Look who's coming to All-Star Sneakend

Y'all don't understand how crazy this is getting. The list of special invited guests, celebrities, friends, and crews rollin thru All-Star Sneakend just keeps getting bigger and better:

• DJ Greg Street
• MAYOR
• DJ Clark Kent
• All Day
• Franalations
• Bun B
• Erin Patton
• Sole Supreme
• Dave Jeff

Also heard a rumor that Dallas Cowboys running back Marion Barber knows about the event and is planning on swinging through to check things out. Turns out he's into kicks as well.

There's also supposed to be some local cats from the NikeTalk forum showing some kicks as well. I don't know their names tho, so I can't list em, but I've heard they got serious heat. And of course there will be displays from some of the groups helping put on the show, too.

With so many big names and local collectors, you know there's gonna be some heat on display. All-Star Sneakend is gonna be a helluva sneakerhead event. Don't miss it!

Sneaker Keychains

Been buying these for a little while now, I think they're way cool. They're available online outta the UK, but I've been buying em all locally at Centre [website] which is one of my favorite DFW sneaker/streetwear boutiques, located in Mockingbird Station in Dallas.

These sneaker keychains run $10 and there's a wide variety to choose from. I picked all these up because they're kicks I'd love to have but don't own--mainly because they're highly collectible and crazy expensive on the aftermarket (well, except that Air Max 95, it's a general release). Shoot, my two "grails" are in there: the Staple Pigeons and the Wu Dunks. Doubt I'll ever own either of those. Haha!

By the way, Centre is doing it big for All-Star weekend; they're opening a special pop-up ANNX store next door to their main location that's gonna be full of all sorts of special products and deals exclusively for the event [link]. If you're from Dallas, or are just gonna be in town for All-Star weekend, do yourself a favor and go to Centre and check out their ANNX pop-up shop.

Fur Face Boy - Amazing & Black Friday

Warning: this is probably the geekiest post I've ever made on this blog. You see, in a past life, I worked at a comic book store, which was a dream job for a teenager since I'd been into comic books most of my childhood. Growing up in the 80s, my favorite comic book was The Amazing Spider-Man, which was probably due to the fact that he had his own children's TV show in Japan [link] in the late 70s when I was a little kid living over there.

Created in 1962, Spider-Man's red & blue costume was a comic book icon, so it was a HUGE deal when Marvel Comics revealed an all-new, all-black Spider-Man costume in issue #252, May 1984. That summer, during the mega-crossover series Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars [link] the origin of the costume was shown to have come from an alien machine. Unfortunately, it was soon discovered to be a living alien creature, a symbiote that was attempting to bond permanently with Peter Parker. With the help of the Fantastic Four, he was able to get rid of the alien, but continued to wear the black costume for several more years (made of non-threatening fabric, of course).

The alien symbiote continued to attack Spider-Man over the years, notably in Web of Spider-Man #1 in 1985, when Peter was able to kill the alien with a giant church bell (a story which was horribly butchered in the Spider-Man 3 film). Of course the alien didn't die, and eventually it merged with a nasty fellow named Eddie Brock to create "Venom", one of the most popular Spider-Man villains of all time, who we finally learned about in 1988 in issue #300 during Todd McFarlane's fantastic run on the series. Venom appeared several more times during the McFarlane years, solidifying the villains' popularity, and has continued to menace Spider-Man through several hosts.

So okay, enough with the comic book stuff!

As you undoubtedly know if you've been reading my blog for any length of time, one of my favorite apparel brands is Fur Face Boy [link] and this past fall, the FFB introduced his series 2 line of t-shirts, and wouldn't you know it, he made a blue Spider-Man themed shirt! Naturally I cop'd it (and from Shogun, the best streetwear shop in Ft. Worth [link]) and it turned out to be my favorite series 2 FFB design. No surprise considering how personally it connects with my comic book influenced childhood.

But that's not the end of the story. No, you see, Fur Face Boy released a hyper-limited web-only (ha-ha) run of 24 Black "symbiote" t-shirts on Black Friday. FFB's clever tag line? "Forget Eddie Brock, this shirt wants YOU to be it's host!"

