Around 86% of your answers were correct. Yes, the backside photo of the mystery rock star is indeed none other than our friend (we wish), Mr. Wayne Coyne, front man for The Flaming Lips. I guess it was the pink boots that gave it away, although the other 14% had some pretty funny misses. No, it wasn’t Bon Jovi, Eddie Vedder, Beck, Jack White, Julian Casablanca from The Strokes, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, or my favorite guess: Bob Geldof (that would have been cool, eh?). While Wayne had nothing to do with this contest (or the sneaky spy photo of him we took), Pentax did, so give them a round of applause for lacing up one of our readers with the Party Proof W20 Camera.

We’re picking a winner from the mix right now (we’ll email you if you’ve won), hold your breath, here we go!

Helly Hansen has a reputation for being an outerwear company that takes garment performance very seriously. Just ask our buddies over at ski film juggernaut Matchstick Productions, who use Helly Hansen gear to film in the coldest and wettest of winter conditions. While I know first-hand that Helly Hansen makes quality outerwear, I was not even aware (until recently) that they make shoes. As with outerwear, the focus of their shoe designs seem to be harsh weather performance–I came to this conclusion after reading the shoe descriptions on their website. Trail running has been a hobby of mine for years (I do live in Boulder, CO after all), and I have always struggled to find shoes that are durable, supportive, and will withstand the elements. Nike made one that I really liked back in 1998, and even named it after my hometown–the Nike Air Crested Butte. Unfortunately, that shoe went out of production, so my quest for the perfect trail running shoe continues. Helly Hansen’s Trail Beater looks to be a worthy candidate–with a water-resistant upper, a durable and grippy sole, a great aesthetic look, and the Helly Hansen name behind it, I am curious to see how this beast performs ‘on the field of battle.’

I’m not entirely sure how to explain this clip, but if you watch this without recognizing at least five record covers– we’d wonder about your childhood music exposure. Maybe it’s our morbid Friday sense of humor, or maybe we’re just morbid all the time, but we found this clip too funny not to share. Watch Billy Joel diss Sean Cassidy, then shoot Rick James with a machine gun for sticking him up. And just when you thought that was too good to be true, watch the Beastie Boy’s Ill Communication cover order a cheeseburger, and watch the girls from Roxy Music’s Country Life shoot missiles out of their breasts. Confused yet? We watched it 17 times and we’re still wondering, go watch it now. (PG 13) Via The Tripwire

DARFUR/DARFUR is a traveling exhibit of digitally-projected changing images– it provides a unique view into the richly multi-cultural region while at the same time exposes the sad reality of the ongoing humanitarian crisis. The event will present photographs taken in Darfur by former U.S. Marine Brian Steidle and photojournalists Lynsey Addario, Mark Brecke, Helene Caux, Ron Haviv, Paolo Pellegrin, and Michal Safdie, accompanied by traditional Sudanese music. Check the site for more details, it’s October 14th, 2006 at the UCLA Hammer Museum with a benefit reception before at the Napa Valley Grille.

As you all know, we are very passionate about travel. Josh’s world-wide journeys were — and continue to be — the inspiring force behind joshspear.com. Hotels play a large role in every trip we take–they can make or break the travel experience. Lets just say we appreciate nice hotels. Dare I say we are hotel connoisseurs? Lots of books have been written about hotels and the ‘hotel experience,’ but few have been written through as unique a perspective as Hotel As Home. The book is inextricably intertwined with author Gary Chang’s favorite hotel experiences–he is a well-travelled photographer and architect, and is (very) passionate about where he stays on the road. He knows what he’s talking about when it comes to hotels. Hotel As Home chronicles Gary’s favorite stays in the past seven years with photos he took, noting specific room numbers, stay-dates, and prices, and displays the floor layout of each room with thumbnail sized architect’s sketches. For those of you who pay attention to the finer details while traveling, this book should definitely be on your coffee table. The book itself is very well put together as well: the size, the feel, the photographs, the whole nine.

It’s Friday, so I figured it would be okay to add a little humor to the site today. Matt McAllister, a radio personality on Santa Barbara’s local rock station, 99.8 KTYD, recently set the Guinness World Record for the most t-shirts worn at one time. 155 T-shirts size small to 10 XL. It added just about 100 pounds to his body and took over four hours. Both funny and terrifying– and already viewed nearly a million times. You can watch the video here, thanks YouTube.

We always like to see creative charity projects, and the Relix Band bracelet initiative definitely got our attention. Relix Magazine and Azu Studio have teamed up to (1) collect guitar strings from your favorite rock stars (e.g. Ben Harper, Deathcab for Cutie, Keller Williams, Keith Richards) (2) make them into handcrafted bracelets, (3) sell the Relix Bands online, and (4) give the profits to charities. The nylon-coated steel guitar strings are bound together with a ’silver seal,’ which also signifies the band’s authenticity. How do you know the string you order was really strummed by the artist you specified? Both Relix and Azu guarantee it. Relix Bands range pretty significantly in price depending on the musician, but who cares what the price is. It’s for charity.

Brooklyn (aka Crooklyn) based What’s Really Good? Magazine recently launched what they’re calling a ‘pop up shop’. The shop is selling their 40 Acres and A Mule line online, mostly hoodies, t-shirts and track jackets. The shop is open until October 23rd, although something tells me most of these items will be sold out long before then. My favorite piece is this Mule Kick hoodie, but the whole collection is pretty nice– check it out.