plus 3, Broadway star is also a fashionista - Houma Courier

Broadway star is also a fashionista - Houma Courier
Ozzy Osbourne Takes Health Job At The Sunday Times; Dr. Ozzy On Call? - Post Chronicle
'Green Day: Rock Band' Features Decades Of Dye Jobs And ... - Musicwire
Voters say Sestak job offer just politics as usual - Eagles Insiders (blog)

Broadway star is also a fashionista - Houma Courier

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 07:42 AM PDT

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In real life, Kimball has two successful careers — at once.

The Tony-nominated actor is half of Obvious Clothing, a line of upscale T-shirts that recently launched Lolly Cashmere, a sort of hipster take on the traditional cashmere sweater.

Kimball performs six shows a week in "Memphis," at the Shubert Theatre, a musical about a great female singer in the 1950s and attempts to get her — and other black music — played on the radio. The show won a Drama Desk award for best musical and has been nominated for eight Tonys, including Kimball as best actor for his performance as Huey, the man behind the music.

"It's been trying," he says of balancing two professions. "But at the same time it's really fantastic and lucky and I'm really excited about it."

Kimball studied at the Boston Conservatory of Music and has been performing in musicals and plays on Broadway and around the country for several years. His older brother, Todd, was working in insurance when they went into business together in 2006.

They had always talked about a partnership as a way to raise money so they could hang on to a piece of property in their family known as "Home Place," a parcel of about 10 acres on Vashon Island near Seattle.

"We wanted to keep it for our family, our great aunt lives there now," Kimball said. "So we'd dream up ways to do that."

Todd, the business brain, came up with the idea of selling T-shirts. With Chad as the creative force they created the line — though neither had any experience in fashion. Kimball was working with the show but it hadn't yet hit Broadway.

"The great thing about going into business in a field you're not familiar with is that you don't ever know that you're doing something wrong," Kimball says. "A lot of times in fashion, people will say, 'How did you do this? You had no idea.' I think it's precisely that. There are no limits."

The T-shirts have a worn-out look. The idea is to take a simple pattern and twist it a little — a blue houndstooth with a flower splashed across the front, or a short-sleeve yellow hoodie with a silvery edge.

The design worked and their shirts are now sold in about 250 boutiques around the country, as well as Macy's, Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's. The company grew nearly 200 percent last year.

Todd Kimball says the success of the line is due in part to his brother's success on Broadway.

"It really helps to have a Tony-nominated spokesman," he said. "Chad and I have a good system and we work really well together. We're family first, and I think that helps us."

Their take on the T-shirt is popular because it can sass up any outfit. Boutique owners say the shirts, which retail from $70 to 90, are great for under blazers, paired with jeans.

"They have some really nice burn-outs. ... T-shirt that are in tatters, where you can wear something underneath," said Kristy Wolfson of the Bella Blue boutique in Murphy, N.C.

"It's pretty contemporary. It's great with blue jeans, slip on a cute pair of flats and a blazer and you're downtown cool.

With Chad in New York and Todd in Seattle, the brothers hired a third person, Naomi Hunt, to look over the company's day-to-day operations from Los Angeles. Chad Kimball says he remains highly involved and hopes to keep it that way.

Last fall, they started Lolly Cashmere, named for their grandmother. "Lush, buttery soft and simply sexy, Lolly is not your mother's cashmere," the ad slogan reads.

The concept is the same — printed, faded images juxtaposed on oh-so-soft cashmere hoodies, sweaters and shirts. They retail at $150 to $210.

Kimball, talking in his one-bedroom apartment near the Theater District, said ideas for the fashion come from everywhere. He compiles little notes while riding the subway and has a file called "images of interest" on his computer where he stores anything he sees that catches his eye.

"Just put the stuff that's been around for ages, I'm talking thousands of years, just put it through your own filter and it's going to come out different and cool," he said.

He drags out of his closet plastic bags full of Obvious T-shirts and cashmere: a V-neck with a splashy butterfly, a long, slim T with a faded print, another houndstooth, this one a hoodie cashmere sweater.

"We don't put too much stock in trending," Kimball says. "It comes from us, from our ideas of what we think looks good. And Naomi really has her finger on the pulse. She knows what's hot."

Adds Todd Kimball: "We really do work hard to create a high quality product. That sounds so totally cliche, but it's really true."

They're hoping to grow into baby clothing and a men's line. Meanwhile, "Memphis" has been a huge success leading up to the Tonys on June 14. The AP's late drama critic Michael Kuchwara called the show "The very essence of what a Broadway musical should be."

As the pressure mounts, Chad Kimball says, it's important to remember that family is most important. Last year during a particularly busy stretch of previews, hours of rehearsals plus Obvious Clothing issues, the brothers found out their mother was sick with cancer.

A year later, she's cancer free and will be his date to the awards show.

"Literally nothing else matters," he says of loved ones. "None of this matters, it's really all about your relationships."

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Ozzy Osbourne Takes Health Job At The Sunday Times; Dr. Ozzy On Call? - Post Chronicle

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 06:31 AM PDT

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Ozzy Osbourne is to launch an odd new career as a British newspaper health columnist.

The rocker has signed up as The Sunday Times' new health expert - and admits even he was surprised when he first got the call.

The former Black Sabbath star says, "When The Sunday Times magazine asked me to be its new health-advice columnist... I thought they were taking the p**s, to be honest with you.

