I recently went sailing with my friend PJ. He is a joyful soul, jam packed with adventure. Every summer we venture out on his boat a handful of times each month. And in the summer he sails to Martha's Vineyard to meet up with all of us for our annual week vacation. Below are some other adventures + memories that have been had with PJ and/or his epic sailboat;
-Jumping off of PJ's sailboat is another tradition. He has this rope esq. wire that we swing from. One time my friends Burke and Jerome kayaked out to PJ's boat so we could jump off it. I told everyone that they had to make up a name for their jumps. Mine was the duck dive/jump, in which my move was to flap my arms like a ducks wings and quack. Jerome did some canon ball maneuver, I forget the name of it though. And Burke yelled out "Poopy" when he was in the air, yet he jumped regular. "Hmmm..." A few second later, we saw Burkes bare bum pop up and surface the water, and a long poop came out. It was so long that it looked like a cursive J. This was funny for about 30 seconds, and then Jerome and I realized that the waters current was coming towards us, which meant Burkes cursive J of a poop was floating out way! The scary thing about this was that the poop was disintegrating into hundreds of little bits as it floated towards us rapidly. Jerome and I have never swam so fast in our lives. Luckily we made it to the boat with out being contaminated. We then sat on the boat for a half an hour until we felt as if all the poopy bits floated away.
-Back in highschool, a bunch of friends and myself would hang out in his basement. It was like the Peach Pitt of 90210, but of my town. We would play Sega and listen to Beastie Boys while PJ would do tricks on one of his random wheelchairs. One time I put orajel on the rim of his drink/cup and it made his mouth numb. I video taped it too... I'm going to have to find it somewhere! Another time our friend Elan had a party and PJ passed out on Elans couch. When he was asleep, Elan and I tied half of a drum set to PJ's arms and ankles, amongst many other radom, inconvenient items. He then woke up and immediately fell while drums clashed all over him. PJ chased me around and I locked myself in Elans bathroom, where I practically slept.
-Every winter all of our friends go to PJ's New Hampshire cabin, which is tucked away in Conway. I usually come up with some tricky way to scare everyone at night. In addition to my child-like schemes, we sneak on some of the ski slopes when the hills are closed at night and we sled. Not only do we sled, but we sled on random objects. One winter I went down part of Mount Attitash with a tin lid to those popcorn buckets you get around the holidays. I think I went down at 77mph. We also sneak into this huge bates-like hotel, to use their heated pool which is half inside and half outside. Some of us sneak in the sauna. I dislike saunas. They're muggy, hot, give many headaches, and there's always a naked old man inside em. I have nothing against naked old men, I'm going to be one someday. But hanging out in a sweat box / headachey sauna is not my idea of fun.
-One night during every summer, we all try to sail over to Paddocks Island to sneak on shore and camp out. Venturing in and through the old, haunted, boarded up prison, gathering around small bonfire, mastering s'mores with the golden yellow tint (I can't stand when people let their marshmallows burn to a crisp!), food grilling, ghost stories, laughs, and then the numbing cold morning swim back out to PJ's boat. There are many other memories that have been had and will be had with mister PJ McCann(Harvard Alumni!). Just thought I'd throw up a few traditions and fun times. Thanks for the memories PJ! Love you buddy.
- Johnny Cupcakes
Die hard.
Jun 15, 2008
Yet another random die hard Johnny Cupcaker flying in from the east coast for the special day in Los Angeles. Like I said before, it's going to be one unforgettable shopping experience.
Bringing everyone from around the globe together for the grand opening of my LA location feels like one BIG family gathering. So many people have seen this hobby/lifestyle of mine, grow leaps and bounds. From the trunk of my beat up car to this. And the other great thing about my events, is that so many random people meet new, quality friends from hanging out with each other all day.
****If you can all do me a HUGE favor, please take the LA Grand Opening flier from the EVENTS page on my website - and post it up on your Myspace and Facebooks'. It would mean a ton.****
Thank you!
- Johnny Cupcakes
Bake Sale online + few early surprise shirts in Boston.
Jun 13, 2008
Right NOW! - Bake Sale online + few early surprise shirts in Boston.
