Earlier this year we came across a picture of three handsome young men in full Renaissance Faire garb… sporting our Saucony Jazz sneakers.  ”Forsooth!” we exclaimed, “Pray tell, who are these stylish gentlemen?”  They turned out to be members of the band Scythian Music, whose four members — Alexander Fedoryka, Josef Crosby, Danylo Fedoryka and Mike Ounallah — play Celtic and classical roots music with an edge.

Curious to learn what exactly that sort of music is, and how one ends up playing in such a band, we interviewed the Sycthian Music’s Alex Fedoryka about the band’s classical training, their weirdest live concerts and, of course, their fine taste in footwear.

Team Saucony: Celtic Music “with an edge” — tell us what that means.

Alex Fedoryka (Violin/Mandolin/Harmonica/Bass/Vocals): Our set has a heavy influence of Celtic music, but it’s infused with many non-Celtic numbers and influences, like gypsy, rock, Americana, klezmer, even punk.  It draws from the roots element of various ethnic musics and infuses it with a contemporary spirit.

TS: What drew you to playing Celtic and Gypsy music instead of playing regular old rock music?

AF: We were all raised by some pretty motley influences.  We’re all first generation sons of immigrants, from Ukraine to Jordan to Austria (not Ireland go figure!), so ethnic music was always part of our consciousness.  Then we all started at a young age with classical training and were thrown into the whole classical music world.  But then inevitably, being American, we got drawn to the whole fantastic world of rock n’ roll.  Ultimately, these all played a dramatic role in our musical formation and it would be hard to think of playing music without incorporating and interweaving elements of all three.

TS: We first spotted you gents wearing full Renaissance Faire costumes complete with Saucony Originals.  Is that a typical look for you guys?

AF: Haha no not at all.  We actually play a great festival called the Celtic Fling and the same production crew throw a huge renaissance faire.  We made friends with them and they invited us to play a weekend.  We really couldn’t say no to real live jousts, axe throwing, turkey legs the size of your head, and the chance to poke fun at ourselves with the outrageous costumes.  They gave us free reign of the barn of costumes and, as you can tell, we went to town.  This is one of our favorite aspects of being on the road - making friends, making singular experiences, and just having a generally ridiculous time.

TS: What kind of gigs does Scythian Music usually play?  And what are some of the most memorable or weird shows you’ve been a part of?

AF: We started out playing in the streets originally, hustling for gas and beer money with fiddles and guitar.  Then we hit the Irish pub circuit for a several years.  We’ve since jumped to the theater venues and festival stages, ranging from Irish to Americana to hippie camping festivals.  As far as unique experiences, we’d have to all agree and say that our most memorable was playing for 300,000 at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, Australia.  It was called World Youth Day and we played on a 16 story stage!  Nothing like seeing hundreds of thousands of people dancing to your music.  Another one that has to be mentioned is playing for President Bush and the Prime Minister of Ireland at Nancy Pelosi’s St. Patrick’s Day Luncheon in a small room in the U.S. Capitol.  All politics aside, it was a pretty cool moment.

Weirdest show?  With about 1,000 shows, there’s lots of them, but one that comes to mind is playing in a bar in “rural” MD, where they put us in a corner on a concrete floor, in front of the Golden Tee.  We were competing with 40 TV screens over the bar, showing everything from NASCAR to the shopping network.  So during the fiddle solo to “Devil Went Down to Georgia,” I jumped onto the bar and ran across the length of it, jumping over drinks and pretzel bowls, only to be as ignored as we were before.  To top it off, one of our roadies got something slipped in his drink, but luckily we were able to extract him from the gentleman’s grasp.  In the industry I guess they call that “putting in your time.”

TS: Where can we expect to see you in 2010?

AF: 2010 is already shaping up to be our best season yet.  We kick off 2010 with a huge New Year’s show in Manhattan called “The Mad, Mad Masquerade”, an outrageous dress up ball with bands, booze, DJs, and even a world class illusionist.  In February we’re excited to be going on a music cruise with Lyle Lovett and others called Cayamo.  Other highlights are Merlefest in May, (the biggest bluegrass festival in the land), a bunch of Irish festivals in the Midwest this summer, including Milwaukee Irish Fest (the biggest Irish festival in the world). But we’re everywhere in between so if you want to catch a show, the best thing to do is check us out at www.scythianmusic.com. We’ll be essentially peppering anywhere between the Mississippi to Florida to Maine in 2010.

