Sodapop Magazine October Issue by Sodapop Magazine

PEOPLE MUSIC LIFE PHOTOGRAPHY AND WHATEVER THE F**K WE WANT TO TALK ABOUT Issue #10

SODAPOP MAGAZINE October 2014 Issue #10

STAFF Editor In Chief: Edwin Monico Music Director: Cody Middleton Copy Editor: Jessica Monico Graphics: Gian Bautista

Writers: Illich Alexander Staff Photographers: Sara Barnett, Billy Ward

INTERNS Charlie Mirador

Jacob Pulido

COVER Photographer: Edwin Monico Model: Angela Mazzanti :

Photography and articles belong to their respective photographers/writers and are used by Sodapop Magazine with permission. No reproductions are authorized without permission from Sodapop. Any questions, comments, and/or concerns can be directed to

contact@sodapopmagazine.com

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CONTENT

LETTER FROM THE JEFE SUNDAY MORNING WITH ASTRAIA CENTRAL CALIFORNIA SERVING UP COFFEE RIGHT TANG TWINZ BY BILLY WARD MARYANN KATHRYN BUCHANAN DOES MODEL: EMILIE TURNER PHOTOGRAPHER: ALMIDA MEYER MUSIC REVIEW: KAREN O. CRUSH SONGS CHARLIE

MIRADOR’S

VIEW

SAN

FRANCISCO’S FOLSOM STREET FAIR ANGELA MAZZANTI

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Letter From The Jefe

I think only certain people understand each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s genius... And all people

understand each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stupidity. Anyway, this issue we have some cool photographers and an article about bikini coffee shops that are sprouting around California. A trend that started in Washington, has trickled down to southern states. Also, one of our interns is up to no good and did some cool coverage in San Francisco. I would tell you about it here, but you should just go look at it yourself. It may just peek your interest, if you catch my drift. Last month, we mentioned that you should listen to Karen O; and you should. We have a review of her recently released Crush Songs. Lastly, stay safe and promote positivity. You can never have enough of that in the world.

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Sunday Morning with Astraia

It was almost a near miss with Astraia because we fucked up and give her an address to a vegan sushi restaurant in DTLA. Luckily, we corrected the issue and she arrived shortly thereafter. The moment she walked in the room lit up and everything was a go.

Craft beer or Cocktails? I actually don’t really drink, mostly due to my hatred of the severe hangovers I get. But if I had to choose, craft beer all the way!

finished school I plan to spend time traveling and living abroad. Any obsessions?

I love the world of ancient Greece and Rome. The way they lived is so How much time do you spend naked? interesting to me. Our modern society takes advantage of so many GrecoBeing nude isn’t strange or unnatural Roman innovations and most people for me. If anything, being clothed is. have no clue. I’ve always loved reading I’d prefer to be nude about 99% of about their culture and looking at the time, but that’s just not possible. artifacts. It’s one of the main reasons I In reality, it’s only when I’m at home became so interested in anthropology. away from most people. Favorite movie? Tangled. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine. I’m a total Disney freak. Do you travel? I try to travel as often as possible, but school and finances play a huge role in that. It’s very important to me, as an anthropology major, to understand how the rest of the world lives, and not just through a screen. Once I’ve

See more of Astraia: Instagram : @astraia_suicide suicide girls: astraia.suicidegirls.com

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Central California Ser Central California is known for being conservative in it’s politics and even more prude about it’s sexual appetite. Boosting less than 15 strip clubs in the major cities that encompass the Central Valley versus the hundreds in Southern California. It’s safe to safe they don’t partake much in worldly vices, let alone take kindly to a new trend of Bikini Coffee shops that are springing up all over the Central Valley. While this trend is not new to the United States with Seattle, Washington being the birthplace of cheeky named coffee shops, such as “Peek-a-brew” and “Fantasy Espresso.” This trend is causing a stir in the Central Valley ranging from protests to boycotting establishments that dish out coffee in swim wear attire that probably would not turn any heads if they were on a beach somewhere. Sodapop got to hang out at a new bikini coffee shop in Merced, California and it was pretty fucking cool. I arrived around 1 in the afternoon and the oasis of coffee was nestled in front of a high school. I quite frankly found that hilarious. I would have been so fucking happy if this place existed in front of my high school, that way the conservative fuck town I grew up in would not have sexualized bikinis or even naked women for me. The America I grew up in made women up to be different from me. From the get go, we are programed to know that females are different from us. That they are a prize worth showering

