May 22, 2007
"Cave Rulz" Episode 1
What happens when a group of Flash developers and programmers in the interactive department of a major global advertising agency's New York office release pent-up creativity in the form of an episodic video comedy series about their work area? "Cave Rulz" ... that's what happens!
Posted by Supercore at 11:16 PM
Star Wars Holiday
This Friday marks the 30th anniversary of the ground-breaking (if overrated) science-fiction blockbuster "Star Wars." May 25th is 30 years exactly since the first theatrical release of George Lucas's series of movies playing out the epic saga of Luke Skywalker, Darth Vadar, Yoda, and several generations Jedi knights in their war pitting "the force" and "the dark side." From Thursday through the weekend, a massive convention for "Star Wars" fans will be held in Los Angeles to celebrate the landmark film. May the force be with them.
Posted by Supercore at 07:45 AM
May 15, 2007
Street Artist Banksy Gets Profiled in the New Yorker ...
If you're anybody of some minor consequence on the verge of being somebody of major consequence, then you know you've become the latter (or have "made it") when you have been profiled in the New Yorker magazine. Britain-based street artist Banksy is the subject of a full profile article in this week's issue of the esteemed New York weekly in a piece titled "Banksy Was Here" by Lauren Collins. Dubbed "the invisible man of graffiti art" -- a description that would apply equally to almost call "graffiti artists" -- Banksy is perhaps the street artist with the biggest name recognition of them all, at least in the United Kingdom. But his art and his name are becoming familiar to the global art world and pop-cultural cognescenti. Banksy is fast becoming the world's first international street-art star.
Posted by Supercore at 11:01 PM
May 11, 2007
Video: The Amazing "Automatic Graffiti Robot"!
Love it, mate. Freaking love it! Freaking brilliant! Now we know what we want for our birthday this year!
Posted by Supercore at 10:55 PM
May 10, 2007
Video: London Graffiti Writer in Action!
Caught on tape: Some graf-writing on a train in London. Sick, mate.
Posted by Supercore at 11:01 PM
May 09, 2007
Video: Graffiti Writers Flash-Tag a Subway Train
This looks a little too staged, a little too easy, but it's pretty cool nonetheless. And the speed and coordination with which this group of taggers throw up these massive pieces of graffiti on the train (while it's still in the station, mind you) is like a carefully choreographed ballet. Impressive, in spite of it being total vandalism.
Posted by Supercore at 11:07 PM
April 30, 2007
Juicy Celebrity Gossip Links ...
Courtney Love to Sell Late Nirvana Singer Kurt Cobain's Pajamas ...
Lindsay Lohan Addicted to "Shopping and Sex" ...
Prince Allegedly Humiliates Paris Hilton at Las Vegas Concert ...
Britney Spears Wears See-Through Outfit ...
K-Fed Allegedly Drove Britney Spears to Brink of Suicide ...
Former "Posh Spice" Victoria Beckham and Her Nipples Hit LA with See-Through Top ...
Alec Baldwin Rumored to Write Book Bashing Ex-Wife Kim Basinger ...
Posted by Thurston Ali at 11:21 PM
Snoop Dogg Denied Entry Visa to Australia for MTV Awards ...
First the United Kingdowm rejected him when he toured Europe with Diddy. Now Australia too has denied an entry visa to Snoop Dogg. The D-O-Double-Gizzle was trying to make his way Down Under for the MTV Awards, but the grandaddy of gangsta' rap won't be attending since the "Lucky Country" won't let him in due to his attempt to "cover up" his history of criminal convictions in the United States. Snoop Dogg may have "paid tha' cost to be the boss," as it were, but it appears no amount of cash nor hip-hop cred can get him to Oz.
Posted by Supercore at 11:01 PM
April 23, 2007
Video: A Bjork Performance on Saturday Night Live (SNL) ...
Posted by Supercore at 01:45 AM
April 20, 2007
Sport: An Rare, Incredible Goal by Lionel Messi of Spanish Soccer Team Barcelona FC ...
