ETERNAL HAPPINESS, AND YOU.

If you've been looking for a good present that will tide over your whole sweet family, don't sweat. One of my favorite artists of ever, Nathaniel Russell, just finished up a poster showing up at Mollusk Surf Shop in San Francisco. The aftermath is a good looking grip of prints available online from Mollusk direct.  I already own the "SIT" poster, which is a good reminder of what to do after coming home from a straining work day, unaware of how to proceed.  I've got my eye on this rad poster called "Skateboard People", as well as a few others of which I'm not going to tell you, fearing you might grab the last one and I'll be left empty handed. 

They've also got a great collection of clothes for the kids, so do some extra snooping around while you're there.

GIMMME MY BARK BOX!

We're a pretty lucky family to have our scruffy lil' pup Maggie Mae. Well shoot, she's not a puppy anymore, but given the "fountain of canine youth" that is being half Chihuahua, she's already 10 but looking like a tween in dog years.  We got her before we had any our little dudes, and she couldn't have welcomed them any more properly. She has to keep pace with the stroller at all times... never ahead, and never behind. She's always game to clean faces from sloppy yogurt eating, or drippy ice cream cones. And no matter how many times one of the dudes lays down on her on the couch, she'll gladly take the attention.

I was even luckier to get hooked up with a Bark Box by my friends over at Swiffer. They're teaming up to get a free Bark Box Welcome Kit to anyone who adopts a pup from a partnering shelter through the month of December (you can find a list here)! Swiffer and Bark Box are making sure that cleaning woes aren't gonna stop you from bringing a new furry pal into your home. The Bark Box comes packed with goodies including a sweet Bark Toy and bag of treats, as well as a Swiffer Duster, a coupon for a free Swiffer Sweeper Starter Kit, and a sweet Welcome Home Guide to help ease the transition for a pup into a house of children!

It's cool to see Swiffer and Bark Box working to make adopting pets even more of a no brainer :)
Thanks for making my dog smile (I can tell, I swear) and for helping others find sweet new homes!!

SO FRESH AND SO CLEAN

My little dudes and I love to adventure, whether that involves a hike out into the wilderness, or building lego cars and a real deal racetrack too. What follows most of these activities is a reckless tornado that storms through the house, leaving a chaotic path leading to the next project.  Since our number of juvenile tornados has grown to three, my wife and I have a pretty constant job of cleaning up that we've got to team up on. It's always been second nature to me to do whatever I can around the house to make things easier, but recently I got to be a part of the #SwifferDad campaign, and it opened my eyes to how important it is to spread those team vibes on to my kids.

It's crazy to think that stereotypes still exist out there about a dad's role around the house.  My wife and I both work, so we're in the same boat when we arrive back at home for the day.  In the mornings, I've got 2 of the dudes to get dressed, fed, in the car and off to school, but before we leave, I do my best to get the house looking pretty dang near perfect, so that when we get home at the end of the day, we both can relax a little bit and chill with the kids.  It's even better when the dudes can team up with me on the cleaning effort and get it done in record time. In fact, the challenge to be the "Fastest Cleaner", or "Most Spotless Floor Winner" is usually enough motivation to get the whole family involved.  Cleaning up around the house isn't just mom's job, it's everyone's responsibility. That's a reason being part of this video is so cool. It'll leave a lasting impression on my kids how crucial the teamwork element is around the house, and show how good it makes you feel to help out your crew and spread the positive vibes!

So check out this radical video that the dudes and I got to be a part of. Stoked that I could be a part of it; to represent as a proud, hands-on #SwifferDad, and meet some other rad dads in the same shoes! :)  Not to mention, I'm a religious user and fan of the Swiffer WetJet, so I was able to flex some of my cleaning steez in the video.

Lastly, the little dudes got to hang with Anthony Anderson, who you may know from the TV show Blackish, or one of my faves, Kangaroo Jack, on the big screen! Rad times!

I was compensated for participating in the Swiffer video campaign but all thoughts are my own, and I don't team up with stuff that I don't really dig. 

I DON'T WANNA GROW UP!

GUYS! The Descendants VANS shoes are back!!! Head over to their mercy site to grab some now, and while you're there, grab your little people an official "I Don't Want to Grow Up" shirt, cuz well.. to make it officially official!!

SIGNS EVERYWHERE!

The past few months I've been spending some long nights out in the garage workin on some hand-painted signs. I was inspired by trips to the swap meet, seeing wooden signs with stuff like "BEACH" stenciled on them. I thought it would be a cool thing to make my own with some weirder sayings. I just finished up my first batch of reclaimed wood, and decided to throw them up for sale on here.  If you're into it, click on the box to LEFT that says "STAY RADICAL SIGNS" and you can check them out. Or you can just check out this shot of Charley Davidson, hangin out with a KOOK CLUB sign my buddy Blacky just grabbed from me! 

and if you're wonderin, Char is wearin some Hello Apparel pants, and a shirt I did for Volcom!

HOLIDAZE ROCK

it's that season again... time to start checking out black friday deals, scouring the internet, flipping through the Toys R' Us catalog.

