The Brilliance!

Advantage! Deuce! Tennis elbow! Smash! Lens Flare! Plastic wrap! PhOtOsHoP SkILL! These are all things that may or may not have to do with tomorrow’s ‘Layer Tennis’ match between myself and the talented Mr. Steven Harrington. Layer Tennis (formerly Photoshop Tennis) is an online event run by Coudal.com that takes two artists, designers, illustrators, etc. and puts them up against each other for 10 ‘volleys’ of 15 minutes a piece. The first person starts their serve with a piece they’ve worked on throughout the upcoming week, then the other person gets 15 minutes with that Photoshop file, uploads it, and so on. It’s quirky and unusual but really quite a fun, cool concept that has attracted a big audience. SO. Tomorrow at 2pm Chicago time, I will be working with/against Steven Harrington with commentary by Jason Kottke. The whole thing is semi-live (semi because you’re not actually watching or listening to real-time action…just getting updates every 15 minutes or so). People discuss everything that’s going on in the forums, so you can participate there or just observe. Anyways, check it out at LayerTennis.com. Bagel! Break point! Vibrazorb! Women’s doubles!

I’m posting about a book I haven’t even read yet. But I will. I actually got tuned into this book from the latest issue of Wired - great issue, go grab it. Towards the back of the mag they have this ‘Chat’ section and they are highlighting Dr. Oliver Sacks who is the author of this ‘Muiscophilia’ book. He’s an interesting guy - openly talks about his use of psychedelic drugs, marijuana, etc during his time at med school,he’s a neurologist, and how they have similar effects on the brain as music does. The whole book is pretty much as the title would suggest - exploring how music interacts/affects the brain. Some really interesting stuff, really interesting actually. How rhythm can be therapeutic for people suffering from Parkinson’s and how music insights memories and recall ‘like nothing else’ in Alzheimer’s patients. I love this kind of stuff. Music is like an 16-18 hour a day thing for me. Ever present. And I’m huge into music for moods or work being done…as well as listening to music in context and the effects it can have. And thats my post.

Such a good atmosphere and even better back-story. I had the fortunate experience of getting to know young entrapeneurs Chris Jullian & Samantha Alonso last month in Vegas in their shop Fruition. I literally just camped out in the store and soaked it in the atmosphere. Make no mistake, there is true vision here beyond clothes on shelves. It feels way more like a curated view in to golden years of American POP-fashion rather than just vintage clothing. Of all the stores I have ever been in worldwide, the best could take a lesson on how to strategically place different pieces to tell a story. Let me step back tho. This shop carries the rarest and some of the most iconic & coveted clothes during the birth of hip hop and standout street fashion from the 90’s. Like Chalkine jackets, Nike Air Jordan stuff, LL Cool J Troop jackets, Coca Cola polos, classic Ralph Lauren, MCM bags, Dapper Dan Gucci and Vintage Dior. As well they pair it up with current designer wear like the hard to find Jeremy Scott designs. What’s funny about the place is some people get it and some people don’t. Of course its not for everyone, but for those that it is for, it’s a gold mine. And in one fell swoop when I think if Vegas I don’t think of MGM, rather MCM.

We’re back with it! So for those of you who follow THE BRILLIANCE often might remember a site a l launched about 8 months back called INDISTR.com. INDISTR allows artist to sell their music directly to the public, set their own prices and get paid 75% of earning instantly. It stood as my first plunge into the world of running my own project, getting funding, executing and building a brand. So 8 months later, how do things look? We made money!! Not a ton, but in this age of dot-com stuff, I was pretty happy to see the bank account edge up on the very first day. Yeah, the first day – then continue to do so! But along with that there were lots of lessons learned and its always harder than you think. Crazy to think this whole concept of music + the internet + artist getting the lion’s share STILL hasn’t been figured out yet. I guess that is good news to me – because INDISTR Version 2 is launching October 10th and we’ve got a lot more focused energy this time around. We’ve also got a fantastic new design, much needed enhanced searching and tagging features, cleaner checkout process, way better embeddable music players and more. And we’ll be updating with new features quite often. Thank you’s to my new head of operations, Kevin Hockin and the new design house we hired, Thought+Theory. Stay tuned!!!!

Just found this place yesterday, and now I want to hit up the Big Easy. I honestly wish I could have experienced things before Katrina - what an amazing city. But by no means am I saying its now longer amazing - in fact, this hotel is proof of their vibrant creative culture still at work. Really, really beautiful spaces, amazing bathrooms with Agape bathtubs, crazy high ceilings, etc…just a really brilliant looking hotel. Excuse their oddly designed site. Decent rates too. This reminds me how much I like my Mom’s dirty-rice dish…so good.

