Leather jacket, hi top chucks and bubblegum. High school dates, dance contests, drive-in movies, burger joints and rocknroll! These are just few of the things which made the 50s and 60s American era to be very romantic. While I know that period in time threw up many nasty and revolutionary social issues as well, and was by no means everything you saw on episodes of Happy Days. I think that decade or so must have been such an exciting time especially with the birth of rocknroll kicking in and everything. Yes, its all American! Very American, and its pretty much everything you can expect with the 20th anniversary Grease hitting the film circuits this summer!
Let me guess, you're probably thinking... GREASE?!
Thats that crap film that comes on in the afternoons on BBC1 during Easter holidays, innit? (Buzz!) Grease is in fact one of the most-loved musicals of all time on and off broadway, also boasting a great roster of songs on one of the most successful soundtracks around. OK, people singing and dancing in streets is absolutely surreal and such foolishness is usually signatured in wussy childrens films like Annie or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or some shite Ginger Rogers film that grannies or old fogies watch. But you know, despite the cheesiness stigmatised to musicals, this is in fact a really enjoyable film to watch. Believe it or not, I still know some people who have never seen Grease in their entire life and didnt even know there was a Grease 2 (my advice would be to give that a miss, though you can see one Michelle Pfeffier playing the lead if you really wanted)! However, give other predictable block-busters like Lost in Space a miss this summer and watch this original musical first and foremost if you havent already done so.

The story of Grease is simple. Boy (Danny Zuko, played by John Travolta) and girl (Sandy Olsson, played by Olivia Newton John) have a summer romance. The wholesome girl surprisingly turns up at his local school (Rydell High) but the cool guy shuns her off in front of his T-Birds gang (who consists also of Kenickie and Doody). Boy then loses girl, girl hangs around with the Pink Ladies gang (led by Rizzo, with Frenchy and Marty) and gets another lover, then boy tries out some sports to woo her back from her newfound jock boyfriend. The rest of the film leads you through a bundle more girl and boy troubles - loads of singing, styling, dancing, dream sequences, tips to be cool, drag-racing, fair rides and before you know it youve already covered the entire school year.

I have a gut feeling that every HH reader has probably already seen it and either loved it, didnt give a shit about it or they hated it so much that they crammed it all into their subconscious. I can hear that Im already losing any of the punk points I ever gained by basing my sophomore HH column on such a topic... But back in April, I got invited to see Grease in El Cerrito California and I had so much fun! My friend and I curled up together near the front with a huuuggggeee tub of salted popcorn between us... we were singing along and laughing at some of the quips coming out of Danny Zuko when he was maintaining his cool. We were both eager to see it for the first time on the big screen cos we were both too young to have caught it the first time round (um, he was 1 years old, and I wasnt even a fidgeting foetus back in 78). Even though this Wednesday late-night showing by no means captured the packed-house atmosphere Ive experienced before (errr... there were 8 people in the auditorium), it was probably still the best time I had watching it. Absolutely a top night! (For all those fellow brat-pack fans out there, I suggest you to also go and see The Wedding Singer too, the funny retro film starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore).

Well, thats my Jennie Vaughan part written. Ive been doing a lot of zine stuff recently, and have been planning to start up a new fanzine which should be a lot more regular than Tiny Flecks of Spit. Theres going to be a few differences to it though I figure that its quite similar overall because I have a couple of the same folks pitching in to help, Im pushing to get it out by August, so keep your eyes peeled for then... Which leaves me with enough space to congratulate Rick and Sam (and also Tony and Sarah) once again for their new-ish arrivals into their family and for still finding the patience to put out another round of great zineage. Undoubtedly, their columns this month may bear a couple of cracking stories about parenthood... and why not? You know, I love my boyfriend more than anyone but Im absolutely nada nil nowhere ready for something as big as this and thus join the crew of being another one in the unlikely bunch to have a baby anytime soon. Im still a baby myself and I acknowledge that while its very easy for any teenager to go around throwing a Kevin-esque fit and complaining about how crap their parents are... It takes a lot of commitment and hard-work to be a parent. So I salute thee - keep up the good job. Until next time...



Jen 13