Johnny Cupcakes

I met a bunch of cool people yesterday. A lot of which were traveling just to check out to visit my new establishment. These two traveled from New Jersey!
Blasting through all sorts of traffic, this San Diego couple made sure they made it here. (Look! reppin the old school JC Burglar shirt!)
Woah – this guy used to go to shows back in the day at a venue my old band played on one of our first shows, Jim Dandies in Salinas (R.I.P.)

Customer Bobby(with the chains) popped into my shop a few times yesterday, and brought his crew of friends by for some baked goods.
This guy traveled from England to come here! What a champ. It’s my turn to travel overseas sometime soon… as silly as it sounds, I’ve never been overseas.
These two are from Hawaii! Say hello to my Auntie Linda and that lovely customer Gene, who sent my mom some coffee!
I’ve met many people, and I must say that Filipino’s have got to be some of the most family oriented, happy, funny people. This group of cousins/friends/family members – all hung out in the shop, laughing and cracking jokes with eachother… it felt as if they were my distant cousins.

The SAME thing happened when my pals from Dear Life / Loud + Obnoxious rolled through… friendly Filipino’s, nearly a dozen of them happily crammed into a small jeep and they all came out like that one Coolio music video. It’s not often you see that many people hanging out, never mind half of them being related. By the way, call me Matty + Vince! I’ll be in town until Wednesday the 10th.

Alrighty… It’s Saturday morning. Time to drink a tall glass of OJ and head back to the shop!

On my way to Los Angeles this morning, I encountered a loud, stern, yet funny airport security guy. As I walked through wearing one of my shirts, I took part in the following conversation;

“Nice Johnny Cupcakes shirt! I know him.” — “Thank you. I am him.” — “No shit! I loved On Broken Wings. I remember when you used to sell your shirts at hardcore shows back in the day. I see people with your shirts coming through here all the time. Have a safe flight – I’m proud of ya man, you’ve come a long way.“

…Even tough guys have a sweet spot for cupcakes.

I am now in Los Angeles at my new place and will be here for almost 2 weeks. I will be sure to make an appearance in my shop for most of the day this Saturday + Sunday… as well as next Saturday + Sunday… and at random times throughout the week. Come say hello!

Despite the very recent great white shark sitings, my friends, family, and I – all had some perfect beach days + BBQ’s on Martha’s Vineyard / South Beach last week. Horseshoes, volleyball, and Johnny-Toss were the three most popular beach activities. Since I’m the smallest + lightest out of all of my friends, they decided to see how high / how far they could toss me in the ocean. It was pretty fun. I felt like I was getting shot out of an old fashioned circus canon. Thank goodness I didn’t do a belly-flop… or any flop for that matter!

Summer went by pretty quick — or did it? I spent most of my summer(and spring and winter) going back + forth designing and getting my new shop up and open. I’m glad I took as long as I did though – It definitely wasn’t something I could rush. I wanted to create a memorable shopping experience that portrayed both my brand and my personality. I wanted to bring the kid out in everyone. If you haven’t been yet, try to make plans to!

I’m in love with this end-of-summer/fall weather that has been starting to blow through Massachusetts. And even though I didn’t experience the whole college life, I get excited seeing students from all over the world, move into the city of Boston in prep for the new chapter of their lives. It’s sorta like going to camp. Anyways, new chapters are good. Change is great, as long as it’s for the better.

As summer reaches an end, I’m conjuring up many recipes for the fall and the future. A lot of very exciting stuff. I promise you that it will only get better! Get ready to read, see, and experience some new chapers of my brand/life. Everything up until this point has merely been the beginning.

Just a few of the many treats my friends and I engulfed on our trip. Most was created by my Uncle Eddie. My stomach hurts just looking at all of this. Homemade mac + cheese with 9 different cheeses (I didn’t know that many cheeses existed!), homemade cream puffs that tasted as if you were biting into a cloud from the heavens above. I did not get to photograph some of the other meals, simply because I was too hungry to let my food get the least bit cold. My ultimate favorite was Uncle Eddie’s ‘Oysters Florentine’. Freshly picked from the ocean 2 hours prior to our meal, baked with melted cheese, spinach + olive oil. In a caveman-like manner, I literally cleaned every shell + the pans with my mouth.

