In The Purple Seat: Justin Serrao

We had the amazingly talented Justin Serrao in studio with us for a chat last week, here is what you missed.

You just came back from a UK tour, how was that?

It was epic- we went with the Parlotones and we did the UK- we did London, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Glasgow, and Dublin. It was an amazing trip, playing with the Parlotones- they have huge crowds out there, it was an experience.

So what was the best part of this tour?

It’s all great, but highlights of it- Manchester was definitely my favourite and Glasgow.

You said that you went with the Parlotones- how did that happen?

We are all from the West Rand, and Glen, the bassist, and I play golf together.  A lot of deals get made on the golf course.

Have you always had a passion for music? How did it start?

Yes, I’ve always played guitar. I actually started playing the bass when I was 9 years old and playing live since I was 13 years old. It’s what I’m meant to do.

Do you have any passions besides music?

Golf, it’s just a good balance from being in the clubs and pubs and then going into the greenery.

Do you have any celeb crushes?

Rolene Strauss, she’s beautiful and studying to become a doctor.

What is the best advice that you have ever been given?

This too shall pass.

What is the most embarrassing song on your IPod?

Boys to Men- End of the road, My kind of girl… The classics

Who are your favourite bands/singers?

I really like country music so people like David Ramirez, Noah Gunderson,  Jason Isbell, Zac Brown Band, Keith Urban and Luke Bryan.

How do you handle mistakes during performances?

Pretend that it was supposed to be part of the show, you just carry on. As soon as you stop, people think that you suck.

Where would you like to perform the most?

Nashville and Texas.

If you weren’t singing, what would you be doing?

I always wanted to become a geologist, I’ve always enjoyed looking at rocks.

How do you balance having a career with friends and family obligations?

It’s tough, because my working hours is basically from Thursday until Sunday night, so I get Monday to Wednesday off most of the time. So I miss a lot of family lunches and getting to see my friends on Friday nights. It’s definitely not easy.

Written by Ghia ten Doeschate

#PLAYWITHOREO CAFE

 

World’s most playful cookie brings South Africa the #PLAYWITHOREO POP-UP CAFÉ

LET YOUR IMAGINATION GO AND COME play #PLAYWITHOREO

 

This April, the world’s number one biscuit and milk’s favourite cookie, OREO, invites South African fans to the deliciously playful #PLAYWITHOREO café. The quirky cookie has proved to be the most playful snack in the world over the past 100 and some years and always aims to celebrate the kid inside us all and inspire moments of carefree fun. This year the playful biscuit is back with more fun and spirit to lighten fans’ moods. On the 2^nd April 2015 the #PLAYWITHOREO café will open to the South African public at The Zone @ Rosebank for a limited period only (closes 3^rd May 2015).

The experiential café, a pop-up store at its best, characterises the brand’s imaginative spirit. OREO’s attitude will be brought to life in the café as the store is built around the concept of ‘play’. OREO believes that ‘play’ enables us to see possibilities in the ordinary and that’s what it wants for its fans – moments of endless, imaginative play.  “OREO fans are used to playing with OREO, whether twisting, licking, dunking, rolling, stacking or dipping the biscuit to make various delicious treats,” says Grant Van Niekerk, Category Leader: Biscuits and Beverages at Mondelez SA, “Now OREO is on a mission to inspire imagination and play around the globe, not only with the cookie itself, but in consumers’ everyday lives.” “We are thrilled to open the #PLAYWITHOREO Café to celebrate playfulness and inspire more moments of joy,” explains Van Niekerk.

Fans visiting the cafe can take time out of their busy, serious days to enjoy the delight of the OREO ‘Cookie Conveyer’, a moving dessert bar with OREO inspired treats designed by the renowned patissiere Danielle Postma from Moemas. OREO dessert prices will vary from R10 to R40 and the menu is a mouth-watering list of OREO happiness; OREO popcorn snack, OREO sprinkle pops, milk & OREO, white chocolate OREO fudge, chocolate OREO slab, dreamy OREO chocolate truffle, crushed OREO milkshake, OREO cookie monster cupcakes, OREO cookie crumb parfait, rocking OREO white chocolate cheesecake, OREO shortbread sandwich with ice-cream and last but not least the OREO ice cream Sundae.

