#Kendra Smith

[mutantthedark]

Kendra's Black Ops 6 design (?) A little rushed but oh well...

I wanted to see and draw Kendra in short hair, but damn, she's hella pretty as 38. y.o in 1991.

Idk what mission shall she be but we'll wait for the game to be released. I'm not planning to buy it.

[jt1674]

[musicwithoutborders]

Kendra Smith, Iridescence I The Guild Of Temporal Adventurers, 1992

[bandcampsnoop]

7/2/23.

It's been about 4 years since we've posted something from French label An'archives. I love that you can find labels devoted to releasing Japanese music in all sorts of places around the world. Black Editions in Los Angeles, and First & Last Records in Brooklyn, are two other labels aside from An'archives that came immediately to mind.

Usurabi are from Japan (I can't figure out where they are specifically from), and are clearly influenced by both The Pastels and Tenniscoats. But the Bandcamp page also mentions David Roback/Kendra Smith (Opal), The Clean and The Chills.

And yes, this is really that good.

[all-rock-and-roll-is-homosexual]

B-side Magazine Sept/Oct 95 - Dark but not troubled: Kendra Smith

if you like my scans and want to repost them off of tumblr or crop/otherwise make edits to any of the photos contained within this article please credit my blog and the original photographer (where applicable), and if you're feeling extra generous and want to help me out you can donate via my ko-fi donating will allow me to obtain more magazines to scan and upgrade my equipment.

[dustedmagazine]

The Dream Syndicate — History Kinda Pales When It and You Are Aligned: The Days of Wine and Roses 40th Anniversary Edition (Fire Records)

The Days of Wine and Roses (Expanded Edition) by The Dream Syndicate

A 40th anniversary is sort of an odd date to celebrate with pomp and fanfare, which makes this overstuffed edition of the Dream Syndicate’s The Days of Wine and Roses exude at least a whiff of opportunism. And to be sure, History Kinda Pales When It and You Are Aligned is overstuffed: four compact discs, 260 total minutes of music, five different versions of “Definitely Clean” and seven (yep) of “That’s What You Always Say” (from the original record; the Down There EP version; a 1981 recording by the 15 Minutes, a band Steve Wynn formed with members of Alternative Learning; a rehearsal rendition and several live recordings—it’s a good song, but that’s a bit much, by any measure). Dream Syndicate completists and musicologists with big historical investments in the Paisley Underground will rejoice. What about the rest of us?

At the very least, we have occasion to remember a great rock record, one of a select few released from the California underground in the early 1980s that still feel absolutely necessary, song for song and note for note. If we stick specifically with punk and punk-adjacent LA, we might mention Black Flag’s Damaged, X’s Under the Big Black Sun, Minutemen’s Double Nickels on the Dime and Gun Club’s Fire of Love. That’s some fierce company. The Dream Syndicate shared a label with the Gun Club, and likely shared a stage or two with at least a couple of those bands. But they were outliers in LA in those crucial years: not hair-trigger punks like Fear or Circle Jerks, not rootsy like Green on Red or the Blasters, not self-consciously arty like Screamers or Bpeople. Musically the Dream Syndicate was more aligned with New York bands, like Television or the Voidoids — and the Dream Syndicate confessed as much by name-checking La Monte Young’s famous NYC drone ensemble in their band’s moniker.

Mostly the Dream Syndicate was a guitar band, Wynn and Karl Precoda playing tangled and brash lines and working the space between dissonance and rock dramatics. You can hear that impulse, toward volume and catharsis, on a great-sounding live set included on Disc 4 of the edition, captured at the Country Club in Reseda, CA, sometime in 1982. “Then She Remembers” sounds like early Sonic Youth until Wynn drags the song back toward the textures of Neil Young and Crazy Horse at their most ragged and feral. In between songs, Wynn quips, “This is San Francisco psychedelia, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Blue Cheer...” He’s goofing on Cali punk’s north-south rivalries, but it’s not a bad set of references for the kinds of guitar antics the band gets into. That Reseda set is one of the real treats among all the accompanying recordings included in History Kinda Pales…, along with a recording of “Open Hour” from a 1982 live performance on KPFK, in which the guitarists channel Verlaine and Lloyd’s sense of interplay. Also check out the cover of “Folsom Prison Blues,” recorded in Tucson that same year; the band sounds like Rank and File on an especially whiskey-soaked night.

Amid all those extras, the most substantive music on the four discs can still be heard in the studio recordings that appeared as The Days of Wine and Roses in late October, 1982. Kendra Smith was still in the band, and her moody presence plays up the record’s Paisley Underground affiliations, as do the psych-rock acrobatics of “When You Smile.” But a lot of the story is told in the record’s first five seconds: those glorious, crashing notes that form the signature riff of “Tell Me When It’s Over.” It’s a great song, one of a few palpably heartbroken, sort-of-love songs from the decade (along with the Replacements’ “Unsatisfied” and Leaving Trains’ “Light Rain”) that laid some formative groundwork for the 1990s’ indie rock. The Days of Wine and Roses reaches its highest peaks on its several sort-of love songs: those just mentioned, “Halloween,” “Then She Remembers.” Those last two address desires that simmer with threat or explode into violence, and the music follows the same logic. If you haven’t for some time, listen to the ecstatic, free-falling guitar break that takes up the second half of “Then She Remembers.” It’s breathless, propulsive and razor sharp. Sort of like the passage of history. 

