A few years ago, when Kait Eldridge, frontwoman of the pop-punk-infused rock band Big Eyes, was living in Seattle, she came across Martin Bell’s 1984 documentary, Streetwise. The film follows the lives of homeless and runaway kids living on the streets of Seattle. As Eldridge discovered, it was made as a followup to a 1983 Life magazine photo essay by Mary Ellen Mark (Bell’s wife), called “Streets of the Lost.” Mark photographed teens carrying guns and needles, working as prostitutes, and foraging for food in dumpsters.
“It really struck a chord with me,” Eldridge says of seeing the film for the first time. She wrote a song that tapped into those feelings of existing on the outskirts of society and named it after Mark’s essay.
Read the full story at Miami New Times.
Photo by Steve Kong, via Miami New Times
