This week, I chose to spread a bit of holiday cheer (as opposed to manure) by throwing in some punk rock with a christmas theme. Here’s a sampling of what I played:

Vandals                                            Oi! To The World
Mighty Mighty Bosstones         This Time Of Year
Bad Religion                                   The First Noel
Voodoo Glow Skulls                     Feliz Navidad
The Ravers                          (It’s Gonna Be) A Punk Rock Christmas

I’m usually not a fan of christmas because of the crowds, traffic and black friday. However, it’s  a great opportunity to shop for music for family members and I’m lucky enough to have a brother that shares many of the same musical tastes. Easy to shop for. I recently started a new job doing cleaning and laundry at FAHC in Burlington, VT. I’m grateful that the year turned out well.

Regardless, there is one more show coming up for December in a 12-2am time slot (December 28th) and a 3 hour show in a 3pm-6pm time slot (also December 28th). Due to the sign-up period at WRUV, show times may be a bit erratic. There is a possibility of a show on New Year’s Eve but it’s likely that the shows on the 28th will be the final shows of 2009. One of these shows will be a year-end retrospective of the best punk/hardcore/ska/metal of this year.

I’d like to note that today, my friend and fellow DJ, Willie Strausser, will be doing a special edition of his show, Native Metal. It starts at 12pm today and runs all the way to 6pm. Willie certainly has the testicular fortitude to do such a long show. He will be covering the best metal of the decade (2000-2009). I urge you to check out this show at the WRUV website and also check out Willie’s blog in the Neat Links section (Native Metal).

Regardless, happy holidays and I hope you have a wonderful time!

Janitor From Mars 12/20/09 playlist:
http://tinyurl.com/janitorfrommars121909

Listen to Janitor From Mars in WRUV Archives:
http://www.uvm.edu/~wruv/?action=archives

(can be found under the show listing SUPERMEGA HIP/HOP ELECTROTHUNDERJAMS with Travmatic. As always, show is available in WRUV archives for one week)

Dickies kp310 Girl’s Tab Pocket Capri Pant (Sizes 4-20.5) Reviews

Stain release finish. Wrinkle resistant. Fade resistant. Lower rise fit. Easy care, durable 2×1 twill. Easy fit w/casual styling. Micro-sanded for super soft feel. Flare leg. Two front three quarter pockets w/functional button tabs. Two back welt pockets.

Dickies kp310 Girl’s Tab Pocket Capri Pant (Sizes 4-20.5) Features

• Stain release finish. Wrinkle resistant.
• Fade resistant. Lower rise fit.
• Easy care, durable 2×1 twill.
• Easy fit w/casual styling. Micro-sanded for super soft feel.
• Flare leg. Two front three quarter pockets w/functional button tabs. Two back welt pockets. – 7 oz. Twill (65% Polyester/35% Cotton)

Check Price and Read More Details of Dickies kp310 Girl’s Tab Pocket Capri Pant (Sizes 4-20.5)…>>

I’m just perusing the October issue of Spin (I only just received it, as part of this magazine sharing program I have with one of the coolest guys I know – my dad) and I’m only a few pages in and I’m already severely annoyed. Lately Spin is good for little else.

There is an ad for Dickies clothing that features a rather rotund young fellow, with dark, thick-rimmed glasses and a goatee.

What is the problem, you ask?

This ad strikes me as irritating because it demonstrates how it is apparently ‘okay’ for a fat guy to be in an ad, for clothing nonetheless, but we rarely if ever see an ad featuring a woman bigger than a size 0. Though I am not plus-sized, this still annoys me, and it should annoy anyone with an ethical conscience.

Searching for some sort of explanation, I scoured the page, looking for fine print to indicate that this dude is some sort of musician, or famous tattoo artist – something! Alas, no further information.

But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since Spin has basically decided to target the demographic of fratboy. At least they don’t get my money.

Dickies kk310 Girl’s 3-Piece Skirt (Sizes 4-20 ½) Reviews

Stain release finish. Wrinkle resistant. Fade resistant. Easy care, durable 2×1 twill. Front tab with metal button closure. Above knee, A-line skirt. Micro-sanded for super soft feel. No exterior logo. Sizes 4-6X with elastic back. – 7 oz. Twill (65% Poly

Dickies kk310 Girl’s 3-Piece Skirt (Sizes 4-20 ½) Features

• Stain release finish. Wrinkle resistant.
• Fade resistant. Easy care, durable 2×1 twill. “Please Note: 2×1 Is In Reference To The Material Type. This Is Not A 2 For 1 Shirt Offer.”
• Front tab with metal button closure. Above knee, A-line skirt.
• Micro-sanded for super soft feel. No exterior logo.
• Sizes 4-6X with elastic back. – 7 oz. Twill (65% Polyester/35% Cotton)

Check Price and Read More Details of Dickies kk310 Girl’s 3-Piece Skirt (Sizes 4-20 ½)…>>

man, it feels kinda nice to be back in SoCal. this place is starting to feel more and more like home to me… is that such a bad thing? i think not. anyways, aside from the dooty weather… i got to see my new place today and it’s definitely an upgrade from my place now. got myself an extra bathroom all to myself!! holla! can’t wait to move in… on another note, i gotta raise my car now. the drive way will murder my pipes before i even get out on the streets. sadness…

PLAY ME: “open wide, i know you’re thirsty!!”

had hotpot with my mama the other night cuz she had some leftover stuff… definitely warmed up my cold night

lunch for the following afternoon

finally got to see what my new place looks like… strangely enough, the house number is 212, which was also the same house number of our first owned house!! oh how i miss you 212 avalon drive…

on another note, i didn’t notice how pink my new place is until Race mentioned it to me… damn pink.

my dinky room… i feel like this room might even be a little smaller than my current one… sadness, but i’ll make it work somehow…

just dickin around in my dickies… hahaha yes! i wore them again! it’s been shitty weather lately and i don’t feel like opening a new pair of pants yet…

got stairs now!

our new living room x dining area x door to our outdoor patio. excited about those summer nights that i get to chill outside.

the kitchen is mos def smaller than my current one too, but i like it! leaves less room for my parents to dump hella shit on the counter -_- “take that, take that, take that…” – Diddy. oh, and gas stoves ftmfw

dong nguyen’s hainan chicken = bombombomb! but!… still doesn’t beat banana leaf…

i’ll keep dreamin….

clean!

mMmm…. Alice Goodwin

looool

LOOOOL played….

enjoy!!

Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Co. California Selvage Jean

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9.13pm, the loud tunes of a funeral procession at the next block fills the night atmosphere. When i was younger, I used to dread this moment. It wasn’t due to it’s morbidity. Sometimes, it was this unknown mystic energy it produces. Like emergency sirens, they also emit off a shrill, piercing noise that’ll drive anything away. Simply put, it was just pure annoyance. Perhaps i am used to this intensity now…. I discover a strange blend of wailing grief lending a surreal cast to the occasion. The  traditional religious chantings, the ceremonial incense and the brightly litted area counters all soleminity. I wonder if the future generations will have a chance to witness these void deck ceremonies…

That said, i’ve been reading a series of unfortunate events happening lately around the world. Global warming, mass killings, financial meltdowns, suicides…the windows of tragedy are everywhere isn’t it?

My week was full of work. eggs, coffee and pancakes. All these things make a busy, dull day immeasurably better. I am so excited to read about a new food blog my lecturer introduced…because of that, edwin for the win! In the meantime, there are a lot of to-do tasks. Anyway, i miss my all my pl girls arghh

Rain more!!!! So it’ll make feel better.

It’s apparent that Camber don’t do funny business. There’s an enduring mystery to this sports/workwear brand that’s nicely at odds with every other brand letting the blogsphere see every inch of their inner workings down to the guts – they make great product, so hard wearing that it nearly falls into the current workwear boom that’s got your local hipster hotspot looking like dress rehearsals for ‘The Grapes Of Wrath’ with added GORE-TEX. This has been the year of the heritage range. Marketing guy spots local urchins in denim and workboots, discovers the hype blogs and realises that all they need is their old logo on a patch, Vibram on the sole and voila! They’re in the running.

In the tumble to show just how goddamn old and authentic they are, old brands are acting less like the bemused Farnklin Davis who expressed concern for Ben Davis fan Snoop Dogg around the time he was aquitted of murder charges, “I heard something about that Snoop Dogg guy getting in trouble…” or a crotchety old man chasing a young man in cropped chinos wielding a DMC-GF1 off his factory property. Nope. Now it’s all blogger tours and storytelling.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing at all – many companies must be caking it this winter from a new breed of consumer but sadly, the waxed canvas bubble will pop one day, and there’ll be brand casualties, regardless of how timeless the product is. It’s the age-old story, a long lost tribe found then corrupted by another tribe – fickle consumers with oneupmanship on the brain.

I once theorised that all the industry’s current ills go back to the day Nike retroed the Jordan 1 in 1994. I was stoned at the time of attempting to contextualise this, but after that release was treated with ambivalence by all but the clued-up and the Jordan series retros started shifting, while it certainly wasn’t the first Nike retro, the brand must have clocked the profits to be made from raiding the archive – it’s interesting the golden age of sports shoe design comes to a close as the retrospect rose. But that’s a whole ‘nother blog entry, and I’m on holiday, so I’ll stop talking shoes.

You’ll find no J. Peterman style essays, or tales of kitting out workers in days of olde on their site, but Camber are a brand with some history, well, for those of us who can remember brands like Gimme 5’s UK Bathing Ape subsidiary Very Ape printing on their thick tees circa. 1995 we know they go back to the mid ’90s at least. There were brief rumours that Camber’s thermal hoodies were the basis for Supreme and ALIFE pieces – but this has been attributed to CYC, who’ve stepped out from blank status lately with Reigning Champ and Wings & Horns (who to be fair, have been talked about regularly on forums like Superfuture for nigh-on half a decade).

We know Camber are based in Norristown, Pennylsvania and that their gear is proudly US-made. And that’s about it. Both those previous factoids would see most brands elevated to capo status in the current climate, but this one seems content to go about their business.

Savvy Japanese consumers picked up Camber sweats and gave them some magazine buzz a few years back, and any visitor to workwear mecca Dave’s in New York might have seen stacks of chunky zip-up numbers sharing shelf space with Carhartt and Dickies. A recent visit had a poor showing from Camber, and a glimpse at their website today indicates stocks are significently lower; one style and colour at time of writing. This just makes them all the more intriguing.

Carhartt’s European franchise meant they could serve dual roles as a trend and working brand well, causing some minor confusion (it’s all in the way those bad boys are cut), but without alienating either fanbase. Dickies is currently in the middle of a hunt for that trend-level scrilla, and after making some mediocre selevedge ventures since the late ’90s, finally seem to be on the right track with the excellent impending Wiliamson-Dickie numbers.

Max-Weight t-shirts do what the name suggests – a Hanes Beefy T weighs in at 6.1oz – the Max-Weight is 8oz of shirt. That’s excessive to the heavy shirt haters, but if you’re in the market for a non transparent tee, they’re a good choice. The Arctic Thermal zip-up is a flagship product for Camber – 19oz is enough to beat a man to death with one, and they’re a good winter pick. Dark green and brown are two of the best shades, and for those of you fetishising Lampo and Riri zips – fall back. You’ll get none of that for seventy bucks, but the brass eyelets and overall fit, taking in the fact they shrink by at least ten percent (something that doesn’t happen with the CYC numbers), is decent. The set in sleeves are a good length too, though a little prone to fraying over time. Again…these are, like Carhartt hoodies, despite dependabe build, seasonally disposable thanks to their pricepoint.

