Just a dope recap video from the 31 Days of Vans 2023 Waffleheads BBQ at Vans HQ, shot, edited, and produced by Kevin Ancheta, for all of us. He was the guy walking around the event with the camera, filming everyone. See if he made you famous!
This past weekend was our 2nd annual Waffle Heads Summit, put together by Clayton, Ed, Joey, and I (Wearing Waffles, Strictly Waffles, and Under The Palms). While Eddie and Joey had to be there in spirit, due to prior engagements, Clayton and I still managed to hold down the fort, with a little bit of assistance from Renee, Tintin, my nephew Ray, and everyone else I’m failing to mention! We also cannot express our gratitude to Tak and Mike of Blends for allowing us an awesome space to host our gatherings at. Without them, this wouldn’t be an annual thing. Thank you so much guys!
Although the pics may not show it, we had a pretty good turnout throughout the afternoon. Mostly familiar faces, as well as a few new ones. We love to see it. Special shout-out to our buddy Greg, who showed up again this year, who only keeps up to date with us through our website, so Greg, if you’re reading this, leave a comment or email me, so we can keep you in the loop on a normal basis, and just to say hello!
Some folks had to dip out early and they missed out on a very special surprise. We received a special visit from our hero, Steve Van Doren! We were stoked…shocked…humbled. To be honest, I was a little sad that everyone who showed up earlier, wasn’t there to experience it. Hell, I was sad for everyone who couldn’t make it out this year! He spent about a good hour there with us. (It might’ve been 30 minutes, but it felt like an hour lol!). Telling stories about Vans, and going through his camera roll on his phone, showing us a bunch of top secret stuff. Upcoming projects; private projects; personal family pairs; etc. He was catering to the crowd for sure. He knew we were the sneaker fiends, and we were drooling over the stuff he was sharing. We may or may not have been sworn to secrecy. At least it sounds cooler that way, hehe.
Steve has the biggest heart. He’s exactly who you’d imagine him to be. He is the epitome of authenticity, and it’s no surprise he’s an inspiration to many, including me. As you know, he’s been busy for the past few weeks down in Huntington Beach, for the Vans U.S. Open of Surfing, and if you follow him on social media, he’s not just out there sitting around and shaking hands. He’s working the booths. He’s grilling. He’s constantly on the move, all while trying to beat the brutal heat this past week. After a full Saturday of doing all that, he took time out to show up to our gathering, and chop it up about Vans. He even supported Blends and purchased a pair of Vaults! Extremely humbling, and his day wasn’t even over after that. He still had to go back to Vans HQ to do some more filming for another project! We’re not worthy to say the least. And of course none of this would’ve even happened if it weren’t for our friend Jason. Mahalo again bro. Seriously.
But wait, there’s more! Hehe, so if that wasn’t already a dream come true for us Vans nerds, you’ll be stoked to know that we just might get to host a gathering at Vans HQ next year, centered around our community. It’s all dependent on a few factors, like covid, other priorities, budget, etc., but we’re going to try and push hard to make this happen for us and y’all, so stay tuned! How cool would that be?! Man, we can’t wait. Until then, enjoy a few snapshots from this past weekend’s event, and do everything you can to make it out next year. You won’t want to miss it!
tons of pics after the jump Read More
Just a friendly reminder that tomorrow is our 2nd annual Waffle Heads Summit, and this is our open invite to all Waffle Heads who can make it to SoCal! We’ll be gathering at our favorite Vans Vault dealer, and good friends of the Vans fam, over at Blends Costa Mesa. Show up around 2PM and hang with us. Order up some pizza from Kuro Artisanal Pizza, and maybe have a few brews with us afterwards at one of the local breweries, or just hang if you don’t drink. All ages welcome. Hope to see you all there!
Blends Costa Mesa, located inside the LAB Anti-mall at 2930 Bristol St, Costa Mesa, CA 92626
After last year’s inaugural Waffle Heads Summit, we decided to try and make it an annual thing, so here we are with an awesome announcement. We’ve decided on a date of Saturday August 6th around 2PM for this year’s get together, once again at Blends Costa Mesa. Open to anybody who wants to come and hang out and nerd out about Vans. This time, we’ll be able to support Blends owner Tak’s new venture, and enjoy some Kuro Pizza, as the location is finally open, so come hungry and buy his amazing pizzas! Don’t forget to show up in some dope Vans. We hope to see as many of you there, as possible!
