Bagels in BsAs!!

After about a year and a half of being down here, I finally got my act together and ordered bagels from El Bagelazo, a family run bagel company. Here's a picture of one of my sandwiches :)

Funny Random Anecdote of the Week

The other night as we were preparing to head out, our doorbell rang. Hmm, "who could it be?", we thought. We open the door to see two policemen standing there, who proceed to explain to us that two wayward tennis players from the gym next door didn't leave the club in time and we're stuck on the courts. We became involved in this because the tennis courts touch our rooftop and their only line of escape was through our house. So after leading the police to the terraza, they helped these two poor guys over the fence and onto our roof so they could run to freedom. It was pretty hilarious.

Floods in Buenos Aires

The last few days have been filled with rain here in the city. Our part of town wasn't hit as bad with floods fortunately, although we did get our power knocked out for 2 days. Here's a video clip from a local news station of the flooding.

BucketFeet is Coming Up in the World!

In the last couple months my shoe company, BucketFeet, has had some exciting things happen. The first is that I was invited to participate in an independent designer feria in the city of Rafaela in the province of Santa Fe. This experience was not only great because I got the opportunity to sell some shoes (which I did!) but the town itself was really interesting. It's about 8 hours to the Northwest, and it's a whole different world. The city I learned, is comprised almost entirely of descendents of Italian and German immigrants. There is actually a dialect that the older generations speak that is more Italian than Spanish. If you were to come from Buenos Aires, and hear them speaking, you wouldn't understand it. The woman that invited me to this feria owns a small shop in the town and organizes these things ever few months. After picking me up from the bus station we went to her family's estate where they had a huge spread of Italian food on a long table with about 40 people sitting at it. Apparently I hit the night they were celebrating the end of 2009. One of those moments that it would have been nice to have a video camera rolling. In any case, the whole experience was great. Here is a pic of me sitting at the feria selling kicks!

The second really bad ass thing that has happened in the world of BucketFeet happened just last week. A good friend of mine lives with the trombonist of a very well-known band here, Onda Vaga. A few weeks ago I came up with the idea of doing shoes for all of the members as a sort of promotion, get them to plug me, and in turn get exposure to thousands and thousands of people. The other day when they had a show, Eva, my friend, got me on the list and I brought the shoes. It was an awesome experience, I got to spend the whole time backstage hanging out with them, partying, and then got to watch the show. I had heard them before but never had I seen them live. They are AWESOME! Great energy on stage. Oh and by the way, they loved the shoes, and they all fit! Here is a picture of the guys with their new shoes, and a couple of tracks to download off their new album. Enjoy!

Onda Vaga - Mambeado .mp4
Onda Vaga - Me Pega Fuerte .mp4

Semana de Musica

I'm on my way out the door to the Creamfields Music Festival right now, but I thought I'd post a cool video of some great music I've seen recently.

This video is of a very well-known Argentine rock star named Palo Pandolfo. A former roommate of mine, Jake Falby, a kid from Boston, is an amazing violinist and while studying abroad here from Pomona College got put in touch with Palo. He subsequently ended up dropping his classes for the semester and touring with the band. Last night was his despedida, his last night in the country, so we went to watch him play with this great musician. It was a blast. One of the coolest things about this show too was that Tigre, the guy who owns the house I live in, has been a fan of Palo Pandolfo since the early 1980's. Jake managed to get him to get a couple of guest appearances on his songs, since he is a musician himself. It was a childhood dream carried out. Was quite a moment.

All the best to everyone wherever they are! Un beso grande a todos!

3 Months of a Photo-a-Day

http://www.pbase.com/afirestein/foto_por_dia

Enjoy! I promise a real blog update soon too! Lots to share...

Back in BA!

I recently arrived back in Argentina after an amazing five week jaunt through various parts of the USA to see friends and family. It feels great to be back here though, I'm re-energized and ready to go! Stay tuned for more posts to come! Much love to everyone!

Even though I am not in Argentina for the time being, I am going to continue this OH SNAP segment.







1. Asado on my rooftop in Congreso
2. 2 more pairs of BucketFeet
3. San Telmo futbol canchas
4. Cathedral in BA somewhere along the way to EZE Int'l Airport
5. A junkyard company in Queens, NYC
6. Stop-sign in Boulder, Colorado
7. A mural of a cowboy musician in downtown Denver, Colorado

OH SNAP! Photos of the Week: Sept 27th- Oct 3rd 2009

1. Drinking yerba mate
2. "Imagine" BucketFeet
3. Nightime view from my terraza in the Congreso neighborhood of Buenos Aires
4. Hype @ Kika
5. Shadow
6. Hype edition BucketFeet
7. Ex-pubcrawl leader, Lilith Eller, doing a little modeling

Parabens, Rio!

BucketFeet Stop Motion

I recently started compiling stop-motion videos of shoes I've worked on. It takes a long time but the result is completely worth it! Check 'em out!

Photos of the Week: Sept 20th-26th 2009

1. Stream of headlights on Pasco, taken from my rooftop
2. A guy getting pumped about the weekly La Bomba de Tiempo drum concert
3. Delivery-only sushi from Sushi Pop
4. El Litoral, my favorite no-frills parilla in the city
5. Malbec, baby!
6. Shoppers and vendors on Peru street pietonal
7. Silvia Duga, judge for upcoming reality TV show

Photos of the Week: Sept 13-19th 2009

Boca vs. Godoy Cruz

Well I finally made it to La Bombanera, Buenos Aires' famed stadium that houses CABJ (Club Atletico Boca Juniors) to watch a game on a beautiful, nearly-spring, day. Added bonus was that before the game, Argentina's very own Juan Martin del Potro (0:39) came out on the field to a standing ovation and chanting of "SALE CAMPEON!! SALE CAMPEON!!"

Arpoador Skate Park, Rio

Felipe Motta and Marcelo Ment (tags: Mottilaa and Ment) recently got commissioned by Converse shoes to repaint the famous skatepark on top of Arpoador rock that separates Ipanema from Copacabana beach. Ment was one of the artists I worked with when I was in Rio, he is a GENIUS! This skatepark is amazing, check out Mottillaa's blog. Cheers!

http://www.sneakersbr.com.br/blogs/mottilaa/3634/FIX-TO-RIDE:-A-SAGA