Posted by Supercore at 01:39 AM
April 16, 2007
The End of Tonic - The Best Experimental Music Venue of All Time
Tonic, our favorite live-music performance space ever, has closed its doors in the Lower East Side of New York City. The venue was special in part because of the variety of music artists who performed there and because it was one of the few places in NYC to see experimental music. It was a home for many avant-garde and contemporary experimental jazz musicians. An official farewell is on the Tonic website. The club is closing due to the rent increases that have forced may a small business to close in the now ultra-hip Lower East Side, where the pace of gentrification has been mind-blowingly swift and driven real estate prices and rents sky high. A New York Times article published Monday provides the full back story. Over the past few years, we've seen acts as diverse as Cibo Matto, Sean Lennon, John Zorn, Menlo Park, Morricone Youth, Japanther, Arto Lindsay, Yoko Ono, Vincent Gallo, Damon and Naomi, many a Japanese noise band, various incarnations of bands involving various members of Sonic Youth, and more.
Photo courtesy GlobalGraphica.com
Posted by Supercore at 11:47 PM
March 28, 2007
Giant Madonna in H&M Mural in New York
From the Global Graphica file ... there's a bunch recent photos of a new, massive mural being painted in Soho, New York City, that features Madonna in an ad for the H&M clothing store chain.
Posted by Supercore at 12:40 PM
March 27, 2007
Bicycle Polo in New York City
Bike messengers, bicycle enthusiasts and hipsters converge at a park in the Lower East Side of New York City for some urban, two-wheel polo. The game originated in Ireland. If you love traditional polo but can't afford a stable of horse, bike polo may be the next best thing. This realtively obscure sport has its own association, the BPAA, in the U.S. and its own cup competition.
Posted by Supercore at 11:42 PM
March 18, 2007
Minimalist "Muji" Brings Japanese Design to New York
Hot damn! Japanese lifestyle-goods chain Mujirushi Ryohin, or "Muji," will open it's first U.S. store this fall in New York City. We're pretty excited about this, being big fans of Muji for a many years.
Over the past decade, we've been buying Muji's minimalist furiniture, clothes, stationary and household goods on visits to Japan, Paris, and London (where Muji opened it's first shop outside of Japan back in the arly 1990s).
For the past couple of years, Muji has been selling a limited line of products in the U.S. through the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) Stores in New Yok City, where they've become something of a cult hit. Prior to MoMA, if you wanted your Muji you had to either go overseas or hunt the stuff down in small boutiques where "unoffically" imported merch (bought by small shop owners at retail prices in Japan and smuggled into the U.S.) could be found for sale at massive mark-up).
The first store in America will be located in the new New York Times Building, which was designed by renowned architect Renzo Piano. Mujirushi Ryohin at Time Square will be the company's U.S. flagship shop.
Posted by Supercore at 12:39 PM
Street Art from Neckface in New York City
From the Global Graphica site ... fresh street art from NYC, including new images of works from Neckface on the Lower East Side of New York City. Rock it.
Posted by Supercore at 01:07 AM
March 14, 2007
Appetizing Celebrity Gossip Linkage for the Mid-Week ...
Angelina Jolie Adopts Another Kid, This Time From Orphanage in Vietnam
Paris Hilton Puts her Nipples in Public View Yet Again
Britney Spears in Rehab Romance Fling
Photographer Larry Birkhead Demands DNA Test to Determine Father of Anna Nicole Smith's Daughter ...
Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell Ward Words Heats Up Again ...
Jessica Simpson and John Mayer Have Romantic Italian Vacation
Posted by Thurston Ali at 11:32 PM
March 13, 2007
The Designs of Thomas Heatherwick
The work of British designer Thomas Heatherwick relies heavily on engineering and sculptural aesthetics. Heatherwick's creations - a seaside cafe, a canal bridge, and landscape pieces - are mainly works of architecture, but ones sometimes mistaken for art, and there's an argument that some of it is. Sitooterie II (pictured above) is a mysterious and striking object that sits in the English countryside like a giant alien landmark.
Posted by Supercore at 07:44 AM
How to Visit 50 U.S. States in a Week ...
Silicon Valley technology entrepeneur Barry J Stiefel visited all 50 U.S. states during his one-week vacation from work. He drove through the 48 contiguous states and flew to Alaska and Hawaii. His website details the journey and his reasons for taking such a trip. It's a fascinating look at planning, travel, logistics and how to maximize the precious vacation few days you have a year.