I'm turning over a new leaf with my brand, and part of that new leaf is the tremendous amount of new, freshly baked items that I'm dropping more often. Specificly, on Saturday June 21st in the Boston 279 Newbury Street location - at 3pm.
I am coming out with so many new t-shirts that I have to make room for all these shipments we're getting in. To remedy this situation I did two things;
-Number 1: I put a batch of shirts in the BAKE SALE section in the online storeonly. Hurry up and scoop up some bake sale items for the summertime, birthdays, belated graduation gifts, etc.. Limited sizes are available.
-Number 2: I just released a handful of new t-shirts in Boston. I'm actually heading over there after I type this blog post, to personally deliver a couple others. About a dozen or so MORE new and limited designs will be released at the above date, time + location next week.
As for all of you people who cannot make it, you will be missing out on a few limited, in store exclusive designs. However, the rest of the goods will be available online within a weekish after the release. I will keep everyone posted.
See you at the release.
- Johnny Cupcakes
The Happening.
Jun 13, 2008
I'm going to try and see this late tonight. M. Night-Shamalamading-dong has a great imagination. He must with a name like that. The downside about his movies is that the trailers look absolutely horrifying... you plan this adventure to the movie theaters with all of your friends - to then find out that the end of said movie(s) have very non-scary endings.
After seeing The Village, I was pretty upset. It was a good movie, don't get me wrong - I was just expecting something totally different. If my mom is making homemade banana bread and I rush home from work, drooling all over myself - to then sink my chompers into what I think was banana bread BUT ends up being raisin bread. No big deal. I love homemade anything. I was just amped up for some banana bread, and then thrown way off. Sometimes she'll make my Grammy's (RIP) Portuguese kale soup recipe, which for some reason smells like caca. We call it 'kale poop'. But anyways, it tastes amazing. And sometimes it's nice to be thrown off in that perspective. You think something is going to be not so good - and then it turns out dynamite! However, it is fun to trick your friends with mixing up Jelly Belly jellybeans with Harry Potter's gross flavored jelly beans.
So... This movie is M. Night-Shamalamading-dong's first rated R movie. What does this mean? Perhaps we'll get a good taste of what the trailer purveys + then some. We'll see!
I almost ALWAYS bring floss with me wherever I go. Especially to the movies. I love popcorn! But getting those kernel bits stuck in between your teeth is the worst. One of my best buddies, Matt, absolutely can't stand it. He always forgets until we get to the movies and we're sitting by each other. As gross as my flossing fetish sounds, I do it in the utmost proper way. I have my special methods. I don't fling blood and popcorn chunks all over the people around me. I have great hygiene and this is one of the odd - yet prime reasons why.
-Oh yeah, my favorite part about the movies is the trailers. There's nothing more exciting than seeing a fresh set of previews.
-There's nothing more annoying than planning a trip to the movies with a good chunklet of friends and having a few of them show up super late so you have to save them seats or tickets and/or miss the previews, as well having awful seats because everyone has to sit together (even though nobody talks to each other during the movies!) - However, I do like sitting together. Snack sharing and occasionally scaring the caca out of each other.
I'm getting all worked up about my likes and dislikes of the movies - time to go eat a sandwich! Have a good movie night, and lets all cross our fingers about The Happening.
- Johnny Cupcakes
Jam of the week.
Jun 11, 2008
Great band from Jacksonville, Florida. This is my jam of the week. I can't get this song out of my head! The band is called, 'Black Kids'. They have a bit of a Cure feel to em. Hope you enjoy these guys just as much as I do. Check out their myspace page for more songs, videos and tours.
- Johnny Cupcakes
G-Star / Dennis Hopper LA Party.
Jun 9, 2008
My friend / new neighbor, Christian, invited my friend and I to the the G-Star Dennis Hopper LA party. Both the label and actor / artist collaborated on some interesting pieces. It was jam packed and I literally bumped into a few People Magazine esq faces. Lindsay Lohan, Fairuza Balk (of The Craft + Return To Oz), one of the main dudes from Step Up 2 (I've never seen it, but my friend was getting all googly eyed), Pink, Dennis Hopper, Johnny Depp (it looked like him, but this guy had a weird mouth so I'm not too too positive), and a few others. It was kinda weird seeing these people that the world yaps about every day. Lindsay Lohan seemed exhausted + sad. They're all just regular people with roller coaster emotions.