 

 

Whilst at the store, café goers can also let their creative sides free and play with the world’s number one biscuit via a variety of fun-tivities. Visitors can dream up amazing ‘OREO Selfie’ art at the OREO decoration station by choosing from a multitude of miniature and edible props and create their own ‘Cookie Characters’. There are three miniature OREO photo-studios where you can style your OREO for awesome mini photo opportunities. Additionally, there are life-size backdrops to take your own playful selfies or simply take five on our OREO see-sae or swing or café tables and relish in the playful spirit of the cafe.

 

 

The playing doesn’t end there as the café also hosts a boutique OREO store where fans can purchase limited edition OREO merchandise and memorabilia. You can even share the fun with a friend by purchasing a dessert for them to come and enjoy when they visit the store next. The café is the perfect spot to bring family and friends to let your imagination go. So make your play date today!

The café will be open to fans 7 days a week from 10:00am to 20:00pm, including public holidays.

Don’t forget to sign the café guest book before you leave the happiest pop-up café in town and share the fun you had with us with #PLAYWITHOREO to @OREO on Twitter and Instagram  and Facebook at Oreo.

In The Purple Seat: Ryan Keys

Ryan Keys is a young South African designer, born in Johannesburg. After developing a passion for fashion at a young age, he studied couture at Spero Villioti Elite Design Academy, and has successfully launched a store in Parkhurst. We had the privilege of having him in studio with us to answer a few burning questions.

1. How did you first discover your passion for fashion? And who influenced you into pursuing this?

 

From a very young age. Funny enough I actually used to dress my mom for a lot of events and all of that sort of stuff. Then I started getting big into photography and looking at all of those sorts of things and from there I decided that I need to do it and take the leap and decided to study fashion

2. What was the first garment that you ever made?

The first thing that I made was actually for a school project, we had to do a photoshoot for Art. So I went and made a skirt and jacket- well I bought the jacket and added the extras. And then we shot the stuff and yeah… That was the first official thing that I made.

3. What inspires your designs?

There are a lot of things that inspire my designs- one of them being travels. I like to travel a lot, whether it is in the bush or traveling abroad, I get a lot of inspiration from that. And mainly, funny enough, I actually look at the beauty in nature and those sorts of things. But the instead of looking at the beauty I look at the more evil side to things. So I might look at a butterfly but then I might look at it drawn to a flame or something like that, which does sound quite gross but at the end of the day it’s about what emotion you feel when you see the clothes.

4. What is your favourite part of being a fashion designer?

Creating fun, beautiful things. I like to see the look on a bride’s face when she sees her gown for the final time, the smiles. It’s probably the most gratifying part of it all: you’ve worked for two months straight to try and create a beautiful connection and people love it. I mean you never know, some people might hate it or love it… You never know what people will think of it. So I think that’s the major thing- seeing people’s reactions and liking what you do.

5. You were one of the designers at SA fashion week. What was that experience like?

It’s very very fun. That is one thing that I think people want to know the process of: Basically you get invited to show, and then after that you go for castings where you will see maybe one hundred different girls, they will walk for you and then you choose which ones you like. You then take measurements and then alter your designs. Then you do the final checks before the show and then you show. But everything is absolutely taken care of, I mean on the day you have people steaming your garments. So it’s a hell of a lot of fun but there is a lot of stress which keeps us on our toes.

6. Do you have a specific research process when designing a new collection?

Not necessarily, because I feel that every collection is very different. I think that the first collection that I did for fashion week was more about introducing myself to the people, so actually more of showing them what I can do. This year I was concerned about showing people dominance versus submissive. So with that I might read a book, like 50 Shades of Grey, and be like “okay. This inspires me” and then do a lot of research into why people like about it and how they harness it. So I will look at a whole bunch of things. So that I know what it can and can’t do, and basically live that collection for a while.

