| hair salon & barbershop iconversations |
| Technology Savvy Social Media engaging Industry Moguls in "Real-Time" |
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Armie Hammer |
|
|
|
Armie Hammer Gets Deep |
 |
|
‘I would be foolish to say white privilege has nothing to do with my career |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| So, what can we tell you about this too-handsome oil heir |
| |
| This wasn’t your regular GQ interview. For one thing, we usually remember getting home. The man responsible? The vodka cocktail-pushing star of Call Me By Your Name, Sorry To Bother You and On The Basis Of Sex, Armie Hammer. So, what can we tell you about this too-handsome oil heir turned thespy scene-stealer? Well, the scenes he steals come from pure hard graft, he doesn’t take a cent of his family’s money and, as costar Timothée Chalamet tells us, he’s one of the few good guys. After the hangover cleared, we couldn’t have agreed more... |
| |
| Family is the first thing that I bring up with Hammer as his is more interesting than most |
| |
| Family is the first thing that I bring up with Hammer as his is more interesting than most. Remember Armand Hammer, the grandfather I mentioned? Well, that’s the man after whom Armie is, in fact, named. Armie, on his birth certificate, is named “Armand Douglas Hammer”. It got shortened to Armie – cooler, snappier – sometime in high school and it just stuck. Armand (the OG, not Armie who likes Tito’s) was born in New York in 1898 to Jewish parents who emigrated from Russia. Armand once explained that his father, Julius Hammer, named him after the character Armand Duval in La Dame Aux Camélias, a novel by Alexandre Dumas fils about a young bourgeois who falls in love with a courtesan. (These facts may or may not become useful later on.) |
| |
| Armand ended up travelling extensively between Russia and the United States |
| |
| Armand had a pretty punchy life; I mean, there are books about this guy. Although he set out to become a doctor like his father, Julius – who subsequently had a medical practice in a wing of the family home in the Bronx and is said to have served time for a botched abortion – Armand ended up travelling extensively between Russia and the United States. He was mainly importing and exporting goods and medical supplies, at times coming under suspicion by the US government, not least during the Cold War. |
| |
| Armie’s grandfather made a pretty decent amount of money |
| |
| Anyway, one way or another, Armie’s grandfather made a pretty decent amount of money. And then? Well, then he made a serious amount of money. After moving to Los Angeles in semi-retirement, he took a couple of punts and invested in various US oil production efforts. In 1957, Armand Hammer took control of a company called Occidental Petroleum. Heard of it? Me neither. Well, I checked its records and although Armand Hammer no longer is chairman (he died in 1990, aged 92), while he was, the company grew into one of the most successful oil companies in the US. The dividends must have been bonkers. Like, which-island-in-the-Caribbean-shall-we-buy-style bonkers. In 2017, Occidental Petroleum turned over $12 billion. Yeah. Ker-effing-ching. |
| |
| Occidental Petroleum turned over $12 billion. Yeah. Ker-effing-ching |
| |
| What does this have to do with his grandson Armie, you ask (fairly). Well, when oil money runs through a bloodline like French mustard runs through ranch dressing, one must do due diligence and question what sort of impact this has had on someone’s life and career trajectory, right? Right. And it is also important to be aware of background, not least when considering the flux going on in Hollywood at the moment. Frances McDormand’s words at the Oscars last year should echo through all of such conversations: “Inclusion rider!” |
| |
| One could argue, for example – indeed some have already argued (namely BuzzFeed’s Anne Helen Petersen, in an article named “Ten Long Years Of Trying To Make Armie Hammer Happen”) – that this 32-year-old actor’s background, his wealth and the colour of his skin has given him privileges and second chances that would not have been afforded to him were he poor, black or a woman. Or, indeed, a poor black woman. |
| |
| She didn’t allow us to be raised like we were wealthy |
| |
