October 5, 2012

Well...


There's no cool way to say it so we're just going to say it. This is our final post on theblagg in its current form. A huge thank YOU to everyone who read the posts over the years and was infuriated or enthralled or enticed or in distress so much that they couldn't leave a comment. Ha! Thank you for reading right now. We're going to leave you with fratpack's What Do They Know - which gives Zaki Ibrahim's The Kids Are Talking a fratpackular twist - because we want you to download the frwednesday mixtape HERE if you haven't already and because we love you.


Peace
Dude & The Ordinary Girl

theblaggTV sits down with Claw Money


When we clinched the CLAW Money sit-down, The Ordinary Girl was quarter to chickening out of speaking to her. You know that whole thing people say about meeting your idols and whatnot. So anyway, we finally caught up with her at STR.CRD and if you'll excuse the dodgy sound - the room had a sliding door that wasn't filtering the madness in the media room out - you can watch the funny graffiti artist who has ensured her passion gets her paid. When I bumped into her in the ladies room a few moments after this mini-interview, I not only helped her fix her top, taught her the TIA phrase and got to laugh at her jokes (what's not to love about this woman?) but I also got to peep the pictures from her NASCAR collaboration. Too bad all that's not on camera. Not only is she the first woman to collaborate on a design for NASCAR - which you can see HERE - but this is the first representation of graffiti in that arena. Rad, right? Watch our quick chat (with additional images from CLAW Money's youtube account):



Then check out these cool images of what went down when Optone and 2kiler of OTC took CLAW around Johannesburg and they did more than go sightseeing:



October 2, 2012

fratpack photo fresh


fratpack. Shot by Jeff Rikhotso.

Read This


First off, I'll start by saying that I haven't finished reading Jane Raphaely's biography, unedited. Not because it's boring or anything - far from it - but because, in order to have my breakfast on a flight between home and temp-home, I had to pause at the part where she was talking about the stage of life when teenagers tell their parents that they didn't ask to be born. And then, you guessed it, I forgot the book on the plane! But even if I never get it back, unedited - which is what the book is called - is a good enough read to buy another copy. If you're unfamiliar with her, Mrs Raphaely is one of the most revered people in the magazine industry. She was responsible for putting Fairlady onto the map and more popularly, giving South African women their own version of Cosmopolitan Magazine and ultimately building the empire that is Associated Magazines. Even if you have no interest in these women's titles or think Cosmo and 'em are for daft women, you'd be surprised to find out the ideas behind these magazines. I look forward to reading the rest of her story as the emphasis seems to be on just how she did it all. In case you were wondering, her response to teenagers saying they wish they weren't born is simply that parents were making love, not babies, when the children came to be. Awesome, right?

I ART JOBURG Exhibition


We've already told you who Martha Cooper is, right? Well, as you might know, Ms Cooper is in South Africa to document the I ART JOBURG project that sees international and local graffiti and fine artists showcase their talent on murals in downtown Jozi. Martha Cooper documented the month-long work of Falko, ROA, Steve ESPO Powers, Remed as well as Cameron Platter and you can check it all out at the exhibition that will take place at the adidas Originals AREA3 spot on Kruger Street in Johannesburg from Friday. Courtesy of theblagg la familia, Sara Chitambo, here are a few images of the street art documentarian who conducted a talk at this spot on Saturday at STR.CRD:



theblagg bonus: Here's another thing you might or might not know. Philip Botha was this year's featured graffiti artist at STR.CRD and over 10 hours he made a big ass wall come to life. Can you see that this man had to be lifted up in crane thingamajiggy in order to reach the high end of the wall? Peep the story on his own blog HERE.