Sébastien Tellier: King of Blue on Nowness.com.

This entry was written by Paul Labonte, posted on April 24, 2012 at 8:00 am.
Filed under Interview.

Found this short film on the Rapha site. It’s really well done.

I think Mr.OnAndBeyond is going to bug out when he see’s it.

I also feel like my man Graham at the WESC store in Montreal is gonna trip when he checks it out.

I went on a mountain bike trip with Graham many years ago. This is pre chairlifts being the accepted norm to get up the mountain. Back when you had to climb. Back when racing single track was what it was about. Anyhow we were in the forest and I folded my back wheel. I got off my bike and started to prepare myself psychologically for the long trot back to camp. Graham saw it all happen.

He stopped and asked if he could “have a look at it”.

I said “sure”.

He pulled the back wheel off my bike. Quick release. The he stood up, grabbed the wheel and walked over to a tree. He swung it at the tree. He smashed the rim repeatedly.
Then he inspected it.

He looked over at me and said “Should be able ride back to camp.” He sounded like Eastwood in the Unforgiven but with bit of a Scottish accent.

Back at camp he had the tool required to true the wheel.

That anecdote has nothing to do with the video.
Cool that he saved me steps tho.

Every time I go to the store I think about that.

Thanks for tuning in.
Hope you like the short.

This entry was written by Paul Labonte, posted on April 10, 2012 at 8:50 pm.
Filed under Movies.

This entry was written by Paul Labonte, posted on April 9, 2012 at 9:26 pm.
Filed under Food & Drink.

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This entry was written by Paul Labonte, posted on April 4, 2012 at 7:44 am.
Filed under Music.

A Magazine issue 11 curated by Kate & Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte.

Got my hands on the issue a few weeks ago it came out in December, so I’m a bit late. There’s two Rodarte portfolio sections in the magazine. David Armstrong shot Kirsten Dunst for the AW11 portfolio and Elle Fanning got shot in SS12 by Bill Owens for the other portfolio section. The issue is dedicated to West Coast USA. California. The cover of the magazine is the now extinct California Grizzly. Inside the issue there’s a whole slew of images of California Grizzly Bears from the National Geographic archive. I really like the big pictures of the bears.

This entry was written by Paul Labonte, posted on March 13, 2012 at 10:16 pm.
Filed under Print.

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This entry was written by Paul Labonte, posted on February 27, 2012 at 11:26 am.
Filed under Music.

This entry was written by Paul Labonte, posted on February 14, 2012 at 1:37 pm.
Filed under Movies.

Just got my hands on Superlative Conspiracy issue 2. RZA made the cover. I did two spreads on Montreal for this issue and I listed off my favorite places to eat, drink, shop, and visit. My coffee photograph in the magazine is inspired by the shots of Barry Pepper’s workplace in The 25th hour; “We’re looking for a high number”. Notice the Barista in the foreground he has the brace Allen Iverson made popular on his elbow, he is also sporting the hoop ear ring Michael Jordan made famous in his left ear. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say he plays point guard.

This entry was written by Paul Labonte, posted on February 6, 2012 at 9:23 pm.
Filed under Print.

Started work on a mixtape this week. We’re calling the series, “HOW SLOW CAN YOU GO?”. Conor came up with the title and he’s gonna do the artwork too. This song may or may not make the tape. I was just messing around with a producer friend coming up with ideas and getting software advice/tutorials. He chopped it for me. Women sound like men when you slow ‘em down.

Sometimes you get caught up and forget that you’re supposed to have fun. Working on that.

Shout to Houston.

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This entry was written by Paul Labonte, posted on February 1, 2012 at 4:55 pm.
Filed under Music.

Another post about footwear.

I never thought I’d be posting about women’s shoes on this blog but I think this initiative is really well done. Aldo does this program called Rise where they collaborate with fashion designers on shoe programs, be it for the runway or an actual in-store collection. In addition they offer the designer support and help promote their project. At least that’s my understanding. This season Aldo collaborated with Preen, JW Anderson and, Mark Fast. I photographed the Faster by Mark fast shoes earlier today–they are above this text. Below, I posted the zine Aldo produced about the project. The zine has a Gentle woman/Fantastic Man vibe, which makes me super happy. It’s well-executed and the paper is nice. I’d like to know what they brought in as sample before they went to print.

If you have a minute you should also check out Rise’s virtual real estate. They have a tumblr with candid behind-the-scenes photographs, street style/lifestyle shots, inspiration, designer shots, and fashion week photos. Pictures of people living the dream.

This is one of those projects that you hope goes on for years. It will be cool to look back at this 5-10 years from now and see how the designers have evolved. It’s gonna be a serious body of work. Could be something special.

This entry was written by Paul Labonte, posted on at 12:58 am.
Filed under Footwear.