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The Lefty Complex with Brendan Dunne
191 Plays1 month ago
This week I am joined by Complex's own Brendan Dunne, we talk about his journey. Growing up in Idaho and going to school at The University of Oregon. How he found his love for sneakers, translating it into a full time job in sneakers. Our love to Aesop Rock and moments we had at shows! The importance of being able to do things within sneakers and much much more!
Where to find Brendan:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/@brendandunne
X: https://www.x.com/brendandunne
Complex Sneaker Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/ @Complex
Podcast Linktree: https://linktr.ee/myfirstkicks Music by The DoppleGangaz: https://thedoppelgangaz.bandcamp.com/
Recommended
Transcript
Lefty Ping Pong Experience
00:00:00
Speaker
Same with my ping pong teacher. He really singled me out as a lefty. you You took ping pong class? Yeah, table tennis too. yeah Oh, there was one? There was a table tennis one? He was mad that I skipped one. He was like, you're supposed to be in one. I didn't have to test out or anything. yeah you know Usually, you got to show your acumen in the thing to be able to skip up. I was like, let me just sign up for table tennis too because that's what my friends were in. My friends were good. yeah I was not good. The guy Lee, yeah he he let me know. He was like, I'm just going to call you lefty.
00:00:31
Speaker
it's like, come on, man. I'm paying this university thousands of dollars to teach me how to play tabletop. So all you can do is call me by my name. Come here, Lefty. Lefty, pull up here. Let me see this backhand. Let me see this backhand. Nothing right.
Introducing 'My First Kicks' with Brendan Dunn
00:00:52
Speaker
What's good everyone welcome back to my first kicks and this is a special episode. ah I got none other than the sneaker watch himself Brendan Dunn. What's happening?
00:01:03
Speaker
Yo this is episode 2 and I'm gonna say I was gonna just skip it and then not not make it happen but let's make let's just keep it at 2. This is 2 and I wanted 2 0 8 because that's my area code. Yeah, you wouldn't you wouldn't accommodate that request.
00:01:14
Speaker
you You hit me before and say, do you have any requests? do you need anything? I said, first of all, i'm upset you didn't get my rider. So we're already off to best start. And then the humble request I had was 208 and you wouldn't grant me that. So I don't really know. i don't know really know where we're going with this one, man but it might get a little aggressive. Let's see.
00:01:30
Speaker
Look, I'm here for the aggression. No, I'm not. I'm not an aggressive person. I'm never here for the aggression. Let's clear that up. We've seen you for years. You are maybe the most aggressive on the podcast. On Complex Sneaker Podcast.
00:01:43
Speaker
But also we got D in the studio. Yes, sir. And we might put this out as 208. So let's do a... D, can you do that for me? Can we do that? I'll have your people call my people. They're not going to do it. They're not going to do it. 209. Here we go. Here we go. 209. You're disturbing the balance in the force, all right? But this a huge honor to have you on, man. Thank you, man. I'm happy to be here. I know you've been asking me about it for a long time and I hope it wasn't like...
00:02:08
Speaker
I hope it wasn't like I was ducking you or I didn't want to do it. It's just like sometimes I have to get myself in the right space mentally. And I thought I was in the right space mentally till you deny me the 208. But I'm going to i'm gonna soldier through.
Persistence in Guest Invitations
00:02:19
Speaker
Respect the troops. So what's up? um Look, one.
00:02:25
Speaker
Yes, I understand. I know the truth. the you I asked you 2021. twenty twenty one i think the first time we ever met like for real for. Yeah. And then it was just like back and forth. We kept being like we run into each other. I'd be like, yo you know, yeah can you do it? But and I know the feeling well and I respect the tenacity. yeah like why would this person talk to me? No, it's fine. But I think it's just like.
00:02:45
Speaker
the I mean, I had Premium Pete on. He talked about following up. And I'm yeah i'm big on just like, if I really want to have you on, yeah I'm going to follow up. Respect. I just like, yeah, I just don't. I'm not going you up back to back. Are you going to do it? Are you going to do it? I'm just be like, OK, cool. yeah It's not happening this year. I'll wait till next year. Yeah. And then it's not happening next year. I'll wait
Brendan's Sneaker Journey Begins
00:03:03
Speaker
till the next year. So we're three years later. Here we are.
00:03:06
Speaker
And like I said, huge honor, you know, following your journey for a minute. And I wanted to sit down with you and actually, you know, hit you with the question and hear about your journey. man Yes, please. Yeah. Any questions. open to everything. I'm an open book.
00:03:18
Speaker
Open book for sure. You are. ah So tell me. not you yeah all right. So let me hit you with the question. And the question is that I ask everybody each week. What's your first kicks? Was that first pair things you absolutely needed to have?
00:03:31
Speaker
Like the first thing I acquired or the first thing I really lusted after? I mean, what i usually tell people just like whichever one bet, whichever sneaker story best describes you. Yeah.
00:03:42
Speaker
I mean, I think the first thing that I really wanted was just Nike SB dunks yeah in general. Yeah. And there wasn't a particular pair. I mean, um remember watching the movie just for kicks and thinking a pigeon dunk and talking to my friends about the pigeon dunk and how insane it would be if you had a pigeon dunk. Yeah. That was something that was.
00:03:58
Speaker
uh imprinted into my mind right away so it was just sb dunks in general i didn't get a pair until years later because i just wasn't that hip to how to source these things and in my mind they seemed so unattainable because the way that i was familiarized with them was through these legendary things like yeah tiffany or pigeon duck or whatever not knowing there were people doing tricky things to get the shoes but so i did get a pair of sps i want to say in 2005
00:04:26
Speaker
might have been 2006, but I had the Barcelona Nike SB Zoom FC. And- Ooh, the FC. Yeah, I didn't even know like what FC Barcelona was. um That part of it didn't mean anything to me, but we went to a Ross Dress for Less, and they had a pair of Zoom SB FCs for $40. And no box, if I recall correctly, but like I was like, okay, i got I'm here, I've arrived, I have a pair of SBs, nobody could tell me anything. And nobody's told me anything for 20 years since.
00:04:54
Speaker
I mean, you look, the the one thing. So the one thing about the FCs, and I wish they they need to bring those back. yeah I'm a big fan of the FCs. Like Janowski's. yeah I think it's like. I'm a big Janowski guy. Or I was a big Janowski. Is it Janowski or Janowski?
00:05:08
Speaker
Probably somewhere in between. Yeah. um I need a wino. I need a wino Janowski. Yes. The Digifloral pairs. I got all three. remember buying those at Blades. i resold I think I had a couple pairs of the first Digifloral. I think I resold one of them. But yeah.
00:05:23
Speaker
um the janowski you can't you can't really overrate that shoe it's just so so good and so important i know i know it got a little cheesed out my complex sneaker show slash podcast co-host matt wealthy who never was a janowski fan but i'll defend that sneaker um to the day die listen let me know i'll jump in we'll get yeah we'll die on that hill be you and me on the hill bleeding out with the winos on yeah with the winos on mean i think it's wine but it's actually blood And we're just there like,
Dance Dance Revolution Days
00:05:50
Speaker
please help us. And you're like, no, no, no. We were over here with just diehard dunks and only dunks only. I'm doing what we love talking, arguing about footwear.
00:05:59
Speaker
Look, that's that like that, ah which is what happens a lot often, a lot more and directed a lot at you. Yeah. So, but before we get to there, sorry yeah the ah the FC, I do feel like it was super slept on, but like the the SBs, that box era, like that pink box for the Barcelonas was just like, what's the pink box, right? I didn't have the box. I i don't know. ah I'm trying to even think because they had the Barcelonas.
00:06:25
Speaker
I'm not that good at them. So yeah, that the Boca Juniors were pink boxes. so that that yeah fc I have Boca Juniors. I love Boca Juniors. Nice shoe. Great shoe. um trying i't I've never owned them.
