plus 3, Hey, boyfriend - Edmonton Journal

Hey, boyfriend - Edmonton Journal
Tattoo artist to celebrities brings business home to Annapolis - HometownAnnapolis.com
Tennis Players' Reaction To The ATP Awards 2010 (Humor) - Bleacherreport.com
Kansas Coliseum Arena Holds Final Event - KAKE TV

Posted: 20 Feb 2010 09:23 PM PST

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Everyone assumed her man-pants were too bizarre to become an actual, real trend. Frayed and cropped with a tidy cuff rolled in, Katie Holmes's boyfriend jeans looked ideal for mopping the cabin floors in the 1950s. Admittedly, there was something a little intriguing about Holmes's summertime look: Complete with that boyish bob and her Broadway debut, her morning-after pants made her oddball love affair with Tom Cruise seem all the more genuine.

Consumers largely agreed, however, that boyfriend jeans were too trendy, too short, too baggy, too unflattering for everyone else, especially for Canadian fall and winter. And so they faded to black.

Until now.

Gender-defiant pants have pranced out of the closet and are performing a chorus line on the streets, celebrating their pre-spring comeback. Brands like Rich and Skinny, Diesel, Citizens of Humanity, Fidelity and Paige Denim are rolling out their take on boyfriend jeans -- setting boyfriends up to be the "it" trend of 2009.

The latest models are not quite as loosey-goosey as Holmes's numbers, which were puffed through the leg. Boyfriend jeans are supposed to be baggy but not bouffant; more like skinny pants that are many sizes too big. Styles range from short and cuffed with a rough'n' tumble wash (Current/Elliott, $275) or long and peg-legged in a dark rinse (Diesel, $220) -- all of which look great over or under sleek boots. The large, exaggerated drop inseam is what the jeans have in common; it's meant to hang low, relaxing the high-waisted look.

With button-nosed, straight-hair celebrities sporting the look, like Rachel Bilson, Jennifer Aniston and Heidi Klum -- even Britney Spears wore a pair on the cover of December's Rolling Stone -- many wary customers still wonder whether this is just another celebrity-endorsed fad, one that is poorly timed given the economic crisis.

Yet, those angry fists might want to hold their fury. After years of selling squished skinny pants that make your muffintops pop up, top-quality denim designers and distributors are finally offering a cosy alternative.

Uncertain times are exactly what inspire the look, along with a revival of masculine style.

"People want comfort in their lives now because of the economy and changing [U.S.] politics," says Joie Rucker, creative director and part-owner of Rich and Skinny Jeans in Montreal.

"That makes loose and comfortable jeans more natural, for now."

With masterful Hollywood reproduction skills, Rucker's latest shipment will look exactly "like you stole your boyfriend's jeans and wore them after a great night out." Except these pants manage to flatter your tush.

"There's no question the boyfriend jean is the hot style for the season," agrees Gap spokesman Tara Wickwire.

"There's the obvious celebrity influence with this style but what makes it equally compelling is the comfort factor.

"The best way to attain the 'boyfriend' silhouette is buy them a size up, roll the hem haphazardly and throw on a pair of heels."

At Holt Renfrew, approximately 10 "boyfriend" styles are in stores or coming to select locations across Canada, including Paige denim, Citizens of Humanity and Rich and Skinny.

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Tattoo artist to celebrities brings business home to Annapolis - HometownAnnapolis.com

Posted: 20 Feb 2010 09:02 PM PST

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In his paycheck job, Orange, a 39-year-old Annapolitan, has spent the past 11 years as a personal assistant to celebrities, prepping backstage dressing rooms for the stars before their performances. The soft-spoken, light-eyed Orange has devoted much of his adulthood to the road, tending to the needs of a cacophony of rock stars and pop icons.

But by trade, he's a freelance tattooist, making money on designs ranging from $50 to $10,000 apiece, coloring the bodies of musicians such as Tim McGraw, the Rolling Stones, Metallica, their entourages and stagehands in hotel rooms between all of those rehearsals.

Weary of the jet-setting schedule, Orange opened his first tattoo shop in January, with the hopes that in the next few years he can unpack his luggage and commit entirely to the business in his hometown. Three other local tattoo artists - Joe "Joweone" Nasatka, Brady Duncan and Eric Barrett - joined him at the 2020-A West St. studio.

