I’m a medium. What are you?
Meet Diego, The Milliner. Making hats downtown for over 14 years!
When I first met Greg it was through a TV set, watching The Greg Behrendt Show on summer vacation from middle school. I thought, who is this rock star guy filling in for Maury Povich, and when do I find out the results from the lie detector on whether or not the guest is in fact the father of this woman’s baby. Granted the show was much cooler than that kind of smut, likely the reason ratings weren’t as high as say, early Springer? Nor did it have the YouTube payoff like the Maury Povich clip where we find out that the guest in question is in fact, not the father….
Fast forward at least a decade, and I’m getting a call from my best friend Tommy Rexford saying ‘Hey, remember that guy from TV back in the day? Well he also wrote a whole bunch of sh*t you’ve heard of, has a band, and needs a screen printer. Tweet him. Now.’ So I did. We exchanged a couple emails where he told me this crazy idea about printing a design on some Tshirt fabric and sewing it onto the back of a couple Banana Republic sweaters. I say ‘Great idea!’ thinking he’s absolutely crazy, but if it pays, I’ll print his logo on a f*cking elephant if he asks. (Side Note: This came at a time shortly after a drunk kid ran me over while I was on a moped, so I had no real job, and was printing shirts in the living room of an East Hollywood apartment trying to launch a thing called Newpenny.) I whip up a design based on what he’s told me he’s into, and he says ‘Print it!’.
So I show up to Molly Malone’s down at Fairfax and 3rd here in LA, with my designs I spent all day hand-sewing onto these $100 sweaters I was pretty sure I just ruined. I watch The Reigning Monarchs perform, hang out a little, and take off thinking ‘well that was fun, what a good experience, I’ll be sure to throw that on my resume.’
2 years, 4 sweaters, and hundreds of Tshirt sales later, I’m hanging with Greg at Michael Levine’s Fabrics in DTLA, picking out some of the craziest concoctions of fabrics, lining, and trim that are to be made into some of the coolest, hippest pairs of pants around. I’m talking Cubano/Mexican/Japanese/Retro Quinceanera pants. The kind of thing your cigar-smoking, scotch-drinking, golf-playing grandfather only dreamed of wearing to his social clubs.
I’ve had some nice lengthy talks over sparkling mineral water with Greg, discussing everything from my terrible taste in music, to how he thinks that dressing better can somehow save the world. To him, it’s about self-respect, about paying tribute to a time when things were made… well, better. Today, so many people are happy with their choices from the racks of Forever Russe, or whatever cheap stuff you’re gonna get and give away when it goes out of style, or starts to fall apart.
Not Greg. He’s taught me that style, that the actual fashion choices you make, come from a different place than the vain desire to be cool or hip or trendy. Style is an expression of an intangible desire to say to the world ‘This is who I am’. So even if you’re walking around the Fashion District of LA on a hot summer day, being mistaken for Elvis Costello… So what?! You do you. No regrets. Wear what makes you feel good, and wear it well.
If I’ve learned anything from working with him so far, it’s that you don’t listen to the people that tell you your ideas are crazy. Being true to yourself will never, ever go out of style.
Today, we make pants. Tomorrow, we wear them! (Taken with Instagram at Michael Levine, Inc.)
Walking The Room - A Podcast: Seattle Live Podcuddle
I work for some of the coolest people in the biz. And thankful for every minute of it. If you’re not doing something you love, I suggest you figure out what it is, and do it. That’s kind of the story behind these guys, and should be everyone’s story. That Kevin Costner movie about the baseball diamond was on to something when they had that guy whisper all that stuff into KC’s ear about building shit.
Our Live Podcast at Chop Suey in Seattle Wednesday night was a corndog made of amazing. The venue was rad, our guests - Seattle comic Duane Goad,Tweet singers We Sing Your Tweets and our great friend and Australian comedy hunk Wil Anderson were all superb. The promoters were cool, and…
Yup. One day I realized this very fact, and decided to model an entire business around it. I gave up on trying to go union, become a member of the DGA, or the Producer I always wanted to be.