00:06:37
Speaker
But pink box for me, like my first pink box was the Melvins. So it wass like black Melvins. I still i still have them Yeah. do You wear them. Yeah. Yeah. I used to play DDR in them. Wow. You're a big DDR guy. Not big, but um high school I had the pads at home.
00:06:52
Speaker
but That's hard. The pad like the soft pad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what the problem was? It was they're not hard. they're soft. But it was hard for me when i actually transitioned to the arcade because I was so used. And you can cut me off if you don't want to talk about. No.
00:07:05
Speaker
um I was so used to the pads at home. And the arcade, like the metal is a little raised versus where the actual arrows are on the DDR thing. yeah So I felt like it was a hard transition. Were you playing on hardwood floor in the house? ah We had carpet. Because i I tried on carpet and it would just not stick. like them Interesting. You needed some more friction. Yeah. Yeah.
00:07:24
Speaker
I don't know. Like imagine Max 300 on carpet. Yeah. I'm not that level. Yeah. end of the century was a big one for me yeah butterfly butterfly of course um for me i usually did most of the japanese songs so it's like i would do i'm ah i'm a ddr extreme 2 guy okay so like daikin kai okay i'm just trying remember five people that are listening to hey you're welcome i'm trying to remember which ddr i had on ps1 i don't know probably had max yeah there's the orange box oh now we're you into a different kind of boxes i don't know i don't know maybe i'm not the ddr guy playing No, I played a lot of DDR for a brief period my You remember the first time, and again, cut me off, the first time you went to an arcade and saw somebody who was really about it. yeah like I remember go to the arcade in Seaside, Oregon and seeing the mode where you don't even see the arrows and you just and the person's doing a full combo with no arrows visible and just perfects the
Sneaker Culture in Idaho
00:08:20
Speaker
whole song. I'm like, what type of drugs is this person doing?
00:08:24
Speaker
That, you know, that dedication. Cause so I was in a crew for DDR. Oh, I'm sitting here saying like, I'm a DDR guy and you, you just like are holding back on me that were in a DDR crew. Okay. You're the DDR guy. Like, I'm just a guy.
00:08:36
Speaker
I enjoyed the game, but you like, it was a lifestyle. Like I had a friend that had the, he, his parents bought him the metal pads. So would go to his house. And we were there with a me hands yeah and' be the the bar at home. at home play it We would just play like crazy what was your role in the crew?
00:08:52
Speaker
Because mean i'm I'm picturing this like Ocean's Eleven and you have like the enforcer and the hacker guy and the like smooth talker. Like what was your, ah you know, the British guy that steals the car. dashha Yeah, that's me. OK, yeah, i'm I'm just there to watch. And like if anything happens, we fight in. Yeah, okay, cool, cool, cool. Don Cheadle, right?
00:09:10
Speaker
um I'm confusing. um I'm confusing Snatch. Okay, yeah, okay, my bad. Wait, who's with the... He had the one piece of... like He's always in... he's the One piece? Now we're getting really new. He's always like the big, tall British dude.
00:09:26
Speaker
um Am I confusing too many? Oh, wait, Ocean's Eleven was ah George Clooney. Yeah, right there. Okay, so I would say I am... Yeah, i'll i'll take I'll take Don Cheadle. Okay, I'm George Coney, obviously. Yeah, I mean, and then Welty is... ah
00:09:43
Speaker
uh let's go with i'm not let's see it's the old guy the old guy yeah he could be the old guy yeah the old guy the one that was just like he only comes in just to just to do like the like it's a big part but it's like yeah i threw you off yeah no we're good so you talked about growing up in oregon yeah like does there's that like did you get a taste of sneaker culture there like did that that's where the bug happened where you were just like i'm getting no not quite i mean so i'm originally from oregon but like we moved to idaho when i was like eight when my parents split up so i mostly grew up in idaho but i was like back and forth so it wasn't until i was a teenager growing up in idaho that i really became cognizant of sneakers and wanted them and wanted them to say something about my identity like that's like a sneaker desert there oh for it's just a desert in general culture desert um
00:10:34
Speaker
So it was just an online experience. I've said this to people before where like, I don't really have the stories of like, I went to this shop and i wanted this thing.
The Lesson of Fake Sneakers
00:10:43
Speaker
It was on the wall because it just like, wasn't that type of place. You know, I grew up in a small town, 10,000 people, gravel road, 20 minutes from town. Like it wasn't. So the internet was my portal to all that stuff. And then also like,
00:10:59
Speaker
A lot of people have the experience of like, they saw Michael Jordan on TV and they saw the shoes. That's also not my experience at all because like we had one channel on TV and we didn't watch sports anyway. So that that's not really my entry point into it. It's just like being a kid on the internet and like whenever I wasn't studying DDR patterns, I was on Nike talk. Yeah. I mean the, the heyday of Nike talk is definitely, I feel like gets, uh,
00:11:25
Speaker
the this like allure to it yeah you know yeah and i remember being on there and not feel it like yeah being like i don't belong here sometimes i was straight lurker let's let's clear that up i wasn't yeah posting like it was just a place for me to get information and to observe these conversations yeah i didn't feel bold enough to be like i could participate or i have something to say here Yeah, I was i was splitting my time between ISS and Nike SB.org.
00:11:49
Speaker
so yeah wow yeah Yeah, I was mostly Nike SB.org. So that was my also like gateway into yeah sneakers, like sneaker culture and like the people that are around it.
00:12:01
Speaker
And like you know you learn about the friendlations, the legends that you just... That you just hear and see pictures of. watched a lot of Franilations YouTube videos in college. Shout out. Shout out Franilations. Always.
00:12:14
Speaker
Yeah. the The allure of it was always something that pulled you in. And then, I mean, I grew up here. So, yeah you know, going to DQM and Supreme and stuff, like, you hear the stuff and now you actually get to live that stuff. So I was wondering about, like...
00:12:28
Speaker
Because you were so far away, did it just, would you just like, I need to, I need to get into this or, know, how did you figure out your way into it? Yeah, I mean, was definitely a few years of just, again, participating through the internet. And then like the closest physical thing to us where we felt like we could enjoy cool sneakers. Because at the time, I got a couple of my friends into it as well. And we were all enamored with this stuff. And we wanted a bape hoodie. And we wanted a 10 deep t-shirt. And we would go to websites and scroll through and be like, this seems fake. There's no way these Dia de los Muertos dunks are actually $99. This is not a legit thing. You're on pick your shoes like, yeah, $99.
00:13:09
Speaker
Yeah, something something was off. But a city close to where i grew up is Spokane, Washington, where Gonzaga University is. And that's probably like an hour and 40-minute drive from the town in Idaho where I grew up in.
00:13:23
Speaker
I remember reading that there in Spokane, there was this guy opening up a sneaker boutique. I really struggled to remember the name of it, but it was a retail shop, a little hole in the wall shop. And Flight Club was starting to be a thing that people knew about across the country. And so this was very much in the vein of that. And the idea was we would go there and we would see what was on the shelves and we would have an opportunity to buy some sneakers. So we went. far away was that from you?
00:13:47
Speaker
yeah like yeah an hour and 40 minutes or something that dedication i i can't remember the first time i i think we went for the first time and just looked around and we didn't have any money so it wasn't really that feasible for us to be buying a pair of but bathing ape shoes or something like this but uh i remember being like can you get like if i want a particular shoe can you get it and he's like yeah yeah i could get yeah i could get you whatever you know and i wanted the era sb dunk the one based on the ireland flag with the harp and it says i it's not era i believe it's era in the in the gaelic pronunciation yeah and i asked him if he could i think i was emailing with him and asking him afterward if i could get those shoes if he could order me a pair and he did procure a pair and quoted me some price i always thought that i had the ancient email in my gmail inbox but i i can't find it to this day but
00:14:37
Speaker
yeah paid him I don't know how I would have paid him, but eventually I drove back there and double parked my mom's car and like ran in and got the shoes from him. and that was that was ah That was one of my first like real missions, yeah going somewhere to get a pair of shoes. Not lining up, of course, although I did that plenty in college, but just just like there's there's a place somewhere relatively close to where I was that we could
Sneaker Journalism and College Days
00:15:01
Speaker
get shoes. They turned out to be fake, I realize.
