Johnny Cupcakes

Tomorrow (Saturday) I will be presenting another one of my wacky, childhood movies at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Boston – The Wizard. This movie has Fred Savage at his prime, along with beautiful folk singer, Jenny Lewis. Multiple old school Nintendo battles throughout this movie make it a great trip down memory lane. Free raffle tickets + other goodies will be given out at the movies. Advanced tickets can be purchased through the Coolidge Corner Theatre’s website, or by clicking the product/link in my online shop.
In addition to that, we will have some limited edition, numbered posters – as well as a small pre-release of some near future Johnny Cupcakes Power-Mitt t-shirts. Oh yeah, I’m going to battle someone from the audience in Nintendo’s Dr. Mario before the movie starts. If you win, I’ll give you a prize.
In a few days, I’ll be taking a trip to London for the first time in my life. While in the UK, I will be venturing on over to Leeds – where I will be lecturing at Leeds College of Art + Design. This lecture is free + open to the public! I’d love to meet all of my loyal international customers. Here’s a link to the facebook event page. There might be one other event lined up for London. I want to organize a last minute meet up somewhere in central London. I can’t promise anything just yet so stay tuned.
Also – I will be lecturing in Tokyo + Osaka Japan towards the end of June. I have a translator and everything, so it should be interesting/awesome. I’ve never been to Japan before… I’m sure my brain is going to explode the second I get there. I will probably bring an empty suitcase so I can bring back a bazillion little knick-knacks, treats + toys. I will post up some flyers + info soon!
I’m going to go buy a new camera now, so I can take video snippets of my travels, projects, memories and what not. For more news and updates, keep checking my blog or click here to follow me on Twitter. I’ve been so busy I haven’t been able to trim my beard. I should put that down on the list of 100 things that I need to do before leaving the country on Monday. I look very concerned, eh? I am trying my best not to procrastinate on packing like I do every single trip.
…now where did I put that passport…

Here’s a quick little video clip/interview from my Boston shops 3 year Anniversary that Cupcakes Take The Cake did. More photos + video(s) will be up in the nearish future. Hang in there.

Johnny Cupcakes interview by
Cupcakes Take the Cake at Newbury Street 3-year Anniversary
Event from Cupcakes Take the Cake
on Vimeo.

New Johnny Cupcakes t-shirts + exclusives available now – both in our online shop above – and in stores:
279 Newbury Street, Boston MA. – 7959 Melrose Ave. Los Angeles, CA. – 17 Nantasket Rd, Hull, MA
• 100% cotton pique
• This cut+sewn product was baked from scratch.
• Garment dyed polo to give that vintage feel. Dark grey with purple contrast details.
• Purple applique cupcake crossbones logo on chest.
• Purple tape in button placket.
• Signature GLOW IN THE DARK buttons with “johnny cupcakes” etched into the top in front placket with bright red thread in sewing detail.
• 4 buttons instead of the traditional 3, leaving extra breathing room.
• Printed design on back yoke and under collar.
• We gave women a more shapely fit, and the men have a more masculine shape. So the polos will run true to size.

If you’re playing capture the flag, or simply running from the police, make sure you cover up those glow in the dark buttons!


• 1/2 Dozen Stud Earrings.
• Custom, collectible packaging.
• Stud earrings come in 6 delicious flavors: strawberry sprinkle, key lime (glow in the dark!), blueberry cream cheese, chocolate raspberry, black forest and red velvet.
• Wear your favorite color to match your t-shirt, or mix and match flavors!

A little while back, my friend Bobby Hundreds asked me to be a part of his tribute to hardcore collaboration series, that his brand The Hundreds was working on. I agreed and thought it would be a perfect match since both of our brands have somewhat rooted from the music scene. I came up with a fun idea, inspired by hardcore t-shirts, imagery and popular quotes. Note the cupcake microphone + assorted brand members.

These t-shirts are limited and only available through The Hundreds. They will be released tomorrow (Thursday) at The Hundreds Los Angeles and The Hundreds San Francisco. Different colorways at each location. Make sure you check out the other great collaborations too!