Jonathan Shaw

[manitat]

Kendra Smith and David Roback of the Los Angeles based rock group Opal drink coffee in photographer Laura Levine's Chinatown apartment in 1983 in New York City... Photo by Laura Levine/Getty Images...

[mutantthedark]

COD BLACK OPS COLD WAR OC: KENDRA SMITH

GENERAL

Name: Kendra Smith

Age: 28 (1981)

Alias(es): Smith, Owl

Gender: Female

Birthday: May 10th, 1953

Nationality: British

Place of birth: Manchester, UK

Languages: English, French

Affiliation: MI6, CIA and NATO

APPEARANCE

Hair color: Blonde (dyed)

Eye color: Green

Scars: A few on her arms and wrists

Piercings: None

Face claim: Florence Pugh

Height: 5’4 (162 cm)

Weight: 124 lbs (56 kg)

Build: Slim

Blood type: A+

Family: [REDACTED]

Siblings: [REDACTED]

Personality: INTJ

Kendra has a serious demeanour, expressing very little emotion. Due to this aura, she often comes off as intimidating. She is neither impolite nor an antisocial person, but she has a kind and warm heart. She spends most of her time with Helen Park. Which shows a sensible and respectful attitude toward others, often being discouraged by discourteous behaviour.

FAVOURITES

Color: Green

Season: Spring

Food: Healthy Chicken curry

Drink: Tea

Dessert: -

ABILITIES

Has excellent intelligence and can communicate well.

MI6 training

Weapon skills (Mostly pistols)

TRIVIA

Kendra's name means "Knowing". Other potential meanings of this ancient name include “royal power,” “bold power,” and “chief hero.” It can also mean "Owl".

Kendra tries to cover her scars with tattoos as much as she can.

Most of her friends called her "Owl" because of her thinking and intelligence. The Wise Owl represents the logical thinker.

Clothing she choose is polo shirts.

Kendra wears glasses, only for reading and working on paperworks, but she can see far.

TATTOO DESIGNS

Drawn by me.

BACKGROUND

Kendra was born and raised in Manchester, UK. There is no information about her parents, but she had a strict relationship with them. After her parents had to move to another city to work, Kendra went to University of Oxford, her dream was to be an analyst. One day, when she graduated, a few agents went to visit her and offered to join MI6 because of her intelligence and communications skills. Kendra, being a kind hearted young woman, agreed.

A few months later, she met Helen Park. They had been working together non-stop for international assignments and met Adler Russell during the CIA’s sponsored project. During career, Kendra met another fellow MI6 named “Madam Shell” who was really close with Park before. An intuition happened of Park’s suspicions, Madam attempted to kill Park, but Kendra protected her and earned a few scars from her on her wrists and arms, after failing to curse the inconsequential words, Madam pushed her out of the way and she left the scar on Park’s neck as a parting gift. Hovewer, Kendra didn't renouce, she smashed Madam's head to the wall with great force, which cracked her skull and caused her to kill her. She had to lie to the agents that Madam's been through the "Serious accident."

In 1981, Kendra joined Russel's team in CIA's safehouse E9, tasking to stop the infamous spy named "Perseus". Until then, she met a new teammate with a codename "Bell".

(I'll add more when Black ops 6 will release)

[musicwithoutborders]

Kendra Smith, Bohemian Zebulon I Five Ways of Disappearing, 1995

[bandcampsnoop]

3/23/23.

The Dream Syndicate have been a growing favorite over the past decades. My friend Rick was always pushing them, and while I never resisted, I never really embraced the band. However, I can state unequivocally that "That's What You Always Say" was an immediate favorite. "Halloween" soon followed. Then my friend Eric played "The Days of Wine and Roses" at one of our many listening parties.

Then I bought "The Complete Live at Raji's" and got the chance to see the band live. Wow.

I'm probably not telling anyone anything they don't already know. But this reissue of The Day of Wine and Roses by UK-based Fire Records is special. The extras are just incredible. People often list other "Paisley Underground" bands like The Three O'Clock, The Bangles, Green on Red and Rain Parade when discussing The Dream Syndicate. And while I have no doubt those bands were part of a scene, they don't necessarily sound like one another.

To me, The Dream Syndicate recalls the work of True West, The Wipers and Television. Steve Wynn started bands here in Davis, California (with Kendra Smith and later Scott Miller), but he formed The Dream Syndicate in Los Angeles.

[mutantthedark]

KENDRA SMITH AESTHETIC

I saw @/welldonekhushi's Bell aesthetic, so I wanted to make Kendra's 😩