Behind The Scenes: Jack Purcell Photo Shoot

From the Converse site...

Jack Purcell - The Sneaker of James Dean

The King of Cool himself James Dean has always been a style icon. Here's the classic picture of him chillin' like a villain on a sound stage somewhere, kicking up his white canvas Jack Purcell's between takes.

Hard to mistake the shape of the design on the sole of the sneaker (see picture below) and the smiley face on the right toe. Gives us older cats some hope when the coolest fashion dude of the last half century is wearing white sneakers WITH BLACK SOCKS! Oh man, make fun of me now...

Jack Purcell: How Setfree Got Me Addicted

The first pair of Jack Purcell's I owned:
The John Varvatos green/caramel purchased
from Undefeated in January of 2006.

Being the Uncoolest Dude in Hollywood means, by definition, that I don't know much about style, fashion or dressing sense. I had completely resigned myself to wearing whatever sneaker I could get at the cheapest price possible that would last for the longest time and cause me the least amount of trouble. Because of that, I would end up wearing generic sneakers from whatever 'warehouse' was having a sale that month.

My generic brand sneaker (above).
Notice the dirt, wear, and all around
general awfulness of these off-brand shoes.

However, being a practical man I knew I had to function with some kind of style or I was going to be dead in the water. Enter sneaker guru Setfree.

Setfree (above), the Godfather of my Jack Purcell collection.

For a bunch of reasons long, complicated, and difficult to recount, 'Free decided to give me some unsolicited advice: "We're going to Undefeated."

"Why are we going to a sports bar?" I asked.

Undefeated sneaker boutique on La Brea Boulevard
in Los Angeles. The place is the size of a closet
and full of hipsters.

Actually, it wasn't that complicated. We had a very important business meeting with an agency and he didn't want to be embarrassed being seen with me sporting an off-brand pair of white sneakers from a shoe 'barn'. He needed to butch-me-up and he had to do it fast.

January 2006: We load into my 1998 Volvo station wagon (the official vehicle of Robot Films at the time) and head down La Brea Boulevard here in Los Angeles. For those who don't know (and if you are one of my friends or relatives you probably do not know), Undefeated is one of the premiere boutique sneaker shops in the land. While this store is the epitome of cool, the actual parking is terrible. Being cheap, I dropped Setfree off at the door and I found a parking spot for the wagon in the neighborhood behind the store.

Undefeated has about the same square footage as my guest bedroom and sells all manner of cool-guy sneakers. It's small, crowded, full of young 'style-guys' looking cool, depressed and hipster. Being the Uncoolest Dude in Hollywood, I immediately got itchy just being inside the place. But by the time I got inside, 'Free already had my new sneakers picked-out: Jack Purcell John Varvatos, olive drab green with caramel smiley face and light beige toe. I was mesmerized.

"Buy one in each color," says Setfree.
"I only have $100 dollars," says I.
"Oh," says Setfree. "Well buy one pair at least."
"They're more than $25 dollars," says I.
"Don't make me punch you in the face," says Setfree.

I hesitated (remember I'm cheap), but the more I looked the more I needed them. Do I pay that guy in the parking lot to remove the dent on the Volvo or do I buy these brand new Jack Purcells? Life changing decision hanging in the balance...


I didn't buy a pair in each color that day but I bought those green Varvatos Jack Purcell's and it's a decision that has made all of the difference. The Jack Purcell became the foundation of my M.O. I wore them sparingly for the longest time. In fact, I didn't wear them more than two or three times those first couple of years. But I've since worn them a bit too much and have had to put them into semi-retirement. Nowadays, they'll come out for the occasional dress-up day at church or to visit friends, but certainly no longer good enough for a 'real' Hollywood meeting.

So for all that, I say 'Thank You, Setfree. You made me a (fashion) man that cold, cold Los Angeles day in January 2006. You are the godfather of my closet of Jack Purcell's and the one I blame when my wife catches me trying to sneak in that tell-tale green and tan shoe box into the house.

Some of my favorite Jack Purcell posts:

Jack Purcell shoe repair tips
My Steady Travel Companion: Jack Purcell
Jack Purcell Book

TV is Superior to Movies - Deadwood

If you've never seen DEADWOOD you totally miss the delight of having a story build over the course of three seasons. Created by David Milch, the show is an excellent example of creating very specific, believable characters, putting them into situations that make sense, and watching what happens.

