Althouse: "She’s 71 years old, still punk af and hanging out with Grandmaster Flash in her pedal-pushers and pink patent Candie stilettos."

August 13, 2016

"She’s 71 years old, still punk af and hanging out with Grandmaster Flash in her pedal-pushers and pink patent Candie stilettos."

"No biggie. Style? She makes her own, bitches."

56 comments:

rhhardin said...: The fixed smile is a warning sign.; 8/13/16, 9:14 AM
rehajm said...: I still have a huge crush.; 8/13/16, 9:16 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: Did the gaybo stereotypes use the word "fierce" or did they find some other way to say the same thing?; 8/13/16, 9:27 AM
traditionalguy said...: What... Is this another Trump article? The pronoun is the only part that sounds wrong.

Seriously, she is great. She transcends all the stereotypes.; 8/13/16, 9:32 AM
Curious George said...: meh then. meh now.; 8/13/16, 9:40 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: RH - In photos - all smiles are fixed. Even on guys.; 8/13/16, 9:44 AM
Carol said...: Hat and sunglasses help a lot.; 8/13/16, 9:45 AM
Unknown said...: Debbie Harry, loved her back when and good to see she's still kickin' it now.; 8/13/16, 9:48 AM
320Busdriver said...: Almost as badass as Joan Jett, not quite.; 8/13/16, 9:50 AM
virgil xenophon said...: Ever considered that Debbie could be thought of as the first "rapper" to hit the national stage with the success of her pop song "Rapture?"; 8/13/16, 9:54 AM
Roughcoat said...: This is the gayest article of the week.; 8/13/16, 9:55 AM
William said...: Time hasn't quite yet ripped her to shreds, but give it time.......Which is more poignant: a bombshell gone to fat, a bombshell who dies young,, or a bombshell that keeps hanging in there..........She was the visual representation of what she sang. Fred Astaire could put on the ritz, and she could demonstrate the rapture of being cool.; 8/13/16, 9:57 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: Three years older than Hillary.

Just an observation.

I am Laslo.; 8/13/16, 9:59 AM
MathMom said...: Her leg pose is refreshing. Standing on left foot, right foot pulled back a bit and pointed - it's actually a slimming, fetching, feminine pose. I really prefer this pose to the I-have-to-pee pose that 98.3% of women in Hollywood now believe is attractive, and adopt.; 8/13/16, 9:59 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: She has charisma. Always has. Mmmm mmmm good.; 8/13/16, 10:00 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: I'd fuck her.

If I had a Time Machine that took her back to the 1970s.

One of the many things a Time Machine is good for.

I am Laslo.; 8/13/16, 10:04 AM
jj121957 said...: And those grandma hands just serve to expand her demographic appeal.; 8/13/16, 10:05 AM
Bob Ellison said...: What's with the teeth?; 8/13/16, 10:08 AM
gadfly said...: Ted Bundy's buddy was always old. She started late, dressed ugly and her singing style was, well I don't remember it at all. I am older than she is and when Blondie suddenly appeared, I thought to myself, " Bleached Blondie, why can't you use your own name?" Cher, she is not.

Why are we required to endure Tom & Lorenzo? The comments over there are enough to induce vomiting.; 8/13/16, 10:09 AM
Quayle said...: Ever notice how boomers keep shifting their world view and language to keep their current age bracket "the cool ones"?; 8/13/16, 10:21 AM
Unknown said...: Hell, I'd fuck her now...; 8/13/16, 10:29 AM
Bryan Townsend said...: I dunno, isn't this just a tad pathetic? Can't we let go of the need to seem cool at some point?; 8/13/16, 10:30 AM
Roughcoat said...: Ever notice how boomers keep shifting their world view and language to keep their current age bracket "the cool ones"?

The authors of the article are both gay and both born in 1966 -- IOW, they're not Boomers. And Debby Harry is hardly representative of the Boomer generation.

Ever notice how GenXers/Millennials are know-nothings who don't know their dicks from a garden hose?; 8/13/16, 10:41 AM
Paco Wové said...: She looks very good for her age, even if her smile makes me think of the Great White Shark, ceaselessly searching the ocean for prey.; 8/13/16, 10:44 AM
MayBee said...: We saw a great one-man show, "Desperately Seeking the Exit". It was performed by a guy who had written a major musical with the plot of "Desperately Seeking Susan" to a Blondie soundtrack. He got it produced and Debbie Harris was involved and supported it and when it opened.....a huge flop. A funny look at how things can go so wrong.; 8/13/16, 10:51 AM
Paul Snively said...: I thought it was weird when "Blondie" was described as "punk" on "Project Runway," and then I read somewhere that "New Wave" was a deliberate marketing ploy on some label's part to sell a more palatable vision of "punk" than was getting associated with, to name the obvious example, "The Sex Pistols."