7. Who inspires you the most in fashion?

People around me, like my friends and family. I don’t actually look at other designers or things like that; I look at the people around me. The things they do. And from there I gain inspiration from them, whether it be a vacation that they have been on and then I decide that I need to go there and see these beautiful places or things like that.

8. What is your philosophy on the art of fashion?

I am very focused on my fabrics. Like I focus on my fabrics and fabrications and I feel that with fashion you are very much reinventing the wheel. But I feel that with my design aesthetic I am more concerned with the fabrication and how you make things. So your fit needs to be perfect, I mean you can take a cheap pair of pans, but tailored perfectly they can make you look like a million bucks. My fabrics I like to source all around the world and there are a lot of beads. So it may be a simple A line dress but then it’s completely beaded, and that’s the wow factor of it.

9. What do you think makes your fashion unique?

I’m very set on textures so I like to maybe make one thing out of feathers and then the bodice of it maybe leather, so it’s playing with many things. A lot of people have said to me that I like to use different things, so it may be a gold lace on a pure white and then people are like is it a bridal gown, is it an evening gown… And it can really be anything.

10. Which celebrity would be your dream client?

I would love to push the boundaries and dress someone like Lady Gaga, with something like that I would go absolutely crazy and push the boundaries. But then again I  would like to dress someone like Jennifer Lopez. I mean she has been around for so many years but still has an amazing body and looks absolutely amazing in anything that you put her in. So I would really like to dress her and do something classy and elegant.

11. What does the future hold?

I can definitely see a lot more stores, the online store is launching soon. Dressing a lot more people, hopefully a lot more international celebrities, a lot more local celebrities, and just expanding the business in general. I don’t just see us being a fashion business, I see us doing accessories and then branching off into more luxury goods, I see us branching off into homeware. I can see us branching off into absolutely anything and everything, things that go with the brand.

 

 

Written by Ghia ten Doeschate

Samsung Launches New Quick Repair Service for Mobile Devices

Samsung customers can do their shopping while their mobile devices are being repaired

 

 

Samsung Electronics South Africa is proud to announce the launch of the Samsung Quick Repair Service (QRS). Customers can now have their mobile devices repaired in real time. The service, which will deliver speedy resolutions to minor technical problems, will be available at selected Samsung Brand Stores and selected partners nationwide.

 

“We recognise that our customers already have demanding schedules and cannot afford to wait in queues getting their devices fixed or software upgraded,” says Richard Chetty, Service Director at Samsung Electronics SA.

 

The Samsung QRS includes the maintenance of cellular devices and tablets, and the repair of screens, motherboards and cameras. The expert teams can also assist with simple email set up, software updates and the transfer of data from one Samsung device to another.

 

The turnaround time of the service is designed to be as swift as possible, but will be impacted by the availability of parts in the store. “Ninety Percent of repairs can be done within the hour but some of the more complex issues may need a longer waiting period in order to ensure that the job gets done correctly and the mobile device returns to the consumer in a fully functional state,” concludes Chetty.

 

Visit: http://www.samsung.com/africa_en/brand/Samsung_brand.html to find your nearest Brand Store.

 



In The Purple Seat: Boombox v2

The BOOMBOX version two has the power to turn anything into a speaker. Our friends at ePromo gave us one to test this claim.

At first glance this little capsule shaped wonder doesn’t look like much, but this little portable, easy to use party in your pocket has the potential to play your music as loud as you want to, assuming you find a surface that vibrates at the same rate as the device.

It comes in several different colours and uses vibration technology to turn any object or surface into a speaker. IT also comes with a 3.5mm jack that is compatible with most phones and music players, dual mode power,   a cord that wraps around the inside of the device and a rubberized scratch resistant coating. This little guy is very user friendly and takes up very little space.

So basically the instructions are simple: Plug the jack into your music player, stick the detachable front piece to the surface of your choice and bam, instant speaker.

The verdict? Its super compact design makes it super convenient to carry around, but the wrap around cord may prove to be problematic after multiple uses. This little gadget is fun to experiment with on various surfaces and promises hours of entertainment to its user. Definitely something worth having if you enjoy experimenting with technology.

