Squirt-guns, Tight Buns & Bad Puns

Only 72-hours after saying goodbye in Chicago to the Bresnitz brothers (from Brooklyn’s Finger On The Pulse Productions), I found myself yet again in their sonic grasp at Saturday’s Swimming With Sharks rooftop pool party in Downtown Los Angeles. From New York to Chicago to Los Angeles in less than a week, these twins get around. Both always rocking that classic identical glasses, beards, tank tops, no shoes vibe… It’s like constantly seeing a variation of the same guy in two places at once. Trippy. How they have time to throw their Incase-sponsored Summer BBQ Blowout Series at Brooklyn’s Hope Lounge while also djing their asses off around the globe and producing Dinner With The Band on the IFC Network, I will never understand.

As a general rule, hipster hotel pool parties can be a real crapshoot, especially when promoters are looking to attract that Chrome Hearts crowd, (you know what I mean), but fortunately Matt & James of MFG Productions were handling the hysterics. Creators of the long-running Dance Right events, day or night these two lurkers know how to make a party feel like you’re relaxing in your own living room, albeit with 400 screaming, wet, spastic teenagers-for-life running around wearing little to no clothing.

This installment of LA’s now legendary pool party was about 85% more bonkers than I figured it would be. Between the rooftop pool’s panoramic city views and the Incase-branded squirt-gun wars; to the blazing bikini situations and random muscle dudes with bad tattoos; to the deeply mind blowing Goth chicks with vampire teeth (wearing black knit swimsuits, velvet capes and platform boots); to the exceptional DJ skills of Mr. James Pants *[that was for you Apple & Rachel]; to the creepy/funny contests dreamed up by James Outlaw, (of course); to the free BBQ; to Totally Tammy’s crushing yellow outfit and Baby Kelley indiscreetly shooting photos for her burgeoning “Butt Blog“… — the party was total chaos. Wonderful, barely contained chaos.

Winners of the gummy worm/make-out/whipped cream/balloon contests went spazztastic for their Incase gift packages (nylon backpacks, neoprene sleeves and Slider Cases for iPhone & iPod). Like, you’ve never seen dudes without shirts so stoked in their lives. Check the photos, you’ll see what I’m saying. So much happy.

Now that the June gloom is gone, it’s summer here in Los Angeles; people are finally out of their shells and enjoying themselves. Thanks to MFG & Finger On The Pulse for throwing such a quality poolside lurk.

Enjoy the photos!

Weird Beards, Cage Fights & Late Nights

On Wednesday morning, July 15th, after more than three months of preparation for Incase’s activities at the Pitchfork Music Festival, I boarded a flight to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. Apart from the Glastonbury & Reading Festivals in the UK, Pitchfork is arguably the most anticipated independent music festival of the summer season. With more than 55,000 attendees across three days, Incase’s sponsorship of the fest gave us the opportunity to work with many of our friends and favorite bands from around the US and Europe. Coming into the festival, our hope was to give fans and performers carrying solutions for their music & technology products; relevant tools they could really use, whether in a van on tour or heading across town to work or school.

With this idea in mind, we positioned four freestanding stations around the festival grounds, using our grabbelton bins to give away roughly 6,000 Slider Cases for iPhone & iPod, (as well as kazoos, rubber balls, and water balloons). Each time Leslie and Hannah (our staffers/Chicago & NYC pals) went around refilling the bins, they found themselves swarmed, knocked over and pushed out of the way as rabid crowds rushed in, hoping to find the exact case(s) they were looking for. The reaction was hilarious, wild fun. In the VIP area we gifted artists specialized product requests like nylon backpacks, skate messenger bags and 2-in-1 Wall & Car Chargers; and at the Pitchfork Recycling Store hustlers won neoprene sleeves and notebook hardshell cases in exchange for turning in plastic bottles, cups and other recyclable goods.

Like the festival itself, our Incase presence and sponsorship approach was relaxed. No lame pitches, no corny outfits or weird hoops to jump through. We put the products out there in an open and organic way, and for three days straight we received beaming smiles and genuine words of thanks in return.

As for the music, the festival’s promoters once again got it all right, excellently pairing established independent artists like Yeasayer, F*cked Up, Beirut, The Thermals, DJ/Rupture and Grizzly Bear with underdogs like Disappears, Waaves (“Psyche!”), The Very Best, and Frightened Rabbit. During Opening Night’s pitch perfect “Write The Night” sets, people went predictably bananas for indie rock legends Built To Spill and Yo La Tengo. BTS’ Doug Martsch (and his beard) has come a long way from his formative years fronting the frenetic Treepeople. Total 90’s nostalgia was in full swing.

Pitchfork’s greatest stroke of genius, however, came in booking hometown heroes The Jesus Lizard. David Yow and company absolutely owned this year’s festival, proving 10-years after their breakup why they remain the most entertaining band of outsiders on earth.

All in all, last weekend’s Pitchfork Music Festival turned out to be a real blog-slog down memory lane. Between all the friends, fans and bands, we must’ve run into two hundred people spanning the last fifteen years of our collective lives. Everywhere we turned it was one wonderful run-in after another, friends, food and weirdness galore.

And last (but definitely not least), I haven’t said anything yet about the night we found ourselves all of a sudden (4:30 AM) at a dance party on the Southside of Chicago with Drill Team’s Brooke Morris and Yeasayer’s Jay Tram. Walking in, we bumped into twin brothers/DJs Greg & Darin Bresnitz from Brooklyn’s Finger On The Pulse. Of course. In unison, they said, “Dude, have you been to the basement yet?” I replied, “No, why?” They replied, again in unison, “Dude, just do it. Go down there right now.”