At roughly the same time this "Project Runway" episode aired, there was a series on VH1, "Bands Reunited," in which a lot of actual (and possibly even illegal) detective work tracked down members of popular groups from decades gone by to convince them to reunite for at least one special show for a couple of hundred or so fans. One such group was "Berlin." It broke my heart when they tracked down John Crawford, and he said "Who wants to see a fat, middle-aged father sing?" But they did it, and I'll never forget keyboardist David Diamond walking up to a synthesizer and saying "OK, let's see if I can get that New Wave sound again." When they performed "The Metro," Terri Nunn turned to directly face John Crawford to sing the "Sorrrrrrry...." lyric. It was pretty special.; 8/13/16, 11:01 AM
n.n said...: She lives a full life.

Deborah Harry was born Angela Tremble on July 1, 1945 in Miami, Florida. At three months, she was adopted by Catherine (Peters) and Richard Smith Harry
-- imdb.com

Our better choices.; 8/13/16, 11:16 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: I saw "Blondie" at the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach in probably 1999, co-incident with the "Maria" new single. Great show! Hard to believe it was 17 years ago and that even then they had been off the scene for years. Harry was obviously no sweet young thing at the time, but was bopping all over the stage and hitting all the notes dead on.

It's too bad she started her solo stint with the ill-judged "KooKoo" (she has always been way too fascinated with rap), the failure of which tanked the excellent folowups "Rockbird" & "Def Dumb & Blonde"; 8/13/16, 11:26 AM
Robert Cook said...: I saw Blondie back 1978...which is amazing considering how young I still am.; 8/13/16, 11:57 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: When are we going to retire the loathsome phrase? word? "af"?; 8/13/16, 12:02 PM
Quaestor said...: Style? Black toenails.

She's 71 years old and hasn't figured out that black toenails are repellant.; 8/13/16, 12:04 PM
tim maguire said...: Blogger virgil xenophon said...Ever considered that Debbie could be thought of as the first "rapper" to hit the national stage with the success of her pop song "Rapture?"

I tried making that argument in the warehouse of Telarc Digital in 1985. It was not embraced.; 8/13/16, 12:10 PM
tim maguire said...: Blogger I Have Misplaced My Pants said...When are we going to retire the loathsome Phrase? Word? "af"?

I thought that was a typo.; 8/13/16, 12:14 PM
Coconuss Network said...: Annie, I think you will look much better at 71, someday, and you sure as hell dress far better. Her outfit is substandard. And I was a fan of one of her songs. Memories of the punky middle school days. Capri pants are fine on ladies for afternoon beach wear, or long afternoon walks, but evening attire ? Good heavens.; 8/13/16, 12:40 PM
MayBee said...: tim maguire-
"as f*ck"; 8/13/16, 1:05 PM
William said...: Further random thoughts about Debbie Harry: she looks way too good to have led a truly sinful life. Can it have all been a sham--that bride of Satan, come dance with the damned veneer. Perhaps she ate organic vegetables, went to the gymn regularly, and only slept with honorable men in the context of a stable relationship. There's so much hypocrisy in show biz. Doris Day wasn't quite that virginal and Debbie Harry probably wasn't quite that wicked........Her movie career wasn't commensurate with her good looks. She should have been a bigger star in Hollywood.........It does seem that wholesome works better than wicked on the screen. Doris Day and Julie Andrews prospered where Debbie Harry and Madonna withered.; 8/13/16, 1:12 PM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/13/16, 1:13 PM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/13/16, 1:20 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Everyone is the age they are. There's zero choice. Why then do we interpret the person's self -presentation as a statement about the age they happen to be?