Some of many photos I took on my recent vacation I embarked on with 15 of my friends. After a full day of volleyball, we retreated back to my cousins home for some grilled food + relaxation. Alex warming up the grill before our night out to see RJD2. Why RJD2 was playing on Martha’s Vineyard baffles me! But it was perfect timing and his live show was excellent! If you haven’t heard RJD2 before, I highly suggest lookling into him.
Per usual, the lovely Emma is enjoying electronic communication….
….Juris is happily enjoying none.

While I’m perfectly fine with my camera, drawing, and drinking Nantucket Nectars — Burke occasionally drinks to think.
See. Burke composing some riffs for the new On Broken Wings record…
…while Chuck is listening to old On Broken Wings.
Dave sits back worried and dreading the thought of how bad his sunburn is going to turn out. He ended up peeling like a little kids Elmer’s Glue-filled hands in art class. After the painful process of peeling was sorta-kinda over, Dave was overall happy that he lost his farmers tan and gained a new found love for volleyball.
Different strokes for different folks! We all have different things that make us happy + unique. While I may not agree with 90% of the things my friends partake in, I still love them to pieces and had yet another much needed, unforgettable, fun vacation!
To each his own!

What do these two great guys have in common? They both shopped at my Los Angeles location in the past couple of weeks. It feels weird yet awesome, that two people I look up to – shopped at a place I created. Hopefully I’ll be there next time they come in – and we can get burgers next door.

I’ve been on the hunt for my home away from home. I’m hoping to find a nice place in West Hollywood — nearby my Melrose location(Thank you Kellen, for being a part of Team Search U.S.A.!) I’m going to try to head to LA for two weeks, every month or so. It’s important for me to split up my time between my shops and to hang with my employees and customers. I wouldn’t be here without them!

I’ll be out in LA on the 29th of this month, then heading back to Boston on the 10th of September. I may be busy moving into my new place (hopefully), going to meetings, and doing a few magazine interviews. I should be at my Los Angeles location on the weekend(s) in between my visit. Come say hello!

Wish me luck on finding a cozy place in LA…

While on my most recent trip to Martha’s Vineyard, I brought some fun gifts for my little cousins. Just like me – they love toys, monsters, pranks, and pretty much anything random. Above are just a few of the many wacky gifts I presented to them.

I remember when I was 5 or so years old, I used to be so excited when my auntie Linda would visit. She’d always bring the most rad gifts. Auntie Linda contributed to 92% of my He-Man / Masters Of The Universe collection. Stinkor was my favorite He-Man villain. He even smelt like a skunk! For some odd reason, I like the smell of skunks. Perhaps it has to do with that Stinkor toy from my youth? My passion for packaging and details was definitely spawned from my youth. Same goes for my weirdo-ness! Thank you mom, dad + auntie Linda!

These are some of my friends sleeping, as I drove like a mad man to make it to our ferry/boat to Martha’s Vineyard. Sorry for the lack of updates! I’m getting back in gear to get my Dookie Howser-esq blog, back in action. I went on my first vacation this year, and tried my hardest to not work. Of course I fell behind in a bazillion e-mails + myspace messages I receive every day. I apologize for not being as responsive.
There’s a lot of great recipes being put together for the future + near future. Exclusive Halloween themed shirts AND the all mighty ‘There’s Something In The Cupcake Mix’ releases – in which I will announce the dates and more info soon. Hoodies and new t-shirts to drop this fall sometime. A new website to be on the look out for – as well as other webisodes and a new photo gallery from the grand opening of the LA shoppe.
Be sure to take advantage of the Bake Sale in my online shop before your size is sold out!
Although I did have a blast – I also had the pleasure of mastering the art + somewhat mastering the tolerance of being Johnny Taxicakes / Johnny Designated Driver-cakes. Speaking of being a taxi cab driver – that’s how my parents met. My dad was a taxi cab driver and he would drive my mom places. Time went on and he found her + wrote her a love letter which won her heart. More photos of my trip to come soon. zzzZZzzZz