As a young teenager with no license, finding good shows to go to (or shows in general) was a scavenger hunt on its own. Nobody really owned computers, and if they did – it was to play Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego, SNOOD, or this new thing at the time called AOL (and goofing around in adult chat rooms that we probably shouldn’t be in).
My friends and I would take all sorts of public transportation into and around the city of Boston. Record shops, cafe bulletin boards and rusty staple-infested telephone poles are where we scored flyers for hardcore shows. Maybe that was one of the additives that made me enjoy + appreciate shows that much more? The fact that only the few knew about + appreciated shows. Whether it be a hardcore show, punk show or hip-hop – if you felt like going to a show, you really had to physically search, meaning you were definitely into it more than the average person. So before Myspace Music came about, you had both passionate show kids and passionate, hard working bands who’ve spent most of their own pocket change, toured in dangerous vehicles and on everyday PB + J diets. This stumbled-upon hardcore music and what it stood for was meaningful, different and refreshing. And it always blew my mind how people would come out of the wood works to go to all these hardcore shows, some in which were in the middle of Nowhereville, Massachusetts.
Going to shows also added to the list of fun things that replaced going to parties. I found out that I wasn’t the only nerd who didn’t drink or do drugs – and that it was actually cool to not be a party person? It was hard to believe this existed, but there was a whole subculture of positive people who lived clean lives. Parents and police thought it was the biggest lie though, ha! I guess I could see where they’re coming from though. You mix tattooed kids who violently mosh and listen to loud screaming music, with decent morals..c’mon what’s the catch? From a parent or cops point of view, it definitely does seem suspicious. Living a drug + alcohol free lifestyle has surely contributed to my success, allowing me to stay focus and to save heaps of time + money. I don’t look down on anyone who parties at all, it’s just simply not for me. However, I will sometimes go out with my friends who party, and I’ll order a Shirley Temple with extra cherries. Occasionally I’ll play tricks on my friends when they’re not paying attention. My ultimate favorite is putting Orajel (the mouth-numbing gel for cavities) on the rims of their drinks, so that their lips go numb after they take a few sips. They then try to hit on some cute girl and before they know it – BAM! They’re drooling all over themselves because their lips are numb!
Going to shows, writing music, or touring in my band + playing shows, the hardcore/metal music scene was one of the key elements/foundations of my brand Johnny Cupcakes, and it’s D.I.Y. (do it yourself) work ethic.

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A little bit of music influenced history:

-My friend Jonathan and I would always have a blast coming up with ideas and designs for flyers. At 15 years old we’d make them for shows that our band Sweeps would play at the time. We would be spending hours on the school’s computers (after school) using Microsoft Paint. By the way, after sending one of our demo cassette tapes to CBGB’s, at 15 years old our crappy/awesome hardcore/punk/rap band played CBGB’s in New York City. It was on a Wednesday night in front of like 3 people, but it’s one of our best memories.

-I bought a pin/badge/button making machine and attempted making pins for some of my favorite bands, friends bands — as well as random designs.

-Collecting both 7″ vinyl records and promotional white-label instrumental hip-hop records was where I started paying more attention and appreciation towards not only album artwork, but limited, numbered 7″ records.

-My passion for music led me to my new found job at a local record shop in Braintree, Massachusetts called Newbury Comics. Every week I would be answering the telephone and digging through the crates looking for sought after, limited 7″ records + comic books. I began taking notice and having an understanding of why people collected things that weren’t mass produced.

-My friend and I would always pay close attention to the details that some bands put into their merchandise. When getting t-shirts made for the band that I was in, I thought it would be funny to print a random t-shirt with one of my nicknames on it – Johnny Cupcakes.

-I sold some of my first Johnny Cupcakes t-shirts not only out of the trunk of my beat up 89′ Toyota Camry in the back parking lot of the record shop I worked at, but mostly at hardcore + metal shows. When you see some tough, tattooed band and/or person moshing with a cupcake t-shirt on – it’s sorta hard to forget. This caused confusion + curiosity which is exactly what I wanted. So many people asked questions and the word got who I was and what band I was in.

-The hardcore/metal band I was in at the time, On Broken Wings, got signed to Eulogy Records and we began touring the U.S. with bands like: Integrity, Embrace Today, Evergreen Terrace, A Life Once Lost, The Red Chord, The Acacia Strain and more. We might of gotten some venues shut down and maybe we weren’t everybody’s favorite band – but we were all best friends that got to tour places we’ve never been before. Impressing everybody wasn’t our main objective, but we some how managed to sell out many venues in the U.S.. Lots of random people would come up to me at shows, asking for these Johnny Cupcakes t-shirts. Even though they were jam packed in my nasty suitcase, wrinkled up, smelt like gas + Fast Food, I somehow ended up selling out of t-shirts. My mom + little sister would ship out packages of t-shirts to whatever city I was in.