| How aware was Hammer of his family’s unusual wealth growing up? “I didn’t really have anything to compare it to, so it was just kind of the thing,” he explains, sipping his Tito’s. “My mother’s parents grew up in the Depression in Oklahoma, so it was very different. She didn’t allow us to be raised like we were wealthy. We were never just told, ‘Hey, here’s [some] cash. Go and enjoy yourselves!’ If our friends were getting a $10 allowance, she would make a point of giving us $7. I would question that, profusely sometimes, and she’d ask me, ‘So, you think you deserve more? Why?’ And, of course, I had no sort of good answer. So my mother’s care and sensibilities insulated us from being spoilt in that way, I believe.” |
| |
| I also feel like I must ask Hammer about accusations of white privilege, some of which have been aimed directly and vociferously at him and his career, not least on social media, where the actor is both visible and fairly vocal. (His publicist might say too vocal, on which more later.) As the industry pendulum swings – and quite rightly – it is the tall, white, good-looking men from particular backgrounds who may find they wake up to a very different landscape, with very different career prospects. |
| |
| “I am aware of white privilege, yes, and I am aware of how it affects people.” |
| |
| “I am aware of white privilege, yes, and I am aware of how it affects people.” Hammer’s answer is sure-footed. “There are white people who exercise their white privilege with or without knowing it and I would be foolish to sit here and say, ‘Well, that has nothing to do with my career.’ I can’t sit here and say that. But also, people must be aware of the work ethic it takes. I get it. Guys like me have got a lot from being guys like me. Even if white privilege does have anything to do with it, there is a lot of work I put into this.” |
|
| Even if white privilege does have anything to do with it, there is a lot of work I put into this.” |
| |
| Sure, OK, but it’s one thing being a struggling actor sleeping in your car and waiting tables to make ends meet and it’s another thing being a struggling actor sleeping in your car whose family has made many hundreds of millions of dollars from the US oil business. There’s struggling and then there’s struggling. Let’s face it, Armie, you don’t have to worry about money – at all. |
| |
| “Oh, dude, I worry about money all the time.” Really? What, with regards to how big your paycheque is in comparison to, say, Paul Rudd’s? Look, your ego worries about money, but it’s not like you don’t know if you can afford to pay the childcare this week. “I’ve only really been paid twice, The Lone Ranger and The Man From UNCLE – they were my two big paycheques. OK, look, there is a version of my life that is a bit like Sliding Doors, where if I chose a particular path, I wouldn’t have had to worry about anything, least of all money. I didn’t choose that route.” |
| |
| “Oh, dude, I worry about money all the time.” |
| |
| Read more at: Armie Hammer Gets Deep |
|
|
|
|
Arm & Hammer |
 |
|
Occidental Petroleum |
|
|
| I ask Hammer directly: you turned your back on your family’s wealth? |
| |
| I ask Hammer directly: you turned your back on your family’s wealth? “Currently, right now, and I feel kind of silly for even talking about it, but I don’t own a house. If someone was like, ‘Well, you have to remortgage something,’ I don’t have anything to remortgage. Like, I am all in on this.” This being acting? “Yes. This is all I have ever wanted to do. And you’re right. Nannies are not cheap. And I don’t just go home and wave a cheque. I go, ‘OK, how much is it? How many hours do we owe?’ While my life has all these amazing opportunities here and there, I worry about money, like, for sure.” |
| |
| “I don’t get any money from my family.” |
| |
| You have no financial support at all from your family? “I don’t get any money from my family.” And that was a distinct decision you made? Or did they disown you when you chose acting over going into the family business? “I made the choice. Me. Now, let’s be clear here, as we’re being honest and candid. Would I have a safety net, where I could go to my parents, who are now separated, and ask for help if I couldn’t pay my rent? Like, ‘I need your help.’ Do I have the opportunity to do that? Yes. Would I ever do that? No.” When did you make this decision? “When I was young. |
| |
| It was about strengthening myself |
| |
| I mean, I haven’t taken anything from my parents to live and survive since, well, it’s been over a decade.” Was it a conversation you had with your parents or... “No.” Hammer’s voice is just that little bit raised. The barman looks up, briefly. “No,” he continues calmly. “It was a conversation I had with myself: you can be this person or you cannot.
