JUNE 29, 2009
FFB X JOHN-E SPECS
Last Friday, I headed out to The Lounge in Deep Ellum to check out my homie, John-E Specs explode the house apart with his back pack full of hip-hop weaponry.
Before John-E took the stage, I hung out and and chilled with the crowd. We talked about a load of topics ranging from the bums on the street to the death of Michael Jackson, what did you have for dinner to of course...Fur Face Boy.
The ladies were in full effect...
...as was the bartender.  I'm at the bar--ar--tender, if you're waiting for FFB.
John-E Specs wasn't the only white boy in the house.
After yucking it up with all of the wonderful people, I checked out some of the opening acts then almost got trampled to death by the same wondeful people.
Ahhhh...time for John-E to take the stage, but before he does - let me tell you how I got to know him. John-E stumbled upon Fur Face Boy one day while surfing the web and wanted to rep FFB whenever he performed. I usually get tons of artists contacting me and wanting to rep FFB, so at first I was just like..."Meh." But when I opened up the tracks that he sent me, I was totally BLOWN AWAY! I wanted to meet John-E to get to know him a bit more and when I did, I understood why he was dubbed John-E Specs - his glasses are INSANE! Anyways, I could sense that he really loves doing what he does. He talked about his music, other people's music and performing at venues as if he were wikipedia! At the same time he was just a regular dude who loves his girl, clowning around, skateboarding, collecting Jordans and just trying to catch that big break.
Alot of people have no clue to what the FFB Mauraders shirt is based from - I get people who call it the Jamaican one, the Cinco de Mayo one and even the Tiger one, but John-E knew EXACTLY what the design was based from and had to have one for his Award Tour - he got one.
Check out this video I took of John-E performing Still Shinin'. Jonh-E's badass performance made my shitty camera work look like greatness.
I wanted the rest of the world to give John-E Specs a listen, so I compiled a John-E Specs album. Download it and the artwork NOW! Give it a listen, bob your head to it and then visit his myspace page to let him know what's up. Tell him that THE Fur Face Boy sent you.
TRACK LISTING:
1. Still Shinin'
2. Killin' It!
3. Looks That Kill
4. Sunglasses
5. Put 'Em In Shock
6. Shine LIke Gold
7. She's A Fresh Girl
8. All Day
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JUNE 25, 2009
HERE'S TO A LEGEND
R.I.P. - You will be remembered by THE ENTIRE world.
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JUNE 21, 2009
MY DAD...
...always tells me that you can never go wrong with hard work, taking risks and seizing your opportunities. I don't want this post to sound like your typical 'Living the American dream' story, but it probably will...
My parents are Vietnamese immigrants who seized the opportunity and escaped to America during the Fall of Saigon in 1975. They made their way to Fort Chaffee, Arkansas with just the clothes on their back and barely knowing how to speak a lick of english. While in Arkansas, sponsors offered my parents to move to California to work as gardeners, janitors, waiters and other odd jobs. At the same time, there were other sponsors offering my parents to make a living in Texas. Having no clue on what to expect in Texas, my dad stopped to think and realized that there was no way he was gonna be a gardener. So he took the risk and decided to make the move to Texas.
In Texas, my dad found work as a machinest at a company which provided him tuition to go to school. He enrolled into a University where he was constantly studying and building he's skillset. As all this was happening, my mom was busy at home raising 2 babies (my older brothers). After 4 years of non-stop hard work / school, my dad received a degree in Mathematics! Years after working for the company that helped paved the way for him and his family, he took another risk and decided to leave his job to open his own engineering business which he still runs and operates to this day.
When it comes to me and my dad, we're complete opposites. The way he thinks is all about numbers, planes, axis', graphs and order. Compared to me, where it's colors, balance, space, flow and expression. But what we both do share in common are the facts that we both work hard at our craft, we both take risks and we both seize our opportunities. My mom tells me that I remind her so much of my dad when he was starting off his business. The determination, the wanting to do things 'my way' attitude, the 'not stopping until its done' mentality and the 'staying up late all night' work ethic. Being compared to my dad makes me believe that I CAN make it. My dad set the bar extremely high, so if I can even come close to half of what he's accomplished, I'll know I made it.
Since my dad has gone through all of the headaches of starting up and maintaining a business, he's always there to assure me if I'm on the right track. That goes for life too, and I'm really grateful / appreciative of all of his guidance. He's a man of few words and little affection, but there's no doubt that he'll do whatever it takes for his family. So here's to my dad, THE REAL Original Fur Face Boy. Thanks for never letting me forget to work hard, take risks and seize my opportunities whenever they arrive. Happy Father's Day. You NEVER get any mention on this blog, so I wanted to make sure that the whole world knows who you are with this one post.
