Archive for the ‘Guys With Ties’ Category

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Damn your ties, man!

January 1, 2012

Please do not read this post if you have 1) a heart condition 2) an eye condition or 3) one of those strobe-light, Mary-Hart-voice response afflictions. My Hallowe’en party tie du jour was affected by my choice of costume. You’ll see…

This marks three days in a row of posting to 100D100T, and I think this will be tie number 321, and it’s an, um, interesting one to start off 2012. It’s nice to have some momentum…

Off to the TdJ races, ok? We will have a Guy With Tie, and an added bonus of another GWT (Girl With Tie)…DWT (Daughter W/Tie), actually.

...in case y'all wanted to see my pants

Let me explain my costume. I’m a Blind Date. Wearing a coat and tie, of course, but, being blind, nothing matches. Plaid coat, paisley shirt, luau-print pants and, to top it all off, my cotton floral electro-strip of a Tie du Jour from Vivace. Do not adjust your computer screen. Sunglasses may be advisable. And I promise that I will always ask permission before wearing a similar outfit again.

A friend of mine was also wearing a tie that evening, and the bonus of his tie was that it’s a bolo. Fellow Southerner Scott Counts looked rather pimpish in his stony bolo finery.

And another tie-wearer was my Julia, who dressed as Hermione Granger of Harry Potter fame. She had removed her big wig by the time I took this pic.

Again, Happy New Year to everyone out there. I’d like to thank everyone for giving me the reason to come back and write 100 Days 100 Ties again.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

 

 

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The Tied of the Yankees

October 11, 2011

Darnit. I’ve had this blog subject saved for months, ready to use it in the inevitable event that the New York Yankees have a modicum of success. Not that I’m a fan; in fact, I’m probably the opposite. Because my immediate forebear (my Dad) passed on his extreme dislike (his extreme like of the Pittsburgh Pirates peaked 51 years ago when they took the World Series over the Bronx Bombers), it’s mildly disappointing that I failed to submit a timely account of their playoff demise. Well, in case you’ve instead been following football, lamenting the final episodes of Breaking Bad, or just enjoying the Indian summer, they were knocked out by the Detroit Tigers (either word, of course, can’t be spelled without T-I-E).

So, after several tie-less days, I finally sported another for a Few local sales calls for Few Spirits. Longtime destination Tommy Nevin’s Pub (T-I-E again) was first on my list, and so we’ll have our stuff there very soon. I also furthered our cause at Bar Louie and the Celtic Knot. We’ll be everywhere, man!

My Tie du Jour for the occasion is a lovely, patterned strip from one of my faves, Paul Fredrick. I picked this one up at Classy Closet resale shop, along with several other PF TdJ’s-to-be. The dark navy field is a perfect plot for the differently-colored medallions that regaled my light orange striped shirt.

Although I had not worn a tie in several days, we did have a new Guy With Tie pay us a visit. Scott Wright is a commercial loan officer from Charter One Bank. Our local branch manager, Raquel Hernandez, set up a meeting for us, and she and Scott niced up our distillery for a Few minutes.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

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Samson & Detielah

September 29, 2011

Well, show me…the way…to the next…Whiskey Bar. Oh, don’t ask why, oh, don’t ask why. –the Doors, Alabama Song

Big night in Fewville (Fewtown? Fewsbury? Fewborough?), as we Few had a huge launch party at world-renowned Delilah’s, down in Lincoln Park. We had a fantastic crowd down there, as many folks from Evanston made it out, on a school night no less. Owner Mike Miller was the best host, and his wonderful wait staff put out a great offering of cocktails.