I would rather not. It wasn’t about cutting ties or bonds with my parents or anything like that. It was about strengthening myself. It was about what kind of person I wanted to be. What kind of person did I want to look at in the mirror each morning?” |
| |
| What kind of person did I want to look at in the mirror each morning?” |
|
|
|
|
You know Armie. Tall. Really handsome. Punchably handsome |
 |
|
one of the few good guys |
|
|
| You And Whose Armie! Arm & Hammer |
| |
| Of course! Armie! Armster! The Armada. Armie-geddon. Armie-tage Shanks. You And Whose Armie! Arm & Hammer. The Hamster. Hammertime. The Ham Man... (Thinking about it, I don’t think anyone has ever called Armie Hammer any of these nicknames, especially not me. Although I do believe his great-grandfather – the late Armand Hammer, on whom there’s more later, bought Arm & Hammer simply because the brand shared his surname and he got bored being asked if he owned it. Millionaires and billionaires have odd, indulgent whims...) |
| |
| Millionaires and billionaires have odd, indulgent whims... |
| |
| You know Armie. Tall. Really handsome. Punchably handsome. His is a handsome so acute that he could make audiences believe Timothée Chalamet in Call Me By Your Name would make American Pie-style love to a peach just thinking about such handsomeness. No? Armie? Hammer? He’s the man with the stature of a Roman centurion from an Asterix comic and the dewy eyes of that cat from Shrek 2. Moist. His eyes, I mean. His eyes are moist. Sort of vulnerable but strong looking. The man has an air of decency that he carries around with him, not like a cop but more like an usher at a wedding you could never afford. He looks a bit like Cary Elwes, who played Westley in The Princess Bride. In fact, his whole shtick is very Prince Charming. Superb breeding. He also looks really good in
an Adidas tracksuit. As good as any Olympic downhill racer or basketball pro. |
| |
| ‘Would I have a safety net, where I could ask my parents for help if I couldn’t pay my rent? Yes. Would I ever do that? No’ |
| |
| Armie! Hammer! C’mon! Maybe you saw him in Gossip Girl playing the quintessential asshole boyfriend. He’s sort of a more sober-looking Bradley Cooper, which is weird because he drinks and Cooper doesn’t. He’s in The Social Network and is excellent in it. No, not the Zuckerberg character, that’s Jesse Eisenberg. Armie was the rowers. Yes, both of them. The Harvard bros. The rowers. The Winklevoss twins. (They CGI-ed Armie’s face onto a body double.) “I’m 6’5” and there’s two of me.” Those guys. That guy. That was Hammer. That was Armie. |
| |
| He’s sort of a more sober-looking Bradley Cooper |
| |
| Read more at: Armie Hammer Gets Deep |
|
|
|
|
“Martinis” |
 |
|
80 per cent proof to be exact |
|
|
| Martinis! Yes. I’ll do a Tito’s Gibson.” |
| |
| There it is: proof (80 per cent proof to be exact). Before we go any further, I have it on record: the Martinis were your idea, Armie Hammer. To be honest, I didn’t know what a Tito’s Gibson was, so it’s just as well he mentioned “Martinis” first. Turns out, Tito’s is a brand of vodka, made by a microbrewery in Texas. |
| |
| The provenance of the vodka may or may not be significant. Hammer, you see, wasn’t born in Texas. He was born in Santa Monica 32 years ago, although his mother, Dru Ann, was from Texas and the family lived in Dallas until Armie was six, maybe seven. Michael Hammer, Armie’s father (nickname “Beep” and the son of the rich guy who bought Arm & Hammer for the weird lolz), then moved the family to the Cayman Islands, where they stayed for a good number of years. (They moved back right after 9/11.) Armie’s wife, and mother to their two children, Elizabeth Chambers, however, is from San Antonio, which is also in Texas. Together, Chambers and Hammer own a bakery down there, Bird Bakery. (Cookies you’d shop your grandmother for, apparently.) |
| |
| Michael Hammer, Armie’s father (nickname “Beep” and the son of the rich guy who bought Arm & Hammer for the weird lolz) |
| |
| (Aside: the “Gibson” part of Hammer’s requested Martini, if you don’t know, is simply a switch in the usual garnish from an olive to a dinky cocktail onion. Although I had no idea what a Tito’s Gibson was at the time of Hammer’s ordering. I request the same. Why? Because who doesn’t want to try a drink called Tito’s Gibson, especially when ordered through Armie Hammer’s beautiful face?) |
| |
