Lucky Dip – A Selection of Strange and Awesome Stuff – January 15th, 2015

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Mötley Crüe rehearsal, 1983. Photo credit: Gary Leonard.

If you’re in Los Angeles, stop by the Los Angeles Public Library and check out the fantastic exhibit From Pop to the Pit: LAPL Photo Collection Celebrates the Los Angeles Music Scene, 1978-1989. Full of photos of some of your favourite bands (especially if you’re a GenXer) from gigs to publicity shots, and encompassing the full range of pop-ish music from rap to punk to metal with everyone from Quiet Riot to the Minutemen  to the Go-Gos.

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Autumn Hawk / 8″h x 5″w x 5″d / Hand-dyed Wool housed in a Glass Dome by Lana Crooks

Lana Crooks is a Chicago-based textile artist whose work, made with wool and silk, includes some spectacular pieces meant to look like bones and skeletons. Just as fascinating as the real (creepy) thing, but also art. [Via This Is Colossal and Geyser of Awesome]

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Photography from the Penthouse Mouse Midmouse Runway (March 2012) by Meagan Harding.

I came across these images of a DISCOUNT UNIVERSE fashion show and couldn’t help but think of Australian performance artist Leigh Bowery. Also hailing from Australia, this design team creates bright, sparkly garments that hail back to 80s club kids and 90s raves. [Via Beautiful Decay]

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Photo: Tom Fassbender for BoingBoing

Still down under, there’s another sub-culture of note. Turns out there’s an entire town in New Zealand dedicated to Steampunk. (No, not the silly coffee machine at The Second Cup.) Oamaru is full of old trains, giant gears and a steampunk-themed playground. [Via BoingBoing]

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Switch plate by Green Tree Jewelry

Keeping to that steampunk theme, check out these super-cool switch plates made with gears and levers and various metal bits. Green Tree Jewelry is from San Francisco but you can order their stuff via Etsy. [Via Twisted Sifter]

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The Hollensbury Spite House in Alexandria Virginia, via Flickr.

Our house, in the middle of our… alleyway? Neighbour’s yard? Traffic roundabout? Turns out that people will go to great trouble and expense out of spitefulness. Including building a whole house just to piss somebody else off. [Via Mental Floss]