For this year’s event, we decided to offer up the commemorative event tee online, since a lot of you are only able to be there in spirit. We took last year’s graphic, and had our Vans bro Todd Emerson @tmrsn add a little bit of pizza inspiration, and gave it a green and red half-tone treatment, and found an awesome off-white colored tee to complete the authentic vintage vibe we were going for. We’re also creating an event exclusive Under The Palms Sticker-Pak that will be included with each tee order. Highly collectible. Very limited. Pre-orders are now live for one week. If you’ve read this far, then congrats, here’s a promo code for 20% off of your order! Use code “UTPFRIENDS” at checkout. You can also choose to pick up at the event and save on shipping. Just mention it in your order comments and we’ll refund the shipping. WE WON’T BE SELLING THESE TEES ON SITE! Reading is key!
After a few technical difficulties, we’re back with episode 32B. Let’s try this again! We’re trying out Zoom for this episode, so if it sounds different, that’s why. We’ll get it dialed in by ep. 50 I’m sure. Baseball is back, and we couldn’t be more stoked. Bill’s bday is approaching and a gathering-turned-house party is in the works. Eddie and Moms is going to a country music festival and are gonna see Willy Nelson while he’s still performing. The boys are drinking Cutwaters, Stouts, and Tea for the evening.
Our shoe release news is a little dated due to our podcast issues, but we talked about Defcons, Uprise Half Cabs, Palace x Vault x Calvin Klein cK1 Authentics, Engineered Garments Era VLTs, and the Yucca fins x Vans Surf collaboration. Lots of stuff to catch up on.
In other news, Bill is still waiting for his first order of Mooneyes Vans. WTF is up Vans?
Vans goes after MSCHF and their stupid Wavy Old-Skool wannabes. Why an established rapper like Tyga would even want to associate himself with this whack shit is beyond us. Stop supporting these bootleg sneaker brands. Fakes are fakes no matter how you look at it. It’s whack. Don’t be a sucker.
For Show & Tell, Bill got one of those cool wooden Vans Family signs from Tintin. Joey picked up a coffee table book by Glenn Friedman of the punk rock band Black Flag. Eddie picked up a few Marc Jacobs Vaults from 2006, in DS condition. There’s no better time to start scooping up older Marc Jacobs Vaults, while their prices are still reasonable. Thanks for joining us tonight!
You can drop in for the live Twitch stream, every Tuesday (10PM CDT / 8PM PDT), or on our Youtube channel. Audio formats can be found on Apple podcasts, Spotify, and Anchor.
All views and opinions are strictly our own, and not affiliated with anything. If we offend any of you, just know that it wasn’t personal, and we love everyone and everything. Don’t take life so seriously, and that includes us.
What’s up and thanks for joining us for Episode 31! By now, you should know that we pretty much wing it. Last week, we took a sick day, but we’re on the mend, and we have some interesting shit to talk about.
Bill was the only one drinking a beer tonight, while Ed and Joey had their waters on deck. I never thought we’d get into a pleasant conversation around water, but we learned what brands we like, and don’t like. Joe just installed a reverse osmosis system under his sink and it’s life changing. Hydration is the key to life, folks.
The Blends unreleased pack dropped, and a few were lucky enough to score a pair. Although we’d prefer an in-store release, or a FCFS online drop like everyone else, we think their raffle method is the safest, and most fair for the amount of demand these Bones get. We can’t thank the Blends fam enough for blessing us with the VIP treatment on this pack. Since we’re on the topic of releases, Defcon dropped some stuff on us last week. Now, we patiently wait to see if there’s some Vans coming too!
We’re anticipating the Vault x Krink collection to drop later this week, so stay tuned for that. Iconic collab right there.
Anyone see The Simpsons “Cool Guy” episode? Pretty funny to see them poke fun at our once beloved culture, which is obviously now too mainstream for us. Is this a sign we need to stop wearing Supreme?!
So, we came across an episode of Talib Kweli’s “The People’s Party” podcast on the Uproxx Youtube channel, featuring Alyasha Owerka Moore. We don’t dare put a title on him, because he’s larger than any title we could ever come up with, but chances are, some of your favorite sneakers or clothes wouldn’t exist without his touch or influence. Whether it’s from this interview, or Bobby Hundred’s book, or just through common acquaintances in San Diego, we feel like we’ve known this guy for decades, but we barely knew anything about him. He also articulated everything our simple minds have been trying to convey since episode 1 of The Authentic Era, in regards to what our sneaker & streetwear culture have become. It’s basically bottle service now, and that’s clown culture!!! We invite you to watch that episode in it’s entirety on their channel, as we had to cut out the parts on our show, where we played clips, due to copyright. Whoops!
That segued us into our final topic of the evening, talking about entitlement, and image, and social media influence. Kids have to grow up with this added pressure these days, and it’s fucked up. But, hey, just remember kids, your favorite idol says you need to just “get off your ass, and work!”.
