This morning Greg & I set off on our Biannual trip to Asia to deal with production, distribution and all sorts of other upcoming projects with our friends in the East. We leave with our baby in the hands of all of our employees to look after for 2 weeks while we finalize details for Spring 2009. And what exactly does 2009 hold? Well I’ll be frank… those of you waiting for a Banana Streetpublic version of Mishka, are going to have a long wait. I know the trend everyone is desperately steering their ship towards is being simple, basic, or to put it into more marketable terms, “grown up“. And while that’s all fine and good, we’re not simple, nor basic… never have been and probably never will be. And while I’ll concede to the fact that we’ve definitely grown up in the almost 5 years of existence, our aim was and still is to never grow old… something we hope is resonates with every Mishka fan. Simple & basic is for the Gap, Uniqlo and Banana Republic. We’ve always been about graphics, color, design and most importantly providing an alternative! And 2009 will  really be no different… well probably a whole bunch different, but you get the picture.  Just don’t oxford dress shirts, tan rain coats, plain V-necks and earth tones from us.

We’re pretty awful bloggers when it come to keeping track of our daily exploits, especially on the many trips we take each year. We’ll try our best to do a better job than we have done in the past on keeping you posted on our daily/nightly excursions and anything else of interest we may find along the way!

Off we go…

The Plastics – Copy

My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult – Sex on Wheels

Nina Hagen – New York, New York

Lene Lovich – New Toy

Tom Tom Club – Wordy Rappinghood

I’ve tried to write something witty to go along with this video and I just can’t! Just watch the damn clip.

I’m sure I’m not the only one out there for whom Deck was their favorite member of the Wu. I waited years for a solo album from Deck, fully expecting that whenever it would come it would be the greatest Wu-Tang solo album of all… I was pretty wrong on that account, but not completely dissapointed.

R.E.C. Room set the stage a year earlier and gave me hopes that this would be the album I was hoping for. Classic Deck flow and lyrics over one of the True Master’s best RZA impressions.  Sadly that there is the albums biggest problem… It’s chock full of 2nd rate RZA impersonations and too little of The RZA himself. The worst part is that of the two tracks The RZA does production on, one is great while the other is ehhh at best. Movas & Shakas, the opening track is so good that all The RZA imposter production just sounds that much worse having to follow it. But sadly The RZA’s other track on here, Friction is saddled with an awful chorus a throw-away beat and some bland flow between Deck and Masta Killa. With the exception of R.E.C. Room, 4th Disciple, Allah Mathmatics & True Master do their master shame with their bland 2nd rate attempts at trying to sound like The RZA. Deck even joins in on the production for 5 tracks which he fumbles pretty badly trying to be all things at once on the majority of them. The two he does get right, Hyperdermix & Word On the Street he REALLY gets right keeping them on some simple Boom Bap which allows him to do what he does best, weave the lyrics and flow into a head nodding web you can’t help but get caught in. And other than that the only other saving grace on this album is Trouble Man, a pretty good Pete Rock beat which in the midst of this album comes through with as close to a radio friendly single as you’ll get.

Who knows what the politics were like when Deck was trying to get this album out but it’s sad The RZA didn’t think highly enough to prioritize doing beats for it. This albums biggest saving grace is Deck himself with his lyrical prowess and ability to weave a story, so it’s frustrating to imagine what could have been had The RZA simply taken a more active role. And it isn’t just that Deck had to rely so heavily on The RZA’s proteges for beats, it’s the album’s artwork as well! While it may seem weird to judge an album on it’s artwork, the Wu have put out some truly memorable album art and logos so I feel given their track record up until this point it’s totally open for criticism. I’m not sure if Deck’s logo was designed by longtime Wu designer, Mathematics or not. But whoever did it should have held off until they had a better grasp of 3D rendering besides the basics. The cover is only memorable in how humorous it is, and not in a good way!

So in conclusion 5 good Inspectah Deck solo songs are still better than none. And judging from his albums following this one, I have a feeling those are the last good songs we’ll ever get.

