Donovan David Goliath (real name) aka The BruinO (other name) is an art director, dancer, rapper, sneaker pimp, part time lecturer and all round creative oke. Donovan left his hometown Umtata in the Eastern Cape and moved to Jozi in 2006 and currently works at Net#work BBDO.

Besides Jozi, his  other favourite city has to be Paris, gahdaym that place is off the chains like S&M. His life motto: If ya aint in the race, get out the way.

Follow Donovan around Johannesburg… I wake up, brush my teeth, crank up some sound and listen to some ol skool hip hop while watching Street Customs before deciding what sneakers im gon wear. Then I hit the streets and usually dig checking out these places, in no particular order:

Roots restaurant in Soweto for a Tshisa Nyama platter and ridiculously cold beer on a Sunday / Bottega or Salvation for breakfast, try the breakfast burrito at Salvation / Bismillah in Fordsburg for befokte curries / Naickers Durban Curry off Jan Smuts for the best bunny chows in Jozi / Bowls club or Bush Pub for beer and that good ol pub vibe / Café Mexico in Melville, great spot, great vibe not up its own ass and they have a tequila menu / Superb pastas at Sugo in Parktown North / When I don’t give a crap bout healthy eating, I like to stop at Shereens in Westbury for a Russian special – a huge ass Russian with chips and some garnish on a roll, cholesterol inducing shit / Hanging out at the Hyde Park hotel, its expensive, super larney and up its own ass but pretty awesome / Dig checking out Bookdealers in Rosebank for super cheap deals especially on design and photography books / Heading off to the CBD to find cheap converse all stars / sneaker hunting at Munks or Gallery on 4th in Melville / Dtox Sundays at Arts on Main/ The Bank in Rosebank and I’m always on the lookout for awesome galleries and exhibitions around the city.

Nicola Cooper lives in her loft apartment in the financial district of Joburg CBD, two blocks from Ghandi Square, a couple of blocks from the Standard Bank Gallery and a hop, skip and a jump from Vida and the infamous Gentleman’s Club. Perfect really. She’s an art director and spatial stylist and describes herself as “a little bit Country, a little bit Rock ‘n Roll”.

She embraces Joburg for all it’s worth. “Flaws and all, I love it.” Apart from Jozi, her other favorite city is New York as it epitomises city living.

Follow Nicola around Johannesburg… I am a self proclaimed workaholic but every now and again I allow myself the opportunity to soak up Johannesburg city life. It usually begins with a cup of coffee at home in the CBD, mostly spent gazing with a voyeruistic view of crews filming in the empty city streets.  I often go to Service Station in Melville’s Bamboo Centre for French Toast. Bamboo also hosts a couple of my  favourite stores, the Jewelry store Tinsel – where Magpies can relish – and Black Coffee’s flagship store. A browse is always inevitable. I love the city on a Sunday morning, it has an amazing quietness about it. People going about their Sunday’s chores, walking to church, drinking coffee, the frenzy of the week forgotten. Sunday afternoons usually consist of meeting friends and walking my Chow in and around Emmarentia Dam. It is a lovely contrast to the sharp edges of the city and leaves me feeling refreshed for the week ahead. There is memorial Celtic cross close to Jeppe Boys High in Kensington that gives you an almost 360 degree view of Johannesburg. Hand-crafted stone steps and high field grass lead you up. It is a perfect spot to view the city from up high. I love music, fashion and cake. I have named it my Marie Antoinette sydrome, so for fun I would either be dancing to a great band or DJ at Kitcheners Carvery in Braamfontein has become an irregular regular where I go to dance to music played by close friend Chris Casio Heart, DJ takadashi, or  Klein Bass. For live bands I will go any where my heart takes me, from Newtown, Richmond’s Bohemian, Linden’s Cantina Tequilla and lastly CCHQ in Primrose being a firm favorite. For cake, I would travel far and near for a great piece of cake luckily enough there are a few places to go and indulge in a delicious piece of cake, I would recommend the Wild Olive in Greenside for home – style baking, I love cupcakes on 7th St in Parkhurst and of course the newly opened Wolves in Illovo for a fine piece of pure yummy.