You can drop in for the live Twitch stream, every Tuesday (10PM CDT / 8PM PDT), or on our Youtube channel. Audio formats can be found on Apple podcasts, Spotify, and Anchor.
All views and opinions are strictly our own, and not affiliated with anything. If we offend any of you, just know that it wasn’t personal, and we love everyone and everything. Don’t take life so seriously, and that includes us.
We’ve made it to episode 30, and we want to thank you for being a part of this journey! Who’d have thought we’d make it this far? You’re a real one for sticking with us this long. If you’re new here, then welcome! We hope you stick around for the next 30 episodes.
Bill is back from his Hawaii vacation on the Big Island, and he’s not ready to go back to work. He also went to Phoenix for Dodgers Spring Training, but the MLB had other plans. At least he got to hang with our Vans fam Dave & Michelle all weekend, and drink Dutch Bros. and eat at Pappadeaux’s.
After sharing our drinks, we got right into our main topic of the night, which was an exclusive debut, and detailed look at the next Blends collaboration with Vault By Vans, featuring their iconic bones jazz stripe. This pack was originally created for the Asia market, but a few pairs were allocated for here in the states. The designs for the trio, came from early unreleased samples, with each featuring black toe bumpers, premium motorcycle leather, as well as a few other unique details. There are two Sk8-Hi Reissue Zip LX’s, one in black, and one in red, as well as an Old Skool LX in black. Look for a more detailed look, later this week, over on stuckunderthepalms.com.
We talked heavily about the BAPE Vans release fiasco, and how every person’s online order from Vans.com was cancelled. Well, we may not be 100% correct, but we haven’t seen one successful US order yet.
It’s International Womens Day this week, and we have a few releases that coincide with the holiday. First up, is Lizzie Armanto’s inaugural pro model, the Lizzie, and the next is a Vault collab with Sarah Andelman, featuring 4 female artists who each designed a shoe for the collection. We also got a first look at a Vault x Palm Angels collab, and we get into a healthy discussion on if this collab fits in with what Vans consumers are into, and I think we all know the answer to that.
WTF is up with gas these days? We go on a tangent about corporate greed and climate change, lol. Since we we’re on our usual hating segment, we brought up Tyler the Creator’s thoughts on NFTs, the Kanye Netflix doc, and other things we’ve been binge-watching.
Lastly, we talk about how Nike is once again using their corporate power for bad, by wiping out $900 million of Foot Locker’s market value, by removing key product inventory, to sell direct to consumer. The retail experience is going away at a rapid pace. Is this what we all want now? Maybe.
You can drop in for the live Twitch stream, every Tuesday (10PM CDT / 8PM PDT), or on our Youtube channel. Audio formats can be found on Apple podcasts, Spotify, and Anchor.
All views and opinions are strictly our own, and not affiliated with anything. If we offend any of you, just know that it wasn’t personal, and we love everyone and everything. Don’t take life so seriously, and that includes us.
Welcome to episode 29. Tonight’s show starts off with a little Young Dolph (RIP) talk, and some insight to our opening music. Bill’s preparing for his Hawaiian vacation to the Big Island for the next 7 days, which also means there won’t be an episode next week.
Eddie brags about the bomb food he’s had lately, reminiscing on his days in San Diego. Shoutout to McDonald’s Taro pies, and Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Empanadas. Also to Chef Roy Choy’s Broken Bread show on PBS here in SoCal, and tortilleria Kernel of Truth.
This week’s Vans releases include the Vault x Worksout “1st Anniversary” Custom OG Authentic LX; Crayola Collaboration; Vault x Kar “Dragster” Old Skool VLT LX; Krooked x Natas for Ray Barbee pack.
@kiddnamedclay joins the chat, and we share his Vans jingle that’s been getting a little traction around the community. We discuss the “These Projects Are Ads For Creativity” campaign, and then give a major shout-out to Goodhood co-founder Kyle Stewart’s Hypebeast interview. We then go on a tangent about the movie RAD, and the disappointing cancellation of the 50th anniversary Era.
We then discuss our favorite topic as usual, NFTs. This time, a hacker stole $1.7 million in NFTs from OpenSea users, which is hilarious. Oh, and Nicky Diamonds is creating a metaverse, complete with Diamond “Tiffany” Dunks you can dress up in. We close out the show discussing some of our favorite Old Skools, which we could go on for days, but we mentioned the KITH x Mastermind Old Skool LX, Blends “Bones” Old Skool Zip LX, and the Our Legacy Old Skool 92 Pro LX.
