knyew: Free Gold Watch

Monday, November 29, 2010

FREE GOLD WATCH x KNYEW...Sneak Peek!

A few weeks ago, I connected with my boy Jordan at FREE GOLD WATCH and we discussed a few ideas for a possible collaboration t-shirt for KNYEW's 3 Year Anniversary. One of my favorite tees of all time was the "Ace Rothstein" tee we did together in 2009 and I wanted to stay in that same theme of old time gangsters in Las Vegas during her earlier years. Jordan brought up the infamous Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, a suave Brooklyn gangster from the 1930's who became notoriously known for opening one of the first luxury hotels on the strip and bringing mafia investors and Hollywood celebrities into Las Vegas.

Bugsy, known for being "crazier than a bug", worked for mob boss Charles "Lucky" Luciano's infamous Murder Inc Association early in NYC and also helped Arnold Rothstein deliver illegal liquor during prohibition (you may recognize Luciano's & Rothstein's names from the new HBO series "Boardwalk Empire"). He later moved to Hollywood where he mingled with the stars and later used his show biz connections and mafia ties to open The Flamingo Hotel. Needless to say, Bugsy is definitely our type of gangster, using his dapper looks & NYC hustle mentality to legitimize mob money, con the rich & famous, light the spark and bring the neon lights to one of the illest cities in the country...Las Vegas.

When Jordan sent me the final draft for our "Bugsy" tee, I really loved all the subtle details FGW incorporated into the design. On the bottom left hand corner, you'll notice the reference to our 3 Year Anniversary from the scratches in Bugsy's mugshot photo. FGW also altered Bugsy's mugshot sign by adding KNYEW's "11-23-07" opening date and the "LVPD" reference to Las Vegas. Even though KNYEW was conceived in New York, it's obvious that we're doing our dirt and slangin' our shit in the city of Las Vegas. No better way of explaining our name..."Keeping New York Every Where"

We'll be releasing this tee on Saturday, Dec.4th for our Block Party with Fuku Burger. We're really proud of this anniversary and we have to thank Jordan and all the staff at FREE GOLD WATCH for all the incredible work. See yall Saturday...
Crooked signing out!!!

Monday, February 8, 2010

FREE GOLD WATCH x KNYEW Presents..."Ace Rothstein Vol.II"

Around this same time last year, our SF family at Free Gold Watch designed a t-shirt especially for us called "Ace Rothstein" (based on Robert Deniro's character in the film "Casino" by Martin Scorsese). A few weeks ago, our boy DJ Franzen from KVEG 97.5 Las Vegas Radio stopped through KNYEW and was loving this "Ace Rothstein" tee that Kenn showed him. Seeing that we sold out of this tee almost a year ago, we were totally out of stock. We've had multiple requests for this shirt over the past year but I didn't want to bring it back for a couple of reasons 1) I was planning on putting out another t-shirt with FGW based on another scene in "Casino" and 2) I wasn't even sure they had the original screens leftover from the first printing. Well to our luck, FGW was able to reprint our "Ace Rothstein" tee for us and we have our boy Franzen to thank for replanting that seed. Check out DJ Franzen every weekday at 3pm-7pm on 97.5 FM. Until next time yall...Crooked signing out.