The contrast hi-vis one isn’t some ‘07 nu rave flashback – it’s eye-bleeding for a reason, and there’s a custom service promoted on the Camber site that offers orders that can be placed be placed “with a minimum quantity as low as 6 dozen” and the photographs show some clean examples of the factory’s commissions. Plus a mention that they do private label work too.

Camber deserves more respect, but props to the brand for keeping it real while all those around them lose their heads over the new found attention.

www.camberusa.com

On a loosely related note, this blog shows a lot of promise -

www.one-percenters-clothing.blogspot.com

There’s some great bits showcased on there for the one percent who care. Holmes knitwear is quite a flashback.

And linking to an earlier point, here’s team Red Wing making plans for further domination in 2010, plus some good (underexposed) promotional videos from their European, er…wing.

]]> http://illastr8.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/my-dickies-project-is-coming-along-and-almost-done/ Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:43:31 +0000 Illastr8 http://illastr8.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/my-dickies-project-is-coming-along-and-almost-done/

My Dickies Headwear project coming along as its almost wrapped up and a go. One of my favorite projects up to date. It’s given me the opportunity to work with a line of headwear that has an urban street feel to it. I will post a link up once the site is done.

Today’s Featured Cause:
Winchester Orchestra – We are the only fully professional orchestra in the “top of Virginia” region.The Winchester Orchestra was founded by Maestro Andrew Gekoskie in June of 2008. The Winchester Orchestra is committed to changing lives through music’s extraordinary power to communicate, and thus inspire, uplift, educate and entertain. We are dedicated to challenging classical performance boundaries by offering fresh interpretations of the standard orchestral repertoire as well as the discovery of new and unusual works. Through live performances that are evocative, dramatic, and passionate we seek to develop new audiences of all ages for classical music.

The Winchester Orchestra is a 501 (c) 3 charitable organization.

The Winchester Orchestra is committed to:
Increasing the awareness of, and support for, music written for orchestra
Developing new audiences for classical music
Producing regional performances and outreach programs, especially at schools, universities, churches, and other appropriate venues in order to serve more constituents and communities
Touring throughout the United States and in other countries throughout the world
Recording significant orchestral repertoire.

Save yourself some money with coupon codes and and support Winchester Orchestra by shopping with Donation Street. Today’s top money saving offers:

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Dickies- 30% Off your purchase of $100 or more
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Pear Tree Greetings- Holiday Invites 10% off plus free shipping

久々の休日。

Fred Segal内にできているConveyor LAに行ってきました。

went to Fred Segal, today.

Gardena DEPARTMENT store

they have Dickies, Carhartt, Levi’s, BEN DAVIS and so on…

is it a official Hello Kitty bag!? it was only $13. its cool, anyway.

took looong time to go back home.. hate traffic.

渋滞のため、家に帰るまでとても時間がかかりました。

lIMITEd eDITIOn

Dickies Waterproof Padded Coverall.

£39.99

To view this product you can use the links provided below.

http://www.winfieldsmegastore.com/dickies-padded-coverall-p-wp15000-c-olive.html

http://www.winfieldsmegastore.com/l1-work-wear.html

http://www.winfieldsmegastore.com/

Its been a few days since I wrote on here.  I’ve been busy with school, work, and social life.  Jimmy Johns dinner delivered.  PBR drank over the weekend.  Facebook status updates.  Artbattle on Saturday.  Working at Founders Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.  Played a show Friday night at Jukes.  I’m in CIRCUS PIG!.  Its pretty fun.  Pandora radio.  Microsoft Word to type a paper.  Western Digital hard-drive.  Using an iMac to access the internets.  Wearing my Budweiser pants I received when I worked for them.  Wearing my Dickies brand steel-toe boots.  Brand, image, lifestyle.

Jimmie Johnson wrecked on lap 3 and finished 38th, his worst Chase race finish since 2006. (Photo: AP)

After Talladega, everyone was giving Jimmie Johnson the title, including myself. That may not be the case anymore, after today’s race at Texas Motor Speedway. The good luck Jimmie had last week seems to have turned on him this week. Johnson was tagged by Sam Hornish Jr. on lap three, spun, and hit the inside wall hard on the backstretch, suffering a lot of damage. His team spent over an hour working on the car, replacing the torn sheet metal with a black exterior, looking similar to the Batmobile.

When he made it back out on the track, the 48 car was scored 112 laps down, looking to gain any spots and thus as many points as possible. Johnson ended up finishing 38th, while Mark Martin finished fourth and gained 111 points on Jimmie, going from 184 points back to now 73 behind. With Phoenix next week (Martin won there this spring), this championship battle may not be a blowout anymore, as everyone thought. If Martin were to win these last two races of the season, Johnson needs to finish fourth or better in both of them to win the title, meaning the title fight may come down to Homestead after all.

A multitude of storylines dominated this race. The Busch brothers were one of them. Kyle Busch was trying to become the first driver ever to win three NASCAR races in a single weekend. He just came up short, winning the Truck race on

The Busch brothers dominated the weekend in Texas, with Kyle winning the Truck and Nationwide series races, and Kurt winning on Sunday. (Photo: MCT)

Friday, the Nationwide race on Saturday, and looked to have today’s Cup race in hand, leading 232 laps with the dominant car. Him and his brother Kurt led most of the race, but the end came down to fuel mileage, as Kyle ran out of gas while leading with three laps to go!  His brother ended up winning, taking the “Blue Deuce” to victory lane for the first time since his win at Atlanta in March. Kurt celebrated by making a lap in reverse, a unique victory celebration looking similar to the late Alan Kulwicki’s “polish victory lap.” Due to the field running low on fuel, Busch’s margin of victory was 25.68 sec, which is the largest since electronic timing was introduced in 1993.

