Daily Surroundings!

These types of places? You wanna know about these types of places? Well we are no strangers to these types of places my friend, let me tell you! If I walk south one block and head 3 blocks west or 3 blocks east I will run into as many as 4 strip clubs. They run rampant in the city. In fact we hold the running title of most strip clubs per capita out of the entire United States; some believe the World! The daily surrounding I present today is at the top of the "Stripper Pole" at least of the 4 in our extremely compact area.

At one point when I was younger, I remember them being one of the only strip clubs in Portland that had what seemed like an often-run television ad. Besides Filet Mignon they have a big aquarium and a pool with a life guard and all! I believe it's to celebrate the hot summer with Stripper Pool Parties and what not. Recently they were even blessed with an appearance by the short of stature, large on talent Bridget The Midget






















-Keith

Bus Rider of The Week

So, I hop on the bus in DT Portland and walk directly to one of the first forward facing seats on the back of the bus. When I got on I noticed two young girls sitting in the first row of side facing seats on the right side of the bus. The girls were probably about 16, 17 years old. One of them seemed upset and you could tell she had been crying and the other was next to her with a stroller and a baby. It's not out of the ordinary to see such a scene on the bus I take, as it does travel from downtown to Gresham which is a landmark for meth addiction and teenage motherhood.

Anyways, I take my seat near the rear of the bus and notice a gentleman rocking a fully tucked pink button up right behind me, he was doing it tough for a guy roughly pushing his mid to late 40's. I think nothing of it until he taps me on the shoulder. I remove my headphones and he kindly asks to borrow a pen. I reach into my bag and hand'em one. He rips off a piece of paper and proceeds to write a note on it. I have no idea what it says but I was a bit intrigued I guess. He then hands the pen back and thanks me. He was a really nice guy!

As he hands it back I notice the girl who had been crying get up as if about to get off the bus and the girl with the baby is right behind her. As the girl with the baby is completely standing the man behind me makes a quick dash over to her and hands her the note, baby in arms and all. She looks directly at him, takes the note, shakes her head with a roll of the eyes and leaves. It was an obvious attempt at an extremely older gentleman trying to hit on an underage girl with a baby. What was his thought process here? I'm not an authority on underage females but I can say with pretty solid certainty these girls were no older than 17! Let me ask this, the girl who had been crying was much cuter than the girl with the baby, do you think the guy had sympathy for the girl who was upset and settled for the one with the baby?

































-Keith

The Jordan MotorSports Garage

Been slackin on posting -- turns out it's hard to be online often while touring the East Coast for over 2 weeks.

Skipping right to the end of the trip -- here's one of the coolest places I got to check out -- the Jordan MotorSports Garage, located just north of Chicago in Wisconsin.

The building:


Where the bikes get made:


Jordan Tools (and I don't mean JT or Cam....zing!) :


Trailer:


Look what the President of Jordan Motorsports reads:


Past year's bikes:


First Jordan bike -- signed by MJ:


A more subtle Jordan helmet -- carbon detailing is ridiculous:


This thing is MEAN:


Jordan XX helmet:


Carbon fin:


There's always a Jordan way of design -- unlike any other bike out there:


Signed IV & MS V helmets:


Together at last:


Next it was time to hit the model switch. Keep an eye out for the pics w/ the helmet on in full stance.


Bike side detailing...AJV & the side profile of the V...along with sponsors:


Certainly was an awesome experience to see firsthand how these unreal machines are made by hand and can corner sharp turns at nearly 200 mph while angled just inches from the ground. I'll stick to throwing the suit on inside...cause you won't see me near the track anytime soon.

-Nick

Change, yes I can

Barack Obama unveiled his newest logo on Friday. In true streetwear form it was a parody of the presidential seal that included his motto loosely translated into Latin and also keenly included his website address...no Myspace, though. :(

















Like all good streetwear logos it got rid of the old slogan and added a self aggrandizing one, this time "Obama for America." Personally, it's not the best I've seen, so as luck would have it spokesmen from the Obama campaign have been calling it a "silly mistake" and also saying it was simply a one-off that they hadn't planned on using again.

When delving into the realm of streetwear it is important to NEVER waver on your own designs. Just say you're paying homage and that it will help the larger entity, too.

--Ira

Source: Sydney morning herald

"TWIZM & I KNOW I GOT SKILLS"

The Big Aristotle makes his triumphant return to the world of Rap and this time it's a no holds barred attack against former teammate and lover Kobe Bryant! I say lover because for some reason or another Shaq is inquisitive about how his ass tastes and it appears Kobe is the only one who actually knows. Anyways he also takes minor shots at Patrick Ewing and Kareem (I think Abdul Jabarr)? But for now lets take a look back at some classic Shaquille O'neal rap lines......

"watch out yo it's time for MC bashin'
got more loot than my man Johnny Cash and
I'm hard like a 360 twice jam
ask Dr. Dre and Ed Lover who's the man
I'm sure they'll say me brother please don't play me like a shrimp
dunk it on your head then I'll point like Shawn Kemp
don't need the drink crooked I juice to get loose
my favorite cartoon is Bullwinkle the Moose
I'm 'bout to sting you like rubbing alcohol
yes yes yall call me Ed Jones cause I'm too tall"



-Keith

Customer of the week!!!