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with flowers and diamonds to obtain. Women in general are put on a throne. They walk the streets as if pussy ruled the country. Sadly, this is true in America because vagina does rule, and American men are sad, and

rving Up Coffee Right

have to have trophies to hang and fuck. I knocked at the door of the island style building and I was greeted by bikini toting girl who seemed pretty positive about the day. “Hey, I’m with

Sodapop. I’m going to be writing a story on this place and I cleared it with your management,” I said while she kind of laughed. “Yeah, I know or else I wouldn’t have opened the door. We get a few homeless people knocking

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from time to time.” I set up shop in the tiny building and I looked around hoping that it would be full of sex contraptions that would make Runkle squeal in delight. To my dismay, and obviously imaginative mind, it was a coffee shop by all definitions. There would have been no distinctions between this establishment and any other dime a dozen coffee shop in America. So why does this place rile up

because your husband is fantasizing about the bikini clad women? Well, whatever it is, you should look inward first and realize that maybe you should fuck your husband more. Stop worrying about dieting and trying to magically grow a Kim Kardashian ass after you’ve had 3 kids. Be real, be yourself, and fuck some more. I asked Briana how she liked being a bikini barista and she responded with, “The tips are really,

soccer moms to run petitions to community leaders? Well, if you didn’t know already, it’s the fucking skin being shown, and hardly enough to say it’s sexual. I always wondered why women are threatened by other women in America. Sure, I understand it’s a fucking contest to have the biggest tits so whoever claims you, can rave about it with his Neanderthal buddies. But really girls, why are you so threatened with some skin? Is it

really good,” and then proceeded to apologize about the day because business slows down mid afternoon. She said mornings were best. This gave me an opportunity to ask some questions. “So, what’s your clientele like?” I asked. “Mostly men, and the occasional woman,” which I thought would be the standard answer. “I see there’s a high school across the street,” and I half laughed. “Yeah, we get the

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occasional high schooler that comes and orders water,” she laughed. “Yeah, I figured. I mean you don’t have much money when one is young.” She half laughed. While perusing the menu of drinks, I came across concoctions of energy drinks. I was a bit awed because I never thought to flavor energy drinks. I asked about it and she told me to pick one. She went through the motions and in few minutes I

and a baseball cap. He nervously eyed me through what I could see from the tint of the shades and replied “Hello.” The only logical thing to do at that point was to ask about the coffee. He said it was “fantastic” and that he “tries to come by often.” I had no further questions for him because he was so nonchalant about a young bikini clad girl serving up coffee for him that it made me think that maybe the people of the Central Valley were not

had what was probably the best energy drink dosed in Italian syrup. This immediately put me into overdrive, but luckily cars began arriving to her surprise. I asked her if she could mention that I was writing a piece on the place and if I could ask them some questions. She gracefully asked away and the man agreed. I walked up to the window and said, “Hello.” Before me was a man wearing black shades

that big of prudes after all. Briana gave him his coffee and he tipped a five and mentioned he was on his way to play 18 holes. Shortly, there after a woman arrived and Briana mentioned that she was a regular. So I jumped at the opportunity to get a female perspective. I walked up once again and to my astonishment it an was older lady. I was not really astonished, but thought her view on the place

