A new blog is up...

I've "started" a new blog dedicated to culture in Spain and, to a larger degree, in Europe, but I haven't posted anything yet...

napoleonatseven.blogspot.com

The end of Supplying Demand...

Supplying Demand is finished, but I'll be starting another blog centered around Spanish and European culture soon. Check back for more information.

And, of course, thanks for reading.

B.W.I.

Supply: Teddy Shoes

I stopped by Teddy Shoes in Central Square, Cambridge the other day to talk to Steven Adelson, the owner and son of Teddy, who opened the store in 1957. They started off with factory close-outs and seconds (thus the "Cancellations" below the name), but then got more specialized in 1993, when he bought $3,000 worth of Capezio dance shoes and the sole right to distribute them in Cambridge.

At the time, it was a big investment. I thought I was going to poop my pants.

Since then, he's done orders of $30,000, so now it's not so much a big deal.

The store is, it's fair to say, packed, and carries many kinds of specialized shoes and outfits, often stuff that is discontinued or otherwise hard to find. Steve said they'd recently gotten orders from Bahrain, France, and Malaysia. Dance shoes are a big part of his business, but not the only one.

We carry a lot of unique sections of the market: ladies' heels, cross-dressers, cross-gender.

He said one reason men who cross-dress come to him is that he's got heels in their (large) size.

We talked quality and style. "You can have a shoe that's plastic and looks like leather and feels like it," Steven explained, pulling a pair of men's dress shoes off the shelf. He thinks making the customer happy is more important than what the shoe is made of. Later, a woman came who speaking French, and he explained their refund policy in her language. (He said he picked it up in high school.) After she left he explained (succinctly) his perspective:

If the customer can't bring something back, what good is that?

Steven got busy, and I wandered around. Vicki Morgenstern was trying things on.

It's a dying art, these shoes. It's like a Parisian store.

We talked about how his business has changed. He can sell stuff now that he wouldn't have before.

The store and product mix have become more yuppified...for example, tango shoes for upwards of $200.

The Internet has been bad for Teddy Shoes, partly, Steven said, because people try things on in the store then go home and buy them online. Steven's started his own sites to counteract that, though.

Steven got busy again, and I started talking to Amanda Kupiel, a young woman, originally from Ghana, who works in the store. I asked her for tips for women. "If you want to make jeans and a top dressy, you just put on heels," she explained. We starting talking about heels; Amanda's 5'10" and is afraid to wear ones that are too high. "The highest I'll go is 4 inches," she said. We talked about the dangers of going higher.

Is it intimidating to guys?

It's intimidating to me!

Steven shut the store, and I prepared to go. We talked about why there were so many different kinds of shoes in the world. "Everybody has their own whistles they walk to," he said, and I left.

Demand: Hooni, 25 July 2009, Boston Common

I mostly talked hair with Hooni, who was from Korea. He cuts his hair in layers and waxes it to get a spiky, pointed look, which he acknowleged was kind of androgynous. (He said he was inspired by Korean actor Won Bin.) We talked about the difference between American and Korean approaches to hair.

American guys want to be more masculine. We're more 50/50. It's a trend in Korea to be a more girlish guy. It's not gay.

Demand: Lauren, 24 July 2009, Loews Boston Common

I approached Lauren because of her massive shades. It turned out that she works at the ICA. We talked about how artists don't wear preppy clothes and whether a preference for Urban Outfitters over Abercrombie & Fitch was really actually sort of arbitrary.

She explained that she'd gotten her moccasins three years ago from Minnetonka Moccasins and that they were real leather.

You're going to a funeral and then a monster truck rally on the same day, and you don't have time to change. What do you wear?

I can't even picture what it would be like at a monster truck rally...

What wouldn't you be caught dead in that your parents might wear?

My mom has some pretty good-looking mom jeans, but I wouldn't wear them.

What's hottest: robots, ninjas, pirates or elves?

Robots.

Why?

My boyfriend walks like a robot.

Supply: Fishs Eddy

I was in Manhattan, on vacation, and my friend asked if we could stop in this store. Fishs Eddy was at first glance a domestics store, but with that kind of understated flair for kitsch that seems to be everywhere now. Below, the photographic evidence.

Supply: fire art

I ran into Logan on Boston Common, where he was practicing rope dart with a small group. Rope dart is a length of rope with a small dart attached, or, in Logan's case, a fist-sized ball. You alternately wrap the rope around parts of your body -- your arms, legs, even your neck -- and twist around in order to launch it, often using the momentum already built up.

It's very uncommon in the U.S. Ultimately I want to find somebody to teach me. The reason I teach is to find somebody to surpass me.

The twist is that Logan does this as fire art, which is to say the fist-sized ball he is swinging around is, in performance, lit on fire.

He also does "contact fire", aka "fleshing", which means putting a thin strip of fuel across the skin and lighting it. Normally, Logan explained, you ignite the line and, at the end of the line, there's a torch of some sort waiting to be lit off of your body.

A lot of the appeal of fleshing is being naughty. Every performance I've seen has been very sensual.

I had to ask him about accidents; he told me about a time he was using the fire whip.

When you crack the whip, it literally shoots fireballs.

There was a time when one blew back on him, but, of course, he survived.

I've been on fire -- I know how to put myself out...The entire left half of my torso was on fire.

I had to ask, "Why fire art?" He says it's largely because of the performance aspect, and, of course, a touch of fascination with flame. Julia, another performer, added, "It's the adult version of pyromania that doesn't include burning things down."

Demand: Darcey and Kevin, 11 July 2009, Harvard Square

Darcey had sold shoes and knew her business.

Darcey: I wear heels I can go-go dance or catch a bus in...What makes a heel comfortable is the pitch, not the height...I'm fanatical about good fit.