Since I don't drink or (fast)dance, my friend and I just checked out the collection and people watched for a good couple of hours.
After the party we headed up to Pasadena to check out my good friends band, Everybody Out. I grew up with most of these guys and toured in a band with them for a portion of my life. Look them up online and try to catch one of their shows!
- Johnny Cupcakes
Toppings.
Jun 9, 2008
I hashed out heaps of work before leaving California. In the first photo you can see my giant chocolate sprinkles hanging up to dry. Yummm.
PS: Thoses horses are not mine, they just happened to be trotting around in the same paint room.
- Johnny Cupcakes
Magical construction.
Jun 5, 2008
I apologize for the delay in updates, I've been zipping around California for meetings every day. Couch surfing here + there. I'm in a hotel right now, so I have a tiny bit of alone time to fill you all in with some small chunklettes of eye candy. I didn't want to show too too much, and everything is still in it's building phase. I made some adjustments on colors, sizing, details, and tid bits of special effects. Photos and videos do no justice compared to seeing these creations in life. If you have the opportunity to come out for the grand opening on Saturday August 2nd, you're in for a treat.
Stay tuned for the 2nd webisode of the LA shoppe build out.
Go Celtics!
- Johnny Cupcakes
Kids rule.
Jun 2, 2008
My friends cousin graduated form the air force the other day - congrats again! We attended the celebration/bbq and it was a blast. I did many magic tricks for all the little ones. In addition to the magic tricks, I bounced heaps + leaps.
They didn't want me to leave. After I was teased, harassed and chased around the premises by the girl with the pigtails, I was caught by surprise when she asked if she'd ever see me again, and then asked for my number. Even kids play mind games! ::sigh::
Oh yeah! Before I forget, on the way to the party we cruised through some random neighborhoods in Orange County. I couldn't help but bring my rent-a-car to a screeching halt when I spotted this lemonade/ice pop stand. It brought me back to when I would hustle lemonade as a kid. I asked their mom if it was cool for me to take a photo for my blog, because I probably looked like a maniac zooming out of my car for lemonade and photos of her kids. I explained to her that I was from Boston and I was trying to take photos of my fun memories for my blog/website. She asked what my website was, and I told her. Whoaaaa - this random mom in this random neighborhood knew who I was! She didn't even believe it was me! I guess her husband was in Boston a week or two ago, and brought her back a t-shirt from my shop. Small world!
- Johnny Cupcakes
Johnny Cupcakes Events. *edit*
May 31, 2008
I just updated the Events section on my website. And to kick off the summer - I'm releasing 20 or so, fresh out of the oven, new t-shirt designs in my Boston, Newbury Street shop on Saturday June 21st at 3pm. There will be 2 in store exclusives that you can only get in Boston. One of the in store exclusive shirts is going to be numbered up to 100. Once that one design is gone, it will be gone forever. First come, first serve. Aside from the 2 in store exclusives, all of the other t-shirts will be available online within a few days to a week afterwards. And just like all my other shirts, once they're gone, they're gone. I'm trying to get into the habit of switching stuff up more often, or at least seasonally - but we'll see how that goes. I just have a lot of wacky shirt ideas that I really want to release. I do plan on having a lot more numbered / limited edition items as time moves on.
Boy oh boy... The long awaited west coast Johnny Cupcakes shoppe. It's going to be an unforgettable shopping experience. In addition to the the unveiling of my Johnny Cupcakes shoppe, there will be a heap of in store exclusives and limited/numbered shirts. I know nearly a dozen kids who plan on flying out from the east coast, to camp out for the grand opening - as well as a handful of road trippers from different spots in the U.S.. I'm also flying my friends and family out for this special day.
I just flew into California yesterday. I highly recommend you getting suitcases with wheels on them. I just did for the first time and I feel like a new man. No more broken back, hot flashes, and red shoulders that look like a lion gave me hickeys due to the straps on my heavy heavy bags.
While working on the shoppe yesterday, a couple locals spotted me out front and we talked for a little while. Really cool, down to earth kids who are just as excited as I am about the opening. I guess they plan on being first in line too? Anyways, thanks for the gummy bears + nice conversations guys!