Two things. (1) This is brilliant. Radiohead is independent now, and they are taking distribution and more importantly, ‘customer relations’ into their own hands. I can’t imagine Thom Yorke even saying ‘customer relations’ but you get the idea. Their physical vinyl + CD is like $80…but to download their album, you simply pay them what you see fit. In my case I gave them 10 pounds. Really brilliant. Beyond it just being a ‘neat way for your fans to get your music’...its really a fantastic marketing tool. I’m certainly not the only blog talking about this, right? (2) The execution could have been better. The web interface is slightly confusing at best…a bit hard to use. But hey - this is absolutely a step in the right direction. I can’t wait to hear the tracks. THE BRILLIANCE! loves the concept. ***Oh yeah, FYI, I’m re-launching INDISTR in about 2 weeks - stay tuned for more details.

Love this place. I was in Chicago this past weekend catching up with Virgil and doing a little shopping, etc. Good times. A highlight would have to be our visit with some crew to ‘The Violet’ hour, a relatively new (right?) night spot in Wicker Park. Loved it man…super cool. The whole concept is perfect, they only let in as many people as there is seating for, all the drinks are a simple $11 and amazing/well executed, the scene is somewhat hushed and quite ‘un-bar-like’ in its feel, Virgil dubbed interior design as ‘being inside a Tiffanys box’ - a good call, and best of all, the exterior, has no windows and is pretty much comprised of black painted plywood with a very, very simple door. It seriously looks like its out of business or being worked on - just one guy, quite polite, in a suit managing the door. The whole reservation process is kind of wild too - I guess they don’t answer the phone until its dark. Yeah, great spot, great drinks, cool crowd…and very well executed. ***No website, I love that

The first time I ever heard anything from Double Threat was mix they did of some Jeezy stuff titled ‘Halloween Massacre’...and the first thing I thought was like, why can’t we hear hip-hop like this more often?? Slightly weird sounding, non-traditional production, maybe even a little scary sounding. I actually didn’t know the song was produced by them back when I first heard it, but Virgil sent me the link their Myspace just the other day, and there was the track along with my new favorite ‘Straight Out The Rarri’. Love that right now…so massive sounding. Throw this stuff on at your next house party…give those hipster kids something to research.

It’s getting chilly, kind of rainy…and very un-summer like here in Grand Rapids. Another sunny-season has come and gone…and I can honestly say I had one hell of a fun one. I made a post at the beginning of the season about getting back into cycling via way of fixed gear…and it’s a good thing I did. I can honestly say I haven’t had a summer this fun in a while…and the main reason for that would be my man Neil Hubert’s Wednesday late-night fixed gear races here in downtown Grand Rapids. I met so many new people, made new friends, blended scenes, got in great shape, broke a rib or two, and had too much fun riding thru my city super late at night with a mob of peaceful like minded people shaping the new, younger, culture of Grand Rapids. The rides/races themselves ranged anywhere from alley cats, messenger races, sprints, ‘ghettodrome’ track races, chill group rides and whatever other random stuff Neil came up with. But the actual races aside - what it did and will continue to do for Grand Rapids is build culture and community. What started as literally about 8-10 people eventually grew to races of 30+ riders and even more scenesters/on-lookers soaking up the action. Simple things like this in a small, but growing city like Grand Rapids are so important for building community and culture. I hope we continue to see this trend here, I love it. Thanks to Neil and everyone else who made this summer super fun. Check for us mashing thru traffic. ***And to the out-of-towners who don’t think we have proper hills here, I have three words: Martha and Godfrey!!

What a great read. I have no qualms saying I really like Bathing Ape. I still, yes still, find the brand and Nigo extremely fascinating. I actually don’t own much Bape, and I don’t really wear any pieces - more just for collection’s sake. But beyond the actual pieces of clothing and its perhaps unfortunate cache among celebrities that don’t really ‘get it’...I still find it to be a brilliant, brilliant brand“ almost a little unreal. Conde Nast Portfolio did this super lengthy write-up about the brand, its team, day-to-day with Nigo, how he is perceived now in Tokyo, what the future might hold and more. It has to be the most behind-the-scenes look into Nigo as a person that I’ve read to date - and it might not be what you’d expect. Set aside 30 minutes and give it a read, again, just really fascinating. ***How crazy is the idea of Nigo taking Bathing Ape public and having it valued at $1.5B???