Jobusy: Have you been on the Gautrain yet?

Lisa Cohn: No, but I plan to soon. When I first saw the model Gautrain in a mall all I could think was how I could steal it for my lounge.

J: Do you think it will change the way Joburg looks – when it is more developed and running under the city?

LC: Absolutely. I remember when I was living above a building site. The low rumble of the tunnel drilling infused my falling-asleep every time I put my head on the pillow – it changes not just the aesthetics, but also the pulse of a city, in the most literal way. It’s exciting. It takes the web and phone-connectedness of the 21st century and turns it into a physical  website, connecting people and things. Does that make sense?

J: Yes it does – so everyone in Joburg will go between people and things in trains instead of in their cars or taxis, is that it?

LC: Yes, and you see the city from above, like layers upon layers, connectedness – veins of connectedness.

J: Okay – let’s say it’s 14 May 2020 – what does it look like outside your Illovo office window?

LC: The oak trees  have still not figured out that it is autumn due to global warming, so the brown and gold leaves are interspersed with much more glowing pastel greens. I can hear people in the restaurants and office balconies across the road. The cars that I can see look like throwback designs from the ‘60s and ‘70s, but they are humming at a sound that only dogs and bass players can pick up.

J: You’re on Oxford Road, right? Is it busy with commuters running to catch their trains?

LC: The commuters are walking… people are walking on Johannesburg streets again! There are levels of traders, from street vendors to informal to shops and they are trusting each other.

J: Thank the lord! I mean thank the Gautrain!

LC: Thank the Gautrain and a new political alliance.

J: What’s the political alliance?

LC. Not sure. It comes from the ANC currently being seen as a political factionalist party, which by the next elections people will no longer tolerate.

J: Who is the president in 2020?

LC: I find that a very difficult question. There is too much upheaval in the party right now to answer. The ANCYL is in a little internal struggle, the party itself is not quite sure of where it’s at. With any luck we’ll have a real strong opposition. So – no idea.

LC: I agreel.

J: Fear of walking in the streets will be soooo last decade.

LC: However, we do have that hurdle to jump, as a city - and it’s a middle class thing. People will have to get over their fear of space invaders and their obvious fear of mass violence. The new middle class has seen their personal transport as a status symbol – Hummers, 4×4s, 1 car for 1 person, the bigger your car the bigger your status. That’s Joburg. They will have to regress that in order to adopt public transport again. Public transport will have to be marketed as an elite 21st century thing. There’s a psychological challenge we as a country have to undertake and it’s a missed opportunity that WC2010 has overseen. They should promote tourists’ uses of our new infrastructure back at us. Not a ‘how does Gautrain compare’ type scenario, but a more subtle scenario. In Russia, the underground stations also contain some of the most incredible examples of triple volume halls and decoration. In New York, the subways have Lichtenstein’s at certain stations, as well as much smaller miniature bronze statues of little men walking under the gates. It’s integrated into the culture of the city as more than transport. How do we do that? How do we get visitors to appreciate that and promote it back at us?

J: Maybe it will happen on it’s own. It’s very closely linked to crime and safety. The day a northern suburbs parent allows their 12 year old child to take the Gautrain into the city to meet their friends will be the day the war is won!

LC: 100%. You can’t engineer the society from the bottom up because you wind up making promises about cleaning it up and safety and security etc etc..

J: You engineer it from the top?

LC: You have to make it aspirational and cool and essential hence the world class city thing, not a grudging, we-have-to-have-it thing.

J: Back to Johannesburg. In 2020 will those same middle-classers choose to take the train into the city to shop, socialise, play, eat, etc, over driving to a mall and spending 2-3 hours indoors?

LC: I hope so!

Lisa Cohn began her musical career by walking straight into a Joy Division-poster-covered door at age 4 somewhere in Highlands North. It could’ve been the bump on her head, but this incident changed everything, and resulted in a life-long obsession with music, and the city. In spite of a multi-disciplinerary career that has traversed fashion, magazines, TV, the African continent, the WWW, and it’s handset-equivalent(s), the core of it all remains a bump on the head and an obsession with the city. Currently she parlays this all into a day job as a Creative Director and several side projects including a radio show and an App strategist, and ‘tinker-thinker’. Not to mention, prowler of the city by day and night, with it’s heart tattoe’d on her sleeve. She is still an obsessive user of so-called ‘new’ media. Yes, you may call her a geek, but she will take it as a compliment.

