the humid haney rant

Has Dirty Coast gone "Above & Beyond"?

We want to thank all of you for your dedication to Dirty Coast over the last 4 years!

We have built some very strong relationships in the community, printed and distributed over 1 million free stickers and buttons and donated merchandise to over 20 charities. We still love the reactions we get from our customers and friends with each new design. And we especially love seeing our designs all over the world and to hear the stories you tell of explaining our designs to folks outside the city. We love that you keep supporting our brand. We promise to keep at it for as long as you will have us.

If you have a few minutes, please take the time to nominate us for going "Above & Beyond"

Call for Nominations: Who Goes “Above & Beyond”?

Stay Local! seeks to honor eight businesses who go above and beyond with community involvement, charitable giving, or just being the best at what they do. Send an email of 100 words or less to [email protected], or simply call him at 504-561-7474 between now and October 1, 2009. Winning businesses will be honored at The Urban Conservancy’s You Are Here fall event on October 21, 2009 in addition to being featured in the 2010 Guide to Commerce and Culture

Nominations may come from outside of New Orleans, but only businesses that are eligible for listing on staylocal.org are eligible for nomination (locally owned, not a franchise, with ownership and business residing within Orleans, Jefferson, St. Tammany, St. Bernard or Plaquemines Parish). Nominations must include:

1. Nominator’s full name and contact information

2. Name and address of nominated business

3. Name and phone number or email address of business owner or other contact

Come rock out on a Sunday

Reminder to mark your calender, and to be sure to come to the Saint, 961 Saint Mary St, this Sunday from 2 to 8 in the afternoon. Come celebrate life and friendship with special sets from New Orleans own, the Generationals, and Louisiana darlings the Peekers and Drew Stubbs will be filling the gaps with his some classic vinyl and ohhh we got some surprises! There will also be BBQ from Squeal, drink specials and a baby pool provided by Pami P! This amazing showcase of love is being brought to you by the fine people at Static, Park the Van Records, Humid Beings and Dirty Coast. Come and say hello and drink with us!

Holy Douchbag Datman!

DATMAN, whose shirts we chose not to sell in the Dirty Coast store, just came to store and screamed at obsceneties @ customers.

DATMAN crap design and simplistic idea:: http://tinyurl.com/cazuul

One store customer said he was going to BURN his datman shirt and tell everyone he knows about how DATMAN harrassed Dirty Coast. Another customer wrote down his license plate number and said he was a detective and would serve him a ticket for disorderly conduct.

Don't mess with the Dirty.

4th Annual Dirty Coast Fashion Show

Dirty Coast Fashion Show 2009 from Steve Wolfram on Vimeo.

David Simon, of The Wire and Treme, rocks the Dirty Coast.

We finalized the sale of Dirty Coast to Urban Outfitters. Be looking for some changes (less nola) but more national reach. Wish us luck!

Nice review of Dirty Coast on the City's website.

http://www.cityofno.com/pg-1-302.aspx?storyid=513

Blake Haney and Patrick Brower, owners of Dirty Coast, know exactly what it means to be New Orleanians wherever they are. They should: they coined the phrase.

From neon Tokyo and the Great Wall of China, to crowded Moroccan markets and the dunes of the Sahara, people from all over the world are showing off their New Orleans pride, one Dirty Coast shirt at a time. Located on 5704 Magazine Street, steps away from Audubon Park, this intimate shop is making our New Orleans revival priority one in the ever expanding empire that is “Dirty Coast.”

T-shirts and other apparel line the walls of Dirty Coast. The pieces are colorful delights, sprinkled with traditional New Orleans iconography and garnished with subtle—and not so subtle—displays of humor, wit, and satire. Music gently resonates in the background while somewhere in the shop, someone finally catches the meaning of the t-shirt that has a “π” symbol made of crawfish on it, one of the city’s tastiest snacks, crawfish pie. The moment in itself is comedic nirvana. More than that, this moment is a very strong and distinctly “dirty” signal to New Orleanians and those who understand our culture that says, “You’re welcome here.”

In late 2005, mere months after Hurricane Katrina, Haney and Brower returned to New Orleans to help restore the communities damaged by the effects of the storm. During an evening outing, Haney proposed the idea of getting New Orleanians excited and buzzing about the recovery and the prospect of returning to New Orleans by creating and selling merchandise that was both cool and instantly recognizable by citizens displaced by the storm. Without hesitation, Brower joined forces with Haney, and the rest is history, the rest is Dirty Coast.