The dialogue, while utterly profane, is very sophisticated and poetic. With DVR, my wife and I must have ran back and forth each episode at least twice (my wife's favorite line: "I'm off to suss the trim")

Seasons: 3
Episodes: 36
Status: Dead like Wild Bill

One Minute Show - Season Finale ft. Damon Dash

Star Trek and Lego's - An Uncool Combo

Jeff's mini-Defiant from Deep Space Nine.
Notice the Sharpie marks. Based upon plans
found here.

Alright, I like Lego. I admit it. I like it more than my kids. When the kids get kits for their birthday's or Christmas, I keep the directions in a file. I also like Star Trek. The evidence is beyond dispute.

However, due to contractual reasons , there are no official Star Trek Lego kits. Ones only hope is to wing-it and try to come up with something on your own. I am creative, but I don't have all the time in the world to design-build-prototype a perfect starship from scratch. I found a website that had plans for minature Star Trek models built cleverly with few pieces.

Jeff's mini-Klingon Battle Cruiser from Star Trek OS.
Based upon plans found here.

Even with so few pieces, I still had to work around not having some of the pieces. Plus, I didn't always have the right color and had to had to pull out the ol' Sharpie a few times to modify the Lego color.

Jeff's mini-Excelsior from Star Trek II.
Based upon plans found here.

Still Uncool after all these years...

Jack Purcell - Nordstrom Ad Insert 4-16-10

Advertising insert for Nordstrom featuring Converse shoes. Our good friend Jack Purcell made the cut, though one lone lower right picture, pushing the Jack Purcell 'Garment Dye'. Surprisingly, Nordstrom has competitive pricing on the Jacks and a decent inventory. Their shoe buyer must have a little Jack Purcell-love because you find them disproportionately at Nordstrom than most other places. At the usual places, it is always displayed as a second tier sneaker and kind of hidden. At Nordstrom, I always catch them front and center with the other stuff.

Uncool Music Playlist - Greenday "When I Come Around"

The Uncool hits keep on rolling... Live, from Jeff's iPod it is #5 on his most played list. Short, sweet, raw and to the point. You should see my head bobbing as I tear down the 101 with this song playing.

Uncool History - Kent State

This famous picture (above) was shown in every
newspaper around the world after the shootings
at Kent State on May 4, 1970. It quite frankly
scared the pants off of me when I was a kid.
This picture also won the Pulitzer Prize
(taken by John Filo) that year.

As part of Jeff's continuing series of Uncool history... "Kent State" by James Michener.

I was talking with a young friend of mine the other day and was asking him if he knew about Kent State. "Isn't that the name of the Green Lantern's alter ego?" Yikes. Another example of 'you know you're getting old when..' It all went down on May 4, 1970.


Quick synopsis: A bunch of college students started protesting the presence of ROTC on their campus. They burned down the ROTC building. The governor called in the Ohio National Guard to restore order. The students got extremely rowdy, the soldiers got extremely agitated, shots were fired and some students were dead. It all kind of summarized the Us vs. Them, hippy vs. square, Progressive vs. Establishment kind of thing going on back then.

I was just a kid when the Kent State tragedy happened and it was the first news event I remember that kind of scared me. I wasn't sure I understood what it was or what it meant but it was all over the news and seemed real freaky to me. When I got older, I ran across this book at a used book sale and bought it. I remember taking it with me to Wes Unseld basketball camp to read.

This is an example of one of those 'snapshot in time' history books that really lays the whole thing out minute by minute. Especially for you youngsters, it's a fascinating read about a time long gone.

TV is Superior to Movies - The Wire

Jeff's latest example of why TV is superior to movies: The Wire

Title: The Wire
Episodes: 60
Status: Series completed

Orioles Opening Week - Home Opener

I never went to all that many opening days growing up. It wasn't until I could buy my own seats that I went, but I can remember clearly how few other kids seemed to be in school on opening day. It was like an unofficial holiday. It reminded me of my time living in Virginia and the first day of hunting season was kind of the same thing.

