Wolfgang’s Vault and The Original Retro Brand Introduce “The Roots of Rock” Clothing Line

Wolfgang’s Vault (http://www.wolfgangsvault.com) and The Original Retro Brand have joined forces to create and launch an exclusive design portfolio called “The Roots of Rock.” This collection will feature interpretations of the iconic imagery of the greatest music, moments and venues from the past five decades of rock. The line of vintage-inspired men’s and women’s apparel will be in stores in the Fall of 2009.

Wolfgang’s Vault is known for its iconic rock imagery and vast catalog of live music recordings. The poster art owned by Wolfgang’s Vault represents historic, often hand-rendered colorful and stylized artwork originally created to promote concert events since 1965. This collection of poster art was the inspiration from which the companies have created the “Roots of Rock” designs.

Eric Johnson, President and COO of Wolfgang’s Vault said: “We are incredibly excited to be working with The Original Retro Brand to launch these new products. The quality of their team and their past success made them a perfect partner for us. This line will create a collection of wearable art that we hope will appeal to music fans of all ages.”

“Wolfgang’s Vault’s imagery is remarkable,” says Marc Herman, CEO of The Original Retro Brand. “The blend of timeless art with legendary rock and roll history is unparalleled. The “Roots of Rock” collection provides the ideal opportunity to use our luxury retro apparel as canvases for these tremendous graphics. We have searched for the right music property for quite some time, and have finally found the perfect fit.”

About The Original Retro Brand

The Original Retro Brand (“ORB”) is a privately held company founded in January 2007 by apparel industry veterans of 25 years, Marc Herman and Rick Schwartz. The company is a high-end sportswear company for men, women, boys and girls, based in the historic Fashion District in downtown Los Angeles, California. The Original Retro Brand designs and manufactures collections with leading sports entities including The College Vault and over 150 major universities with the Collegiate Licensing Company, National Hockey League, Minor League Baseball, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Harlem Globetrotters. ORB has also developed an extensive non-sports selection, including the well-known cartoon brands of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Whatever it Takes celebrity art collection, Retro Chevron Gasoline Art, and now the launch of Wolfgang Vault’s “Roots of Rock”.

The Original Retro Brand manages brands in apparel categories through select high-end department stores and premium boutiques nationwide, including Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s, Dillard’s and Fred Segal. Further information is available at www.originalretrobrand.com

About Wolfgang’s Vault:

Wolfgang’s Vault is the online destination for live music and the world’s largest collection dedicated to live concert recordings and vintage music memorabilia. What began in 2003 with the personal archives of famed promoter Bill Graham now includes 12 different archives. Music fans find free music streaming online here with thousands of concert recordings from the last 50 years, digital downloads, as well as vintage rock posters, rock photos and vintage concert t-shirts available for purchase “Where Live Music Lives.”TM www.wolfgangsvault.com

Woodstock 1969 – 2009 – 40 Years Later Wayne Rogers the Port O San Man Is Still Living The Dream

Forty years later, that tall hippie, Wayne Rodgers, is not only alive and well (“life is good”, he often says); but he’s a walking, talking treasure trove of stories of the hippest generation. Take his Woodstock Story (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdZTFTGnw3w): It begins two weeks earlier, at the Atlantic City Pop Festival, where he and his friend Angel, hiding behind the stage because they just let hundreds of ticketless people in by taking a side gate off its hinges with a crescent wrench, agree to help the Festival Group load some sound equipment into a truck. For their efforts, they wind up with a paying gig at Woodstock, three days of fun and music, very little sleep, one random encounter with a camera crew, and a helicopter ride back to the hotel in Monticello while Jimi Hendrix is playing on Monday morning. Wayne’s stories, though, began years before Woodstock, hanging out on the streets of Georgetown in the 60’s, where everybody in the know knew him as Turkey. He was there at Wisconsin and M Streets protesting when the American Nazi Party marched through Georgetown, and wound up in a holding cell with 18 of them. Twenty blocks away, in a fit of exuberance and revolutionary spirit upon hearing Jefferson Airplane’s “Volunteers” for the first time, it seemed like a good idea to toss a few firecrackers onto the White House lawn. The Secret Service was not amused. In some ways, it’s like Wayne never left the 60’s. As mentioned in the August 9th Washington Post Style section article, he lives a few miles outside Woodstock, though it’s the one in Virginia, not New York. He sports a long white beard that would look at home in ZZ Top, rides a Harley, wears a “Say No to Hate” button wherever he goes, and is going to give you a big hug when he meets you. For the past 20 years, he’s run a 501(c) non-profit, Coalition Against Hunger, http://www.FeedThePeople.org to feed those who have fallen through the cracks of society. Wayne considers this a continuation of what the hippies were trying to do in the 60’s: take care of each other and make the world a better place. Wayne’s appearance as the Port-O-San guy certainly didn’t bring him fame or fortune, and the notoriety he achieved seemed to be mostly with cops all over the country, who for the next few years all wanted to be able to brag to their friends that they’d messed with that hippie from the movie. The world has changed a lot since then, and a lot of the change came about because of what happened in the 60’s. The hippies didn’t achieve their dream of a world of peace, love and understanding, but they helped move us all in that direction. The hippest generation is disappearing, dying early because of their lifestyle, and when they’re gone, we’ll have only the Hollywood version of the 60’s. But as long as there are people like Wayne Rodgers around, people who lived the hippe life and lived to tell about it, the dream will continue to live. You can catch up with Wayne at several charity events where he will be helping to raise money for causes that are near and dear to his heart. Hungry For Music (http://www.hungryformusic.org) is one such non-profit organization that donates musical instruments to underprivileged children. Hungry For Music is holding a motorcycle raffle (http://www.piratebikebuild.com) for a Sturgis built custom Chopper dubbed the Pirate Bike which will be raffled off at the Night of 100 Elvises on December 5th. Look for Wayne and the bike at the event and be sure to pick up a few raffle tickets to support this worthy cause. You may even be lucky enough to hear about the original Woodstock stories from the Port-O-San Man himself.