That's not true, of course. The shirt is made of non-threatening fabric.

I think.

Premium Pete's Vision

Premium Pete is the guy who runs Premium Laces, a great sneaker shop in NYC's SoHo shopping district that I visited last fall [link]. In addition to being a shop owner and sneakerhead, Pete also has mad crazy visions of sneaker designs floating in his head--evidence of that fact: the insane Elephant Print 3M Air Force 1 Bespoke he designed [link] which is probably my second favorite Bespoke so far (behind the incomparable Marcus Troy Bespoke). Pete's Bespoke is so hot it was even bootlegged!

So yesterday morning, Pete was watching ESPN and they were talking about Nate Robison's performance in last year's All-Star Dunk Contest, where of course he was wearing the KryptoNate Foamposite Lites [link]. Well as we all know, the Copper Foampsite Ones are one of the next big sneaker releases coming out soon, and Pete got the idea to put the green & yellow colorway on the Foamposite profile. I did a little 'choping in Photoshop and sent the mockup to Pete and *BAM* his vision was born!

Pete popped the pic on Twitter and on the Premium Laces blog [here] and Twitter lit up with folks cosigning the design--but Pete wasn't done yet. We talked on the phone a bit about his OTHER vision and I jumped back into Photoshop and we came out with this:


Yup, that's right: an Air Jordan XI Space Jam inspired colorway on the Foamosite One profile. Pete posted this one up [here] and Twitter went bananas! Cats went bonkers over the colorway, and everyone said Nike needs to make this one. Some folks even said they'd camp out for it. Haha!

Truth be told, I'm not personally a fan of the Foamposite One design, but I'd rock the shit outta that Space Jam Foamposite!

Look out for more in the Premium Pete's Vision series coming in the future. I know he's a wealth of ideas; I just hope my Photochop'n can keep up with what he's got cookin'.


*EDIT*
Holy shit, these Photochops made it onto SneakerNews.com, one of the very biggest sneaker related websites out there. Check it out! http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XKNE218S

Nike SB Dunk High - Gucci

This Nike SB Dunk High Premium "Gucci", a November 2009 limited Quickstrike release, has an interesting and somewhat convoluted story behind it. You see, way back in 2004, Nike SB came up with the idea to put together a "Team Manager" series designed by a skateboard team managers to be released in 2005.

Stussy team manager Robbie Jeffers designed a Dunk Low by taking inspiration from Neopolitian ice cream, using chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry colors. The tongue even features a cherry on it. The shoe was well received but it didn't jump out and grab folks like the other two designs in the series. Nowadays it sells for around $300 or so, pricey but not astronomical.

Diamond Supply Co. owner Nick Tershay--who got involved with the project through Sam Smyth--designed a Dunk Low by taking inspiration from the classic Tiffany blue diamond gift boxes. The tongue features a diamond, a clever nod to both brand name and the Tiffany box. The shoe's sales went bananas as demand far outstripped supply thanks to Nick posting a pic of the shoe on MySpace (remember when that was relevant?) and nowadays a pair runs well over $700 on the collector's market.

Girl Skateboards team manager Sam Smyth (aka RESN) designed a Dunk High, with assistance from Nick Tershay, by taking inspiration from the classic Gucci handbag colors. Well, there might be more behind the color inspiration [*cough*cough*] but we won't go there. Unfortunately, this sneaker didn't get released. While no one really knows for sure why--at least publically--the story goes that the parent company of Girl Skateboards, Girl Distribution, also owns Lakai Footwear, and the owners weren't happy that Girl was doing a collab with another footwear company, especially since their company was partially founded on the idea that they could make their own footwear brand rather than ride for a sponsored brand. Only 29 pair of the original Gucci Dunk Highs made it out to the public, and getting a hold of them was practically impossible. They now sell for well over $2,000 a pair.

Now fast forward almost 5 years to November, 2009.

