• To start this thing off right: Britney nips (via Miss Modernage of course - hey, you KNEW it was gonna be her or Whatevs if celeb mammaries are involved).



• For the sneakerheads: Efil, Snapsorama, and Dead Shoe Scrolls



• Hysterical Raekwon poster. If only it was a Wu-Tang "W" on the jeans instead of a smiley face...



• Vincent Gallo = Insane. But you know, that seems to work for him. Do you, playa, do you.



• "Everywhere we go-oh, people wanna know-oh, whoooo we aaaare, soooo we tell them, this is D-Block, mighty mighty D-Block..."



• I thought the Clipse flipped birds, not burgers (via Thugbot, who's Yahoo! photo captions are one of the highlights of my online day).



• Remember when SNL (or In Living Color, or somebody) did the "Gangsta Bitch Barbie" sketch? Life imitates art.



• The latest David Choe book is hot. Buy yourself a copy, or just check out the well-thumbed copies at Tower Books on West 4th (yes, I sit around and compulsively read shit when I'm waiting to meet people. Fuck y'all. As Jorge put it - "nerdery is clutch")



• Bill O'Reilly = Douche (via ChaChaCha); Tom Green, on the other hand, offers up some surprisingly articulate and insightful commentary, when he's allowed to finish his sentences, of course...



• Buy Pat from =W=eezer's tricked-out Subaru on eBay.



• Christ, that new OutKast is insanely good. And I'm not paid to say that (seriously - I bought that jawn with my own hard-earned $10.99). From any other rapper, on any other album, the Big Boi solo songs would be incredible, each one a standout track - but here, they're merely great. Why? Because The Love Below is special. Even in it's overlong, interlude-laden form, the collection of songs is damn near transcendent. 3000 did his damn thang, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see his disc remembered as a Purple Rain-level classic (for the record - "Hey Ya" is still one of my least-favorite tracks on it, but I'll admit, I put these size 10s WAAAAAAAAY in my mouf on that one, the shit bangs, and I just wasn't allowing myself to feel it amongst the initial hype).



• Seriously, I'm not kidding, the Andre disc is fucking incredible. He captures aspects of love and relationships with an acute, poetic eye that I haven't heard on record in some time. From lustful infatuation to blissful contentedness, even the sour aftertaste ("hope she's speeding on the way to the club/trying to hurry up to get to some baller or singer or somebody like that/and try to put on her makeup in the mirror/and crash, crash, crash into a ditch/just playing..."), it's all as spot-on as it is creative. I'd give it 5 mics in a heartbeat - and he ain't even rap on it.



• Great article about the "lost" Elvis song debuting on the new Elvis comp, the New Jerseyan who wrote it back in the day, and the cooperation between journalists and Elvis historians that made it happen.



• White female R&B singer alert - and she's British, too! Labelmates with Fountains of Wayne! And sixteen years old! Whats the deal with motherfuckers looking all grown and shit in their teens. Hell, I'm damn near 23 and look about 17 on a good day. I got CARDED at an open bar promotional event the other night - NO ONE cards at them shits. Anyhow, one of the track's off Joss Stone's debut is a neo-soul cover of The White Stripes' "Fell In Love With A Girl" (far less interestingly titled "Fell In Love With A Boy" - why the hetero friendly change-over? Fuck what Walmart says, everybody knows sapphism is so hot right now. Besides, Jadakiss said real men shouldn't have to say "no homo" anyway - heard that DMX?)



• The T'Nator



• FINALLY, a set date for the Tribe Called Quest reunion. Q-Tip finally realized Lenny's got him beat in the "boning Nicole Kidman" department, so he's back with Phife and Ali Shaheed (bet you Jairobi's in there too doing...whatever it is he does). ABOUT DAMN TIME. Hey, remember how when Beats, Rhymes, and Life came out we all thought they fell off? And now we wish people still made jawns like that?



• Went with Mores to that Moby/Natural History Mueseum thing at the Planetarium the other day (thanks Shilpa!) to drink for free and talk to girls. It was such a bizarre mix, since the old people with yearly passes to the museum had to stand shoulder to shoulder with hipster bingo dirtbags. "DJ" Gideon Yago was on the decks (seriously dude, stop stealing my life. For fucks sake, he was wearing a Bathing Ape shirt on MTV last night. Watch him go and get contacts now, goddamnit), the dude from Midtown was walking around, and I cut Moby in line for urinals (it's all good, he's a pacifist. Plus, I think he's even more mellowed-out these days).



