This week’s Red Light Radio playlist comes from that evil mastermind, Ryan, our visuals manager. Red Light Radio #3 is a mix of Ryan’s semi-obscure favorites…the songs customers always ask us about! Cazwell, Ssion, Leslie Hall (who you might spot shopping at The Red Light when she’s in town), ELO and more all make it onto this week’s Radio. Check it out here, on The Red Light’s Grooveshark channel (where you can find a host of playlists curated by Red Light staff)!
There’s a new Red Light Radio playlist out today, and it’s all ’90s dance/hip hop – including Digital Underground, Technotronic and, of course, Marky Mark and The Funky Bunch!
Red Light Radio #2 is available here, on The Red Light’s Grooveshark channel. New Red Light Radio playlists will be added every other week; check back on the blog or become our Friend on Facebook for updates!
So, it’s not quite so super-hot out today, but it’s still sunny and you still need sunglasses…And, lucky for you, we just got in LOADS of new shades (as always, all of our new sunglasses are just $10.95)!
Because variety is the spice of life, we’ve got aviators, wayfarers (black frames and colored frames), and Jackie O’s along with over-sized ’70s disco frames and some rad, deadstock ’80s glasses (kind of like the ones Ducky wears in Pretty in Pink). There are mirrored lenses and smoke lenses and clear lenses and even some pastel lenses! Yowza!
Right now we’re wishing r/t tickets to NYC weren’t so expensive in the summer because we’d love to jump on a Jet Blue flight to New York for FIT’s current exhibit, “Eco Fashion: Going Green.”
Don’t be dissuaded by the title; this show is truly investigative, not just spouting more environmentally-friendly fashion b.s.
“Eco Fashion” at FIT surveys environmental issues in fashion over the past 250 years, finding trends good, bad and just weird (a dress dyed with arsenic, see pic above, courtesy of Fashion Institute of Technology. Admittedly, the color is fabulous!). The show touches upon manufacturing, labor, animal rights and farming, among other current hot-button political topics, while showcasing an impressive array of style, from Balenciaga and Halston to no-name mid-19th century “shirt waist” manufacturers (the early predecessors of fast-fashion chains like H&M and Forever 21).
This LA Times review makes the exhibit sound like an incredible trove of fashion trivia, while photos on the FIT exhibit page suggest that this show doesn’t skimp on style while pondering sustainability.
We’re not sure what the curators’ conclusion is – it’s already well-documented that the fashion industry is terribly polluting, unfortunately, and that the only truly environmentally-friendly style is vintage – but it’s rad to see a more inquisitive approach to the history of this complex industry.
Here’s to hoping this turns into a traveling exhibit destined for Portland!
Since so many customers ask us what music we’re playing in the store, we decided to start Red Light Radio – bi-monthly playlists that feature what we’re listening to now! Listen to our first playlist now (designed to help you cut a rug anytime), and check back here or on www.facebook.com/redlightpdx for new playlists every other Friday.
Got a favorite song you heard at The Red Light? Holler and we’ll do our best to include it on the next installment of Red Light Radio!
…but we thought it was cool and wanted to share. According to DiscoveryNews, there is a new test program training dogs to locate endangered species by sniffing out their poop! For reals!
By training dogs to recognize the unique scat scents of rare animals, scientists hope to be able to locate, track and study more of the endangered species. Read the article for the full scoop and you’ll have all the details necessary to impress total strangers at the next cocktail party!
Tomorrow kicks off Portland’s awesome 2 week celebration of all things BIKE, Pedalpalooza. You don’t have to be bonkers about bikes to join in the fun…There are tons of different themed bike rides, pretty much ensuring that there is at least one ride for everyone. Events are open to the public.
Here’s a few of the rides you might spot Red Lighters at:
Friday, June 11th: Hot Sock Ride II, a ride organized around Portland’s awesome sock culture. Wear your snazziest hosiery, hop on your bike and get treated to tours and treats with the city’s leading sock taste-makers and manufacturers.
Saturday, June 12th: Pee Wee’s Bike Adventure. It takes a black heart to resist anything Pee Wee Herman-themed.
Friday, June 18th: Pride Kick-Off Ride, the bike ride launching PDX’s Pride weekend!
Saturday, June 19th: World Naked Bike Ride, exactly what it sounds like! Just as entertaining as our Naked Shopping Spree…
Check out the Pedalpalooza site for a complete list of rides and events – it’s pretty darn impressive!
Metal master Ronnie James Dio passed away last month from stomach cancer, but he’s already been given a pretty rad memorial: the city (OK, not Portland, but Los Angeles – although who’s to say it won’t happen here too?) has officially declared May 30 Ronnie James Dio Day.
Hearing this got us thinking…Why Dio? Certainly there are many famous, dead rock stars who are equally worthy of such civic recognition? And, on that note, what other famous, dead rock stars already have their own “Day” in cities around the world?
Does PDX have any dead rocker “Days” we don’t know about?
It’s official: your favorite socks – Weed, Whiskey, and Evil among them – are back in stock (though given the number of calls we’ve received asking when we’d have them again, who knows how long that will be the case).
All Rock Socks are $9.95 and made to fit both guys and girls.
Portland’s paper of note profiled The Red Light in a great article that made the cover of their Living section a couple of days ago. Reporter Noelle Crombie spent several hours at the store, interviewing staff and exploring all of our treasures, researching the piece. We’re pretty tickled by the final result and we love the great pics (like the one above) Oregonian photog Faith Cathcart took of our store.
We were especially pleased that Crombie chose to focus on the fact that our inventory is a reflection of Portland – yes, we curate what we carry via our Buying Counter, but the point is that the majority of our inventory comes directly from Portlanders. Red Light style is not dictated by New York editors or Hollywood starlets; it’s about what we see on the streets of PDX everyday!