I think, especially as you get older, if you are still healthy, age is just this boring fact over there that you don't have a very strong relationship to. You feel like yourself, the self you have always been, not some generality having to do with other people.; 8/13/16, 1:21 PM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/13/16, 1:46 PM
Roughcoat said...: My German grandfather and grandfather were always old. They were born in 1883 and turned 80 when I was 14. They looked old and acted old. They saw a lot in their lives. They told me about a "world lit only by fire" where there were no automobiles and no airplanes; no running water and no electric lights. When they were kids it was still dangerous to travel through parts of the West because of the wild Indians, even after the Custer battle. Grosspa borrowed a couple thousand dollars from the owner of the local general store in Aurora, Illinois (another German, of course, and a member of grosspa's German-speaking Missouri Synod Lutheran Church) and used it to build a house with a hand pump down in the basement -- a very modern convenience at the time. I played with that pump when I was a child and thought it quite a novelty.Grosspa paid back the full amount two years later, on time with interest, and the general store owner was disappointed because he want to foreclose on the house and take it for himself. "By gar, Al, I didn't tink [sic] you wuz goin' to come up with da monee, I taut I wuz goin to get dat dare haus of yours!" Grosspa and grossma lived to see a men walk on the moon, just think of that. They looked and acted old but I don't know if they felt old or if they just felt normal. They didn't tell me. They were Germans and they didn't talk about such things.; 8/13/16, 2:40 PM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/13/16, 2:54 PM
mikee said...: My wife keeps asking if she looks old.
Usually when I get too handsy with her person.
Maybe it is me that looks old, to her.

This could be a problem in another few decades.; 8/13/16, 3:49 PM
Paddy O said...: "You feel like yourself, the self you have always been, not some generality having to do with other people."

Indeed.; 8/13/16, 3:51 PM
JCC said...: Pedal pushers, capri pants, are possibly the most ugly pants available. Not only do they look stupid, they make about 99% of women look fat or skinny. Only a tiny fraction of female legs look healthy in capri pants.

Wearing high heels with capri pants only accentuates the idiotic appearance, and yells "White trash."

This combination is another trick foisted on American women by clothing designers, who most likely sit around and joke about who has convinced females to wear the most unattractive clothing.; 8/13/16, 5:27 PM
JCC said...: mikee -

Cover the mirrors and carry on.; 8/13/16, 5:32 PM
Paul Snively said...: William: It does seem that wholesome works better than wicked on the screen. Doris Day and Julie Andrews prospered where Debbie Harry and Madonna withered.

American has an ongoing Madonna—Whore Complex, which Hollywood amplifies. Just consider all the kerfuffle when Apple's iPhone storage was hacked and those nude photos of celebrities got leaked. Whose was the most passed-around? Wholesome Jennifer Lawrence's. Because, surprise surprise, America's Current Sweetheart apparently likes sex enough to send nude selfies to someone. The horror!; 8/13/16, 5:35 PM
Bill said...: the I-have-to-pee pose that 98.3% of women in Hollywood now believe is attractive

LOL. I believe that's properly called la vessie pleine, @MathMom.; 8/13/16, 6:51 PM
Charlie said...: "This is the gayest article of the week."

Microagression of the week.; 8/13/16, 7:33 PM
mockturtle said...: She's 71 years old and hasn't figured out that black toenails are repellant.

I had a black toenail once after I dropped a tire on it.; 8/13/16, 10:52 PM
Unknown said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/13/16, 11:02 PM
Unknown said...: I almost forgot to mention the ironing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO5VV5PISHU&feature=player_embedded; 8/13/16, 11:33 PM
CatherineM said...: I think Debbie is awesome. To the dumb dumb who said something about Debbie's black pedicure....Hello, that is cool. You are the fart. Go fart. Debbie looks great.

Listen to Blondie all the time. Autoamerican album was genius. My father, who is 90 and only likes big band music ("do your hear that? Krupa has melody in his drumming. He's not just keeping time for the band.") liked Blondie and Pink Floyd. : ) Very strange. He otherwise always called rock garbage. Gave me my first set of headphones at 11 when instead of my usual Olivia Newton-John, I brought home A/DC's Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. Still love that song. Still love Olivia, the only famous person I wrote to as a child and invited to tea or supper besides Wonder Woman.

Paul Snively, if you have a link to that Berlin performance, that would be great. Thanks!; 8/13/16, 11:34 PM
Unknown said...: I am a big fan of Debbie, I even bought her solo CDs, and have seen her and with Blondie in concert many times. She was scheduled for performance at a small local brew pub here back in the late 80s, and I brought a dozen roses to give to her. The show was cancelled because of a hurricane that disrupted air traffic, and I sold the roses to a bouncer who had a fight with his girlfriend

@mikee

I reunited with my first high school girlfriend a few years ago after 32 years. She asked me recently if I thought she looked old and fat, and I told her "You've been given a great gift. You will always be the 15 year old girl that I fell in love with."

Debbie is admired similarly, I suspect.; 8/13/16, 11:40 PM
Tina848 said...: I want to grow old and wear those shoes....; 8/14/16, 9:08 AM
Paul Snively said...: CatherineM: if you have a link to that Berlin performance, that would be great. Thanks!

I don't.

I do, however, have a link to the whole episode. :-); 8/14/16, 10:16 PM