00:15:02
Speaker
Oh man, that's terrible. Not arrows too. I wore them with pride for a long time, but they just, they didn't smell right. you know, the oily smell. yeah And I always had a little bit of suspicion and I finally had somebody confirm it for me, but I wore them quite a lot, but I didn't know they were fake. you Yeah, exactly. I mean, I always believe that I feel like and like the in the journey of sneakers, you do have to get caught one time. Yeah, right? You gotta be humbled. either it's io And I also, you have to, just because it's it's funny, how much is it but you did have Corgi Shoe on an episode, yeah but I also feel like
00:15:36
Speaker
like in the In the journey, you get either get bit by a fake yeah or you go through ah a full sale transaction with Corgi Shoe. Yes. yeah yeah These are badges of honor. These rites of passage. I was just talking to him this morning. It's funny you mentioned him.
00:15:50
Speaker
I spent a lot of time. It was a WordPress. WordPress site that he had when he was first selling stuff. Right. Yeah. That was a big destination for me in college, just scrolling through his WordPress. And I think that he had mapped it out where you could filter it by size or something like that. And looking for my size and just seeing random shoes.
00:16:07
Speaker
I never. bought anything from him in that era i definitely like emailed him once or twice and flaked out on like olympic jordan sevens or things like that but i have bought shoes from him but just didn't uh in that in that first wave that he was selling which i think he probably started like 2009 or 2009 yeah i bought a pair of infrared in 2013 and twenty okay something like that i was working at gamestop yeah so you know was making barely any money yeah so i even he posted them up and i was like i gotta have them they're which pair like the tooth i think 2004 pair okay um it's the it's the cardboard it's that like the cork color box okay so i think it's 2004 2008 or something yeah i don't remember uh and i bought them and
00:16:56
Speaker
i didn't I was so scared of sending a money order because I didn't know. So me and him had this back and forth. And he's like, listen, if you don't want these sneakers, I can just sell them. I don't need to deal with this. yeah yeah And then so after that, you guys dropped that episode. I i was like, I messaged him yeah because we still had, like, I was still able to message people. not and Instagram now, you can't really, without the invite, the whole invite shit.
00:17:19
Speaker
But I messaged him. and i was just like, yo, I have this like trail of like this message that, you know, me and you from like 20 2008. And he's like, you're going to buy me. You could keep waiting. to my i bought okay i have Years later. like, what the fuck? can Just give me the money.
00:17:35
Speaker
Oh, but he he was like, he was like, yeah, man. You know, so I didn't know he had like a very different history. I thought he was yeah selling sneakers and that was it. But.
00:17:46
Speaker
He sold a lot of stuff. yeah Yeah. From what I understand. Yeah, for real. um But like me him had this back and forth. And it yeah then ah in my head, it's like I also it's like you have to go through that. And for some instances, yeah like or you know, I feel like yeah that is a badge, a badge of honor. Yeah.
00:18:05
Speaker
He's had some crazy stuff just on that that one little shelf. Just taking a picture. He's still going. yeah Still going. I'm like, how do you still have shoes? I mean, I don't know how he does I don't know how he does it. But so.
00:18:18
Speaker
So where'd you go to school? Because I got you went to. Did you go to Oregon University College? Yeah, yeah I went to the University of Oregon. Yeah. yeah University of Oregon. ah I don't know. bad. My bad. Go Ducks.
00:18:29
Speaker
There you go. Back back. right Back. uh like what made you pursue to go to that school because we know it's the night the school of nike yeah it's funny because i wasn't really thinking about the nike connection when i applied there when i decided to go there um i mean being there it allowed me to be closer to sneaker stuff in a way but It wasn't a motivation for me at all. It's it's not a super sneakery story, but like I graduated high school in 2007.
00:18:59
Speaker
didn't want to go to college. I didn't really feel motivated to. So i did this like standard white guy thing of like going to Europe and i went with some friends from high school and we kind of moved around Europe for like five months and I lived in Madrid and I had a job like at a school teaching English and um i came back in early 2008 and like i said we had moved to idaho around 1996 or 1995. well my parents split up but my dad still lives in oregon since then has lived in oregon and so uh one of the things about me not being able to go to the university of oregon at first when i graduated high school in 2007 even though sorry this is uh complicated but i promise i'm tying it all together no's
00:19:48
Speaker
Out of state tuition was like insanely expensive, right? Yeah. As it always is. But the year that I took off, my dad claimed me on his taxes so that I could get in-state tuition. And also I got a generous um financial aid package because my dad doesn't make a lot of money. So once I came back from Europe, I was able to apply to the University of Oregon. Why did I want to go there? um I knew I didn't want to be in Idaho. I knew that there was nothing for me there. And like Oregon was a place where i had some familiarity or had some connections and
00:20:21
Speaker
Yeah, just seemed like the right thing. I don't know. I feel like an 18, 19 year old, I just didn't think about it terribly much. But financially, it made sense. And it was somewhere new for me to go new in the University of Oregon and Eugene, not Oregon in general, because spent a lot of time there growing up and born there. So yeah, that's that's how I ended up there.
00:20:41
Speaker
did is that where like your passion for journalism come from or um no not really because like i didn't study journalism in college i studied linguistics i didn't i took a few journalism classes in my time there but it wasn't a priority of mine and wasn't something i thought about a lot or aspired to do um and I was just like taking classes.
00:21:03
Speaker
You know what it was? I was taking classes that would like make my schedule sound as interesting as possible if I like talk to somebody at a party. Yeah. So I'd be like, they'd be like, yeah, what yo yeah where which dorm do you live in? What? Yeah. What class? I'm like, yeah, I'm in Arabic and piano and fencing.
00:21:19
Speaker
You know, that buzz out yeah urban farm, yeah black and white photography. yeah Yeah. I mean, you're touching everything. um you sound like but like ah i remember Dos Equis, the most intriguing man. Yeah. Yeah. Something of a renaissance man. I'm glad you had this. I'm glad you said it. And i didn't have to. yeah Be at the party just like, yeah, you know, I got to I got to leave. You know, got tomorrow. I have a got to hit the black room. yeah These photos before I plant these sunflowers. Plus, my fencing teacher is on my ass. I got learned to learn this. I dropped out of fencing.
00:21:53
Speaker
Man, I mean, it's crazy that you can have fencing as a class. That's yeah that's crazy. You know, the thing is, I'm left handed and it was I was the only left handed
Moving to New York for Sneakers
00:22:02
Speaker
person in the class. So they needed you.
00:22:03
Speaker
Well, yeah, but it was also like they yeah I just felt singled out, like the guy would give all the instructions and then I'd be standing at the end of the line of all the aspiring fencers and he'd be like, of course, if you're left handed, you got to do it all backwards and like look at me and I said, same with my ping pong teacher. He really singled me out as a lefty. You took ping pong class? Yeah, table tennis too. yeah Oh, there was a one?
00:22:27
Speaker
There was a table tennis one? He was mad that I skipped one. He was like you're supposed to be in one. I didn't have to test out or anything. yeah you know Usually, you got to show your acumen in the thing to be able to skip up. I was like, let me just sign up for table tennis too because that's what my friends were in. My friends were good. yeah I was not good. and a guy, Lee, yeah he he let me know.
00:22:45
Speaker
He was like, I'm just going to call you lefty.