Posted by Supercore at 06:32 AM
March 06, 2007
Naomi Campbell Punished for Cell Phone-Throwin' Rage
Notoriously tempermental super model (or should we say "ex-super model"?) Naomi Campbell has been punished for throwing a cell phone at her maid. To pay for her crime, Campbell will be doing a stint of community service, mopping up floors at a New York City Sanitation Department warehouse on the Lower East Side. (Welcome to hood, Naomi!) One piece of advice, Ms. Campbell: Leave your cell phone at home.
Posted by Thurston Ali at 07:05 AM
March 04, 2007
Rosemary Goes to The Mall
Video and installation artist Rosemary Williams says she had an anxiety attack the first time she visited the famously gargantuan Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As an art project and means to deal with her personal mall-shopping issues, Williams created the "Wall of the Mall," an installation made of shopping bags from store in the MOA. She also a produced a podcast series documenting the project, to which the Rosemary Goes to the Mall website is devoted.
The weekly Consumed column by Rob Walker in this week's Sunday new York Times Magazine explores William's project and the phenomenon of the Mall of America as a place that has transcended being just a place to buy stuff to being a tourist attraction in and of itself, comeplte with souvenirs shops and t-shirts.
Posted by Supercore at 01:38 PM
February 28, 2007
Video: Graffiti Writers on Venice Beach
Cool clip of a group of graf writers working on massive pieces in Venice Beach, in Los Angeles.
Posted by Supercore at 11:06 PM
February 22, 2007
Shepard Fairey's Paste-Ups at 11 Spring St., New York City
Over on Global Graphica we've posted a bunch of images from the recent street art exhibition at 11 Spring Street in New York City. Included are these images of massive art works by Shephard Fairey of "Obey/Giant Has a Posse" fame. Good stuff. Check it out, y'all.
Posted by Supercore at 11:47 PM
February 14, 2007
Video: Anti-Advertising by Graffiti Research Lab
Posted this on sister site Global Graphica ...
The folks at the ever ingenious and creative Graffiti Research Lab have made a clip of their recent anti-advertising campaign. The guerilla effort exploits video panels that display commercials outside subway entrances around New York City. The point is that the thousands of marketing messages we are exposed to on a daily basis is the true graf problem urban dwellers face.
Posted by Supercore at 11:59 PM
February 12, 2007
"Save Boston" Game Lets Players Smoke Out the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Lite-Brite Mooninites
Somebody has developed a quickie Flash game on the Web making fun of Boston and Bostonians and the whole recent brouhaha over the guerilla ad campaign involving LED light boards to promote the television show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force." The light boards were mistaken for bombs, and the security response to the supposed terror threat cost the city millions of dollars. Anyway, the silly game is called "Save Boston." It's a whack-a-mole type of amusement that will provide minutes of senseless entertainment on your PC when you should be working.
Posted by Supercore at 11:59 PM
Sweet 'n Sour Celebrity Gossip Linkage ...
Anna Nicole Smith Was Planning a Wedding
John Mayer Replies in Japanese When Asked About Jessica Simpson
Ex-Britney Spears Boyfriend Iassac Cohen Kisses and Tells
Paris Hilton's Gal Pal Kim Kardashian to Sue Over Her Sex Tape
Paris Hilton Demands $500K to Appear on British Talk Show
Lindsay Lohan "Loves" Life in Rehab
Mandy Moore Self-Conscious Doing Partial-Nude Scenes
David Beckham's Bodyguards Denied Visas for USA
Kate Moss and Babyshambles Singer Pete Doherty Have Split Up Again, Maybe
Posted by Thurston Ali at 11:38 PM
February 10, 2007
Crazy Delicious Celebrity Gossip for Your Crazy Delicious Weekend ...
Anna Nicole Smith Paternity Suite Gets Even More Complicated - 3 Men Claim to Be Father of Her Daughter
Sacha Baron Cohen Will Make Borat Movie Sequel?