Kurt Busch also got to celebrate with a lucky fan, who was participating in a Dickies promotional giveaway. Michael McGee, who picked Busch to win on Saturday, won $1 million.

- After Jimmie crashed early on, both Mark and Jeff Gordon saw this as an opportunity to gain as much ground as possible. Jeff led 11 laps early on from the pole, but a slow green-flag pit stop dropped him through the field and he ran around 15th-20th just about all day, battling a mediocre racecar. Because the race ended with the fuel mileage run, Jeff was able to pick up a few positions and finish 13th. He gained 80 points on Johnson and is still third in the standings, 112 behind.

Lap 175 gave me quite a scare, as Chase driver Juan Montoya got loose in turns 1 and 2 and crashed, taking Carl Edwards with him. In the process, Jeff Gordon spun trying to miss the chaos, but fortunately did not hit a single thing. He changed all four tires on pit road and accepted the penalty of being in the pits while closed, which was restarting on the end of the lead lap.

Dickies are the one brand my family can count on for all of our work garments. They have a wide variety of work pants, work shirts, jackets, overalls, womens work wear, school uniforms, childrens wear and denim jeans in all colors and fabrics. They continue to expand and update there selections that make it easy for my family to shop with Dickies. There clothes are tough and we are very happy with the quality of Dickies. Not only do Dickies provide work wear but they also offer a wide selection of everyday clothes. This is one brand that is trusted in our home. You can save on purchases from Dickies.com using coupons, free shipping offers and promo codes from PricePickle.com.

So for those of you who are regular sartoriography readers or are students at the Div School, you’ll probably recognize in this post my friend Brett Olson.  You’ll likewise probably be rather suprised to find Brett on a fashion blog, given his devotion to paint splattered Dickies, smelly Chocos, threadbare t-shirts, and the occasional splash of Mom-purchased lime green.  However, Brett recently went out with a friend and impressed us all with his willingnes to wear something that appeared not to have been purchased at REI or a tractor supply store.  For many this isn’t a big deal, but for Brett, it’s a major step toward fashion-dom.  Doesn’t he look handsome?  And please note the socks!

Pre-Date Brett: green button-up (H&M), gray t-shirt, boot cut jeans, black dress shoes.

Brett's fancy burnt orange socks

NEW YORK, N.Y. (October 27, 2009) – The Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) is thrilled to announce that the 2009 Challenger Tour Championships presented by Dickies, one of the most desired event titles in the PBR, will now kick off the elite 2010 Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS) season.  On November 20-22, 2009, the BFTS tour will make its first stop of the season at the Gwinnet Center in Atlanta, Ga., combining two premier events into one marquis stop.  Fans will have the opportunity to see the world’s best riders competing for $500,000 in prize money—PBR’s 2nd largest payout—and will be witness to one of the most intense, action-packed bull riding that the PBR will put on all year with more cowboys, more bulls, and more rides and wrecks than a true fan could ever ask for!

Bull riding action will get underway on Friday, November 20 at 8 p.m., Saturday, November 21 at 7:50 p.m., and on Sunday, November 22 at 2 p.m.  $500,000 will be up for grabs as top PBR superstars from around the world will compete against the toughest bovine athletes that the PBR has to offer.

Tickets are available for as little as $10 and increase to $15, $25, $50, and $100 (standard ticket fees apply).  They can be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.com, by phone at 404.249.6400, or in person at the Gwinnett Center Box Office.  Fans will enjoy more than two hours of heart-pounding action, rock & roll music, pyrotechnics, and an up close and personal view of The Toughest Sport on Earth!

The top 40 bull riders in the world from the Built Ford Tough Series standings will be joined by the best 15 riders from the Challenger Tour standings who have not yet qualified for the prestigious event.  55 riders, as opposed to the normal 40 at a regular BFTS event, will ride in the first two rounds of competition which will take place on Friday and Saturday night.  The top 40 riders on two bulls will move onto Sunday’s third round of competition and then the top 15 riders on three bulls will immediately come back to compete in the Built Ford Tough Championship Round.  In the end, the rider with the highest total score on four bulls will be declared the winner and take home the $200,000 average check.

The PBR is the premiere bull riding organization in the world, boasting contestants from the United States, Mexico, Australia, Brazil, and Canada. Its events air weekly on VERSUS with additional broadcasts on NBC and CBS and in recent years it has been tagged the ‘fastest growing sport in the country.’ For more information on the 2009 Challenger Tour Championships presented by Dickies, part of the Built Ford Tough Series, please visit www.pbrnow.com or contact Katharine Sherrer at 719 242 2800 ext. 3372 or Katharine@pbrnow.com.

All roads are leading to Las Vegas and you don’t want to miss out on any of the action at the 2009 Built Ford Tough World Finals in Las Vegas, Nev.  The world-class event will take place on Oct. 30-Nov 1 and Nov. 5-8 at the Thomas & Mack Center—get your tickets NOW at 866.PBR.SHOW or unlvtickets.com!