I thought it may be a stretch to wear a tie to a punk-rock whiskey bar, but I figured it’d be okay with my Few shirt. This vintage plaid strip from Monsieur Cravatieur feels woolen, but thank goodness it’s pure synthetics! Trevira Polyester rears its pretty head again into my 100D100T world!! I wonder if the ancient clans of Scotland ever imagined synthetic wool. Nae…

I wasn’t alone for long, as the newest GWT walked in soon after we set out our gin & whiskey. Alan sported a very cool bowtie, which would be visible if the flash on my not-as-crapiPhone camera had actually worked.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

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The Tie Traveler’s Wife

September 27, 2011

I’m going to go out on a limb here: I’ll probably never have the chance to time-travel. There. I said it. So, I can guess I can finally use this post subject that’s been sitting in my drafts list for quite a while.

And though the chances are somewhat greater that I’ll have an encounter with author Audrey Niffenegger, an Evanstonian by day (and night), I figured I’d just go ahead and use it to signify that I’m going back to one of the 5-7 ties that remain un-posted.

Mildly interesting backstory on my Tie du Jour, and that’s putting it very mildly. This TdJ is solid in at least a couple of ways – color scheme and craftsmanship would be my choices. It’s from designer RVR Neckties, owned by Robert Valdes-Rodriguez, with whom I used to work at ABN Amro Bank. Or for whom, I guess you could say, at least for a few months. I nearly choked on my bowtie when I saw that his strips go for $185 a throw. [long, slow whistle] Give me 30 days and I could find 100 above-average ties for less than $185. And, no, I wasn’t really wearing a bowtie when doing my research. My good friend Lee Allison designs ties that have personality, AND are half that price.

MWT?

In my last post, I can’t believe I left out a Guy With Tie. Mike Ryan is a mixologist-extraordinaire at Sable. Paul and I visited there a couple of times in the past week, thanking them for carrying Few. Here’s Mike in proper mixology-gear, i.e. waistcoat and tie. Go see him, and ask him to make you a Few-inspired cocktail.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

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Heinz 57 and French-tied potatoes

September 21, 2011

Jimmy Bowfett? Yeah, terrible joke...

Rather ironic that my title channels a guy who likely despises ties: Jimmy Buffett. I originally wrote that first sentence to allege that he never wears ties, but that theorem was rather hastily dashed after a quick search of “Buffett photos.” And I’m pretty sure this isn’t Warren Buffett…

This is my first post in the “Back in Time” series, as I journey into my less-crapiPhone’s photo bank and find pictures of ties that I have worn, yet did not post. Out of order? The shame!

My Tie du Jour is from the French designer Claude Montana (no relation to 49ers hero Joe Montana), who is known for his outrageously colored style creations. This TdJ is no different. Thank goodness there’s a picture, because I could never describe this without sounding like a moron. “Um, it’s kinda green and kinda yellow with some blue and gray (British translation: grey) lines making a kinda floral pattern.” Yep, I went ahead and described it anyway. Moron.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

 

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Tied to the Whipping Post

August 9, 2011

OK, I’ve done the crime, 20 lashes for me. I have officially set the record for procrastinating in posting about a worn tie. It’s been so long I won’t even admit it, but rest assured that it’s been over a week. Plus, I have two more that I need to write about. For shame.

Uh, yeah, that extremely long paragraph was penned about 10 days ago, so my break in procrastination was very short. Sheesh. I’m now up to about seven ties that I need to write about, or at least record. Let’s get to them. Or, perhaps I can save this as a draft and sit on it for another few weeks.

No, wait, what do we have here? Yes! I’m going on to another paragraph, it looks like the wait is over! We may get to an actual blog post here! We may have a tough couple of minutes while I retrieve my phone, to refresh my memory as to which tie I’m actually writing about.

Ah, yes, here we go…I was able to wear this Tie du Jour on my first public appearance with Few Spirits. Let me rephrase that…my first appearance with product from Few Spirits. By the way, at press time, Few is sooooo much further along. I’ll try to avoid spilling the beans (or spilling the gin, rather) until I catch up a little bit.

The TdJ is from Kolte. It’s a very dark blue with gray paisleys. It’s very rare to see paisleys marching in such an orderly and homogeneous fashion. Usually they are multi-sized, and swimming all over the dang place.

