The new VEGAS t-shirt from BLK RFL DIV and VICTORWRENCH has a little history to it, specifically the "Uzis, Floozies, Jacuzzis" tagline. Many of us grew up reading Soldier of Fortune magazine, mixed in with Dad's Playboy and car magazines, it was part of growing up and imagining yourself in some far away land single-handedly saving the free world while fighting off terrs with an FAL. The heritage of SOF magazine and it's coverage of conflict hotspots, of the people fighting in those environments, battling the elements, the weapons utilized, the old classified ads, was a quintessential testament to the warriors & battles of the era. I implore anyone not familiar with the magazine to track down an old mag and thumb through it. However, it was the 6th annual SOF convention of 1985 in Las Vegas that delivered the now classic "Uzis, Floozies, Jacuzzis" pin & t-shirt that this post is about.
A year ago I reached out to SOF magazine to see if I could do a run of tees with the original, classic logo from the 1985 convention. Once the conversation opened up they informed me that they weren't sure who the artist was and did not have the rights to the art. So, with that off the table, I knew I still wanted to do a piece of art that exemplified the original. I adopted three elements from the original art piece; the lady's face with that cute smile, the classic tagline "Uzis, Floozies, Jacuzzis" and, of course, the Uzi.
I then contacted the original "NODS girl", VICTORWRENCH, and asked her if I could included her in the project. VW loved the idea and a set of toobs was added on to the babe in the martini glass. I got some solid input from VW and from there the idea grew into a faux advertisement tee for a nightlife lounge set in Sin City, the Last Call Lounge; where all souls gather to toast life, fall in love, or gamble away their last penny to the devil. But please stay for the buffet, it may just send you to the hospital.. ahem.. Garand Thumb....
The final art comes in 4 coloways: a black tee with a purple/pink plastisol print, a gold tee with a red print (seen above), a pink tee with a navy plastisol print, and, finally, an indigo t-shirt with a gold shimmer print. Most BRD tees use waterbased inks, however, in this case I decided to go with a traditional plastisol print as seen in the original 1985 t-shirt. All in all, we wanted to capture a vintage look with a commercial advertising spin, both in color and content. Each tee also ships (while supplies last) with a sticker, either a sparkle or hologram finish. The tee can be found online via the BRD website.
Lastly, the telephone number listed on the tee. A meme was circulating on social media a few months ago that had a number listed with a particular song that played on the other end. Unfortunately, the number was disconnected, however, I did a search and discovered an active number with that specific song. We decided, for the sake of practical comedy, to use this number on the t-shirt... so give it a call some time - (248) 434-5508