00:22:49
Speaker
it's like, come on, man. I'm paying this university thousands of dollars. They teach me how to play tabletop. So least you can do is call me by my name. Come here, lefty. Lefty, pull up here. Let me see this backhand. Let me see this backhand. Lee, his name was Lee. Oh, man. Shout out, Lee, man. No, no.
00:23:06
Speaker
lee his name was lee oh man shout out le no fuck I got way better after college. yeah I feel like i got way I advanced way more table tennis playing at bars in Brooklyn than I did. You left the aggressive environment. Yeah, exactly. well He would finally be free.
00:23:25
Speaker
Crazy. so like I'm ready for Ping Pong 3. I think I'm ready. I think you got to go back. Yeah. Graduate teaching assistant. Do my master's or something. Get your master's in ping pong, man. That's it. Just go back. p called you So like, what made you move out here? Like, like what was, but was this transition? Because i mean, we know where you are now. yeah So like, how did, how did you get to that point?
00:23:52
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, when I was in college at the University of Oregon, I started writing about sneakers on a freelance basis for sites like Sneaker News and a new site they were starting up at the time, Jordan's Daily. So i was in that world my junior and then my senior year and just like working a lot more for them. and then.
00:24:13
Speaker
basically as soon as i graduated they hired me full-time to write blog posts for sneaker news and shortly after that they were like well we would like you to come to new york and work full-time in the office and be a bigger part of the team and i didn't really have anything else going on i didn't that was that was a path i was on like that was Pardon me.
00:24:32
Speaker
Pretty clearly to me like the right decision and the thing that I should pursue. So a few months after I graduated in the University of Oregon, i yeah moved out to New York. I had never been here before.
00:24:43
Speaker
Took a one way flight to Newark and then took a cab to Queens and I was here. i mean how many roommates uh two roommates who i'm surprised i even got it it was like a craigslist one month room share thing yeah you took a flyer that yeah yeah that could have been i can't remember if it's woodside or sunny side but yeah right near the seven spots that's the unless you were you in more of a middle east middle middle east no i was near the jolly beam okay i know you're at babe
00:25:17
Speaker
I don't know if that, but that area was like Romanian people, right? It's like a lot of like Hungarians. I don't remember how many Eastern European people. well i got Eastern European. That's what I was trying to say. So that I feel like it's sunny side, the Eastern European. people I haven't been back since. I don't know.
00:25:32
Speaker
I think it is though. I think it still is. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's sunny side. That is. So then maybe you were in Woodside. I don't know. Whichever one's further out? for Woodside's further out. Yeah, I was in with seven. Yeah, yeah, yeah. that I mean, that's crazy. I hate the seven train.
00:25:46
Speaker
Nah. Seven train's popping. The seven train is not popping. As a Mets fan, the seven train's popping. Oh my God. yeah um so like you know the we've heard we've heard like you know the huge like people transitioning from blogs into websites and the rise you know nice kicks yeah I mean I've never heard of it yeah ah sir It's like a sneaker website. Yes, its it's like a sneaker website. Don't do that on here.
00:26:15
Speaker
No. yeah um And, you know, the rise of complex like that. Did you ever think that writing for sneakers would ever would bring you into a position where you're like, now I'm like one of these voices.
00:26:30
Speaker
No, I really didn't. Especially because for so long, what I did was not that public facing. Like granted, I had a byline on all the stuff I wrote, but it wasn't like when I started getting into sneaker content, just kind of as an umbrella term.
00:26:46
Speaker
my face wasn't out there and like I wasn't something where I was like offering my opinion or offering a take on things or ah doing much more than just like writing 300 words at a time about a shoe and when it was releasing and excuse me how you could get it so I definitely didn't have any foresight back then of like what it could be or that I would one day be an authority on it I was just kind of like happy to be here happy to be employed doing something that I love and it meant a lot to me and that moved me across the country and allowed me all these opportunities but it definitely wasn't a thing where i thought like people would care about my opinion or what i had to say not that my opinion or what i have to say is some uh huge important thing now but but yeah what what was something i anticipated yeah it's just very interesting because like the the way that sneakers of evolve right i mean
00:27:41
Speaker
just Just to bring it a little bit more like current day, like 2013, you know, the rise of the galaxy foams. Yeah. And 2012, I think. 2012. Yeah, 2012.
00:27:51
Speaker
And it's just the boom, the boom of resell in 2020. The big bang. The big bang. Yeah. Yeah, I gotcha. Yeah, okay. You know. The galaxy has yeah yeah exploded. The rapid expansion. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. um And did you get them back in the day? did you want galaxy phones? and I wanted them. Yeah. where What type of mission did you go on? How hard did you work for? No, I couldn't. Did you deserve them?
00:28:13
Speaker
So I wasn't big on. So I have a terrible work ethic. All right. I don't take vacations. I just work through. And so that's good work ethic in terms of like, if I want something, I will, I will work instead of take like take off and then do the, do the work on there. So the, I was just like, okay, let me see if I can figure out how I can still make my shift because I was working. I used to work at Dylan's candy bar.
00:28:38
Speaker
don't know if you know what that is. Ralph Lauren's daughter, Dylan owned a candy store. Awesome. And ah you used to work there. So basically I worked there and i was trying to figure out how I get perks like,
00:28:51
Speaker
not a lot not a lot no free candy I mean yes you just eat it off the floor like off the no like meant like off the sales floor like I would grab it out of the bins and be like no one was tripping nobody was tripping no I would be in the back you know open up a bag yeah Get into it. Get into it. Bring it in Or before you know before you put fill up a bin, grab a couple. I mean, we have gloves. So I'm just like, all right, cool. Sour belts. Here we go.
00:29:17
Speaker
you know yeah It was good. But i would never take i would never take off. And during when that drop happened, I was like, okay, let me see if I could go. And then do the overnight.
00:29:28
Speaker
Camp out. Camp out. Yeah. Get the shoes and still make my shift the next day because I was going to. Ambitious. Yeah. This is work ethic. Right. So I go. But it's the night before the release. And we're releasing where I was going to do. i was going to Well, i went to 42nd first, the 42nd Times Square yeah for Locker location. Yeah.
00:29:48
Speaker
Pandemonium. It wasn't happening. It wasn't happening. Then I went to 34th. Was it cold? It was February. February. Was it cold that year? 2012? Not that crazy. don't think it was. Not like this year. This year was freezing.
00:30:01
Speaker
But the. I went there and I was just like yeah. This is. I've never seen so many people in my life. So I just gave up and I went home. That was it. No work ethic. Did you?
00:30:13
Speaker
you tried way harder than me. You tried way harder than me. I don't think that there was anywhere near me that was releasing them in person. So it was a big Nike.com situation for me. A big just like refreshing the site, refreshing the threads on Nike Talk.
00:30:30
Speaker
you know what i think was the real target for me i mean i wanted those shoes bad but also my boss at the time john kim at sneaker news he said he wanted the galaxy katie fours the all-star katie four from that year and i feel like i was trying to scoop those for him in order to look like a good employee so that was really the thing i was like targeting and i felt like i was close i i think i had him in the cart or something like that but i pair yeah yeah my consolation prize that year was think i missed out on everything cause i did after that i was like let me try to get the zoom rookies yeah nope yeah that's fine you don't need the zoom rookies oh wait my consolation prize was the kobe's but i got the kobe's were good and kobe's are good but i got them in size 14 i'm a size 13 they were they felt like i was swimming in them you wore them
00:31:18
Speaker
Yeah, I wore them. I went to several holiday parties for Dylan. Yeah, swimming in the Kobe's. You know what they call that? Snake pool. Oh, my God. Remember the snake pool? Yeah. Yeah. same yeah that Because he has those. There we go. i hate but there I've hated every single version of Kobe's that ever existed. I hate it This is a brave man. Yeah. I hate it as a shoe.
