One night Last week Rachel and I were walking down Eldridge Street, and from three blocks away we could see the bright set light up the sky. From a distance you could see the multiple rows of lit-up, red, chinese lanterns strewn across the buildings. As we got closer, it looked as if the entire set was sparkling and shimmering like stars falling from the sky, it was an amazing thing to see up close, as if we were experiencing the ‘magic’ of making movies firsthand. Every curious passerby stopped to look in amazement at this very magical looking set and my pictures below can’t even come close to conveying what we were all seeing take place in the wee hours. Although I haven’t been a fan of Nicholas Cage’s recent movies, I am intrigued on how “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” will be received at the box office, and how this will translate and look on-screen when it does get released in 2010.

Capone and me "shooting myself in the foot"

I’ve been seeing some recent posts on Capone-N-Noreaga promoting the upcoming release of their third album, “Channel 10″, which leads me to this photo that I dug up from my archives.  Back in March of 1999, while I was working for TRACE Magazine I got offered the opportunity to interview Capone  for a Queensbridge-themed music issue.  Mind you, I wasn’t originally hired as a writer, I handled ad sales and marketing, but with such a small staff I got the fringe benefit of being able to ‘wear different hats’ while I was there.

I remember the day vividly, it was such an indelible experience for me to get an ‘official’ tour of the historic QB projects from one of its very own and being able to see and experience the neighborhood that inspired and spawned so much talent.

Suffice it to say, I’m not that good of a writer, hence my short lived career and to even further add insult to injury, the story ended up being dropped from the issue!  Hahahahahaaa…

Fast forward seven months and now I’m working for Triple 5 Soul, (Yes, I mentioned it as 555-Soul in the previous post, because it was totally different then.*) and DJ Soul was music editor for Mass Appeal. (R.I.P.- Patrick Elasik)  He was trying to close his first issue, so I asked him to consider the story for an upcoming issue and joked that if he wasn’t going to run it I would be left with no choice but to drop Mass Appeal from Triple 5 Soul’s ad plan!  I guess he took me seriously because he ended up running the piece and it was the first story in the magazine only four pages in from the ad we ran on the inside-cover-spread.  I’m joking…I don’t think that was the reason…Regardless, I’m just glad he ran the story and gave me a shot.  Thanks DJ Soul…

You can read the story below:

Colin Sutton, Raymond Roker, me and Ruslan Karablin @ 432F - 1992

Raymond Roker posted this picture on Facebook recently in an album titled, “A Time Before Digital Cameras”, which evoked fond memories taking me back seventeen years.  Wow, seventeen years, I doubt anyone in the picture knew at the time, but looking back now, the first 432F trade show could be considered a seminal chapter in streetwear and its culture. This was the first time streetwear brands like 555-Soul, (Ludlow Street days) SSUR, Subware, Pervert, HAZE, ConArt, Label, Greed, Tribal, Mankind and even Ecko were showing their lines.  In the following seasons Futura 2000, PNB Nation and Obey would show, as would many others; in a sense 432F paved the way for trade shows like Agenda today.

It’s also great to see that everyone in this flick is still doing their thing, growing and evolving, being true visionaries and pioneers; all of whom I have the utmost respect for.  In future posts I hope to be able to reach out to everyone in the picture to get their thoughts and insight on the changes and seismic shifts that have happened in our world and culture since.  Back then, we were just a young, creative, independent community brought together through a network in a time before the internet, a time before digital…

Thinking back, it was last New Year’s Eve when I bumped into Jon Shapiro, random considering I hadn’t seen him in a couple of years and here he is in the madness that ensues on the streets of Manhattan just after midnight.  Shipes said he’d been on his grind making moves such as bringing Sean Kingston to Epic Records and in the process leveraging an imprint deal for his label, Cinematic Music Group.  He also mentioned that he was signing Devin The Dude to an indie label, Razor and Tie, which baffled me since (I thought to myself, “Wait, didn’t you just say you signed to Epic? and) I knew Devin had been on Rap-A-Lot for his entire career. We laughed about some buffoonery that took place the last time we saw each other, exchanged numbers and that was how 2008 began…

After that chance meeting he offered me the opportunity to consult and project manage the marketing and album packaging for Devin The Dude, which I was psyched about because for one, I’m a fan of Devin’s and second, throughout my career I’ve (sort of) been on the peripheral of the music industry, but never had the opportunity to work directly in it, so here I am with my first hands-on gig and it’s an ideal one at that. Ideal because not only is Devin one of nicest, most down to earth artists I’ve met, but I also got the chance to meet, and work with a bunch of talented and creative people on this project, which I’m absolutely grateful for.

I’ll elaborate more on the project and the people in a later post, but for now, it’s a brand new year and although I didn’t have chance meetings this New Year’s Eve, I’m looking forward to what the future brings…