A magazine for the vivacious elderly woman
There’s a new Crew in town
The Hip Operation Hip Hop Crew is going to Vegas
linking generations
Tattoos are bonding teens and grandmas
DJ MAMY ROCK Meet the 80 year old DJ
Table of Contents : S E R U T A FE
n w o T ew In r C ewCrew is N a s reeration Hip Hop The s p move Hip O
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Linking Generations
Grandmas can rock tattoos just like the younger generation
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20 gNroatnydomuars sw Fashion adv ic
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Senio
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18 Celebrity Seniority Celebrities who rock the senior status
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s a m d n a r G Insta n
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month’s top se Check out the feed the instagram
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NEW CREW in town And they’re sporting some new hips and hip hop moves
ranny V”—i the oldest of its members, although several of the others are in their 80s and 90s. Now, Hip Op-eration Crew is on a mission to prove that age is no barrier to making a huge splash on the biggest stage: the World Hip Hop Dance Championships in wonderful Las Vegas.
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In August, they will perform alongside youthful crews from as many as 40 different countries. “I’m up for the challenge,” said Ms.Hollis, before 90-year-old Peter Davie (known as Deacon Davie) spun her wheelchair across the floor of the community hall. “I refuse to miss this absolutely crazy opportunity for anything.” Waiheke, with a population of around 8,000, couldn’t be farther from the bright lights and packed entertainment venues of Vegas. When the wind blows hard off the Pacific Ocean, the walls of the community hall rattle and groan. Power outages are common in a storm, shutting down the stereo and prompting the pensioners to rap in the dark. The Hip Op-eration Crew draws stares and smiles
When you get old, you don’t have to sit at home and knit socks. You can get out onto the floor and dance.” from neighbors who use the hall for more genteel pursuits, such as French classes and gardening. The crew performed at the National Hip Hop Championship finals in Auckland in April at “New Zealand’s Got Talent” this month. Their new song coming out is titled “Life Is for Living.”
While their original goal was to reduce the stigma of aging, it has quickly evolved into something bigger. “It’s about showing respect to young hip hoppers in the world hip-hop community and to try and better connect senior citizens with young people,” said Billie Jordan, the crew’s manager.
For 80-year-old Brenda Long, who calls herself BB Rizzell on stage, it was the strong beat of hip-hop music that drew her in. “With my poor hearing, I can hear it better than other modern music,” she said, citing Eminem and Missy Elliott as her favorite artists. Deacon Davie and Granny V and others say the history of hip hop had special appeal. “We feel very much in tune with those people who were very poor and nobody seemed to care about,” said Maynie Thompson, 94, also known as Quick Silver. “We want to show young people that old people can do things like that, too. When you get
old, you don’t have to sit at home and knit socks. You can get out onto the floor and dance.” And dance they do, despite the fact that several use walkers, some are deaf and one is legally blind. The group has one routine down pat that features moves like locking, breaking and one called toprocking. They are working on new routines for Las Vegas. “The hardest to teach them was a move that involved grabbing on to their crotch—which they resisted doing for ages,” says Ms. Jordan. “But now they grab their crotches without a second thought.” Winning fans of gangsta rap over to grandma rap permanently may be a challenge, and time isn’t on their side. “They keep dropping off, that’s the problem with the age group,” Ms. Jordan said. One crew member was quickly resuscitated after her heart stopped while she was hospitalized but was back rehearsing within two weeks. Several others have dropped out, saying they are no longer able to keep up with all the moves, while a few have decided that traveling to the U.S. poses too great a health risk. Still, about 30 members of the collective hope to take the 17-hour flight to Las Vegas. Ms. Hollis’s family is fully behind her making the trip. “We discussed what would happen if she died over there. I said I couldn’t afford an American funeral, so she said she was willing to come back in a Tupperware box,” said Brian Hollis, or Big Bear, her 70-year-old son, who with his wife, Maureen, is also part of the group. They enjoy being together during rehearsals and offer Much of the energy behind the crew comes from Ms. Jordan, who moved to the island after being
q&a How does beingsexy change over the years?
If you work on loving yourself, which can be so difficult but is essential, you start attracting people with whom you are more connected.
How do you stay so fit? Stretching, walking everywhere, taking the stairs, 20 minutes of Pilates when I’m into it, lifting 5-pound weights when I think of it
What was the photoshoot process like for you? It wasn’t a big shoot with lots of people fussing and helping, it was just Marsha [the photographer] with her camera so it was very personal.
What does aging with attitude mean to you? The heroes are all around us. Look for them.
Breaking mold
the
At age 62, Jacalyn o'Shaughnessy is joining the modelling world
Major ad campaigns don’t usually feature 62-year-old women in their skivvies, but then how many of us have both the moxie and looks of Jacalyn O’Shaughnessy? For those of you who have somehow missed it, just last month O’Shaughnessy appeared in an ad for the youthful brand American Apparel wearing nothing but lacy underwear and a knowing smile. She is a stunning woman with the utmost confidence. The vision of
this silver-haired woman sitting there, so confident and beautiful in her skin, shook up stereotypes about what it really means to be a women “of a certain age.” In both her personal and public life, O’Shaughnessy carves her
MajOr ad campaigns dOn't usually feature 62-year-Old wOmen in their skivvies own course. Her career has included stints as a live-in maid, delivery girl, waitress, actress (she has appeared in everything from “Night Court“ to “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids“) and legal secretary. Single with no children, she says kids just didn’t happen. And when (Cont. on pg 212)
She’s not playing 80’s tunes, but she is a track pushing 80 year old
uth Flowers, is the matriarch and the hippest English deejay of our time. At 80 years old, MAMY ROCK is still rocking the planet as the latest sensation of the world club scene. Following a high profile stint as resident DJ at the very
elite Villa Murano during the 2009 Cannes Film Festival in front of major stars including Lenny Kravitz and Mariah Carey and a very exceptional set in January 2010 at the legendary Queen club on the Champs Elysées, Ruth Flowers is in the midst of an unexpected international success story at the age of a roaring 80 years old. After the launch of her first single Still Rocking in 2011, her second “69” and a successful world Tour through Europe’s best Clubs and Festivals (including Glastonbury), the fabulous Mamy Rock will finally launch her third single KISSY KISSY. Now her songs are becoming more recognized.
