BOOKS, SHOES & SHIRTS

Who would have thunk it? Chambray shirts are the new punk rock.

Rushed blogging because I’m hectic this evening. No 1000 word stream-of-consciousness drivel until the weekend, but I thought I’d mention a trio of things that are making Wednesday 09/02/2011 more bearable right here.

The Steven Alan Nike project had an underwhelmed response from some quarters, but honestly, the Lava Dome with green swoosh is my idea of a dream shoe. The homie Mubi hooked these up from NYC and not even a madcap pricetag could elicit a single sense of buyer’s remorse—that imperfect suede texture, the subtle tongue patch…all of it—it’s perfect to me. I love the orange swoosh original, but these match it pound-for-pound. The ’02 reissues were cool, as were the ’08 vintage variations, but this is my favourite collaboration in a long, long time. The Talaches, Tokis and Magmas do absolutely nothing for me. Lava Domes will always reign supreme. And that’s word to John Roskelley.

Normally when friends tell you they’ve got a book project on the way, they’re lying or exaggerating. Somehow when the homie Nick Schonberger—a rap, nacho, tattoo and antique furniture scholar—mentioned this, I believed him. It’s nice to know people like that and his historical contribution to ‘Homeward Bound: The Life and Times of Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry’ helps make this hefty hardback, clothbound beauty of a book a keeper. From fonts to the wealth of imagery and some deep history on the era, location, the big man himself and techniques of the time, this is a tremendous undertaking and a perfect companion to Erich Weiss’s ‘Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry’ DVD. Having had the pleasure of spending time around some big names in tattooing, there’s nothing that matches it for absolute obsession, and any legit project on the topic frequently exceeds expectations. I still haven’t taken the time to digest the contents, but kudos to Nick, Jason, Beth, David and Erich for bringing this to life. It should be in spots in Europe like Colette shortly, and the documentary might be set for a slightly more substantial cinema release soon as well. Thanks to Sarah for lugging it down south to get to me too.

The white t-shirt quest continues and with an unseasonal snap in the cold weather, I finally road tested the slightly thinner but substantial enough Kirkland Signature shirt. They’re not transparent to the point where your nipples are exposed, but they’re not Hanes Beefy/Pro Club thick either. I favour a fairly long tee that doesn’t expose the belly button after three washes and these fit the bill if you like a shirt that’s not skintight. They compress and thicken up a little after cleaning, but it’s not drastic. At around $15 for five they’re pretty disposable too if you want to remain dope boy fresh…being in the UK doesn’t help my cause as they’re seemingly only available at Costco stores in the USA. Are these still the best value plain tee on the planet? I think so. Our UK equivalents fail miserably—Primark and Matalan’s see-through, boxy efforts need to fall back.