonio artists. 
This duo is Shannon Toy (hair and make up) and Jim Lander (photography).
They know how to mix photography with beauty and fun. Wert Whirl exists only 1 year, but they already shoot with names like Kitten Kaboom, Phil DeVine, Mizuz Inkoholik and Keke Noir.
Do you know what “Wert Whirl” is? It’s the whistle, that guys give to girls. The whistle sounds like a slide whistle and the sound resembles the word itself.
I asked Shannon a few questions about their project.

How you two got together to start this project?
I approached Jim about a Makeup Artist job. I had noticed he went to Taft High School in San Antonio, TX, as we did except one year ahead of us (I have a fraternal twin sister). My sister was in band with him actually. So, Jim set up a meeting after conversing on the phone with me about goals. He said I think I have something better in mind for you! Then we decided on themed photography pin up style. I came up with the name hard to say but you whistle it! Wert Whirl, the old wolf whistle, but in the 1950’s it was complimentary not crass. I was surprised that no one has thought to use it before us.

Tell us about your career in the past?
My first experience with the business was doing hair for a Betsy Johnson fashion show at a club in Dallas. Many seasoned hair stylist were amazed at what I had done to the models hair. Then I was asked to do hair and makeup for a calendar photo shoot through MySpace. I met a fashion designer at the shoot and she told me to get on Model Mayhem and start testing with photographers. I spent a year November 2007 to November 2008 trying to figure out where I belong in this field. Then I found my friend whom I have known for many years through the Rockabilly scene in, Dallas, TX., Wes Wolfe on Model Mayhem and we started a business up there called Valley of the Dolls Glamour, Pin Up and Retro Photography.  I met my husband, got married, and got pregnant we moved back to San Antonio, TX. 

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I was looking for a pompadour tutorial and found this one:

Next up, a few more questions on victory rolls! N. writes, “I’m writing you after discovering your articles on rockabilly-online.com. I was looking for resources on trying to figure out the victory roll look for myself…the bang roll is easy enough it’s the side ones that always gets me. But on top of that, my hair isnt think…more like a medium thin-ish and I was wondering; 1. is the back comb and hairspray the best way to go ….as opposed to pomade (and if so which kind would you recommend that’s accessible in like a drugstore, target, walmart, ulta or sally beauty supply). 2. should I add in clips of hair to give me more thickness to work with so they look like decent healthy rolls?

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Hey All!

I know, I know; long time no column! I’ve been very busy with all the Austin Fashion Week events, as well as planning for a brand spankin’ new burlesque festival!

Late August was a busy time in fashion world here in Austin with the 2nd annual Austin Fashion Week! I was participating in many fashion week events, and was even nominated for a best makeup artist people’s choice award as well as my mash-up team being nominated for a critic’s choice award! Here’s a few pics of all the spangly fun!

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Amber DeVille is an interesting case! She works her thing in front of the camera. Then gets her groove on BEHIND the camera as well! This multi-talented diva is someone we just had to hear more about. I think you’ll all agree.

So how did you get into modeling?

Amber in a photo by Roy Varga!

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Carol Writes:

“My hero is Dita Von Teese and I love her hair style picture here. I’ve never been able to master it though. Can you help me?”

The style Carol is asking about is often referred to as Dita rolls, or victory rolls. These can be pretty tricky to master, but with a little practice, you’ll be able to do all sorts of great styles with these skills!

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Over the years, some of the biggest modern pin-ups have come out of Dallas Texas. Genre stars like Jami Deadly and Masumi Max both got their starts there. Well today there’s a new generation putting their own spin on things. To that end, we set down with Taffeta Darling, a different kind of glamour girl for the 21st century!

Tell us about yourself?

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Jamie chills out!

Jamie Bahr is a relocated, rock & roll, voluptuary who has recently made her new home the Lone Star state.  In doing so, she found herself taking on a new role, the one of a glamorous pin-up model.  With buxom curves that bring to mind Jayne Mansfield and a voice like Wanda Jackson, Jamie is taking on both the modeling world and the music world with equal success.  

 
Tell us about yourself?

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