00:31:38
Speaker
This is a brave man because nobody not a lot of people will be willing to say that in a public forum. But no lie, you just got to keep it 100. Yeah, never. People just be, no lie, everybody be like, they don't all look good. Most dudes who got them don't know how to rock them. Yeah.
00:31:53
Speaker
I mean, especially if they're the wrong size. Yeah. thanks i was rocking them all right i was rocking them we need to see the photos i'm actually the worst person to ask for for older for older photos why because i don't take any the memory cards corrupted the the memory card corrupted the somebody's got else got to send me the picture like it's not it's there's no me being like let's take a picture it's always just like i'm like oh there was a picture of me cool like um I like living in the moment. Hey, I like that.
00:32:24
Speaker
You know, I like that. So compared to the job that you went to this, this, this, yeah, like, yeah, that was interesting. The, yeah the, the, the trading trading post. Yeah. and That was sick.
00:32:35
Speaker
Yeah. It was cool. The energy was like, not as high as I anticipated. and I feel like, Nike's doing a lot of these sneaker quests right now. This is a term that a friend of mine, Leitak and I, she coined of just this interactive jump through hoops type of thing. Obviously we're, we've we're used to working hard for shoes and jumping through hoops in a way, but I feel like it's been very purposeful from Nike in particular in the past six months. So yeah,
00:33:01
Speaker
between the Cortes thing and the Galaxy thing and kind of the bread one thing to an extent with the VIP white glove service. But I feel like you can't go too hard on it. and And this was kind of one of those moments where was like, how necessary was this? but a A lot of people showed up, stood out in the snow. They really wanted the shoes. They traded in sometimes insignificant items for pair of foams that we all wanted for 13 years. So yeah I guess in that regards, it's a cool look. They didn't. They didn't pick me. I was going to. I had submitted yeah for the Galaxy Foam positive training post you wanted to pull up. ah What did you what did you write?
00:33:33
Speaker
I put so I have TMNT. I don't know if you Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Huh? I have Teenage Mutant. Wait, hold on. You don't know what? If I know about Yeah, i don't know if you know about Teenage Mutant. You want to know how much I know? How much?
00:33:46
Speaker
What's your favorite TMNT movie? Oh, you're talking about the the live actions? Two? Wrong answer. So it's three for you? Teenage Ninja Turtles 3. I knew was three. Everybody says three. Filmed in the vicinity of Astoria, Oregon, where I'm from. Yeah. My dad is in that movie. Oh, yeah and my stepdad.
00:34:05
Speaker
Wow. Both of them. Yeah. You got it. So don't talk to me about TMS. Shit is in my vein. What do you mean? yeah He said, TMSC. I don't know if you know about I am You know I know about I don't know how much you know about TMSC, man. But I have two pizza shooters because I used to work at Viacom.
00:34:26
Speaker
Nickelodeon. How many jobs does this guy have? I've had a lot of jobs. That's one thing I give it to him. He's got a lot of jobs. I've had a lot of jobs. Work ethic. You know. I'll be outside and inside on the computer. Yeah. So I was like, oh, i'll put i'll I wrote out Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle pizza shooter.
00:34:45
Speaker
Hey, what like so like what does the actual pizza shooter do in real life? it's It's the van and then the and it shoots pizzas. Like the the toy? Yeah. Okay, okay. But it's the big one. It's like it's not like a small thing. it's Not for children. not it's like It's definitely for for like the 14.
00:35:01
Speaker
Okay, yeah, 14 and up. Yeah, on the box. Gotcha. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think it comes with Casey Jones too. Wow, legend. Legend. Absolute legend. um You know, OGs and the Chucks on that one. the I put that and they didn't select me and I was just like, right, whatever. I guess it's not meant they don't know TMNT.
00:35:21
Speaker
They don't know TMNT. I know TMNT. You don't know TMNT. But the nerds at Nike, they don't know TMNT. That was actually a kind of crazy trade, though. That trade is kind of dope. You came with some heat. I did. you There was people, yo, there was... Because some of this ones I saw was not better than what you're talking about. Isaiah Thomas, right?
00:35:37
Speaker
Isaiah Thomas did the... No, no, no. Like, the court is east what's the meme from Last Dance? The criteria. meant the criteria to be selected, but I was not selected. That's... I thought you were referencing when Isaiah Thomas, the ah the other NBA player, was like, I will do anything for a pair of the Travis Scott's. Which ridiculous. Which is hot out there on social media making weird offers for footwear. But hey, I've been there. I've been there. I've offered people things for footwear. What's the craziest thing you've offered? Or whatever. No. I just said that kind of in a flip. Why your voice tone? like That change like that. way you that was the what's the crazyzi thing What's the craziest thing? What is the craziest thing of offered for a pair of shoes?
00:36:21
Speaker
um I actually don't know. yeah i hate to let you down. They'll hit you. They'll hit you. i the I know that you like get... i mean, the the good, great... they Everybody tries to get and your your guys good graces, but like what's the wildest thing somebody has sent you guys?
00:36:39
Speaker
um A shoe that somebody sent me in the mail. Yeah. like that you I want to say like not even that, maybe like a crazy special box or something like that that you were like, what the hell is this? You know what was really cool? And this is not like a crazy elaborate package, but one time i went to liverpool for laces out a sneaker festival they do there and a gentleman made a custom pair of rebox with a bunch of full-size run logos on there and like little references to our work and that was that was a that was a heartwarming one that's awesome yeah yeah the oh well rest in peace full-size run but yeah you guys did amazing stuff with full-size thank you the
00:37:17
Speaker
the The way that it was just like, it was jokes on top of just like serious content. yeah Also just being like about sneakers. yeah Like we don't have that. We don't really have that anymore. We're here right now. This is ah this is it. This is a variation of it. But the the what you guys brought to the community and how the community banded around it and always interacted with it. Like.
00:37:40
Speaker
the drip flipper skips you know um the the the comment where like the racher fits yeah know so like the commenting reading the comments like it was very interactive and i i missed that yeah yeah thank you for saying that it's very kind no problem no know yeah No problem. it's the way I said no problem. Yeah. yeah we But you know, you guys have been all around the world now. So it's interesting the the way that the trajectory you guys have taken, you know, I'm very curious of what do you think? Why do you think that you, your opinion doesn't matter or it does matter or should it matter or shouldn't matter?
00:38:24
Speaker
Yeah. Well, don't, I don't think my opinion matters that much. And I think the most important thing about my work personally is not that of it that's based on opinion, but that of it is based on fact or reporting or interviews. And like, I'm proud to spend most of my time working on things that are not based on my opinion.
00:38:49
Speaker
Again, those things I said before, interviews or fact-based reporting or things like that, where like, i i think if anybody for me like the people whose opinions i care about are people who i know have done that type of work and so like if you care about my opinion that's cool but like hopefully if not that then you can appreciate that type of work even though like i think a lot of times people might know me best or the general public to the extent that they do but know me might know me best as a guy who's on a podcast or on a show often giving his opinion about sneakers but
00:39:21
Speaker
to me like the opinion is like the least important thing because like i'm not ah like i'm not um a trend reporter like i can't tell you like what you know people will ask me often interviews like what's what's happening next in sneakers i'm like i don't know i don't make predictions yeah not a forecaster in any way or like i'm not a tastemaker like i'm not the guy who's like i know about the coolest stuff and i'm you know that's just like not what i have to offer so um I always wonder why people care about that so much instead of it. Like, I always felt that when it came to sneakers, it was about like, what do you yourself thought yeah is going to be the next thing? Not what anybody else else thought.
00:40:04
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, it's also funny, like. I feel like the amount of next things you can predict is really so narrow because it's like the brands are going to make the shoes anyway. Like yeah Nike stuff for the next 18 months is already baked.