Since then, the Dirty Coast name has grown considerably, becoming one of the most visible symbols of our New Orleans recovery. Haney and Brower would go from selling t-shirts out of the trunks of their cars in January 2006, to eventually purchasing the current Magazine Street location in August 2007.

“We’ve always loved this city,” said Brower. “We have to make the best of what we have.”
Haney and Brower have one simple approach and goal for Dirty Coast: “Spread love, respect, and pride for New Orleans.” With thousands of t-shirts sold and over a million stickers printed and distributed and plans to expand, it’s hard to argue that this dynamic duo isn’t chasing and achieving their cause. This Booming Business, turned cultural icon, turned symbol of our recovery is sure to spread New Orleans pride to people all over the world.

For more contact Dirty Coast, please dial (504) 324-3745 or visit www.dirtycoast.com

The BROOKLYNOLA Press Release. Feel free to spread it around.

Download Brooklynola Production Release Document

For Immediate Release

Contact Person: 
Michael Lamendola

Company Name: 
Humid Beings

Email Address: [email protected]

Web site address: humidbeings.com

329 Julia Street
New Orleans, LA.
70130

504-388-7746

humidbeings.com

ABOUT HUMIDBEINGS.COM
The creators of Dirty Coast Press (dirtycoast.com) are proud to announce the beta launch for our latest project, HumidBeings.com.


By working with local partners we will publish content important to those living here, those displaced and those looking on from afar. We will attempt to have the most comprehensive events calendar. We will become an online archive for all types of media that pertain to the city. And most importantly we will give you the ability to publish online as well -- your audio, videos, images, ideas and commentary. Essentially, those who understand New Orleans best will determine what is published.

HumidBeings.com is a publishing platform and portal that will unite those who understand New Orleans via the web. By publishing weekly original content created by local talent and republishing the best of the local media, news, and events, we are creating a true portal for all things NOLA. Our site will allow those who understand the city to create profiles and publish their opinions, ideas, images and media. Humid Beings will make it possible for you to define why New Orleans matters.  Local news and Blogs are currently up and running on HumidBeings.com site will evolve overtime and respond to the needs of its community. We already have new features in the works:

* A Juried Online Marketplace For Local Creatives
* Mapping tools for the places, events, ideas and problems.
* Widgets to share our content within your community.
Additional publishing tools for profiles
Content Partner Channels

ABOUT BROOKLYNOLA
New Orleanians and New Yorkers are bonded by their love of each others’ music, art and culture. As you know, there are many citizens of both communities who split their time between cities.  HumidBeings.com was created for all those who call New Orleans home and are drawn to her culture, lifestyle and way of life. BROOKLYNOLA is an opportunity to celebrate New Orleans with ex-pats, the displaced and the NOLA curious in New York.

Humid Beings and Dirty Coast in partnership with All Day Buffet are throwing a launch party in honor of this connection in New York Friday, May 8 at Public Assembly, 70 North 6th Street Brooklyn, NY.

NOLA and NY based entertainment line-up includes:
DJ Soul Sister, The Generationals, North American Wildlife, Simon Lott, Mike Gamble, Marc Friedman are confirmed at this time.

We're bringing up Kristen Preau of ADGAS NOLA and Cook Me Something Mister to cook up some jambalaya and assist in serving up some real southern hospitality.

There will be a corresponding event in New Orleans the following night, Saturday 5/9 at The Saint.  We have booked two very popular New York DJ's to come down and play this event, The Captain and Japanster.  As we try and create a NOLA night in NYC, we also aim to create a NY night in NOLA.

We are currently seeking sponsorship for these events.  For $250, the sponsor will receive their name on all promotional material and the option to set up a table at the event. (Sponsors responsible for their own travel, accommodations and expenses.)

Sponsors already on board are:
HumidBeings.com, Dirtycoast.com, Witry Realty, Defend New Orleans, The Saint, Static TV, Preservation Hall, Flavor Paper, cookmesomethingmister.com, ADGAS New Orleans and Park the Van Records.

The events will be documented by the Humid Beings video team and placed on our website and will be available to all sponsors for posting on their sites as well.

We will be planning other similar events across America.  Our aim is to offer other cities a real taste of our culture in their own back yard using our own talented musicians and artists in combination with musicians and artist in the various cities where we host these events.  Then hopefully, we’ll bring back talent from those cities to share their culture with us in New Orleans.

Photos from the 2009 Dirty Coast Fashion Show