It was so bad in high school, that Brother Woods set up a card table in the lobby of Calvert Hall to process all of the kids leaving early.

Of course, that was back in the days when you could decide to head on down to a game at the last minute, walk up to the window and get a nice seat. You could also bring a cooler with food and drinks. Oh, and they used to win a lot more.

Hate to sound like my grandfather but... dems was da days!

Go O's!!!!

Twinkies: Twinkie Burrito

Orioles Opening Week - Opening Day 1992

I was quite happy to be going to the all new Camden Yards on April 6, 1992.

I had had season tickets at the old Memorial Stadium with my good friend Steve Weinstein and we splurged (despite the medieval ticket hike) for more season tickets and opening day. I have gone to many, many, many games to Camden Yards but I must say that by far, those seats on that opening day were the worst I ever had: center field, underneath the overhang.

There had been a game a day or two before, the last exhibition game of the season against the New York Mets that I had also gone to so I felt lucky in that this was actually my second game at the new place. Steve and I rode the Light Rail down because we were sufficiently terrified of the projected gridlock downtown and had a good time riding the rails.

I usually don't have the best memory for games but this one I remember a lot:

Orioles defeated the Indians 2-0, in 2 hours 2 minutes. Complete game winning pitcher Rick Sutcliffe, 5 hits, 1 walk.

In the line-up that day for the Orioles: Brady Anderson, Joe Orsulak, Cal & Billy Ripken, Mike Devereaux, Chris Hoiles and one of the few games ever played by Glenn Davis.

For the Indians, Kenny Lofton, Carols Baerga, Abert Belle, Sandy Alomar Jr.

Johnny Oates was the manager and Cal Sr. was once again in the third base box.

One Minute Show - Ep. 3 - Webstar

Always entertaining, always informative, always... brief. The ONE MINUTE SHOW starring Al Be Back, this week featuring Webstar.

Orioles Opening Week - I Hated Junior Orioles

I'm sure you are anticipating some poetic waxing about my Junior Orioles experience but I must admit, I hated it.

For those of you who don't know, Junior Orioles was a season ticket package that was super cheap so Dad's could take their kids to the Orioles. This was back in their not-so-hey day of the mid-70's when they pretty much stunk those years after '71 and before the '79 - '83 dynasty. Not many people were going to the games. Solution: Junior Orioles.

Like any good business, you take the worst parts of the worst things and you slap a cool label on it. First off, the seats were in the outfield bleachers. In the old Memorial Stadium, the outfield bleacher seats for the most part stunk. There are approximately twenty bleacher seats which are acceptable. The rest are much, much, much too far away. Most are 900 feet from home plate.

They are also in the blazing sun. They were also a fairly flat grade. You couldn't see over the person in front of you. The games were always on Saturday or Sunday afternoon 124 degrees.

And my Dad was always miserable. We never, I mean NEVER, stayed the whole game. I'll never forget listening to one of the greatest comebacks in Orioles history from the comfort of our car as my Dad tore up Perring Parkway away from the stadium.

Orioles Opening Week - My O's Junk

Like any other goober who's been to his fair share of games over the years, combined with my notorious pack-rat tendencies, means I have plenty of Orioles junk.

My first memorable souvenir was an Orioles pennant my Dad picked up while he was at work for the '71 World Series between the O's and the Pirates. Talk about a different time, I remember the teachers rolling in television sets into the classrooms so we could watch. World Series games during the day? Teachers having the whole class watch sports instead of school work?

I've collected tons of programs, balls, knick-knacks and crud and have every ticket stub.

Uncool April Fool's

I generally don't start it, but when someone plays a prank, I usually come back over the top. Just ask the poor soul whom I convinced that our office building was built on the site of an old insane asylum. When the 'ghost' appeared, she screamed for eight full minutes.

Or the old co-worker I convinced that a colony of rats had burrowed under the building and had 'reportedly eaten a homeless man'.

Now that my children are getting a little older, they have dared to "fool" me. Hey Dad, is that some food on your shirt? April Fools. Hey Dad, I forgot to do my homework? April Fools. Hey Dad, there's a snake on your head. April Fools.

Well... call out the child psychologists, I'm about to put a hurtin' on the ol' boys. Details to come...