Log on to www.pbr.tv, the official online network of the Professional Bull Riders. Get a total re-cap of the weekend’s event with the newly launched 20 minute highlight show “pbr.tv Extra” , browse video clips of the best rides and wrecks from each event, listen to behind the scenes interviews, watch the latest PBR news on the “pbr.tv Show”, plus much more. Pbr.tv is your one source for PBR video online!
###

About the Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR):
PBR attracts over 1.7 million live attendees each year with its multi-tiered event structure which includes the prestigious Built Ford Tough Series, the Copenhagen Bull Riding Challenger Tour, the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Tour, and the Discovery Tour, designed specifically for entry level contestants.  With over 450 hours of prime time programming annually and a viewership of 100 million, PBR ranks among the most prolific sports on air and broadcasts on FOX, NBC, VERSUS, and on a host of foreign networks across the globe.  The PBR is headquartered in Pueblo, Colo., with additional offices in Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico, and prides itself in its 1,000 plus stock contractor relationships and over 1,200 PBR bull riders competing in more than 300 PBR sanctioned competitions across the five countries.

For more on the PBR, please visit www.pbrnow.com, www.teampbr.com, www.pbr.tv, www.myspace.com/teampbr, twitter.com/teampbr, www.facebook.com/TeamPBR, or www.pbrnow.com/worldfinals/.

About Dickies:
The Dickies brand has a strong and proud heritage of providing tough, quality clothing to American workers for more than 87 years. Over that time, the company has grown from the U.S. Bib Overall Company in 1922 to the Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Company. From overalls to World War II U.S. military uniforms to its iconic Original 874 work pant and much more, Dickies is the global leader in innovative work apparel while also meeting consumer needs for quality after work clothing at a great value.  The Dickies portfolio of apparel includes men’s and women’s work pants, shorts, shirts, denim, outerwear, school wear and an extensive licensing program, all backed by a lifetime guarantee. The company operates through subsidiaries in North America, Canada and Europe as well as exclusive distributorship around the world. For more information on the uncomplicated style of Dickies, visit www.dickies.com.

Stussy is a brand that I will always love, it was one of the first streetwear/skate brands and still remains true to their roots and where they came from. Another line that I will also always remain faithful to is Dickies, as they are such a classic brand that I grew up wearing. So it is nice to see the two team up for this collaborative effort producing 2 styles of pants, the supreme chino and cord, both available in a variety of colours. Dickies have been getting some love with the colaborations as of late with the likes of Alife, Beams, mastermind, SOPH, and now Stussy with this project. Keep reading for the collection as well as some other Dickies colabs…

Info: Slamxhype

/85

Si eres socia de Buyvip, seguro que ya has recibido la invitación para pasarte este fin de semana al outlet que han montado

¿Qué necesitas saber?

Las marcas que encontrarás serán : Thomas Burberry, Dickies, Guess, Dolores Promesas y El Caballo.
Hasta cuando: del 22 al 24 de octubre
Horario: de 10:00 de la mañana a 21:00 de la tarde
Dónde: C/ Trueba y Fernández, 7 (esquina C/ Víctor Andrés Belahunde, 5) en Madrid
Cómo llegar: aparca el coche en casa y vente en metro, la parada es Concha Espina (Línea 9)

Eso si, no se te olvide, todas las compras que hagas tienen que ser en efectivo y es imprescindible imprimir la invitación para presentarla en la entra.

Today’s Featured Cause:
Precious Stones Ministries Inc. – Ministry of Exhortation
Our Goal is to Edify Christians, While Glorifying God.

Save yourself some money with coupon codes and and support Precious Stones Ministries Inc. by shopping with Donation Street. Today’s top money saving offers:

Ashford- Save $15 on orders above $250.
Wilsons Leather- Receive FREE Shipping when you spend $50 or more!
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Bigelow Chemist- $15 Off $100 or More!
Speedo- 15% Your Entire Order + Free Shipping Over $50
Dickies- 20% Off All Orders With
Catherines- Get $10 off any purchase of $50 or more, No promo code needed!

So good to see a product like this front-and-center on the meanswear market. Brendan and I have been talking about the need for a slim-cut workwear pant for a long time now… we both spent our teen years wearing Dickies and Carharts, but now in our 20’s we just can’t rock the baggy steez. Simple, modern, and functional, Outlier hits it out of the park with these pants, catering to a demographic hungry for an tough everyday alternative to jeans. In their words,

‘We started with the fabric, we wanted something that was both more durable than denim yet also more comfortable. We found it in the Outlier Doubleweave Canvas, a fabric that can take a serious beating yet feels great against the skin. The outer weave is a tough Cordora® canvas, the inside a soft brushed back. It’s highly water resistant, quick drying and breathes incredibly well so you get none of that clammy constriction of wet denim. The self-cleaning Lotus treatment keeps you looking crisp and smelling great. A curved waistband and gusseted crotch ensure full freedom of movement, just throw them on and start your day, let’s go.’

More looks after the jump.

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Whether you were there at the very start, were overseas feverishly browsing Subway Art or just stacking dog-eared XXLs, someone has helped define how hip-hop looks to you. George DuBose, Glen E. Friedman, Martha Cooper, Ricky Powell, Jamel Shabaz and Brian Cross among many, many others, have made memorable contributions by amber encasing key cultural moments. Despite his B+ moniker, Limerick-born Brian Cross is far from an underachiever, putting out A-grade output for nearly two decades, from coast to coast, but calling LA home. He gives the City Of Angels a unique contribution aesthetically – appreciating the elements that only a onetime outsider could bring to the surface.

While his productivity has exploded since, as primers go, you could do a lot worse than hunt down It’s Not About A Salary, Brian’s socio-economic study of West Coast sonics – then take a look at the small print on some of your favourite sleeve and music magazine rapper portraits. It doesn’t stop there.

There’s work alongside friend and frequent collaborator Eric Coleman, bolstering the good name of their Mozilla company. There’s directing the acclaimed KEEPINTIME and BRASILINTIME and a handful of music videos. Oh, plus a huge hand in the ambitious Timeless concert series, seamlessly merging the performances of legends with talented newcomers. This is a busy man indeed.

