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Music is an undeniable attribute of the TOMS culture. We book live music for most of our events, numerous employees are incredible musicians or DJs themselves, and the office surely empties out on the Fridays and Mondays flanking music festival weekends. Ever since our audio system was installed last year, we've been pumping a diverse mix of tunes through our warehouse headquarters.

We try and bring you guys in to our space with our HQ vids and tweets, so we thought we'd invite you to get on the same music wave-lengths too. So thanks to a lot of great contributions from employees, here's what were listening to right now. The summer sun is beating in through the warehouse door, our desk fans are bullying the heat, and we're crankin...

TOMS-Shoes-uno by TOMSshoes

And in addition to sharing the tunes, we wanted you to know our music masterminds. Contributing this month: our Advocate Program Manager Peyton (aka DJ Peytonious) and Customer Service Rep (and former intern) Charlene.




Peyton
been at TOMS since Oct '07
loves the TOMS culture because.... TOMS is family! I don't know anyone else who gets to work with a ton of their good friends every day for such an amazing cause. When things get stressful, which can happen from time to time, you just have to take a step back and remember why we do what we do.
loves music because... I have grown up listening to, loving, and making music my whole life. Making music makes me happy and discovering new music keeps things fresh
thinks that TOMS culture + music is mega important because... I think that lots of folks from TOMS feel as strongly about music as I do and while we share some very eclectic tastes in tunes everyone appreciates it when someone throws on the jams! Everyone starts nodding their heads and mini-dancing at their desks, its pretty funny.
is also listening to... a bunch of podcasts from djs who have performed or go to Burning Man
first concert? Paul Simon in Mexico City when I was 7. To this day, one of the best concerts I've ever been to
most embarrassing artist in your collection? Gloria Estefan
favorite track on this month's play list is... toss up between Seu Jorge- Rebel Rebel and Quieres Bailar- All Good Funk Alliance. My parents listened to a lot of Brazilian music when I was growing up and so Seu Jorge reminds me of being a little kid again. The All Good Funk Alliance has Latin, electronic as well as some funky elements to it, all of which I can get down with.

Charlene
been at TOMS since June '09
loves the TOMS culture because... coming to work everyday knowing you're making a tangible difference is a unique quality that most companies can't match. we work hard, play hard, and have tons of fun doing it all.
loves music because... this sums up my feelings: "When people hear good music, it makes them homesick for something they never had, and never will have." - Edward W. Howe
thinks TOMS and music should get married because... Our office thrives off the music playing from the loudspeakers. Spontaneous dance parties have been known to occur.
is also listening to... 1) Phantogram, 2) Young Man, and 3) Harlem
most embarrassing tune in your collection?Dashboard Confessional
first concert? John Mayer at the rodeo 
favorite track on this month's play list is... Excuses - The Morning Benders. When you listen to this with headphones on, it's so amazing to hear all the different layers and instrumentation of the song. Cute lyrics don't hurt either!
 

Photo courtesy of one of our HQ employees [who is obviously having an awesome week of vacation.]

After playing around on the TOMS Community Wall, we stumbled across a submission that sparked our interest big-time: a photo of a group of young volunteers ziplining in Honduras...all wearing TOMS.

So we hunted down the man behind the post, Freddy Williams. We'll let him tell you how his TOMS crew came to be -

"Here are some pics from our peeps sporting TOMS while zip lining through the rainforest in Honduras:

We were on a mission trip to a very impoverished part of the country...on the island of Roatan, where many of the kids don’t have any shoes. A bunch of the students in our group wear TOMS because we support the movement heavily...We're fans!"

-Freddy Williams, St. Louis, MO

Awesome.

This past Saturday our GIVE event with Krochet Kids and Active Ride Shop mobilized Southern California to take to the busy walkways of the Irvine Spectrum. The music line up of Tamarama, the Branches, Fitz and the Tantrums, PawnShop Kings, and Timmy Curran created joyful sound and the 25 artists went crazy customizing shoes.

We certainly missed all of those who werent there, and instead of continuing to try to paint a picture we will simply show you...

PHOTOS GALORE!!!!

*Check out our Facebook page for more pics 

*Check out these Flickr albums for more photos from Active: GIVE Event Album & GIVE Event Photo Booth Album

This past weekend was a big one for the Summer 2010 interns: lots of TOMS events means lots of TOMS lovin' to GIVE...

Maybe it was something in the water or maybe it was simply the energy of so many TOMS fans in contained areas; whatever the culprit, this weekend brought out the bizarre side in all of us... as you'll see in the pics below.

I met some interesting people at the Origins Project event at L.A. Live, while the rest of the crew partied down in Irvine for the event with Active and Krochet Kids.

And, of course, we were reminded of the overwhelming amount of support TOMS is collecting all over SoCal...how exciting to be a part of that, right?

Anyway, I think each of us have a different account of what we got out of this awesome weekend, so I'll save you the time and capture the shared emotion of the intern class in this deeply engaging photojournalistic essay that I'll call "Uhhh Nice Face?: TOMS Intern Edition"
 

Nicole & Micah & Tobi

(From left) Melanie, Jina & Lizzy

More weird faces of people hopped up on TOMS coming soon... Until then, don't do anything we wouldn't do!

One of the best parts about the One for One movement is the kind of people it attracts. Here's one of our favorite examples of a motivational TOMS story from the Community Wall:

"After undergoing surgery at Shriner's Hospital in St. Louis, Mo., Kelleyn finally got to wear a 'pair' of TOMS Shoes. She can't wait to take them back to Honduras to show them off."



Clara- thank you for posting! Share your inspirational stories by posting to TOMS.com/flag.

We wish we got to globe-trot with TOMS to all the cool places the shoes have been popping up.

Last weekend TOMS set up camp at the three-day Lovebox music festival in London’s Victoria Park, where big-name bands like Duran Duran, Chase and Status, Example and Dizzee Rascal kept the city alive and awake.




Art students from Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design took the artistic reign with a Style Your Sole, and designed custom TOMS for all who ventured in.





They even got a couple of celeb requests. British actor/comedian Matthew Horne joked about getting his face on his TOMS: “My face, your shoes. Do it.” 




We’re so excited that people dig TOMS internationally too. Thanks to our UK fans-let’s keep it coming!

If
by: Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

We've been talking up this GIVE event for a good while now, and we're excited to finally report that the big day is upon us! 

We've already shone the spotlight on Tamarama, eVocal, Eddie Wall, Fitz and the Tantrums and PawnShop Kings, but we've got one last introduction before the GIVE event this Saturday. We think you'll be glad you heard about this guy.

Meet: Timmy Curran, a professional surfer and musician, and a native of Oxnard, California. He can take it away from here...

How did you get involved with TOMS?

My friend Chris Fenn, who manages Matt Costa, told me about the GIVE event and talked up how great it was, so here I am.

How do you want to have a positive impact on the world?

I believe every person is born with a different and unique skill that can help others in need.

There's more to Timmy than this teaser. Get to GIVE to hear the rest. Have you RSVPed yet?

I noticed Ryan, our Film and Media Editor, always wears this cool gold ring. "Where's that ring from, Ryan?" I asked yesterday. He noted that while in Argentina on a Shoe Drop this past May, one of the children gave it to him. Seems like when you go to give, you always end up getting so much in return...