00:40:18
Speaker
Like same with Adidas. So like whatever I say is is not Like it has to align with the reality of whatever the shoe brand is making. i don't know. I mean, I think what I really enjoy about your writing, what you guys are doing and is that it is fact-based and you do get to put yourself a little bit into it too, you know, like,
00:40:41
Speaker
the um Twin Peaks, David Lynch. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That, like, that finding like, you personally was just like, I like David Lynch. And then then you you're like, oh, snap. Like, that correlation, I love that when you guys do that type of stuff, you know? Like, Welty does his stuff on CrossFit, because he's in CrossFit. Like,
00:40:59
Speaker
That's what I like because it puts a piece of you out there versus it just being like the sneaker news. Like you read a sneaker news post and it's just like it's literally just being like this shoe is coming out. This is what the brand has told us about this shoe. And then like I want something i want something that's going to make me be like, all right, you really cared about writing this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm happy to hear you say that. And I appreciate that.
00:41:23
Speaker
You're welcome. You're welcome. No, yeah because people don't really care about writing. So it does feel like a futile exercise sometimes, but it does mean a lot to me personally. And like you said, there's, there's like these super niche things like, and this is what sometimes so warms my heart about sneakers or about this hobby or obsession is like being reminded how many sub pockets and genres there are of it of like,
00:41:48
Speaker
people who are into this type of shoe or that type of shoe that isn't even on my radar and anytime like i'm reminded of that i'm like oh this thing goes so deep and it uh reminds me how much more work there is to do of like all these stories like you know we don't just have to hear about the way that tinker designed a jordan 3 and how it saved uh michael jordan's relationship with nike like we all know about that like find the nerdiest like most niche possible thing and chase that story so that's that's that's sometimes it doesn't always yield uh results that the company's looking for in terms of traffic and things like that but it's something i love to do and like that david lynch adidas commercial is a prime example of just something where i was like
00:42:30
Speaker
nobody's ever written about this in a meaningful way how how many people can I find who connected to it who worked on it in some way I was hoping I would rest in peace get to David Lynch himself but I got to his like um right hand a woman who was a producer for him she sent me some cool stuff around their work on that commercial and I think it was 92 93 yeah that's fire i mean we need we need a just a personal between me we need a asap rock adidas uh article i mean yeah you and i have spoken about in depth yeah yeah um i couldn't i couldn't be the one to do it because that would mean actually talking asap rock and like
00:43:11
Speaker
his work means so much to me would never want to talk to him in real life and like one time i was at the background on this is that like he's my favorite artist of all time yeah yeah yeah uh same here so and yeah i would just never want to be like in actual contact with that person but in order to write the story well you would have to be in contact with him and i just wouldn't want that Because it means he means like it's too big a figure to me. i i There was one time like an Ace Rock show probably like seven years ago or something and like somebody got me on a list, somebody who I work with.
00:43:47
Speaker
And I think that he was like, i was like in, I forget what the venue was, one of these, Revster Hall or Irving Plaza or something like that. And I was like upstairs, like on a balcony on the side. And I think one of the openers was on and he was like in the vicinity of me upstairs. Did Bus Driver open?
00:44:04
Speaker
No, ah we can't talk about Bus Driver anymore, right? Yeah, we can. I thought he like super canceled or something. No, I don't think I've never heard of Bus Driver's back. don't think so. All right, cool. I don't, unless you're talking about POS.
00:44:17
Speaker
No, no, no, I'm talking about Bus Driver. i don't think Bus Driver was ever canceled. Let me tell you what, I saw Bus Driver. Bus Driver was canceled. Bus Driver was canceled. Piece of POS was canceled. check check for me if bus driver was canceled don't want to be throwing dirt on any anybody yeah for real so fact check me here please produce a fact check um but i did see bus driver once at pneumo's in seattle like 2008 opened for lp i think it was lp and dizzy rascal um but did we find anything on bus drivers i'll issue a formal apology if i'm wrong and the internet being super slow
00:44:51
Speaker
Oh, no. But think back to that. Yeah, I don't want to be in here. I think that like I think you're right. I mean, because we one thing I will say that that shoe is real.
00:45:04
Speaker
Yeah. And you said you have a pair. No, I said I you said you didn't. yeah Yeah. I remember I was telling you the story of like I went to four shows that year because that's when that year that dropped. And I was telling which year was you when that shoe dropped 2016. OK, I want to say 2015.
00:45:18
Speaker
i want to say twenty fifteen I don't know. I'll find out. We fact-checked that as well. Aesop Rock Adidas campus. ah Whenever you get a chance. It's the year that... um It's the year that none shall pass.
00:45:33
Speaker
No, not none shall pass. a Skeleton. no skeleton Skeleton was 2012, I want to say. So it was the year Skeleton. Yeah. Because it was he did the this is when he had the XX logo for a little bit. Yeah. And so I think that was Skeleton.
00:45:47
Speaker
OK. And I went to went to four shows that a year. So I the beginning it started with me asking him for a pair of tweets. um You told me that. Yes. And you said he wore on in the booklet for fast cards, danger, firing. And I sent you the picture. yeah um Then after that, it was at towards the end. He was like, yo, I know because I was like, I know you're not wearing the tweeds.
00:46:10
Speaker
Let me get that. Yeah. He's like, no, I'm not. I can't do that. So then he was just like, all right. So then then it came towards the end and I was trying to get the damn And this is you seeing him at successive shows. Like it's me yeah one after the other. I'm the guy. I'm still waiting for the shoes. yeah not I'm still waiting. I was just like. He's just peeking out from behind the curtain like he's here. Like security getting out.
00:46:31
Speaker
ah He's very nice to me. But ah then it was like the last two shows. I was like, hey, I tried to get the Adidas campus. yeah And I was like, they're sold out. Me and you are the same size. Just sell me one.
00:46:43
Speaker
Because I know you have like eight pairs in the house. Because he was just wearing them throughout the tour. It was clear to you that there were more in the stash. He had them in the pocket. but In the tuck. you know Wouldn't let you live. Nope, nothing.
00:46:55
Speaker
I got nothing. He cut my hair on stage once. So bus driver definitely has sexual allegations. Damn. He ignored, denied or confirmed that, but he is going to therapy and working on things. All right. So.
00:47:11
Speaker
the you do as you please with that information but that is that is the information okay on multiple sources i'm glad we got a fact checked on that i wanted to make sure i wanted to make sure man so you got your hair cut on not at not at uh grammar c uh no because i was at that show no this was at a show in portland i think it was i feel like i need a haircut right now maybe maybe you're gonna surprise me maybe ace rock is gonna Come on out, drew these bricks and buzz me down. This was at a show in Portland and this is on the impossible kid. Is it that that song racing stripes is on this song about his relationship with Camuteo and Camuteo rest in peace had this practice of whenever he had something in his life that he had to achieve that he was having a hard time doing or some.
00:47:57
Speaker
Some some goal that he needed to surmount he would cut his own hair yeah in a really fucked up way. Yeah, give himself this awful haircut and then he wasn't allowed to clean up his haircut or get a proper haircut until he achieved this thing or finish this task. So as you know, during this tour, they would do this thing where at the start of the show they would put a sign up list at a table.
