A Must Have Book For Your Shelves

Just Kids Patti Smith

Ok, so this is a book that I've had sitting on my shelf for quite a while now amidst the hundreds of other books that I'm yet to read and it's been one of those books that has been staring at me begging me to read it since the day I picked it up from one of my favorite record stores a year or so ago. I mean I've been wanting to read this ever since I bought it but having so many books means that I'm always spoiled for choice and with my reading game being a little bit off recently, I've just not gotten round to sitting down and having a good read in such a long time thanks to university life being so hectic.

But anyway as I no longer have to suffer the traumas of university for three months, it means that I can happily get back to reading and oh am I so so pleased that I started off my summer with this absolute dream of a book!

Some of you may or may not have heard of Patti Smith so for those of you less familiar, I'll give you a quick run down of who she is, what she has done and why she wrote this book. Ok so basically Patti Smith is predominantly a singer-songwriter however as you'll find out from the book, in her earlier years her road into music led from her love of art and her incorporation of poetry within it. Without telling you too much as I don't wish to ruin it for you, what the book really reveals is the way in which her journey leads her from art to poetry to music, all with the help of her muse and soulmate Robert Mapplethorpe. It is a beautiful tale of love, friendship, identity and progression with the perfect backdrop of life in America in the 70's but also the harrowing and subliminal consequences of growing up around the very liberal, drugs, arts and rock and roll scene.


Anyway the reason I fell oh so in love with this absolute work of art is due to the pure poetic style that Patti Smith has in her narration of her odyssey both in terms of her journey towards her music career but also the ethereal and pure relationship that she held with her soulmate Robert Mapplethorpe. The book tells the harrowing story of how she left home, got wrapped up in art, how her and Robert helplessly battled with poverty and scraping by through the help of selling their art; the rock and roll scene and for me what absolutely made this book was the way Smith and Mapplethorpe lived in the centre of so many artists and musicians stomping ground so the likes of Andy Warhol and Jimi Hendrix. An absolute favourite scene of mine is when Patti Smith travels to Paris to pay her respects to one of her heroes Jim Morrison(Lead singer of the Doors) and the way in which she illustrates and captures the moment she visited his grave is captured in such a heartfelt and powerful way.

I absolutely fell head over heels in love with Patti Smith's elegy to Mapplethorpe and the beautifully sad tale of their intertwined lives. It is such a beautifully raw piece of Literature and Patti Smith's storytelling is unparalleled. Throughout the memoir, there are photographs of both Smith and Mapplethorpe but also of their art and photography which just adds to the beauty of the book. It is a book that is a perfect read for your Summer days and one you can completely obsess over. This is for sure a book that will be remaining on my shelves forever more, one that I will never be parting with!

The Clueless Blogger

Escape to the Sea

As you all know by now, I absolutely adore Cornwall; this is something I feel goes without saying as you can tell by my copious amounts of blog posts on the place. Cornwall is honestly like a second home for me or well I guess a third home as I now live in Manchester also but anyway as I was saying I love the place and after spending so much time down there along the years, it is certainly a place that I resonate with completely and somewhere I feel completely at home. Anyway, me and my family decided to make an impromptu getaway down there at the weekend as its been such a long time since our last visit.

After a mad rush packing on friday evening, literally chucking everything into my bag not knowing whether I had remembered everything, we hopped in the car and began our four hour long journey down to one of my favourite places. Despite our journey being extended by two more hours due to rush hour traffic, it wasn't all that bad as it meant that I was able to spend the entire journey both there and back with my earphones in listening to my absolute favourites Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, The Doors, Nina Simone, Patti Smith.. I think you get the picture. It was absolute bliss, there's just something so ethereal about listening to Dylan playing his harmonica as you drive along the country roads. For me car journeys are the absolute perfect way to have a little thinking time but it also allows me to do loads of writing and reading, I love it!

