One culmination of this emerging scene is the 80/35 Music Festival held every year thanks to the Des Moines Music Coalition. Like every grass roots organization, DMMC is spear headed by countless volunteers who come together to host a number of events each year. Without this great group of people, going above and beyond, events like this wouldn’t happen. And, as you can see, they really did go above and beyond this year.

Most people wouldn’t expect well known acts like Spoon or Modest Mouse to be spending their 4th of July weekend in a place like Des Moines. But come they did, along with thousands of fans eager to catch headliners and up-and-coming bands alike.

First on the list of acts I caught was Solid Gold. Hailing from Minneapolis, they are kind of local, and very talented.

Next was the indie staple, Yo La Tengo. Playing music for “longer then some of you have been alive”, the passion and artistry really shows.

Then, a quick trek over to one of the many side stages for Flatform. This Des Moines DJ duo hosts so of the best dance parties in town. Not to mention great multimedia installations and outstanding design work.

Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs was a great accompaniment to the sunset over Des Moines.

Finally the day rounded out with a great set bySpoon, you may have heard of them on The OC or Stranger then Fiction. Or my personal favorite, Jason Dill’s part in Habitat’s Mosaic skate video.

A hot, muggy day full of good music. To check out the rest of the bands from Day One head over to 80-35.com and check out the Lineup.

Stay tuned for the wet, soggy Day Two coverage…

The Impossible Project is selling of some “defected” (barely) film for only $10 a pack! This stuff is going for $25 on ebay, so get it quick before it’s gone.

Link HERE and HERE.

And 15 minutes later, all sold out.

New to Faces & Laces this year is the Deth Match. Russia’s best battle it out on stage and show the crowd what REAL yo-yo skill looks like.

Also, a few booths down from Save Deth/yoyoing.ru is Blokk. They are coming out with some really impressive graphics along with very detailed cut and sew garments. Keep and eye on these guys.

Apple isn’t the only corporation to have new technology, check out the new Screaming Eagle!

The Exit 8 has been in the works for over 2 years according to Takeshi. Using a small bearing and will be fitted with smaller FHZ-style plastic caps. The artwork concept is really dope too.

I’m sure more info will be available soon from Duncan. Keep an eye out on their Official Twitter and Facebook pages!

When you run a brand that is named after you, you tend to have a very personal connection to it. Dave and I strive to put out products with meaning and story behind them. From the graphics we put on t-shirts, to the fit of a hoodie, to the music in a DVD, we try to make everything personal and inviting.

We always like to bring our followers into what we do and traveling is a big part of what we do. I am forever grateful that I have the opportunity to do it. During the past few years we have amassed a huge collection of photos from our trips, mostly polaroids. With such a physical medium we didn’t feel that the impact of the photos would be felt through an online gallery and a few blog posts, so we’ve decided to make a book.

One goal we set for this book was to stay as true to the analog ethos of instant photography. The only photoshopping we did was to remove dust from the scanned images. No color adjustments. No boosting contrasts. Just pure photos, exactly how they came out of the camera.

The photos have been taken on trips to yo-yo contests all over the country. We start heading east (and south) to Orlando for the World Yo-Yo Contest, getting sidetracked along the way by the lure of fresh donuts and cliff jumping. From there we head north to New York City for the International Yo-Yo Open. After a few stops to swim, camp and see close friends we finally made it. In the second part of the book we head west, to San Francisco for BAC. It’s a lot of driving, but some of the best changes in scenery you’ll ever see. From the plaines of Nebraska to the edge of the rockies in Wyoming, then finally hitting the Great Salt Flats. The journey was almost as fun as the destination. From the Bay Area we decide to take a detour, to the Grand Canyon. We had some of the most bazar experiences ever on the this leg of the trip, but you’ll have to wait for the book to read about them.

On the eve of some big news about our Save Deth Volumes project, we’d like to present you with the Volume 2 site.

Here you can watch short teasers of all the segments, get connected with the music of Volume 2, behind the scenes notes and get to know the players.

We hope you enjoy the site, and if you don’t have a copy yet make sure to pick one up from the Save Deth Store, or grab it at one of our great Dealers.

And she was right. Life is awesome. I relish the fact that I get to build great things with friends and heros. The last 10 days has been a frantic, non-stop work trip. But when you work with people we got to on a daily basis, it was worth it.

And who better to work with then Paul Han. THE Yo-Yo Player of the Decade. When most of us where learning “Rock the Baby”, Paul was touring with Team High Performance all over Asia and North America. And he never stops. 10 years later Paul is still going strop in Yo-Yo. Picking up a sick sponsorship with YoYo Factory and launched Bomb Squad. We had a chance to go to the Fatlace office with Paul and interview Kenny and Mark.

After the Interviews we headed to Skater Island on the Embarcadero to film Paul’s yo-yoing. Paul is grea tto film, so smooth, so clean, so consistent. If you liked his part in Volume 2, you’ll really like what we have coming up.

Much thanks to Paul and his girlfriend Kim for showing us a great time in the Bay Area, on their anniversary! Be sure to check out Paul’s BombSquad of his day with Save Deth HERE.

We’ll be posting more pictures and info on what our trip to SF was all about, so stay tuned. You DON’T want to miss this.