/family friday/

Morning drowsy heads, cheers to another Family Friday!!

We are thrilled to announce a new member of the FAMily, RAY GURZ. We met Ray at Homebase Skateshop (details to follow) before the new year kicked off. If you have any interest in how much time is spent in successful start up businesses, then you should go get a burrito and a coffee with Ray. Ray has his own rad skateboard company called Lost Soul Skateboards that is based out of the Lehigh Valley. Here is a a short of Lost Soul's recent video "Modern Needs"-

When it comes down to it, Ray is a straight up businessman. When he's not working strange hours of the night for Lost Soul, he's practicing and performing with his two underground bands. One band is titled Tile. This band was started in the back of a tattoo shop in Allentown, PA, in 2006. Ray performs bass and locals while his two other bandmates take on

guitar/drums/locals as well. They have a few releases on vinyl and actually a HUGE following in FINLAND!?!?!??? When we asked Ray how this happened, he said he had no idea. WEIRD.

The other underground band is called Bad American and already has a release in the USA. This band provides more of an early punk feel. Both bands are straight up PUNK ROCK, and we dig the intensity of the music that drives Ray to excel in areas of Skating, Working, and Drawing.

If you think that its time to take a deep breath after briefly following Ray, then wait just a second. Richard and I were lucky to meet with Ray at his part-time job at Homebase Skateshop, where we found out two things. 1. Ray is a professional skateboarder. 2. Ray makes funky-ass art of animals and mystical creatures of sorts. When we heard this, we realized that we couldn't miss out on a collaboration opportunity with Ray. In May, Ray will be having an art show at Loose Threads located on 9 West Fourth Street in Bethlehem, PA (directly across the street from Homebase). Here is one of the works that will be shown in May.

Watch out in the near future for Ray Gurz and Simply Anti. Strange things of all shapes and sizes will appear. And if you need anything to really get your day boosted up, then please sit back, stay strange, and watch our friend Ray rip it on a board.