Gus Van Sant Sentenced for DUI
American Idol Contestant Akron Watson Kicked Off Show
Paris Hilton Buys Edible Bikini for Valentine's Day
Kim Kardashian Sex Tape Revealed
Nicole Richie "Afraid of Prison"
Lindsay Lohan Buys Marilyn Monroe's Apartment
Posted by Thurston Ali at 10:31 AM
February 09, 2007
The Turnstyles "Photomentary" Work of Bill Sullivan
Among the art projects of photographer Bill Sullivan is one in which he snaps images of people faced with the same physical obstacle, in this case the turnstyles of the New York City subway system. Sullivan secretly took 87 pictures of people, each just at that moment when walking through the exit gates. The result is a series of exhibitions and installations of the images in galleries, as well as on the Web, where you can view all of the
subway turnstyle photos via a cool horizontal-scroll widget.
Domo arigato to Jess E. for the tip.
Posted by Supercore at 08:06 AM
February 06, 2007
Guerilla Ad Agency "Miami" of Sweden
In the week after a guerilla marketing agency launched an under-the-radar marketing campaign that turned into a massive bomb scare, we've come across a small guerilla marketing agency in Sweden that is starting to explode onto the ad scene and get on the radar. The company has a most intriguing name. The firm is called Miami, as in the Florida city, except that Miami the agency is in Sweden, as in Scandanavian country known for Absolut vodka, IKEA furniture, and the birthplace of the Volvo. Anyhoo, Miami has a cool -- if kind of dorky -- and unconventionally simple and unintuitive website that shows some of its work.
Posted by Supercore at 10:18 PM
February 02, 2007
Video of the Making of Those "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" LED Ads
Here's an excellent video clip showing how those those "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" LED Ads, which caused the bomb scare in Boston earlier this week, were produced and installed.
Posted by Supercore at 01:05 PM
Geniuses Behind "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" LED Ads Give Surreal Press Conference ...
The avant-garde artists and guerilla marketers who were arrested after installing myseterious LED ads for Cartoon Network's "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," give a surreal, ridiculous press conference upon emerging from jail. It's pure theater when a couple of guys tell -- with the straightest of faces -- a throng of reporters that they will answers only questions pertaining to "haircuts in the 70's."
Posted by Supercore at 12:49 PM
February 01, 2007
In Japan: New Osaka Noise Music
Japanzine magazine, an English-language monthly published in Japan, has an article about two avant-garde musicians from the new generation of Osaka noise bands, Doddodo and OVe-NaXx, whose music is described as "A barrage of pleasurably painful breakcore ..." Move over, Melt Banana.
Posted by Supercore at 01:53 AM
January 17, 2007
In Japan: Graffiti and Street Art in Osaka ...
Over on the Global Graphica website, we've got a whole bunch of new images showing graf, street art and mor from Osaka, Japan. The graf in the picture above is in a fenced-off area in the Kita-Horie neighborhood of Osaka. (Photo Courtesy of Global Graphica / Ivan Corsa Photo. All rights reserved.)
Posted by Supercore at 04:04 AM
January 10, 2007
The Apple iPhone -- We Want One!
It's here .... it's finally here. Well, almost. The much talked- and speculated-about Apple iPhone was announced at MacWorld by Steve Jobs during his keynote speech. Wow! Wow! Wow! It's a stunner of design. The new phone will be like a video iPod, cell phone and small computer/PDA all rolled up into one. The first phone will be available from Cingular in June. Now, the question is how much of what we're being shown is a reality in terms of what will actually be a functional phone. And will it be buggy? Will it be durable? Nobody is getting a chance to give the device a full test battering yet. We'll have to wait and see. But for now ... yes, we're in love.
Posted by Supercore at 12:16 AM
January 04, 2007
An Air Massive Happy New Year From Osaka, Japan
Hope everybody had a great winter break and a happy New Year! All the best to ya' in 2007! The new year sees Air Massive in Osaka, Japan for a couple of weeks. Here 2007 is celebrated as the "Year of the Boar" in accordance with the adopted Chinese zodiac calendar. Look for postings on Japanese pop culture in the coming weeks. The picture above is of an annual New Year's fire ritual at Hozenji Temple in Osaka. (Photo courtesy of Global Graphica / Ivan Corsa Photo. All rights reserved.)