I wore this lovely strip to a gala charity event called Artopia, hosted by the Open Studio Project. OSP is an Evanston non-profit that helps underprivileged kids connect with their artistic side by providing them with art projects. One of the auction items was a bottle of Few White Whiskey, along with a barrel naming. I attended and gave taste samples of the FewWW. How nice, eh?

Show your Ties!

There were a couple of other ties at the event, but they all paled in comparison to this one. I failed to retain his name, but let’s just call our newest GWT Marty Graw, since he was in his French Quarter outfit.

Well, let’s hope that this gets me going in terms of catching up. Only six more posts to go until I am…

Thanks for waiting and reading…Brooke

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Bermuda Tieangle

June 24, 2011

I reached the monumental pinnacle (is that redundant?) of wearing a tie two days in a row, a mere couple of weeks after basically wearing one for 300 days in a row, save for weekends and the occasional Sanity Day. It’s been pretty nice to see that I’m still getting a few dozen page views per day, so thank y’all.

My Tie du Jour was not worn for the full Jour, so it may need to be called the Tie des Deux Heures (2-hr Tie). I’m getting the feeling that it may become a regular feature here at 100 Days, 100 Ties.

Tie No. 304 was sported, as you can see, with my distiller’s shirt from Few. Paul and I were guests of the Kiwanis Club of Evanston, and we gave a short presentation to their members about the new business. This wool strip is from a store called Trimingham’s, a department store that was a fixture on the island of Bermuda. It’s strange in a couple of ways. It was the first tie I’ve worn that could have been tied with either end being in the front – both ends were the same width. And, the tips had fringes on them (you can see it a little bit in the photo). Not sure if that is a Bermudan thing, but I doubt that they bother with ties very much anyway.

MDWT

I captured a shot of Master Distiller, and many time GWT appearer, Paul Hletko, describing the magic that happens at 918 Chicago.

We had a tie-wearing visitor to the distillery. Bayo, who works for Charter One Bank, braved the heat and put on a tie, not knowing he’d get on the internet for his troubles.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

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Oh, to be a tie on the wall

June 21, 2011

I’m not an eavesdropper, but I will admit that I have something of a spidey-sense of the conversations going on around me. Every once in a while, I’ll own up to it by proffering some sage bit of advice to complement or correct: “Those scones are actually made right here in Evanston”, “You know, Vladimir Ilyitch Lenin carried his childhood blanket every day of his life, even through the revolution” and “Ma’am, Michael Jackson was NOT killed by the CIA” are all examples of things I have NEVER said. Thank goodness. But, you get the idea.

This post is not about my eavesdropping in on a conversation, but about being the eavesdroppee. Twice! And basically in the same spot. Maybe I just talk loud. Anyway, I was talking about Few Spirits at the YMCA on Saturday and Sunday, and two women approached me to enquire about the status of the first distillery in the heart of Prohibition. I just thought it was funny that it happened two days in a row.

Sunday, for Father’s Day, my Dad and I went to Prairie Joe’s, and I was amused by several tie-wearing paper heads, with quirky comments bubbling from their bodiless visages. Here are three of them…

Monday I was able to get my tie on, for only the 3rd time since No. 300. I definitely miss the daily wearing and the daily writing, but will soon be back on a normal tie schedule.

I had a meeting downtown with my friend John Betterman, about my tie project, and I wore a good one. Somehow that opinion wasn’t shared by its creators at Express Design Studio, as I found it in the clearance section at TJ Maxx. It was specifically picked to match up with the blue threading in my new Astor & Black suit, and look electric at the same time. Not bad for $6.99.

