I try to keep an open mind about things, but it can be really hard. When I flew to a friend's wedding in Minnesota, who was sitting across the aisle from me? Garrison Keillor, of course. So what do you think happened to me the moment I get out of the car this morning in the Slope and set foot onto Seventh Avenue? That's right, I just about get run over by a stroller, and bump into a guy wearing a Bjorn. Hey, I did find a parking spot in about 30 seconds, though.
Anyway, the kid drew on her shirt with a crayon at Two Boots, so we ducked into Lolli to buy a replacement, and I saw M is for Metal, a slick, funny alphabet book for umlautoholics and their kids.
The book is by Paul McNeil and Barry Divola, and is published by Love Police, an independent record label in Australia. That's right, hipster Australians [McNeil's actually from New Zealand, the Canada of Australia, but only New Zealanders keep track of that kind of stuff.]
You can abbreviate and just read the "Z is for Zeppelin," &c., part, or you can read the whole poems:
z is for zeppelin,M is for Metal is $AU28 +shipping, or you could hoof it to Lolli. [lovepolice.com.au]
we followed, they led,
stairway goes to heaven,
then off to bed.
Oh my god, that is the coolest.
I must chastise you, though, for buying a new shirt to replace a crayon-marked one. The metal/punk thing would be to declare it intentional... My kid (just turned 3) is changing her clothes three, four times a day and I have been trying in vain to convince her that it's okay to hang out with a little dirt on her clothes. Please. So mommy doesn't have to do even more laundry. Please. This must stop before baby brother comes and adds to my laundry woes. Please.
[yeah, I know. we were out, though, and about to meet someone. As it turned out the shirt I bought, from I Can Fly, was really boxy and looked sloppy. We ended up going with the crayon shirt anyway. -ed.]
Have to agree with Naomi – this is killer cool. So cool, in fact, that I went searching for it – I couldn’t settle for that one little Zeppelin teaser. Took me a while. Found several places that had suggested it last fall as a Christmas gift (Harper’s Bazaar), but no listings at the big book sites like Amazon and Barnes and Noble. So I decided to go to the source and headed to the LovePolice website (www.lovepolice.com.au), and I was hooked almost immediately. Cool interactive homepage with art reminiscent in some ways of Daniel Clowes. After spending a little time there, I’m still not absolutely sure what these guys do, but they seem to be a design and media company of some sort, focused on rock. I found a number of posters and t’s that I don’t think I could find anywhere here in the U.S. Not sure why they haven’t managed to get their books listed by any bookstores, but I ordered mine and it should be her in a couple of weeks.
Just to let you know Love Police - is a design company, doing cd's, posters, merch etc AND also a promotion company - bringing great bands to Australia. They are also an indepedant record label, their motto:
"stop talkin crap, record it, package it, put it out... someone will like it."
Hope that helps..
thanks folks
Check out our New PUNK ALPHABET!!
you might just love it
available from lovepolice.com.au
or in USA insound.com
cheers!
paul
My nephew brought this book and he is 12 I sat and read it and loved it. I knew most of the bands in the book and found it a very cleverly written alphabet book for all ages