Get Up Edina!

Coffee & Cigarettes
By Theresa Meire

Dave the Spazz…

As I sit here listening to his excellent radio show on WFMU (online at www.wfmu.org, Thursday nights at 8pm EST) I reflect on my life and my long journey.

Hair

As any skinhead girl or anyone with some hair knows, finding a good Hair stylist is murder. And finding one to do a good skingirl feathercut or Chelsea or whatever the fuck they call it in your corner of the globe is hard as hell. First, I had a great haircut guy who, after a few explanations and some pictures gave me practically the perfect haircut. Just to be clear, I'm not of the Friar Tuck type, all shaved with a mullet in the back and fringe in the front. I can't pull that off and the fringe in the back looks dumb as hell with my two wacky cow licks in the back. So I go for that more restrained short pixie length with feathers and bangs.

Any who, so this guy Steve cut my hair really great but he was like $30 a pop! I seriously couldn't afford it after he wasn't a two minute walk from my house (we moved to the New Jersey sea shore, Hello Bruce Springsteen!) There was no way I could afford him anymore, regardless how cool he was (an old biker guy who would tell me tales of hair cutting contests with Paul Mitchell!)

So I've been to a couple of those $10 haircut places, but I've never gotten it exactly right. Then, like an idiot, I thought I'd listen to John.

"I can shave my own head, I'm sure I can cut your hair with the clippers!" Okay so I'm sure you could see how that went. Tried to save a buck and ended up going back to a $10 hair cut place to

get it "fixed." I almost got divorced as well but that had to do with a certain man ripping my hair out with a pair of hair cutting scissors and the cheapest comb imaginable.

Well, I'm beginning to look like one of those Hell's Angels again so it's time for a haircut. A Spanish speaking friend told me she'd take me to her Brazilian hair stylist and translate what I wanted. They're cheap and she said she'd get me some Brazilian food so I figure, hey, it can't be any worse than the corny ass haircut I got from John and maybe I'll end up looking like the skinhead Carmen Miranda. Only taller. And fatter. And white. Hmmm…that's a stretch actually but no matter.

Scene

I live near Asbury Park, NJ and there's a little bit of a scene around a bowling alley/bar called Asbury Lanes. I've been to some shows there but I've only ever talked to the bartenders and one random drunk guy. They have cool shows, cheap drinks, great sushi, and Kustom Kar shows. I've never made friends easily and my skinhead husband is also a bit of an introvert. (I guess that's putting it mildly, he's just convinced most other people are jerks and not worth knowing…) We've only been here for two years and most of the people I know and I'm friendly with are my coworkers. Young, hip, black women who are very stylish and to whom the term Reggae doesn't mean roots, but dancehall. Other than that they are great though! I have some buddies in college but I'm 28 and they're all 20 so it's not like we hang out a lot or have too much common ground and most of the honkey toast at that small private school think punk is NOFX. They'd probably go mad if I waved Judge Dread or Rose Tattoo at them.

The Question

It's kind of weird. I'm a lifetime skinhead, I started out as a Metalhead in high school then went to punk in the last years of high school. I've always believed in and known about the American East Coast skinhead life but had hair. Lots of hair. A holdover from my metal days I guess, but when I shaved it off in my mid-twenties, I became sort of identifiable to people in the know.

What to say to the question 'Are you a skinhead?' It depends on who's asking. I do always answer yes, but not before a long pause trying to size up the asker of the question. I answer yes but sometimes I don't feel like the whole 'school you in the ways of the non-racist skin' explanation. Most of the times it's other skinheads or just people who "used to be" or think they are. I haven't had too much bad luck with hammers or headz. Mostly yahoos who say "I'm traditional, I like

reggae" and then blather on about how this group or that group is ruining America. Hey fucknuts, my grandparents were the immigrants once. They had weird clothes, weird food, and weird smells. They were poor, worked shit jobs and honkey toast like looked down on them and called them greasy Italians, or dirty Belgians, stinking gypsies, and lousy Krauts so why don't you can it? Instead of wasting my time I usually just walk away and get another beer. Who has time for that shit?