I built some screens, made a press, and put a logo on a shirt thinking it was just good advertising and it’d help me gain the trust and respect of clients. Instead it created a booming business with people asking what it’s about and how to become a part of it.
(Source: justthelittlethings100, via lunarbahamut)
Notice the bottom edge is slightly squared, whereas normal clips are far more circular…. I think this helps in situations involving handcuffs and electrical-based explosive devices, but seems immune to most of Murdoc’s creations. Still an invaluable item though.
PS. MacGyver’s house is for sale.
(Source: arcaneimages, via klappersacks)
Yesterday, I was making one of my many Post Office runs I make during the week (gotta sell those shirts, yo!) and I have to admit, there have been more than enough times I’ve stood there, contemplating ways of taking my own life, just to escape the long line of often-idiotic people gathered at the Hollywood Post Office.
This day was much, much different.
Yes, I’ve had my words with a postal worker on a given occasion, but I definitely felt it was worth it, and they were doing something pretty stupid, like thinking for themselves, or trying to explain the best way to ship something to someone who is a total novice like myself.
But on this occasion, as I’m standing in a line of only 3 people, a gentleman is berating my favorite postal employee of the branch. And I mean, in a completely disrespectful way. This excuse for a man was using words like ‘Just answer my f*cking question you idiot’ and ‘you’re holding up people with real jobs’ and the kicker, ‘how can someone as stupid as you….’ - I won’t finish that one. You get the point. So as my attendant is asking me if there’s anything else she can do, I ask her nicely to remove this man that’s making it hard for the rest of us to go about our business, and congratulate the berated worker on always being awesome and on point, and being one of my favorites, with the ability to always brighten my day.
At this point, Scum (as we’ll refer to him from now on) starts telling me that I have no business concerning myself with what is going on, I should go f*ck off and of course the typical LA question ‘Who are YOU anyway?!’ So it’s after this I can surely tell he’s not going to change his tune. After he begins calling me a douchebag, and a prick, and telling me I’m a f*cking this and that, I ignore him and let him continue to look like a complete imbecile to those around him. In his mind, I’m guessing he was watching his penis grow like a monster truck, and patting himself on the back for being such an amazing example of a human being.
So I finish up my order, and as I walk by, I politely offer to meet him outside, where we can finish this up in a very civil, old-fashioned type of way. I made my way outside, and after a couple minutes realized I was no better than he was at that point. What, am I going to beat up some 40 year old guy that doesn’t know how to respect a woman offering him a genuine service that even as a federal institution, is fading in existence. Who am I to run around LA throwing fists at every asshole that makes my heart hurt for humanity?
So as I see him looking outside ‘stealthfully’ and using a back entrance to scurry off to his probably-Porsche, I walk away and go get my hair cut. I go cool off and listen to stories from a nice old multicultural man that’s seen much more of the world. Much more hurt, and sorrow, than some well-to-do white kid standing in a post office trying to stick up for the underdog. And I realize that life is short. Again. Why put so much effort into trying to change someone that likely won’t change, even after a black eye and a face smashed into the ‘open’ handle of the establishment’s door. It’s not my place. Scum will get what’s coming to him. Scum will get a flat tire in the rain. Or miss out on that table by the window at that place, and lose his mind all over again. Or maybe Scum will lose a lot of money in the stock market and eventually throw himself out a window. Because that’s the type of stuff that’s important to Scum.
It’s at that point I feel a little more like a man, and less of a boy. Like I need to lead more by example, than virtue. And thank whoever it is that I pray to, that I’m alive, and breathing, and know how to love. And that my name that day wasn’t Scum.
(via everyday-inspiration)
Printed this on a bunch of different shirts just to see what looked the best. They’re mainly medium and small. Email me if you want one, just pay for shipping: ilovenewpenny@gmail.com
This past Saturday marks a fairly monumental occasion in my life, and I thought I’d share it with you.