This week we have a CoW that I'm very proud to present. More streetwear than the suburban white kid, richer then a trustifarian and better at basketball than Matt Bonner.


Customer of the week: Baron Davis!!!















Yes, Barry Hundreds himself dropped by. Unfortunately, I wasn't there to capture it, but my source (coworker) says he dropped 400+ on "tees, bandanas and shemaghs." Not everybody's a winner. Aside from that, he was a generally down to earth guy and was in town "just scouting out the city". Baron's a Reebok kinda guy, so it probably wasn't Nike related...but might I remind you that, unless he's resigned, his contract with GS is up at the end of the month...

Imagine if Portland could come into next season with Oden, Fernandez, Baron and (most of, sign and trade prob) the core from last season...

--Ira

"Do y'all got exclusives?"

I know we haven't posted in a few days, so I'll leave you with a few thirst quenchers via Compound's customers.

















"Baby is that Hundreds shirt I got you extra large or extra extra large?"

"Double."

"Cuz they got some phat ones right here."

-------------------------------------------

"Are these the Nike SB's or the dunks?"

"Those are Court Forces."

-------------------------------------------

As I start folding shirts next to a couple customers:

Suburban kid/burgeoning cool guy #1: I blew, like, four hundreds bucks when we were at True last time.

Suburban kid/burgeoning cool guy #2: Oh yeeeah, it's sooo easy to do.

--------------------------------------------

A guy in his early thirties walks into the store, goes directly to a sale table and picks up the caol uno footscapes. It's obvious at this point that he knows exactly what he is looking for.

"Are these Blazers SB's?"

"No they aren't, those are Footscapes."

"What do Blazer SB's look like?"

"The look just like Blazers, but with a different insole."

[Dejected]: "Oh."

Shenanigans will continue as normal tomorrow, perhaps there will be a CoW of epic proportions (foreshadowing!?!) or perhaps not (bait and switch!?!).

--Ira

Streetwear grading session:Downsideup Clothing!!!

Yes, the Streetwear Grading System (SGS) is back. Don't be fooled by cheap imitations and inherently flawed critiques, there is only one official SGS.

Previously we've only covered Nike apparel, though rehashing their many misguided attempts at streetwear is fun in a car wreck-y sort of way, we've opted to give the local multinational a rest for now.

With a huge gaping hole (that's pretty much how I think of streetwear, anyway) needing to be filled (streetwear again, natch) I used the divining rod known as my eyes to find the next streetwear brand. Enter Downsideup Clothing.
























Downsideup, or Downs as I like to call them, aims to position themselves as direct competition to BBC and Bape. Boasting eight accounts, they know to keep their stuff limited. Of course, all the accounts are in New York, which will surely saturate the market since there is little to no demand for it, but ya know...Oh, I FORGOT THE TEES COST 100 DOLLARS A PIECE, CUZ THEY HAVE TO COMPETE WITH BBC.

'Stick up'























Two things come to mind when I see this: It's tough to retail tees at 100 dollars and it's really tough if Pharrel's not backing you in someway. Oh, and it's reeeeeeeally tough when you can't even make a sellable streetwear tee. I mean guys, fuck.

Lack of creativity: 7
Gaudiness: 8
Cost effectiveness: 8
Reappropriation: 7
Overall streetwear scale grade: 7.5/10

'Damn Biters'























Ok, so this is where the SGS gets a little tricky. Damn biters only clocks in at a 7.25, but really it's far, far more streetwear then that. You see, it has what's called streetwear intangibles. It's kinda like Matt Harpring. Don't get me wrong it lacks a TON of creativity and it re-apped (thats what we in the biz call it...) well, but it's true value lay in this: It's a shirt that damns biters while simultaneously biting. It's a genius of a mind-fuck if you ask me.

Lack of creativity: 7
Gaudiness: 6
Cost effectiveness: 6 (puff ink?, really)
Reappropriation: 8
Overall streetwear scale grade: 6.75/10

'Blow'























Ok, full disclosure I don't like this tee. The tee says "blow" and nowhere on it does it mention cocaine. As a NY streetwear brand you MUST reference drugs whenever possible and if there aren't drugs on your shirt your best bet is to wonder why there aren't any. Bubbles? No bubbles -- cocaine.

Lack of creativity: 8
Gaudiness: 8
Cost effectiveness: 8
Reappropriation: 7
Overall streetwear scale grade: 7.75/10

--Ira

The time for throwbacks is now.

Just when you thought Obama streetwear was the it thing, the new black goes and gets itself usurped by streetwear's big brother: The Throwback Jersey.












Dazzle mesh and what looks to be screenprint (though they claim it's hand stitched...) can be had for only 59.99. Now you too can relive the glory of Punahou's 7th man through a low quality highly innacurate replica.

Personally I'm waiting for Obama sailing jackets to come out. Sailing jackets kill throwbacks and streetwear combined.

--Ira

Source: Fear the Beard

"A day that shall live in infamy."