TS: What’s so great, in your opinion, about Saucony Originals?

AF: I think most people would agree that most of the time, style has to be chosen over comfort, as can be said for the converse (am I allowed to say “converse” here?).  I think that it can be safely said that Saucony has erased that quandary with the Originals.  We’ve all been wearing Saucony Originals for over 10 years (mine even have the sweet shamrock on ‘em).  Slipper comfort with a dead sexy agenda.  Well done Saucony!

We love our fans who love our shoes, so it goes without saying that we think Christian Huelsman is one cool dude.  He not only manages the Flickr group “Simply in Sauconys” – home to 141 sweet Saucony O’s photos from 57 members — he also owns 25 total pairs of Sauconys and somehow manages to cram them all into his closet!  We asked Christian about his love for Saucony O’s, his dream colorway, and about living in harmony with nature (another topic he’s obsessed with).

Team Saucony: What got you started collecting Sauconys?

Christian Huelsman: The relatively simple color ways of the Saucony Jazz Original pulled me and kept me wanting more. I was visiting the Bay Area for the first time, in the summer of 2003, and the old Subterranean Shoe Room on Valencia blew me away with the selection of brands and varieties in store. I became acquainted with one of the girls working one shift, who owned a pair of mustard + navy and of green + orange. I suppose she was my first introduction to Sauconys, as I bought my own pair soon after.

TS: What is your personal favorite pair of Sauconys?

CH: I absolutely love my pair of blue + silver Jazz Original Plus that I obtained through auction, several years ago. The mesh and inner lining resemble the Jazz AC line, but the pair features the classic thick Jazz Original sole. Brilliant. My other favorite is actually my newest pair–my silver and black Saucony Jazz Duct Tape, thanks to Shoe Biz. I would love to see more limited color combos in the Duct Tape line!

TS: Where do you find your more rare and limited edition sneakers?

CH: Online auctions helped me to obtain many other color combos that predated my entrance into the wonderful world of Sauconys…and usually in pre-worn condition. Call me a simpleton, but I’ve largely been loyal to the Jazz Original line. Many limited edition Sauconys of late fall outside that line, such as the still brilliant Shadow 3000 and Courageous models. I’d love to find more see more reissues of obsolete color combos. I barely remember them anymore as it is, so surely they’d be new to many other fans!

TS: You write a blog about urban life and green exploration. How do you see the two intersecting?

CH: Well, I love cities, always have lived in cities, and always will. The concentration of culture, society, and ideas that are inherent in cities–those qualities have allowed us as a people to evolve and innovate. I think that the experiences that come with living in the city are extremely valuable. They encourage greater tolerance and acceptance. If your city doesn’t necessarily have cool shows, local gatherings, places, and products, there’s always untapped potential to make it so.

How do I see that intersecting with environmental responsibility? Well, as we enhance our cities to provide us with exciting things do to with our time and money, there is great potential to change the way we invest in our urban environments. Not just our homes, our rooms, or our personal appearances. When we plan for truly greater urban environments for future generations and for all walks of life, we look at the inherent characteristics of cities as destinations with material waste reduction and reuse, cleaner air, and greater harmony with nature. Environmentalism should not be seen as exclusive to nature but applicable to all our living environments, including our great cities.

That’s the short answer! Haha.

TS: If you could pitch a new color combo or new style of Saucony, what would it be?

CH: I suppose I have three answers. First, I’d love to get a pair of Jazz Originals in the simple combo of navy + turquoise. As you know from shoe nuts, subtle features make a huge difference. I’m still crossing my fingers for a reissue of that color combo, which hasn’t been produced in almost 15 years.

Second, I’d like to see more issues from the Jazz Originals Duct Tape line. Blues, purples, and greens. I think it would make it look even less utilitarian, but it would also seem more “in your face”. Maybe even some color alteration of the white siding when it seems appropriate for the overall look of the shoe. I see many exciting opportunities through use of materials and colors with this line.I’d also like to see reissue of both the Jazz Original Plus and Hornet lines. The latter had ridge sole, a solid nylon upper, and has some interesting color options for both men and women.

Agreeing with my fellow Saucony-wearing peers, a greater emphasis on vibrant color combos would get me excited. I love my classic black + silver Sauconys (I’m on my third pair actually), but I also love complementary color combos that please the eye.

TS: Finally, where do you store all your shoes?!

