"ballin! on a budget" : london

wifi in paris = squatting benches in front of closed cafes and rodent infested mcdonalds near the champs elysées, so sorry for the delay on the update on london...we are in fact still alive. post on paris to come if our man Thompson comes through.

london is the most turbo city ever, and small city dudes got completely overwhelmed and lost the second Flying Circus shuttle left us on Liverpool street, but young moneys quckly got hang of shits, forgot the exchange rate, and had a blast nonetheless.


DAY SIX: FROM TATE TO BAPE

after finding our way to the new HQ, the main dudes Terrence and Frankie quickly brought us out to the pub to meet up with the homies. it was to be one of the few early nights of the trip, topped off with turkish food. Once again, our sleeping spot is in the type of hood where if you go down the wrong street, getting stabbed is likely.

we woke up on a not so inflated inflatable bed and headed for the Tate (ANSELM KEIFER IS RUNNING GAME, as per usual). After our fill our high-end conceptual modern art, we hit up the high-end shopping joints, following a list of dope stores and boutiques provided by Terrence (Upper James St. = Bape and The Hideout). Spent the rest of the day walking around, seeing big beautiful stuff, got disapointed by our boys at the Fred Perry flagship store, and got confused by the UKs neverending Alife obsession.

As much as europe is amazing and we can't get over how beautiful it is and all that, we have been craving a few things from home: Olympico coffee, real bagels (hot salt beef, really?) and the Cobra Special. Tea, "beigel" and haggis don't quite make up for these voids, but alas, we must go on nonetheless. Day one was all the expected big and "must-see" spots of the city, and as much as the idea may seem corny, walking through London up to Buckingham Palace or the Gherkin Egg is always very much dope.

PS: In london, not only are buses and the tube part of different systems, but they cost an arm and a leg (2 pounds for the bus, 4 pounds for the tube, excluding transfers and sheeeiiiit). Our main man Terrence lent us these things called Oyster cards, which you can charge up with any given amount at bus and tube stops and corner stores. With this card, buses are 90p, and any tube travel will cap at 4pounds a day, no matter how many times you take it. Oh, and forget about taxis. You're welcome.


DAY SEVEN: PETE DOHERTY AND THE DRUMS OF DEATH

Alex of patchwork pirates and main gal Pixie took us around the Mile End of London (Brick Lane) for a good part of the day. We went shopping, checked out a Shepperd Fairey exhibition, Got FURTHER confused by the over-abundance of "streetwear" and dudes dressing like tailored grand-parents.

As phil paid for his Booty Bass records (2LiveCrew, Luke Skyywalker and Gucci Crew 2 yo!!!), dude turned around to find himself 2 inches away from Pete Doherty's foaming junkie mouth. Weird to see this "illustrious tabloid figure" in the flesh.

Met up with Terrence for drinks (on a rooftop pud downtown) with the mates, and to Pixie's dismay, Terrence invents the yet-to-be patented Infinity Beer, before Seb dropped a couple hunnid at the super-top-secret-exclusive-super-turbo Nike shop opening (Terrence got dem hookups!) Shoeboxes in hand, we ran over to the Artkandy exhibition spot to play a show at the homie Karborn's gallery opening. Too much fun and great peeps (including the Jack Bauer of the london club scene, and a main dude, MISTAH TOM MCCARTHY), carried the afterparty to some shitty pub down the street, and ultimately, THE DAWSON JAZZ BAR, aka, the safe haven within gritty Yardie territory. The Jazz Bar is the weirdest yet most awesome late-night crash spot you could imagine, with the owner on the turntables playing the corniest reggae and 80's pop jams, clumsily yet artfully crossfaded one into the next. The spot looks like a diner, but turns into the strangest sweaty dancefloor once the mojito is flowing.

After that incredible night out, and deciding to not honour our 300$ train tickets to Paris the next day, Terrence served up the best latelatelatenight food we've ever eaten, and hooked Phil up with some Bapestas he had gotten in the mail from Bape (once again, dude got HOOKUPS). oh ps: they match the hoodie.

REST OF LONDON: either later today or tomorrow. depending on how much parisian wifi hates us.