old school trend: swatch watches.

raise your hands (and make em' stay there :) if you were rocking a swatch back in the 80s! what! anybody who was somebody had a swatch watch.

after reading that the founder of the swiss product, nicholas hayek, passed away on monday at the age of 82, i got very reminiscent of this old school trend.

a swatch wasn't just any watch. born in 1983, it was fun and vinyl. bold colors and designs made it recognizable from across the room. the watch head was interchangeable so everyone's looked a bit different.

ok so you remember the watch. but who remembers the swatch guard? yup. this accessory sent parents everywhere running back to the store to buy the ultra-cool and very necessary watch head cover. they were multi-colored, rubber band strips. and if you were fancy, you'd twist a couple of them together for unique look.

i have another one for you. who remembers the swatch wall clock? it was designed as a wall-sized version of the actual swatch. mine was yellow and black and hung right alongside my bed. ahh, the memories.

(i don't remember mine being quite this big)

sgb has about 10 old school, original swatches that will be available for retail once we re-emerge. stay tuned.

and rest peacefully, mr. hayek.

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throwback: lil benny with the rockers.

i didn't grow up in either dc, md or va so i can't claim to know much about lil benny like my hubby does. i came to school in md in '95 and it took me a few years before i could even get down with go go. on my way home from church today, they announced his passing on the radio and i could hear the shock in everyone's voice. i told my hubby and he too is shocked. so i know lil benny had mad impact in the world of go go, to say the least.
i youtube'd him and pulled up this video and immediately recognized his voice. here he is with the rockers for all my go go heads ...


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pac-man turns 30 today.

and you can thank google for making folks across the map unproductive today. why? because if you visit google.com and click on the pac-man image, you can play for free.

and um, i'm still kinda puzzled that i'm actually older than pac-man. i swore he was older. sigh.

and some fun pac-man stuff:

80stees.com, $45 (click image)

fredflare.com, $9.00 (click image)

wearyourbeer.com, $9.99 (click image)

happy birthday, fool (in my mr. t voice).

mr. t turns 58 today, yawl. who all used to watch the a-team?

throwback: lena horne on the cosby show.

claire suprises cliff by taking him to a performance to see lena horne for his birthday:

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throwback: lauryn hill booed then cheered on the apollo at 13.

i came across this video (thanks worldstar hip hop) of a 13 year old lauryn hill performing "who's loving you" on the apollo. the crowd had no mercy on her at first despite her being a youngin but then she wins them over and makes it through without the sandman.
check her out ...

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throwback: biggie & faith.

before life got ill, 1995

throwback: betty davis.

way before the lil kims, beyonces and ______ (insert almost any name here), there was betty davis, a 70s funk, rock and soul singer and model. while all ladies are known for their downright salacious energy, there's one major difference. while sex appeal seems to be the prerequisite for popularity in today's game, betty davis was oozing with it way before it was the accepted format. her racy attitude resulted in protests against her shows, limited radio play and poor record sales. lyrics like those from "if i'm in luck, i might get picked up" which speaks of a one night stand was a no-no in those days. hard to believe in an era of "think i invented sex" and "i wish i could f--- every girl in the world," huh?

she was the ex-wife of jazz great, miles davis. a rumored affair between she and jimi hendrix is noted as the reason for their split after just one year of marriage. she is known to have been a great influence on davis. she inspired the title of davis' piece, bitches brew, which was initially to be titled witches brew.

during the length of her career, she released 3 albums - betty davis/1973, they say i'm different/1974 and nasty gal/1975. she also appeared in photo spreads in glamour, seventeen and ebony.

if i'm in luck, i might get picked up, 1973:

throwback: assata shakur.

assata shakur
actavist

throwback: tommie smith & john carlos.

tommie smith & john carlos

olympic track winners who gained notoriety in 1968 after raising black leather

gloved fists on the winners' podium as a symbol of the civil rights movement and

power and unity in black america

throwback: stevie wonder.

stevie wonder

legendary singer and songwriter

throwback: willi smith.

willi smith

regarded as "the most successful black designer

in fashion history"

and there was donyale luna.

some of the most beautiful vintage model pictures available on the web belong to this strangely captivating 60s/70s model. yes, before there was naomi and tyra, there was her.

her name is donyale luna. so she said. although her birth certificate claimed otherwise, she insisted that her father (who was killed when she was 18) had a last name of luna.

in fact she spent most of her short life denying her african-american heritage. this was a well known fact. a family member once described luna as being a "very weird child, even from birth, living in wonderland, a dream." and so in her crafted wonderland, she became an exotic mixture of several different heritages, a wonderland that took her far away from peggy anne freeman, the beautiful, but troubled detroit-born girl.

still, today we know her as the first african-american model. in 1964, soon after photographer, david mccabe, discovered her on the street, she was off to new york city and booking modeling gigs left and right. a sketch of her appeared on the cover of harper's bazaar in 1965. and in 1966, she became the first black model to grace the cover of british vogue.

luna's acting career bustled in the late 60s into the early 70s. she appeared in several andy warhol movies, federico fellini's fellini satyricon, the rolling stones rock and roll circus, skidoo and salome. when asked by a new york times journalist if she thought her success in hollywood films would help the cause of other black actresses, luna responded:

"if it brings about more jobs for mexicans, asians,

native americans, africans, groovy. it could

be good, it could be bad. i couldn't care less."

after moving to london in the 60s, luna developed a love for lsd. in an interview she expressed this: "i think it's great. i learned that i like to live, i like to make love, i really do love someone, i love flowers, i love the sky, i like bright colors, i like animals ..." unfortunately, this love for lsd would result in an accidental overdose in may of 79. she was just 34. today she is survived by her daughter, dream cazzaniga, who works as a professional dancer in italy. dream's father, luigi cazzaniga, had photographed luna for her nude spread in playboy just 2 years earlier.

i became so engrossed in this mysterious individual and her life story. i started thinking of the movie mahogany and how great luna's story would be on screen. don't you think? i wish someone would make it happen.

throwback: andre leon talley.

andre leon talley

editor-at-large of vogue,

major authority in fashion

throwback: madame c.j. walker.

madame c.j. walker

hair care businesswoman, entrepreneur, 1st female millionaire

throwback: salt n pepa.

salt n pepa (+ spin)

the best selling female rap act, ever

(i had this poster on my wall as a buck)

throwback: run dmc.

run dmc

hip hop group, broke hip hop into mainstream music in the 80s

throwback: bethann hardison.

bethann hardison

former model, owner of bethann management, co-founder of black girls coalition, fashion diversity actavist, mommy of kadeem hardison (dwayne wayne)

throwback: iman.

iman

model, entrepreneur

throwback: malcolm x and muhammad ali.

malcolm x

muslim minister, human rights actavist

muhammad ali

boxer, 3x heavyweight champ