[VIDEO] The Butcher's Block x jeffstaple

My friend Frank The Butcher wears many hats. Besides running Boylston Trading Co., designing clothing/footwear, his numerous his music endeavors, he also has his show The Butcher's Block in which he interviews various individuals. The most recent episode features jeffstaple, owner and creator of staple design and the store reed space. jeffstaple has always been an inspiration to me because of his approach to all aspects of his life and business.

Episode info:

Tune in as Frank The Butcher catches up with Jeff Staple, creative director of Staple Design, on his much-debated Complex Magazine list “50 Most Influential People in Sneaker History”, why Penny Hardaway didn’t make the cut and where he felt he would rate among the greats. Love it or hate it, check out what he had to say about it.

Be sure to check the rest of the videos here — www.butchersblocktv.com/

[Video] Visions of Visionaries with Santigold

Totally forgot to post this last month. Santigold has always been one of my favorite artists. She released her second album earlier this summer which I consider to be one of the top albums of the year.

This video is worth checking out. She gives some insight on her creative process as well as what she uses for inspiration.

Inspiration: Mickey Drexler

Mickey Drexler is the CEO of J.Crew. These videos not only give insight into how he runs the company but just quality advice/outlook on how to interact the consumer on several levels including consumer relations, design, and aestethics. We live in a time of instant gratification and rapidly moving trends, I often look to his interviews for insight. However, the best interview (in my opinion) is from about three years ago with Charlie Rose. I was having difficulties embedding the video, but it is about an hour long and worth the watch - MICKEY DREXLER x CHARLIE ROSE.

Kostas Seremetis – Ready…Steady…Go!

Around September, I had a chance to Kostas Seremetis' exhibition "Ready...Set...Go!" at the Fourthwall Project gallery in Boston. My favorite piece of the exhibition was the 9ft sculpture of a 5pt star made of police barricades. What capture my interest even more was the way the sculpture was displayed to interact with another piece across the room that also contained a piece of a police barricade. When 5pt star was viewed from the side, it was lined up symmetrically to the barricade on the wall across the room which you can see in the second picture.

Pics were taken with my Blackberry. You can see HD pictures of the whole show at the Fourthwall Project site.

Background on Kostas -

"A native son of Boston MA, Seremetis started his art career in local nightclubs and coffee shops in the early nineties (ex: Other Side Cafe, Axis/Avalon).  Semeretis moved to NY in 1996, where he still resides, and held his first New York Solo Show in 1997 (Mary Anthony Gallery). His most recent exhibition was at the Kindergarten Group Show in Modena, Italy alongside Delta, Mode2, Os Gemeos, Tom Sachs, and Futura 2000,  curated by Giorgio de Mitri. Seremetis’s work is coveted and collected worldwide, and he counts some heavyhitters as fans (and customers), such as Ian Astbury of THE CULT, who declared Kostas is “the Rauschenberg of our generation,” and Darren Aronofsky who calls Kostas “an exceptional artist.”

www.Kostas-seremetis.com

www.Fourthwallproject.com

DJ AM

My friend Gomez Warren IV aka NOIRFANCY was recently a guest on Los Angeles' DJ/Producer Them Jeans' Tall Tales podcast. Amongst the many topics covered, one that was brought up several times during the podcast was that of the influence of the late DJ AM in his (Gomez's) career as a DJ. Though I did not have the opportunity to be around AM 5 nights a week while I was starting out in my DJ career, he still had a major influence on how I came to develop my personal style as a DJ. By the first time I met him, I had seen countless videos of him on youtube but nothing compared to being in the booth and watching him work live. That night changed my life.

Videos like this show why he was a true pioneer / innovator.

/// Oh yeah... check that podcast. We need more ppl like NOIRFANCY in the world.

Lucky Boy

There is much to be said about how DJ Mehdi influenced me, yet I tried writing this post several time and could not put it into words. Dave1 (one half of the duo Chromeo) wrote a note on their facebook remembering Mehdi... You can read it here.

Rest In Peace DJ Mehdi.