The hippest Deejane now in circulation, according to Vanity Fair, will never stop rocking life. “Everything began the night, when my grandson, whom I’m very close to, celebrated his birthday at a disco in London. He invited me to join him and his friends. When I arrived the doormen wouldn’t allow me inside. Its true, I didn’t look like their usual customer (laughs)... I did get in eventually... only to be dumbfounded...it was really such an electric atmosphere! It was so different from the dances & the bands I used to go to when I was younger. There was a real osmosis between the music and the lights, it energized me!...The whole great
experience just made me feel so much younger! That night shattered my view of things, especially the way I saw my life...I had a lot of free time...I discussed my idea with my grandson, he thought I’d gone mad. Sometime after our talk, an acquaintance put me in touch with a young French producer, Orel Simon. I told him my idea and he took on the challenge. I wasn’t sure about it working but was prepared to give it a go, Orel was convinced and he took me with him. Since then I have made trips around the planet, met quite a number of D.J.s. Orel introduced me to electro and house music. I went to clubs and been practicing a lot with the new machines. It was really fun!! Now I know I can make everybody move their ass on the dance floor (laughs)...» The European Press has not only declared the 80 year old DJ from Bristol a role model, but also a fashion and glamour icon. Adidas Originals along with the Marangoni Fashion Institute invited the coolest
INdeed i’d rather sign a contract with a record Company than a nursing home! Granny on the planet to rock their 75th anniversary party in Milan. Previously, she entertained elite guests including Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis at the Karl Lagerfeld Chanel Party in the VIP Room at the Cannes Film Festival. Who said you have to mellow with age? Certainly not Mamy Rock, who gives retirement a big kick in the pants! She is an unusual and charismatic woman who with great serenity presents her unique and dynamic personality. Nice and eccentric, strong and full of energy, she likes to have fun and share the good times with all around her. Everyone loves Ruth Flowers: the trendiest clubs on the planet, all have their sights on this DJ with a difference, who inspires the
young while encouraging respect of senior citizens. On Youtube her videos have reached more than 4 Million visitors and the French TV Canal said that she mixes like the Queen of the Night! More than mere DJ sets, Ruth Flower’s mixes are fabulous shows bringing together the latest electrohits that all the club kids love as well as the old school classics she adores. Ruth Flowers is a unique
Linking
Generations Ties are being formed through ink lines
T
hings started when she was just turning 75: Lambin had decided to shake things up with just one small tattoo; a peace daisy. Soon afterward, she got a baby dolphin, but then thought that it should have a mother, so that was the third one.
Then she decided to get a little pink rabbit in memory of her husband who, before he died in January 1996, used to call her “Bunny.” “Things just sort of spiraled.” she laughs. “They are all art; the difference is the canvas is moving.” Five years later, Lambin’s body is a wonderland of over 50 tattoos. Lambin loves how her tats help connect her to people, especially (Cont. on pg 212)
Celebrity Seniority Quotes from your favorite golden celebrities
lover that I am, “Animal a cougar I am not “ Vodka is kind “ of a hobby
“
is not in my “ Retirement vocabulary. They aren’t going to get rid of me that way.
“
“
I didn’t know what Facebook was, and now that I do know what it is, I have to say, it sounds like a huge waste of time.
“
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may be a “ Isenior but you know what? I’m still hot
I’ve always liked older men. They’re just more attractive to me. Of course, at my age there aren’t that many left. I’ve enjoyed the opposite sex a lot. Always have, always will.
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Insta-Grandmas The top grandma users on Instagram
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Follow them on Instagram!
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GinnyHughes
rosebyrd
Showing that you speak the ‘lingo’ of today’s generation is sure to get you in with the hip crowd
Tattoos are a great form of personal expression. Plus then you can compare ink with your twenty-something grandkids
3
FrancesBaker Lets be real. You know your instagram has more followers than your granddaughters’
4
AgathaJohnson And they say seniors shouldn’t drive. But they never said anything about motorcycles!
Not your grandmas sweater As a mature woman, embracing style and fashion can be a new and exciting exploration. Each month we’ll pick apart the ensemble of a style-saavy senior.
Accessorize jewelery can brighten up your face
Color
By combining color and a subtle texture, it can move the fabric over the body in a seamless way
Length
Keep the length of your dress at a modest length below the knees
Shoes
Simple shoes help to ground any crazy colors or patterns that you have going on up top
Senior Gripes
The worst parts about being a senior and how you get over them
My family told me i probably shouldn't drive anymore
So I bought a bike and popped wheelies until I gave them such a fright that they gave me my car back. I still have never been in an accident. You can get away with a lot when you’re ‘old’ like me.