Time to get the little dudes some Christmas presents that will not only knock their socks off, but keep them stoked and hopefully anywhere except in front of the TV!

My littlest dude has taken a liking to banging on my guitars. He likes 'em all.. from the $50 swap meet guitar, to my sweet Epiphone semi-hollowbody that I used to play every day with the band. Shoot, he'll even turn a shovel into a guitar!  I let him use them (& to a certain point, abuse them) because I'm hoping that playing music will be a welcome, comforting idea, rather than a "don't touch dad's stuff!" kinda thing. His favorite guitars have been the 2 ukuleles we have hanging around the house. Obviously, they're small, easy to carry around, easy to play, and actually sound awesome when they're in tune and have a 2-year old bangin' on them.  While he still digs jammin on those, I was starting to do some research on what could be the next step for a rising 2-year old musician.  Out of nowhere, my Mom sent me an email to check out a guitar she found while combing the web...  the LOOG guitar!  It's 3-stringed guitar that was the result of an NYU thesis, turned successful kickstarter project.  The guitar comes un-assembled, so you've got a fun project that helps you and your little one understand how the guitar works. The tuning is based on the 3 high strings on a traditional guitar (G-B-E), so there could be some possible cross-over into 6-string. There are a few different body options, and it looks like they just finished another successful kickstarter campaign to get an electric Loog going. Radical!

Anyhow, I'm stoked to grab one of these for Charley! Maybe we'll put out a 7 inch for the New Year! Thanks for the tip Mom!

check out the video here:

also, check 'em out on Instagram here!

BEST HAIR DAY EVER

Earlier this summer, our radical friends over at Tangled Tantrum sent over a few of their hair products for the little dudes to try out.  Off the bat we were sold on the product packaging... The detangler & conditioning spray has a dude hanging on a rocket ship headin off to space, while the hair gel and styling paste are sporting surf and skate scenes.  Both of my little dudes were open to using the stuff this summer because 1) they all smell amazing (especially the styling paste!) and 2) they all go on real easy and don't sting or get weird (alcohol free) and 3) the packaging.. I mean, right?  4) these products are HIS, so we don't have to use the weird stuff that mom & dad use cuz they've got their OWN! They became the go-to after long afternoons at the beach or pool, so we could get everyone's hair back into order. Basically, we love the stuff. 

But I've gotta say, the true amazingness revealed itself as summer turned to school time.  Cooper wakes up with one of the craziest heads of bed head hair I have ever seen,  on the regular. It feels like every new day outdoes the last day, however that is possible. Through pre-school, it was my job to drop him off, so his hair was literally the last thing I'd be worrying about. Gotta get breakfast, get dressed, brush our teeth, get all of our stuff in the car and try to get out the door at a semi-reasonable time. Now, Coop has entered the ranks of kindergarten, and I feel like we can't really play the same "we just rolled outta bed" vibe.  Enter, Tangled Tantrum detangler & conditioning spray + styling paste. 

Below is just one of our magical transformations. A few sprays of detangler make a world of difference... then we throw on a few dabs of styling paste, and we've got a good lookin, great smellin dude! 

before & after

In addition to all this, Tangled Tantrum products are paraben free. That was something that wasn't on my radar at all, but now knowing more about it, I'm stoked that the dudes are using paraben-free products. Paraben is basically a preservative used in a handful of products which we commonly use. They can mess up a handful of your body's natural processes such as digestion, metabolism, puberty, reproduction, and more! Yikes, right? 

Thanks Tangled Tantrum!! We're hooked!

you can check out TANGLED TANTRUM here, and learn more about their radical paraben-free products! 

SNAKES ON A SHIRT!

Charley got a new shirt from our sweet friends at INDIENOOK, 
and it's GOT A SNAKE ON IT. so radical, right? 
Here he is looking for snakes at the beach with his FOR GOODNESS SNAKE tee and his trusty shovel. check out INDIENOOK for other radical little people stuff. 

LIFE IS EASY!

During the day I work over at Volcom in the art department. This summer there are a couple of shirts I drew up that are part of the Featured Artist line!  I've been painting a series of PARTY WAVES at home on big 24"x24" pieces of wood, and I've adapted one into this LIFE IS EASY shirt.  The wave is throwin a shaka while bringing along some of his favorite stuff (pizza, a can of YUM and a crazy fish). Life is easy is also the name of one of my favorite Reubens Accomplice songs, if you were wondering  :)

There's also a DEEP SEA FISHING CLUB shirt, that was based off an old sketch of mine which featured a fish with a fishing pole, and it said "BE GOOD TO YOUR FRIENDS". The art then turned into the theme for Volcom's 2012 PEANUT BUTTER & RAIL JAM snowboard contest series... And then it was finally tweaked into DEEP SEA FISHING CLUB, where the old fisherman has a fish strung up, and his fish buddy seems to have caught a lost fisherman! 