Music is the recurring theme, and the crate-digger mentality sees the dusty fingered approach applied to amassing a greater understanding of society as a whole, contextualised via a purely visual medium – from a position as Wax Poetics photo editor to personal visual explorations and beautifully compiled photo essays, using a less equipment-heavy, stripped down approach to photography has resulted in a greater freedom to move around, get the passport decorated and attain an honest global view of our relationship with music. The recent Ghost Notes exhibition is a perfect example, using post-millenial vinyl culture as a global jump-off.

With a knack for composition and a relentlessly inquiring mind, Mr Cross just can’t stop digging. It’s telling that the following exchange took place with Brian located in Colombia on a new project.

As a product of Limerick and then Dublin did being raised in a place so far removed from your current location breed a more obsessive mindset when it came to music?

Yes totally. Where I grew up we lived and died by the music comics as we used to call them. NME, Sounds, Melody Maker even Smash Hits…Very often I would know about bands and have read about them and be commited to them without ever hearing them. Scritti Politti was like this. This is also where I first got my politics.

With a degree in painting, have you worked on any paintings since? Actually, how did photography come into play – were you put onto it at university?

No, I was more interested in ideas to begin with. Painting was just where I ended up photography wasn’t even an option. I haven’t painted in a long time I have to be honest. I was never that great a painter really but I learnt a lot from the training.

I’ve always noticed a socially conscious vein throughout your work – was that something honed during your uni days?

Even before that really. I grew up in Ireland in the late ’70s and early ’80s – there was hunger strikes, bombing campaigns, all kinds of social justice campaigns, especially around solidarity with Central American socialist movements and anti-apartheid…and then 20% unemployment and massive immigration. We had lots of time for thinking about politics!

Did an ‘art school’ background aid your later work in terms of composition and arrangement?

Ah, big time. Not just that but everything I do has been informed by the post-conceptual period I was trained in. I like to think I have been obsessed for a long time with having an integrated, impeccable practice.

On leaving for LA, did you have a vision of how it would be? Did it live up to that? You arrived in 1990, a couple of years before the shit hit the fan so to speak…

I came here to go to school. It took a while before I even was used to the city but coming from Ireland everything looked dope.

With regards to It’s Not About A Salary, It’s so text-heavy that I forget there’s a strong photo-essay within it – how did it come about as a project? Is it something that just snowballed?

It started as a photo essay. It was inspired by Mike Davis – he was the one who thought it would be a good look. The oral history part of it came from really not having anyone being interested in writing the book.

Beyond say, David Toop and latterly Jeff Chang’s work, I’ve never enjoyed a straight attempt at hip-hop history within a single volume – I feel that it’s such a broad church that even by the late ’80s, we should have been studying regional sounds – were you conscious of that when you wrote the book?

No. I was really fighting the idea that there was hiphop in LA at all to be honest. Most people out here had such a inferiority complex about the whole thing compared to NY. But I agree. I think the regionality of the culture needs to be paid more attention to.

Circa ‘91/’92 felt like the next ‘golden age’ for the West Coast, with Dre, Cube, Pharcyde, Good Life alumni, Soul Assassins, Compton’s Most Wanted etc. Were you aware you were witnessing a boom time for the area’s sound?

Yeah I mean by ‘93 everything started to change. There was the birth of Left Coast and underground consciousness out here amongst hip-hop heads. But again we were fighting to have the hip-hop establishment pay attention. It was always a struggle.

Was the research for that book an eye-opener for you – learning as you conducted interviews and developed further contacts? For a provincial UK small-towner like me, I learnt a lot – the images of the Good Life crew as opposed to some of the gangster stances elsewhere, were an education for me – more moods to LA than I knew about…

Totally. Your discovery was mine also. I had no clue. It was amazing to see the connections come to life too. Horace Tapscott recorded with the Freestyle Fellowship, Roy Porter made a hip-hop record…it was beautiful really.

I’ve heard tales regarding encounters with the likes of O.F.T.B, Frost and Boo-Yaa, yet in the interviews they come across as particularly articulate individuals – did you encounter any static during the book’s development? I remember a quote in Ronin Ro’s Have Gun Will Travel surrounding Daz at Death Row and colours…

Ronin Ro is a clown. That book was cobbled together from unsubstantiated instances and rumors – he encouraged that. That isn’t history writing to me it is something else. All these cats were great people trying to do better for themselves under difficult circumstances. Yes I was shot at, yes I had drama for wearing a red shirt once but overall I was shown an incredible amount of love, generosity and trust under some pretty crazy times.

The series of bedroom shots was an innovative touch – Skatemaster Tate’s crib was incredible! What was the intent behind those images?

The series was in answer to film-maker and mentor Billy Woodberry’s (Director of the excellent Bless Their Little Hearts) question – where is the master shot? I’m glad you liked those photos. They still make me happy today. I’d like to think they influenced the Behind The Beat book by Raph, the Australian photographer. Great book by the way.

We know that T-Love went on to do, but what’s Raegan Kelly currently working on?

Last I heard she was working on web design – she is a great thinker and a really great person. Over the years we haven’t been so great at keeping in touch but her and her family really supported me when I came here in ‘90.

It’s notable that despite your published author status, photo essays and journalism took precedence – were there plans for a follow-up, I know a tentative second volume lineup is mentioned in the book?

Nah, I never really planned to do a follow up. I want to do Ghost Notes next. But these things take time.

As a networking opportunity for commissioned work, did that book prove useful? Did the inner sleeve images for Innercity Griots come about as a result of that book?

Sort of… I mean most people gave me gigs not because of the book but because they had met me. Innercity Griots came from me writing about them dudes forever in Urb and championing what they were trying to accomplish..

