As part of an ongoing partnership with the Rights Workshop, Avantgarde co-hosted a special solo performance and talk with Stephin Merritt at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. He performed three songs including Book of Love on his Ukulele and then Brooke Wentz, the Rights Workshop, interviewed Stephin and his manager Claudia Gonson and then moderated a audience Q/A.

Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields have just released Realism on Nonesuch records and are touring the West Coast.

Waffle Mania, one of my favorite street vendors in San Francisco, is benefiting from our social media strategy. We found them a new location on Tehama Street @ 2nd St. and established a twitter feed for them (@WaffleManiaSF) in January and they have taken off. They just doubled their followers in one day with a post on KQED's food blog Bay Area Bites and are thinking of getting a new truck.

a downtown trek to waffle nirvana

The "waffle man" that many people seek out is, more often than not, Alain Dupont (while there are a few other business partners, Dupont is frequently working the waffle irons). While he's a familiar face at many of the local markets, the Tehama Street routine is new. I asked Dupont why he decided to spend more time in San Francisco and how he chose the quiet, unassuming street. After doing a very successful catering event in mid-November at BarrelHouse (@barrelhousesf), friend and marketing guru Marcus Colombano encouraged Alain to come down to BarrelHouse on a more permanent basis, and the CBS folks across the street have welcomed him with open arms. The rest seems to be history.

I am happy to announce that Particle Programmatica has asked Avantgarde to come on board and help craft their marketing communications strategy. We will be working with them to develop their brand platform and messaging as well as assist them in the development of strategic press, influencer and co-marketing relationships.

"We make massively small products that shorten the distance between the internet and awesome," says Aubrey Anderson, Particle Founder and CTO. "We look forward to working with Avantgarde to continue that mission and make the conversations we have with our customers and partners as meaningful and as resonant as possible."

Last November, Avantgarde worked with Pereira & O'Dell to produce Creative Social's tenth creative summit this time in San Francisco.

Creative Social

Every big idea started out as a question. Global brands, political revolutions, successful blind dates—they all began with What if…? What if we put cotton on a stick? What if we sent bits of data through the air? What if we made a car that runs on feelings? That last one’s made up, but then again, so is everything.

This year’s Creative Social brought together some of the world’s most notorious what-iffers from 15 cities across 10 countries. These infamous innovators assembled in a 100-year-old former speakeasy, the BarrelHouse, to share stories and discuss the future of their respective fields—Design, Music, Film, Technology, Food and Business.

It was only fitting that the Fall ’09 Creative Social landed in San Francisco. A notorious bubble of innovation, ideas, and liberal politics, the city by the Bay is the perfect backdrop for this weeklong what-if-a-thon. Each day, talks explored concepts, products, and movements that began locally, but grew into global phenomena. All this occurred over delicious local fare and the muffled din of smart people whispering excitedly to other smart people.

Its time again for St. Crispin's Day. Time to party with our friends and our coolest sexiest pair of shoes. New pictures, stories and participants are on their way so stay tuned. In the meantime, RSVP at Facebook.

Thanks to Orson for hosting the event again this year. www.orsonsf.com

Date:
October 24th, 2008, 8pm

Location:
Orson

Address:
508 4th St.
San Francisco, CA (map)

RSVP to Facebook

What is this all about?

Shoe making has a long history and one that is rich in tradition. Within the trade itself – among shoe and bootmakers – the legends, the traditions, and the history really begin with St. Crispin. St. Crispin is the patron saint of shoemakers. Since medieval times, October 25th has been celebrated as St. Crispin's Day and the Shoemaker's Holiday. In the past, boot and shoemakers traditionally closed their shops on this day, in celebration and commemoration.

Following Watson's departure, the remaining duo inaugurated a new contract with Some Bizzare/Virgin in 1983 by shifting their sound, away from raging industro-funk and towards a more danceable form. The singles "Sensoria" and "James Brown" hit the indie charts during 1984, and Cabaret Voltaire moved to EMI/Parlophone in 1986 for The Code. Two years later, the band traveled to Chicago to record Groovy, Laidback & Nasty with Marshall Jefferson, one of the mavericks in the new house sound blowing up in the British charts. After another break of several years, the new-electronica label Instinct released a trio of CV LPs during 1993-94, after which the band's future appeared cloudy. Kirk continued his solo career (recording as Electronic Eye, Sandoz and himself) while Mallinder moved to Australia.

