Upper Playground

Watch horror movies with Alex Pardee once a week at the ZeroFriends pop-up store

September 14th, 2010

Alex Pardee and Zerofriends has a pop-up shop at 248 Fillmore Street. And now, as that shop is going to be open until October 31st, Alex is going to host Movie Knights once a week, showcasing horror movies for the kids in the shop. Or adults. The first showing is tomorrow night, September 15th.

In Alex’s words:

Since we opened up the latest Zerofriends Pop-Up Retail store in San Francisco, I keep getting the same 2 questions:
1. Alex, you’re getting fat again, what bra size are you?
2. Why did you open a retail store?? Retail is dead!
Answer to #1: I know, and 38 B.
Answer to #2: SO I CAN WATCH HORROR MOVIES WITH AWESOME STRANGERS!!!

Read more here.

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Tags: Alex Pardee, citrus report, fillmore, fillmore-street, francisco, keep-getting, kids, movie-knights, News, pop-up store, retail, retail-store, tomorrow-night, zerofriends

Alex Pardee / Zerofriends Pop-Up Shop in the Lower Haight

August 31st, 2010

We’ve always strived to create unique experiences for our community, so recently we launched a series of pop-up shops in San Francisco’s Lower Haight to provide an outlet for some of the best up-and-coming brands to showcase their work.

As part of this series, Alex Pardee’s “Zerofriends” retail location will open it’s doors from September 1st – November 1st, 2010. Much like the location which popped up in New York City this last winter, the San Francisco Zerofriends location will feature the entire Zerofriends catalog of twisted apparel designs, prints and toys – along with some surprises to the tune of artist signings, exclusive product releases and unique events. Alex will be holding a grand opening celebration for the store on Saturday, September 4th from 2:00PM – 4:00PM where he’ll be “hanging, signing, and making bad puns live in person.”

ZEROFRIENDS STORE LOCATION:
September 1st – November 1st, 2010
248 Fillmore St (Haight & Fillmore, next to Upper Playground – Fillmore)
San Francisco, CA
Open Daily from 12-7PM

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Tags: Alex Pardee, fillmore, haight, Lower Haight, pop-up shop, retail, San Francisco, shop, store, upper playground, zerofriends

Upper Playground PDX / SEA

June 21st, 2010

Posted from The Citrus Report

We speak with Jay Sajko, manager of Upper Playground Portland and Upper Playground Seattle, about how the Pacific Northwest has adopted the San Francisco-based apparel and art gallery. —The Citrus Report staff

TCR: How did your relationship begin with Upper Playground, and how were you able to open a store in Portland, and few years later, in Seattle?

Originally it began with a record/clothing shop in Portland called 360 Vinyl that specialized in the underground music culture and apparel brands that you couldn’t find in the mall or your average run of the mill store. There was an amazing amount of great music in the electronic, dance and hip-hop genres that was coming out in the late ’90s and some great apparel brands that were launching at that time as well. We added the apparel end of things to the shop from the beginning and it made for an interesting shopping experience for customers. Upper Playground was a brand that we carried and supported pretty much from the beginning. I should add that I owned 360 Vinyl and operated it for about 9 years.

Upper Playground approached me in 2006 about opening a flagship store in Portland, which for the brand was going to be its first flagship store outside of San Francisco. About five months later we opened the store. For me it was a no-brainer as far as if it would work. Portland is a young city with a great art community and it likes to do things that aren’t conventional. I knew that Upper Playground would make a perfect match. With me being based in the Northwest and with the success of the Portland location it made sense a few years later to open the Seattle location in 2008. Seattle, like Portland, has a great art community and a diverse group of artists that live there.

TCR: Has the Pacific Northwest responded well to UP? The region-specific graphics are fantastic.

The Northwest has been supportive of UP on so many levels. It makes things so much easier when the community is receptive and gets what you are doing. Yes we’ve been lucky to have some amazing graphics in the stores from some of our favorite UP associated artists. My favorite parts of the stores are the permanent installations… Choe, Saber, Sam Flores, Herbert Baglione, Jeremy Fish, Munk One, Cody Hudson, Will Barras, Nate Van Dyke, Mear One, Morning Breath, Usugrow; the list is long and deep. They have all left behind amazing works inside the retail stores. People trip when they see these.

TCR: Do Seattle and Portland feel a bit of kinship for each other? Is there a unity between the artists that reside in either city?

There is a bit of kinship that is present. I spend time in both cities and get a good perspective on each. The best analogy would be cousins… efinitely related but a lot of differences as well. I’m not sure about any unity between the artists but I do see an exchange of artists who have lived and spent time in each city. Overall the art scenes operate very separately and I think each city likes it that way. Ultimately it is the Northwest though and the cities have a certain element of things in common.