 Written by Ghia ten Doeschate

In The Purple Seat: John Owens

We had the privilege of interviewing Mr South Africa 2013/14, John Owens, who shared his Mr South Africa experience with us.

What is the difference between Mr and Miss South Africa? 

Mr South Africa is very similar to Miss South Africa if we look at it from a competition perspective but the way that you enter and the way that you win the competition is completely different. So Miss South Africa is a pageant and Mr South Africa is a competition. So Mr SA is looking for a model male, also a representative of the brand. We take the brand as a company so we look at it from that sense where Miss SA is more of a “face of”.

What are the requirements for entering? 

The competition is open to men between the age of 18 and 21, who are hungry and have a lot of dreams- with a valid South African ID and no criminal record.

What do you think the competition needs to achieve the same status and exposure as Miss/Mrs South Africa? 

I think mainly sponsors and a lot of money. Miss South Africa is owned by Sun International so that is already a huge backing, Mr South Africa is owned by an individual. So I think most probably the money behind it because it does take a lot of money to run a competition and for us to really take the title and save lives, we’ve really got to get out there and get more involved in a lot of things. And I think the more sponsorships, the more endorsements, the more companies see what we are all about because everyone associates us with a modelling competition and that’s completely wrong.

 Do you think that in a few years Mr SA will be able to achieve the same status as Miss SA, given that it is so much younger than Miss SA? 

I think so… If all the Mr SA’s stood together a bit instead of just moving away from the brand, like with Miss SA you could probably phone up Miss SA from 10 years ago and she would still somehow be part of the brand. That’s the one thing that I wanted to do- get all the former Mr SAs, obviously starting from me, still remains part of the brand. So it’s like an internal Mr SA club, and by that I think that the brand will grow. And believe it or not, Mr SA actually comes from the 1980’s.

It has been mentioned that you are involved with the Africa Blessing’s project. Can you tell us a bit more about this cause and how you got involved?

Well African blessings is actually just something that I do through the company that I work for so I am not actually actively involved with them, it’s more through the company and through the money that we make as well as the events that we get involved in. It’s purely through the company, but I have my own charity organisations that I do from The Little Fighters Cancer Trust and The Sunflower Fund. So I devoted my year to childhood cancer, and I said that I am not just going to choose one charity and devote my time to it, I will choose whatever charity is involved with child hood cancer.

Do you think that Mr SA is a good platform for giving voice towards charity? 

I do believe so but I think that you should do it for the right reasons and not do it to kind of get something out of it for your own benefit. Because I have a four year old daughter who is very healthy and bubbly and every so often I have to remind myself that it could’ve been different. It’s funny because having a title like Mr Sa, people want to listen and get involved and a lot of South African don’t know where to get involved. So though the Mr SA following that we have we definitely make a difference where we can.

Let’s move onto the juicy details- how has Mr SA affected your relationship? 

I actually had a relationship entering Mr SA and that relationship kind of fell apart after winning- literally about 4 months after winning Mr SA that relationship ended. But it’s unfortunate. I’ve said that I could never understand it, the celebrities out there. I could never understand why you have celebrities dating celebrities because I thought to myself “How boring would that be?” Because you have the same interests, you got the same type of things that you look at, what do you talk about in the evenings? Whereas where there is a celebrity and a person with a normal job, you at least have things to talk about. But after winning Mr SA I understand why you do that, because you need someone in your life that supports you 100%, you need somebody who understands if you get home at 2 o’clock in the morning and you are grumpy and you just want to go to bed. It’s affected my life 180 degrees.

So how do you think that the transition has been from being a normal guy on the street to being Mr SA?

Well it was tough in the beginning, simply because a lot of people look up to you because I am a very expressive guy. I normally say what’s on my mind whether it is positive or negative and I had to stop doing that. So I think that it’s changed me for the better.

So what does being Mr SA mean to you? 

