Coffeehouse cool
Pleasant Perk owners and musician Kim Taylor shares a little of her personal style
JULIE FITZGERALD | CIN WEEKLY
Kim Taylor doesn't exactly love to gab about fashion. At least not in the "Audrey Hepburn is my daily inspiration" sense.
However like many indie musicians she exudes a sort of natural hipness. And it's her organic sense of mixing casual textures with offbeat details (like a big fluffy coat) that gives the singer/songwriter and Pleasant Perk coffee house owner a look worth talking about.
When she's not on the road touring to support her latest album, a folksy compilation titled I Feel Like a Fading Light (available on iTunes), she's behind the counter of Pleasant Perk, which she's owned for five years. This is where you might catch her with one of her favorite accessories: a large cup of fresh-roasted and fresh-brewed Indian Monsooned Malabar.
Here are a few other things Taylor flavors her life wITH:
THRIFTY FASHION FINDS
"Thrift stores or old barns full of junk owned by some old man on some back road in the middle of nowhere. I've been a thrift-store junkie for probably 12 years. Once you find the tattered vintage black carpet-bag-looking 1950s coat for $5, there's just no going back. I stop at plenty of those kinds of places whenever I get the chance. And yard sales too."
"I burn them in my house constantly, and they keep my nose happy."
CHARLES SIMIC POETRY
"I have most of his stuff and bring it on the road constantly. It's comfort reading, like a cozy pair of socks. He helps me to breathe easier."
A SABINA SADDLE BAG
"I bought this great leather saddle bag when I was still living in Florida over 10 years ago - when I was first learning to both sling a good latte and play an open mic - (in) Sarasota, Fla., on the west coast. My saddle bag has seen rain, sun, sleet, hail, wind, mud, gum, coffee spills and my head. I use it as a pillow, even, from time to time."
5 QUESTIONS WITH KIM TAYLOR
Q Fill in the blank: The best T-shirts come from ...
A American Apparel.
Q Whose style do you admire?
A Tom Waits'.
Q What beauty product
do you use every day?
A Neutrogena soap.
Q What CD can't you live without?
A I have so many records that I love, but for the last year I've found that nothing puts me in a better mood like Tom Petty's Wildflowers record. I have never, ever gotten sick of that record from beginning to end.
Q How do you feel about your latest album? Since it's your third, was the process any easier?
A In some ways the process is easier. I know more what to expect on some level. But the creative process is never easier. And for me it's always most difficult to let go of a song, to be OK with a final version. I could edit myself forever. And I always question everything I do, but that could just be my angst and anxiety speaking.