Posted by Supercore at 11:59 PM
December 14, 2006
The Last Stand of Street-Art Landmark 11 Spring Street
The building at 11 Spring Street in downtown New York City has been a landmark and mecca for ephemeral street art, attracting artists from around the world. The mysterious building, also known as the "Candle Building," appeared uninhabited for many years, during which time wheat-paste posters, installation art and graffiti went up, went down, got covered over or faded away in an ever-unfolding ebb and flow of street-level expression. The building was recently purchased by a group of developers who will turn the building into luxury condos. Sensitive to the artistic significance of the building, the new owners have worked with the global street-art massive to to organize one last exhibition of art on the exterior and interior of the building before the rennovation crew come and start re-developing the structure.
Posted by Supercore at 02:31 AM
December 13, 2006
"The Burg" - Indie Sitcom Extraordinaire
We've been finding lots of laughs from the independently produced Web-based sitcom "The Burg." The show follows the ups and downs of a group of roommates and friends who live in Williamsburg, the Brooklyn neighborhood that has in recent years become the young hipster-creative nerve center of New York City. "The Burg" takes a scathing comedic look at the stereotypical hipster types who inhabit the nabe - indie musicians, aspiring actresses, moronic trust-fund babies, bohemian political activists and out-of-place Wall Street frat-boy yuppie.
Posted by Supercore at 01:24 AM
December 08, 2006
Animation Created by Using Post-It Notes
Posted by Supercore at 12:59 AM
December 05, 2006
Fresh Street Art in New York City
From the Global Graphica file this week ... an assortment of fresh wheat-paste street art at 11 Spring St. in downtown New York City. (Photo Global Graphica / Ivan Corsa -- All rights reserved.)
Posted by Supercore at 02:58 AM
November 09, 2006
U.K. Street Art Collective "The London Police" Strike Downtown New York City Once Again
Boo-ya and big up! The London Police have put up a massive new work in downtown New York City. This new piece is at 11 Spring Street, that famous cynosure of street art and graf in the Nolita neighborhood of lower Manhattan. There's a bunch of new photos documenting this latest work over on our sister site Global Graphica. Sick. (Photo courtesy Ivan Corsa / Global Graphica)
Posted by Supercore at 12:55 AM
November 07, 2006
Video: The Workspace "Idea Catcher"
Love what Ethan, a copywriter in New York, has done to his workspace at an advertising agency. With a little help from some colleagues, he's created what has been dubbed the "Idea Catcher," a web of blue tape used to "snag" paper and objects of inspiration. Cool.
Posted by Supercore at 11:01 PM
November 06, 2006
Bamboo is the New Black
In this week's "Consumed" column in the New York Times Magazine, Rob Walker looks at how bamboo is becoming known as kind of miracle textile and being used ever more widely by designers and architects. One of the things that makes bamboo attractive is it's eco-freindliness, though in some instances using it when shipped from China might be less environmentally sound than use locally produced lumber. But bamboo's real appeal seems to lie more in its aesthetic and practical qualities.
Posted by Robsam at 12:18 AM
November 04, 2006
Video: Stephen Wiltshire Draws Perfect Landscapes of Cities From Memory
Amazing. Fascinating. Unbelieveable, but true.
Posted by Robsam at 02:59 AM
November 03, 2006
Video: Kenny Powers' Quest to Jump Car Over the St. Lawrence River
In the early 1970's Kenny Powers, a Canadian daredevil, attempted one of the most idiotic stunts known to humankind. Powers tried to drive a rocket-powered and winged Lincoln Continental off a massive ramp and over the mile-wide St. Lawrence River and the border between Canada and New York state. The stunt cost an estimated $1 million and resulted in ... well, you've just got to watch the video. Note: watching this we were reminded of the incidental music used in an South Park episode about the founding and beliefs of the Mormon religion ... dumb dumb dumb dumb duuuummb dumb!
Posted by Robsam at 02:34 AM
November 01, 2006
The World's Largest Skateboard Mega Ramp ...