For some reason, Nike finally decided to give the RESN Gucci Dunk Hi a proper release--and a limited Quickstrike one at that. I don't know what prompted them to finally drop em; I don't even know if Sam Smyth is even still with the Girl Skateboards team (he's not listed on their website, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything). I dunno, maybe everyone involved just finally got over the beef, if there even was one in the first place? Whatever the reason, they finally came out. The only differences between the original 2005 unreleased sneakers and the 2009 released ones are the tongue logo (original simply had a NIKE SB logo) and the amount of fraying on the edges of the denim.

I managed to snag a pair at retail from Index Skate Supply, thanks to my crew, Heat Seekers. Shoutouts to @Process817 and @Akuma471 for holding me down on this one.

A Message From MAYOR

Check out this YouTube video where MAYOR gives you a sneak peek of what to expect at ALL STAR SNEAKEND! Friday, February 12th from 3pm-6pm at the House Of Blues Dallas. For more information, check out my post from last week [here] and of course follow @ALLSTARSNEAKEND on Twitter to catch updates and extra info on the event.

January Record Dig

Alright I feel a lot better about this dig than the last one [here]. 7 of these albums are actually pretty damn good on their own rights, and two are flat out crazy. Naturally, I'm talking about the two Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66 albums. Those are a pair of bossa nova jazz/funk masterpieces. I'm sure both have been sampled to hell and back over the years, but I'm still gonna have a lot of fun flippin em.

The "I ♥ NY album" has a bunch of Tourist Bureau compiled 70's era New York anthems, including disco (!) that should be fun to work with, and of course the Issac Hayes is a treasure trove of sample sources. The Vangelis album is full of wonderful synth sounds, as you'd expect from him, and any Genesis album is always good for drums. And shoot I couldn't pass up the Live and Let Die soundtrack; the title track alone is worth owning.

Not a bad dig, especially since I spent a whopping $5.50 haha!

Air Jordan III Retro - True Blue

The Air Jordan III, introduced for the 87-88 NBA season, might have been the third sneaker in the Air Jordan line, but it's really defined by firsts. The first Air Jordan designed by the now legendary Tinker Hatfield. The first to feature the now ubiquitous Jumpman logo (the 1 and 2 featured the Wings logo). The first use of the iconic Elephant print. The first Jordan with a visible AIR unit in the sole. The first to be heavily marketed in TV ads (the famous Spike Lee "Mars Blackmon" series). And the sneaker Michael Jordan wore when he won his first league MVP award.


The Air Jordan 3 was originally released in four colorways, all of which have been retro'd at one time or another, and a several new colorways have been introduced over the years a well. No surprise there since the Jordan 3 is one of the most loved designs in the history of the brand. It's even been reported that the Jordan 3 is Michael Jordan's personal favorite sneaker design. He even occasionally wore the True Blue colorway in his last few years while playing with the Washington Wizards, since they color matched that uniform.

Originally, the design on the rear featured the Swoosh and the words NIKE AIR, and the sole read NIKE, but starting in late 2001 these elements were switched to the Jumpman logo on the rear and JORDAN on the sole. The same modifications were made to other retros released after 2001 as well. To most sneakerheads, these were unwelcome changes, and many are hoping Jordan Brand will eventually switch back to the original NIKE branding--but no one's holding their breath waiting for that to happen anytime soon.

As for these 2009 True Blues--well there was some controversy with these, too [link]. Everyone got hyped about em when the retro was first announced, and it quickly became one of the most eagerly anticipated sneakers of the year, but then Jordan Brand revealed that it would be an International Only release, unavailable in the United States. Sneakerheads suddenly found themselves trying to track them down from overseas connects when they dropped in August, but most were left out in the cold.

I actually first held the True Blue back in September--as you can see in that first pic--when I visited Flight Club in New York [link] and seriously considered buying it at $275. Glad I didn't since I was able to cop em a couple months later at retail price on a surprise restock from Size? in the U.K.

After all was said and done, this Air Jordan Retro True Blue ended up making several "Best Sneakers of 2009" lists, most notably coming in at #4 [link] on DJ Clark Kent's Top 10 sneakers of the year, and finishing #1 [link] on Mayor's Top 10 list.

