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Issue 06

SWINDLE is looking at the faux-real movement. We’re taking an in-depth look at the $360 billion knockoff fashion industry. We spend some time with historical reenactors—adults who don the clothing of wars gone by. And photographer Gregg Segal does a photo spread on The Cost of Living, and the modern citizen’s inalienable right to define our lives by what we consume. We deconstruct the culture of consumerism as only SWINDLE can: with creativity, respect and style!


Warming Fuzz

Warming Fuzz


By Tony Rettman
Photos By Adam Amengual

“Probably the most ridiculous cassette I released was the Xome tape back in 1997‚” says Joel St. Germain, who runs the Spite label out of a cramped back room in his Brooklyn home. “It came inside two silver dollar pancakes. I shellacked them, but they inevitably rotted.

Twirl Girls

Twirl Girls


By Claw Money
Photos By Danielle Levitt
Styling By Claw Money

While it seems that cheerleading gets all the glory, baton twirling is a bona fide sport that goes without the recognition it really deserves .

Swimming with Sharks

Swimming with Sharks


By Caroline Ryder
Photos By Dean Karr
Illustration By Mike GIANT

If Great Whites knew how to use iPods, you know what they’d be playing: heavy metal, without a doubt. Dean Karr, one of America’s biggest rock music photographers and video directors, knows it to be true.

Step Back in Time

Step Back in Time


By Caroline Ryder
Photos By Dan Monick
Illustration By ThingMaking

There are some things adults never outgrow – dressing up, for example. Whether you’re a Halloween party goer in a mask or a closeted transvestite “borrowing” your wife’s panties, costumes provide a safe (and hallucinogen-free) way to explore different realities.

Daranado

Daranado


By Justine Suzanne Jones
Photos By Dylan Maddux
Illustration By Damien Correll

Darondo sit sat the head of a long, lacquered mahogany table appointed with a series of goblets, a snow-white bearskin rug at his feet, the rest of the room suffused in cobalt blue, maroons, and greens. He wears a pale gold suit cut of raw silk, three enormous rings on his left hand

A Brief History of Energy Drinks

A Brief History of Energy Drinks


By Jeff Penalty
Illustration By Secret Pizza Party

Aside from the jet packs and the monkey overlords, one of the things that science fiction promised us in the new millennium was food in convenient pill form. But reality cheated our imaginations on every level. Instead of jet packs, we got Segway scooters. Instead of monkeys, we got the Bush administration.

Auto Bodies

Auto Bodies


By Lost Art
Illustration By Garrett Morin

If ever you find yourself driving in Brazil, sooner or later you’ll end up hitting a pothole. Sooner is more likely, and that first bump will, in all likelihood, be followed by several more solid shots to your car’s alignment. Inevitably, damage will ensue, and through the grouchy frustration and white-knuckle grip on the wheel

Almost Perfect Discord

Almost Perfect Discord


By Miss Rosen
Photos By Boogie
Illustration By Justin Thomas Kay

“At three o’clock sharp, the enemy must be crushed by your mighty charge, torn to pieces by your grenades and bayonets. The honor of Belgrade must be spotless. Soldiers, heroes, The Supreme Command has erased our names from i ts roll. Our regiment is sacrificed for our King and Father land.

Alan Lomax

Alan Lomax


By Caleb Neelon
Illustration By Micheal Delahaut

Eighteen-year-old Alan Lomax would not return to Harvard in 1933, and instead headed out on a car trip wit h his father, John, to record song sin Southern prisons. Huddie Ledbetter, 44, had already been in for murder in Texas, released, and was serving at Angola Penitentiary in Louisiana for assault

The Cost Of Living

The Cost Of Living


By Gregg Segal
Photos By Gregg Segal

A friend was recently telling me how a six-ounce can of Sprite in a Miami Hotel cost 10 bucks, or 20 times more than his suitcase, found at a synagogue garage sale in Maine. The disparity of costs launched a notion, or an image really, of our culture

Adam Wallacavage

Adam Wallacavage


By Caleb Neelon
Illustration By Jim Houser

Everyone has an idea of their dream house, but photographer Adam Wallacavage lives in his. “When I was a kid,” he explains, “I watched The Addams Family, and I always wanted a house like that. When I had a studio at Space 1026 I really fixed it up, but it was really unfulfilling

Faux Real

Faux Real


By Julia Ragolia
Photos By Dan Monick
Illustration By Shepard Fairey
Styling By Sonja Teri

In fall 2000, art-star designer Miguel Adrover sent a model down the runway wearing his own Burberry trench coat inside out and backwards. As the fashion community went wild over at Adrover’s deft, the Burberry corporation threatened to sue him for trademark infringement.