Join Esface in celebrating another Social Shopping situation presented by Urban Stitch.
Come support local designers with some good music, good people and live DJ’s spinning on the 1’s and 2’s.
Sunday, Feb. 21st. | 330 Ritch St., SF | 2 pm - 7 pm
I came across this article at Ballerstatus.com, never ceases to amaze me the way my man Diddy the entrepreneur is able to slap his brand name on the widest range of products with instant success…you have to respect how he’s able to market himself and his brand to maintain one of the most powerful names in the urban market. Details below…
“First it was Dr. Dre, and then Lady Gaga, and now Diddy has become the latest music superstar to team up with Monster Cable and Beats By Dr. Dre for his own line of headphones.
The hip-hop mogul has been working with Dre and Jimmy Iovine on the Diddy Beats, a stylish in-ear headphones set developed in collaboration with Monster.
“We designed some ear buds called Diddy Beats that will be out next year,” Diddy said of the Diddy-Dre collabo. “We also have an iPod speaker base for your house coming out. That experience as a whole was good, we [Dr. Dre and I] had a great chemistry with each other.”
According to a press release, the headphones will retail for $149, will be available in black or white, with a sleek black and silver chrome finish, and boast the Beats By Dr. Dre bass and sound quality…”
Read more here.
by Ajani Husbands
I read Forbes Magazine… and it is way above my pay grade. For example, the magazine is littered with advertisements for jet cards, which is like a timeshare for jets, starting at $60,000 for 25 hours. The Forbes subscription also comes with a subscription to Forbes Life, which is, as you might guess from the name, a lifestyle magazine for Forbes readers. And, although the magazine features luxury items such as a $180,000 hooded fleece made of pure gold (not kidding here) or a $30,000 stone bathtub, Forbes Life speaks directly to me. Strange, but true. What makes Forbes Life so appealing is that it doesn’t just feature luxury items that seem galaxies away. The magazine focuses on the individuals who produce such items, and all of these individuals have one thing in common: dedication to quality.
Probably the majority of people reading this blog would describe themselves as young professionals. Maybe you work at Accenture or JP Morgan. Maybe you are a resident in med school or have an entry or mid-level position on capitol hill. Or maybe you are an entrepreneur starting your own NGO or corporation. The idea though is that you are young, full of energy and innovation, and feel unstoppable. That is the first step to a Forbes Life, and unfortunately that’s where it ends for most people.
As we get older, we become more sensible and get attached to security. We by and large find it safer to stick with a company than strike out on our own. We’d rather seek the security of earning an additional degree and a guaranteed pay raise than take a leap of faith into the unknown. Even the fields we go into are exciting at first but are eventually humdrum. Real estate. Corporate law. Government and politics. Consultancy. And we stick with this humdrum reality because we believe it will get us to the point where Forbes Magazine truly applies to our living standards. One day we’ll have the $5,000 watch or maybe the $60,000 jet card.
But just because we have it, doesn’t make it a lifestyle. You can only grasp a Forbes lifestyle when you strike out on your own along a dedicated path. The guy who makes the $30,000 stone bath tubs dedicates his whole life to the process. He doesn’t just chisel bathtubs; he creates an experience. The same goes for the man making the solid gold hooded fleece (seriously… could NOT make this thing up). And that’s what a Forbes lifestyle is, an experience.
Basically what I’m talking about is doing you. In life, we eventually forgo our deepest ambitions and talents and trade it in for security and comfort. And for some of us, our comfort levels reach a level of luxury, and that’s fine. Nonetheless, that luxury often comes at the cost of personal fulfillment.
So what is doing you? Is it your artistic abilities? Photography? Sketching? Your uncanny ability to be innovative in any situation? Your distinct knowledge of World War II era comic books? Doing you is taking what it is you love and doing it at a level of quality that far surpasses the norm. That is the Forbes Lifestyle.
For instance, if I were to do me right now, I’d blend my love for writing and my love for innovation and create the definitive writer’s retreat that would fully immerse writers of all variations (journalists, poets, novelists) into a creative space. That’s just one example (I have many definitions of doing me). And though I’m not doing me yet, there are steps I’m working on to get there asap:
1) Determine what you love. Often times we do what we’re good at, but not what we love. I love writing, but I work in politics. I may be pretty good at politics (I like to think so), but it’s not what I love.
2) Go Two Steps Higher Than What Exists. Since I love writing, it’d be easy to say “I want to write books.” But what is above that? If I loved basketball, I could be a player… or I could be a coach… or a manager… or design the next generation of basketball stadiums. There’s always more to what we love than what we see on the surface, and we have to fully explore it.
3) Do What Hasn’t Been Done. Jay-Z said “I can’t base what I want to be on what everybody isn’t.” In other words, just because it hasn’t been done, doesn’t mean that it’s not doable. On the contrary, it means that it’s out there waiting for you to do it.
4) Do Nothing Short of Absolutely Perfection. Whoever said perfection was impossible? That person was lying and did not know how to do them. Perfection is what defines doing you and is what will set you apart.
