Fitted Trucker Special Projects: They Hate Change for Wavy Wines
A lil trip to our Gulf Coast favorite CellarMasters to drink wine, talk shit, and take pictures. Playlist by They Hate Change, All photos by Jeremy Philip.
After about 12 months of popping up at St. Pete Natural Wine outpost CellarMasters to work on They Hate Change business (while getting drunk as hell off skin-contact wines and Pet Nat that tastes like Big League Chew), purveyor Ryan Ruggs gave us free reign to do whatever, whenever in our favorite section, the soon-to-be-iconic Velvet Room. Of course the first idea we jumped to was shooting an editorial tribute to our new favorite producer (and current CellarMasters best-seller), Wavy Wines.
Wavy just wrapped up a four-city pop-up Florida tour offering a tasting of their current range of “sulpher free, organically farmed primo”, and stopped at St. Pete coffee staple/Sometimes Bottle Shop Bandit, where we got a chance to chat with the Wave Himself, Eliot Kessel.
One thing about Change: we don’t really know shit about wine. Our late-as-hell entry into the natural game came after a 9-ish hour Record Label hang at New Orleans’ Bacchanal, where the gluggable reds and whole fish was seemingly bottomless (Artist presence apparently makes it easier to charge it all to ol’ DadDaduwar). After coming home and stumbling on CellarMasters, “our own Bacchanal”, we figured we don’t have to know shit about wine, because most of the cats selling it are happy to assume you know more than them, and shit, you just might. Eliot Kessel is definitely one of those cats, running down the grapes, the history, and fermentation & bottling processes like he was speaking to a true Somm on the other side of the counter he served us from. Ask me to remember anything he told me about the wine we were drinking at Bandit and I have two words: “Sangiovese Clusters”. Ask me to remember which wine he was using those two words to describe, I got nothing for you. It’s wine, it’s 20-ish dollars a bottle, and it’s good. as hell.
A note for further reading: We’re probably not great writers (in the traditional sense, at least) but we’re pretty good talkers. For that reason we’ve decided that 90% of the writing in our newsletter will be transcribed from real-life conversations from the field. Because of the nature of “public conversations”, sometimes we have guests and various voices chiming in, but you’ll mostly be reading the thoughts, feelings and opinions of Andre & Vonne.
They Hate Change, On Ray-Ban:
V: So for reference, what was your first “Clubmaster Moment”?
A: Kennedy.
V. Kennedy?
A: Yeah that’s literally it, that’s the only reason I like Ray-Bans! (Laughs) I was like “damn Kennedy made [Ray-Bans] look crazy”, but I put on the Wayfarers, they had my ass looking like Squirtle…
V & Jeremy: (Laughs)
A: I was like I can’t do these just yet, not yet! So I’ll get a different pair and graduate myself to the Wayfarers.
J: “Squirtle” is crazy!
V: I feel like in our era [the Wayfarer] was such a Late-2000s sleazy vibe that when I first put them on i’m like “nahhhhh”.
J: The Wayfarer is giving like, Zooey Deschanel…It’s giving like Tweed…
V: Like American Apparel adjacent, you know what i’m saying?
A: It looks so stock! But I like how the frame sits, because of that curve.
V: We might be coming up on an era though. I feel like the Clubmaster is kinda like, permanent? Because it’s so clean.
A: It's a staple.
V: Just having that emphasis up here (points to top of the frame), that kinda “eyebrow” thing to it, and that thinness at the bottom? That shit is gonna stay. But the Wayfarer, that feels like a come and go type of thing, and we might be on the verge of–
A: A comeback?
V: Yeah, a return.
When putting together the editorial, we found Kennedy actually wore a different pair of glasses that closely resembles the iconic Wayfarer, the Saratoga, made by American Optical. One time for The Squirtle Squad.
On “Fashion” Levi’s:
V: Did you see Arthur’s post with these damn pants?
A: Uh-uh.
V: 60s & 70s “Fashion” Levi’s, all patterned. They were trying to market to the hippie movement at the time by doing like, “Psychedelic” Levi’s.
A: That’s wild. Suede Trousers? Suede pants, that’s nasty! (laughs)
V: (laughs)
A: You can’t wear nothing with that, just come out bare-chested.
On Expensive Books:
A: (Searching on Amazon) Graphic Design…Taschen…
V: Out-of-print huh?
A: Nah, it’s $61.
V: Oh is it? That’s not as bad as I thought! You know when Taschen does the big-boy books sometimes they end up being like $600.
A: (Laughs)
J: The 50-pound ones.
V: Yeah the type of joints they sell on like, IDEA. I’m convinced that as soon as a good book drops, IDEA buys like 200 of them, just so they can charge you like $1500 for the sold-out first edition.
J: IDEA is so crazy. If I was rich, one of the first things I would do is drop like $30k on there.
A: The Cocaine Book.
V: That’s the one!
J: The number one book I want on there is “Diary” by Corrine Day, legendary fashion photographer.
A: When we were at ETC’s studio in New York, he showed us a book–
V: That concrete poetry book.
A: As soon as he said “It was a gift!” everybody got quiet (laughs), I was like “yeah this shit cost.”
Seeing the homie Zoo Ghostly:
A: Zoo!
V: What’s good boy-boy, you wanna have a glass of wine?
A: Yeah, come on!
Z: Just popping in and out, running errands, grabbing some wine.
V: Taking your “Industry Day”?
Z: (laughs) Yeah exactly.
A: Wait, get a photo real quick!
V: Yeah get in here, act like you’ve been sitting here for three hours already.
All: (laughs)
V: How you doing though, man?
Z: I'm chilling dude, just running around getting everything done. It’s one of those days to run errands– it’s always so serious.
A: Oh yeah, the first day of the month?
A & Z: (singing “Bone Thugs - First of the Month”)
V: Yuppp we know what time it is. (laughs)
On Real Tampa:
V: Oh, this was hilarious…You know that page RealTampa on IG?
A: I think [redacted] follows that page. They be talking about like Campbell Park and stuff like that?
V: Yup, everything. Nigga. They posted the Dowdell Middle School yearbook.
A: Oh yeah?? I’m sure that’s funny for you (laughs).
V: Nigga. (zooms in on IG post)
A & V: (laughs)
V: I was like “yo this is CRAZY”, I remember all of these people! Look… (zooms in)
A: Oh shit!
A & V: (laughs at photo of Young Vonne)
V: They posted all the yearbooks and shit, and started posting old Teen Night Videos too!
A: Somebody found they old Metro Phone.
V: Exactly, like who filmed all this shit? (laughs). Prana 2013, they going in the archives. Club Fuel, 2005 - 2007.
A: Shit I wasn’t even here yet.
V: Lil Wayne at Club Fuel, before Tha Carter III came out.
A: “Ayeee this you?!”
V: (Scrolling) Oh wow, that's funny. We went to school with her.
A: ...Who is that???
V: We for sure went to school with her.
A: …At East Lake???
V: I swear. They posted a picture of [redacted] on here, that shit was hilarious. Nigga was in a suit & tie, for Homecoming.
A: (Laughs) Nahhhhhhh.
V: (Scrolling)
A: I fucking hate that watch.
V: “Cartier bustdowns, just not my thing!”
A & V: (laughs)
SQUIRTLE lmfao