Leading into future work, do you think ‘outsider’ status aided you in any way? Did it allow you to look at the region differently – for example, not taking certain things for granted as a lifelong resident might?

Yeah I think it worked to my advantage. You know you couldn’t ask me what high school I went to…And my outsider status gave me a little bit more cultural cache for sure.

Onto Eazy-E, the It’s On… cover is one of my favourite covers of all time – what’s the story behind how that came about? Did you both brainstorm that image? I love it in the same way I love Music To Driveby and Act A Fool – it has a depth and cinematic quality…

It really was all his idea. He was upset with Dre and he wanted to drop the bomb on him. The photo was made in his mother’s house in the backyard. I just set up the lights and that was it. I agree though, it has a cinematic quality – I never really thought about that before.

I heard that you and Eric were close as a result of working together. Was he looking into learning photography? His open-mindedness, like the mooted Guns N’ Roses collaboration, spotting Bone Thugs’ talent or attending the Republican dinner always demonstrated a vision that set him apart from competitors to me…

I agree – he was always thinking of ways to collapse the stereotype. He was very bright guy. He was full of insight and always had that special humour and great weed. Yeah close to the end he wanted to be a photographer I don’t know why but he was suddenly interested in it. He would have been a great one I’m sure. I miss that dude. It was just his anniversary.

Having worked on a ton of other, pretty well-known sleeves, from Endtroducing to the Damien Marley Welcome To Jamrock LP, do you have any other personal lesser-known favourites from your portfolio?

Oh shit, how much time you got? Yeah, lots and lots and lots…

The 1996 Ras Kass Soul On Ice photography is classic to me – how is Ras as a collaborator? Were those black and white inner-sleeve images to correlate with the tracks taken especially for the album? That’s going beyond the call-of-duty.

Yeah I loved Ras. I got so much mileage out of those demos for that record. I think it is a slept-on great record, but well, it’s slept on. I really liked the idea of doing an image for each song and damn, I worked on it for months and months and months. We churned up some great images for that album and then Priority fucked it up.

The Rap Pages era under Larry Flynt saw some of the best magazine covers ever – was that a big budget operation?

Hell no, we were strickly shoestringing it.

The ODB ‘Janet Jackson’ shoot must’ve been an interesting one? How was he? And how did the Kool G Rap ‘firing squad’ shoot go down? Those covers, plus the Roots, Goodie Mob ones were as good, if not better than their official album images.

Ah, thanks man – I know they influenced a lot of album covers. ODB is in the Sun Ra/George Clinton division. He could do no wrong to me – he was a genius. Shooting him was about as easy as you get, there are no bad frames. Kool G Rap was easy too he is a pro – that was fun. The Roots was my last assignment for Rap Pages and the guy on the ground is Brent Rollins and it was his last issue too. The end of an era really. The Goodie Mob one I was very proud of – it was ripped by Artifacts for their record which was funny ‘cos they coulda called me but whatevs. But getting them guys into that swamp in the ATL – that couldn’t happen now in the Gnarls Barkley era, or maybe it could. Much love to Cee-Lo though. He is a trooper.

How did you meet with Eric Coleman – would you define yourselves as like-minds?

Actually our minds are very different but we are kindred spirits. I met him in the end of ‘96 on a boat at a party…crazy – I don’t think there has been five consecutive days that I haven’t seen him since. We understand each other profoundly. Words can’t explain.

I’m sure I’m overanalysing here, and it is only one other example, but as with Estevan Oriol’s role in Soul Assassins, I see your contribution to the Soulsides and the Stones Throw collectives as integral as the artists on the roster contributing the sounds – is this a Left Coast thing?

Yeah but then you have Mannion for Jay-Z and them. But thank you, I appreciate that you feel like we are artists on par with those who have record deals in the building of these empires. Sadly the execs never see it like that, but there you go. Is there a Blue Note without Francis Wolf and Reid Miles? I don’t think so.

Mochilla’s Dogma-style, bare-bones backpack approach to working feels a world apart from those slick, composed conceptual Rap Pages shoots -is it a liberating feeling? Has it allowed you to grow as an artist?

Well those Rap Pages covers were never really that slick but yes, the leave-the-lights-behind vibe has liberated us back to doing what we love – making images as opposed to worrying about production values. Totally.

As a self-confessed cratedigger, digging seems so personal, but for me,you’ve taken some of the best pictures of Dilla and Madlib ‘in the act’ -it seems to bring out the personality in even the most reticent subjects -is your body of work as a whole pretty much one big beat-digging expedition?

Basically yes. I love digging, I love approaching the archive. I believe that’s what I do as a photographer too. See The Gleaners by Agnes Varda. She is way more sophisticated than I am but it’s all there.

Nerd question that I guess applies to an early digging photo essay – was Psycho Les’s (Beatnuts MC/producer),” Kill a photographer shooting as a freelancer…” line really directed at you?

Yes. He denied it afterwards, but yes. I had it confirmed by several people inside the record company. Stupid people think that you can keep certain information secret. I wasn’t that interested in blowing up their spot, but their New York paranoia got the better of them.Thankfully the internet has ended all that shit.

On the J Dilla subject, you recently put out the print with Shepard Fairey and organised the Suite For Ma Dukes with Carlos Niño and company – it’s a sad and messy situation with regards to funds and royalties – are there further projects planned?

Well the DVD of the live show, which was remarkable. But I believe that the royalties situation is being solved as we speak.

The KEEPINTIME project seemed intensely personal – more so after Roy Porter passed – and from your own recollections surrounding Earl Palmer elsewhere, it’s clear that he was a gentleman and consummate professional – you were integral in helping him get his final moments in the spotlight, but do you think Earl, Roy, Paul and James still get the props they deserve?

