Radar Redux.com is expanding the traditional concept of journalism, to cover a wide array of Baltimore Arts and Culture.
Morgan! How old are you, and where did you grow up?
28, Alexandria, VA
What did you study at school?
I was an English Literature major at James Madison University.
What interests you? (outside of creating Panda Head, of course)
The short answer is: everything; the long response involves projects, teepees, records, Salinger and the Glass family novels, red wine, backyards, big plans, best friends, road trips, suntans, swimming pools, moccasins, gum erasers, early mornings and late, late nights.
Why did you create Panda Head blog, and ultimately Magazine? What would you say your “mission statement” is? What were, and continue to be, your inspiration(s)?
Panda Head Blog was initially a street style blog – in the summer of 2006 I had just gotten into sites like Face Hunter and The Sartorialist, and there weren’t any DC-based street style sites; I guess I just sort of saw a vacancy and filled it. About a year and a half later I’d just gotten completely bored of the project… I hated that I was working within a “formula” that someone else had set. I knew I wanted to be doing MORE, and a magazine just made sense.
I think our mission at the Magazine is just to reflect – as accurately as possible – the DC creative community as we know it. A term that’s come up a lot lately at meetings is the “bohemian aspect” to this city. It’s infinitely inspiring and is, for better or worse, so far from existing on the surface that it’s not even funny. It’s secret and it lives in pockets around the District and – I hope, at least, that Panda Head gives it a bit of a voice.
Who contributes to Panda Head Magazine? Is there any set of guidelines you present to your contributors, or do you appreciate the free range of creative spirit? What do you look for from your material/features/interviews/etc.?
The magazine literally would not exist without my partners Erik Loften (designer) and Nilay Lawson (Art Content Editor). They’re both amazing; I think it works so well because we’re all so different but just completely appreciative of each other’s aesthetic and way of working. So the three of us are sort of the perma-contributors, and then we work closely with a constantly rotating cast of photographers, artists, writers, musicians, models, hair stylists & makeup artists to create features for each issue.
Every issue has at least one artist feature – whether it’s a collection of paintings or photography, animation or a short film or video – in which the contributors have absolute free rein as far as content… For the rest of the features (fashion spreads, etc) we focus on collaboration. Usually I’ll have an idea, Nilay and I will hone it, and from there we’ll seek out the right people to help us MAKE IT HAPPEN. We are fortunate beyond belief to know and to continue to meet so many staggeringly (and disparately!) talented photographers, artists, writers, musicians, ETC within the city proper. It makes our jobs easy.
Aside from the sartorial slant you admit to having in your creation of Panda Head, what else appeals to you, as creator of this work? Why do you think it will appeal to the wide world of the internet?
The most appealing part of the whole project, to me and (hopefully) to its readership, is its range. It’s very much in and of Washington, DC, but it feels much bigger than that. I always go back to this, but there are just so many people in this city with such a wide variety of projects of their own – we’re able to [showcase] paintings, burlesque performances, short films, and animation in a single issue. I’m so proud of that. Every time we meet someone new it just opens up possibilities for different kinds of features and new methods of collaboration, and I think that’s part of the appeal as well – I’d love to help make DC seem like some neat, creative clubhouse that everyone wants to hang out in. Maybe that’s the new mission statement…
Why the internet?
We’re definitely able to do things online that are just impossible in print – music, video, etc – and I’d be entirely satisfied to continue online forever. I speak for all of us at the magazine, though, when I say that we’re definitely big fans of the tangible. We’re constantly looking for ways to incorporate print aspects into the work; for Issue 4 we had two artists (Tang and Craig Walker) create our cover art; they then screenprinted 25 copies, which will eventually be for sale in our online store (we’re working on getting it up and running as we speak). In Issue 3 we collaborated with some friends (Liz Gorman and Dave Clifford) on a one act play, which was then designed and laid out like a playbook. That’ll be for sale as well. Basically we just want to have our hands in every kind of medium we possibly can, and having our foundations online allows us to do that.
What, in your opinion, makes something worth reading? And what gives something staying-power in a sea of media-saturation?
Nothing is worth reading, or looking at, or listening to, unless there’s an ocean of something behind it. Anything. I think you can tell the difference between what people create when they’re bored or looking for attention, and what they create because they have to; because they don’t know how to do anything other than follow their interests until they turn them into something interesting. It’s what comes of the latter that has staying power.
Do you see the decline of other forms of print journalism in the future? Why will efforts like Panda Mag stand the test of time?
As the daughter of a printer I would probably be disowned if I said that print was in decline – and I don’t think that’s the case anyways. I do think, though, that when your livelihood depends on ad sales then you’re going to be in trouble from time to time. The internet, for better or worse, means that everything is accessible, and usually for free. The goal for Panda Head is to eventually, through the online store and (fingers crossed) grant money, get the project to fund itself. If we’re self-sustaining then the pressure’s off – all we have to focus on is satisfying ourselves creatively and keeping the mag going for as long as we see fit.
Can you explain the growth of ‘Panda Head’, from the very beginnings, all the way up to where it is today? How has Panda Head changed since its first issue? Where do you see it going in the future?
