Crooked Monkey moved offices about three years ago. And by "offices" I mean basements--we moved from my former business partners basement... to my mom's basement.

Just last week, my former partner's mom was reorganizing, and called me to pick up some Crooked Monkey boxes. It took me about a week to find time to head over there, but when I did it was like going back in time.

Heading down the staircase brought memories of a nascent company looking to find its voice amongst the throng of t-shirt companies. Swinging open the doors to the basement door, I flashbacked to the dog days of cold calls and 2 PM happy hours. Of long road trips to Chicago and of Crooked Monkey Hotties.  Of "Fuck Duke" and Cease and Desist Letters.  Of "Party with the Monkey" and of brainstorming sessions into the wee hours of the morning. Of being a budding Entrepreneur, living in my parents house and sleeping on friends couches, with wide eyes and the naivete to push forward--against the odds.

I haven't looked through all the boxes yet, but I'm excited to. It's like a time capsule--a window into the beginnings of the Crooked Monkey brand.

Guest blog by Dr. Mark Drapeau, originally posted on BrianSolis.com, about our Photoshoot at the Warehouse:

I hadn’t heard of the popular t-shirt company Crooked Monkey until I was invited to an exclusive party they recently held. You see, even though they get great press from actors wearing their shirts in movies and magazines talking about their fashion styles, Crooked Monkey is based in Washington, DC – not widely known as the fashion capital of the country. And they wanted to do some local brand building.

This wasn’t just any party. Sure, there were attractive guests in a cool setting with great drinks and music all the usual stuff. It was what they did differently that made it the most memorable event Ive been to in a long time.

Lets start with how I even found out about the event – a secretive email from someone I didn’t know telling me that my friend recommended me as a guest for the event. This is somewhere in between Facebook and Eyes Wide Shut. Then, a request for my home address, to which was mailed a package containing an envelope with a paper invitation, and also a sparsely decorated white t-shirt, which I was required to save for the party two months later and bring with me to gain admittance. Finally, a bag of tart banana candies finished the package.

Further inspection revealed that the event was on a Sunday night (no night is safe from parties!) at a secret location to be given to us later. Keep in mind that I dont know the person behind the party, nor the other guests, and now also not the location. Still later I discovered by email invitation that the event would be in a warehouse in a not-so-savory part of Washington, DC and that we MUST bring our white t-shirts because wed be doing something with them on the night of the event.

When the day of the event came, I really couldn’t stand not knowing anything! I texted the contacts I had for the event to ask questions, but they revealed little. I emailed some socialite friends to try to figure out who else would be there we knew it would be all tastemakers of different sorts, but no one really knew who was going, which was exciting. I used Google Maps to investigate the location of the warehouse. I stressed about what one wears to such events (I think I chose well!).

Even the party itself was very engaging. An artist created a mural from our white t-shirts that we used for entry right in front of our eyes. An old-fashioned photo booth let us take pictures with each other, and the photo strips had (what else?) a Crooked Monkey logo on them. Even the name of the event Photoshoot at the Warehouse gave the party an active quality.

Do you detect a pattern here? Crooked Monkey kept busy, elite attendees who get invited to tons of events mentally engaged with their event for weeks. They made us part of telling their story. They got us to talk about their brand before, during, and after the event. And in the end, the event delivered with a cool venue, outstanding bar, fun atmosphere, and lots of fashion.

Photoshoot at the Warehouse is a great example of putting the public back in public relations and brand engagement. How great? Im writing an entire post about them – and I dont even like wearing t-shirts!

This post originally appeared on Brian Solis’ PR 2.0 site.

Barry Jay receives his first Song of the Week award and we'll make sure Kanye doesn't interrupt him during his speech. This song gets the nod because it combines elements of progressive electronic music as well as electro house. Don't sit back and relax to this song. Go out, pregame, and start your night off with some pump up music.

Have a good week,
DJ Shnooms

We haven't had a chance to write the follow up blog to the Photoshoot at the Warehouse, but I wanted to give a small glimpse of the night. We transformed a beat up warehouse in Chinatown into an impressive lounge--with lighting (pictured above), a full bar, a kicking DJ and a live graffiti artist. Everyone who attended said they were blown away with the ambiance--that this was probably the coolest party they've been to this year. Nice! Our 6 weeks of work paid off!
On Monday we'll post a blog with all the details. In the meantime read up on the press that we got for the T-shirt launch party:

-9:25 AM on Monday morning (9/21), Angie Goff (pictured above) will discuss it on WUSA Channel 9 Morning News!
-Pamela's Punch
-The Glamazon Diaries
-K street Kate
-MoCo Scene
-Amanda Nachman, CEO of CollegeMagazine.com
-DeaconDoesDC
-The Event Current
-Bisnow The scene

6 weeks into the making and 100 invites later, the day has finally arrived. We've been preparing the warehouse this whole weekend--bringing in lighting, furniture, and toilet paper.