"I think I honestly feel I've gotten an opportunity of a lifetime to travel, but I'd rather be home with my family," Orange said.

How he got there

After high school, Orange apprenticed at two tattoo parlors in the area - Tattoo Charlie's Place in Baltimore and Little Vinnie's Tattoos in Finksburg.

And after some lucky introductions, he wound up tattooing one of the members of 'NSYNC when the band was performing in Baltimore back in the 1990s. He followed the group on its tour to complete that design, and then tattooed several more designs for the other band members along the way.

That chance opportunity put him in many famous circles.

Now his tattoos are sometimes the main accessories for photo shoots.

A well-known, black-and-white portrait of Justin Timberlake puts Orange's ink in focus. Posed wearing just a plain, black tank top, an intricate Gothic-style cross tattoo on the pop star's upper arm replaces the need for high fashion.

Orange's tattoos make appearances everywhere. The little childlike fairy skipping over Britney Spears' rear, and a tiny spray of blossoms dusting Michelle Branch's shoulder are both original works by Orange. On the other end of the musical spectrum, James Hetfield, lead singer and guitarist of Metallica, and metal vocalist Rob Zombie brandish and bare Orange's skin art.

How he got here

Family is incentive enough to ground Orange in a small Mid-Atlantic city, he said. His wife, Allison Orange, who owns a hair salon in downtown Annapolis called Halo, and his two daughters are the reason he has made that quintessential career choice to leap from being a renegade freelancer to an entrepreneur with a brick-and-mortar business.

"I want to tattoo on my terms," he said. "My little one, she's 8, and it really bothers her when I go. You know, I can't make my daughter's soccer games."

On a recent day after having returned from a Metallica tour in South America, Orange was happy to be back in the new shop to sit down to regular clients. He chatted with his business partner, Jason "Rooobyn" Bryant, and the other tattoo artists who work with him.

As he prepared his station, laying out his equipment and stretching on latex gloves, he visualized the sidewall of the studio that soon will host temporary art exhibits. And keeping true to his experiences in the music industry, he imagined the open space at the back of the room that could house a small stage for rockabilly or acoustic performers.

Andrew McMahon, an Annapolis resident and his client for the day, stretched out prone on a cushioned table, rolled up one pant-leg of his jeans and carried on talking while Orange outlined the hard angles of a large five-pointed star to cluster with other stars already wallpapering the client's calf and shin.

But they didn't talk about Metallica - much. Only briefly did the band's name come up during the appointment, when Orange suddenly remembered he had brought back a souvenir from the tour for tattooist Nasatka, who was himself busy at work on a client. It was an infant-sized Metallica T-shirt for Nasatka's newborn baby.

Despite most of his workdays centered on famous people, Orange was more inclined that day to talk about his friend's baby shower and the new orange-and-black checkerboard floor - a color palette with a nod to his own name - installed in the studio just weeks before.

"I do want people to know that I love that they like the stories about the bands," he said, "but I don't want to exploit it, and that's kind of the reason I was hired to work for them - is to maintain that trust. But even I don't want to be them. I love being a dad and a husband."

As far as his enthusiasm goes, starting a new business seems to rival all the years of road adventures. Orange now talks excitedly about things like decor and ambience - issues with which he never contended while he was rearranging desk lamps and tables in hotels and working with tools he kept in a briefcase.

Decked with chrome fixtures and more splashes of black and orange, he believes the shop can really only be described in one way.

"It's like a candy store, isn't it?" he said, smiling with pride.

New, innovative ideas for the business also thrill him. Orange originally hoped he could combine his tattoo studio with a barbershop but discovered the state's oversight commission for barbers and the board for tattooists didn't really know how to license and regulate a business trying to combine the two.

That dream sits on the back burner for now, but Orange continues to tinker with other new concepts for his business model.

"We're just constantly thinking up ways of how can we sell ourselves as an upscale shop and maintain people's values," he said.

Times squeeze trade

In its first four weeks of business, Orange Tattoo Co. inked about 120 clients and continues to book appointments, even in an economic time when paying the energy bill at home might take more precedence for average residents than commissioning a veritable mural for their bodies.

So Orange said he's grateful.

