Rubber City BullSheet

"PAYDAMAN" S/S by 10x Your City, $21.99 at RCC-Downtown only.

Da man has been paid.  And quite well at that.  The Cleveland Browns just restructured Kent State alum Josh Cribbs’ contract, to where he can earn as much as $18 million overall, with $7 million guaranteed.

Cribbs is getting paid; Z is coming back; now Cleveland sports fans can focus all their anxiety on whether Lebron will stay.  Hey, didn’t the Indians just start spring training?

Did you know that Akron is home to the All-American Soap Box Derby?  Sadly, this is a fact that a lot of people seem to have forgotten.  I recall working at Summit Mall in high school, and meeting out-of-towners who would ask about things to do while visiting Akron.  I found myself asking, ‘why on earth would someone vacation in Akron, Ohio?’  Well, these out-of-towners were here for the Soap Box Derby World Championships.  Believe it or not, there are a lot of people who appreciate the Derby Downs hill located just off of George Washington Blvd in Ellet/Springfield.  One of those people is Corbin Bernsen.

If you’ve ever watched Psych, LA Law, or even Major League- you’d know Corbin Bernsen; his role as Roger Dorn- a guy who thought he was too good for the Cleveland Indians was classic.  Corbin has a great TV and movie career under his belt, and now he is putting his talent and money to a project that will greatly impact Akron.  After reading a newspaper article about the struggling All-American Soap Box Derby here in Akron, Corbin felt that the derby was an American pastime that was worth saving.  To help raise awareness, he has gone a route he knows very well, a new film titled 25 Hill.  He has written a script, and plans on directing and producing the movie; but it has been a bit of a struggle to get necessary funding.  Luckily, the project has been greenlit, and filming may begin in Akron as early as April 5.  Though still in negotiations, a house in Silver Lake will serve has one major filming location.  Some of the casting may be done locally.

We’re really excited to see what 25 Hill will do for the AASBD & Akron.  Only good things can come from this!

Yesterday I complained foolishly about the snow & Mother Nature’s yearly beating we get each winter.  When I turned on the news this morning, I felt like a real jerk…we could have it so much worse.  For the second time in little over a month, the western hemisphere has been struck by a catastrophic earthquake- this time 8.8 on the Richter scale.  Now before someone raises a stink about us not having blogged about the tragedy in Haiti- if you’ll notice, we really didn’t do much blogging last month due to transitions/movements.  What happened in Haiti was terrible, and it is really great how much of the world has banded together to raise money, food, supplies, and volunteer work to help the people in need.  Now sadly, the same is needed in Chile, where the 8.8 quake hit.  It is still too early on to tell what kind of damage has been done and the number of lives affected.  As soon as I heard, I contacted a friend in New York who has friends & family in Chile- he hasn’t been able to reach them.  Plus, the earthquake is not the only tragedy today; because of the magnitude of the earthquake, waves traveling at the speed of an air jetliner are headed toward Hawaii- a tsunami is coming.  Safety warnings have gone out in Hawaii, California, and all the way up the coast to Alaska.  The tsunami is expected to hit Hawaii at 11:19am local time, 4:19pm EST.  We can only hope and pray that people find safe shelter from the storm.

Yesterday we got in t-shirts for a benefit at Musica, “Akron Rocks for Haiti”.  A great mix of local musicians are getting together to raise funds & awareness for the American Red Cross/Haiti Relief fund, including Umojah Nation, House Popes, Ryan Humbert, Roxxymoron, Freez-R-Burn, and Peep.  I was planning to blog about them today, little did I realize there would be much more to talk about.  It’s likely that relief & aid for Chile & the Pacific will be addressed at the show as well.  If you haven’t contributed to the relief efforts in Haiti, now is the time.  The Red Cross will be in need of more supplies/funds/help due to today’s events.  Call your local American Red Cross (there’s one on West Market St), Google, find out how you can help.

You see that above?  That’s what it looked like when I looked out my window this morning!  Nothing but white.  Mother Nature just won’t let up.  Doesn’t she realize that we live in NE Ohio?  It’s bad enough we can’t get a sports team to win, but do we really need to be hit heavily with snow seemingly till Memorial Day?  C’mon, give us a break.

According to all of the local sources, this mess is supposed to last through the weekend.  Oh joy!  But fear not, both Rubber City Clothing locations will be open Friday & Saturday.  The nice thing about downtown is that it gets shoveled much quicker than the rest of the city.  Highland Square…. not so much, so I (Sarah) get a nice work out shoveling the sidewalk in front of the store, the Highland Square Barbershop, and try to get a little path to the parking lot.  So, as long as it is safe for you to come out, avoid cabin fever & do some local shopping.  Hell, we’ll even take “just-browsers”.  Come see us!

