TCB: happy jeans contest

[barenderson]

I live near a part of Neukölln known as Rixdorf. I am just around the corner from the heart of the old village, and since I have a dog, I often find myself wandering some of the quiet streets and alleys around Richardplatz.  I have included some photos of my of wanderings.

 

Kirchgasse, one of the small alleyways that I roam. I usually walk some sort of loop; the contrast between one of these quiet streets and the busier, bright streets like Karl-Marx-Straße or Sonnenallee is striking. It makes for an interesting stroll.

 

Another view of Kirchgasse.

 

Friedrich Wilhelm I tucked away in a corner in Rixdorf. He invited 350 Moravian Protestant refugees to come and settle here in 1737. At the time Rixdorf was outside of Berlin and had been settled since the 1300s. 

 

[barenderson]

Been living right inbetween Kreutzberg, Schöneberg, Tempelhof and Neukölln most of my life - a nice neighborhood for Berlin...

Still in Berlin every other weekend - let me know if we should have a meet-up?

Hi Volvo,

More coffee pics, please!

 

I'm still getting my bearings, but I like the area we are in now. I have also been able to explore Kreuzberg and Schöneberg some, but haven't seen much of Tempelhof. I'd be interested in a meet-up. Certainly could use advice and recommendations from a Berliner too! 

[volvo240thebest]

let's get the best thread on sufu back on page 1!

little update from me. Had a great week, full of work and play.

Monday I took my afternoon off work to meet up in Genoa with our own Foxy and his wife Stacey, a woman for whom I have the greatest admiration. It was mentioned before on this thread but she's the owner of a volvo P1800 which she entirely refurbished on her own. So we had a nice volvo chat, I brought the guys a little around the old city in Genoa, including a visit to the famous "denim" paintings, which are a must to any denim lover visiting the town. then we went to have a nice meal. I had no camera with me, so no photos.

the only photo of the day I have is this:

a giant cedar lemon I've picked up from my dad's garden and brought off to Foxy for his gin & tonics!

 

then after monday I had a very very busy work week for my festival job, had to make the budget for 2016 and fill up the first funding request of the year. Wednesday and Thursday I had to work till 2 am in order to get the shit done before the deadline, but I made it!

 

friday morning I've headed to the studio to hear the mastering of my solo cd, yes! I am finally getting close to write the word "end" on a project I've been working/thinking for such a long time.

right after that I drove a long long way (a good 400 km) down to Riccione, to go visit my brother from another mother Antonio, a fellow  volvo 240 lover and great professional photographer, to shoot a few photos for the album artwork. He's a great friend but we live so far from each other that we seldom see each other, and everytime is a big event, involving volvos and copious amounts of alcohool.

here's my bro's brick, a beautiful 1976 volvo 245 dl, in a lovely rust orange colour

 

and here's his Harley Davidson, don't care about motorbikes myself (with the exception of vespa's) but thought someone here's might like it:

 

 

so we went out for a few drinks in great speakeasy style bar, which didn't disappoint my thirst of a nice g&t or three.

ther day after we woke up early and drove to the delta of the river Po for shooting the pics for the album. I had in mind a precise location which I had seen on some of my friend previous photoshoots, here it is, pardon the crap iphone pics

 

 

quite a stunning scenery, which captures pretty well the mood of the music. even the gloomy weather was perfect! I drove my brick on that narrow bit of road up on front of the shed for some of the pics, the volvo will make an appeareance on the album haha!

 

Here's my bro Antonio, wearing an ubercool original USN n1 deck jacket.

 

the shoot went great and I am eagerly waiting to see the pics. I am not going to put my ugly face on the front cover but I had some portraits done for the rear cover and booklet, wearing my usual full tcb 50's tux!

 

on the way back I had an even longer journey home. here's my volvo at the gas station

276k km's on the odometer, 900 km in two days, not a single problem. words can't express how much I love this car, I almost feel it's a part of me.

I even got stuck in a snow blizzard on the way back home, but had not a single problem to sail the drakkar home haha!

Edited February 28, 2016 by volvo240thebest

[volvo240thebest]

and here's the jeans, after yet another wash.

 

 

roping

 

 

bonus pic of tcb 50's tux fades

 

[Foxy2]

Great uptadate - Mrs Foxy and I had a brilliant time in Genova thanks to you!

Next time we come to spend a decent amount of time in your neck of the woods...

(Will get to check out that lemon and the gin this week!)

Edited February 29, 2016 by Foxy2

[ah_long]

When is the final submission. Sorry for not being here lately, been really busy... but still working on those jeans

[volvo240thebest]

contest ends march 31st!

[Paul T]

Ah, that's good to know, thanks Volvo, I'll try and sort out an interesting trip before then.

[volvo240thebest]

We're gearing up for the grand finale PaulT!

I'll try to cook up something cool too, hopefully!

