Meet Sky Gellatly. One of my closest friends that I’ve been fortunate to have met working in the fashion industry. Whenever I visit New York, I end up staying at his pad. And of course whenever he is in town in LA, I return the favor. We’ve known each other for over close to five years. Working with your friends is always a blessing. I wouldn’t be friends with Sky if it wasn’t for his off kilter sense of humor. Say hello to Mr. G!
Echo Park is one of the last vestiges of a town-like setting in Los Angeles. Echo Park originally found as Edendale used to be the movie capital of Los Angeles. In fact most silent films featuring Charlie Chaplin were filmed in Echo Park lake. Recently an influx of hipsters/hippies into Echo Park has created an economic and cultural shift in the city. This is a candid interview with one of Echo Park’s inhabitants. Meet Toks, he possesses an old soul and he shares some interesting words on life in the good ol’ EP.
Eddie (Undftd) has been telling me about young 24 yr old, Nosaj Thing for quite a while. You can listen to his music here - http://www.myspace.com/nosajthing. Nosaj Thing is a natural talent, his new upcoming album entitled “Drift” is a sonic journey of subtle synth noises. I wish I could expound more on this kid’s amazing sound, but I rather you click on his myspace page and take a listen. Aside from Nosaj’s inherent ability to create amazing soundscapes, I like his quiet demeanor and his contemplative approach in creating his craft. Get to know him and say hello.
One of my highlights of my New York trip thus far was getting a chance to meet one on one with Richard Haines aka Designer Man. I connected with Richard via email a few months ago from reading his blog – “What I Saw Today.” Think The Sartorialist but Richard takes it one step further by applying his God given talent of illustration. I think there is so much more that comes out when you’re drawing a subject then simply taking a photograph, don’t get me wrong, I very much love The Sartorialist but I think what Richard does is on another level. It was great to hear his story about working in fashion design and how his blog has now caused a great deal of commotion. I hope to collaborate with Richard this year on some project. Let’s see…
Josh Madden (DCMA) is in town to work on a video shoot. It’s always good to catch up with Josh. I’ve known him for almost two years now, yet he is one of those kindred spirits where you feel like you’ve known him forever. Josh is like an encyclopedia when its comes to fashion. He is someone I thoroughly enjoy talking to. I remember one time when I was visiting New York and I was staying at Josh’s house, I landed at 10 pm and we ended up talking till 3 am the following morning! We scoured reference books and checked out these sites to catch each other up to speed on what we thought was next in fashion and we almost provided mini-lectures about our thoughts. Josh is a cerebral cat, I appreciate that.
Oh and Josh had these rad glasses too. The “Suburban Dad” look is working on Josh. Ha!
To learn more of what Josh does as a Stylist, peep this episode from Jon Phenom‘s Hay Fam Show:
I had lunch with my good friend, Evan Roosevelt today. I haven’t seen Evan in a minute so it was good to catch up. Evan works for the LA City Council and he spends his days conducting meetings, drumming up policies and mobilizing the community. And yes you guessed it Evan is related to the Roosevelt family. In fact his great grandfather is FDR aka Franklin Delano Roosevelt, one of the last great presidents who instituted sweeping social change in America with his New Deal program. We talked about Obama’s campaign and how great this is for the country despite the perilous socioeconomic times we’re in. Speaking with Evan gets me fired up, how he talks about politics makes me want to get up and work for public office. The man is a busy man and I appreciate his time to re-connect. I intend to be talking to Evan more in the months to come. Let’s see what happens.
Peter Hahn of Turntable Lab stopped by for a brief visit today. Peter is one the partners behind Turntable Lab, whom I’m sure you’ve heard about before. Their online store is massive and they carry everything from clothing to sound equipment to bags to, of course records. Peter is based out in New York and he happened to be in town. It was great to connect and share our stories. I showed Peter some “Sounds of Seoul” – a 70s era Korean disco music mix tape that my man, DJ Soulscape put together. Turntable Lab is a great resource for music heads, they’re about to re-up their online presence in the following year. Look out look out!
For the many years that I’ve known Mega (Huf/Black Scale), one thing I’ve come across from him is that Mega does not beat around the bush. He is a person who speaks directly from his heart and he levels with you man to man. I met Mega in San Francisco and later I would catch him occasionally in LA roaming around. Of course how this SF to LA connection would later culminate to HUF eventually opening up their first HUF brand flagship store is of no consequence. Mega currently manages the store yet he is also active working on his own brand, Black Scale which judging from its tempo, is not settling itself within the street wear market. Mega looks toward the contemporary markets as he sees Black Scale expand its collection in the following seasons. Always moving a thousand miles and getting the job done, there are many fine qualities I can take away from this man. Always good building with you sir.
I’ve known Rick for over three years now. He’s a friendly face that you would recognize time and time again. Rick has had his fair share working in the field of fashion. These days you can catch him inside Reserve on Fairfax. Rick is an avid photographer. Take a look at his site - http://rickrodneyphoto.blogspot.com - and take a look at his work. His recent photo entries exudes a documentary feel of the horse race track culture. A lot of his flics remind me of pictures I’ve seen as a kid in National Geographic. I enjoy this man’s aesthetic and we will be planning to work together on a few more projects. Good chatting with you the other day Rick!