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JUNE 17, 2009
FFB PRESENTS: KID CUDI...
In my spare time I like to make mix albums for the hell of it. Right now, I'm on a Kid Cudi high so I decided to compile a 6 TRACK BONUS EP from Kid Cudi tracks I found floating around the amazement of what we call the internet. Don't keep stress in your mind...download the EP + Art now!
TRACK LISTING:
1. Excuse My Mood
2. Girls Sounds & Colors - Rich Hill feat. Kid Cudi
3. Do My Do - Mickey Factz feat. Kid Cudi
4. Mr. Solo Dolo
5. Day N' Nite (Jori Hulkkonen Remix)
6. Day N 'Nite (Crookers Remix)
Will I be getting in trouble for this? Hmmm...50/50?
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JUNE 15, 2009
MY WEEKEND
FRIDAY - After work, I went home and didn't do a thing. If you read my last post then you know what I did.
SATURDAY - I woke up to the sounds of my mom already sewing labels on the latest batch of FFB shirts. I peaked in, turned back around to my room and went right back to sleep. As I laid in my bed for a minute or so, I started to feel bad for seeing my mom work and me going back to sleep. My guilty concious made me wake up.
Without brushing my teeth or showering, I started tagging...
labeling... (Exclusives get just a tad bit more attention)
(Every shirt is seriously inspected by me about 20 times over. I make totally sure that each FFB shirt passes ALL check points before it's even considered being sellable)
(Even FFB bags get labeled)
folding...(Notice that with every fold, I repeatedly lean in while my knees hyper-extend from the bottom of the bed / production table. This is EXTREMELY bad for my back, knees, shoulders and feet! You'll see my solution to this problem in a bit)
and bagging. (Bagging sucks)
I always love seeing the end results! Actually, there was MORE to fold and bag! (Atleast I was done with the tagging and labeling)
I took a break though and had some fish and rice that my mom cooked. This was a good time to check up on online orders, e-mails, tracking, myspace, facebook and twitter.
After fish and rice, I decided to put folding and bagging on the side until tomorrow. Now to get started on something else...
Hmmm....what could these be? Check back in a week or so to find out! OH THE SUSPENSE! DAMN YOU! TELL ME NOW ALREADY! - Neh.
It took me pretty much the rest of the whole night to work on what you just saw above. So when that was done, I called it a day.
SUNDAY - I woke up and immediately got back to folding and bagging. As you can see, I constructed a "production table" from the assloads of shirt boxes I have sittiing around everywhere. I made it high so that my back wouldn't lean in and my knees stayed straight. Folding became much more faster now that I was a tad more comfortable. (Sorry for may have frightening anyone, I sleep shirtless)
After I finished folding and bagging I decided to order some Com ga roti (Tomato rice and Rotisserie Roasted Chicken) from my favorite Vietnamese restuarant: P.T.Awesome.
After eating, there was a few more shirts that needed manufacture tags removed. Ugh.
When that was done...laundry.
Finally! A little relaxation time. Oh, the Lakers won the championship? Woo.
As you can see / read I don't have weekends. Cool huh? Yea, I know - not really.
P.S. Don't worry, I DO get teeth brushing and showering done in-between work.
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JUNE 13, 2009
I'M GOING PRO
Last night, I took a break from Fur Face Boy, stayed in and just watched some TV. One of my favorite movies, The Pursuit of Happyness was on...
And now you know JUST ONE of the reasons why it's one of my favorite movies. Watch it. It's good. Real good.
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JUNE 5, 2009
HERE'S HOW YOU CAN REACH ME
I have to admit, before I started Fur Face Boy I was totally against social networking sites. I thought that they were sleezoid sites full of molestors, douchebags, skanks, solicitors and starving artists...and they ARE! But it all pans out, because I've gotten to know an assload of cool / great people!
My first venture into the social networking arena was myspace. I swear, when I created an account I had no clue what I was getting into. Though it's 2009, I had no idea how to layout a page, how to add banners and graphics, how to add music or even how to get friends! Eventually, I got the hang of it and now it turns out that myspace has become my #1 source of spreading the FFB word. So come swing on by and be my friend, maybe one day I can add you to the FFB family wall too!