We are now four weeks into our sort-of new venture of Rubber City Clothing- Highland Square.  Since April 2009, the store had been known as Made in Akron- a fine retail shop featuring an eclectic mix of local art, jewelery, clothing, food souvenirs, and just about anything and everything Akron.  When we decided to change the name at the end of January, we were met with mixed emotions.  On top of that, Elizabeth and Kelly- who had managed this store and kept its eclectic mix in great order- moved on to some bigger & better things in their lives- Kelly moved to the Steel City & is happily in love; and Elizabeth is busy promoting and running her new eatery, Urban Eats which just opened within Musica serving mouthwatering paninis and flatbread pizzas.  Plus, we cut the winter hours down to Thursday-Saturday, 11am-7pm till Mother Nature stops beating us with snow.  So many questions came pouring in: Are you closing?  Are you getting rid of the art?  Who will run it now?  Well, the answers are No, no, and Sarah from downtown.  We are here to stay in Highland Square- still promoting the hell out of Akron- just now with more clothing.  We still have all of the jewelry, food, souvenirs, accessories, music, and most of the art- we’re going to take a more gallery approach and feature different artists for certain periods of time.  We’ve got a great new layout that presents our favorite art, screen-printed t’s in a much better way.  More sizes and colors available now too!  If you haven’t been down to the revamped store on South Highland Ave, come check it out!   We’re here Thur-Sat, 11am-7pm.  You can always shop online- www.RubberCityClothing.com or www.MadeinAkron.com 24/7.

By Sarah G (since there are a bunch of us bullsheeters now)

As I’ve mentioned many, many times before, growing up, I HATED Akron.  You might say I was quite miserable with my hometown.  Once I moved out of state and was away for a few years, I oddly began to miss the Rubber City.  That sense of longing grew to love, and after moving back two years ago, I am happily committed to Akron (got a pre-nup just in case).  I can honestly say- and not because I work for a company based on “Akron-pride”- that I truly love this city.  So I was a bit ticked off this morning when I read a little article in the Beacon about an article in Forbes Magazine ranking the “Top 20 Most Miserable Cities in America”, with Akron at #12.  In fact, someone at Forbes must really hate the Buckeye State, because Cleveland was #1, Canton #9, Toledo #15, and Youngstown #18.  Other cities on the list include Memphis, TN; Detroit and Flint, MI; New York City; Miami, FL; and Chicago.  The ABJ front-page article on the matter featured some commentary from  our own Ed Gaffney Jr & a pic of Natalie aka Chrissie B Hynde in our Downtown store.

If Akron is SOOOOOOO miserable, why is it that I can think of at least a dozen friends that moved away from Akron only to move back because they missed it?  Or better yet, why is it that we have not one, but SIX companies devoted to Akron pride: Rubber City Clothing, Revivalist, Campfire, 10x Your City, RockEveryWear, and Made in Akron, and all are doing pretty well.  For the last year and a half, I have lived & breathed Akron.  I meet all kinds of people that live here, are from here, or are just visiting, and RARELY is it that I hear anti-Akron bashing.  Sure this city isn’t perfect, but no place is.  I’m really curious as to the deciding factors that the geniuses at Forbes used to compile this list.  There are hundreds of other cities that probably don’t have the parks, restaurants, nightlife, local shops, industries, historic homes, and really awesome t-shirts that Akron does.  Who does Forbes think they are?  I can’t rely on the opinion of a company run by that goofy looking guy that tried to run for President & wasn’t funny hosting SNL.

We have much love for our fellow list-makers- especially Cleveland.  Thousands of CLE Clothing Co. shirts sold over the holidays don’t lie.  Let’s show Forbes how NON-MISERABLE this town is; on March 12th (funny number), Akron will be 185 years old.  Let’s make that Akron day!  Where Akron shirts, support local business, and make sure EVERYONE knows how much you love this city.  I’m going to look into this Akron Day stuff.  Anyone with tips/suggestions, please comment on how to get this thing moving!

So here we are in the dog days (groundhog days?) of winter.  That little rat told us last week that we would be having more cold days and we’ve gotten them.  The Super Bowl is over and I’m seeing posts across the cyber world asking what else we have to look forward to before spring. There is still plenty of excitement to be found and I, for one, believe that the worst days of the season are behind us.