"But then I thought about it for a while, and it makes perfect sense - I've seen literally thousands of doctors over my lifetime, and spent well over £1 million on them, to the point where I sometimes think I know more about being a doctor than doctors do.

"If people can learn from my stupid mistakes without having to repeat any of them, or if they can take some comfort from the crazy things my family has been through over the years... that's more than enough for me."

Dr. Ozzy will be on call later this summer (10). (c) WENN

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'Green Day: Rock Band' Features Decades Of Dye Jobs And ... - Musicwire

Posted: 08 Jun 2010 03:47 AM PDT

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and Green Day were more than ready to put them to the test.

"I think we were sort of challenging the programmers and the game designers, like, 'OK, but can you do this?' " drummer Tre Cool said. "And they're like, 'Sure!' 'Well ... can you do this?' 'Yeah!' 'OK, but it's got to be ... ' 'Yeah!' They were really good."

"I thought we could have a lot of fun with 'Rock Band' and highlight different times in our career," bassist Mike Dirnt said. "I thought it was a really cool way to kind of show people, you know, just different things [about the group] in a format the size of a TV set."

It seems that — nearly as much as their music — Green Day's career can be broken down into specific looks too: the baby dreadlocks and eye-popping dye jobs of the Dookie days; the bottle-blond, leather-jacket look of the Warning era; or the black spikes (and even blacker eyeliner) of American Idiot, to name just a few. And the designers of "Rock Band" knew that — which is why all those looks made the cut. Plus a whole lot more, too.

"Different details come up in the game that go from, you know, 1994 through 2000. Plus, what year is it now? 2009, 2010?" frontman Billie Joe Armstrong laughed. "And just kind of seeing the different tattoos and wearing a T-shirt I remember. Like, the T-shirt that I wore, and I wrote 'Stupid' on it and put an arrow up to my face. And that's the kind of details that they seem to nail."

And while the hairstyles and tattoos might be instantly recognizable to Green Day fans, there's another — slightly newer — detail that designers decided to include almost as a joke: the band's Drunk Bunny, which started making appearances during American Idiot performances and has since become a fan favorite. And, yes, his inclusion made all the difference to the guys in the band.

"Yeah, that's great too. Sometimes when we were playing festivals, whoever was playing right before us weren't quite getting the crowd going, so I think we ended up with a friend of ours just putting a bunny costume on and said, 'Hey, go warm up the crowd!' " Armstrong smiled. "So, you know, they'd just down beers and get everybody to do the YMCA, you know? It's definitely a nice touch."

MTV News is celebrating the release of "Green Day: Rock Band" with a week of special coverage. For more on the game, check out our Multiplayer blog. For a chance to win a "Rock Band" guitar signed by the guys in Green Day, head over to the MTV Newsroom blog.

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Voters say Sestak job offer just politics as usual - Eagles Insiders (blog)

Posted: 08 Jun 2010 11:32 AM PDT

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Just when you thought you'd heard the last of the who offered Joe Sestak what job and when drama, the White House Press Corp brought it up again at a briefing yesterday.

Below is the full exchange with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs where the only thing learned is that Gibbs wasn't prepared for another onslaught of Sestak-related questions. (Isn't there an oil spill to stop or a new conflict in Israel...?)

Q Can I ask on a different topic then? On Friday, after our last chance with you last week, we received this memo from Bob Bauer on the Sestak matter. In three months -- this is the response after three months of questions. I'm just wondering, if it's not a big deal, as you guys are saying, then why did we wait for three months to answer that question?

MR. GIBBS: I'd have to ask Counsel for a better answer on that. I don't know the answer.

Q Don't you have something to do with that as the chief spokesman for the White House? You were asked on a number of occasions and don't you think that that kind of created --

MR. GIBBS: If I bear some responsibility for that, I can understand that.

Q Thanks, Robert. Just a couple of quick things on the Sestak thing again. The counsel's memo on Friday said that efforts were made in June and July of 2009. Were there multiple efforts and were all those made by President Clinton?

MR. GIBBS: Whatever is in the memo is accurate.

Q Okay, but, I mean, with regards to June and July, I mean, were all those President Clinton or --

MR. GIBBS: I think the relationship on how that happened, yes, is explained in the memo.

Q Joe Sestak said he had one conversation with President Clinton.

MR. GIBBS: Let me check.

Q And just one more. As far as -- it said this is an unpaid position. Does that make a difference in the view of the White House, that it would be an unpaid position as opposed to a paid position?

MR. GIBBS: Well, again, I'm not going to get into hypotheticals. The situation was an unpaid position and didn't constitute a lot of what you're hearing.

Q Okay, and just one more -- sorry. But the Intelligence Advisory Board, which most reports said this offer was for, that would be a position a member of the House could not serve on. Is that --

MR. GIBBS: That's how I understand the way the PIAB is written.

Q But the memo, it said that this would be a position to serve in the House and serve on a presidential advisory board.

MR. GIBBS: Correct.

Q Well, how could he sit on the board?

Q Yes, how would that work?

MR. GIBBS: He couldn't.

Q So why was your offer --

Q So that wasn't the offer, then?

MR. GIBBS: I'd refer you to --

Q What position, what board, was it then? Do you know?

MR. GIBBS: I'd refer you to the memo.

Q But the memo didn't specify.