As twenty somethings seem to do these days, Milisuthando Bongela wears a few different hats. She’s primarily a journalist (graduate of Rhodes University) but has also worked as a trend observer, fashion commentator and artist promoter. Busy lady, in other words. When she isn’t updating her blog, winning journalism awards, writing an article or contributing to her weekly column [#justsaying in the Mail&Guardian], you’ll spot her running around town organising Pulchritude – a new designer-wear clothing sale on Saturdays starting tomorrow (Saturday 5 June 2010).

JOBUSY: What does Pulchritude mean?

MILI BONGELA: Extreme beauty and refinement

J: Beauty in clothing?

MB: No in general. It’s an archaic English word that describes physical beauty, comeliness but it can be used to describe clothing too.

J: So the local designer labels you’ve chosen to represent at the sales are pulchritudinous?

M: Absolutely.

J: And who are they?

MB: Black Coffee, Two, Silverspoon Clothing, Love Jozi, Loin Cloth & Ashes and Cape Town’s mememe. Plus accessories by Maria McCloy and Lucky You.

J: And how did the sales come about?

MB: I approached the people at the Parktown North Food Market, and presented them with the idea of giving me space to sell clothing from South African designers at their very established market each week.  (By the way they are moving premises to a permanent house on 7th Avenue in Parktown North, instead of the parking lot by the Woolies.)

J: And Joburg, I heard you’re a fan?

MB: I love this city.

J:  If you could take a foreginer to ONE place, and that would be their only chance at seeing Joburg, what would that place be?

MB: Damn, if only the rooftop at Main Street Life was done…! I’d take them to  Newtown, that’s the place that got me when I first visited Joburg.

J: Where else do you hang?

MB: I  love going to Parkhurst’s Nice Restaurant. I often start my day with an early morning brekkie at Nice, accompanied by their very special home made fizzy lemonade that’s garnished with coffee beans.

J: On Saturdays?

MB: Yes. And if it’s a warm Jozi Saturday morning it’s the best time to go to 44 Stanley for decor shopping and the world’s greatest cocktails at Salvation. From there, I’d go to Maria McCloy’s house in Yeoville for some vintage clothes shopping, a free can of Pepsi and Chicken Licken wings.  After the hot wing chow down, I’d go to Arts on Main to the Seippel and Goodman Galleries for some exhibitions and book shopping at David Krut. I love Canteen at Arts on Main but I’d probably be full from the chicken wings so I’d just go there to say hi and head to Kensington. Queen Street is the best antique furniture place in Jozi and I especially like Art Angle for extremely cute little trinketts and paintings. After Kensington, I’d head back to the burbs for a late afternoon gig at Emmarentia Dam or a live performance at the Bassline featuring bands like 340ml, Tumi and the Volume, Zubz, The Fridge, Zaki Ibrahim and Thandiswa. From the gig, I think it would only be right to head to Thandiswa’s house for one of her legendary pool parties which always end up with me in half a bikini and euphoric garage get-downs by everybody.  The next morning, we’d wake up and reminisce about the night before. That’s how they always end. I love this city

Andile runs Designer Original Products Enterprise, which is a company that deals with the cool! From Designing stores to products and anything that deals with making ish cool! Designer Original Products Enterprise has a retail space called D.O.P.E. Store which we’ve already praised here on Jobusy, and totally deserves your time and money! Apart from constantly upgrading D.O.P.E. Store, Andile’s next project is Lillians, a quick fix coffee shop located a block away.

