COMING UP

23 June 2009

A SHOW FEATURING SOME OLD FRIENDS…..

COMING UP 
__________________________________

OPENING: Friday, June 26, 2009 
6:00pm – 10:00pm 

Jinxed 
620 South 4th Street 
Philadelphia, PA 
215-978-5496 

CHECK OUT THIS SITE FOR FULL LISTINGS:

www.thoughtcooperative.com

#57 Rahsaan Roland Kirk

18 May 2009

I could tell you that a cat can play five different horns and be a virtuoso on each……

The saxophone.

The manzello (which looks like an elongated saxophone).

The stritch.

The flute.

The Song Flute.

Now I mention he was abled to play 3 of them simultaneously?????…..

Now throw in that at times when he is performing a flute solo, he also reaches for his song flute and using his nose, he is able to perform a flute duet.

Now for kicks throw in that he was one of the most innovative artists of his generation and had one foot firmly planted in be-bop and the other fully planted in new jazz .

And he had one of the best, most unique styles ever. 

Lastly, top this all off by finally adding that he was blind since the age of two!

That is Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Now go and listen.

My Reading List

18 May 2009

R.I.P. Wayman Tisdale

18 May 2009

McFetridge and Shep NEVER Had a Buffet Luncheon

13 April 2009

Come Lunchin’ at my very first “Buffet Luncheon”…..

Dear Mr. Lyons,

PURPOSE OF LETTER:

The purpose of this letter is to establish the terms of your upcoming speaking engagement with AAF West Michigan (AAFWM).  We consider this letter to be a binding agreement between you and AAF West Michigan.

DATE/TOPIC/FORMAT:

The date of your engagement with us is April 15, 2009.  Your topic, as conveyed to us and subsequently publicized on our web site and program invitation is: Creative Strategy / Branding [SPECIFIC TITLE TO BE DETERMINED].  The location of the speaking engagement is the BOB (Big Old Building) in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, at the intersection of Ottawa and Fulton streets.  It is also directly across the street from our hotel partner, Courtyard by Marriott.  The format of the program luncheon is as follows:

11:15 am Registration and Networking
11:45 am  Buffet Luncheon
12:10 pm  Club Business & Speaker Intro
12:20 pm  Presentation
12:55 pm  Q & A
1:00 pm    Close and Adjourn

(we can adjust the presentation time to go from 12:00 to 1:00)

Tupac’s Reading List

3 April 2009

Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member
Written by: Sanyika Shakur

Assata: An Autobiography
Written by: Assata Shakur

Ponder on This: A Compilation
From the Writings of: Alice A Bailey & the Tibetan Master, Djwhal Khul

The Phenomenon of Man
Written by: Teilhard de Chardin

Kabbalah
Written by: Gersham Scholem

Thoughts and Meditations
Written by: Kahlil Gibran

Telepathy
Written by: Alice A Bailey

The Autobiography of Malcolm X
As told to: Alex Haley

Ah, This!
Written by: Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

Roots
Written by: Alex Haley

The Tibetan Book of the Dead
Written by: W.Y. Evans-Wentz

Black Like Me
Written by: John Howard Griffin

Bhagavad-Gita As It Is
Written by: A.C. Bhaktive-danta Swami Prabhupada

The Confessions of Nat Turner
Written by: William Styron

The Psychedelic Experience- A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead
Written by: Timothy Leary, Ph.D, Ralph Metzner, Ph.D., Richard Alpert, Ph.D.

James Baldwin: The Legacy
Edited by: Quincy Troupe

Initiation
Written by: Elisabeth Haich

The Meaning of Masonry
Written by: W.L. Wilmshurst

Social Essays
Written by: LeRoi Jones

The Grapes of Wrath
Written by: John Steinbeck

I Shall Not Be Moved
Written by: Maya Angelou

And Still I Rise
Written by: Maya Angelou

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Written by: Maya Angelou

Nature, Man and Woman
Written by: Alan W. Watts

Linda Goodman’s Sun Signs
Written by: Linda Goodman

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Written by: Robert M. Pirsig

A Raisin in the Sun
Written by: Lorraine Hansberry

Native Son
Written by: Richard Wright

The Practical Encyclopedia Of Natural Healing
Written by: Mark Bricklin

The Complete Illustrated Book of the Psychic Sciences
Written by: Walter B. Gibson and Litzka R. Gibson

1984
Written by: George Orwell

One Hundred Years of Solitude
Written by: Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The Destiny of the Nations
Written by: Alice A. Bailey

The Visionary Poetics of Allen Ginsberg
Written by: Paul Portuges

The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy
Written by: E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, James Trefil

The Diary of Anais Nin
Edited and with a Preface by: Gunther Stuhlmann

The Souls of Black Folk
Written by:W.E. Burghardt DuBois

The Psychic Realm
Written by: Naomi A. Hintze and J. Gaither Pratt, Ph.D.