At the end of the day, doing you comes down to being 100% about what it is you love. And you know what… that’s also what defines being Esfac’e.
Chillin’ is back again and Esface is in the building with Holiday Specials and new releases.
180 Painters/Photographers
80 fashion Designers
Video Installations
Live Painting by:
Steve Javiel ( www.stevejaviel.blogspot.com)
Daniel J. Valadez (www.danieljvaladez.com)
Rob Harris (www.cavecreation.com)
Music by:
DJ Deevice (Pirate Cat Radio, GridLock)
DJ Felina (www.djfelina.com)
Dirtyhertz (www.dirtyhertz.com)
Rondo Brothers (www.rondobrothers.com)
LARON (http://www.myspace.com/laronakaswan)
DJ Eddy Bauer (KALX, Go BANG!)
Irene Hernandez-Feiks (www.chillinproductions.com)
+ more
By Ajani Husbands
The same day I read about the ten percent unemployment rate in America, I read about ordinary Americans who became millionaires through basic financial savvy.
Financial times are tough for all. 500,000 workers lost their jobs in January alone (that’s the entire population of smaller countries), and those numbers continued for months. If you are fortunate enough to still have employment, being financially savvy is no longer a lifestyle choice; it is a must. At the same time, read about the people in the article above. They all made certain lifestyle decisions that paid off massive dividends in the long run. Just as importantly, tightening your belt doesn’t mean losing your day to day swagger. Here are a few simple tips on reducing your overall expenditures while maintaining the same, and possibly better, lifestyle.
Your Work Outfit:
Dry clean the suits. Wash and iron the shirts. Dry cleaning costs can add up quickly. Even if you are hitting up one of the “same day, $1.25 per shirt” stores, you’re talking at least 5 shirts a week (7 if you’re going out on the weekends) and 1 or 2 pairs of khakis. That’s almost $9.00 each week, $36 a month, $432 a year. Yea, that’s a cross-country plane ticket. Now you see what I mean.
While suits are absolutely dry clean only, you can always throw your shirts in the laundry and wake up an hour early to iron them yourself. Besides, you’ve been running late to work anyway, and with people losing jobs left and right, you might as well start coming early.…
Read more..
posted by The Ambassador
Possibly one of greatest acquisitions of the year, Jordan Brand signs Dwayne Wade after Wade wastes several years with the lackluster design team of Converse. I gotta say D Wade is one of the most electrifying players in the NBA and coupled with the fact that he’s a Chi Town native, safe to say he aligns with everything the Jordan Brand represents and it is about time he gets what he deserves….great sneaker game to match his on court greatness. Finally, his fans can start really supporting him by copping a pair of D Wades because I know exactly ONE die hard Heat fan who has EVER purchased the disrespectful shoes Converse has been associating with a player so great.
Jordan was so excited about the pick up, yahoo news explains how he honors Wade with the Jordan 25th anniversary shoe debut said to release February 2010. Wade went agains the Heat last night with Jordan looking on like a proud son as he posterizes Varejao for one the best dunks of the year so far…with some J’s on..woowww Click here for yahoo article.
Fact: Nike has a bigger marketing budget than your favorite companies…or maybe just a more creative team. You be the judge. This video is classic for all you 80’s babies especially….and they got DJ Quik on the beat to make it so much more official with the west coast slapper…enjoy.
Fact: Jamar Seay grew up in the Contra Costa county of the SF Bay Area and is a talented, positive, passionate young man with vision. After a few life-altering experiences, he and his brother created One Life records and J. Seay began his career as a songwriter/producer/emcee. His other passion lies in TV broadcasting, earning his BA in that field from SF State Univ. in 2008. He recently embarked upon a new project, The Jamar Seay Show, which is an online youtube channel that keep you abreast on current events and the latest fashion in the urban community. Esface sponsored his first show which featured the Stand for Something design from the Black on Black series released in March (tribute to Black history month). enjoy
Fact: Ragamuffin Clothing, a progressive, revolutionary line founded at Berkeley recently collaborated with the Esface team this year for the Jazz and Reggae Festival, hosted at UCLA every Memorial Day. The collabo has been waiting to happen and finally was officially sparked weeks ago after both President’s, Oladele (esface) and Leandrew (Ragamuffin) had a sit down and met at the Esfac’e Lab on the Peninsula to discuss the opportunities for the strategic alliance. Both companies represent the more progressive, socially conscious side of the urban fashion spectrum with missions that seem nothing short of compatible so we can expect to see a lot more of this synergy in the future.
For those of you in the Southern California area, come out this Memorial Day Weekend, May 24-25 for the annual UCLA JazzReggae Festival. Enjoy two days of great music, food and more. Performaces by Erykah Badu and De La Soul, to name a few. Esfac’e will be represented there along with Ragamuffin, another progressive bay area clothing line out of Berkeley. For more info about the festival, please click here.
