Two years ago, Paul Smith and Burton collaborated to prove that the words “gentrified” and “snowboarding” can glide nicely into the same sentence. This was significant for a few reasons, primarily because attempting to place high-fashion in the land of slopes could have resulted in something far less pretty than a foot of new powder. The resulting pieces not only proved to be a success, they also managed to garner the admiration of many riders expected to laugh at the alliance, resulting in a new segment of style-conscious, mountain-friendly gear. This winter, the two world-known apparel companies are at it again with another blend of traditional Paul Smith design and Burton Mark XIII collection snow-sense. The collection, while small, mixes classic elements with streamlined functionality, resulting in pieces like this Burton Paul Smith Single Breasted Jacket — a topper that hides all kinds of Christmas magic under its three-layer traditional English yarn-dye shell. In any case, the collection adds a little humor to the transition from meeting room to chair lift, and girls really like doing dirty things with guys wearing hunting checks on chair lifts. I mean, not me personally, but you know. Some girls.

Oh lovely; I adore writing about music festivals that I won’t be attending. At least Camp Bisco 6 looks like it will feature primarily electronica — a fact that will make both my future absence less painful (not really my thing), and prep those of you who are into that for some nail-biting, particularly once I get into the line up.

Taking place in Mariaville, NY from August 16-18, Camp Bisco 6 will feature a solid list of electronica/hip hop/rock heavy-hitters, including Girl Talk, Amon Tobin, the Bays, Shpongle, Bustle in Your Hedgerow, Lyrics Born and Hallucinogen: In Dub’s first ever U.S. performance. In following with the eco-concert trend, the event will be powered by 100% renewable energy, and will be attended by our friends Conscious Alliance, who will once again be collecting food in exchange for a Rob Pea limited-edition poster.

You can grab a ticket here for way less than what I threw down for Coachella, then hang out for three nights in a place that, incidently enough, sounds a whole lot prettier than Coachella. Yep, still not my thing, but I know some people who are awaiting this concert with the furor of the second coming, so have fun… hippies. Kidding! Kidding. Kind of. Sort of. (Not really.)

I love concert posters. Half art, half music, and normally cheap enough to shamelessly store away once your next favorite band/artist needs wallspace, the concert poster definitely has earned its spot as the number one choice for temporary decoration. However, who would have guessed that those wall-savers could turn out to be life-savers as well, a feat that the Boulder-founded non-profit Conscious Alliance accomplished with surprising success.

Since their inception in 2002, the Conscious Alliance has been using the power of the poster to help feed hungry people, and now, five years and 500,000 pounds of food later, it’s looking like the non-profit may just be one of the most positive things to have happened in the music industry since N’Sync quit recording. At its most basic, the Conscious Alliance functions as a food drive, with the only kickers being location (drives take place at concerts across the U.S.) and motivational tactic (cans of food=free concert poster). Through collaborations with bands like STS9, Jack Johnson, String Cheese Incident and Dave Matthews, they have collected and distributed over half a million pounds of food to low-income areas that desperately need the help. Because of their strong network of musicians and fans, the non-profit has the ability to quickly respond to national disasters- when Hurricane Katrina blew through New Orleans, they quickly teamed up with DMB and delivered over 30,000 pounds of food and almost $100,000 dollars within days. Currently, members of their team are collecting food (and handing out this poster) at Bonaroo, but if you’re missing out on the festival like me, you’ll find plenty of other ways to help out on the Conscious Alliance website. What you’re doing is amazing, guys, and we’re behind you all the way!