As I type, I’m at rehearsal for a show tonight at The Black Rep in Downtown Providence, as part of the city’s music festival, SoundSession. The cover’s $2 and the weather is beautiful in the capital, so you should attend. I look forward to seeing you all there.
Admittedly, I would like to be more up on my British punk rock than I currently am. I really do enjoy whatever I do get to hear. I cannot remember where I saw this but I just thought the song, in addition to the performance, were wildly fun and dope. Going to do some digging for The Specials. You should, too.
This is hilarious, to say the least. I read this over at The Trad and figured I’d share:
Mr. Ralph Lauren
625 Madison Ave
New York, NY 10022
Dear Mr Lauren:
It’s been a while and I haven’t heard from you or your office. I’m guessing you’re out of town. Maybe for the whole Summer. I know rich people do that. I was also thinking, that maybe you were thinking, that I’m just a ‘one idea’ kinda guy. Boy, are you wrong. I got tons of ideas. Here’s another one I’m going to give you for free.
You know how you’re involved in so many cool things? You’ve come a long way from wide ties. That’s because you’re not only cool. You’re a genius on top of being cool. But here’s a genius idea that can’t miss. Ralph Lauren tombstones. Pretty cool, huh? I always say, “people gotta die.” I stole that from, “people gotta eat.” But it’s true, you know? Nobody gets out of this world alive.
Just because you’re dead doesn’t mean you can’t be cool. What’s cooler than having an 18th century tombstone? I think you’ll agree with me that most tombstones are pretty boring and very 1970’s looking although I’m not sure why.
My idea – I mean your idea (;), is to offer different models of replica tombstones from the 1700s and distress them like jeans. I think a sand blaster would work. Then stain them with some greasy green moss looking paint. How cool is that?
So now you have two big picture ideas from me. I’ll tell you, if I don’t hear from you soon, I’m going to have to approach Mickey Drexler with this idea. Not that I want to but this is a no brainer and I gotta strike while the marble’s hot. Who knows…Tommy Hilfiger could be working on this already.
Sincerely,
The Trad
PS- We can put your our Polo player on the lower right side of the stone. I think that would be very understated.
With the World Cup now a couple days in the past, we here in the states might have already relegated the beautiful game to the place in our conscious were we banish all things we don’t naturally dominate. So, when I saw this video, I wanted to share it with people who, like myself, always hold a place in their hearts for soccer, even between the four year break between the world’s greatest sporting tournament. The video features Brazilian football legend Pele, owner of 1,283 goals, donning the yellow and green once again in an attempt to score his final goal for Brazil. Great, great idea. No more words. Just watch.
Caught a very illuminating article over at Vanity Fair about Hollywood luminaries of the 1950’s, such as the ubiquitous Cary Grant, and their forays into LSD. Very . . . interesting, to say the least. READ ON.
Harvey Pekar passed on today. I don’t want to come of like a huge graphic novel buff, but I will say when I came in contact with Pekar’s work, it resonated somewhere deep in me; in a place that can only be defined as human. You see, we all as human beings can identify with the extreme normalcy of Pekar’s work. We know Harvey Pekar, or we know many like him. They work the jobs that barely get you over, go home to broadcast cable and Ramen noodles, sleep in frigid winters or sweltering summers, and wake up to do the same tomorrow. Very few can find the beauty in such an existence … and Pekar was one of those lucky ones. His writing, meshed with Robert Crumb’s simply elegant images, made for making the most ordinary of experience just a bit . . . extra. He embodied his hometown of Cleveland in a way that kings never will (see what I did there?). Rest in Peace to Mr. Pekar. Some of us have all the money and time in the world and still never find what we are looking for. But you did.