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Why I pay $80 for a haircut
As a second grader, I acquired some hair-related baggage that affects me to this day. Though not the first day of school, I believe it only made matters worse that a week had passed; just enough time for my new classmates to become familiar with my name, face, and existing bowl-cut.
The second week of school, my mom decided I needed a quick trim. But the cut was only a prelude to the confusion and shame that was soon to follow. Before I knew what hit me, I had been coaxed into a chair where I sat for hours with a head full of small plastic curlers soaking in a noxious marinade of perm process.
I wasn’t too worried since the attractive woman on the box was clearly satisfied with her long, flowing swirls. Once the curlers were removed, and my hair rinsed, it honestly didn’t look that different … wet.
The next morning, I stumbled into the bathroom to take a look. I guess the curls had taken hold overnight. Glancing up at the mirror, I gasped in disbelief as I saw an equally incredulous fro’d asian kid staring back at me.
Prior to this evening, I had always rocked unremarkable, completely straight hair. And despite the crushing loss of dignity, I knew skipping school was not going to be an option. You can imagine the fallout when I showed-up the following day with an inch-high mat of tight curls atop my head. Damn second graders can be so cruel.
Therefore, I have a slight complex about my hair, and will go to great lengths to get a consistently well-executed cut (short asian hair is very difficult to control, by the way). Luckily, my friend and stylist, Cheung Ng at Groove Salon in San Francisco, is a genius with the shears and an all-around solid dude. At $80 a cut it’s not cheap, but to help soften the blow, they’ll hook you up with a frosty cold Stella to help you dispel emotional scars from the 2nd grade … totally worth it.
It Might Get Loud. I love documentaries, and this one looks particularly good—especially if you’re into electric guitar. The Edge, Jimmy Page, and Jack White. Rad.
Sweet for Jams.
I want it … if it can actually make good on it’s promise to auto-magically separate tracks, attach meta data via Gracenote database search, and save them as mp3’s on my computer without me doing much beyond putting needle to vinyl … I want it now.
Schlepping around/making space for 7 crates of vinyl every time I move is for the birds. For $250 bones, sign me up. Plus, I now have a great excuse to finally get Serato Scratch. Yup!
My buddy, Haena, put “Where the Wild Things Are” back on my radar. I’ve been resisting the hype train because I don’t want to be disappointed in the end. But, damn it if this doesn’t appear to be totally legit. Spike Jonze, what.
