CHEER-RIFIC POWERPOP AT "ROCK'N'ROLL JUNIOR HIGH": episode 1

Mandy Mullins is the quintessential powerpop princess: a Jacqueline Taieb lookalike with the sweetest voice and a massive attitude for style!

She's the leader of the amazing Garbo's Daughter, a trio from Orlando, FL, who've already rocked our world with the oh-so-adorably-camp cassette "Garbo's Daughter GOES POP" (BURGER RECORDS, who else?)

www.myspace.com/garbosdaughter
www.myspace.com/burgerrecords

They are going to conquer our hearts with a supercool 7" for SURFIN' KI RECORDS (Carlo, who else? www.myspace.com/surfinkirecords) which is due out very very soon (CAN'T WAIT!!!!). Mandy has also released an amazing cassette with Jason Testasecca ("currently rocking with legendary NOBUNNY"), called FOR A TIME: A re-release of six sweet pop songs recorded back in 2002. The tunes were originally realeased on Travis Woods' label Go Zombie! Records in 2004. Lots of thanks and love to BURGER RECORDS for giving these songs a second life. All songs remastered by Patrick Haight. www.myspace.com/mandyplusjason

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D4UShuRUaw

1) If you were an old school djette sitting in a smoky radio booth, which tunes would you play for a bunch of teenagers having their first sleepover? Name 5 and tell us why.

Only five? Oh, gosh! Well, in general, I would say that anything that inspires lip-synching (especially of the melodramatic variety!), synchronized dance routines, and/or air-guitar & air-drumming (or even better, tennis-racket-as-guitar and couch-cushion-as drums!) would be appropriate for a slumber party. Just as long as you feel like a cast member from Rags to Riches, you’re on the right track. Here are five to get things started:

1. “I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonight” -Boyce & Hart http://www.youtube.com/watchv=tSMUtLHPH7Y

2. “Leader of the Pack”-The Shangri-Las
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGQt6GY8nKA

3. “All My Friends are Girls” -The Piperita Patties
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEq6SijGjKM&p=78EA787CC401CF05&playnext=1&index=12

4. “2 EZ 2 LUV U” -Thee Makeout Party
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZdMeKc95Xw

5. “A Dime a Dozen”-Diane Renayhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x43vK0k6A2I

When I was little and going to my very first sleepovers, I think the Dirty Dancing LP was the ultimate soundtrack for the night – and I would bet my bottom dollar that it would still hold up nowadays!

2. What’s your all-time favourite teen movie and what kind of food would you recommend to eat while watching it?
That’s an easy one! All-time fave: “Sooner or Later,” a made-for-TV movie from 1979, starring Denise Miller and Rex Smith. It’s the story of a 13-year old girl named Jessie who sees the boy of her dreams, Michael Skye, playing with his band at a mall parking lot concert. Days later, she starts taking guitar lessons and guess who is her teacher? Yup! It’s Michael Skye! She lies and tells him she’s older than she really is and they begin dating. One of my favorite scenes is when he takes her to his band practice and plays a song that he’s written for her. But as if that isn’t awesome enough, it’s also the song he’s been teaching her to play so he is actually singing it to her as she’s playing along on stage with his band. That scene is, like, my ultimate rock & roll dream! Haha! I won’t give away the whole movie, but it’s one of the best teen girl movies ever made. It’s so sweet and funny, and dreamy and down-to-earth at the same time. Jessie Walters is one of my favorite female characters ever in a movie and one that I think all of us rock & roll dreamer gals can identify with so much. As far as the best food to eat while watching “Sooner or Later,” definitely a Sara Lee chocolate cake eaten directly from the aluminum container – tears are optional (watch the movie to get that one!). Or any of the million treats that Jessie orders for herself when Michael takes her to the drive-in movie – she’s so nervous that she orders popcorn, soda, candy bars, hot dogs, and everything else at the concession stand!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjJhS4cjLtk&feature=related

http://www.saraleebakery.com.au/recipe.jsp?page=recplist&top=null&recp=134&rcat=SPCLTIME

Some great runners-up if you want to make it a double (or triple!) feature night…any movie that centers around the following plotlines: dancing and dance competitions (Girls Just Want To Have Fun, Hairspray), teenage girls taking the city by storm (Smashing Time, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen), girl rock bands (Satisfaction, Desperate Teenage Lovedolls/Lovedoll Superstar, Ladies & Gentlemen the Fabulous Stains, Josie & the Pussycats), meeting and/or kidnapping your favorite rock stars (Rock & Roll High School, Taking Five), a girl becoming popular/getting the guy because of a drastic transformation (preferably by magical/ridiculous means like Teen Witch and Love Potion #9…but a good old-fashioned makeover is cool, too, like She’s Out of Control), and of course Grease (or any Olivia musical like Toomorrow and Xanadu) and Grease 2 are always perfect. Every great teen movie should have up-to-the-minute (it was made) fashions, amazing/cornball soundtracks (extra points if the characters sing!), and at least one extremely cute boy.
BLONDE ICONS!!!!!

 3. Garbo’s Daughter imagery is ubercool: so pop and girly!!! What are your main sources of inspiration?

 I really love old teen magazines from the 60’s and 70’s, so I tend to pull a lot of inspiration from there. I’m a total softy, so I really like sweetness and innocence and hearts with arrows and shooting stars and pink and baby blue and thought bubbles and cartoons of rock stars, that kind of stuff. One of my favorite things in the world is when I get a package or letter in the mail and the person who sent it has drawn silly stuff all over the envelope and the letter. I love that so much! Boys are really good about that. I also love all of the old advertisements in teen magazines for fun send-aways like buttons, posters, trading cards, Beatles and Monkees dresses, and even penpals! We currently have a dozen different Garbo’s Daughter badges available and each and every one of them was pulled from bits and pieces of teen magazine articles and adverts!

COOL BADGES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4. I think that the bedroom is the most important space for a girl. Would you describe your ideal environment for a private party?

My dream room would be half Riff Randell’s room and then bits and pieces of all of the Beatles’ rooms in Help! There would be a cool sunken bed (like John’s!), tons of musical instruments (like Paul’s pop-up organ…that sounds dirty, haha!), vending machines with all of me and my friends’ favorite treats (like Ringo had!), and like Riff’s room, a young Dee Dee Ramone would be playing bass in the shower. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-xqJ0qMXcs