Brazilian pro skateboarder Bob Burnquist has built the largest skateboard ramp in the world in the hinterlands of suburban San Diego. It's called a "Mega Ramp." Get this: it's about eight stories tall, 360 yards long and has a 70-foot gap boarders must sail over. Here the video clip that accompanies the New York Times article on the ramp.
Posted by Supercore at 11:06 PM
October 31, 2006
Cool NYC Graffiti and Street Art
More cool New York City graf and street artistry from the Global Graphica file, including a new series of images documenting truck graf and fresh work at 11 Spring Street in downtown Manhattan. (Photo courtesy Ivan Corsa / Global Graphica)
Posted by Supercore at 03:14 AM
Toyota Scion Car Will Be Sold in Second Life
Fo' realzzz, yo ... Japanese carmaker Toyota will soon start to sell digital versions of its popular Scion cars in the online community Second Life (SL). The virtual version of hot box-shaped car will sell for $2.00. The plan to sell the cars in SL came as Toyota's ad agency developed its new marketing campaign for the car, which included advertising and giving away digital Scions in SL. The agency soon realized, however, that people in SL would actually pay to own virtual models. The rest is virtual marketing history.
Posted by Thurston Ali at 02:03 AM
October 28, 2006
Video: Media "Creatives" Goof Off with BMW Toy
See this what those crazy creative folks who work in interactive media in New York get up to when they're brainstorming ideas or have idle time on their hands.
Posted by Supercore at 03:23 AM
October 27, 2006
NYC Music Scene in the Post-CBGB's Era
Now that the legendary CBGB's music club has closed, the New York Times loks at the current landscape of live music clubs in New York City and finds the scene as vibrant as ever. The article comes with a cool multimedia map of some of the city's more popular and newest clubs. Our only problem with this is that the map should be more comprehensive and fails to include some of the most important and influential venues for independent music, such as Tonic, the Knitting Factory, Joe's Pub, Warsaw, Pianos, The Living Room, and Arlene Grocery.
Posted by Supercore at 09:58 PM
October 23, 2006
Starbucks "Salon" Brings Culture to the Latte-Set
Satrbucks recently opened a new type of coffee shop called Starbucks Salon. We visited the one in SoHo, New York City, recently and it's a big, impressive, and arty two-floor Starbucks space complete with coffee bar and an added professional performance space and stage. The Seattle-based coffee retailer and chain has been putting and out selling CDs for years and recently entered the movie business. This is the subject ofan interesting New Times article about the "Starbuck's aesthetic." Which makes us wonder about the extent that a business like Starbucks can play a role as arbiter of popular cultural tastes and patron to the arts. For many Starbucks plays a unique role in their lives. It's not only a place to buy and consume coffee but it has become for many people an extension of their living room, den, study or library. The very spaces that we often relax and consume culture in their homes.
Posted by Supercore at 07:38 PM
October 18, 2006
... And the Project Runway 3 Finale Winner is ...
Jeffrey WINS!!! Woo-hoooooooo!!!
Posted by Supercore at 10:57 PM
A Mysterious Downtown NYC Building Explained
There's a building at 11 Spring Street in downtown New York City that has been a mystery to most people, including long-time residents of the Nolita neighborhood where the stucture is situated. The building's exterior is a world-famous spot for street art and graffiti, which the owners in recent decades have left to salutary neglect. The New York Times recently ran an article about the building. The property was recently purchased from Lachlan Murdoch, the son of Rupert of News Corp. and Fox News fame, and as a result a lot of information regarding the building has suddenly become available.
(A domo arigato to Darren for the tip!)
Posted by Supercore at 02:06 AM
October 15, 2006
More New York City Street Art ...
More New York City street art from the Global Graphica file. Heaps of news images, including a new series of paste-up portraits in downtown Manhattan.