Ok, so this post turned out to be slightly more rambly than precedented but ah well! We basically spent the whole weekend roaming around the shops, streets and alleyways of the town; taking photos of the sea; indulging in cake on the beach in the rain and admiring all the quirks that Cornwall has to offer. Although, the weather was pretty miserable on Saturday and it rained the whole time we were at the beach, this didnt bother me in the slightest as there is nothing I lve more than sitting on a drizzly beach, a conception that a lot of people probably find a bit strange ha ha. I also spent my days roaming aimlessly round all of the little boho shops that were full of crystals, dream catchers, incense and the most amazing quirky clothes, I was completely in my element!

Overall it was a great little getaway! Cornwall is an absolute gem if you want to getaway but still stay in the UK and if you're like me and love Cornwall too, let me know some of your favourite places down there, I'd love to know for my next visit! Or if you're planning on going to visit, then feel free to ask if you'd like to know anymore of the best places to visit when you're down there, I'd love to help!

The Clueless Blogger

Snippets of my Weekend

This weekend just gone, was my last weekend in Manchester before I go back to home to the oh, so lovely Shropshire(Can you sense the sarcasm?). As you can probably guess I'm so so sad to be leaving my favourite city for four whole months!! It's going to seem like forever until I'm going to be back walking the streets of the NQ; going to my favourite indie bar and spending copious amounts of money in Piccadilly Records; I'm genuinely holding back the tears as I write haahaha.  But besides the sadness of leaving until September, I can't get over the fact I move out of halls on Friday and mainly the fact that as of Friday I will no longer be a fresher and will soon be a second year moving into a house with some of my best pals. Its just all sooooo crazy! Its gone by so fast, it feels like it was only yesterday that I was just a little nobody arriving in such a big city all by myself.

 

Anyway, moving on from my bemusement.. as it was my last weekend in the city before Summer, I decided I wanted to spend it roaming around the NQ; having one last shop and mainly one last big crazy night before I have to move back home and become a recluse because I have no money*Sighh*. It was so lovely in the Northern Quarter on Sunday as the market was on so there were so many lovely little independent shops all selling such cute and delicious products. There were stalls selling so many amazing plants and cacti which satisfied my botanical obsession immensely; there was also copious amounts of cake and other baked goods including lots and lots of cheese(=happy Fran), along with some oh so lovely art prints; vintage clothes and collectibles and there was even a small band tent with live music and an kitsch little ice cream van. I mean, if I haven't sold it to you already, the photos definitely will. 

So as you can see by my photos, I roamed around the NQ; hit up the Arndale to brake the bank one last time in Urban Outfitters; grabbed a few smoothies from some of my favourite cafes and just had an overall lovely last weekend in Manchester which was certainly topped off by an amazing last night out on Monday night with some of my bestest pals. Result. 

The Clueless Blogger

But First... Coffee

I am currently living up to the stereotypes of a university student as i'm sat writing this blog post on about 4 hours sleeps, merely fuelled by coffee whilst eating my body weight in leftover Easter chocolate (the realities of a blogger aren't as glamorous as you think). I'm currently in the process of trying to get three 3,000 word essays written as well as finishing up a 4,500 word portfolio whilst also being aware that I haven't written a blog post in ages... as you've probably guessed I'm incredibly stressed at this overwhelming amount of work and I only have about three weeks to complete it all! *Laughing hysterically to hold back the tears because I've left it all til the last minute as per usual*. Funnily enough, you're probably wondering why I'm even writing a blog post right now instead of actually doing my work? Which is a very good question and one that I don't actually have an answer to as I dont even know myself, all I can say is that my ability to procrastinate never fails to amaze me.