-I decided to part ways with the band and take a huge risk with this Johnny Cupcakes hobby. After attending some tradeshows, I decided to keep my t-shirts limited edition, homegrown, pay attention to packaging + details, and to not sell out by keeping my product exclusive and only sold through me, Johnny Cupcakes (not corporate chain stores). I ended up turning down many offers from Urban Outfitters, Nordstroms, Macy’s + more. I want all of my customers to have a connection with my brand, rather than some Joe Shmoe picking up a shirt he knows nothing about at the mall (sorta like a mall metal kid picking up a bands album at Hot Topic). Like I said, these are all things that I’ve learned through the hardcore music scene and that have been key ingredients in building the strong foundation of my brand, Johnny Cupcakes.

I was recently interviewed by Inc. Magazine for their annual 500|5000 issue of the fastest growing private-companies in America. Before the print issue come out in the near future, they wrote a neat little blurb about my brand on their website. Click HERE to check it out.

This snippet of advice probably falls into the category of common sense. Everywhere you look you see guys sitting on their wallets. If you’re a guy, you’re probably doing it right now! Most guys (and the author is a guy, so I ought to know) are so used to carrying that half inch or so of leather padding in the hip pocket that we only notice it when it’s not there.
Sitting on the old billfold is not much different than walking around with one shoe on and one shoe off. At least, it’s all about the same to your back. Obviously, with a wallet tucked between your cheek and your chair, you’ve created an unlevel surface. Imagine what it would look like if our bodies didn’t compensate for the imbalance through a complicated and almost entirely unconscious mechanism involving the muscles, bones, and – most importantly – the nervous system. Does a picture of the Leaning Tower of Pisa come to mind?
Fortunately, the body instinctively tries to keep the head centered over the pelvis. Unfortunately, tortuous turning and twisting of the spine is sometimes necessary to do so. Sitting on a pack of plastic cards, legal tender of the paper variety, and who-knows-what-else in that little leather wallet warming under your left buttock may be sending your lower spine straight toward right field. (If you keep your wallet in your right hip pocket, read this while looking in the mirror.) Somewhere between your lower back and the base of your skull, your spine makes a course correction. This may involve one or even two compensatory curves.

Of course, just like cigarettes and diets high in saturated fats, sitting on your wallet won’t kill you all at once. … Just kidding. The risk in this case is not a life-threatening one. But you probably are increasing your chances of having a bad back, or making a bad back even worse. And the remedy is so simple! It does not involve diets, salves, swallowing large blue and orange colored tablets, examinations of previously unheard of parts of your anatomy utilizing sophisticating electronic imagery, or experimental procedures not covered by your health insurance. However, it does involve exercise, so get ready for a workout:

   1. BEFORE YOU SIT DOWN, REACH AROUND BEHIND YOU. For some of us, this qualifies as stretching.

   2. REACH INTO YOUR BACK POCKET AND PULL OUT YOUR WALLET. This part could be strenuous.

   3. PLACE THE WALLET IN AN ALTERNATIVE LOCATION. A discussion of which locations are more or less secure than being nestled next to your tush falls outside the scope of this article.

   4. SIT DOWN on the chair, sofa, or love seat of your choice.

You will immediately have a feeling of enhanced well-being, knowing that your pelvis is perched on a level surface and all the musculoskeletal structures above it are better off for your effort.

Just a quick weekend re-cap;

-The 3rd Year Anniversary of Boston’s Newbury Street shop was a big success! 3 night camp-outs + hundreds of people. My sister, neighbor + mom gave out ice pops and bagged lunches to everyone in line.

-Some new items are already in the Los Angeles location.

-Washing instructions reminder; If you bought one of the new cut + sew Johnny Cupcakes Polos, do not dry. Make sure you wash cold + hang dry only.

-As far as releasing new products online, we’re trying to get them up by the end of this week. Hang in there.

-The events section is updated with the newest Johnny Cupcakes Presents movie. Tickets are on sale now, through www.coolidge.org

Happy Memorial Day!

Last week my favorite sister in the world (she’s my only sister, but I like saying that) – well, she graduated from Bryant University for business. I couldn’t make it through half a semester of music school, and I applaud her for sticking through it like a champ while concurring terrifying tests, great grades, sleepless study nights + more. We are all very proud of her and are excited to have her a part of the Johnny Cupcakes family (both family-family + working family).
Linsay will be working at the headquarters and helping everyone. Amongst all sorts of random stuff – she will mainly be doing human resources for the Johnny Cupcakes brand. I’ll be taking her with me on some of my lecture trips too.
Free at last!
Lots of friends + family traveled to celebrate my sisters graduation…