Persol Model 649
Persol 649‘s probably need no introduction. The frames, made famous by the likes of Marcelllo Mastroianni and Steve McQueen on screen and in real life, epitomized the insouciant cool of the 60’s and early 70’s film culture. Mastroianni’s image was that of the dapper rake, McQueen’s the rough and tumble man’s man. Either way the 649 oozed cool. And they’ve still got it. The 649 is a bit sturdier than Persol’s 714 model, an essentially identical twin but for the fact that the 714’s fold up. McQueen was often photographed wearing 714’s as well, but in my experience the 649’s hold up a lot better to wear and tear as there are less fragile parts involved. Available in a number of sizes and colour combinations to suit every face, you can’t go wrong with a pair of 649’s.
Marcello Mastroianni wearing his iconic 649’s in “Divorce, Italian Style”
Mr. McQueen smiling away behind his 649’s
McQueen sporting his 714’s, foldable sibling to the 649
Randolph Engineering Aviators with bayonet style temples
Robert Deniro and Jodie Foster strutting the Mean Streets in “Taxi Driver”
Mr. Depp in a pair of blue lens Aviators by Randolph Engineering
So there you go. Go forth and protect those optic nerves! You can find Persol and Randolph Engineering on Amazon. However, with Randolph Engineering I recommend buying directly from the company. They’re easy to deal with and have good customer service (they even answer the phone!), and doing it this way ensures you’ll get the pair that’s perfect for you.
What We’re Listening To – Three Great Non-Reggae Songs Built Around Reggae Riffs
After my last post about Joya Landis’s version of “Angel of the Morning”, I thought it would be cool to take a look at how three distinctly non-reggae bands incorporated some reggae influence into their music. All of these songs are built around reggae guitar riffs, the key attribute of which is “the skank”, or striking the chords on the off-beat (think hitting the “and” in a “1 and 2 and 3 and 4” progression.) What I love about all three of these songs is that they maintain their autonomy. They’re not reggae rip-offs, but instead do a great job of building that influence into their music. So here we go…
First up is “Eyes of a Stranger”, by The Payolas.
Being of Canadian blood myself, this one is my sentimental favourite. However, it’s also just a great song. Probably best known as the standout song on the “Valley Girl” soundtrack, the boys from the Payolas did a great job on this one. The riff doesn’t kick in until the first chorus, but when it does it sends the song into a completely different and unexpected groove that is pretty brilliant, and certainly sets it apart from all of the other radio hits from that era, making it a pretty timeless groove. You can find the song on their album No Stranger To Danger, produced by the great Mick Ronson, available on iTunes or on Amazon.
Next up is “The Dreaming Moon”, by the Magnetic Fields.
Indycar Series — And the champion is…
Crazy season finale for Indycar last Saturday night in Fontana. Come with me below the fold to see who was crowned champion…
Indycar Series — Tonight a champion will be crowned
Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves (photo from USA Today/Gannett)
The Izod Indycar Driver’s Championship comes down to the last race of the year once again. Tonight’s MAVTV sponsored 500-miler from the 2 mile D-oval in Fontana, California will determine whether Scott Dixon can hang on for his third Indycar Championship or Helio Castroneves can recover from late season woes to claim his first. Despite the fact that Chip Ganassi’s Dixon has won four races this season to Penske driver Castroneves’ one, a mere 25 points separates them. And the Penske cars’ Chevy engines seem to have the flat out speed this weekend with a 1st-2nd-3rd lockout in Qualifying (Power, Castroneves*, Allmendinger), as well as the comfort level at Fontana having tested there frequently. But the Honda-powered Ganassi cars might have the advantage on gas mileage even with Dixon starting 7th*, so look for a very interesting strategic race to unfold so long as both contenders can avoid crashing out early on this notoriously slippery and windy circuit.
As you might have noticed with that Qualy result, Penske has added a third car to help their Brazilian ace try to win, with hot shoe A.J. Allmendinger joining Aussie Will Power and hoping to recreate his superb Indy 500 run. Power, too, has been excellent in the latter part of the season and he will be hoping to erase memories of last year’s early race wipe out at Fontana, which led to yet another heartbreaking fumble of the championship and gifted it to American Ryan Hunter-Reay.
What we’re wearing…Shirts by David Reeves
Some of the finest clothing I’ve found in a long time is made by David Reeves, of David Reeves Bespoke here in New York. Having cut his teeth on Savile Row at famous houses like Gieves & Hawkes and Richard James, David struck out on his own here in NYC, and has been making beautiful things ever since.
Mr. Reeves is probably best known for his finely crafted bespoke suits, but today I’m going to focus on his shirts. Like everything from David Reeves, the thing that distinguishes his shirts from the rest of the pack is attention to detail. The construction is flawless, and he throws in very cool (and labour intensive) flourishes like hand gathering of the sleeves at the cuffs, instead of a traditional pleat. Or, say you happen to order a check pattern shirt…you can count on the patterns lining up flawlessly at every seam, pocket, and cuff. These may seem like little things, but they make a huge difference in how the shirt looks on you. The details are so precise that they’re not something most people will readily see, but they’ll feel them, and that’s true tailoring.
What we’re listening to today–No Rollin’ Blues by Jimmy Witherspoon
Ain’t nothin’ on a Sunday like some Blues. And ain’t a lot of blues as good as that sung by Kansas City shouter Jimmy Witherspoon. This 1959 version of his evergreen “No Rollin’ Blues” shows all of his trademarks to a T: suave and powerful delivery, sexual innuendos galore, fun loving call-and-response rapport with his sidemen and uprorious reactions by his obviously appreciative audience.
Blessed with an epically long career, he began as a big band singer with Jay McShann in the late 1940s and was still at the peak of his powers (despite a battle with throat cancer) on 1988s Rockin’ LA. In between, the ‘Spoon was responsible for minting all-time standards like and “T’ Ain’t Nobody’s Business”, “Better Love Next Time (Pts. 1 & 2)” and “Have You Ever Loved a Woman”. In short, Jimmy Witherspoon was a colossus of post-WWII popular music and a Blues singing legend. Let’s toast him with some sweet corn whiskey!
You can download the sweet singing ‘Spoon on iTunes and Amazon.
Looks like we picked a bad week to be on Bluehost
Hello everybody and apologies for the prolonged outage.
Not only is it August but apparently Bluehost.com had a complete meltdown & all of their sites were down for an extended period. Including us obviously.
Could be a big DOS attack or maybe someone spilled their Red Bull on the server. But either way: not too good, Bluehost. Not too good.