So we walked downstairs to discover—NO JOKE—full blown, raging cage-match boxing action. I’m talking about rugged, brrrrrrutal, Fight Club-style pummeling…in a cage. Close your eyes. Picture a low ceiling covered in peeling lead paint, cig smoke so hectic you feel like you’re inhaling a thousand dirty mattresses, hundreds of crushed PBR cans, a dim lamp shade made out of a white plastic bucket and a raw 100 watt bulb, more crushed PBR cans, half a dozen crumpled couches and busted chairs, and a cage full of men and women annihilating one another while crazy bad G ‘n’ R and Rage Against The Machine jams blare through a crappy soundsystem…

Basically, I stumbled upon someone’s version of perfection—my version. Chicago + Pitchfork Music Festival + Southside Dance Party + Random Basement Rage Cage = AWESOME.

From the many great performances to the exceptional food vendors, (indeed, everything from the finest gourmet cuisines to the whackest, most delicious death lards), to the speakeasy run by the karaoke singing, WWII vet/bartender (what? yeah), to the $19.99 blowup pools and Scarface & Tweedy Bird beach towels to just the city itself—Chicago is a fantastic town full of interesting history, beautiful neighborhoods and smart, funny people.

Chicago thanks for showing us a supremely good time. We’ll see you at the Pitchfork Music Festival again next year.

Bicycle Film Festival San Francisco Photos

We added some photos from San Francisco to the Bicycle Film Festival set on Flickr.

BFF is visiting Portland this weekend. Make sure to see some of the movies that are being shown. Specially the portrait of the legendary Italian Frame Builder Giovanni Pelizzoli aka “Ciocc”. Amazing film.

Anima D’Acciaio Trailer Ver5.1 from Cinecycle on Vimeo.

UPDATE: Amelia sent us some photos from the BFF in Oakland. Scraper Bikes!

Summer BBQ Blowout #3 Announcement

Incase & Finger On The Pulse Presents:
Summer BBQ Blowout # 3
with Chef Sam Mason & Harlem Shakes
July 29th @ Hope Lounge
10 Hope Street, Brooklyn, NY
7-11PM

For some reason, this year, summer feels like it is flying by. Hard to believe Incase and Finger On The Pulse are already on our 3rd BBQ Blowout. Does anyone else out there feel like the season’s already halfway over? But doesn’t it also kinda feel like it hasn’t even really begun yet? Weird. Fortunately for the good citizens of Brooklyn, all signs suggest this month’s Finger On The Pulse BBQ will be amazing. Not, like, faux-amazing. Rather, actually amazing. As in, it just might kick summer into full swing.

Here’s why:

1. Entrance to the BBQ is free!
2. Sam Mason! Just $5 bucks gets you a heaping pile of BBQ created by brilliant chef Sam Mason, host of Dinner With The Band, and one of our favorite people. Mason is a seriously gifted chef. Ask anyone who scarfed down Mason’s BBQ at last year’s event, you’ll remember your BBQ experience for many, many years to come. Not kidding! Search high & low, far & wide— we guarantee this will be the best $5 meal in town.
3. We’ve asked The Harlem Shakes to DJ. This means more likely than not, your ears will be as happy as your taste buds.
4. The Hope Lounge has a good vibe. Not corny and not uncomfortable. Go there and relax.
5. And last but not least, in addition to all that nice stuff above, Incase will be doling out boat loads of free Slider Cases for your iPods & iPhones. Piles and piles of Slider Cases. In a veritable cornucopia of vibrant colors. Take as many as you like. They look good and work wonders.

For an evening mid-week lurk sesh, it doesn’t get much better than this. Guaranteed to be easy-breezy, inexpensive, and terrifyingly filling.

Save the date, we hope to see you there.

Swimming With Sharks Pool Party

Incase is sponsoring the Swimming With Sharks pool party at the Downtown LA Standard Hotel. Happens this weekend, Saturday, July 25th. We will be on hand gifting Slider Cases for iPod & iPhone, as well as doling out prize packages to contest winners, etc….

Incase at Pitchfork Music Festival 2009

Now in its 5th year, it is just about time for the Pitchfork Music Festival and its 55,000 attendees to again swoop down on Chicago’s Union Park. Held over the course of three long, loud days & nights, Pitchfork is by far and away the most anticipated outdoor music event of the summer. Most anticipated that is, if you’re an indie rocker in skinny jeans with an ear for clanky-clonky twee jams made by other indie rockers in skinny jeans. Psyche! That’s not entirely true.

In addition to 39 other celebrated independent acts from across the musical spectrum, this year Pitchfork plays host to the behemoth reunion of The Jesus Lizard, hands down one of the greatest live bands of all time.

As a sponsor of this year’s festival, Incase will be on hand with bin stations spread out around the events grounds gifting attendees with a rainbow avalanche of free slider cases for iPod & iPhone. Also, be sure to stop by Pitchfork’s Recycling Store for additional Incase prizes and recycling contest giveaways.

Word to the wise— Wear a hat, drink water. Maybe bring a sheet or small blanket, you’re gonna want to lay down now and again. Seriously.

Have fun, we hope to see you there.

July 17, 18, 19th
Union Park
Chicago, IL

BFF SF

The Bicycle Film Festival is starting today SF. There is way too much to do and see, so make sure to check the schedule and plan accordingly.

MASH Tour of California 2009 Video Preview

As every bike fanatic knows, the MASH guys rode the Tour of California this year on their track bikes. Mike Martin documented the ride and MASH is in the process of releasing a video for this. The preview is now available on Vimeo.

MASH blogged their journey on our site. Here’s the story in 6 parts:

1. Mash Rides
2. The Oldest and the Youngest
3. Gear Selection
4. A Day in the Life
5. Spectators
6. Final Thoughts