PS - After I cop'ed the shoes, I just had to buy this t-shirt --> [link]

All-Star Sneakend - Event Details

Alright y'all, here are details on the upcoming All-Star Sneakend event that my crew, Heatseekers, is helping put together:

ALL-STAR SNEAKEND
Sneaker Show & Expo
Friday, Feb. 12, 2010 from 3pm - 6pm
House of Blues - Dallas
$20 cover; all ages welcome
(Tickets will be available at the HoB box office)
Facebook Page [link]
Twitter Page [link]

Do you understand how epic this is? It's so epic that every major sneaker show organizer in the entire state of Texas is joining together to Form Like Voltron, organizing this event as a single force, a collective. Kixpo, Dead Stock, Heat Seekers, H-Town Sneaker Summit, and San Antonio Sneaks Up acting as one! Our objective wasn't to have the biggest show, but rather to have the BEST show with the BEST HEAT at a level no one has ever seen before.

So how do we plan to accomplish that? By bringing the biggest sneakerheads in the game from all across the country to showcase some of their hottest kicks at the House of Blues in Dallas, Texas!

Listen, I cannot stress enough just how big these special guests are: DJ Clark Kent, MAYOR, and DJ Greg Street (all members of the ATF crew) are probably three of the most important, most well known sneakerheads in the world today. If you were climbing a ladder in the sneaker culture, these are the cats you'd find sitting on the top rung. There are a few other significant sneakerheads near their level, but I really don't think you could put together a better group than these guys. Between them, they own well over 5000 pair of kicks, and they're packing up some of their best, rarest sneakers to bring to Dallas and display for all to see. On top of that, it looks like they might be bringing some of their sneakerhead friends (wink-wink) along for the show as well.

So Lemme say this again:

Arguably the three biggest dudes in the sneaker game--plus some of their friends--are coming to Dallas to display some of their biggest heat. This is an opportunity you don't get to see very often ANYWHERE, much less in Texas.

Do not miss this! If you live anywhere near North Texas, go ahead and put in NOW for that day off of work. The NBA All-Star game is the single biggest stage in the world for this kind of event that can bring out this level of show guests...and the last time we had one in Dallas was 24 years ago. Do you want to wait til the year 2034 for your next opportunity?

DJ Clark Kent

Wow. I just watched DJ Clark Kent spin the turntables LIVE for 2-½ hours* on the Freddie Foxxx (aka Bumpy Knuckles) Ustream channel, Krupt Mob Radio. If you ain't seen Clark deejay before, whew, y'all got no idea how hot his DJ game is. As a hip hop music geek, I gotta say Clark blew my mind.

In case you didn't know, DJ Clark Kent is a hip hop DJ, music producer, music tour coordinator, CEO of his own entertainment company, and founding member of the "Supermen" DJ crew (which consisted of Richie Rich, Scratch, Alladin, Miz, & Supreme). Oh wait, did I forget to mention that he used to be an A&R for Mowtown and Atlantic records? Yeah, well while he was an A&R he signed and/or was responsible for a few artists you might have heard of: Das Efx. MC Lyte. 98 Degrees. Oh yeah, and a young kid from his own neighborhood by the name of Jay-Z. Maybe you've heard of him? Ha ha!

Just look at those albums--how many classics are in there? How many top tier artists? Those are just SOME of the albums that DJ Clark Kent produced songs on. Maria Carey, Jay-Z, Biggie, Junior M.A.F.I.A., Slick Rick, Mariah Carey, Poor Righteous Teachers, 50 Cent, Das Efx, and Rakim. Damn! Clark's been a beast in the music industry since the mid 80's when he was the DJ for Dana Dane--Cinderfella himself.

But on top of all that--as if it weren't enough--DJ Clark Kent also has THE hottest sneaker game around. No one can touch him--PERIOD--and most of the ones who can hang with him like All-Day, MAYOR, and DJ Greg Street are in his ATF sneaker crew (Addicted To Fresh, All Things Fresh, etc). Not only does Clark have several thousand pair of sneakers, he's also had the opportunity to design sneaker colorways for Nike--that's incredible. He has been featured in Sole Collector magazine (even though he doesn't consider himself a "collector", instead just a guy who buys and wears a lot of sneakers), has had his Top 50 Air Force 1s list featured in Complex magazine [here], and was on their panel of sneaker experts (along with MAYOR) that ranked the Complex.com Top 10 Sneakers of 2009 [here].