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might be thought provoking. I asked, “What do you think of this place?” She replied enthusiastically, “I love it!” “So you see nothing wrong here?” trying to draw her out “You know, if you don’t like it, don’t come. It’s as simple as that,” and I was blown away by the response. Here was an older female not playing by our prude rules and quite frankly enjoying a coffee. So let this be a lesson in not taking life too seriously and enjoying a coffee served by a bikini clad female. I’m waiting till they start opening male versions of this type of place. I wonder if it would cause such an outrage. I digress, and say to you, the reader, enjoy life and don’t be so fucking serious. Adam and Eve started off nude and then wore leafs as garments. So why are you giving these places such a hard time? It’s a business that deals in selling coffee... Nothing more. Stores of sexual favors didn’t marry up with this place. Men enjoy the few minutes of conversation with a view and women just enjoy the coffee. Some might even enjoy the view! So next time you run across a bikini coffee shop, stop and get some coffee. And don’t worry about the people snickering because they don’t pay your bills and you sure as hell don’t pay theirs. Unless, it’s your local politician, in that case, you are paying him and you should be paying him to worry about poor education in our schools, not what a bikini coffee shop is doing. - Illich Alexander

Tang Twinz

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Billy Ward

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Billy Ward is one of our in-house photographers and we love him here at Sodapop. He had some rare, unreleased work and we decided to feature it. He spent some time with the Tang Twinz. Jade and Mariah Tang make up twothirds of the famous Tang Triplets. (Their sister is Joelle Tang)

Enjoy the spread and find out more about Jade and Mariah down below. Oh, and Billy, but he works at Sodapop so, yeah, say hello.

Tang Twinz: Instagram: @tangtwinz Photographer: Billy Ward Instagram: @billy_ward

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Maryann Kathryn Buchanan Does Model: Emilie Turner All the people that grace the pages of Sodapop are, for the most part, found on Instagram or by word of mouth. We love that people reach out to us because we are super approachable and will try and feature everything that is submitted to us. Needless to say, we liked Maryann because she sent us a picture of Emilie. Within hours of posting it on Instagram, it became our top photo with over 500 likes. Enjoy Maryannâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s view of Emilie.

Photographer: Maryann Kathryn Buchanan Instagram @maryannkathrynn Website maryannkathryn.com Model: Emilie Turner Instagram @emilie_turner

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Photographer:

Almida Meyer

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Photographer: Almida Meyer Instagram: @almidameyerphotography Model: Kristina Elayne Instagram: @kristinaelayne

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By Cody Middleton

Karen O stands as, perhaps, one of the most recognizable names in Indie/alternative music. A person would be hard pressed to find an individual that hasn’t hummed along to a Yeah Yeah Yeahs song. O showed all of us in the early 2000’s how capable of a musician she is, progress-

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ing more with each release. Beyond her meanderings in the indie/alternative hustle, she has contributed to several film scores, ranging from ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ (with the likes of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross), to her ex-lover Spike Jonze’s most recent flick ‘Her,” which gained her an

Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. With a repertoire like this, one is left to wonder what has been lost with her newest (and first solo) effort. The album starts off with O counting off the beginning of ‘Ooo’. My initial impression from this first tune was that it would be followed by a handful of sickly sweet tracks dripping with the nostalgia of old lovers and crushes. All this to say, the first track isn’t too bad. It’s a nice, wispy intro track that precedes a downhill slope. The next track, ‘Rapt’, is the single off the album. The soft, careless strumming is traded for the mechanical lo-fi straights on guitar that persist throughout the song. From this track on, with one or two exceptions, the album loses whatever steam it started with and drags the listener in to a boredom that borders on mind numbing. O used a lo-fi recording method, obviously, for intentional purposes, but she fails to harness the spectrum of possibilities that such a style offers. While she likely chose to use this method, as well as her hushed singing, to convey feelings of heartsick love, we’re left with a talented vocalist that is dumbing down her capabilities and still missing her mark. When I think of a crush, (though it has been a while) I think of intense feelings that last as long as a flash in the pan. What O provides is not reminiscent of any crush I can remember. O seems to start veering back on track with the song ‘Day Go By,” a decent little number with some of the more affectionate qualities provided

in the first track, but the mood ends when the song does. The brevity of this album seems to be more of a disservice to itself than it does displaying any form of hidden emotion. Clocking in at right around twenty-five minutes, this album has a leanness that would be more than appropriate for a hardcore punk record. This makes the album feel more like a demo collection than a finished product. While it’s hard to tell if these songs have a greater potential than they were allowed to fulfill, the listener can only assume that the product would’ve been objectively better had gimmick been traded for display of capabilities. With the kind of capabilities we all know Karen O has, I find it truly surprising that her first solo album is such a backslide in her career. What likely started out as, and persists to be, a strong idea for an album is lost in the misinterpreted expressions of such an emotion. I don’t expect this to be the last offering of O’s solo career, but I do hope the next effort puts out what was intended with this one.