Yeah, I did just equate this to one of the biggest atrocities of modern warfare. And to those of you saying, "Oh no he did int." I did.

Hypebeast has just been named one of the 50 best websites of 2008 (Did Karmaloop have prior engagements?) by Time magazine. Yep, Time. Magazine.

Never mind the fact that 2008 is only half over or that Hypebeast's staff manages to form some of the most bewildering sentences the English language has ever seen (scene?), but their music reviews are just plain awful. No amount of superlatives or hyperbole can describe their reviews. Hypebeast reviews music like Sam Cassell plays basketball (SEE ONLY A SIMILE CAN DO IT).
















Astute streetwearriors might think, "What can we do?" Aside from crossing our collective fingers and waiting for a comments section to miraculously appear in each post you can rate Hypebeast on the Time website! Their rating currently sits at 81.

--Ira

Source: Hypebeast

I wanna Ball in the White House

This is a great year for Ball. All around I am currently very pleased with the state of the union of my favorite game "Basketball." There are so many reasons that this year has the possibility of being the best recent year of basketball in my life.

First off, the hometeam finally decided to play as a team and work hard . . . although they did not make the playoffs I think most will agree that this past season was the best season for the Trailblazers since the Sabonis Years and maybe even better (sorry Ira).

Overall the NBA season was the best I can remember in recent years with some awesome highlights; the regular season race in the western conference, superman and the dunk contest, and although they lost last night (they will close it out Tomorrow in 6) the best team in the NBA the Celtics actually being the best team in the NBA.

About the only thing I could still ask for from Basketball would be some post season summer coverage to help the boring wait till next Season go faster, which is guaranteed to come via the '08 Olympic Summer games.

Just when I think basketball could not give me more . . .


This was on last night after game 5 of the NBA finals. I hope many Americans stayed around to see this. In my opinion a Basketball court in the White House is the best reason to actually Vote for a President I can remember. While it may not seem politically important it is all the reason I need to have my vote swayed from the Republican Party.


I have never really wanted to meet any of the past or current presidents during my lifetime. . .
However, now I can’t think of a bigger wish than running full court with the president on my squad in the White House!


What are some of your favorite basketball moments of this great year!

- Cam



P.S. Thanks basketball for those 2-3 dunks the other day . . . it's always good to feel like you are 17 again!

If the Mole doesn't exist you must acquit!

Kells, Congrats, on thee ugh whole not going to jail thing!!! Dodging 14 accounts is quite impressive!

I would like to thank R. F. Kelly for all the great songs he has given us. "I Believe I Can Fly" gave me the strength to overcome any and all salt that would be thrown at my game over the years. I still believe Robert! "Remix To Ignition" The official song of the B.O.P. This song has and will continue to play at all events that the B.O.P. are directly involved/contributing to. If you aren't dancing when it plays or at least singing half heartily than there will be beef in the streets! And who could forget "Trapped in The Closet" this epic piece of art redefined the music video genre and I think has the potential to stand on it's own with the first "Trapped in The Closet" Video Music Channel. TITCVMCtv if you will. Maybe it will be like THE BOX and you can vote on your favorite one to watch. R. Kelly, Jesus will forgive you if you promise to never make another song like "Thoia Thoing" just stick to the Epic classic songs the make you worth a damn because obviously your life choices off the Mic aren't doing it. Some might even say they're "Poor Life Choices" ; )

Speaking of Golden Showers!!


If the first pic doesn't do it for you maybe this one will....................


-Keith

SOURCE: The Associated Press

The Epic Journey!

This one left shoe has been in the customizing stages for well over a year now and it's finally done! I made these for Shoe Designer Justin Taylor of And 1 but mostly B.O.P. fame. The idea was that he would give each guy of Above The Clouds one side and let us do whatever we want to them. You should expect the other side to show up with in the next year. This is what I came up with. Obviously I was inspired by all the Jurassic Park movies which are his favorite movies but one sweet detail I added on the low low was an actual laser etching of his Final Senior Design Project in College. The Tyrannosaurus Rex on the medial side heel. Check the pics............

future of this custom: I'll update with pics of the first piece I did which was a custom wood box to hold the shoes, he received that during Christmas to leave him in anticipation of the kicks. Also the right shoe should drop someday soon!









- Keith aka Hokum of ATC

BMW GINA Light Visionary

This car has officially blown my mind. Just thinking about the creative work that went into this and the fun the design team must have had gets me inspired big time. As a designer myself, I really appreciate completely new takes on conventional things. And this, my friends, is a completely new take.

"What is so special?" you ask. The car is not covered in any form of metal. Sure, it looks like it is solid, but the mass you are seeing is a "skin." It is stretchable and flexible allowing the car to change shape. The rear fin raises out of the back like it is growing as you reach a certain speed. The beltline and "shoulder" can be adjusted as well. This morphing is possible because underneath the skin is a hinged frame controlled by elecro-hydraulic devices. The taillights are under the skin and shine through, but the headlight open and close like human eyes. It is kind of creepy in the video. The way the doors "flex" out of the side panels is amazing.
I really don't know what else to say about this car right now. It really has me excited about what changes this could lead to.

-jt