Seriously I feel like our last issue, the fourth, is just a whole different animal than the first. For issues 1 and 2 I did the content and then handed everything off to Erik for the design. Nilay came in at Issue 3 and things just got so much more streamlined – having three of us makes it so much easier to plan ahead and to plan well. With every issue I think Panda Head is really finding its voice; the foundation gets more solid. We’ve had 5 features per issue since the beginning, and we don’t have any immediate plans to expand beyond that. Keeping it small keeps it feeling special, and it also forces us to self-edit.
Something else that’s really come into focus is the DC aspect – the first issue included an interview with Brooklyn band Au Revoir Simone, who I’d previously interviewed for Panda Head Blog. While we love them and are eternally grateful for their participation, we’re not going to stray too far outside city limits again.
Who would be your dream interview?
I’d love to sit down with Rick Rubin. Not even for the magazine, just for my LIFE. He’s such an inspiration; his having started Def Jam out of his NYU dorm room is staggering enough, but he still remains driven to do only exactly what he wants to, whatever the hell that happens to be at the time, which is amazing. There was a Washington Post interview with him 3 or 4 years ago where he talks about how he strives for greatness in everything he does, and about how important it is to never have a preconceived idea of where a project is going: “Our job is to pay attention and watch and know when it’s good. We just wait for those moments and try to capture them.” I love that.
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3 style icons from different eras/walks of life? |
This is hard! My style icons change on literally an hourly basis, but right now I’ve got Jenny Lewis (wearing a Lemonheads t-shirt, little boy blazer, wide-brimmed felt hat, and hotpants) as my desktop background, and I definitely salute her style. She’s rock and roll and she appreciates a good sparkly costume from time to time. Another person I’ve been looking towards a lot when getting dressed is an old boss of mine, from when I was a visual merchandiser. She had such a set style - very 1970s; everyday it was beat-up bell bottoms, a simple grey sweatshirt or Harley Davidson tee or something, vintage tan heels or heeled boots, and, more often than not, something crazy tied around her head. I’m so down with looking like a Hell’s Angel girlfriend and the fact that she never, ever strayed from this – NO MATTER THE OCCASION – is pretty much the coolest thing ever. Oh, and Eddie Furlong as John Connor in T2. If you could see my haircut you’d understand.
Panda Head is based out of DC, and in an early issue, you state that you wish to show that DC has style. Why was this important to you? What, in your opinion, is “good style”
For some reason or another I was hellbent for a while on PROVING that DC had a viable style scene, so “was,” I think, is the operative word. I kind of threw my hands up and decided to just never argue the point again. There’s tons of personal style to be found here if you’re looking for it, and – like in any other major city – there’s about a billion pieces of evidence to the contrary as well. But even having stepped away from that as the mission statement, I would definitely still describe Panda Head Mag as a style magazine – but I think we’ve shifted more towards representing a particular lifestyle that exists here.
I’d describe “good style” (and lifestyle!) as steeped in a million influences and independent of them at the same time. I’ve taken to jokingly describing things as ETHEREAL AND FLEETING when I can’t come up with a definition, so I’m just going to do that here too.
Most style magazines have epic budgets, budgets that are only now starting to be limited due to the crunching economy. Where do you get the clothes that are featured in your (quite professional seeming) spreads from?
I’d kill for any kind of budget (epic or otherwise), but even with all the money in the world I think I’d still be styling the spreads out of thrift stores and my own closet. We try to be as self-sufficient as possible, and I’d rather spend the money on other facets of the magazine. From time to time we’ll feature a designer; in Issue 3 we worked with jewelry designer Akemi Kanakazi, her Tasty and Freshness necklace line is AMAZING. I also make a lot of the pieces (again, out of OLD STUFF), which is one of my favorite aspects of doing the fashion features.
Do you have any favorite websites you’d recommend to style-mavens or the blogosphere at large as particularly visit-worthy?
Yes! While I’m honestly a little worn out on the fashion blog scene I do still like to check a few on the daily - White Lightning (feelslikewhitelightning.com) and DC’s Listopad (listopadshop.blogspot.com) are just two. But I am obsessed, OBSESSED, with Tumblr. I subscribe to like 30 blogs, from Daily Dose of Dylan (dailydoesofdylan.tumblr.com) to Cosmic Dust (cosmic-dust.tumblr.com), and I just feel flooded with visuals. I swear I’ve never been more inspired in my life.
What are some of your favorite local spots/shops/etc.?
As far as stores, I love going to Redeem (redeemus.blogspot.com) to check out what they’ve picked up each season (always amazing), and they have great parties, too. I also really love Virginia and Maryland thrift stores – we’re so spoiled, having such accessible suburbs. Beyond shopping, though, all of us at the magazine are huge fans of Comet Ping Pong (cometpingpong.com) on Connecticut Avenue – the space is out of control awesome, the pizza is great, they put on the best shows (and the sound is insane) and THERE’S PING PONG. I mean, come on.
What exactly does “Panda Head” mean (without revealing some clandestine journalistic secret)?
It actually doesn’t have much of a meaning behind it at all! Right around the time I started the blog I was just stringing words together, out loud. I think I was actually teasing my boyfriend at the time about something, and out came something dumb like “kitten monkey baby puppy panda head.” For some reason it struck me (and only me, ha!) as the funniest thing I’d ever said and, VOILA. A nonsensical name was BORN.
Interview and editing by Dana Covit
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