Newsletter

August 2010:

well the summer we know and erm....love continues. You know the one that drops over an inch of rain on Kent in 24 hours and that one when you get out onto the beach and immediately have to retreat to the car, you get back onto the beach and set out the cricket stumps and again retreat to the car and end up eating your picnic watching the beach through the windscreen wipers.
The only thing different from the total 'English Summer Experience' this year is that England are winning in the Cricket.

This Months Heroes:

are the Red Arrows. Yes they are part of the RAF and its not like this website of ex-Army types to bang the gong on behalf of the lovely clean living boys in the RAF but having witnessed their display recently we have to admit they are incredible. They elicit uncontrolled screaming amongst the watching crowd, a mixture of exhilaration and genuine concern over their safety. They are a monumental slap in the face for the Health and Safety crew and are a throwback to the days when we dared to do things, before we all became accountants and bankers.

This Months World Beaters:

you could only follow the Red Arrows with Led Zeppelin. The Led swaggered onto the world stage and announced that they were in fact the biggest and best band in the whole world whatever anyone else thought as opposed to bands today like Coldplay who respectfully request to be considered as one of the best and biggest bands in the world if it's alright with everyone else of course. The power of Zeppelin is ongoing as their global sales figures attest and the fact that every new rock star cites them as an influence including those who have never heard of them.

Fruit of the Month:

are raspberries, they are much better than strawberries.

July 2010:

Well it's hot - that's British hot of course so you South Med types would barely break into a sweat no doubt but what do you expect from a Northern European island with a coalition government and a national game that is a national embarrassment. We prefer the game with the odd shaped ball but our national pride was dented nevertheless. Of course the Scots and Welsh in the company are not bothered, hot or otherwise.

This Month's Animal - is the Hippo:

We have Hippos all over Oakham this month as part of the Oakham Festival. Children are feeding them, Postman are carrying them, they are staying in local hotels and they are painted in every colour under the sun. We have sponsored one because the more abstract and quirkier the better we like it. Come and see them, they are cool.

This Months Legend:

Is Stevie Wonder - we had people at his Hyde Park and Glastonbury concerts and they are still floating about 6 inches above the ground from the utter joy he imparts.
Get this month's Q magazine because there is a fantastic black and white photo of him from the seventies.
His longevity is staggering, his musicality is inspirational, he is about so much more than music but ultimately it boils down to the fact that the melodies are joyous and he just swings like mad.  

This Month's Best Beach:

Go east young boys and girls - to Norfolk and to Wells-Next-The-Sea or rather Wells-Bloody-Miles-From-The-Sea but what a beach.
If you like a beach to be the kind of place where you have soft, deep sand between your toes and you can watch the kites against the massive blue sky then this is the place,
There is not a surfer in sight, not a surfer shop in sight, not an exclusive uber cool surfer bar anywhere and no faux heritage seaside clothing brand to bug you either.
Just great fish n' chips and a wall you can sit on and watch little trawlers landing fantastic crabs.

June 2010:

Great couple of weeks in the stores with our in-house band - The Jack Russell Jazz Family - we dished out free beer in Morpeth, bubbly in Oakham and cupcakes in Cirencester and everyone went home happy.
Thanks to all our lovely visitors, we enjoyed the banter.

Ok so you want to know what's going to happen in the World Cup?

We don't normally follow the round ball game, certainly not since the great Bobby Moore passed away, ignored by his former club, shame on them.
And yes, the world is certainly a better place with the great Bobby Charlton still going.
It can be beautiful but it's so often ugly with players insulting the ref (which should be the preserve of spectators alone) diving strikers and overpaid, petulant so called professionals....
anyway here's our prediction for England:
Lose 1-0 to USA.
Rooney injured.
Draw 0-0 with Algeria.
Beckham recalled on crutches.
Beat Slovenia 2-0.
Mathematically qualify for the Quarter Finals.
Match moved to a distant venue to avoid trouble.
Draw the match - Lose on penalties.
Come home to a totally undeserved tumultuous welcome.

Other than that we really do hope they win the damn thing.

May 2010:

well Billy Shakespeare was wrong this year, the darling buds of May are staying on the trees longer than ever and what a joy the old apple trees look.
The old pagan ways of love being in the air at this time has really been in evidence like never before in producing as it has this week, a coalition government.

We refuse to be cynical about the new coalition -
a) because we are only a clothing retailer and
b) we like to be optimistic and hopeful and because we need a new way of doing politics in the country rather than the old enmity of trough snorting that's been going on for years....anyway, we sell clothes so what's it got to do with us?

Having said that the biggest threat to the future of the country is not the politicians, not old Billy Osama, not the outrageous price of petrol - it's the journalists, many of whom are plying their trade under false pretences.

This months essential Album (we still call them albums and will continue to do so):
 

We think that Dave and Nick have clearly been listening to Derek Trucks. Because if you ever feel down or doubtful then give yourself a lift by listening to the greatest living blues guitarist Mr. Derek Trucks and his outstanding band 'Live At Georgia Theatre'. We defy you not to feel better, feel uplifted, moved and foot tappingly buoyed by the sheer beauty and 'feel' of the music and the man's playing.
He is related to Butch Trucks from The Allman Brothers band so that's alright. He is so young, he was only just out of his teens when Rolling Stone magazine named in the Top 100 guitarists of all time.
A bunch of Jack Russell people went en masse (4 of us) to see him a couple of years ago in London on his first ever gig in the UK and we were struck speechless.

