Archive for April, 2008

Summer Rayne Oakes makes #4 in SSF’s best dressed list

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
This April, the Sustainable Style Foundation announced their Best Dressed Environmental List. Summer Rayne made #5 in 2007 and inched her way to #4 this year . ** Thanks to Robin for putting together a nice collage of images of Summer Rayne’s looks this past Earth Week*** Here’s the rest of them below.

April 13th, 2008 – Seattle Green Festival main stage

ph: Chip Py. Dress by Beau Soleil.
April 19th, 2008 – Emcee at SF Green Apple Festival

Dress by Manish Arora


April 21st, 2008 – Attending the LOHAS/BBMG Event at ABC

Dress by Manish Arora


April 22nd, 2008 – LOHAS Press Luncheon/Ben Jelen Concert/Ingeo Earth Month

Havana pant and shirt by Anna Cohen ; dress by Doie Designs

April 23rd, 2008 – The Discovery Upfronts

Summer Rayne Oakes with Annabelle Gerwich at the Discovery Upfronts. Summer Rayne wears a re-created vintage bustier dress by Deborah Lindquist .


April 24th, 2008 – Project Earth Day Ecofashion Show

Summer Rayne Oakes, Sass Brown, and Jill Fehrenbacher – judges at Project Earth Day student fashion show. Summer Rayne wears a Beau Soleil dress; iwood eco glasses ; and hand made necklace with found stones by Kirsten Muenster ph: Inhabitat.com


April 25th, 2008 – Green Tie Gala

Dress by Enamore

How do you like them [green] apples?

Sunday, April 27th, 2008

Emceeing Green Apple SF in my psychedelic Manish Arora dress
Radio Active and I. Ph: Diana Kurnit
Tommy on the drums. Ph: Diana Kurnit
Catching up. Ph: Diana Kurnit
“So I saw this porcupine on the street…”
In awe with Wavy Gravy. Ph: Diana Kurnit
Crowd went on for miles…
and miles…
Pumping up the crowd


Written for Treehugger.com


“Go easy on me,” Tommy Lee said in a whisper. “You know I’m a green virgin.”
“Sorry Tommy,” I said with a smile. “I like to go deep.”Earth Day celebration in San Francisco is probably the perfect place to give Tommy Lee and Ludacris the Green 101. The artists, (both who are participants in Planet Green’s Battleground Earth ), paid a visit to the Bay Area during the Green Apple Festival . They may have well been on another planet though, because you know how freaky cool San Francisco can get around Earth Day .

SF Green Apple was just one of eight festivals happening around the United States. The entire eight city event boasts the largest Earth Day gatherings, drawing crowds of 500,000 plus not to mention all the viewers who tuned into the Myspace/iclips network streaming podcasts on Earth Day. (Don’t worry: For those of you who missed it, iclips will be archiving in on their website soon enough). The events happen rain or shine. Just ask the good-spirited crowd in Washington, D.C. who got pummeled with rain and windstorms. Tens of thousands of umbrellas raised their heads to hear music from Warren Haynes, Umphrey’s McGee, and a host of other musicians. Ed Norton, Chevy Chase, Denis Hayes (Organizer of First Earth Day), and Thomas Friedman (sans the pie-in-his-face) all got to the stage to rally the crowd.

On the opposite coast, I was preparing to emcee with my beatboxing boy, Radio Active , whose voice shares an uncanny resemblance to Tone Loc. Radio said he’s participated in all three of the SF Green Apple Festivals, which draws a crowd of about 25,000 each year.

Brett Dennen opened it up with some great tunes. Mickey Hart was joined later by Tommy and a host of other musicians. Ahhh the harmony! My good friend Randy Hayes, founder and President of Rainforest Action Network , rallied the crowd. We both joshed with Bill McKibben backstage, giving him a hard time for the number of trees that were sacrificed for his long ass, (but well-deserved) bio; he got out there and rocked out the 350 Campaign . The dapper Mark Leno, CA State Assemblyman, renewable energy champion, presented SF with a rallying cry for clean energy. He’s also running for State Senate and I love the fact that he has an Earth in the “O” of his name. Go ahead check it out on his website .

I looked out at the sea of people. There wasn’t a patch of grass that I could see. A group of guys were laying on a sectional near the front of the stage. Guys and girls had their shirts off, dancing in the cool morning sun. Hippies and former hippies-turned-business-tech-financial gurus threw their hands up to the light breeze. A cloudy haze filled the air, only this wasn’t from the seasonal fog that sits its thick gray tushy over the Golden Gate State. Viva Woodstock. Enough said.

I wore a psychedelic silk dress hand-constructed by Indian designer Manish Arora . “Whoa man, I can see myself in your dress,” a dead head fan (or was it a dread head?) said eyeing my mirrored corset. “Thank you for bringing back the spirit of Woodstock.”

“My pleasure,” I said shaking his hand as I walked past two women dressed as a bumble bee and butterfly and a man in carrot costume. The three of them flitted around, pollinating a woman on stilts dressed as a flower. Wavy Gravy , the infamous Peace & Love Clown and a flavor of Ben & Jerry ice cream, waddled past Tommy and me with his salmon and platypus. Dude, I’m totally convinced that you haven’t lived until you pet Wavy’s platypus and kissed Jane Goodall’s toy monkey , Mr. H.

“What a spirited crowd.” I thought to myself. “I love this movement.”

Green jobs rocks my [green] world

Saturday, April 26th, 2008
We’re on it. Ibrahim and I. Organic cotton “Clean Up or Die” tee by Katharine Hamnett !
Michael – I lost your contact!!! Get in touch with me!
Welcome to the Gun Show!
Vincent, you’re the man!
My good friend Billy Parish, founder of Energy Action
Recording the music
Vincent (left) was the shit. He and I kept it real at the dinner. Richard Halpin (right) runs AmericanYouthWorks.org out in Texas.
Van signs his early-release book for me.
Ibrahim (Saudi Arabia) & Ibrahim (New York)
Father of environmental justice, Robert Bullard speaks at Dream Reborn. Some other notables are Afeni Shakur, Tupac’s mom, who spoke of black entrepreneurship; Majora Carter of the Sustainable South Bronx, Van Jones of the Ella Baker Center; Bracken Hendricks of the Apollo Alliance, and a host of others. They were all invigorating speakers.
A group of Dream Reborners gather for a photo opp.
We even took the trombone player to the streets

We created such a commotion in the streets, silhouettes stared from the hotel windows. We brought the jam band outside and hundreds of us piled together for a big hug-out.
Thank you Energy Action and Green for All for reinvigorating my faith in a REAL, pulsing environmental movement. All others pale in comparison. Dream Reborn kicked off in Memphis, Tennessee (April 4-6, 2008) in commemoration of the civil rights movement of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This was no replay of 1968. This was a rallying movement and training program to address global climate change, equity, and racially-just green jobs. 1,200 people, principally young citizens, came together to jumpstart the National Green Jobs campaign that is underfoot. Might as well tell you that it’s happening, so you’re not too surprised when it comes to a city or town near you! You’ll see me posting more about this as the year forges on, as it’s rapidly becoming one of my core personal projects. I haven’t been this invigorated since 2000 when I started on my sustainable fashion stuff ! Thanks to all my friends in the movement, look forward to rocking it out with you.