TCR: I feel like we all know that Portland and Seattle are creative centers, but some of the names of the artists aren’t as well-known. Who are some of the best artists in the region that you have worked with?

Yeah, I know it feels like some of the artists in the Northwest are a little under-appreciated and I’m not sure why that is. There’s no doubt that we have the talent. Some of my favorite artists right now doing interesting things and in no particular order are Solace, Weirdo, Joe Vollan, Jesse Reno, Martin Ontiveros, and Ashley Montague. That’s just a few.

Posted By The Citrus Report

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Tags: artists, FIFTY24SEA Gallery, fish, northwest, pacific northwest, retail, seattle, Upper Playground Seattle

Watch Release in NYC, Grand Invincible, & other BIG THINGS!

March 25th, 2010

Due to the high quantity of BIG THINGS (see above for photo representation) that Zerofriends & I are involved with this week, I’ll subtract the usual boring banter and just cut to the chase.

1. ALEX PARDEE x ZEROFRIENDS x VANNEN Super Limited Wristwatch & Print release & signing will be taking place THIS Saturday, March 27, at the Zerofriends NYC Retail Store in Manhattan from 1-4 PM.
Official info below the photo:

Saturday, March 27th at 11am ZeroFriends and Vannen Watches bring you a new limited edition Alex Pardee wristwatch available only at the ZeroFriends boutique in NYC. Only 40 of these watches exist in the entire world and come in never before seen packaging that’s signed, numbered and customized with splatters and magic by Alex. No two pieces of packaging are the same! Plus as an extra bonus – each watch also comes with a limited edition, 11″ x 17″ signed and numbered secret (see below for secret revealed) print. And for those of you not in the NYC area – and if the watch doesn’t sell out – you can find it online Monday, March 29th only at http://www.zerofriends.com. The cost of the watch will be $125.00

ZeroFriends NYC
437 E. 9th St.
New York, NY 10009

Now here are 2 pics that were not released until now:

The packaging, individually hand-splattered by my…well…hand, i guess.

And…

The secret print that will be included when you purchase the watch. It’s a blue variant of my “Escaped Conviction” piece, only it’s limited to only 40 prints, and is a little smaller than the previous editions (it measures 17″ x 11″). The only way you can get this is to buy the limited watch.

67677925ab12Inch.jpg Watch Release in NYC, Grand Invincible, & other BIG THINGS! zerofriends watch vannen watches technological super limited SAN sacred hoop retail photo living legends hip hop hieroglyphics below the photo

2. Zerofriends has also just released something that we are very proud of. As you may or may not know, and may or may not care, I was raised in the late 80′s and early 90′s in the Bay Area, and I grew up on classic Hip Hop like Gangstarr, Kool G Rap, Too Short, NWA, The Click, Public Enemy, Souls of Mischief, Geto Boys, Tribe, Wu-Tang, etc. In addition, I have consistently followed the Bay Area hip hop scene since I was in high school, from the birth of mob music to the insanity of the hyphy scene. Amongst the madness, there were also more sample-oriented and funk-inspired groups like the Hieroglyphics, Living Legends, & Gurp City. One of my favorite groups to come out of the bay in recent years is “GRAND INVINCIBLE”, consisting of Luke Sick (from Sacred Hoop/Gurp City) & DJ Eons (from Bay Area Grindcore legendary band SPAZZ). They have always just had such a well-constructed, old school-inspired way of producing genuine music that I have loved them for years.
With that being said, it was really cool about a year ago when we all linked up and talked about working together. And now, after a long time coming, Zerofriends has just released our first album, Grand Invincible’s new album “COLD HAND IN THE DICE GAME” (with cover art by the amazing Eric Kneeland)!

Grand Invincible “Cold Hand In The Dice Game”
Second full length album of grimey hip hop from the duo of Luke Sick (Sacred Hoop) and DJ Eons One (Spazz). 13 tracks to furthering the GI movement, based on the philosophy that hip-hop as an art form was best served under the technological limitations of the late-80s and early-90s and that the best hip hop records were made using records. Featuring all original artwork by Eric Kneeland inspired by 60’s horror comic books.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO SNIPPETS AND PURCHASE:)

Direct link to check it out:
http://zerofriends.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_music_info&cPath=30&products_id=268

We also have the CD available in a really rad limited art package that has hand a screenprinted poster, a 12″ record, stickers, and more:

Here is their newest video, directed by F/22, for the song “The Way We Revolt”, harking back to the MASS APPEAL days for sure. Love it.

3. (Lastly) THIS GUY!!!!

3d08863d1fhisguy.jpg Watch Release in NYC, Grand Invincible, & other BIG THINGS! zerofriends watch vannen watches technological super limited SAN sacred hoop retail photo living legends hip hop hieroglyphics below the photo