"This is a luxury, not a necessity," he said. "I had a guy cancel for tonight because he had to get his truck fixed, and it was, 'Do I get my truck fixed or get a tattoo?' "

For Orange, art and business intertwine fluidly like the lattice of tattoos covering his own body. And having integrity in both is of equal importance to him. Even though many of his clients request duplicates of celebrities' tattoos, for instance, Orange will never acquiesce, he said.

"It's not so much about the music artists - I wouldn't do that to them," he said of his regular clients. "It's yours. You deserve to have something unique because it's forever, and I just don't want to repeat myself."

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Tennis Players' Reaction To The ATP Awards 2010 (Humor) - Bleacherreport.com

Posted: 20 Feb 2010 02:28 PM PST

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Frankie's News is back following an extended break. (And by extended we mean our last edition came out when dinosaurs had not yet become extinct. Ok, maybe not that long ago, but you get the idea).

Anyway, we are back now and here to report on all of the most important news stories in the world of tennis. This week we were lucky enough to be invited to the ATP World Tour Awards.

As expected, the most decorated tennis player in the history of this fine sport picked up most of the gongs. Mr Federer won three awards in total: 'Player of the Year' for the fifth time in his career, 'Fans' Favourite' for a record seventh consecutive year and the 'Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award' for a record sixth consecutive year. The man now has more ATP awards than he has slams and cannot be mentioned without someone using the words 'consecutive' and 'record'.

Frankie's News went backstage to find out what some of the players who are living in the reign of King Fed had to say about their monarch.

Andy Roddick: "I can't believe that Rafa is starring in a Shakira video. This sucks…my wife has just been given the front cover of 'Sports Illustrated'…couldn't Rafa let me gloat about that for a while in the locker room before he upped the ante?"

(At this point Frankie's News gently reminded Andy that we were supposed to be talking about the fabulousness of Roger Federer.)

"Well I guess he hasn't won enough already. Not that I'm bitter. He's a great guy, just feel he coulda at least given me one Wimbledon trophy."

Rafael Nadal: "Cause I'm a gypsy…are you coming with me…oh, sorry. Is in my head, no? But I am juss Shakira's amigo, no? Well, Rog deserves dee awards very much, no? He is dee bess in history, no?"

Novak Djokovic: "Did I vote for him? No comment."

Andy Murray: "I can cry like Roger…I just wish I could win awards like him."

Nickolay Davydenko: "I don't usually vote but this year I decided to give Roger mine as he finally let me beat him. Would have been better if he had let me win our match in Melbourne but I suppose you can't ask for everything. Personally, I wouldn't want to be the fan favourite. I like my anonymity. Shakira asked me to star in her video before she phoned Rafa, but I told her that I am not Britney Spears. I cannot be in a music video."

Pete Sampras: "Yeah, that's great for him. I still reckon Rod Laver is the greatest though."

P.S. For any of our fans who signed up for weekly subscriptions of Frankie's News we offer our most humble apologies. Unfortunately our writers were suffering from a terrible bout of "block" (as it is known in the business). We would send you a refund but we spent all the money on creative writing classes for our employees.

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Kansas Coliseum Arena Holds Final Event - KAKE TV

Posted: 20 Feb 2010 08:04 PM PST

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February 20, 2010

More than 30 years of history comes to a close at the Kansas Coliseum this weekend.

The Britt Brown Arena opened its doors in 1978. Since then, it's been home to the Wichita Wings soccer, and Thunder hockey. It's also hosted music acts including Journey, Aerosmith, and Cher. But this weekend's Boat and RV Show will be the last event at the arena before it closes.

"I've been involved in it from the start clear up until the closing of it," said Kansas Coliseum Director Dave Rush.

Rush has been involved with the Coliseum since its opening... through Kiss, Elton John, and even Britney Spears.

"The management of a facility, you're either in it or you're out of it, one of the two. And it's your life," said Rush.

The arena's also become a source of entertainment, and memories, for thousands of Kansans.

"We were definitely disappointed," said Boat and RV Show General Manager Ross Whitacre, "The arena has a very special place to us, we've been doing our show out here since 1985."

But Whitacre says the show will go on without the Britt Brown Arena, and Coliseum directors agree.

"It's time to make some changes. Change is good, change is good... we'll make it work," said Rush.

Even though it may be the end for the Britt Brown Arena, it's not the end for the Boat and RV Show. Organizers say it will continue to take place at the Coliseum Pavilion buildings, which will stay open.

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