Like an out-of-practice idiot, I forgot to add John to the GWT menagerie. However, I did bring him a tie, in thanks for meeting with me, so I’ll get him to get a shot of it when he wears it.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

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And here’s tie you, Mrs. Robinson…

June 16, 2011

GWTAS (Graduate With Tie And Seductress)

I’m surprised to find out that it’s been six years since Anne Bancroft (The Graduate‘s minxy Mrs. Robinson) passed away. But, my title is not in homage to her, or to Dustin Hoffman, who played Benjamin, the actual graduate/seductee. I actually had a graduation on Tuesday evening. It was a dinner and small ceremony marking the end of my year participating in Leadership Evanston. Although, you know…commencement is not an ending. It is a beginning.

Sorry, I’ve heard that speech at every graduation except for this one, since it actually was an ending. Oh, I guess I’ll take part of the Evanston Community Foundation‘s alumni activities with LE, so maybe this is just a beginning. Either way, it was a great experience; plus, it’s good that it’s over.

Of course, I can’t go to any kind of ceremony without sporting a tie, and I was actually excited to put one around my neck. I am having major withdrawal pains from the lack of blogging about the ties.

So, here we go. Tie No. 302 was another from my friends at Paul Fredrick. This one, I actually bought. Although I’ll talk about the ‘why’ very soon, I have to say that Angela and Scott from PF gave me some more ties to support a new venture. 30, to be exact. THIRTY! They are all truly lovely strips.

Anyway, this number is the epitome of multi-colored, as it just exploded my plain-ish blue shirt. Had I gone garish with the shirt, I may have set off car alarms.

I have captured, photographically, a couple of new GWTs in the past week or so, and I’ll gladly share them with you here. First is Graeme Murphy, a freshman in Northwestern’s engineering department. Graeme, sporting a cool Escher-printed tie, and his project team worked with Few Spirits to come up with a plan to reuse our spent grains, and presented it before me and their class. It was one of those ironic days where I chose not to wear a tie, while every other guy in the room had one on. So embarrassing. But, I did have one of my new Few shirts on, so at least I played the part of ‘client’ rather well.

Sunday evening, my dad and I went to dinner with, Pat Green, one of my best friends from my high school days (the first time I had to wear a tie every day…well, actually, that would be the 2nd time. Junior high was tie time, too). We went to Tavern on Rush, and sat next to a GWT. Or, should I say, a RPCLWT (Rainbow PUSH Coalition Leader With Tie)? Yes, Rev. Jesse Jackson was kind enough to show off his tie with two goofballs from Memphis.

Well, that felt good. I’ll be wearing another tie on Thursday, methinks (which is actually today)…

Thanks for reading…Brooke

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Once…Twice…Three Ties A Lady

June 3, 2011

Three hundred ties, that is…

Lionel Richie (is it he you’re looking for?) takes us in for a smoove landing, calling to mind some of the cheesiest songs (and videos. and haircut) of the 1980s. Do you remember wishing your house could spin around like the video for “Dancin’ on the Ceiling”? Yeah, me neither.

Kind of strange that I should wear Tie No. 300 on this day, as it was my first at Few Spirits. But, there was a networking event – Lawyers, Guns & Money – that I basically had set up, so I wanted to be there. More irony when I was about to go figure out which tie to wear…on my first post-chamber workday, Billie Kershasky from Astor & Black gave me a call and said my new suit was ready.

So, my Tie du Jour, also from A&B, comes with a full ensemble photo. I present my kickass beauty of a suit. It fit like a dream, and it had plenty of sweet details. I’ll reveal a couple with this photo (more with subsequent pix – I’ll wear it a LOT): 1) blue threading on the lapel button 2) the pocket square is actually the pocket turned inside out. Love both of those touches…

On ThreeHundo Day I did manage to get a new GWT: Ramsen Isaac is a Chicago attorney who has come to a couple of LGMs. Thought his strip was pretty sharp, and the crapiPhone captured it pretty sharp-ly.

Well, now I guess it’s up to me to take a few days off from ties. I’m sure that my addiction will win in the end, and I’ll get back to it by Monday. But, I am pretty sure I’ll be down to 2 or 3 tpw (ties per week); maybe 4. We’ll see how I feel getting dressed in the morning.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

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