CH: The closet, of course! But, as you can see, there isn’t much room left on the shelf. It certainly helps that I’ve kept most of the original boxes, so they’re set up like a shoe store stock shelf. Having so many, and having them in boxes helps to keep them in good shape more many years to come. Hey–when you find what you like, especially when it comes to shoes, you want to stick with it for the long haul.  So, I guess that means I move on to the closet floor.

Recently Insound.com hosted a warehouse sale at their Brooklyn office.  We stopped by to say hey and shop for bargain 7″s.  And I swear we didn’t stage this — the whole office was wearing their Saucony O’s.  Lookin’ good Insound!

PS: Insound has some good deals on holiday shopping right now, check it out.

Exciting news! Starting today we are doing a contest with Journeys.com where you can win a $5,000 gift card from Apple just for being witty and original. I know what you’re thinking — it’s about time someone finally came along to reward you for all your snappy comebacks and one liners!

Click on over to www.CaptionOriginals.com where every week from now until December 25, Saucony Originals and Journeys will give you a chance to write captions for fun photos from our collection. We’ll award the most Original entries each week with a special prize pack from Saucony Originals.* At the end of the contest, we’ll randomly pick a winner from the pool of caption writers and award that wordsmith with a $5,000 gift card to Apple.

And that’s not all, right now when you purchase a pair of Saucony Originals shoes from Journeys.com, we’ll throw in free shipping AND a $10 iTunes gift card, while supplies last. New shoes and new tunes. Excellent, right? Or should we say it sounds good? Hey - you come up with the witty remarks.

Check back weekly for a new photo to caption!

*Prize packs could include a Saucony Originals t-shirt, headband and duffle bag.

If you are a fan of the obscure, then you probably already know that today is Corduroy Appreciation Day! 11|11, the date whose vertical stripes so resemble the wale of the beloved fabric, is the natural fit for this unique holiday. So today we don our Corduroy pants, we think back about our college professors in their Corduroy jackets and we enjoy being comfortable in cords.

In honor of this special day, we had the pleasure of corresponding with Miles Rohan, president of the Corduroy Appreciation Club, about growing up Corduroy, Wilt Chamberlain and his favorite wale.

Team Saucony: How did you come to be such an enthusiastic appreciator of corduroy?

Miles Rohan: Growing up Corduroy just seemed to be a constant presence. My mother had a lot of it and used it to make all kinds of things for us. Couch cushions, bed spreads, clothes. I also used to find a lot of Corduroy in used clothing shops where it almost seemed like a discarded relic and so I’ve snatched a lot of it up over the years. It’s always resonated with me as something a bit more than a fabric.

TS: How did the Corduroy Appreciation Club get its start and how long has it been around? How many members does the CAC have?

MR: In earnest we got off the ground in 2005, but it was conceived somewhere around 2000, initially just as a theme for a party. But what I’ve come to realize over the years is that there always has been something of a club for wearing Corduroy even if it wasn’t spoken about or intentional. There’s something there with so many writers, artists, thinkers wearing it for so many years.

TS: Do you have a favorite wale?

MR: I’m more of a pinwale person—which I think has something to do with my personality. I’m can be pretty quiet. But I do love wide wales, and it seems like they’re more in style this season than in previous. But I rarely ware them. They seem louder than I am.

TS: Are there any celebs, athletes, etc. who you look up to for their corduroy-wearing proclivities?

MR: Of course. Totally. Woody Allen, Wes Anderson come to mind right away. But there are many great Corduroy wearers. I was just reading somewhere that Wilt Chamberlain likes Corduroy. Michael Jackson seems like he once wore a lot of Corduroy—in the 70’s—before he kind of moved into all that leather.

TS: What is the Corduroy Appreciation Club doing to celebrate 11/11/09 this year?

MR: We’re meeting in a new secret space. A big, old, very secret-feeling garage in a turn of the century factory. Feels good to be somewhere new. Our keynote speaker is Sloane Crosley [author of I Was Told There’d Be Cake]. We like to have writers be our speakers—and she’s definitely the most well-sold author we have ever had. There’s also a real women’s theme to this years meeting. Which is also nice because in the past it’s been very male centric.

TS: Any extra big plans in the works for 11/11/11?

MR: Well, yes. But I can’t talk about them yet. It’s going to be huge.

Photo of Miles Rohan by CAC member Meredith Modzelewski