DJ Clark Kent: Music industry legend and the biggest sneakerhead in the game.


* Note - the live show Clark played is supposed to be archived on the Krupt Mob Radio Ustream channel [here] if you're interested in watching it--which of course you should be. It was hot; even Pete Rock and Prince Paul were watching/chatting the stream! BTW the last 20 minutes was a discussion between Clark and Freddie that broke down into sneaker talk, so sneakerheads should definitely peep that.

Speeches by King, Beats by Dre, Mixtape by Street

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and in honor of the civil rights leader's birthday celebration, DJ Greg Street released this mixtape featuring the speeches of Dr. King mixed with beats by Dr. Dre. The cover art cleverly flips the cover of Dr. Dre's classic 1992 album, The Chronic, and caps it off with a pair of "Beats by Dre" headphones on Dr. King.

Here's what DJ Greg Street had to say about this mixtape:

This mixtape is dedicated to the biggest movement of all times. Every time I listen to these speeches it makes me realize how deep life really is. This man’s legacy is amazing & ask yourself after all he did for man kind. Did Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. die a millionaire? How much is your legacy worth?

Download the FREE mixtape [here].

MAYOR-TV on Ustream

The man you see right here is MAYOR and in case you didn't know, he's kind of a big deal in the sneaker game. No, he ain't a celebrity, he ain't an athlete, he ain't a rapper or a producer or a DJ or nothing like that. MAYOR's just a regular dude like you and me. Well, except that he's got 1,500 pair of sneakers (including over a thousand pair of Air Force 1) and most of it is so rare that you've probably never even seen or heard of em before.

MAYOR shows these rare sneakers to hundreds of online viewers every Sunday and Thursday night, from 11:30pm-til-1:00am or so, on MAYOR-TV at Ustream.com and personally, I've been watching it pretty much from the very beginning (back on his old Ustream account). So what's the show like? Well basically, MAYOR sits in his sneaker room with the webcam on his MacBook Pro and chats with the audience, talks about upcoming releases, shows what he rocked that day, shows a fitted cap or two, checks his Blackberry, calls his friends, watches ESPN, praises the Yankees, and then blows everyone's mind by showing the MAD HEAT in his sneaker collection. Oh yeah and occasionally he has a guest or two on the show, like DJ Greg Street, SneakerQueen, Feets Malone, and his sneaker assistant Coco. But really, what makes the show great is the interaction between MAYOR and the audience--if you got a question, he'll answer it.

Go to Ustream.com to sign up (it's free) and then watch MAYOR-TV [here] every Sunday and Thursday night at 11:30pm EST.

All-Star Sneakend - Feb 12, 2010

BREAKING NEWS -- In conjunction with the 2010 NBA All-Star Game and related weekend activities in Dallas-Fort Worth, four different sneaker groups from across Texas are uniting to host the All-Star Sneakend Sneaker Show & Expo, being held Friday February 12, 2010 from 3pm - 6pm at the House of Blues in Downtown Dallas.

The four groups organizing the even are: Dead Stock (Dallas); HeatSeekers (Ft. Worth); Sneaks Up (San Antonio); H-Town Sneaker Summit (Houston). With that many groups coming together, you know it's gonna be a helluva show.

I can't divulge too much right now as there's still some ironing out of contracts and legal documents and what-not, but lemme just say that the sneaker celebrities involved are HUGE--we're talking some of very biggest names in the sneakerhead circle. THE BIGGEST NAMES. And they're gonna be showing heat you can't even imagine. Y'all ain't ready for this!

We will have much more information to come about All-Star Sneakend next week, but for now, just go ahead and mark your calendar, talk to your boss and schedule that day off, WHATEVER you gotta do, just plan on being at All-Star Sneakend in Dallas, Feb 12.