Take your sweetie on a date at one of the great restaurants in the area.  See an art show or stage production.  Dust of the toboggan or go skiing for the first time.  Heck, try curling.  Don’t forget the Olympics will be on from Feb. 12-28 so there’s plenty of exciting live sports to watch, too.  Valentine’s Day is next week.  Just another month until it’s time for St. Patty’s and all things green.  And then we’re into spring, people.  Don’t despair.  Good times are here again.

If you’ve been at the front of a local store, restaurant, bar chances are you’ve seen the stacks of free flyers, postcards, and newspapers.  You’re probably very familiar with Scene Magazine, Earth Watch, etc.  There’s a new kid on the block (well actually two, but Buzzbin Magazine deserves and will get a post all of its own very soon).  The new kid that I am talking about now is The Independent, which began local printing & distribution this past fall.  The captain of the Independent ship is local writer James Renner.  I became a big fan of James’ work at Scene Magazine and later the Free Times.  After a merger of Scene and the Free Times (if you recall I had a brief stint at Scene at that time too), James decided to start his own completely local paper.  In addition, James is the author of two true-crime books, Amy: My Search for Her Killer, about the tragic kidnapping & murder of Amy Mihaljevic, a Bay Village girl in 1989; and The Serial Killer’s Apprentice, a collection of unsolved mysteries in NEO- with a few in/about Akron.

(Especially this week) Pick up a copy of The Independent!  This week’s cover story is titled “20 Reasons We Love Akron”.  On the cover is our lovely friend Maya from Musica/Mocha Maiden who is modeling our Survival shirt like no other.   Flip to the cover story inside & you’ll see Maya wearing Route 8.  You’ll also see the “Top 20″ list of Akron, with RCC at #16.  XTC…that seedy “Gentelman’s” club on Brittain Rd. is #14…proving that in a game of shirts vs. skins, skins wins.  Alright, well I thought that was funny.  Anyway, The Independent is a wonderful publication, and a great place to read the things that mainstream publications might be afraid to write about.  And it’s FREE!!!

My apologies, the title of this blog appears to reference a hilarious 2003 movie, and a not-so-hilarious 2002 movie….this is not about movies…..

This week marks a little shift in the Rubber City Clothing family.  For the past year and a half, Sarah G (that’s me) has worked almost daily, providing you with service, smiles, and perfectly folded t-shirts (thank you too many years of working at a Gap).  Now, I’m going to be here just a bit less, thanks to the University of Akron.  I just began my path to a Master’s Degree in Clothing & Textiles.  I graduated from Can’t Read, Can’t Write, Kent State in 2005 with my BS in Fashion Merchandising, so it’s been a little weird to be going back to school almost 5yrs later.  Thank God for my mother’s youthful skin, otherwise I would feel much, much older around all the little kiddies who weren’t alive when Reagan was President.  So far school is pretty great- 2 textiles classes & a research class; and lots of projects planned for all of them.  I’m sure I’ll be sharing some of my UA stories in months to come.

As for Rubber City Clothing, we’d like to welcome Nick to our little family.  Nick aka Panic is the announcer for the NEO Roller Derby & a Managing Editor for Buzzbin Magazine.  He’s a man of many hats, and we’re excited to have him on board.  Some of you may have seen him managing our Summit Mall kiosk over the holidays.  Nick will be sharing the duty of serving up the Bullsheet along with me, so I’m sure he’ll give you fine readers a proper introduction.

We are very sad to report that a good retail friend/partner, Borders Books & Music in Fairlawn will be closing their doors for good in March.  One of the pioneer retailers at the Shops of Fairlawn shopping center when it opened 16 years ago, Borders was the first bookstore/cafe in the area of its kind. With a huge book selection, music, and a great little cafe, you could stay all day…though I’m sure the employees would prefer you buy something.  I can recall going to that Borders the first summer it was open.  I was 10 and just started to really like The Beatles.  Located near the music department, they had a little section of books on rock stars and pop culture.  I picked up The Beatles Anthology (I can’t recall the author right now, but the book is still in my living room) & thought it was one of the coolest things I’d ever seen.  I fell in love with Borders after that because I thought it was way cooler than the dusty old books at the library (I was a brat…I’m a huge fan of the public library now).

Years later I had the chance to work with the Fairlawn Borders, when they carried a few RCC shirts as part of their local holiday gift section.  It’s very rare to see a “big box” retailer want to support local business, but John B- a manager at the Fairlawn store- thought it was something special he could give to the customers.  It’s a shame to see this store close.  We wish the employees the best.  Please go support Borders before they close!