SCORE: 4/10 Standout track: “Rapt” http://www.karenomusic.com

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Charlie Mirador’s View of San Francisco’s Folsom Street Fair SODAPOP MAGAZINE

San Francisco’s Folsom Street Fair is one of those people watching spectacles that have to be experienced first hand instead of reading about it, but pictures can be fun to look at too! The annual street celebration, taking place in SF’s South of Market (SoMa) area of the city, first took place back in 1984 and is the largest BDSM and leather subculture gathering in the world. This was my

8th year making it out to the freak fest that is California’s 3rd largest outdoor single day festival. Folsom, just like most street festivals in the city, brings all walks of life out from the cracks and crevices. Not to mention your regular crowds and installments of sex industry types, exhibitionists, leather daddy’s, erotic art vendors, perverts, queens, gawkers, photographers, lost tourists, and curious kinky types.

CM 9/2014

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Angela Mazzanti A simple Google search of Mazzanti will yield an array of work that grows day by day. What started as a horrible experience of having your pictures leaked on the internet, has turn Mazzanti into a internet sensation through various avenues, like working with Hustler Magazine. These days she works on her modeling and inspiring other girls in the do’s and don’ts of the modeling world. We caught up with Mazzanti in Fresno, California where she currently resides and asked her a few questions. I see you have a lovely array of tattoos. Do you control everything? When did that start? Mazzanti: Everything you see, I Mazzanti: When I was about 18. I control myself. I book all of my shoots. I turned 18 in May and in October I got don’t have an agency or a my first tattoo across my back. My manager. I have friends who help mom told me I could never get a me out. It’s crazy walking around and tattoo. The weekend after I got it, I told people will recognize me. Sometimes her and she told me, “I’m going to fuck- people will see me on the street and ing kill you.” She got really mad. I was later on social media, they will be like I not suppose to get more, but I ended saw you at a certain place. getting more. She told me not to get any on my hands. Which is cool How do you feel about Lil Debbie? because it’s all about earning the space and I think I’ve already earned it. Mazzanti: I have a lot of respect for Lil Debbie. She doesn’t gave a fuck and How many followers do you have on pushes herself. I love hungry people Instagram? because I’m hungry. Let’s team up and go forward. That way if one of us Mazzanti: 42,000 and counting. makes it, we will help each other out.

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That’s why I don’t like to burn bridges. Do we have an EP coming out anytime soon? Mazzanti: I’m kind of just trying to work slowly to build myself out musically because I’m so picky about my music. It’s not my main priority right now. Where are you originally from? Mazzanti: Modesto, California. What are your future goals? Mazzanti: I’m going to push on with my modeling career and have a bigger name with that. Music would be my main thing so I could travel with it. I just really like modeling though. I, hopefully, get to work with Suicide Girls at some point because they do a lot of conventions. There are a ton of things I want to do. I know I will fall into something. I would even like to be behind the scenes and work with girls who are hungry and I could bring onto my team. You’re pretty positive. Mazzanti: You know the funny thing, I used to be a pretty negative person. My father recently passed away and it

changed me. I saw that life can go by so fast. So I want to take any opportunity that I can get. People don’t want to be around people that are negative. Everything is much more positive when I put out positive. It takes a while for people to figure that out. Mazzanti: Which I don’t get because if you do good, good will follow. It’s karma. Whenever I do something bad, instantly something bad will happen to me. So I try and stay away from it. Favorite movie? Mazzanti: I like gore. What music are you listening to? Mazzanti: Lil Debbie, Gucci Mane, and even Kreayshawn. Do you have a favorite tattoo? Mazzanti: My stomach tattoo because I went through the most pain for it. I symbolize myself to a wolf. I feel like I can lead the pack. I can go into any group of people and become a leader. Also, I can survive on my own and I like being on my own sometimes.

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