• Speaking of going out on the town, tomorrow night it's a toss-up between Bling Kong at Pianos (if David Cross isn't there I'm going to kick some kid with a whiteyfro...just because), and the TV on the Radio gig at NYU's Kimmel Center - the last one of these "indie" shows at NYU happened to feature this little band called The Rapture, so it should definitely be worth your five bucks. Come ON, you know you want to be one of those people who was there before ______ (insert demographic here). And this Friday, two ex-members of hip-hop iconoclasts Antipop Consortium (Priest and Sayyid) will be performing under the banner of their new project, Airborn Audio. Tonic, 12pm, should be john blaze.

Friday, September 19

They bought us all new Ergon chairs here at the office.

(breathe, count backwards from 10...)

It's AERON, people, AERON! So close, but yet SO far. I want my old chair back.

• Great ?uestlove interview, courtesy of the Dave Eggers media empire (and linked via One Man Army). Toure occasionally comes incorrect on some Rolling Stone-type ish, but he's still my 3rd or 4th favorite hip-hop-centric music journalist (behind the ego trip dudes and Sasha).



• Fred Durst needs to get hair plugs (and, ideally, to stop sucking - but one thing at a time, people).



• Alien Workshop graphics mastermind DH Pendleton has a retrospective book dropping soon - check for it.



• More Jersey rock (via Largehearted Boy) - let's hear it for suburban melancholy!



• Toys, toys, toys, courtesy of the Freshness folks.



• Ill navigation at So Fake (courtesy of Know5tyle, currently cultivating a massive ACG collection in SF).



• BigMonsterHitsLittleTokyo.com



• Phil Spector is going to shoot Paul McCartney in the face for this (PS - because he's insane).



• Andy Warhol Kubricks - HOTT! More info at BH.



• You better call up Tyrone...but you can't use my phone...



• New Supreme for Fall 03 - the Charlie Chaplin jawn is nice (although their "bottom print" tees are frustratingly extra-long), as well as the "Hard Times" shirt. The references are getting a little more esoteric as well, which I guess in the long run is a good thing, but I dunno, there's just something about the old tees that seems to be missing. Still looking for that Superman vs. Muhammad Ali shirt, I still can't believe I slept on it (as well as the Pantone chart deck) a few years back.



• The Mayer says "my voice isn't really good for covers". We would like to (unsurprisingly) add, "or anything else, for that matter."



• Breaking news: rappers like to watch Scarface.

9/19/2003 09:55:17 AM |link

Thursday, September 18

Guest-lectured a class at NYU last night - a cool experience, but deeply weird at the same time; I was invited as an "authority" of sorts on blogging, and asked to speak about the phenomenon in general, focusing on my own personal experiences with it. I think it went ok - people weren't entirely repulsed by the academic validation of self-referrential shit talking...which I am inclined to view as a plus. As always, copious self-deprecation preserved any remaining street cred. And my t-shirt/suit jacket combo was PIMP, act like you know.

Nice to meet all of you (assuming you came back to read the page today - applied knowledge, what what! Be sure to enter the contest, or just drop a line. It's polite and shit). Plus, my prof sprang for drinks afterwards - props to you, Richard.

• A dude on the subway says to his friend, "yo if Isabel comes, we can't be hanging out and whatever on Friday." Like the FUCKING HURRICANE was his wacky friend who comes over and drinks all the beer and never leaves on time. Whatever though, despite this silly-ass hypochondriac safety-culture getting everyone's undies in a twist (aka my dad, who's been going around screaming "it's a twister! An F-5!" for the past WEEK), I think we're just going to get some rain over the weekend and that's about it (except for my North Cackalacka/VA Beach peeps - you're fucked. On a brighter note, GO TARHEELS!) Metropolitan area, be easy.



• How many of y'all think of Bjork every time they say "Isabel" ("married to myself") on the news?



• Hot diggy damn, Staple done got a messageboard.



• Cracksmokers of the NBA (via Info Leaf Blower, where else?) - I cannot express to you how souped I am for the regular NBA season to begin. But if they move the Nets to Long Island, I am not fucking kidding: PEOPLE WILL DIE. Empty threats of physical harm are my stock in trade here at catchdubsdotcom, but I'm SAYING though.



• Guitar nerds rejoice.



• Jason comes through with the ill Matrix Revolutions leaked TV commercials.



• Evan Hecox x Arkitip x DC collab shoe - very AJIV-ish (with a little of the 3 thrown in for good measure). That snakeskin is TOO sick. Act quick, the limited shoe is to commemorate the Hecox show in Japan, coming up with the quickness (side note: "art show in Japan" is definitely on the "things to do before turning 30" list. Get it crackin).



• Angle Grinder Man is gangsta.