| Anyway, here’s what you need to figure out: is Hammer requesting a Tito’s Texan vodka by brand name simply because he likes that particular smooth blend? Or is it because he’s the sort of guy who ensures that, as he rises, so too do those around him, or at least those from his wife’s home state? Or maybe he just likes saying “Tito’s Gibson” out loud? Because it does sound pretty cool. “Make mine a Tito’s Gibson.” Try it. Cool, right? (Although only if you’re having a drink in The Tower Bar in LA and Armie Hammer is ordering. I tried it at my local pub in North London and got a bottle of Fanta and a bag of pork scratchings.) |
| |
| Around an hour in and we’ve had at least three Tito’s Gibsons each. Maybe four. Anyone who knows anything about Martinis knows this is a lot of booze, not least (for me) on virtually no sleep (thanks to the couple rowing in the apartment upstairs, plus jet lag) and only black coffee and a tofu sausage since 10am UK time yesterday. There’s a little light Juuling, no slurring (yet) and we have eaten, so... |
| |
| Read more at: Armie Hammer Gets Deep |
|
|
|
|
I like pyjamas – so what? |
 |
| Why am I here again? What happened last night? who was I with? |
|
|
| Is the naked thing bothering you? It’s bothering me. You see, I don’t ever go to bed naked. I’m just not one of those guys that roll like that. I don’t have a special brush to clean my trainers. I don’t drive a “murdered out” Maserati. I don’t spend Valentine’s Day in Amilla Fushi in the Maldives. I don’t get my EA to do my weekly food shop at Harrods Food Hall. I don’t own an original Jackson Pollock that I hang in my office on my Philippe Starck-designed superyacht, my tax bracket does not fall into that of a permanent traveller and, no, I do not sleep naked. |
| |
| Is the naked thing bothering you? It’s bothering me |
| |
| I mean, do you? Perhaps you do. Perhaps you’re like Beto O’Rourke. (I bet he sleeps naked.) Perhaps you are Beto O’Rourke. (If you are, do you?) Or Gandy. (David, the British male model, not Gandhi, the prophetic Indian figurehead. Gandhi may have slept naked but probably for reasons other than pure lasciviousness.) Or Obama. Maybe ex-president Barack slips between the covers with Michelle – also naked, except for those killer thigh-high Balenciaga boots she wore to meet Sarah Jessica Parker – humming “Havana” by Camila Cabello without a stitch between his saddle-gripping thighs and the ten-ply Egyptian cotton sheets. |
| |
| Maybe ex-president Barack slips between the covers with Michelle |
| |
| Naked, however, just isn’t my go-to pregame style. I bathe naked. I screw naked. And speaking of which I might end up naked having started not naked. (Occasionally. I mean, one would hope so, right?) But even when I end up naked – which is rarely – I never go to sleep naked. I get in clothed. I do whatever happens when two human beings can’t find anything good to watch on Netflix and then I get up. I get dressed. I get back into bed, clothed. |
| |
| I like pyjamas – so what? |
| |
| I like pyjamas – so what? It’s better than sleeping in that old T-shirt you picked up on a scuba-diving holiday to Tunisia. Since we’re here, let it be known: I like Derek Rose pin-dot cotton-jacquard pyjamas in navy with ivory piping and top pocket. Ideally, they must be warmed on a towel rail in advance, certainly not crumpled under one’s pillow like a student hiding their stash. Once changed, I brush my teeth using an Oral-B Genius 9000 for the recommended two minutes, sometimes a little longer if the mind wanders. Then I floss. Thoroughly. And I rinse with a glass of water, and, yes, sometimes it is filtered water. Then I wash my face. I wash my face with warm water and dry it with a clean, plump towel if available. |
| |
| The fact that I will wash and dry my face before bed is as sure as Kim Kardashian West will remove her fake lashes and post a “belfie” on Snapchat before taking a footbath in fresh unicorn milk and sleeping in her “Ye”-shaped cryo chamber. |
| |
| Read more at: Armie Hammer Gets Deep |
|
|
|
|
‘He allows you to trust him, as an actor and as a man’ |
 |
|
The Hamster. Hammertime. The Ham Man |
|
|
| Once home in London, the following week, I manage to get hold of actor Timothée Chalamet, Hammer’s costar in the critically acclaimed Call Me By Your Name, a sequel of which Hammer tells me he’d “be more than up for”. Chalamet and Hammer formed a strong, lasting friendship on set. A film about the relationship between a boy, Elio, played by Chalamet, and an older American man, Oliver, played by Hammer. |