— John Bush, allmusic

A product of the same mid-'70s Sheffield industrial music community which also gave rise to Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA emerged in 1980 from the ashes of area bands including the Studs, Block Opposite, Veer and They Must Be Russians as well as the Future, an early incarnation of the Human League. After a series of shifting lineups, a roster comprised of vocalist Adi Newton, bassist Steven Taylor, guitarist Paul Widger, saxophonist Charlie Collins and drummer Roger Quail recorded Clock DVA's debut White Souls in Black Suits, a cassette-only, improvisational release fusing metallic noise with funk and soul designs which was issued on Throbbing Gristle's Industrial label.

In 1981, the group issued Thirst, which abandoned R&B accoutrements in favor of edgy, abrasive electronic noise. Following its release, all of Clock DVA except Newton defected to form Box; after assembling a new lineup of saxophonist Paul Browse, future Siouxsie and the Banshees guitarist John Carruthers, bassist Dean Dennis and drummer Nick Sanderson, Newton wrangled a major-label deal with Polydor, and Clock DVA soon resurfaced with 1983's Advantage, an intense montage of dance beats, piercing feedback and jarring tape manipulations. However, Carruthers and Sanderson both exited following the LP's release; after a brief attempt to forge on as a trio, Clock DVA disbanded in late 1983.

Newton subsequently turned his focus to the Anti Group, an industrial jazz and visual arts project created in tandem with engineer Robert Baker; after a series of singles, he reformed Clock DVA in 1988 with Browse and Dennis, releasing the sample-fueled 1988 EPs The Hacker and The Act, as well as 1990's full-length Buried Dreams, on the Wax/Trax label. By 1991's Transitional Voices, Newton's Anti Group partner Baker had replaced Browse; Dennis departed soon after, leaving the remaining duo to record a staggeringly prolific amount of material including 1992's Man-Amplified, 1993's Sign, Black Words on White Paper and Virtual Reality Handbook, 1994's 150 Erotic Calibrations and 1995's Anterior.

— Jason Ankeny, allmusic

Tiga is on tour with his new album and look what I found, a video for Shoes. Directed by Alex & Liane, the new video for Tiga's "Shoes" is cooler than Obama with frosted tips. "It imagines a horrifying dystopia in which people other than myself are interviewed," says the Man of Music Future, "I had to calm myself down by staring at my MySpace photos for a couple of hours."

He is playing next week in San Francisco at the Independent Thursday, May 28th 10PM.

Based in Montreal, Tiga is a DJ/producer who has effectively worked the underground and the mainstream with his wry brand of campy electro and stark techno. Born in Montreal, Canada, Tiga's first exposure to his future came from touring the Goa area of India with his DJ father throughout the '80s. Following in his father's footsteps, Tiga began spinning in Montreal's cooler clubs in the early '90s, bringing the acid house sound to Canada. Seeing as how there weren't any events like the Goa parties he had attended, the DJ made his own and later was credited with throwing Canada's first proper rave. The events continued as Tiga opened one of the earliest techno-only record stores, DNA, and he also started the Turbo label with fellow DJ Mark Dillon. The DJ was comfortable playing and releasing other people's music and didn't seriously concentrate on creating his own tunes until the 2000s. After spinning Miss Kittin & the Hacker's version of Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams" at a club, Tiga had the idea to record some kind of cover version with Finnish DJ and friend Jori Hulkkonen. A day in the studio yielded a disappointing version of Prince's "When Doves Cry" and a better version of U2's "New Years Day," but it was their version of fellow Montreal resident Corey Hart's "Sunglasses at Night" that the duo decided to release in 2001 under the name Tiga & Zyntherius. It was a huge hit and Tiga rounded out the year with two successful mix CDs, American Gigolo and Mixed Emotions. Interviews, remixes, and touring kept the DJ busy until he helmed an edition of K7's successful mix CD series DJ Kicks. In the DJ Kicks tradition, he recorded one new track, "Man Hrdina," for the album, which the label released as a single. Most DJs chose the single's B-side, an electro version of Nelly's "Hot in Herre," and both the single and the mix CD were re-released to feature the surprise smash hit.

— David Jeffries, allmusic

Timbuk2 Yoga Bag $100

For the yogi on the go, we couldn't find a better choice than this bag by Timbuk2. It's sturdy, compact, stylish, and fun. It comes with a detachable padded shoulder strap and an easy-access pouch for a water bottle. The mat buckles to the outside of the bag, leaving plenty of room inside. There's a large inner pouch plus four small pockets for essentials like your keys, wallet, and cell phone. One zipper pocket is perfect for file folders and papers.