We talked about geometry for a minute, then Kevin came back from somewhere. He had really finely-grained shoes.

They look expensive.

Kevin: I bet they are. I found them in the free box.

He was also wearing glow-in-the-dark sunglasses. We talked about the absurdity of that for a moment.

What's your favorite fashion decade?

Kevin: The early 70's...I also like the 30's, the 40's.

Darcey: Then there's the 70's doing the 30's and 40's -- that's my favorite.

Supply: Proletariat, Harvard Square

Proletariat is a store in the Garage, the small indoor mall in Harvard Square. Besides for the house clothing line, they sell vintage t-shirts, skateboard gear and spray paint stuff.

A label on the Proletariat jeans.

The premium vintage t's.

Read carefully.

Supply: the Uyghur hat

I was hanging out in Harvard Square the other day when I saw two guys wearing this hat, which they explained was a traditional hat of the Uyghur people, who live in what is normally called the Xinjiang province of China.

The guys actually wearing the hats declined to be photographed, but their friend Uchkun kindly agreed to model it for me.

Demand: Nica, Kate, and Devin, 9 July 2009, Boston Common

Nica's dress was from Anthropologie: "I chose it because it spins nicely."

Devin's the guy; Kate's the girl.

Let's say you have to go to a funeral and a monster truck rally on the same day, and you won't have time to change in between. What do you put on in the morning?

Devin: Black dungarees. It's austere for the funeral but badass for the monster truck rally...with a black cowboy hat.

You see somebody from 20 feet away and you know they're a douchebag. What are they wearing?

Kate: It would definitely be the popped collar. Extra points for two layered on top of each other. And boat shoes.

What's hottest: robots, elves, pirates or ninjas?

Kate: Pirates.

Nica: If they have nice teeth.

Demand: Tim, 9 July 2009, Boston Common

I asked Tim to explain his style.

In Boston, it would lean slightly hipster...When I lived in the Ukraine, I had, like, a mullet, [and] a trashy jacket...it looked right at the time...In Korea, it was based a lot on jackets, blazers, jeans, white loafers (knock offs, of, like, Gucci stuff)...Wherever you are, you want to do something that's based on where you are, but still stand out a little.

I tried to distract him with a bullshit question while I scrambled to write down what he was saying.

What do you do for a living?

I'm like an entrepreneur.

You're like an entrepreneur?

I overuse the word "like".

Supply: Hub Comics, Union Square, Somerville

One Friday afternoon recently, I stopped by Hub Comics in Somerville's Union Square. Jesse Farrell, whose been manager since the store opened in January of 2008, agreed to show me around.

Farrell was wearing a tie that day, and he said he always does.

Comic shops often have a reputation of being dingy boys' clubs...I wanted to buck that image. At the same time, I don't wear shoes.

We ended up talking a lot about his personal tastes in comics. He started out reading the Fantastic Four as a kid, but these days he's more loyal to particular writers and artists than any series; he mentioned Grant Morrison, who had a stint writing X-Men, as an example of someone who brings in a lot of different influences to keep the stories fresh.

The store had lots of toys and mainstream comics, but there was a shelf of books about comics and a large wall of non-superhero stuff.

How have mainstream comics been influenced by independents?

The fact that they're more character-oriented than plot-oriented.

He thinks that while the Watchmen has been influential, later attempts to capture the spirit of the series haven't been as successful.

The took the darkness and grittiness but they didn't get the depth.

Talk turned, almost inevitably, to the advent of the comic-book movies. Usually, Jesse prefers the comics they are drawn from.

Comics are a very intimate medium. You control the pace and the sort of voicing...Film is a more inclusive experiences...It's made to be viewed by more people at once.

I asked him what he reads when he picks a up a book. He said he doesn't read much genre fiction.

I guess I get enough fanciful stuff from comics. When I'm reading a comic, I'm using a lot of imagination to activate.

Demand: Sean and Bre, 5 July 2009, Harvard Square

Sean (the guy) and Bre (the girl) were into video games.

Have you ever dreamed in video game?

Bre: Old-school Zelda!...I had a nightmare about Link running after the mailman.

(It turns out this is not that old-school, since it's not in the 8-bit game, but a later one.)

Bre said her favorite game was Resident Evil. "I like a challenge when I get into a boss fight in a game," she explained.

What's a video game phenomenon you don't understand?

Bre: Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball.

Supply: Landon Richmond, Part 2

[Continued from yesterday.]

I dropped by Landon’s spot again last week, and he seemed to be doing better; in April he had just broken up with a girlfriend. “I became a borderline alcoholic,” he said. But he found a new girlfriend who’s helping him with the business side of things, people are selling his stuff around town for him, and he’ll be part of a small group show in a couple of months put on by the Art Asylum Boston.

“We’re literally taking popular culture and applying it to popular culture,” he said, explaining the show was Star Wars themed. I expressed confusion. “Like Law and Order, but the jury is full of storm troopers,” he said, although this was just an example, not something someone had actually done. He was going to paint Han Solo pointing a gun at Luke Skywalker.

We talked again about the business side of art. “One of the things I’m dealing with is the concept of selling out,” he said. He was going through a catalog of his work recently with someone, and “the tone of my voice was the same as I’d use to ask what kind of car they want…I wonder, how is this going to affect the art I make?” he said. “I have yet to compromise my own integrity.”

(courtesy of Landon Richmond)

His life has changed a lot since he started selling his prints. When I met him in April, he had told me that selling his art had really changed his way of interacting with people: “When I first came out here, I was really socially awkward.” Now everything seemed to be going well, “but all the while, I’m looking back and wondering, ‘Is it legit?’…Sometimes it feels contrived.”

A customer looked at the prints arrayed on the sidewalk. “Come on, ask me a question!” Landon yelled.

(courtesy of Landon Richmond)