As I'm incredibly stressed right now, I felt that the other day it was important that I need to just take a step back from all of my work for a minute just to take a second to sit back and breathe, to take in everything around me and to basically just remember that everything is ok. I mean despite being swamped in mass amounts of assignments, everything is still ok, life goes on and it's important to remember to chill as everything works itself out. On this note, as I've become a recluse recently, locking myself in my room in order to try and get all of my work finished, I decided that this wasn't good for me and was actually making me less productive so I decided that I would drag my flat mate out to go and grab some cake and coffee. I know that sounds really simple just going out for coffee but it turned out thats just what we needed; at the minute everyone at university is equally as stressed as exam season is fast approaching so we're all in the same hysteric mentality and so it was just really good to take a second out of our busy work schedules to just go and sit down in a coffee shop. This definitely worked in our favour as it then motivated us to get on with our work when we got back and definitely made us more productive.

Anyway, I thought that I'd put together a little playlist together that basically is a compilation of some of my all time favourite songs that I find are perfect if you're sitting in a coffee shop with your laptop trying to do assignment or sometimes in my case, some blogging. I mean even if you're not in a coffee shop, if you just need something to listen to, to get you through your revision in an attempt to keep you sane or even just as a reading accompaniment; give this playlist a listen:

Boys Don't Cry The Cure

Oh! You Pretty Things David Bowie

Passenger Iggy Pop

Hey Joe Jimi Hendrix

Wish You Were Here Pink Floyd 

Disco 2000 Pulp

Dreaming Of You The Coral

Movin' On Up Primal Scream

Just Like Heaven The Cure

Blackbird The Beatles

The Beautiful Ones Suede

Hand In Glove The Smiths

Rat Trap The Boomtown Rats

Anyway check out this playlist and enjoy these cute candid photographs of me  enjoying my carrot cake and coffee way more than a normal person. 

The Clueless Blogger

The Whitworth, Andy Warhol Exhibition

So, if you've read my previous post, you'll know that yesterday I headed to my local art gallery in Manchester, The Whitworth. When I say local, I literally mean that it is opposite my flat and is only a two second walk; with this being the case I've been meaning to go and check it out for about six months now and I've just never gotten round to it. As it was such a lovely day yesterday and as I heard that there was an Andy Warhol exhibition going on, I just knew that I had to go and check it out before it finishes. The gallery itself is soo lovely; its got the right balance of historic architecture as you'll see in my photos of the exterior but it also has such gorgeous contemporary aesthetics as well. The gallery is actually situated in Whitworth Park which means that there is an amazing view from the glass cafe. This gallery actually turned out to be one of my favourites that I've visited as it was just so quirky and dainty, with so many different twists, turns and stairwells leading you to what felt like a never ending array of art; I'm definitely going to be paying it many more visits in the future.

Besides, the gallery itself being so lovely, the Andy Warhol exhibition was equally as amazing. I had an absolute whale of a time just roaming around and admiring all of his work of which I have always been a huge fan of. After visiting one of his exhibitions in Tate Liverpool a few years back, I didnt expect this exhibition to be as good as it was in such a smaller, less well known gallery but, it definitely exceeded my expectations. The exhibition was full of so many of my favourite Warhol pieces including 'Gun' (1981), 'Electric Chair' (19640 and 'Self Portrait Strangulation' (1978). Warhol is one of my favourite artists partially due to the controversy of his work but also because his work is symbolic of so many political and social issues. As mentioned above, two of my favourite pieces are 'Gun' and 'Electric Chair', both of which were part of his Death and Disaster collection; a theme that became more prominent throughout his work following his near death experience in 1968. The 'Electric Chair' particularly strikes me as it captures the event of the execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg during The Cold War (For those of you who don't know, The Cold War has always been my favourite part of History to study). This piece captures the height of political tensions during this period of time in a morbidly artistic way and I absolutely love it.

Before I get too caught up in my admiration of Warhol's work, I'm just going to leave it there with how mind blowing and how influential both he is as a person as well as his work. He is genuinely an artistic genius in my eyes and his work is of paramount significance. Below, is a small compilation of some of the photos I took on my little trip to the gallery yesterday so you guys can share the experience too. 