For up-to-the-minute info, follow All-Star Sneakend on twitter @allstarsneakend


Full Disclosure:
I'm a member of HeatSeekers, so yes I'm helping organize the event. In fact, I designed the logo and am working on the flyer/website/ads/t-shirt.

Nike Air Safari x Air Force Ones

The Nike Air Safari x Air Force Ones are a 2008 release of the iconic Air Force One sneaker featuring the classic Nike safari print colorway that originated on the 1987 Nike Air Safari created by legendary sneaker designer Tinker Hatfield.

From what I've read, the original 1987 shoe wasn't initially popular, but quickly gained respect as a trail running shoe. I dunno; maybe the wild safari print made folks think it belonged outdoors in the woods? Whatever the case, the pattern itself eventually became iconic in its own right, leading to a retro release in 2003 (with additional new colorways) and a slightly modified retro release in 2009 as well as being splashed across a number of other sneaker styles over the years such as the Air Max 1, the Air Oasis, the Terminator low, the Hyperize, and of course this Air Force One.

My favorite little design feature of these Nike Air Safari x Air Force Ones is the altered toe box perforations. Instead of the standard Air Force One perfs, Nike actually changed them to better reflect the perfs on the original Air Safari. Totally unnecessary, but a much appreciated little detail.

I cop'd these by total accident. I was out on a random sneaker browsing trip, showing my buddy Tom one of my favorite little local mom & pop sneaker shops, and *POW* they had these sitting there, left over, in a pile of clearance shoes. Tom and I each cop'd a pair, couldn't pass up a classic like this, especially at 40% OFF.

DJ Premier x Nike Air Force 1

These Nike Air Force 1 lows were designed by DJ Premier as a counterpart to the DJ AM x Nike Dunk High Premiums I posted yesterday [here]. Originally, these were to be part of Nike's East-West "Rivals Pack" series, which I've blogged about before [here], but the Rivals aspect was dropped in respect to DJ AM's untimely passing.

For those not in the know, DJ Premier (aka Premo) is one of the most important Hip Hop producers of all time. In fact, I mentioned him in one of my very first posts here on this blog [here]. Look up any "best Hip Hop producers" list and you're bound to find Premo on there, likely occupying the top spot. As the deejay half of the seminal group Gang Starr, along with emcee Guru, he helped define the New York Hip Hop sound of the 90s. Premo is one of those producers who has a signature sound--usually a repeating 2-bar structure with scratched choruses--that is instantly recognizable as his own. When you hear a DJ Premier beat, you know it's a DJ Premier beat.

Gang Starr dropped four truly significant albums in the 90's, with Premo handling about 99.9% of the production on them. If you wanna know what classic New York 90's Hip Hop is supposed to sound like, just listen to any of these albums: Step in the Arena (1991); Daily Operation (1992); Hard to Earn (1994); Moment of Truth (1998). Yeah it's true, Guru isn't the most exciting emcee, but something about his monotone voice works with Premo's beats. Of course, since you're reading my blog, you probably already know all this, right? I mean, you're probably a hip hop head, am I right? Well if by some chance you're not, but you still wanna know what a Premo beat sounds like, go watch this old Gang Star video from 1992 [here].

As for the design of these Air Force 1 lows--whoo! SHIT these joints are as hot as a Premo beat. The quality of the materials used are top notch; smooth black suede, smooth dark green leather, embossed brown and blue leather, orange contrast stitching, leather tongue tag, lasered logos, customized lace tabs, and that clear icy sole with turntables printed underneath. Damn! They look nice in pictures, but they're so much better in person--really an outstanding choice of materials in these kicks.

BY THE WAY...

One thing I haven't seen any sneaker news website mention is what that logo on the insole pattern and front of the shoe stands for. You know, the circle with the "yR" in it. Most sites point it out but just call it "DJ Premier's logo" or just gloss over it completely. But hey, since no one else seems to know what it's about, allow me to drop that knowledge on you:

The logo represents DJ Premier's independent record label, Year Round records.

If you don't know, now ya know