Posted by Supercore at 02:20 PM
October 13, 2006
The End of CBGB's
Though by now it's no surprise, the official last day and final performances at legendary downtown New York City music venue CBGB's have been confirmed. The club is closing after 33 years in business due to the end of its lease. The full cryptic name of the club is CBGB OMFUG, which few seemed to know were initials that stand for "country, bluegrass, blues and other music for uplifting gormandizers." The club has still been a very active venue in the decades since it was the epicenter of the downtown new music scene, the place most associated with the rise to fame in America of bands such as The Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, Television and Patti Smith. Sting and The Police, as well as the Sex Pistol's Sid Vicious, had once played the club on early US tours. And many famous acts have played there early in their careers, including the Beastie Boys and The Strokes. But the most important and relevant venues for New York's underground and emerging music scenes have long since moved to other clubs thoughout downtown Manhattan and, more notably, throughout Williamsburg, Brooklyn, which seems to have more musicians either living, recording, rehearsing or performing in a half mile radius than anywhere else in America. Everyone is mourning the closure of CBGB's, but in a sense it died a long time ago. CBGB's is now a brand that can be found on t-shirts worn in suburban middle America to suburban Tokyo. That owner Hilly Kristal is considering re-opening CBGB's in Las Vegas says everything about the value of the name and its future. Neverthless, the club is a New York institution and an icon of underground music. CBGB's Gallery, an adjacent space, has already shuttered it's doors for the last time. This weekend CBGB's will too, R.I.P.
Posted by Robsam at 12:21 AM
April 27, 2006
We Are the Superlative Conspiracy NYC Store Opens ... FINALLY!!!
Bloody hell, it was about fucking time! For over six months, the We Are the Superlative Conspiracy (or WESC) shop space on Lafayette Street, in downtown New York City, promised the opening-soon presence of the first WESC store in the Big Apple and on the east coast. (L.A. beat NYC in this round of city-versus-city one upmanship in style and relevance -- the City of Angel's got its WESC store in a plum Beverly Hills spot nearly a year ago.) Since last summer, the New York shop, located between Prince and Houston streets in Soho, had its front windows draped with a giant, bright yellow ad featuring actor Jason Lee. The ad simply announced WESC would be opening in the space. Perhaps the delay in opening the NYC outpost was an effort to build up anticipation and buzz. Whatever the reason, the store FINALLY opened a couple of weeks ago with an in-store event and a big after party at the club Home. WESC is a Swedish clothing label and boutique-size retailer that is putting out some of the dopest gear on the planet right now. We're especially fond of its hoodies and graphic tees, but WESC also has loads of denim as part of a full men's and women's clothing line. We first became interested in the brand and its clothing during a trip to Paris last year, when we stumbled across a super cool pair of sneakers WESC designed for Adidas. The company has a savvy marketing campaign. It's brand is next to flawless. (Above photo: Ivan Corsa)
Posted by Thurston Ali at 03:05 AM
November 21, 2005
Wired Magazine Opens a Store in NYC - A Mini Review of Techno Retail, Wired Style
Seminal technology and Net culture magazine Wired has hung out its shingle on an expensive and trés fashionable bit of retail space in Soho, New York City. A major magazine opens a store not, mind you, to sell its magazine, but rather to sell many of the products advertised or written about in its glossy pages. It's an interesting idea. But it's not a totally original one, nor is it the best execution of the one. (For a good example, check the small but always interesting and engaging space that is the Tokion store in the Lower East Side of NYC.)
Wired's store displays and sells many of the latest leading-edge consumer products featured in its flagship mag Wired and in its recent new, even more gadget-centric title Wired TEST mag, which is a very polished and -- let's face it -- magalog for those with unquenchable early-adopter techno-lust.
We visited the store last Firday, and we regret to say it was a dissapointment. Being in Soho, and Wired being Wired, and cool techno gadgets being, well, cool techno gadgets, we expected the store's interior and use of space to be something truly inspiring and fitting. It's not. (For a good example of that look at the Moss store a block away, or, for that matter, just about every other retail space in Soho between Broadway and West Broadway.
The space is "creative," but it feels terribly cramped, poorly lit (despite huge windows), and thrown together in a rush and on a tight budget -- it was as if they blew all the money on the lease, which with Soho's absurdly high rents, could have been substantial. Wired should have just looked at Moss or, say, the Yohji Yamamoto or Apple stores a few blocks away and jut plopped down the merch on display stands -- it would've been a better experience.
On balance, Wired store is a cool, interesting development in itself, and we'll visit the shop again soon to see what they do with it, what they have to offer. But as a retail experience, it fails. To its credit, the collection of phones, laptops, solar-energy backpacks and micro computers really is the latest and greatest stuff, much of which would be hard to find at other retailers.