00:48:20
Speaker
in the front and you could sign up to be in the running to get your haircut there on stage by Aesop Rock and I think it was Rob Sonic yeah Rob Sonic yeah and wanted to do it and also I went with two friends and I had them put their names on there too but they were like if we get our name selected you can go for us and it was funny because I was there with this kid Jordan who I know from Portland and his name got selected my name didn't actually get selected and and so i went up in jordan's stead and i feel like somehow in his uh omniscience like ace knew that i was not jordan but they like let me live and i have a photo and i'm wearing uh sb blazers on feet but yeah they they no crates no no no uh it's just like the navy suede pair from like 2006 or seven with like a checkerboard in the back i wore those a lot
00:49:09
Speaker
um i'm wearing those on stage and yeah i have the barbers uh yeah that's so great i couldn't do it yeah so like you you put that the one that i went to i went grammar c and he pulled this kid up and he got chopped him up yeah oh my god yo he had like patches over here and here and here And I was like, I wish I had a photo of what I looked like after that. I'm pretty sure I'm we're going to I'm going to find the video. I'm going to find the video. Everybody. I have a photo of me on stage, but I don't really have like the after photo of just how gnarly I look. But I also feel like not that proud of it in a way, because there were definitely things in my life at that point that I could have used as the Camuteo goal to to break through and thing to finish. And I just like.
00:49:56
Speaker
cut my hair normally like three days later so i feel like in some way i failed the mission because it yeah wasn't like like i did the thing but the actual practice that it's intended for i fell short of do you think people that listen to that song really understand that though because i feel like people are just going up there to get their hair cut so i think they're not real fans like yeah me yeah yeah well i'm not a i i didn't do the thing i mean and i lied to ace rock i said that my name was jordan Imagine. He's gonna listen to this. He's a big fan. Oh, yeah. I'm gonna send this to Blockhead. Yo, Blockhead.
00:50:30
Speaker
um i'll Make sure you send this to Ace. And you're gonna get called out. You're gonna get a diss track. and The end of me. This track is going to be him and Bus Driver. my God. Oh, my God. This is crazy. That feature of Bus Driver.
00:50:48
Speaker
One thing that, I mean, Ace's music always, touch and i I definitely wanted to talk to you about this one here, too, because just like, people obviously when they see me and they they think i just like only listen to you know what do they think i think i feel like people are putting me into like i'm real i'm real i so i gotta to build the suspense because i'm really wondering what what the narrative is or i think there's like i'm only like jay-z now it's like you know like you know hip-hop hip-hop but like new york centric hip-hop okay um i'm i grew up in the underground just straight up just like
00:51:23
Speaker
and MF Doom like when nobody's listening to MF Doom MF Doom like a fond and mf do yeah yeah yeah uh can be MF Doom um but I got the Black Bastards reissue you got the vinyl No, no, no. a CD I bought off of Sandbox Automatic.
00:51:40
Speaker
Shout out. Yeah. the But I think it's just like Ace. Ace is one of those because literally I was before we were started recording. and i was just like, yeah I got to run some Ace, especially because talking to you.
00:51:50
Speaker
But like the nine to five. Yeah. Just like I was just like that. That part was like we the American people. Yeah. You know, that American working population. I'm not going to rap. Yeah, I want to hear it. It's so crazy to see people's faces talk about A$AP Rock because I'm not like I don't not like them, but I'm also not. yeah i Turn the mic off then.
00:52:13
Speaker
no No, no, no. It's just like, yeah, not I always see it. And I'm like yo, this dude, the music has never really touched me in a way where I became a fan. nobody But his fans. artists, like die hard. Like I've never met a person, like I've never seen a person with such dedicated fans that isn't like- Where like you've never met anybody who's casually into it. Yeah, yeah. No, I've never met somebody that's like, yo, I listen to them. Nah, anybody who I've met that's liked them, nah, he's like, yeah they're it. And that says a lot though. That's yeah that's where it is for me. I'll be listening to the music and I'll be like, ah not for me, but I know people, ah you move people. You move people that I fuck with.
00:52:48
Speaker
Yeah. like it's crazy yeah no yeah that labor days i mean i i asked you the question of like yeah you got to give me the rankings of like these albums for to me oh to to you like you don't got to do it here but i think that he makes music that is just something like it's connect like you listen to it and it just connects to you yeah and it's just hard it's hard to beat and it's hard to find also Yeah, it's hard to describe ah my relationship to that work. it' yeah It means everything to me.
00:53:19
Speaker
yeah I wish I had more and to offer on this because it's it's hard to articulate. and i hope that That probably sounds cheesy, but yeah. he's my he's yeah i definite Since we were on the topic of music, i mean you are part of Action Bronson's squad. Yeah.
00:53:36
Speaker
ah the baklava yeah trio yeah yeah yeah let's not make like um we're not best buddies um need but you're still on the squad yeah I ran the New York City Marathon team baklava what was that like because I saw I want to run a marathon yeah you should and i probably will yeah I've been training Okay, beautiful. Me too.
00:53:58
Speaker
Hopefully. I didn't see you out there this morning, though. Definitely not in this cold. i I'm doing treadmill right now. What happened to the work ethic? I got to work. got work. at The work ethic. The treadmill's good. Keep yourself honest on the pace. Yeah. Yeah, speed workouts. For once I get.
00:54:11
Speaker
Interval training. Yeah. ah Easy on the knees for now. Play basketball every Saturday. Okay. I can't relate to that. Yeah. You're not a hooper? No. C? No. What do you mean C? you see like You guys had a bet beforehand? Does this guy get buckets? yeah You want his $400 now? I give you $5 now. He's eating gummy bears from my pocket. but What was that like was like? Not being a hooper? No, being being part of ah but Action Bronson's squad for that for the New York Marathon.
00:54:43
Speaker
It was an honor, and it was... a it was an act of revenge because i the first marathon i ran in 2019 was the chicago marathon and i prepared well for it but didn't really execute the plan and flamed out and didn't do what i wanted to do so when i had the opportunity to do the new york city marathon in 2024 with bronson through new balance so new balance sponsors the new york city marathon and action bronson as people know has this ongoing new balance collaboration partnership with them so he had the idea of ah putting together a squad of people to run the marathon because
00:55:17
Speaker
his his shoe coming out around that time was an actual performance shoe which was novel because he'd never done a performance collab with New Balance before us so that's how that all got set up and yeah I mean it was it was an honor and i I trained in his shoes which to me felt like very like something I needed to do in order to to show my dedication you know and to take advantage of this thing as a performance product which I which I quite enjoy um Yeah, we had a few check ins, few ah sessions. um He didn't give me a lot in terms of strategy. i kind of built that my own. But in terms of spiritual inspiration and kind of ah courage and heart, something that he, of course, has in spades. So I feel like I was able to share his energy that way.
00:56:01
Speaker
what like What did you take away from the experience? A medal. Put that thing on my neck. And the... Oh, you didn't buy any of the marathon gear? I feel like people pull up like it's like... You think it's like a supreme drop. Everybody's just like... For like three weeks, you just see people... I didn't buy any of the photos. I got them with the watermarks on them. I'm not paying for that. Is it like when you do Six Flags? Yeah, like when you come down on the roller coaster. Exactly. I hate that about photos when they put the watermarker in. Now you got to pay for photo. It's like when you go to Dallas BBQs and they come around like, you want a picture? You want a picture? And then you have to get the picture with the Dallas BBQ or they show you it with the watermarker. You're like, I want this shit. They got me though. They got a magnet on the fridge. In Chicago, they got me on the Sky Lounge, the shit with the floor. Yeah, scary. You did it? I took the photo. Yeah, I did it. Were you scared?
00:56:56
Speaker
Nah, it wasn't. Honestly, it's kind of dope there. It's kind of dope. I'm afraid of heights. They have one. Me too. So that was the safest way you could get me to do something like that. Yeah.
00:57:08
Speaker
They have one at 1 Vanderbilt by Station. But is that the one where you lay on it? You can't. I'm not laying on it. Wait, for real? They got one out here? Yeah, it's like you lay on it. I'm not laying on it. You lay on it. Don't tell me. I'm not. I was even stepping onto it. I was like, I don't. don't.