Clothes

Okay, I am fucking poor. Not living in a motel room with ramen noodles bought on my almost maxed out credit card poor (shut up, you've been there or known people who have!) but after I pay rent, I have to wait until the next payday to do laundry, buy toilet paper or other things most rich people take for granted. I am not, AM NOT going to spend 50 bucks on a fucking shirt because it's some fucking approved skinhead brand. Fuck that! I have to eat and I have to drink. I'm lucky to have a Doc Shop near me with great 75% off sales to get my boots. I'm lucky to have attended a Fred Perry sample sale in NYC once. I'm lucky to have gotten a couple Ben Shermans for cheap off e-bay. Is that my whole closet? Fuck no. I'm not a style queen and if the belief that clothes don't make you a skinhead makes more of a punk so be it. Buying something just because it's Ben Sherman or Levi's is just as bad as buying something because it's Nike or Puma or Tommy Hilfiger. It's fucking white person nonsense that is used against you to make you not think about important shit like 'where's my freedom of thought?' and 'why do so few people have money?' and 'what would the government do if the masses of people revolted?' How can you think about that if you're busy making sure you don't spill ketchup on your new Lonsdale sweatshirt?

Working Class

Everybody knows skinhead is basically a working class movement (oh duh! Did you read that in Spirit of '69 genius?) but not everyone who is a skinhead is working class. I'm not sure what I am. My parents were bureaucrats and I've been a DJ, a music writer, a retail wage slave, a temp slave and I currently work in an office that pays for my college. I pretty much scrape by check to check and have to ride my bike to work (I would probably ride it anyway since work is close by but I don't have a choice right now) but I don't make my living with my back. To tell the truth, a lot of women don't. Women are usually given jobs like sewing, cleaning, waitressing, or a 'pink collar' office job and that's pretty much been my life. I am not going to front with a fake English accent, pretend like I have Irish heritage when I don't, and say shit like "I'm working class." I grew up in rural New Jersey and that's the face of white American poverty. Out in the country, but don't think like I had it bad. It was nice, ya know. A big yard, never wondering where the next meal was coming from and most of the time having a car. Most kids got a $5 allowance and I got 50 cents, but hell, that builds character or something, right? I don't know what class I am except low class.

Drinking

Okay like most honkey Americans I'm a mutt. I'm part German and part Belgian. Both are countries known for their excellent beer and excellent drinking. I'm also Italian and Hungarian, two countries known for their wine and excellent eating and drinking. I am a beer snob and being part Belgian gives me the right to be a snob. I don't drink Bud or Miller. My domestic of choice is Yuengling. If I'm drinking cheap I may as well not pay for advertising and drink Schlitz or Rhinegold or even Pabst if I'm hanging with Psychobilly fans. Favorite Micros: Anything from Brewery Ommegang in NY, anything from Stoudt's in PA, Brooklyn in NY, and Maudite from Canada. Favorite imports? Duvel, Chimay, Delirium Tremens, Vuuve, Gulden Drak, anything Belgian really, Red Stripe (reprazent!), Negro Modelo, Bohemia. I'm willing to try any micro or import once although domestic micros are better than imports because they always import the shittiest stuff and keep the best brews in the country. So ends my beer philosophy.

In Conclusion

Being a skinhead woman (or girl if you must, but hey, I AM an American so “byrd” only cuts it if you're actually FROM the UK) hasn't made my life easier, it didn't make a woman (rock and roll did that… HA!), but it did give me a great haircut and a better personal style. It gave me a pretty good asshole detector and more reasons to buy reggae music (not that I didn't before, I've been a vinyl junkie longer than I've been anything) and dream of the store Jammyland in NYC, and it didn't

make me less of a feminist. I mean think about it, Combat 84 singing "Rapist" says a lot, but an angry skinhead woman singing it? Says a whole lot more I think. You don't have to be prissy, queeny, and girly to prove that you're still a female under your short hair. You can still be yourself and be a skinhead. You have to own it, you have make it part of who you are, not just something you do. You also have to decide: am I the Skinhead Theresa or Theresa, the skinhead or something different? It's not for everyone, but it is more than a book from England, a brand of clothing and a type of haircut. It's what you make it. Just because I make it boots, drinking and roots Reggae

doesn't mean you have to.