- Check out Yoga Journal for a full read.

America's Role in Asia is a 310-page volume of recommendations on U.S. foreign policy for the new administration from some of the world's preeminent American and Asian experts. Their analysis and insight came out of a year of closed-door summits convened across Asia and the U.S. by The Asia Foundation. Completed just prior to the presidential conventions last fall, we created a sophisticated rollout strategy aimed at getting America’s Role in Asia (ARA) into the hands of every influential advisor on both campaigns. Our ads complement that strategy with the aim of conveying the seriousness of the content, while evoking rich cultural aspects of Asia. The ads feature brilliant, arresting Asian images and elegant artwork in a palette of plums and golds, with crisp language to quickly attract and communicate with our audience. Targeting changemakers, foreign policy advisers and other influencers, our first ads ran on Foreignpolicy.com, and Newsweek.com, leading up to our Washington and San Francisco releases. Ads then ran in The Washington Post.com, and in a targeted “Today’s Headlines” New York Times blast. Finally, at dawn on the day President Obama took office, we ran a dramatic, rich ad at the top of The New York Times inauguration blast, offering “Foreign Policy recommendations for President Obama”. The entire campaign funneled unprecedented web traffic, dramatically overtaking all previous records; the final New York Times blast resulted in the highest ever number of visitors to our site in a single day, tripling our average: 10,790 visitors.

While we were building Avantgarde // Swayzak Presents Serieculture a couple of years ago, I stumbled upon SCSI-9. Early last year I built a Pandora Radio Station crafted and fine tuned with their music but as much I tried to listen to the other artists on the channel, I couldn't help but want to listen to SCSI-9 all the time. So I purchased Line of Nine. What a great alternate to Swayzak all the time.

Bio

Comprised of Anton Kubikov and Maxim Milyutenko, the Moscow techno duo SCSI-9 made an international impact during its stint with Force Tracks, which began with some 12"s followed by the pair's full-length debut, Digital Russian (2003). Before signing to Force Tracks, SCSI-9 recorded tracks for labels like Trapez, Salo, and Freizeitglauben. Kubikov is the best known of the two because of his popularity as a DJ. SCSI-9 had begun as one of his solo projects but became a joint project in 2001 with the addition of Milyutenko, whom Kubikov had been collaborating with as Hero City Movers, Snowboarder, and Snooker Boy. Of the many projects helmed by the duo, SCSI-9 is by far the most successful. This became all the more apparent once the guys joined the Kompakt label following the collapse of the Force Inc. empire, which had included Force Tracks. Kompakt released a good number of SCSI-9 productions, including the duo's second full-length effort, The Line of Nine (2006).

To honor the Avantgarde holiday tradition, this year we produced a limited production run of 48 bottles of Absinthe Blanche. This special mix of Chardonnay Brandy infused with Star Anise, Wormwood and Fennel was originally distilled to 65 percent by our friends at St George's Spirits and mixed down to 60 percent in house with a special aqueous extraction of Wormwood.

A note on our special mix...

Unlike Absinthe Verte, Absinthe Blanche (also referred to as la Bleue in Switzerland) is bottled directly following distillation and is unaltered. It is a clear liquid which contains the distilled oils of the herbs used in its production. The name la Bleue was originally a term used for bootleg Swiss absinthe, but has become a popular term for Swiss absinthe in general.

Shoemaking has a long history and one that is rich in tradition. Within the trade itself--among shoe and bootmakers--the legends, the traditions, and the history really begin with St. Crispin. St. Crispin is the patron saint of shoemakers. Since medieval times, October 25th has been celebrated as St. Crispin's Day and the Shoemaker's Holiday. In the past, boot and shoemakers traditionally closed their shops on this day, in celebration and commemoration.

]]> http://www.avantgarde.com/2008/10/st_crispins_day.html http://www.avantgarde.com/2008/10/st_crispins_day.html fashion Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:20:00 -0800

From Yello's 1994 album Zebra, How How always gets me. Mostly on my bike but pretty much any time when I am low energy, I just put it on and bam! I am bopping around.

Every year we celebrate St. Crispin's day with a party and our coolest sexiest pair of shoes.

The event is upon us but we are still posting photos and comments. Please send photos and notes that we can add to the site.

Thanks to Orson for hosting this year's event. www.orsonsf.com

Date:
October 24th, 2008, 8pm

Location:
Orson

Address:
508 4th St.
San Francisco, CA (map)

RSVP:
http://avantgarde.pingg.com/shoe