• How dope is the Renewable Brooklyn concert? 2 Many DJ's, Handsome Boy Modeling School, UNKLE, Radio 4, Out Hud, and Head Automatica (Darryl Glassjaw and Dan the Automator), not to mention the scores of clever-haircutted hotties looking for dudes with impeccable taste in sneakers. HOL-LER (yes, that deserved a distinct, two-syllable shout). Seriously though, once I get Mores to step his kick game up, we'll have to beat the BK stunts off with a stick. BACHELORS ON THE LOOSE!



• The new R.E.M. video is dumb good - shit, it even has it's own conceptual website. Stipey still looks like he's got the HIV, though.



• AlRoker.com



• Interesting debate on the philosophical merits of sampling vs. "keyboard beats" from a hip-hop production standpoint. Any messageboard convo that can discuss both Pharell AND syncretics is fine by me. BRICOLAGE, BITCH!

9/18/2003 10:12:52 AM |link

Wednesday, September 17

The response to the contest has been dope so far; the usual suspects were expected, but it's great to hear from ALL of you. I've been on the fence about installing a comments/talkback feature up in this piece, but it's always cool finding out about new people who dig this humble little jawn* right herrre.

*For everyone who asked, "jawn" is a slang term originating in Illadelphia, which seems to have it's etymological roots based in "joint," ie., "that's my JOINT!" - I found the connection sort of intuative, but everybody just thought there goes Nick talking crazy again. DJ Diplodocus from Hollertronix put it best: "a word in philly that means everything. from your pencil to your girlfriend or like let me get that jawn, a jawn is when your song comes on the radio and its your real jawn."

• Up Your Sleeve hits NYC in October, boyeee.



• MC John Walker Lindh (thanks Ryan) - very interesting article about the Marin County teen who became an Islamic fundamentalist fighting for Afghanistan, and how Chuck D (in a roundabout way) helped get him there.



• Some good old rock and roll jawns straight outta Jersey. Relatedly, any word on the new Thursday (New Gunzwick, what!) or Saves The Day albums that came out yesterday? I don't think I could bring myself to actually purchase either of these (a few years ago, it'd be another story...) but I feel an innate need to support anyone repping the Garden State, no matter how emo.



• For the graf folks: Bombing Science.



• Few things are more useless than a new Korn album, but you've gotta admit, Jonathan Davis gives good quotes. "It's basically about relationships and fuckin' hate...that's a song about waking up and wanting to kill everybody...then there's ones about people I just cannot stand and want to kill. I have a real problem with people." Trenchcoat mafia in the hizzy!



• I had no idea OKGo filmed a second video (for "Don't Ask Me") until they played it inbetween skate videos at Irving Plaza during the AWK set change. That OKGo, they're good peoples.



• Based on one of Cory's swell mp3 reccomendations, I've been trying to find The New Trust's We Are Fast-Moving Motherfuckers. We Are Women and Men of Action EP, to no avail (fuck you and your godforsaken Neu LPs, Other Music) for a while now, so you can imagine my elation at the fact that - like all good things - it's available online. Yeehaw.



• New stuff from The Streets.



• Last night's pill OD subplot was a li'l too 90210 for my tastes, but seriously, how good is The O.C.? By far, the best thing to come out of the teen melodrama genre in ages. Just when you think it can't get any better, they throw in a DCFC reference. So killer. If you're unconvinced of it's crack-like addictiveness, read up at the O.C. blog or try and catch some repeats (if Rupert Murdoch knows his ass from a hole in the ground, he'll get that shit on FX pronto - failing that, check around for episodes on Kazaa or something). I don't know if I can make it until the "real" season starts in October, when, by having both this and 24 on their prime-time lineup, Fox will officially own my soul.



• Did I link Metroid Metal already? SICK.

9/17/2003 07:17:14 AM |link

Tuesday, September 16

Thanks again to all the folks who've been linking here the last few days. I'd like to think it's due to the non-stop witticisms, irrepressible charm, and sharp, postmodern cultural commentary, but I know it's just for the party shots ("y'all don't love me, y'all just love my doggy style"). BUT THAT'S COOL, I'm not hating, there will be more of that soon, along with other goodies, like a (finally) updated links page, new artwork, etc, etc. Right now, you'll have to make do with a sick contest. Word.

Also, many thanks are in order to the kind folks who were able to step up during the Font Disaster of '03 (to recap: I accidentally deleted 90% of the fonts off my computer. As someone who makes their living doing graphics, that is...not good). Still missing a bunch of the big guys though, if any of y'all have quality fonts (not the freeware jawns, I'm talking Emigre/Adobe/etc), please support the cause. Seriously, get at me soon.