| |
| I am compelled to tell Chalamet what I feel compelled to tell you: about the sheer decency of Hammer as a human being. “Yeah. I feel like I couldn’t have been luckier to have someone like Armie by my side,” explains Chalamet. “And that’s both through the making of the film and through all the press stuff. Armie was a walking example to me. He allows you to trust him. That’s as an actor, but, perhaps more importantly, as a man and a father and how he carries himself and how he treats others. How Armie treated me on set, his time and care, my gratitude will extend to him forever for that.” |
| |
| What is his vibe on set? “Hard-working. Determined to get it right. Collaborative. But also a desire to lift everyone up along with him for the good of the project. The greatest gift an actor has is experience and Armie’s experience helped me so much while working on Call Me By Your Name. I mean, I hadn’t really done much before. He knows to an expert level the workings of getting a good scene and getting the emotion out of it. I mean, that scene by the monument when his character and mine have to express their love for one another for the first time, man, that’s a subtle, difficult thing to get right. We were struggling in the rehearsals that morning with how to do it. |
| |
| Hey, I get it, I tell Chalamet. I tell him that I believe there is something noble about his friend, mentor and colleague. Not noble as in a sense of hierarchy or blue-bloodedness, but more in a decent, gallant, chivalrous way. That’s why he will always take those questions about his wealth and white privilege seriously, no matter how many times they come up. He understands. Chalamet, or Timmy, as Hammer calls him, concurs: “Absolutely. And I’ve never heard anyone say it like that before, but that’s totally right. He’s just a good guy. I really like what you just said – noble. I agree. He lives in relation to good purpose. It’s when people present themselves as they truly are. And Armie is as he truly is.” |
| |
| Read more at: Armie Hammer Gets Deep |
|
|
|
|
It’s easy to want to be friends with Hammer. You can kind of tell, right? |
 |
|
Did I tell you how much I like Armie Hammer? |
|
|
| It’s easy to want to be friends with Hammer. You can kind of tell, right? I swooned, plus he’s terrific company. Smart, candid and convivial. He’s also, unlike some in the industry, unafraid to speak up and speak out when something bothers him. This can, however, land him in hot water. Only days before we sit down and drink our own body weight in vodka and vermouth, Hammer hits Twitter (as he is prone) to rail against celebrities posting selfies of themselves with Stan Lee, the creative force behind Marvel comics, as a tribute to him passing. “So touched by all of the celebrities posting pictures of themselves with Stan Lee,” Hammer tweeted on 12 November 2018. “No better way to commemorate an absolute legend than putting up a picture of yourself.” Ouch. |
| |
| Did I tell you how much I like Armie Hammer? Well, let me tell you again: it’s very easy to like Armie Hammer. He’s smart, easy-breezy company. He also (you may have noticed) likes a Martini, which, coming up to 7pm, we’d had quite a number of. Four? Five? Six? For me, certainly, two too many. From what I remember – both through emailing Hammer himself the following day and also talking with a good friend who turned up after the interview for a couple – is that, eventually, Hammer was kind enough to point me and my spinning head in the right direction home. Or at least give the Uber the right address. |
| |
| Did he hold my hair back? Not quite. But would he have done? Yes, absolutely. |
| |
| Or here’s a better idea. If you see Armie Hammer out on the street, looking tall and noble, ask him. Ask Hammer the actor what happened to him and the British journalist after the Martini session in the Sunset Tower Hotel bar in November last year. Walk up to him. Say hi. Smile. Wave. Talk. Engage in a conversation. He’ll like that. Be nice. Be civil. Be a bit more, well, be a bit more Armie. |
| |
| I mean, he probably won’t tell you. Why not? Well, he’s Armie Hammer, isn’t he? It wouldn’t be gracious. It would make you laugh like hell, sure, but it wouldn’t be loyal. It wouldn’t be decent. And, you know, we could all do with being a bit more Armie Hammer sometimes. Right, Armie? |
| |
| Read more at: Armie Hammer Gets Deep |
|
|
|
|
Armie Hammer is still the master of the tracksuit |
 |
|
the power of the mighty tracksuit |
