Well, we turned around the other day and realized that we are now past the one year mark. Time flies. Everyone at the shop wants to thank all of you out there who have taken us this far. It’s been a wild ride and we have some great things in the cards - expect some big changes! Don’t be scared though, because it will only mean a better experience fill with more product (think more shoes, more sunglasses, more tees, more watches, more jewelry, more dresses, more shirts…), a better website and increased customer service. How are we going to do this?
Just wait….
In the mean time, we have teamed up with Red Stripe, The Party and Kiddrae254 to put on an appreciation event. Check out the flier, but on Saturday the 12th of July we will be bringing you a mix of music, beer and sale prices. Stay for a minute, stay for the day, we don’t care; we will be hanging out at the shop relaxing and handing out great deals on all type of merchandise.
I think we all know by now that Rick Klotz is no stranger to controversy.
After beefing with streetwear brands and rockstars, he’s under fire from a new, more complicated, entity: The Jewish Defense League. Rick, and his veteran L.A.-based apparel brand Freshjive, produced a couple t-shirts this season that have been intensely scrutinized by certain members of the Jewish community.
I’m not gonna weigh in any of my own opinions here (You can read Rick’s personal defense and reasoning behind his artistic choices on the Freshjive blog), but the ultra-controversial terrorist group The JDL certainly voiced theirs this afternoon on Fairfax in front of Rick’s store Reserve, storming up and down the sidewalk with picket signs, bullhorns, and an artillery of verbal warfare.
Shelley Rubin is the current chairman of the JDL. Her husband, Irv Rubin, ran the JDL for 15 years before being imprisoned for planning a terror attack against an Arab-American Congressman and 2 attacks on a Muslim mosque here in L.A. He ended up “killing himself” in jail (read: being tossed 18 feet over a railing by other inmates), leaving his lil’ firecracker Shelley in charge.
Shelley showed up with her son and a collective of angry extremist Right-Wing Jews, belligerently claiming Rick hates Jews, support Muslims, and is gay. The ironic part being that Rick himself is Jewish and has done more than anyone else on the block in terms of enlightening the streetwear kids on Judaism through apparel and literature, and preserving Fairfax’s historic Jewish community. (The other parts about supporting Muslims is not necessarily a bad thing, last time I checked. And the Rick being gay thing, it would explain a lot, buuut I don’t think that’s so accurate either.)
You gotta read up on the JDL. Shelley’s late husband and the JDL allegedly provided Eazy-E protection from Suge Knight back in the early ’90s, as well as indirectly being involved with Death Row’s inception. I know, weird but true.
At one point, Shelley just started wrecking shop on everybody. Somehow, she got into it with Reza (The Arab Parrot). C’mon Shelley, you’ve taken on the Soviets and the FBI, but we all know this is a losing battle.
Will, Scott and Marcus, better known as Sober, Select and Nature have quite a feat on their hands: they have managed to produce ‘The Party‘ for two years now. Our hats go off to these guys, who are never not working. Their anniversary event is tonight at Zubar as always. Should be doubly as rawkus with a list of sponsors from Red Stripe to Frank 151.
This is too cool. Meet the Telectroscope - a device that lets people in London and New York see each other in real time. Straight out of something from Jules Verne, this experimental installation is the work of Paul St. George who offers this story of the genesis of the Telectroscope:
Some years ago an artist by the name of Paul St George happened upon a packet of dusty papers in a trunk in his grandmother’s attic. On further inspection he discovered that they had been the property of his great-grandfather, an eccentric Victorian engineer, Alexander Stanhope St George.
Paul began to read through the papers and discovered a veritable treasure trove: diaries, diagrams, correspondence, scribbled calculations, and even one or two photographs. At first, Paul felt a detached interest in this first hand account of social and cultural history. But as he read on, he became more and more absorbed, until, with a sudden thrill, he realised that these papers could have a greater significance than was at first apparent.
The notebooks were full of intricate drawings and passages of writing describing a strange machine. This device looked like an enormous telescope with a strange bee-hive shaped cowl at one end containing a complex configuration of mirrors and lenses. Alexander seemed to be suggesting that this invention, which he called a Telectroscope, would act as a visual amplifier, allowing people to see through a tunnel of immense length… a tunnel, the drawings implied, stretching from one side of the world to the other.