• The closest thing to a Portishead tour in the near future will be hitting your burg soon. Adrian Utley is no joke on guitar, either. TREMELO PEDAL, WHAT!



• The Player Hater's Ball - sounds crunktastic.



• UltimateKelis.com



• I will support the Yankees by proxy, out of kinship with my dad and Jorge (and good-natured spite for Gary - let's go Mets!), but honestly, I could really give two shits about the entire sport of baseball. Nonetheless, there's just something about Hideki in a pimp suit that warrants posting.



• The Mighty Ducks' hockey mask is gangster.



• Not like we didn't see this one coming. Good one, Ass-croft.



• Sneaker robots



• Damn. Even I couldn't put a Mark-Paul Gosselaar reference here (sorry, so sorry). For real, that's fucked up though. They always told this (probably apocryphal) anecdote to incoming classes at orientation about how the floor pattern at the library was supposed to deter jumpers via pseudo-religious imagery - guess that makes it your bad, Elmer Holmes Bobst ("Straight to hell, Nick, straight to hell" - Evelina, who really should not be talking. To further dig my own hole with you guys, let me mention how that quote was in regards to my comment a few years back on how Michael J. Fox "got the shakes").



• I just think it's great how they made this newscaster say "Chingy" over and over. It would have been even better if he said, "we've got a riot on our hands right hurrr" or "the aborted concert took place over thurrr" or something.



• Kind of a new style from Micahel Leon over at the new skateboard co Rasa Libre (more at being hunted). Promising. Where the hell is All True And Living though?



• Teany.com



• So wrong, on so many levels...

9/16/2003 10:17:34 AM |link

Friday, September 12

Didn't get a chance to check out the NYC edition of Fixins Soled Out (heard the goodie bags were fly), but there was a lot going on this past Wednesday night. Agnes B and Educated Community sponsored the Bake Sale event, where notable graf/street art/blahblah folks decorated big-ass cookies. At first, I wasn't too keen on the idea - much like Burton's riot shield show from a while back, it just seemed like an excuse to throw tags on a random item and have an "art party," rather than a full exhibition with a cohesive new theme, wide breadth of work, etc. Which is fine on it's own - they had some bangin gourmet cookies, a good DJ, and I got to talk biz with Wil from Stussy, who I hadn't seen in a minute. Some of the pieces were more striking than others(wish they could have had the Kostas cookie up before I left); McGinness and Futura's signature styles lent themselves well to the round canvas (especially the Futura atom), but I thought Site best embraced the cookie medium, with a sense of humor about it as well:



After that, I hit up Brian's group show at Marcoart (Trudy, who I missed at both shows, has some more pics from both up on her page). Dumb hot and unventillated, but very fun. Lots of nice pieces too, hopefully there will be some catchdubs x Proce collabs going down in the near future. Big ups to all the guys in the show, as well as Kid Robot for the free booze.

• Sickeningly tight Douglas Coupland interview.



• Space Invader gets a sneaker (not to be confused with the Space Invaders x Vans shoe). Very intriguing, I like how he made the footprint into his tag, so he gets up everywhere you walk.



• I Am Jack's Diseased Lung



• Man in Gray get some more ink (former catchdubs dorm co-worker Marissa Levy, too).



• I always knew that Daryl from Glassjaw was a sneakerhead, so it's cool to see the Glassjaw Nike Blazer. Nice colorway, too (would be even hotter with a gum sole).



• These old pictures of Fred Durst are priceless. In other news: NO ONE CARES that a new Limp Bizkit (excuse me, I mean "limpbizkit") album is coming out. Seriously, nobody).



• Nelly's Pimp Juice Threatened By Anti-Pimp Campaign - looks like young'uns in California might have a tougher time tracking down Nelly's energy drink/vodka mixer in the near future. Says the protest heads, "we should be building a nation of strong black leaders, not a nation of superenergized, drunk pimps." Is it just me, or does the reference to superenergized, drunk pimps sound like a pitch for the coolest film of all time?



• Stenciled Last Supper (via Thugbot) - dope! BTW - did I mention how my Mom threatened to kick me out of the house if I kept making fun of Jesus (to clarify: I was making fun of Jesus a lot more than usual for a while there). Seeing how my sister just started Catholic HS, that's been a hard request to follow ("hey sis, can I see that Biology textbook a minute? I wanted to learn about how Jesus evolved from monkeys. What? He made them? 'Hey, I don't make monkeys, I just train them'...)

And I'd let that lonesome whistle
Blow my blues away

RIP Johnny Cash

9/12/2003 09:04:54 AM |link

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