Tropic of Cancer
Written by: Henry Miller

Nostradamus: The Millennium & Beyond
Written by: Peter Lorie

The State of the World Atlas
Written by: Michael Kidron and Ronald Segal

Catcher in the Rye
Written by: J.D. Salinger

Sisterhood is Powerful: Anthology of Writings from the Women’s Liberation Movement
Written by: Robin Morgan

In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens
Written by: Alice Walker

Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools
Written by: Jonathan Kozol

At the Bottom of the River
Written by: Jamaica Kincaid

Music of Black Americans: A History
Written by: Eileen Southern

Moby Dick
Written by: Herman Melville

Life and Words of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Written by: Ira Peck

Art of War
Written by: Sun Tzu

Interesting People: Black American History Makers
Written by: George L. Lee

Blues People
Written by: Amiri Baraka

All You Need to Know About the Music Business
Written by: Donald Passman

All God’s Children: The Boskett Family and the American Tradition of Violence
Written by: Fox Butterfield

Black Sister: Poetry by Black American Women, 1746 to 1980
Edited by Earlene Stetson

The Harder We Run: Black Workers Since the Civil War
Written by: William H. Harris

Makes Me Wanna Holler
Written by: Nathan McCall

Great White Lie: Slavery, Emancipation and Changing Racial Attitudes
Written by: Jack Gratus

Imitation of Christ
Written by: Thomas a Kempis

Teachings of the Buddha
Written by: Jack Kornfield

No Man Is an Island
Written by: Thomas Merton

Mysticism
Written by: Evelyn Underhill

Wisdom of Insecurity
Written by: A.N. Watts

Secret Splendor
Written by: Charles Essert

Life as Carola
Written by: Joan Grant

Serving Humanity
From the writings of: Alice A. Bailey

Here and Hereafter
Written by: Ruth Montgomery

The Prince
Written by: Niccolo Machiavelli

NEW ENGLAND KIT BRINGS BACK UMBRO

26 March 2009

For the past 10 weeks or so I have been working with Umbro International. You remember the huge soccer brand from the seventies and eighties? When we all started playing youth soccer, Umbro was THE BRAND of football. The checkerboard shorts and the iconic diamond logo stood for “real football”. Total authenticity. It was the code to which at least US kids repped the sport.

Founded and born in Manchester England, the mythic and epically gray home to the haunting ballads of Joy Division, Factory records, the birth of Northern Soul as well  as the Rave benders of the soulful side of the eighties, Umbro was founded as a tailored sportswear company, whose owner, Harold Humphreys pushed into sport, specifically football. At one point during the late sixties, Umbro clothed every major football brand on the planet, outfitting 25 out of 26 World Cup teams in 1966. It was the only football clothing brand. Adidas was on the pitch as well but only on feet, not on the chest. But somewhere during the late eighties and nineties a lot happened and Umbro suffered. Competitive inroads by the likes of giant, mega million dollar brands like Adidas and Puma and then Nike and many others made it hard for local Umbro to get the players needed to compete and then even to stay on the pitch as a uniformer. As English football exploded and Beckham and Ronaldo and money bags bloated the business, Umbro got pushed aside. It also took on unfair associations with the rise of violent hooliganism throughout the UK. Personally I still remember as late as 1990 trying to hunt down the Umbro jacket I saw Tricky wearing on stage. So dope.

Needless to say, Umbro is back. Nine months ago, Umbro was sold to Nike. Yeah Nike. And the good thing is that Nike fully respects what they bought. And have allowed Umbro to be Umbro again.  And Umbro has set a course to right the brand and fast. Turn the ship around. The first opportunity came quickly. On this Sunday, March 28th, Umbro will release the much anticipated, English national team Kit. You know the one Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Theo Walcott, John Terry, David Gerrard, and of course with a little luck and consistent play, Becks himself will wear into the 2010 World cup in South Africa. No skimping here either. Designed primarily by the young modern sportswear juggernaut designer, Aitor Throup (of Stone Island and CP Company fame) along with Umbro’s seasoned design team and tailored and finessed by Saville Row tailor, Charlie Allen. The new kit is a perfect combination of sports fabric technology, anatomic construction, and modern tailoring. The look is sleek and uncluttered. A throwback that looks forward but which remains super top secret until March 28th. 

THE NEW PROCESS VIDEO (A LITTLE VIDEO WE ALL MADE TOGETHER) view here

The company I am a Managing Partner in: the ad agency-turned brand builder, Anomaly in New York City was hired to launch the kit and do all the advertising. We are also doing all the retail roll-outs. With a bunch of us ex-Nike guys, a few Wieden & Kennedy muckity mucks, and a full roster of Brits, we have worked closely with Umbro and the kits designers to make this one of the most dynamic launches in football history if I may be so bold.

I have had the privelage of going back and forth between New York and Manchester and London. Working inside and around the brand with terrific set of global partners. The following is a series of photos from my travels. I will continue to report on the launch and this brand as we enter the last week of March when the kit is unveiled. Mark my words, Umbro will be a brand to reckon with going forward. The English Kit and the pieces surrounding it are more than football replicas, they are cultural pieces that can easily be worn around town and chillin’ with your friends. Umbro is back and you won’t be disappointed.

For more info and to see some of the first pictures keep checking back in here and/or go to umbro.com/england.

Cheers mates.

#58 Dr. Dre

9 December 2008

Whatever happens, this muthafucker made The Chronic.
I draw stupid little monsters.

#59 Roy Ayers

7 December 2008

I do not think about this often, but what if there was no Roy Ayers? What if there was no Brooklyn Artist loft party scene in the seventies? No for lack of a better term, no Acid Jazz? There would have been no Giant Step? No giant music scene in NYC that would have paid a struggling kid to redesign a logo for $350 bucks and get him on his way? Welcome to Staples, can I help you?

#60 Gordon Matta-Clark

6 December 2008

Trained as a Modernist and the originator of his own self-proclaimed, Anarchitecture, Gordon Matta- Clark was a beacon for me as a I started to transform and buy into post-modernism. His stripped walls and chopped facades offered me the physical proof that the beauty is in the flaw and that art and design can be found everywhere and not necessarily by just those trained to do so. Beauty is time and utility and wear and erosion.

His restaurant FOOD also revolutionized the Soho, downtown art scene giving a daytime social scene to what was already a very strong night scene. He can be attributed in part to making every foreigner on earth coming here to buy something from the Burton and John Varvatos shops and me barely being able to enter my building on a Sunday.