If you happen to be in NYC or London soon, you can check out the kooky invention here:
The Telectroscope is situated at Fulton Ferry Landing near Brooklyn Bridge. Fulton Ferry Landing, Old Fulton Street, Brooklyn NY – 11201
Subway: Lines A and C to High Street or F to York Street
In London, the Telectroscope is situated on the south side of the river near Tower Bridge. More London Riverside, London SE1 2DB
They say the passing of the greats comes in three’s, but over the past ten days or so we have lost some really notable artist who have given so much to the world of film, fashion and music.
First, Sydney Pollack, the Hollywood great who has directed, produced and acted in so many things over a career dating back to the 60’s. as Oddly enough, he passed away just a day after the premier of his latest work on the HBO special ‘Recount‘.
Then news spread that Algerian born Yves Henri Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent, better known because of his label YSL, passed after a fight with cancer. A truly amazing designer, who joined the Dior fashion house at 17 and by 21 was the creative director after the sudden passing of founder Christian Dior, he is credited with many firsts such as:
fashion trends such as the beatnik look, safari jackets for men and women, tight pants and tall, thigh-high boots, including the creation of arguably the most famous classic tuxedo suit for women in 1966, Le Smoking suit. He also started mainstreaming the idea of wearing silhouettes from the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s. He was the first, in 1966, to popularize ready-to-wear in an attempt to democratize fashion, with Rive Gauche and the boutique of the same name.[5] He was also the first designer to use black models in his runway shows.
Then, just one day after the passing of Yves, we got news that legendary blues guitarist Bo Diddley was gone as well. The man has too many credits to his name, having worked with anyone from The Clash, to The Stones, to The Greatful Dead. The man made hit’s of songs that had NO chord changes! What else do you need to know?
For those you who follow cycling (or have lived on planet earth within the past 10 years) know that Lance Armstrong has had nothing less than astounding career. That combined with the fact that he grew up in our beloved metroplex and now hangs his spurs in Austin, unless he is hanging with his dude-bro McConauhay in LA, makes this post relevant.
After taking on all comers in competative cycling for a while, you kind of run out of things to do. For Lance, with Nike dollars in hand, the natural progression was to open a shop in his surrogate home town to foster the sport. This shop has come to life in the form of Mellow Johnny’s.
“This city is exploding downtown. Are all these people in high rises going to drive everywhere? We have to promote (bike) commuting,” Armstrong said Wednesday, gazing up at the towering 360 condos rising next to the site of his new shop. “This can be a hub for that.”
(Click on this picture to see what a $15K bike looks like. And then order one HERE.)
“There’s a bigger ambition we’re going to go for here. It’s not like there’s not a good bike shop in town. We want to add something to the community that will catalyze interest around riding bikes, about being bike friendly and folding it into life in Austin,”
If you have stopped by the store then you likely passed Urban Taco. Besides being good friends of the shop, they happen to make some pretty damn good food straight off the food carts of Mexico City. This Saturday, being Cinco de Mayo weekend and their first anniversary, Markus and the crew at Urban Taco are hosting a celebration from 2-10. According to our calculations Beer + Tacos + Music = A Good Time
This Thursday, April 24th, Centre will be co-hosting Quick’s Big Thing Concert at Palladium Ballroom. The free concert and awards show is intended to showcase local music. 10 awards ranging from ‘Big Group’ to ‘Next Big Thing’ to ‘Big Collaboration’ are up for grabs and there are a lot of familiar names from the Dallas scene listed. Among them is the likes of our friends from The Party, PPT (who’s newly released album, Denglish, is pure heat!!!), Odis, Ghosthustler, Kieth P, Prince William, Black Tie Dynasty and more…
Among others attending and playing will be Headkrack, Gordon Kieth and a headline performance by The Polyphonic Spree.
We are a little late reporting on this one, but saw it a while back and figured it was worth a post. The street vendor booth set-up is genius! Also, can you spot the celebrity fan taking a picture of Kanye in the last picture after the jump?
Thought I would share a few pics from our recent trip to NYC to for market and to check out the some of the sites, sounds and shops that make the city what it is. So I’ll spare you the long-winded explanations that you probably don’t really read, and let the pictures speak for themselves. (Hint: click the picture to find out a little more). Alright, where to begin….