HELLO, AGAIN, HELLO

it's a constant goal of mine to keep my kids lookin' cool. Luckily some great friends of mine (Sam + Anita) started up a rad clothing company called Hello Apparel.  I met Sam and Anita out in Phoenix quite a while ago when I would head out for a weekend of shows. Anita was sweet enough to let us sleep on her floor on one of our trips... and Sam ended up playing in a rad band that we would do a handful of tours with, and become great friends.  Fast forward a bit, and Sam and Anita are married, with a super cool daughter named Lola, and they design some awesome clothes for little people and big people.

Their designs are simple and to-the-point, and they've become some of our favorite things to wear.   

The HELLO pullover sweatshirt has become a staple in our house ever since it arrived. The sweatshirts are crazy soft, and they magically get people to say "hi" to you whenever you enter a room. Pretty cool. Charley is really starting to appreciate the ABCs song, so he really digs the ALPHABET tee he got. He calls it his "ABs" shirt. 

Above is Charley playin some Space Invaders on the Atari in some cool leggings with Arrows on him. They're perfect for little girls, and fit like tight sweatpants for this little dude. 

This last shot is of a seasonal (for Valentine's day, of course) heart shirt that the dudes got a whole ton of use out of. what I am sayin.. they still wear these at least once a week :)

so hurry up and get over to the Hello Apparel site and grab something. they're always doing special offers and giveaways via their instagram so check that out too. we may even get some kind of special offer goin over here at GETTING RAD HQ, so stay tuned!

BORN IN THE BASEMENT

do you remember Lookout Records? Lookout was the home to a handful of bands that made me really love music. Screeching Weasel, Green Day, The Hi-Fives, Groovie Ghoulies, The Queers, Mr T Experience... 
The Groovie Ghoulies were and ARE one of my favorite bands. the good news for me and my little dudes and YOURS is that KEPI GHOULIE has just released a new record called KEPI FOR KIDS.  Here's a song from the record called "Days that end in Y"! 

The record is coming out on a new imprint called  FUN FUN RECORDS.  Mike Park, who also played in Skankin' Pickle and runs Asian Man Records, is responsible for the label, and he's putting out a handful of rad, kid friendly records. I'm excited to see what he does! Currently his roster included Kepi Ghoulie, Dan Potthast (of MU330), Play Date (featuring Greg Attonito of the Bouncing Souls), Happy Wags (with Jesse Wagner of the Aggrolites), and Mike Park himself! Mike Park will also be out as the super music friend on the YO GABBA GABBA LIVE! show til the end of March! here's a list of the dates!

03.01.13-Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
03.02.13-Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
03.03.13-Portland, OR @ Theater of the Clouds at Rose Garden
03.04.13-Sacramento, CA @ Sacramento Memorial Auditorium
03.05.13-San Jose, CA @ San Jose Civic
03.07.13-Fresno, CA @ William Saroyan Theatre
03.08.13-Santa Barbara, CA @ The Arlington Theatre
03.09.13-San Diego, CA @ San Diego Civic Theatre
03.10.13-Phoenix, AZ @ Comerica Theatre
03.11.13-El Paso, TX @ The Plaza Theatre
03.13.13-Midland, TX @ Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center
03.14.13-Houston, TX @ Bayou Music Center
03.15.13-Dallas, TX @ Music Hall at Fair Park
03.16.13-San Antonio, TX @ Majestic Theatre
03.17.13-Austin, TX @ Bass Concert Hall
03.18.13-New Orleans, LA @ Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts
03.20.13-Orlando, FL @ Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre
03.21.13-Sarasota, FL @ Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall
03.22.13-St. Augustine, FL @ St. Augustine Amphitheatre
03.23.13-Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Broward Center for the Performing Arts
03.24.13-Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Broward Center for the Performing Arts

SO MUCH GOOD STUFF. 

LISTENING TO MUSIC IS AWESOME, SERIOUSLY.

growing up in Southern California has had a few long lasting effects on me. I can't stay away from the beach, I could eat mexican food for just about every meal, aaaaaaand I'm a huge fan of just about everything John Reis, AKA Swami, AKA Speedo, etc. does. And what could be cooler but to share my love for one of his bands with my little dudes. Yep. Rocket from the Crypt is back with a new tune after about 7 years of quiet. They're one of a handful of awesome bands that are found on the new Yo Gabba Gabba: Music is Awesome, Vol 4 cd.

Rocket from the Crypt lends a new one (written by Adam Deibert of Yo Gabba, formerly of the Aquabats) called "He's A Chef". The video includes a rad cameo by Thomas Lennon (Reno 911, Wet Hot American Summer, the State). I'm a fan of it all.

Also on the record are some killer tunes from Peter Bjorn & John, Belle & Sebastian, Mariachi El Bronx, Biz Markie, and a whole grip more.

I've found these Yo Gabba cds have been huge in opening my little dudes up to other music. The Aquabats contributed a song called "Pool Party" to the Volume 2 cd, and now all the rest of the Aquabats cds are on rotation in the car on the way to school. Who knows, maybe tomorrow Rocket from the Crypt, tomorrow Drive Like Jehu?

Check out the cd from Amazon right over heeeeeeeere.

And while you're clickin on stuff, check out the video for "He's A Chef" below!!