On the first legs of its world tour, the Bicycle Film Festival hit up New York for five days of two wheeled mayhem. The images depicted here are from the Street Party which happened on May 31st and judging by the pictures, the crowd was an eclectic mix of bike riders from numerous disciplines. From the large contingency of fixie riders to sparing numbers of BMX and track riders, the event looked to have received a solid turn out. After this first tour of New York for 2008, look for the BFF to hit Toronto later this month from June 18th to 21st. For more information check out bicyclefilmfestival.com.
Source: ASUPREMENEWYORKTHING
On the first legs of its world tour, the Bicycle Film Festival hit up New York for five days of two wheeled mayhem. The images depicted here are from the Street Party which happened on May 31st and judging by the pictures, the crowd was an eclectic mix of bike riders from numerous disciplines. From the large contingency of fixie riders to sparing numbers of BMX and track riders, the event looked to have received a solid turn out. After this first tour of New York for 2008, look for the BFF to hit Toronto later this month from June 18th to 21st. For more information check out bicyclefilmfestival.com.
With much to talk about with the recent grand openings of art-based retail spaces via Upper Playground, Estevan Oriol and Mister Cartoon, what would an event like this be without a proper art gallery showing? Aside from providing a space to house Upper Playground products, an opening gallery was marked by a diverse selection of artwork from many artists who have received much attention thanks to Upper Playground’s huge push to create awareness to street-level art. Among the artists showing were Ron English, Slick, Alex Pardee, David Choe, Usugrow and of course Sam Flores and Jeremy Fish.
Upper Playground LA
125 E. 6th Street (between S. Main St. and S. Los Angeles St.)
Los Angeles, California
Source: Vinyl Pulse
Emerging from the Clyde’s shadow in recent memory is the similarly shaped Basket from Puma. Three new styles are seen here are all based on a Puma rendition of camo on an all-over print style. The models each exhibit varying degrees from flashiness from light green to khaki and gray. Available now at select Puma retailers and Mita.
Karmaloop TV recently produced a comedic spot inspired by late night infomercials titled Hot Chicks with Huge… The video features bikini clad women frolicking around with huge kicks.
This year we have seen Stussy Chapter Stores pop up on the map throughout the United States and Canada. Vancouver, Canada will be the next destination for Stussy’s next flagship store. On June 21st, the store will act as a concept store for the much anticipated Stussy x Neighborhood Boneyards project. The concept shop will be opened for three months. Afterwards, the Stussy Vancouver Chapter Store will open in the same location.
Source: Matt George
The May 31st release of the Concepts x Nike SB Lobster Dunk Low was met by a large crowd of eager sneakerheads and obvious resellers. In one of the most comprehensive packaging executions in recent memory, a large number of relevant accessories were included which worked out perfectly with the Rob Heppler designed Lobster motif. A look here reveals the special box set gifted to the first 50 buyers. Within a special wooden crate style box also included Concepts own box design and an accessories set which included a lobster shell cracker, a fork, a bib, an extra set of butter yellow laces, keychain, wet naps and shirts. With the set instantly sold out, your only option lies through 3rd party mediums.
This weekend marked the collective grand opening of four new retail spaces on Los Angeles’ 6th St. as part of Upper Playground LA & The Last Laugh’s opening launch. The retailer spaces allows for the likes of Upper Playground, Mister Cartoon and Estevan Oriol to all maintain location for their creative energy and products. As well, the four stores offer an interesting foil as the decor and themes vary from space to space. The highlights of the weekend debut included an art gallery, Mister Cartoon’s candy paint jobs seen on various vehicles, Roland Sands custom motorcycle jobs and the stunning photographic and video work of Estevan Oriol.
Upper Playground & The Last Laugh
125 E. 6th Street (between S. Main St. and S. Los Angeles St.)
Downtown Los Angeles, California
Source: The Hundreds
Levi’s exclusive Japanese Fenom collection has unveiled an all new style titled the Conb-Disco. Undergoing Fenom’s trademark “Crash” distressing, the jean’s details go beyond the rips to also include the inclusion of Swarovski crystals on the yoke, back pocket and zipper. A 505 cut and 207 cut are available. They are currently sold out at Levi’s E-Shop, however look for them to release at selected stockists.
Another batch of Puma Baskets have released that pay homage to championship teams of the NBA, this time focusing on the 1990s. Previous releases included the 1970s Championship Pack which featured the Seattle Supersonics and Boston Celtics. This round of Baskets include the Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers. Each sneaker features a skyline of the city and replaces the “BASKET” logo with the respective city’s name. Available now at Mita.
The self proclaimed, Atlanta bred “flower punk” band The Black Lips are infamous for their live shows. Despite claims from the band that they have “matured a bit”, on any given night you may see the band performing in full frontal nudity, chasing a chicken on stage, full on make out session between band members, urination and other Iggy Pop inspired outrageous protopunk antics. Their energetic shows match perfectly with their brand of skuzzy guitar feedback induced garage punk rock with surprisingly catchy sing along choruses. Not content to simply ride out their bad boy images the band released their fourth album “Good Bad Not Evil” last year to reviews commenting on the bands advancement sonically and lyrically while staying true to their hardcore roots.
The most recent video and single “It Feels Alright” from last year’s album is an ode to the most famous strip club in Atlanta “Magic City”. Already immortalized in several hip hop songs, the band takes on the subject without any tongue in cheek sarcasm but rather a full on anthem to getting drunk and riding down Peachtree street for a night of debauchery. The video is a black and white tour guide to Atlanta and of course some well appreciated obligatory shots of the gyrating dancers from the club. Let’s just hope next time you’re at Magic City you hear this blasting through the speakers.
As the lone visual artist on Time Magazine’s 2008 list of Top 100 Influential People, Japanese artist Takashi Murakami has become a strong candidate of one contemporary art’s representatives. He has developed a huge following for his interesting take on the world of Japanese culture through his graphic depictions of manga and anime. However, in his most recent show which began in early May, Davy Jones Tear at Blum & Poe in Los Angeles, the artist changes gears with 8 paintings that deviate from his well known style to a more abstract direction. The paintings, include references to Murakami’s Daruma collection with portraits of Zen Buddhism as well as Japanese decorative art, Rimpa. The exhibition concludes on June 14th.
Blum & Poe
2754 S. La Cienega Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90034
p: 310.836.2062
Source: SuperTouch, Blum & Poe
