1

How about this for funny-weird: In the house behind my old flat lives a skinhead. A huge, tall and muscular bloke in a black bomber jackett, combat trousers and boots. Also, he walks like a wrestler. When I was moving out on Friday, I saw him walk past me in his usual outfit, except that his shaved head was covered by - a yarmulke. A very fancy one, as well, in white and blue with a lot of Hebrew writing all around it. Oh, and since I’m at work right now, here’s a quote from tomorrow’s taz: “Juergen Schweinebraden Freiherr von Wichmann-Eichhorn wurde als Kurator der Ausstellung eingesetzt.” It’s the guy’s real name! I checked!

2

Spartan,sorry I called you Marina by mistake!I was looking at the top of your writing - at 2.30 am whad’ya expect! hope the comments were useful tho’ Marty

3

Marina, interesting question.The Sharp symbol you refer to, that is the greek helm -is borrowed from Trojan records who in the sixties and onwards started to release skinhead reggae which was specifically aimed at the massive amount of young skinheads [in Britain originally] who were introduced to this musical form by jamaican immigrants in the sixties.It has been the mainstay of the true skinhead movement along with ska ever since and demonstrates the fact that skinhead started off as a youth cult that was spawned by jamaican music and style, and has nothing to do with racism.I highly recommend checking out Trojan Records releases for example Desmond Dekker, Max Romeo, Toots and the Maytals to name a few and maybe check out George Marshalls ‘Spirit of 69-A Skinhead Bible’ for a comprehensive look at what skinhead is all about

4

hello guys, can anyone tell me what is the meaning of the sharp symbol? I mean the greek helm. I’m a redskin but I always wanted to know where does it come from. thanks everybody.

5

in my country everyone makes that confusion…skin heads or bone heads are the same thing for them, and whwen i say them i mean reporters,jurnalists,my friends,my parents…almoust everyone. even one idioi nazi that i know didn’t know the diferences for shure…. I think is a very good thing to not make this confusion again ps.:excouse my english pls

6

i’m a french SHARP skin. and i don’t think that nazi hair cut guys are skinheads.skin cultire isn’t nazi or racist any more. roots comes from jamaica. in france it’s ok to be skin but evrery boboby look at you like an animal because i’ve got different clothes. that not a joke but i’m jew and my girlfriend is african. Sharp= in nazi=out

7

you dicks… no offence but skinheads are working class guys that shave there heads and they can be from anywhere i know an african american skinhead in caft but the nazi skinheads(bone heads) are morons and its common to see jewish skins. and about that punk… he probly stole it how else can you contact some one who lives in the gutter?

8

hey just thought id let you all know that REAL skinheads are not the racist neo nazi scum that are so often in the headlines.Traditional skinheads & their fashion,music,attitudes,lifestyle & well pretty much everything stems from a black sub culture of the mid to late 60’s onwards.There are skins from every country in the world & just last week spotted a large group of skins visiting from japan.Infact there’s a worldwide skinhead crew called S.H.A.R.P’s which is Skin Heads Against Racial Prejudice so as you can imagine its most distressing for all other types of skins getting grouped with these pigs who stole the fashion and tainted it heavily.

9

I love the story on the seemingly german neo-nazi stero-type. But what we must remember is to be slow to jugde others, just as the story sugests.

10

When I was younger I was into being a skinhead. I did it all. The outfit I wore then is the same outfit that skinheads where today. My skinhead friends then were white, black, asian, jewish, and latin. If you were never apart of the scene or the movement you will never understand the true meaning behind the word skinhead. I’m JEWISH and was at one time and for many years a skinhead. I’ve grown up and moved on now. What I felt then is much different from how I feel today. In general people have to be more open minded. It is not very hard to be a jewish skinhead. The nazi party did not create the skinhead that you read about today.

11

Jessica, Found your website after a wordsearch for “intelligent people”. Good site. Only comment is my brother gets mistaken for a skinhead alot. Far from it, he is just into computers, anti-establishment, and his music above all else. He mixes jungle and trance with acid jazz and other such music types. The mode of dress seems to be minimal/functional similar that of skinheads, but no denim, tight white Tees, or tattoos. Not so much here in New York, but in San Fran he had to grow a patch of hair and choose band T’s to make the distinction clear.

12

I, too, have wondered about the meat-in-a-bun nickname. Is your left nostril the same nostril you tried to smoke through after having your wisdom teeth pulled? :)

Perhaps we should distinguish between skinheads and skinheads. No, it’s not strange for a Jewish person or anyone else to have a shaved head. But when you shave your head as a symbol of your loyalty to some neo-Nazi movement - well, then it would be a little weird if you happened to be Jewish. I don’t know of any African-Americans who want to join the Ku Klux Klan…But obviously your man with the yarmulke was not a skinhead skinhead. He just didn’t have any hair.

13

Oh, no, in fact, its a nickname, because I go “WHOP!” every time somebody touches my left nostril.

14

Do I have to explain to an American what a Hamburger is? Or to a librarian what a pun is? Im puzzled. And why shouldnt there be Jewish skinheads, since the original skinheads from the sixties were Jamaicans? Its just that most German skinheads are beyond weird and anything but funny.

15

I love that harmonica story!!! Why “whopper” ??? xoxo kim

16

Regarding freedom and the “fetters that bind us”…I’m reminded of the song “Beeswing” by Richard Thompson (a song that never fails to make me cry). It’s basically about a man falling in love with a travelling woman and then eventually losing the woman because she’s all free and wild and can’t stand to be tied down. The last lines of the song are something like, “They say her looks have faded now/Hard living and hard booze/But maybe that’s the price you pay/For the chains that you refuse…”

Whopper, your skinhead-who-wasn’t story is truly the epitome of funny-weird. I guess the cliche about books and their covers is very true after all. Do you think his skinhead-persona is some sort of protective camouflage (like, is it safer to walk around Hamburg in skinhead-gear than it is to walk around with a yarmulke)? And at first I thought that Juergen Schweinebraden (!) Freiherr von Wichmann-Eichhorn was the “skinhead” guy’s name, which would have made the whole thing even funnier-weirder.

And speaking of funny-weird and yarmulkes: my grandmother makes beautiful afghans by crocheting yarn squares and sewing them all together, and apparently when I was little I would take the crocheted squares and put them on my head and prance around telling people to look at my “harmonica”. I don’t know how long it took my family to figure out that by “harmonica” I actually meant “yarmulke”. And we have yet to figure out why I would even know what a yarmulke was, seeing as my family isn’t Jewish. Very odd. But kind of cool. :)

17

Interesting … there are some who live the life and others who simply imitate it. Personally, Janis sang it best “freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” Sometimes the fetters which bind us are a welcome change to begging change.

18

I’m a jewish girl who dresses like a typical skinhead as thats wat Im into. I also happen to work in a very jewish area and just the other day I got spat at by a very orthodox guy, probably thought I was a nazi. Weird and funny for me!