Well to me it means quite a lot of things but I think that mostly it’s just setting a good example for other men in South Africa, I think purely because South African’s, specifically men, we don’t go to army any more so that whole transition of going from being a boy to becoming a man. So you look at 22/23 year olds out there with no direction in life, living with their parents, they’ve got no dreams- no ambition. Simply because of the role models and a lot of mean in South Africa grow up in broken homes where they grow up with either a mom or a dad and they grow up with no role models. We’ve got role models like sports players and actors, but it’s not easy if you don’t have the background to become someone like that. Specifically for myself, coming from literally nowhere. Winning a competition, making something out of it, I think it’s important for me to be a role model and just show other men on South Africa that anything is really possible.

What do you think of your predecessor compared to you compared to who came after you?

Well I don’t really know a lot about the guy that won the competition before me simply because he had his own race that he had. The guy that won just after me now, I actually know him from before he won Mr SA and I’ve assisted him through his reign as well, where I can, but my role was a little bit different. I had my things that I had going on but I got involved with the new competition as well. So all top 12 finalists that took part a couple of months ago I knew every single one of them. And the guy that won now, Armand du Plessis, very very nice guy, he really is. He’s very different to me, he’s got different things that he wants to do so I think that’s a good thing for the brand. That means that I can continue to do what I want to do and he’s going to make a different road for himself. He has different things that he believes in.

Do you think that this allows the brand to evolve more?

I do think so. I think that as a Mr SA you should, as long as you put the brand before your dreams. I know that people will go “But no, Mr SA is all about you”, but it’s not. It’s all about the brand. If you do things for the brand, and you put the brand out there and every big decision you make is for the brand then eventually the brand will look after you. And life will look after you because you get given 12 months and in the 12 months you must make the most of it.

Written by Ghia ten Doeschate

           21 SONGS FOR 21 YEARS OF DEMOCRACY

If you need one reason to be Proudly South African, MUSIC is that one reason. Before freedom was what children were born into, the government tried to take away homes, education, unity and lives but they couldn’t take away their music. Even now we go through tough times as a country, but we will always have our music. The main acts of the nights included Kurt Darren, Steve Kekana and Johnny Clegg. Among these were other new and older acts that lit up the stage with passion and drive.

Victor Masondo, the Musical Director, was the bass player as well as the MC for the evening. He inspired the audience with his wise words.  Throughout the evening, there were songs of many languages, Victor said, we need to 

“learn different languages to understand each other rather than let it divide as we have so done before.”

 He even joked about one of the songs “Kahulesa” which was sung by Mama Dorothy Masuku, meaning hurry up.  He joked saying that back in the day they used to sing it to hide their beer away from the police when they came. A few of them would sing and dance for the police singing Kahulesa, mean while the guys in the back would hide their beer from the warning of the songs.  Every story he told was light hearted, funny and non-political or racist. He had a passion for music and South Africans as a united front.

Mama Dorothy

One of the songs that stood out the most for me was one of the Reggae songs, with the words saying “Different colours, one people.”  

Kurt Darren rocked the stage with crowd pleasers, mainly Kaptein and Loslappie.

This really got the crowd going. 

Johnny Clegg, started off the second half, with Sipho Mchunu, bought the crowd to their feet. Watching these two legends was one of the highlights of the evening. Clegg told a beautiful story about the past and the present. 

 Ending off with the legends was Steve Kekana, came on stage and showed South Africa how it’s done. After he sang, Victor said had spoken to Steve and in their conversation agreed that they do not feel sorry for those who cannot see, but feel sorry for those who have no vision. I agree with them. If we do not have vision we cannot move forward nor can we embrace change for the better.

It was truly an honour watching the legends of South Africa. I would never change my experience for anything. If there is ever one thing that will bring us together and proudly so, music will be that uniting factor. Always has been and always will be.  It is my personal opinion that if you need a glimpse of hope, faith, passion, reason (and not just within our country but within yourself) go and see the show. 

The past was a struggle, the present is undetermined and the future will be the change but music will always be there to guide and unite us.

Below are a few views from Twitter followers on the show 

Written by Shannalee Doran