You can drop in for the live Twitch stream, every Tuesday (10PM CDT / 8PM PDT), or on our Youtube channel. Audio formats can be found on Apple podcasts, Spotify, and Anchor.
All views and opinions are strictly our own, and not affiliated with anything. If we offend any of you, just know that it wasn’t personal, and we love everyone and everything. Don’t take life so seriously, and that includes us.
Welcome to episode 28 folks! It’s been a busy week, full of some new Vans stuff to talk about, but first a little bit of small talk about work, and some of the crazy stuff we’ve dealt with over the years. What are we drinking? Ed is trying out Bang’s new Vooz hydration sensation drink; Joey has a Pint House “Green Battles” American IPA, and Bill has one of his Burgeon favorites, the Juice Press Hazy IPA.
This week saw a few releases. The All Nations Skate Jam collection for 2022 finally dropped. WTAPS released their Olive GPS pack in Asia, and we are finally getting the BAPE x Vans release we were asking for. Perfect camo selection. Perfect color choices. Apparel is still sus, but we’ll take it.
Super Bowl half time show was off the hook. Eminem rocked a pair of sick exclusively made AJ III’s, which we’ll probably never see release. We also reminisce over some of his dopest collabs over the years.
Our main topic of discussion was around order cancellations from Vans.com that have been happening way more than the usual, and it’s starting to get out of hand. We dive in a little bit, based on some knowledge we’ve learned about what may be the reason behind this, but regardless, shit’s getting pretty old real quick. We get on a tangent about where returned pairs go, and then on a “sub-tangent” about factory seconds, and the discount market. Also in regards to reselling, we hit on 3rd party sellers on some major online webstores, and how resell prices are dictating new retail prices, so stop buying into it.
Supreme previews their Spring/Summer ’22 drop, and Bill just wants a bunch of Kraft Mac ‘N Cheese boxes, so help him out lol. We also do a little bit of mail call, and for this week, we see some Notres, some Sandy Liangs, some Upside-Down Asia Tiger Pack, and some Vans Family accessories. Good stuff.
You can drop in for the live Twitch stream, every Tuesday (10PM CDT / 8PM PDT), or on our Youtube channel. Audio formats can be found on Apple podcasts, Spotify, and Anchor.
All views and opinions are strictly our own, and not affiliated with anything. If we offend any of you, just know that it wasn’t personal, and we love everyone and everything. Don’t take life so seriously, and that includes us.
After some recent storms took out Ed last week, we’re back better and stronger than ever, with some fresh new things to talk about. Schedules have been a little funky, but we’re making it work. Ed’s drinking a Wild Watermelon Bang. Joe’s got a Slice Beer Co. Vaxx to the Future DIPA, and Bill is working with a Harland x Mortalis Hydra Fluff Smoothie Style Sour Ale.
Vans releases for the past few weeks include the Vault x Javier Calleja Pack; the Vault x Notre OG Style 36 LX; the Vans Skate x Palace Skate Old Skool; the Vault x Dobale Collection; the Vault 2022 Preview; and the Vault x WTaps Olive GPS Coordinates Japan-exclusive pack.
Shout-out to the 2 new followers on Twitch! We get off on a tangent about merchandise, and t-shirt printing, and making hats, pins, and random shit. We share some of our mistakes with the process, and we’ve all gained a little wisdom from it.
We spoke a little on our crazy weather. Bill & Tin are going to Hawaii’s Big Island in a few weeks, so that should be fun. Talked a little about Poke and some of our favorite fresh fish we love to eat.
We went into overtime this week, with a topic near and dear to our hearts…NFTs! Nike is suing StockX over them. Our culture is being bought and sold back to us in the form of them. People are losing fortunes on them. What’s not to love about them? Our culture is constantly trying to be infiltrated, and we’re still doing our best to keep the bullshit out of it. Speaking of culture, Clayton (@wearingwaffles) is in town this week, and wants to meet up on Thursday night, so check out his invite on his IG for the info!
You can drop in for the live Twitch stream, every Tuesday (10PM CDT / 8PM PDT), or on our Youtube channel. Audio formats can be found on Apple podcasts, Spotify, and Anchor.
All views and opinions are strictly our own, and not affiliated with anything. If we offend any of you, just know that it wasn’t personal, and we love everyone and everything. Don’t take life so seriously, and that includes us.
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Currently on a little hiatus, but normally you can drop in for the live Twitch stream, or you can get caught up later on, by viewing us on our Youtube channel. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Anchor. -
Check out and add to our collaborative playlist on Spotify. Let's hear some of your favorite, obscure, B-side, and personal selections. The funkier and more eclectic it gets, the better. Let's show everyone how much range our community has!
