So I had a lunch meeting this week and I was thinking of about a good place to go. The people I was meeting suggested Izakaya by Katsuya. I had not heard of this spot yet however I know the Katsuya in the Valley which is a hole in the wall and I love. The SBE group also expanded the brand to the Hollywood Katsuya which is a great place to socialize in LA. The design was done by one of my favorite designers Philippe Starck. It’s a great place to see and be seen and though the food is OK it still isn’t like the Valley. There is just something about a hole in the wall sushi spot hat you just can’t touch. I agreed to go and check it out. 

Read the rest of this entry »

I recently had some one ask me “Do you always wear sneakers?” My reply with out hesitation was “But of  course.” The conversation continued deeper in to my love of and infatuation with sneakers, sneaker culture and the aspect of wearing shoes made for sport as a fashion accessory. It lead me to wonder when and what influenced me to boycott other forms of footwear for my kicks. The when is vivid, I remember being 20 and buying a pair of Kenneth Cole bulky ass hard bottoms not because I liked them but because I needed them to get into a party at a club. It was at that point I decided not to waste my money on shoes I didn’t like. Moreover if a party I didn’t allow my sneakers then I didn’t want to be there.

I then remembered the first time I looked at sneakers as more than my ball shoes and more like my mall shoes. When I was a kid in DC I saw this series of commercials for Air Jordan staring not just Mike but another familiar face. In the late 80’s a young radical film maker from New York by th name of Spike Lee was making his mark. I was a fan of Spikes movies and was introduced to them with his 1986 release “She Got To Have It”. I saw the movie on the low at my older cousins dorm room at Howard University. Had to keep it low because I was a kid and it was an R rated movie. If my Mom knew that then she would have killed us. Spike also co-stared in the movie as Mars Blackmon, funny loud mouth Hip-Hopper from Brooklyn. It was a surprise to see him as the same character for a commercial to promote basket ball shoes. These commercials with Mars made the shoes more about a lifestyle than the actual sport. And that was the what that influenced my infatuation with sneakers.

Read the rest of this entry »

Working as part of the marketing team of Belvedre Vodka has its’ perks. First and foremost it’s great to market a product that is actually high quality and not just a lot of hype. The majority of vodkas out there focus more on their marketing than they do on their product. But that’s another story on another blog. Belvedere focuses first on product (I mean come on we are an LVMH company) and second comes the branding. Now that’s the other perk to be on a brand that actually knows whats hot and takes risks. First we have an advertising campaign shot by Terry Richardson and now a new product IX with Parisian graffiti artist Andre as it’s face.

Read the rest of this entry »

So about a month ago I had a meeting with the NY Belvedere brand team and the guys at Flaunt Magazine. We brought our new product IX for them to see and try.

The face of the product is Parisian graffiti artist Andre. Instantly a brain storm started brewing.

As we discussed ways of working together, Flaunt Founder Luis says “F%ck it Just have Andre come tag the the whole damn building”.

Thank God for those shots of IX. A month later we took him up on that offer

Read the rest of this entry »

So last week I had a lot on my plate. Not only was I tasked with launching a new product for Belvedere; I also had the honor of entertaining the national and international brand teams of Belvedere. I knew all the guys from our head office in NY, however I had not met majority of the team that flew in from London. I thought the best way to make the introduction, to the team from over the pond, was a dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in LA, Providence.  The dinner also included some of the people that I build with on a daily. 

Amazing cocktails were made by Zara one of LA’s top Mixologist using Belvedere IX

Bugging out with Thompson Hotel’s Med Abrous, and Villa’s Skyler Reeves

Read the rest of this entry »

January 19^th 2009 a day a lot of us will never forget. A day that signified so many things the 1^st black president, the day the man that revitalized the youth of Americas’ interest in their government took office, the day that the worst president in history left office, the day that the majority of Americans who thought they didn’t have a voice realized there is hope. Just being in DC that week you were able to feel the excitement, energy and unity in the air. I was glad to share it with the Fam and our friends as we hopped around and enjoyed the week. Even though it was cold as Bush’s popularity rating…

 Man I remember why I moved to Cali.

Your Boy, Paula Miranda , Norman Lear, Sara Jaffe, David Ostroff, Ant Rich

Read the rest of this entry »

During the week historic Inauguration of our 44^th President Barak Obama the fam and myself were able to experience something truly inspiring. Just so happens in December my home girl Alana introduced me to Shepherd Fairy.

Read the rest of this entry »