We've spoken a little bit about our Photoshoot at the Warehouse party, but not too much about it. Mostly because were not allowed to. It's a small venue--it only fits 100 people--and the guest list is sealed. It's next Sunday night, from 9-12Pm.

We're pulling out all the stops for this party. The invite was sent out in a black envelope, with banana candy, and a t-shirt as the formal invitation. Guests will bring the t-shirt to the party and be met with a myriad of surprises. We have an awesome DJ lined up--one of DC's best. Open bar is being provided by Emperor Vodka and Magic Hat. The Bar tenders are being supplied by Mie N Yu Restaurant. The photobooth, which will provide endless entertainment and awesome pics with Crooked monkey t-shirts, is provided by PoshBooth in DC.

The surprises and good times will be documented and published on the blog on September 14th. We're super excited for bringing Crooked Monkey's new graphic t-shirts and classic humor t-shirts to DC's finest.

In celebration of Michael Jackson's 51st birthday, my roommates and I are throwing a "Michael Jackson Birthday Bash." We sent out the invite over a month ago to ensure that there's going to be no excuses. It'll be the best party ever thrown at the Taft Suite.

My brother, AKA DJ Shnooms, got me the entire catalog of Michael Jackson songs--all 450 of them. Everything from the Jackson 5 to the Jacksons to his solo years. I've got the pleasure of listening to it now and separating it into playlists. I'll post the playlist for you when I'm done.

There's so much awesome Michael that most people didn't even know exists. This party is going to be full of, "Michael Jackson sings that song."

Everyone's getting excited for their outfits. Marielle will be creating a whole new wardrobe--she's picking up some penny loafers, big white socks--and sprinkling them with some glitter--Black short pants, a white MJ shirt, and a fedora on top.

We've even got Alex Feder, of the XYZ affair, coming down from the Big NYC.

We're gearing up for the launch of our graphic t-shirts, with a "Photoshoot at the Warehouse" in Washington DC, mid-September.

It's going to be as much a launch of our graphic line as a celebration of how cool DC has gotten. Over the last few years I've written a lot about DC--how it's become hipper and funner everyday. It's about to get a lot cooler.

The party, featuring our t-shirts and all that DC has to offer--from Emperor Vodka to Mi n Yu in Georgetown to graffiti artists--will be a true testament to Crooked Monkey's roots in Washington DC. Now all we need is a professional sports team that can win games.

Details about the party--including the invitations, timelines and guests--will be on the blog throughout the month.

I'm back. It was a trip for the ages. A little bit of business a lot of pleasure.

First day, I got in and headed straight to a meeting with Jay from Kitson Men's. It's always good to check out that store for new trends and see how our shirts are selling. V necks, V necks and more V Necks. Thats what I saw. We'll be coming out with some of our very own V necks soon. After the meeting I met up with my friend David (he will be featured in this post quite prominently) and we went out to a bonfire on the beach. We raged til midnight which doesn't sound too late, but LA closes real early, and I woke up at 4 AM that day to catch my plane.Second day was full of meetings. Met up with our showroom, our newest designer, our production manager, our LA screen printer, and one of our biggest accounts. All the meetings went better than planned. We got the biggest orders ever from that retail store, and the rest of the meetings were fantastic. At the end of the day, we made some time for the required Baywatch photoshoot in Venice Beach (above).

That night was pretty fantastic too. David and I met up with Sasa--the guy who put the Maxim party together. We went to the STK steakhouse 1 year anniversary. For those of you who were following my updates on Twitter, you'd know that I ran into Kim Kardashian (great ass), David Spade (to whom I asked, "Do you know where the weight room is?"), and Courtney Cox (still looks good).

Next day I met with the guys over at the Ryan Seacrest Show. We sat down for lunch to plan the User Generated contest we'll be doing with the Ryan Seacrest show. Details to follow.

That night the Maxim Hot 100 party went down. Some of the most gorgeous women in the world descended unto the Santa Monica Airport Hanger. And Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven), two cell phones in hand, showed up. Open Bar, Terrell Owens, Popcorn, Heidi Montag, Ferris Wheel, bottles and models. Awesome awesome night. You should've been there.I'm wearing our Coke Healthier than Crack T-shirt.