{fig. 5}

Friday, February 6th marks the seasonal return of First Fridays on Abbot Kinney. Every 1st Friday of the month, galleries & shops on Abbot Kinney Blvd. extend their hours to 10:00PM and feature special deals, events &/or performances.

Milkmade's End-of-Season Sale continues with up to 50% off all Fall/Winter '08! Sizes & stock are limited so stop by this Friday for a glass of wine & a bargain! Open 'til 10:00PM.

{fig. 4}

In Southern California, we like to take pride in our vehicles, be they 4-wheeled or 2. We'd like to think that they say something about us--our personal style, our way of life, and perhaps even our state of mind. In recent years, the bicycle has reemerged as the mode of transport du jour but in Italy, it's long been the people's "people mover". Ironically, only three factories in Italy continue to produce complete bicycles and, out of a dedicated workshop in one of those remaining factories comes ABICI. The company's website says it all: "ABICI is future memories, a bicycle in its pure conceptual form, a perfect combination of yesterday and of tomorrow, to pedal today."

Sneak Peek: Corpus S/S 2009

This month, Corpus returns to Milkmade with it's award-winning design, bringing you signature wovens, knits, outerwear, & bottoms in an array of light and supple materials such as linen and cotton batiste.

{fig. 3}

I'm fed up, quite frankly, with the ongoing high-tech, mass export, cleverly marketed collaborations that leverage the immediacy of hype and trend to deliver inferior & over-priced bags that end up underused and, ultimately, in the bin. Is there no antidote?

And the Danes to the rescue! The Last Bag, exemplifies Danish design produced in Denmark with the same great attention to craftsmanship & design that we've come to expect from the country that brought us LEGOs. Recognized across Denmark as the iconic leather schoolbag, the timeless design was rescued & revived by drummer cum designer Piet Breinholm and is produced in a variety of colors and sizes. My favorite is the Classic in red (pictured above). Thanks go out to Aya from Copenhagen for putting me on to this!

{fig. 2}

Our good friend, singer/songwriter Kenneth Pattengale's 6th full-length studio album Storied Places [Milan Records (Rykodisc/WEA)] is finally out! "Running the gamut from swamp music to rhythm and blues, lullaby to country and western, folk song to piano ballad- the songs on [Storied Places] take direction from the stories they tell."



"Kenneth Pattengale works outside—or at least on the fringes—of what the music industry might traditionally call its own. Over the last eight years, Pattengale has taken inspiration from the career paths of artists like Randy Newman, Elvis Costello and personal hero Joe Henry by exploring what it means to wear the differing hats of film composer, record producer and performing songwriter."