[volvo240thebest]

another week another wash

hanging dry my pants like every cowboy does, over a wood stove

puckering on the back yoke it's probably my favourite detail of the jeans at the mo

light and shade

I think I'll barely get to the end of the contest and then I will have to send the jeans to repairs, despite the loose fit the crotch is becoming paper thin and the right backpocket is developing a second, bigger hole. must say I am almost pleased with that since I've been working hard on this pair and it still don't look thrashed at all compared to PaulT's, Jared's, and Ah Long's pairs.

have a great week lads!

[Sugar Mountain]

The marbling in that last picture is truly a thing of beauty. It's plain to see that this pair of jeans has been well-loved by you!

[ah_long]

My jeans need repair as well. Today my phone fell out of the back pocket, thank god it didn't break. It's not even a small phone (Z5 Premium).

[Bobbo]

Got myself a new whiskey the other day for those late night hours of working. Never tried Oban before, it wasn't too shabby! 

 

 

 

Also threw the TCB's in the washer today. Still damp in the pics.

 

 

 

So how are we doing things with our final updates? Are we going to post them this month or in april when the contest is over?

[volvo240thebest]

nice update Alex, and the denim looks mighty, great marbling. I love your whisky bottle, very luxury vintage 60's style. I am sure James Bond had a dozen of those bottles haha!

I've been discussing with Aho and with Hajime re the final submissions of this contest.

We will have some news about that hopefully next week. I think you're all going to love the news, but details for the grand finale are not ironed out yet so we still need a little time.

It would be great to get in touch as well with Ed, as he's (through Signet store in Manila) one of the sponsors of this contest, but he seems to be disappeared from the interwebz.

Asian Charles Bronson, where are you?!?

[erk]

me and the new pup. 

[garden gnomes in space]

 

This is a fairly faithful representation of the current state.  They are a bit more washed out and faded than the pic shows

[volvo240thebest]

^ GGIS i realy like your pair, it might not be as thrashed as others but the colour variation and texture is sublime.

[volvo240thebest]

howdy all, my pair had yet another wash midweek beacuse of an extra virgin olive oil accident. I was seriously worried the denim would not clean completely form a few big drops of oil but a 40° C wash got rid of the stains entirely.

I threw the jeans four times in the washing machine dureing the last three weeks

I really like how they look as per now.

 

 

tcb 50s with a view

 

 

pic comparison between 50's and 60's

 

 

+ 50's jacket

 

 

have a great sunday!

[Paul T]

I belatedly realised I'd never posted anything about these jeans on my blog. So here's a selection of photos of my pair, over the last 18 months, and a Q&A with Inoue-San.

 

I have seen lots of lovely photos of the man on his blog, but when I actually looked - couldn't locate one! So please let me know if you find a good one on there! And send me any more info so I can update - I'm looking at you, experts like Volvo and Aho.

[volvo240thebest]

class PaulT!

I think I have nothing to add to your great blog post.

the google translated Q&A is pure class haha!

If you wish to have a couple pics of Hajime you can get them from his facebook profile, more easily than scrolling the blog

[volvo240thebest]

yesterday I had some time to kill between gigs in the lovely city of Brescia, a beautiful place a little bit off from the usual touristic trails.

spotted a rather nice Alfa Romeo

went to see Piazza della Loggia, a great example of Italian Renaissance architecture

a beautiful XVI century clock

la loggia

TCB sotto la loggia

Foro romano

Sunset

Edited March 20, 2016 by volvo240thebest

[goodrain]

great pics. I know Brescia as the place where the great Roberto Baggio finished his playing career!

[Maynard Friedman]

The Divine Ponytail!

[volvo240thebest]

great pics. I know Brescia as the place where the great Roberto Baggio finished his playing career!

great pics. I know Brescia as the place where the great Roberto Baggio finished his playing career!

I did t know that! not much into calcio.

Beside his great playing career it always amazed me that Baggio is a Buddhist with the hobby of hunting, how coherent of him!

[Bobbo]

^ Haha that's fantastic, never heard about it before. 

[volvo240thebest]

Hello there gents!

the contest is getting closer to the end and I think it's the right time now to announce how our final submissions will be judged.

 

I am pleased to say that our pairs will be evaluated by the most qualified, knowledgeable and competent panel of judges this contest could ever have: the TCB factory workers!

Here we have our 7 samurais:

Toshi

 

Masahiro

 

Yuko

 

Minae

 

Tango (!)

 

Tora (!)

 

and, of course, Hajime!

 

Final submission deadline is march 31st, I (or Aho) will open a new thread for final submissions when it's about time.

[Maynard Friedman]

Fantastic Volvo, but where's Grimace-San?

[volvo240thebest]

Grimace San (!) doesn't work anymore for TCB, he runs his own brand now!

He makes fecking slim fitting jeans with an "iPhone pocket", and the last detail was plenty enough to me to forget the brand's name haha!

Edited March 21, 2016 by volvo240thebest

[Ciabatta]

Need an update on Jared's pair.

[ah_long]

So it's almost that time eh... maybe I should throw it in for a final wash before submission