2009, which I normally just refer to as ‘that time I had that emotional breakdown’, was kind of a hard year, to say the least. So I thought, what better way to get through it than to start working, like, a lot. Which is funny in a way, because the tipping point of said breakdown was kind of me working, like, a lot. And I mean ‘a lot’ as in people not believing I wasn’t on hard drugs to keep going. It was simply this passion, drive, the ultimate ‘want’ to succeed in every way…. and a lot of coffee.
See, I moved to Los Angeles from the great state of Michigan in late 2006. And rather than get lost in the shuffle, I took it as seriously as possible, jumped on a movie set right away, and stepped out of my comfort zone in every way, and took every opportunity to work, paid/unpaid… all in an effort to ‘make it’. The last thing I ever wanted was to go home with my tail between my legs, a failure.
So I moved home in late 2007 to ‘re-evaluate’, to save up, and come back out.
Over this time, relationships disintegrated in front of me. Friends, girlfriends, jobs… I didn’t get it. I thought I was Mr. Cool though, and people liked me cause I’m awesome, and work hard, and I’m trustworthy! Maybe so, but I also had become a total dick. I became ‘LA’. Just like I said I never would. I came home. Like I said I never could.
And then came the psychologist and the crazy pills, and me admitting every wrong to nearly everyone I’d wronged. I wanted to start over, and really be the good person I was, without having to be so cut throat and ‘LA’.
So I started this thing called NEWPENNY. It was basically just me, with the help of some amazing friends, trying to muster up some artistic work, and find a way to move others through simply doing good to others, and paying it forward. My personal rehabilitation was making a fashion shirt, just to say I could. Also to kind of prove I still had it and wasn’t a total failure. So I did, and sold a few to some friends and relatives and gave a few out as gifts. And then the work started pouring in- Tshirt work. Freelance and custom opportunities that I couldn’t imagine. I repurposed items donated, created graphics for people that didn’t have them, and was essentially running a Tshirt business out of a bedroom in a house in Grand Rapids Michigan. And I didn’t know what the hell I was doing.
The greatest part of it all were the stories behind the shirts. People that were moved when I came back with a design for their bachelorette party shirts, or when these art school kids had Tshirts made with their favorite teacher’s picture on the front. It was amazing to see people coming to me over other companies because I built this stuff in my house. From scratch. I printed everything by hand, and would give deals simply to do gigs for people that didn’t have enough money.
NEWPENNY was based on being good to people, because everyone is struggling. We all are, in some way. And we all have the power to reach out compassionately, without too much effort, and help someone else do something really great. See, people donated time and effort at the beginning, and still do, because of the fact that I just want to see people happy. And that strengthens the world.
Ok, on to the point. 3 years later, I’m living in LA. I’ve slept on couches, lived in houses, and have been making custom prints and freelance fulfillments for many, many different people. I’ve gotten to work and create for people that moved me growing up, some of my heroes, and essentially start to become this artist I always wanted to. I thought the key was being a feature film director. And then I made a Tshirt that moved the people around me.
So I made 24 looks and dressed 19 models with a crew of 3. I stayed up tirelessly to create art for my brand as well as some of the others I’m currently working with, and it was amazing. Even for some of the models, who were just people that wanted to give it a shot. And when they walked off stage, so empowered, feeling a sense of accomplishment, after having told me that even walking in the show would be a personal triumph for them, and I saw tears in some of their eyes. Do you have any idea what that did to me?! It wasn’t about me anymore, or my want to give back. That fashion show wasn’t about me, or premiering NEWPENNY fashions to the world. It was about the people that walked in it, that saw it, whose tracks I used, the stories behind every shirt, design, and outfit. It was the collaboration I was waiting for, and gave validation to every ounce of energy any one of us has put into it in any way.
I will definitely keep going with it. I hope to have more fashion shows, create more outfits, make more art, and be a part of more and more events with some of the greatest people I’ve yet to meet.
If you read this far… Thank You. You are what this is about.
You guys, I’m scared for the coming generations.
They’re just so…. ignorant.
(Source: emptybrackets, via serendoopity)