No I think that we are too obsessed with temporal fame and celebrity – youth as a commodity as opposed to an oppositional force and less with wisdom, ancestry, ghosts, and the things that make music of the diaspora great. Earl has that, as does Paul and James and many many others that play all the time in our cities unnoticed and uncelebrated. I’m just shining a little light where I can. There is no great American music without these cats and many more. Yet while we use this music to sell our lifestyle we can’t even support those who really created it.

In the digital era, there’s less scope for studying sleeve art and musical credits, even photographic credits – does this make a project like KEEPINTIME, BRASILINTIME and your other work even more relevant than ever?

I mean its relevant because it is the transition from doing primarily sleeve art to actually making the whole object for me. But yes – it’s like the credits became the object. I agree. These transitions were inevitable but in the end it’s not the technologies fault, but those that own it. And that isn’t the musicians or visual artists, trust.

You’ve documented producers, DJs, MCs, sample sources via the likes of David Axelrod, Galt McDermot and the aforementioned drummers, record stores and their owners – even the environment that created these artists – as far as documenting hip-hop, do you think you’ve completed the whole 360 degrees?

Wow, well I’m trying…But there is so much more to go. And I’m only one degree really – If that. There is so many more voices to be heard.

You’ve evidently built up some real friendships with some legends over the years – David even named Big B-Plus after you – that’s serious! Just when it felt that vinyl culture is more niche than ever, a big video game like Grand Theft Audio uses two Axelrod productions, and Lil Wayne’s album flips Holy Thursday again – are we looking at a resurgence?

Another Axelrod resurgence, sure why not? It never went away to me. I don’t play video games or listen to Weezy but there you go…

How do you differentiate photographs of hip-hop as opposed to ‘hip-hop photography’? Is one a documentation, whereas the other is a hip-hop element in itself?

Yes. That’s the basic point Im trying to make. What does a hip-hop photography look like? Can it be photographs of horses and still be hip-hop? As Saul Williams says, I’m paraphrasing, “Until you have heard Biz Markie on a mountain top, you have not heard hip-hop….” You know? Not that we can extricate the urban African American experience from the culture but where can it take you is the question… I’m trying to find that out. My eyes are those of one who found himself in many ways through the culture but what does that mean? If I repeat what has been done before am I true to what Herc and Bam believed? What is a corollorary to their breakthroughs, except as opposed to a turntable, with a camera? It is really a question or a manifesto – I’m not sure I have the answers, but my photos try to make the question more complicated.

The Dickies Working In Los Angeles project was great – it had authenticity and substance. How did the project come about? When it comes to commercial endeavours do you look for an element of authenticity before agreeing to it?

I try but it’s hard. The advertising agency weren’t really looking for that – their idea was much more ironic and sarcastic. But in the end they saw the value in treating working people with a dignity of sorts that you don’t see too much these days. I get lucky. I don’t try to oversell myself I just do my thing and people usually come to me – so that’s okay.

South America has featured strongly in your latter work – did music lead you there?

Yeah totally. Music in the Americas has never been restrained by national boundaries or primitive migration policies. I feel to make those connections is important. Hip-Hop’s genesis isn’t confined to the influences of native born United States people – it’s history is spread like seeds on a cold wind of slavery that traverses the Atlantic to every country in the Americas. I need to see the other examples too. Chompeta, cumbia, samba, maractu, coco and embolada all contribute to our understandings of Jay-Z if we allow them to.

Any new …INTIME projects on the horizon? How can you top the branded nose flutes? Best piece of tie-in merchandise ever!

Thanks man…I’m very proud of them nose flutes and it is my instrument of choice. Whenever you wanna battle let me know.

It’s been touched on with the mention of the Suite For Ma Dukes but the Timeless series looked tremendous – the Arthur Verocai show is something else – more to come next year? Any dream candidates for a show you’d like to see?

Ohhhhh, we have a few tricks up our sleeves. But I don’t wanna give too much up yet. We already have institutional biters that we then have to compete with – nice job Royce Hall/UCLA!

Have you been following LA’s ‘new breed’ – Flying Lotus, Dam Funk, Ras G and Gaslamp Killer?

Of course – those are the homies. Lotus has been super supportive – he came to Brasil with us for the launch of BRASILINTIME. Subsequently ended up lending us a camera for like, a year. He is an inspiration in the end. Dam is a beautiful cat, man. What a humble guy. He is a soldier in this. Ras is like a wise old tree. He has been in this as an observer for a long time and now is his time to shine. Gotta love Ras. South Central all day. Don’t sleep on his Mochilla mix. GLK is like a wild, hyperactive cat – super smart, super hyped DJ, and a good cat in the end. I’m very happy that a whole new generation has emerged around Lotus and Sketchbook (Kutmah and Coleman’s old club) and now Low End Theory. They are building a new avant garde again with the same tools and materials as those that went before. This is important work.

What’s the story with the Ghost Notes: A Photographic Mixtake? exhibition – I’ve seen a selection of images, but is it something you’ll be adding to and altering over time?

Yeah, it is a vessel for me. It’s basically a riff on the meaning of ghost notes – a weird term that describes notes heard and felt but not played. I feel that my photos are like that – so when I need to show work that isn’t specifically around a certain series I dig up the Ghost Notes. It will also be the title of the next book.

I know it’s a staggeringly obvious question, especially as a finale, but any hints as to what’s next? Any new regions to explore?

Man, there is soooooo much to explore. I wanna go to Angola, I wanna go to the Middle East, I have some ideas for films, a book with Jeff Chang – there’s lots of work to be done. In the meantime watch for the Timeless DVDs and this collabo with Quantic – it’s on Vimeo, at least the trailer is…

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