|
|
| If there’s one man who can prove the power of the mighty tracksuit, it’s Armie Hammer. GQ’s March cover star had been an advocate of a sporty two-piece for some time (his go-to brand? Adidas – although he’s partial to Fila and Hugo Boss) until he tweeted, “I would like to take this moment on the show to officially announce my retirement from tracksuits. I am done. I got oversaturated and burned out on tracksuits.” |
| |
| Well, we thought it was about time he got back into one. For our cover shoot with the Call Me By Your Name actor, GQ Fashion Director Luke Day put him in a Gucci tracksuit, reigniting both his and our adoration of the two-piece. |
| |
| Did he hold my hair back? Not quite. But would he have done? Yes, absolutely. |
| |
| What’s so great about it? Well, not only does the tracksuit have one of the most illustrious histories in menswear (everyone from Bruce Lee to Drake has sported one), it has also moved away from its roots on the playing field and has actually become a bonafide menswear mainstay, worn for both formal occasions (the Grammys, for example) and leisure. Hammer himself in fact has even worn one for a black tie dinner (see below). A result of that? Tom Ford offered to make him one. |
| |
| Read more at: Armie Hammer is still the master of the tracksuit |
|
|
|
|
|
| Armie Hammer's guide to life |
Armie Hammer Shaves His Head |
|
|
|
| wearing Adidas tracksuits |
Backstage Before His Interview with Jimmy |
|
|
|
|
iconversations engaging industry moguls |
 |
|
|
|
|
| who we are |
Technology Savvy Social Media engaging Business Moguls in
"Real-Time" marketing Hair Salons and Barbershops |
|
|
iconversations
is savvy social media marketing using Enterprise Architecture business and data analysis methodologies to engage industry moguls around the globe from all business sectors to market
hair salons
barbershops
|
| Hair Salons and Barbershops are an integral fabric within American culture and are of major interest to all communities within the country. Black Hair Salons and Black Barbershop uses the following social media venues to market client business profiles. |
| |
| blackhairsalons.TWITTER |
| blackbarbershop.twitter |
| blackhairsalons.instagram |
| ihairsalons.twitter |
| salonsaturday.twitter |
| |
| what we do |
| Black Hair Salons and Black Barbershop in association with iConversations Social Media engages business industries including Hair and Beauty, Entertainment, National News Media, Food and Fitness Industries, Professional Athletes, Celebrity Chefs, Political Representatives, plus more, to market Hair Salons and Barbershops. |
| |
| how we accomplish |
| iConversations engages social media using customer relationship management best practices, and savvy marketing techniques incorporated with humor and wit to market. During this process Hair Salons and Barbershop business profiles are marketed using Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
conversations social media |
|
"A lifestyle everyone should have access to." |
|
|
- iconversations
parterned with
iSalons
is savvy interactive online social media consulting on
the "cutting edge" of information technology engaging industry moguls around the
globe in "Real-Time" showcasing all business industry sectors.
-
isalons
iconversations
engages industry moguls online interactively in
conversations within the
Entertainment Industry, Hair and Beauty business, National News Media, Professional Athletes through sports media, Celebrity Chefs
who engage audiences with mouth watering cuisine.
|
-
iConversations engages it's
social media colleagues with
CRM business and data analysis, humor, wit that range from indepth political analysis of the
Nations Capital
key influential players,
Mr. President,
POTUS, Speaker of the House,to
teasing palettes with picturesue mouth water cuisine, humoring hearts,
occasional platonic flirting, iPlaytonics, the latest fashion passion,
to fitness routines, plus more.
-
iConversations Clients' business products and services are
showcased to a very upscale diverse demographics of quality social media
colleagues, thus giving your business high visibility locally, regionally, and
around the globe.
-
iConversations has cultivated
quality social media
relationships engaging upscale diverse collaborative communities and businesses
around the globe in "Real-Time".
- Conversations values family, relationships, and her
social media colleagues. We sincerely value people and our relationships with
them first.
|
|
|
|