I was having a talk with kc! about buying independent, feeling independent, and how independent a person is or isn’t. I offer this for all to consider.
That fact that you buy a burger at Mcdonalds or a local burger hut isn’t what makes you independent or not. It’s asking yourself if you bought that burger based on lack of choice, a want of buying the best product, or because you want to support a chain or a local restaurant (insert a multitude of other reasons here). When you have answered these questions and choose to spend your dollar against your convictions, you choose to be more or less independent because you choose to be more or less yourself by choosing.
Fooling yourself by justifying a choice against your own convictions doesn’t assure your independent status. I must say here that because you choose to go against your beliefs of supporting a huge chain like Starbucks or Wal-Mart when you feel the need, isn’t going to bring the indies burning golden arches on your lawn, it’s not that black and white. We are the sum of ALL our choices and not just the bad ones.
I have yet to find a local independent who taste good, uses the same or better quality ingrediants, and is as price concious as Subway. I eat their often, does this make me less independent? I think not. I would argue that the fact I have actually thought about why I shop there is what defines me as being independent.
Don’t be bullied into always buying from Jack in the Box because it’s everywhere and there’s a lack of good choices and don’t shy away from buying at Taco Bell if that is what you’ve decided is best for you.
Be independent and know that when you look at yourself in the mirror you’ve made a choice, not been hoodwinked into thinking you had no other option.
The difference is vast, the choices are always up to you.
Art tees have been my favorite things for years now. I’m not really into big flash logos, big words, naked girls or any of that stuff. But I’m a sucker for art and specifically art with some type of meaning that’s easy to see. Enter Wheatbread! This company has been around for years and years and they still haven’t gotten the rep they deserve for quality clothing and looks. Here’s my favorite been wearing it out since ‘04.
My Favorite wine critic in the US of A. Gary Vay…ner…chuk! This guy basically reviews wine as if he were reviewing your favorite music (with alot of sports thrown in). The reason why Gary is great especially for you indies out there is two fold.
1st his over arching rule is to trust your pallet. If you like it, it’s good, he’s just the reviewer. You can’t beat this philosophy.
2nd he’s fun! Wine has been too stuffy for too long and it’s coming out of the closet for EVERYONE in the new millennium. Stay tuned. Iff you don’t know now ya know.
Viciton:ary makes some of the best design books on the market hands down. Their newest piece for your consumption is the Simply Pattern book, part of their ever popular Simply Series. This books focused on how patterns are used in our every day lives not just as pieces of fashion work. They use interiors, products, and installations to illustrate their point.
We got three hot spots to check out photos from LEGENDmag’s recent BRANDED event! Thanks to Daniel Kokin, Tim Farris, and Tyler Mussetter for putting their time and skills out there for all of us to see!
The new issue dropped yesterday and we’re loving it more then ever before. The LEGENDmag website is getting way more hits than we thought we’d be getting at this point, and we thank you for making it as successful as it has been.
Thank you to all the friends (new and old) who attended Branded last night. You made the night better than we could have imagined! We have lots more fantastic parties like this in the works, and knowing that we have your support pushes us to take things to the next level! Stay tuned!!
And extra special thanks to all the photographers, artists, musicians, DJs, bartenders, Club 6 staff, and volunteers. We are blessed to have all of you independent people in the LEGENDmag family and look forward to many more collaborations!
Photos and video should be up within the week… so check back!ARE POSTED NOW!!
The Goorin Bros. x Onitsuka Tiger x Shoebix release party was a great throwdown. There’s no party like a boutique party now days and the dino store Shoebiz location was no exception. The energy was pretty incredible and music was dope too (props to the dj). Thanks to Mike Shay for the invite and we can’t wait for the next one.
Mark it on your calenders right now! BRANDED will be a night full of fun people, fun acts, independent business’s and artist and more giveaways then you’ve seen in a while. We’ll see you there!
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BRANDED (powered by LEGENDmag)
May 30th, 2008
Club 6 (San Francisco)
9pm – 2am
$5 @door
An event inviting the independent minded to come and see independent artist, musicians, DJ’s, clothing, and people.
Now this is “Independent Business” at it’s best. Bug Labs has created a small linux based computer. Translation: It’s a small computer that doesn’t run the mac OS or windows. It’s made that way on purpose so that we “the consumers” can take the gadget to places the designers would never have thought of. Who knew a customizable computer. They explain it best.
“BUG helps you explore the realm of personalized devices and applications, and find ways to solve many of the problems current gadgets can’t.
For example, with BUG, you can easily assemble and program a GPS + digital camera device that automatically publishes geo-tagged photos as a web service. Integrating with an online photo-sharing service like Flickr is only a few more lines of code away, and now you have your own real-time, connected traffic-enabled mobile Webcam!
The platform is designed to enable a collaborative development environment. BUGnet, our online community, is tied in directly to the BUG SDK, which allows developers to connect with others, share information, and jointly build products or services.”