Admittedly, we being long-time Wired readers and among those early-adopter techno-lusting gadget freaks, our expectations had been much higher. Wired could learn a lot from Apple in regard to retailing.
Essential Links
Posted by Thurston Ali at 02:16 AM
October 09, 2005
Vodka on the Rocks - Absolut Opens Subzero Icebar in London
There's one in Stockholm. Now there's one in London. And soon there will be more in major cities around the world. Absolut Icebar has hung out it's Nordic shingle in the UK capital and is now open for punters seeking a taste of the world's most famous brand of Swedish vodka in a a sub-zero boite made of ice. The bar is ice. The walls are ice, The stools are ice. Well, that's the impression at least. What's more, the Icebar is filed with ice sculpture and art from some very well-known artists. It's a novel idea and a clever -- if not genius -- marketing showpiece.
Posted by Thurston Ali at 05:46 PM
July 06, 2003
Paris: DJ Kicks
Touched down at CDG International a week ago and headed straight to a fave cafe in St. Germain des Pres to begin our caffeine-shopping blow-out in the French capital. Yeah, baby, the hunt was on for crisp new warez just as the summer sales season was kickin' it into a highgear. If there was one French word that got burned into our retinas it was "soldes." Paris was on sale, and we were ready to drop some Euros on some choice merch.
The first stop was a record store called Jazz Ensuite where he hooked up with Mattias Gomez. He's the guy sitting behind the counter manning the turntables, taking notes, and sneaking cigarettes in between spins. Gomez plays in a band that creates long experimental tunes that fuse jazz and '70s German electronica (think Can, Damo Suzuki, Kraftwerk, et. al.).
Jazz Ensuite has a large collection of vinyl spanning all kinds of jazz, blues, gospel, and Latin recordings. The only good vinyl Mattias says is hard to find in Paris is bossa nova stuff.
"All the best bossa nova recording on vinyl have been snapped by Japanese collectors...the best records are in Japan now." Gomez says he's about to make another of his regular record-buying visits to Tokyo later this summer. In the meantime, he's plugged us into some new discs coming out on some French labels, notably from Comet Records.
Paris has an in-touch Afro music scene issuing top product. We really liked Comet's series of afro-jazz compilations, especially the second volume called simply "Another Collection of Modern Afro Rhythms," with tunes from Letta M'Bulu, Antibalas, and Marius Cultier." Wicked, mate. Wicked!—Le Kid Shibuyanaise
Posted by at 03:02 PM
June 12, 2003
The Wet & The Hot: Drinking Caipirinhas at Paladar Restaurant, Lower East Side
We're into the fourth week of rain in NYC, and to make things worse the first taste of the hot, muggy summer has arrived. Hot and wet and lightning a-flashin' and a-thunderin' on a Thursday evening in the Lower East Side. To cool off (and keep dry) we headed straight to that sexy Latin-Brazilian joint on Ludlow Street called Paladar, where we ordered up the best caipirinhas in New York. (Woah! We hear ya', the ones at Sushi Samba 7 in the West Village rock, too, but Paladar's ... well, they rock HARDER.)
So with hot summer comin' on fast, what do painfully perspiring, ridiculously rained-out kidz like us get up to? Shopping, of course! Time to get some hot warez for the hot months. We're looking for t-shirts, flip flops, and sneakers, so if you've got knowledge of nice product, drop the Massive a line.
So far we've got our eyes set on some tight tees from, Breakbeat Science down there on Orchard Street. Sure, they're hype-wear, but the designs iz dope, brutha! [Dude!!! "Dope"? "Brutha?" Who are you kidding?--IC.]
That reminds us: have you seen that t-shirt that cranky, vaguely political hipster types are wearing these days that says "DICK" and have a line drawing of U.S. Vice-president Cheney's face? It's this year's "Free Winona" t-shirt, only edgier, mean and bitter. Like really strong, really hot espresso on a really muggy evening waiting out a thunderstorm in Lower Manhattan.
—Adrian "Kickin' It Ol' Skool Y'all" Tharani + Shibuya Kid
Posted by at 02:57 PM