I'll be here for a week, working on building this memorable experience for all of you. I promise, you won't be disappointed. Let the countdown begin! Be sure to re-post these online event fliers. And don't forget to mark your physical calendars, phone calendars, myspace calendars and facebook calendars. See you at both events!
PS: What else is in store for the future? Who knows...I have new ideas every 5 minutes. I'm just having fun bringing my wacky imagination to real life from the shirts, packaging, hidden treasures, to the shopping experience. This new store isn't affecting who I am at all. I'm still the same Johnny who keeps his shirts out of chain stores + malls. Who doesn't sleep at normal hours due to the constant brain storming + trying my hardest to reply to all my emails(e-mail me again if I haven't responded to you). The same Johnny that shows up at my releases and hangs out with my customers friends. I wouldn't be here without you! If there is anything you would like to see or wouldn't like to see, let me know and I will take it into consideration. I do plan on re-vamping the Boston store sometime this fall. I also have some interesting plans for my die hard customers, stoop crew soldiers, etc.. I will let the first 'X' amount of people in line, in on some secrets at the Boston release on June 21st, as well as at the grand opening in LA on August 2nd.
- Johnny Cupcakes
What a game.
May 29, 2008
Whoa.
Whats up Doc?
Coach Belichick relaxing with the family.
Happy early Fathers Day dad!
Thanks a ton Jamie! My dad and I had an amazing time.
Go Celtics!
We won! Almost at the finals... hang in there!
What a great game.
Donnie Wahlberg reppin Boston. Working on a new movie too. His non acting brother, Paul, is an amazing chef in my town - at Bridgeman's. Mark Wahlberg is working on the sequal to The Italian Job. It's titled, "The Brazilian Job". Should be jam packed with action. Let's just hope people don't go in thinking it's some booty waxin' movie because of the title.
Look mom - I'm on TV!
- Johnny Cupcakes
Celtics tonight!
May 28, 2008
So last week I posted a blog about this random customer who wears Johnny Cupcakes shirts to every other Celtics game. He's always on television because of his amazing courtside seats. Well, the day I posted said blog, he called my office up to compliment me on my story, business morals + brand. Him and his wife are both customers of mine and pop into the shop all the time. During the random telephone call, he told me that if I ever wanted to go to a game with him, or if he was ever out of town - he'd hook it up with courtside Celtics tickets. This very very kind gentlemen hooked it up indeed.
I'm going to take my dad tonight, for an early fathers day gift. Originally I was going to pretend that I needed to take my dad into Boston to fix something in the Newbury Street shop, but I doubt he would of missed the game on television. So...I had to give up on the whole surprise aspect. Anyways, keep an eye out for us tonight! I'll be wearing a black cupcake and crossbones shirt + a Batman mask. Yes, a Batman mask. Take photos of your television screen if you see me!
Thanks again Jamie, this is going to be a great memory. And a very intense game to say the least. If the Celtics and the Lakers end up playing each other, I'm going to pee my pants.
- Johnny Cupcakes
Chris & Elisabeth Wrenn.
May 27, 2008
These two lovely friends popped into my shop over the weekend. We chatted for a solid 2 hours about all sorts of stuff. Chris and Elisabeth are both straight edge, full of life, hard working, humble individuals who are happily married. Not only do they give me faith that happy couples actually DO exist - but more importantly, that you CAN juggle your business and your love life if you meet the right person. Something that I've been not so positive about in the past. It's just that finding that balance is a bit tough. I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel, thanks guys!
Chris started and runs the most respectful hardcore record label that is out there now, and that probably ever will be. Unlike other labels, Chris does this mostly for fun. He cares more about his bands being happy + successful rather than squeezing every dime out them. He's able to run business this non traditional way due to his other fun empire, Sully's Brand. Chris is the man behind 'YANKEES SUCK!' t-shirts. Seriously, he invented and owns the trademark for 'YANKEES SUCK!' as well other brilliant t-shirt designs. It helped fund his record label Bridge Nine Records and now the label funds itself, while Sully's Brand has become it's own empire.
It's always refreshing to see these two. I'm looking forward to our summer plans + adventures together, as well as watching each others lives / hobbies / business's evolve + grow.