Country of the Month:

the coveted title of The Jack Russell Country of the Month, won by Portugal recently, is this month awarded to the USA.

First - it is the most diverse and most beautiful country on earth - forests, mountains, deserts, cactii, gorges, geysers, elk, bison, cougars, grasslands, lakes....

Second - it is the home of the most important cultural, artistic contribution to the last 100 years of man's experience - JAZZ.
Original, free thinking as well as wonderful and thought provoking and just down right swinging. Most importantly it is Black. The irony will be lost on many Americans of course but that is almost the definition of irony.
Certainly the USA has produced outstanding literature, perhaps the most innovative writing of the 20thC (Salinger, Miller, Kerouac....) but the novel was not new, not originally American. They have created the biggest industries with global reach, they invented powered flight, they built the most influential cinema but again not originally theirs. Jazz is their music - no-one instinctively swings like an American band, no-one.

Spring 2010:

Oh well it's been a long winter in Rutland but good to see the world is still turning to much the same schedule as the last few millennia despite some awful warnings - the daffs are through, the lambs are in the fields, the last of the frosts have gone and we have started selling loads of polo shirts again (just as we did after the last ice age).

This Spring sees 2 world altering developments from Jack Russell Clothing land:

First - the opening of our new store in Morpeth.
In fact our store is a store within a store - you will find us on the ground floor of the famous Rutherford's Department store in the high street, or Bridge street to give it's proper title. Morpeth is not far from the great northern city of Newcastle.
It will be our second store in Northumberland which is a beautiful county with incredible beaches, yes beaches in the North! The Vikings knew how long and wide and sandy they were.
This is our first 'concession' store and we don't normally go in for that kind of thing but Rutherford's is still a family owned business after 160 years of trading and we like that kind of thing a great deal. We are very flattered to be the only Menswear offer in the whole store.  
We opened on Saturday 20th March.

and Second - you are looking at it. 19 April sees the launch of our new look website and we hope you like it! You'll get our thoughts in the 'About Us' section.

This Months recommendation:

is Spotify.
It's a music website (www.spotify.com) and it's like having everyone's (and that's everyone in the world) record collection in your lounge. You can access virtually anything that has ever been recorded although some artists (Led Zepp and The Beatles) are still not available.
If you choose the Radio option then you specify the genre and dateline they will stream a playlist to you. We think this is the best way to use it as you will definately discover new stuff - of course if you just want to listen to Steely Dan (perfectly sensible idea) you can select all their stuff and play through it.
You need an existing subscriber to invite you so ask your friends. It's free if you can stand the adverts (which are terrible) but if you pay a tenner a month then you don't get the adverts - this is better.
We have been signed up to Spotify in our Cirencester store since we opened and it really is a revelation. We are very, very impressed.
If you read our site you will know how much we love music, all kinds of music. In fact we don't know how Spotify got started without our help (perhaps they read our Jack's lists for ideas.)
We are discovering new stuff everyday - do yourself a favour and get signed up asap.

Thought For The Month:

the undisclosed joy of poetry –
is that it is short. Ok, not Coleridge but that silly old consumptive grump was damned good. Poetry is perfect for the modern time starved professional. It’s compact, to the point and if you read carefully, utterly life changing. Sylvia Plath said it is absolutely the hardest most protracted and painful writing experience (although Jeffrey Archer suffers for his art, and so do we.) They say journalists on The Sun are the most creative writers as they have to keep it short - passed me bye that one but if you don’t have time to slog through Anthony Beevor’s ‘Fall of Berlin 1945’ (shame because it is brilliant) then try some Larkin on the way home on the tube tonight. Don’t worry about crying in public, no-one pays any attention anyway.
 

Place of the Month: 

Porto -
we would just like to say a few words about Porto. It's a wonderful old place. It's not as shiny and modern as Lisbon but it's dark and damp and very atmospheric. It's a favourite old uncle who wears some beautifully tailored jackets in very good quality fabrics from 50 years ago. Home of Port wine of course and that is a good thing, all the old English companies have big warehouses alongside the River Douro that carves a steep and impressive gorge through the city.
It rains in Porto in an English fashion and they are as obsessed about the weather as we are.
The World's most beautiful store is in the old city - Lello Bookshop, Rua das Camelitas - it will take your breath away. The Americans think they know all about in-store design and visual merchandising - well take a lesson from a 1906 Portuguese designer - in fact all theatrical and set designers should visit, though not all at once as it's only little.

 Product News:

for this Summer -
expect new cargo shorts in new colours - in a solid cotton with plenty of pockets,
new short sleeve linen shirts slightly amended from our classic - new branding and new colours including a gorgeous cornflower blue and an aqua, 
plus a new long sleeve version of the linen shirt - probably a sensible idea for the UK certainly.
More wacky long swimshorts in great stripes plus a mouthwatering floral pair!!
More Polo Shirts - 2 stripes and narrow stripes in new colours, a version of our Polo Team shirt and a new branded classic polo.
The much loved contrast half zip sweat has had a makeover and has 3 buttons and a collar in contrast colours.
and more so keep watching....................

for Autumn Winter - an advance warning as so many of you have asked - we will be re-running our much admired Herringbone Overcoat in the same colour and same British Wool fabric, due in September.

and finally - those bends: try Exit 23A off the M1 onto the A46 bypass - amazing what you can do with a trowel and a theodolite. Marvellous, built with the driver in mind. The careful driver of course.