Last month, I couldn't escape the twitter buzz. TV and radio stations were talking about it non-stop. Shaq was tweeting as was Oprah and Jimmy Fallon to name a few - so I figured another free avenue to spread the FFB word surely would'nt hurt. Now, I tweet everyday! If you subcribe to my tweets then BEWARE: YOUR PHONE MIGHT EXPLODE!
If you follow me on twitter, think of it as getting "bonus scenes" or "alternate endings" to Fur Face Boy. You actually see all the in-between stuff that goes on as I take care of FFB designs, production and business. And if you think my random section is random, wait til you check out the random madness I throw out on twitter! Click if you dare...Bwhahahahahahah! So yea...
Follow me, follow me, follow me, follow me, but don't lose your grip
- Snoop Doggy Dogg, Who Am I? (What's My Name)
Alright, now on to Facebook. I'm gonna admit it, I HATE FACEBOOK. It just feels wayyyy too rescricted for me. I have my Twitter connected to my Facebook so that it looks like I'm doing something on there, but in reality - I ain't doing shit with it. I don't know, maybe it's just because I'm not used to Facebook yet. Anyways, I'm on there so uhhh...be my fan I guess?
You can always try to catch me on AIM or iChat too! My screen name is: Fur Face Boy (DUH!)
So c'mon! Don't be shy! Feel free to add me to your buddy list so we can chat up a storm! Here are some examples of what we can chat about:
• Dream Team vs. Redeem Team
• Mega Man 9 strategies
• Why Batman should kill
• How Hot Chip sounds alot like The Dandy Warhols
• Late Night Conan vs. Tonight Show Conan (I know it's still too early to compare, but still...)
• Food
• Random whatevers
• AND MORE!
For real though, I'd love to get some more input about FFB from as many people as possible. I also get alot of e-mails from people asking for help on trying to start their own T-shirt line, so I think this will be a good avenue for those who want some tips. I'm still learning as I'm going, so brace yourself - cause I'm gonna be asking for your help and some tips too!
So there you have it! Now you know how to reach me! Molestors, douchebags, skanks, solicitors and starving artists can all REJOICE!!!
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JUNE 1, 2009
SHOGUN & THE UK
Since dropping a shipment of FFB at Shogun about a week and a half ago, sales have been going pretty good. My good friend Shogun San was cool enough to take a few pictures of some of the customers who made a FFB purchase:
If you plan on going to Shogun to purchase a FFB shirt, then brace yourself...you might "GET SHOT!"  I know, lame. Anyways, also while you're at Shogun be sure to say "Hi" to Grace. Grace isn't just a FFB BFF, but she's also known as the Empress of Shogun.
A bigtime Shogun regular is Jessica. I haven't met her...yet, but I hear she stops by Shogun atleast once a week! I also hear she's gathering quite a nice collection of Fur Face Boy shirts! 3 CHEERS FOR JESSICA! (CHEERS x 3)
If you can't make it out to Shogun, the FFB webstore is always open for business. Quantities and sizes are running very low, so try to snag one up if you can...NOW! (morphing back into human form) Ah, let's see...what else? Hmmm...oh yea, A few photos of YOU wearing FFB trickled on in. If you don't see it here on the blog then check out the family pages. I received a photo of Grace Demakes (2 Grace's in one post! What are the odds!?), who actually was one of THE FIRST people to receive a FFB shirt mailed to them. Grace is also THE FIRST to wear FFB in the UK. Check out this old picture of the very first batch of FFB shirts that were mailed out and you can see Grace's shirts:
Here's Grace in her Fur Face Boy. Bloody rad, indeed.
In return for sending Grace some FFB, she was cool / kind enough to send me something back! Oooooh...
Turns out Grace has her own T-shirt brand too! DEMAKES CLOTHING. Her packaging was awesome! Everything was done by hand and I could really tell that she put in alot of time, effort and precise thinking into the whole set. It was definitely something everyone would appreciate.
After unraveling through tissue paper that lined the box, I found a striped pink and white envelope. Enclosed was an A4 sized letter. The letter described the shirt's VERY AWESOME design, the care instructions, and also stated that each package was individually hand numbered with only 100 shirts produced!
And I own 1 of those 100 shirts! F rad, indeed.
THANKS GRACE DEMAKES! I LOVE THE SHIRT! I wore it all weekend long. I'm actually wearing it right now as I'm putting this post together (and this post). Well, can you believe it's already June?! It's crazy to see how the months seem to be zooming by. I accomplished my goal of opening the FFB webstore last month, so this month, my main goal is to try to get FFB into some more shops. I'm actually putting a little something together to try to make this goal a reality, so come back regularly to find out what it is. Happy June!
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