Sale Details Are As Follow, Please Read!
For $350, the first 20 people in line Friday, Saturday, & Sunday* can fill up a Duffel Bag with as much of Anything you can fit inside of it with the zipper still closing comfortably. New Eras will be behind the counter and must be requested to prevent any damage stuffing them into a bag may cause them.
*While Supplies Last

If you are not one of the 20 people you can choose to shop with either of the two following options for the rest of the day…

1. $200 Duffel Bag Stuff*
$200 gets you a Duffel Bag which you can fill with the zipper closing comfortably with the following restrictions:
- Limit of 1 New Era, 1 Jacket and 1 pair of Denim per duffel.
- 1 per customer, per day!
- Value of entire Duffel cannot exceed $500 total based on sample sale prices.
*While Supplies Last

2. Per Individual Item
Expect savings up to 50% – 85% off current collections as well as an assortment of samples from Spring/Summer/Fall 08 Collections.
$15 T-Shirts, $25 Hoodies & Crewnecks, $25 New Eras, $40 Sweaters & Cardigans, $60 Jackets, $25 Bags, $45 Denim & $40 Shorts.

NEW ITEMS WILL BE BROUGHT OUT EACH & EVERY DAY!!! CASH ONLY!!!

But the savings don’t end with just us! As Yoko Devereux is having a sample sale of their own just a few doors down! $20 – $100 including printed t-shirts, jersey cardigans and polos as well as skinny twill pants. Plus 75% off all Fall/Winter 2007 sale items

And once your done shopping head over across the street to Trophy Bar for $2 beers and $4 Margaritas! And when you’re good and drunk and feeling a bit hungry just head on down the block to Moto for brunch or dinner!

350 Broadway
J/M/Z Trains to Marcy
G Train to Broadway
Fri / Sat, 12 – 8
Sun, 12 – 6

I’ll be spinning the same garage, punk and soul garbage that I always do, so come through!

So last night Amanda and I were watching CNN’s Larry King Live and the cover story was about the increase in brain tumors amongst cell phone users as of late. The segment was a debate entitled “Are Cellphones Dangerous?”

I think we have the culprit!

Check out this video: Microwave vs. Cell phone

Add to My Profile | More Videos

full size flier here

This weekend pops off proper tonight with the Bicycle Film Fest’s party entitled Bikes Rock! at Studio B

Then Tomorrow night is the Dear Velo art show!

…and Friday night is the beginning of the Film Festival!

Also on Friday is the Bootlegged Peel Sessions contest.

Sponsors Include [but are not limited to]:
RED BULL!
Profile Racing
Bootleg Sessions [FREE BLS 2 DVDS!]
Dave’s Quality Meat
Mishka
Affinity Cycles
Laek House
Superflot
Milwaukee Cycles
Continuum Cycles

Also DON’T FORGET to catch the World Premier of Bootleg Sessions 2 at the Afterparty Saturday!

For all you peeps who are in Toronto or will be in Toronto, come to Never Alone art show put on by Red Bull 381 Projects.The show runs from Jun 7th – June 20th featuring work by:
- HVW8
- Paul 107
- Dennis Chow
- Marco Cibola
- Tracy Maurice

MC Chris released a new album called MC Chris is Dead and to honor that accomplishment he threw a party at Passout Records in Brooklyn. It was an all day, outdoor drinking and eating while watching power-pop bands kind of a party and a third of the attendees were wearing zombie makeup, including Nicole (pictured above on the left) who modeled in the Kern Lookbook shoot we did.

MC Chris did a nice job performing songs and giving action figure gifts to the people in the audience. You can check out my full set of pics from the show on Flickr.

This guy with the devilock and zombie make up had a good time rockin’ to the nerdly sounds of MC Chris.

MC Chris web forum members traveled from all over North America to get to this show. Elysse, the girl in the cuddlemuffin shirt above, traveled all the way from Michigan in order to feel the magic. She made the Beetlejuice mask in art class and brought it to the show in order to give it to MC Chris. She told me that she was gluing the teeth on using toothpaste while she was on the plane. She put it on when a flight attendant asked her what it was. The guy sitting next to her woke up at that moment and screamed.