00:57:24
Speaker
don't. know what's going on yeah but it was cool out there then you get this little postcard you get this like folder of like different sizes it was kind of yeah i felt like a tourist or i felt like grade school photo day yeah what yeah you gotta like yeah pass them around find a girl you like yeah slide it over to her I got you, son. I got you. Write a little message on the back. My first kick on the back. appreciate your photo. Thank you. Thank you for the work. Thank you for doing the thing. So we're towards the end the podcast.
00:57:57
Speaker
I got a last question that deals with a little visualization. Okay. right Should I close my eyes? Yeah, if you want to. ah Is this the part where Ian Mathias Babbitt bursts through the brick wall here? Yes, yes. Big Ian pulls up.
00:58:10
Speaker
um So I want you to think back to younger Brendan Dunn. You know, he's about to open that box of the. I didn't have the box. Oh, yeah. No box. he's about to He's about to walk down the aisle for the for the FCs.
00:58:26
Speaker
ah bar Barcelona FCs. Nice. Nice. ah Now you're you. Before he's about to pick them up. and and and out hit the the hit the register what would you tell your younger self as he ah as he picks them up wow um i would just tell him to stay dedicated and this this thing's gonna pay off it's all gonna be okay you know mm-hmm That's fire. That's dope. I love that. I think that the simple the simple response of just like keep going. I'm worried too about like the butterfly effect. Yeah.
00:59:03
Speaker
You know, like if I say something and my and then my, you know, like if I said something to him and just a small thing could just so alter the timeline, we might not even be here right now. Yeah. Which would be a tragedy. It would.
00:59:16
Speaker
So. So don't want to rock the boat too much. I get you. I get you. But. It doesn't change the future. Okay. So what would you really tell yourself? No, no, no. was it. That was it. But also, I'm like, for real. Play it safe. You're playing it safe. The wrinkles in time type of stuff.
00:59:33
Speaker
I think that that, yeah, I mean, that the way... Because you persevered. you know You do your thing. You found yourself. yeah i would so I would hope so. yeah you know And then Aesop found you.
00:59:45
Speaker
But, you know. he in the room with us right now? See what I mean? I'm like, yo, Aesop fans. It's like, you don't find Aesop.
00:59:57
Speaker
If he made that t-shirt, he'd sell out. verb um the Look, you're in a position and I don't know if like I don't know how people look at you or yeah look up to you or, you know, but you're in a position where. Full of jealousy. that kind Just kidding. Just kidding. Just kidding. I think that, you know, you've gotten to experience such great things. Yeah. yeah and And bad things. And bad things. But I wanted to keep it on good.
01:00:25
Speaker
But but I think that, you know, you continue to push and add to sneaker culture. Yeah. um So I wanted to let you know that because thank you, you know, there's I feel like a lot of people push back on you guys. Yeah. And I don't think it's fair to you guys. yeah Like you guys have always added things. You ah you guys have always added and always celebrated.
01:00:44
Speaker
but Appreciate that. You know. Yeah. we We care about it a lot. and that's that's why we do this thing. I mean. When I started, it wasn't wasn't because I wanted to get paid. you know It was just because I love this shit. And hopefully people could tell that I love this shit. ah and I can tell you love this shit.
01:00:58
Speaker
Yeah. yeah So let everybody know where to find you. ah You can find me on Mulberry Street. You can find me, I'm not going to say which bus, but I'm on the bus. you know I ride the bus. Sometimes I'm on the train and people are like, you you ride the train? I'm like,
01:01:14
Speaker
How rich do you think I am, man? It's just like, how rich do think from making podcasts about shoes? It's not that serious. I haven't been to bus in a long time. Wow. How rich is he? He's a successful rock band. Hey, hey, cut it out. I'm in a punk band and I just don't take the bus because no lie, I haven't since Taking the bus very punk, right? No. No? Not all. Skating there. You know what's punk? Skating there. Skating there. Okay, cool. Okay. walking there he's like biking there you can find me on YouTube the Complex YouTube channel you can find me on Complex Sneakers on Instagram Brendan Dunn on Instagram you can find me in Oregon you can find me in Brooklyn you can find me in Manhattan
01:01:57
Speaker
He'd be outside. Look, you know, this man, this man, you'd be at everything. It's important. It's important because like, and sometimes, sometimes we like lapse in our duty of being outside. And I say we meaning like the people who write about sneakers online, it's important to actually interact with them in the same way that the audience does. Even though we have this immense privilege around shoes and like, I know that I can get most shoes and have access to them in a way that the audience can't. So in order to counteract that or in order to balance that, it it is important to me to be like, what are people actually doing in the real world?
01:02:33
Speaker
What are people actually doing in the real world for shoes? Like, what are they going through? How long are they lined up? How do they feel as the snow is falling here on Grand Concourse while they wait to trade in a stuffed giraffe for a pair of Galaxy foams?
01:02:45
Speaker
All that stuff is important for me to see firsthand. So that's why I do that. No. Yeah. And I love it. I think that. you know getting into getting into this and podcasting i've told i've told several other podcasters that do sneakers yeah right i'm like you guys got to go to this thing yeah you go to the complex con you got to go you got to go to complex part got to cause vi ticket it's just like that's the thing too you can't um not be active in the community yeah you say you're a part of that's kind of rare yeah if you're only just online yeah it's kind of like you're defeating the purpose of what sneakers is But yeah, I know what you mean, but also i don't want to I don't want to automatically disqualify people who only interact with it online because I did come from that. Like I was the person in the middle of nowhere who didn't have physical meat space sneaker culture to interact with. So like I was doing it online. That's different. Like not having the access different from not going.
01:03:34
Speaker
Yeah, but you live in New York and you're not at these things, I'm kind of like... Well, right. But I'm talking about like big events. Like you can live in the middle of nowhere, interact only online and be like, all right, let me save up and go to ComplexCon. Yeah, Spirit's not that expensive. Yeah, Spirit is definitely not that expensive. I wouldn't know. He's not on the bus. He's not on Spirit. Sorry, man. Skateboarding to ComplexCon? Yeah. All way Vegas. All the way to Vegas, yo. You notice that's the job of the dirty van? Yeah. We're going through the punk stereotypes. Let's get good one. Let's get the good one.
Social Media and Personal Interests
01:04:08
Speaker
D, let them know where to find you. Now you'll know where it is to find me at D, triple E, because I love Andre 3000. Am I, that's Demi God. on all that social media stuff. and you know Any updates on the shirts?
01:04:20
Speaker
um oh What's up with the shirts? People want to know. They acting crazy. I had a real argument with my distributor. We'll talk off air about that. Let's talk on air about it. No, don't talk on air about it. I'm nice, but not that nice. Oxy? Plug Oxy?
01:04:38
Speaker
um nice but not that oxy plug a plug Oh, yeah,
Promotions and Podcast Closing Remarks
01:04:42
Speaker
the shameless plug. Check out the band Oxymoron. Yada, yada, yada, yada. I thought you were going to say Oxi-Contin. New York already sold out. So you slept on the first show, get the second one.
01:04:51
Speaker
We'll be there. Yes, sir. And I am WhoisHas on all social medias. follow the podcast at MyFirstKicksPod. If you've been listening to this, you're bugging. We on YouTube and it's my first. You see our smiling faces. Yeah, exactly. My first kick. that YouTube.com slash at my first kicks. ah So um if you got a my first six story so I can read it to the guests info at my first kicks dot com.
01:05:19
Speaker
You know, copper shirts still, please. We're trying to sell these shirts and. well no, not the the the black ones. got We got to put them up. Yeah, all right. we got put we might We might have an update for y'all soon. Yeah, the black ones, we got put those up because they don't have those.
01:05:31
Speaker
All right. People want to know. Give us an update. That's that's the that's the catchphrase. That's the catchphrase. People want to know. No, that's literally his catchphrase. And you know what we say each week? Wear your kicks.
01:05:45
Speaker
Peace. Thank you, sir. Thank you, man. That was fun.