Click opera - Gallery: Adidas-clad ectomorph gousters

May 2008


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	Fri, May. 9th, 2008 12:20 pm

Gallery: Adidas-clad ectomorph gousters

I love the 1979 film Rockers, which I first saw -- and watched on repeat loop -- in a wooden house in Hokkaido three years ago, buried under several feet of snow. It was the perfect antidote to the Japanese winter, and yet, at the same time, the perfect complement to it: in a weird style-swap, many of the sartorial modes you see in this movie are preserved in Japan much better than they are in today's Jamaica. Watching the movie, I kept seeing "Japanese" faces (look, there's Eye Yamataka!), and imagining the record shacks where Horsemouth flogs his dub plates were in Shimokitazawa or Koenji.

Under the cut I've put a big strip of freeze-frame pictures from Rockers, which shows more cool dandies -- Adidas-clad ectomorph gousters, many of them reggae musicians in real life -- than any other film I know. But you really have to see the film to get the full effect, because you need the music, and you need to watch the way these guys (and they are mostly guys) walk. Like wounded tom cats or swaggery, staggery lions of Judah with ludicrous, loose-limbed ganja gait. Oh, to walk -- and dress -- like that!

luckysaddle

	Fri, May. 9th, 2008 11:10 am (UTC)

These pseudo-Adidas wearers should watch out, as it is a case of 2 stripes bad, four stripes worse as this case shows.

imomus

	Fri, May. 9th, 2008 11:16 am (UTC)

Bah, does Adi Dassler think he invented the stripe! What hubris!

count_vronsky

	Fri, May. 9th, 2008 07:38 pm (UTC)

sha la la la la and a ling tong ting

Edwins love momus!!

count_vronsky

	Sat, May. 10th, 2008 03:08 am (UTC)

D'yer maker

I caught a ride with one of these gousters once. Not Jamaica, but a nearby island, I was maybe 16. I had had an argument with my friend about who was going to drive the scooter that night, and I wouldn't give in and he wouldn't budge, so I said f' it, I'll hitchhike home. Rasta man picked me up and drove me the 30 minute ride home talking, or maybe preaching, the entire way. Not one word, not even a syllable did I understand, but I sat there nodding, saying yeah, yeah, like I spoke fluent dub the entire time.

(Anonymous)

	Fri, May. 9th, 2008 12:26 pm (UTC)

Red Stripe! Hooray Beer!

(Anonymous)

	Fri, May. 9th, 2008 12:52 pm (UTC)

you love a skinny man in a tracksuit

oh Momus, they just look like they're at art school in the early 90s.

(Anonymous)

	Fri, May. 9th, 2008 02:25 pm (UTC)

i really like jamaican food. i really would like some rice and peas, dumpling and brown stew right about now. it's the ultimate comfort food. i grew up above a jamaican restaurant and unfortunately while i find a lot of restaurants in brooklyn that specialize in this particular food, none of them match that exact taste i'm used to. there are some close calls, though. perhaps i will go to one tonight.

sorry, just had to vent. the movie looks interesting, i'll have to check it out. is there any good jamaican in berlin?

niddrie_edge

raymond

	Fri, May. 9th, 2008 02:33 pm (UTC)

I find it interesting looking at the clothes worn in various zones of strife. Current African clothing in Kenya and Somalia and Sudan are worth a look.
The Lebanese and Palestinian and Iraqi outfits tell many stories of imperialism.

lord_whimsy

	Fri, May. 9th, 2008 02:50 pm (UTC)

More of a Swenka man.

count_vronsky

	Fri, May. 9th, 2008 07:43 pm (UTC)

I am a man of constant swenka

Daddy!

flying_squid

	Fri, May. 9th, 2008 10:19 pm (UTC)

Re: More of a Swenka man.

I am jonesin' the Swenka a lot!

lord_whimsy

	Sat, May. 10th, 2008 02:51 am (UTC)

Re: More of a Swenka man.

For a Philly flavor: Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes

lord_whimsy

	Sat, May. 10th, 2008 02:52 am (UTC)

Re: More of a Swenka man.

(Jesus, Teddy was a beautiful man)

Edited at 2008-05-10 02:54 am (UTC)

flying_squid

	Sat, May. 10th, 2008 05:35 am (UTC)

Re: More of a Swenka man.

Indeed, I remember you posting about the Blue Notes before. Excellent!

electricwitch

La favola mia

	Fri, May. 9th, 2008 04:15 pm (UTC)

Yeah, I loves me a man in a tracksuit who smells suffocatingly of weed.

zazie_metro

sunshine wong

	Fri, May. 9th, 2008 04:15 pm (UTC)

Looks awesome. Let's do a "Rockers" film night! Do you have the DVD? If not, we may have to think of ways to procure a copy, ne...

imomus

	Fri, May. 9th, 2008 05:13 pm (UTC)

I have the file, so let's have an evening of it, Sunshine!

akabe

alin huma

	Fri, May. 9th, 2008 05:39 pm (UTC)

i just happened to watch it again the day before yesterday so i'm with you give or take a minimal gap in the space-time continuum. oh the 70s; my theory is that sweat (the essence of the 70s from what i recall) and other bodily odours, hair and all will make a big comeback in the next ten years.

electricwitch

La favola mia

	Fri, May. 9th, 2008 05:46 pm (UTC)