 

If you want to go and check out the exhibition, you've still got time; the Andy Warhol exhibition is going to be open until April 16th. I definitely recommend that you go and check it out, the work is amazing!

The Clueless Blogger

Sunshine and Daffodils

Finally, the sun is out and Spring is in the Air! Today, it officially felt like Spring was here (Well in Manchester anyway), the sun was out from the minute I opened my curtains this morning and it was such a nice feeling to feel the sun shining through my window after so long. I decided that you know what, I'm not going into university today because instead I'm going to enjoy the rarity that is the sunshine.. dont worry I was only supposed to be in for an hour anyway so it wasn't too bad. Although, I did end up spending a lot of my day doing work anyway which kinda makes up for it in my head but it was just so nice to give myself the day off. I spent most of the day sat on my floor on my tapestry, drinking coffee and doing assignments but it was just so lovely as I was sat by my big open window in my flat and it generally just made me so happy and actually more productive as I was actually enjoying doing my work with the help of the sunshine. I was so content in my own little world listening to Happy Mondays in a celebratory gesture as today I also managed to get myself and a friend two tickets to go and see them this year, ahhhh! Today was a good day!

After doing some work, I decided that I was going to go for a walk in the sun, go to the local art gallery and maybe pop into a cute cafe somewhere to grab a well deserved cappuccino and a slice of cake. It was so lovely to be able to put a cute summery outfit on considering I've basically been purely dressing for the drizzly rain and freezing cold recently which means that I've been forever living in old grandad jumpers and mom jeans. So, to make the most of the weather, I popped on my favourite yellow jumper, my dusty pink pinafore, docs, grabbed my Levis jacket(outfit details below) and headed to the gallery. Although on the way, through the park, I couldn't help but spot some daffodils and of course had to make the most of this photo opportunity so against her will, I forced my flatmate into becoming my photographer for the day ha ha, don't worry I repaid her with coffee.

As I said, we headed to the gallery after exhausting my camera with daffodil photos and just roamed around the Andy Warhol exhibition that was going on and then headed to a coffee shop. It was such a lovely day and it's made me so much more excited for Summer to come along now as I can't wait to have more days out like today just roaming around, exploring in the sunshine. It's amazing how much the sun can uplift your mood! Anyway, thats all for now but keep an eye out for a follow up post of my time in my local art gallery, The Whitworth.

 Outfit details: Yellow Jumper: Vintage, Pink Pinafore: Topshop, Levi's Denim Jacket: ASOS, Doc Martens, Dogtooth Socks: Topshop, Fishnets: Primark, Kanken Rucksack 

Lets just hope the sun comes out more frequently from now on so I can go out and take more blog photos without getting rained on!

The Clueless Blogger

Sundara Karma

The other night, was an absolute blast as I got to see one of my favourite bands at the moment live in Manchester. Basically, at the moment I'm absolutely in love with Sundara Karma and I'd been waiting impatiently for months until the night came around that I was actually going to go and see them. They were honestly incredible. Despite the crowds being absolute twats, with underaged kids drunk falling everywhere, it was still a brilliant gig. As you all know, I love nothing more than going to gigs and listening to live music so you can imagine how much of a good time I had. I ended up taking one of my friends with me who had never been to a gig before so this was such a cool experience for me to introduce her too. Unfortunately lmao she hated how rough it was ha ha but I guess you either love it or you hate it, kinda like marmite. Anyway, there's not much more I have to say on the matter apart from go and check out Sundara Karma if you haven't already, they're an amazing band with a kind of indie pop vibe; my favourite songs of theirs include 'Flame' and 'She Said' so go and give them a listen (I'm aware that this is a pretty short post but I feel like my photos speak for themselves ha ha).

*Just your typical indie in ripped fishnets loving life*

Summary: I walked away bruised, drunk and smelling of beer; what a fabulous way to end the night! 

The Clueless Blogger