With a lineup including Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, N.E.R.D. and that girl that sang the song about umbrellas (and being under them), Rihanna, the upcoming Glow In The Dark tour is sure to be beastly. It doesn’t seem like many details have been released, but we like to think you can judge a book by its cover. And in this case, the type font (Star Wars?) on the concert poster looks pretty dope:
We are excited to announce that Centre will be participating in our first FIGFinale sale this Thursday and Friday, February 7th to 8th. Admission is $12 and the event is cash only, but make sure to get there early. Believe us, there are some CRAZY shoppers out there; flying elbows, scratching nails, verbal spats are all part of the mix. So get there early, bring your battle gear and don’t say we didn’t warn you.
About two weeks ago, the folks at Daily Candy were nice enough to feature Centre for our selection of vintage shades. If you don’t subscribe, then you can check out the article HERE. Go ahead and subscribe, you might not like all the products, announcements, etc. but every once in a while you’ll stumble across something really cool.
You know how every time you really need a check to clear or a letter to post it’s a federal holiday? Well, tomorrow is one of those days (MLK day if you cared to know). We are going to be annoying and shut our doors on an otherwise normal Monday too. The good news? We will have some exciting posts over the next few weeks detailing our trip to NYC, roaming the streets and trade shows looking for inspiration and the clothes you might just be wearing next fall.
Our end of season Final Sale has started today, January 5th, and will continue through the next weeks until Sunday February 3rd. Most items in the shop will be marked down 20% to 50%. This kicker is that this is a progressive sale, meaning that discounts will gradually increase over time until stock is depleted. Find tees for $10 and shoes, apparel and accessories up to 1/2 off. Browse the racks and match the color-coordinated tags with the scale below to find out how much you’ll save. Call, email or come down to the shop and enjoy the 70 degree weather, who knows, you just might get lucky.
Saw some posts on both Hypebeast and Sneaker Freaker, and thought some shoes looked oddly familiar. They look familiar because we recently placed to order to have these beasts arriving at our quaint little shop in April of next year. While the 80s movement might be passe in the most forward of places, it has still got a stranglehold on sneaker culture. Regardless of the colorway (we chose the darker colorway on top), we really liked the tech details and figured if nothing else, at least they are fun to look at!
One shoe to rival the fluoro ‘90s goodness that Reebok will be captivating us with in ’08 is this forthcoming Puma Disc Blaze. As Reebok’s answer to the Pump, Puma attempted to revolutionize how we wear our sneakers with the unique Disc closure system. Originally introduced in 1992 (although some say 1990), this Disc Blaze takes graphic inspiration from the days of video gaming, however we like to think of it as an ode to the Fresh Prince of Belair. All you need now is your Aztec cap and Hammer pants. Get your running man on! Available April 2008.
Over a night of cheap Zinfandel wine, cheesy 80s Disco and coupled with the booming retro theme in New York, designers at Puma combined all that is 20 years ago to produce this version of the Disc Blaze. Abstract geometric patterns and loud colorways are thrown in to complete the package. No word yet on availability.
It’s funny how according to Hypebeast there is ‘no word on availability’ yet the Sneaker Freaker article the referenced clearly states the release date of April 2008….
The NYtimes.com recently posted an article about the monthly party dubbed 1992. It’s a quick read and worth a few laughs. Where were you in ‘92?
THE party took place on a recent Tuesday night at R Bar, a midsize nightspot in downtown Manhattan with comfortable banquettes, four stripper poles and large framed photos of scantily clad models on the crimson walls. The lounge is on an emerging stretch of the Bowery that looked very different 15 years ago. The people inside? Less so.
In tribute to the year 1992, an elevated D.J. segued through records by erstwhile hip-hop artists like K-Solo and Apache and into dance music by Color Me Badd and Bobby Brown, while members of the crowd swarmed the bar and contorted in dated dance steps. Some participants took the theme particularly seriously, wearing vintage Polo sweaters, retro Air Jordan sneakers and chunky gold door knocker earrings.
A celebration of the urban culture of the early 1990s, the monthly party is known simply as 1992. Bouncing around downtown Manhattan clubs since August 2006, it has attracted celebrity guests like Jay-Z, the producer Jermaine Dupri and the music mogul Andre Harrell. Europeans, hankering for a slice of retrograde Americana, have taken the party to Paris and Amsterdam.