Follow Andile around Joburg…

Wake up @ 5:30 Go for a jog Out the crib @ 6:30. Meet the store manager For a breakfast meetin around 7 @ Cramers Coffee. Back at the office around 8 and check my mail and diary. Usually work on how to do the intallation we are working on…they are usually complex and we always need custom pieces so design those aswell while the mind is till fresh! Head to Fatimas for lunch which is usually business.. kill 2 birds with 1 stone! (i like to be productive!). Back to the office just to get what i need for the site we are working on! Work with the staff on the specifics cause everything has to be done rite! Usually leave work around six….head to Kospotong for a drink/dinner with friends…. just to catch up with them! I was away for 3 yrs workin in England so that makes me value time with friends a family more. But I’m a workaholic so I do after hours never during work!

JOBUSY: Dude, how things over in the Art Deco district?

ANDILE CELE: Art Deco District? what do you mean?

J: that whole side of the city is filled with art deco styled buildings, especially the one you putting Lillian’s in. Hows that going by the way? When do you open?

AC: its going but there some hickups…got the power cables stolen a few weeks ago, shud be back workin nxt week. Open maybe in May sometime??

J: Whats the name been given to the dudes stealing power cables again?

AC: Thieves! LOL…but it’s really such a bad situation that we r in at d moment, this project is stalling because of these things that are happenin, but we’ll get it goin.

J: They were called “isinyoka” or some shit, and had glowing eyes in the Eskom adverts!! So is your grandma proud you gonna name the coffee shop after her?

AC: Well she doesn’t know yet, we have planned a surprise party for her. She’s gonna come up to Jozi as she’s gonna see the finished D.O.P.E. Store…bt then we gonna take her to Lillian’s after! Suprise!!!!!

J: That’s amazing!! When do you see the launch of the “finished” D.O.P.E. Store? it looks so rad already?

AC: Lookin @ June d 10th we are looking at gettin a home section and formal…basically we want to get closer at completing d lifestyle of shopping! We’ll add one more section later on d year but that will be a surprise!!!

J: Tell us about the Love Jozi shoot! What was it like being a model?

AC: Well I see things like doing a shoot as art. Just expanding myself as an artist and learnin to b creative on a diff level.

J: what was really great about the shoot was how its really gonna help with exposure for those out of the city loop. I’ve been loving your store, but I guess its time for the world to soon realise the awesomeness of Joburg inner city. How do you see what you doing fitting in with Joburg’s massive revamp? How do you want to be remembered when our stories get told in the history books?

AC: Thank you, and I love Main Street Life…can’t wait to be livin in such an awesome building…bt I’d love to be remembered as som1 who saw a lot of potential and took it 2 a higher level, and made a bit of money while doin it.

Angie (or Pants as her friends call her) works as an art director at Network BBDO. She used to be a copywriter (and isn’t sure how she pulled it off with such atrocious spelling) and recently opened up a little cake/coffee/book/awesome shop with her husband Shane and friend Greg called Wolves in Illovo. She runs a blog called Lucky Pony which is full of stuff she likes to buy/find/photograph and horde. She also likes taking photographs and making crafty things with her crafty little hands.

Her other favorite city in the world is Paris. She finds the people beautiful and effortlessly put together, the buildings amazing and antiquey (apparently this is a word in art-director-land) and you can get Nutella pancakes bigger than four of your faces put together.

Follow Angie round Joburg… Well now that  Wolves has opened, I like to wake up in the morning on a Saturday, eat chocolate, go past the shop, pick up my little antique silver tray and feed people thick slices of red velvet cake. I then like to eat a piece of red velvet cake. Holy crap that stuff is addictive and red and delicious. Have you ever tried some? If the answer to this question is no, then see you at Wolves. Come hungry like a wolf.  Then I sometimes like to go antique or junk shopping. My favourite spots are Louis Botha-Kensington-Newlands-Town… just to name a few. This takes up quite a bit of time, but it’s so much fun and I always come home with something animal shaped or old. Then I sit on the couch and watch Project Runway (PVR) while I eat lunch. The evenings either see us going out for supper with friends (Cilantro in Parkhurst is a favourite) or going to a Desmond and The Tutus gig, or sometimes hooking up with my poker group for a poker steak-out. Too much fun.

Maria McCloy was a founder of pioneering media company Black Rage Productions, who brought you shows like Bassiq, Street Journal, Noted, Soul Sunday, and artists like Zubz, H2O, Pebbles and Optical Illusion. Aside from editing urban culture website www.rage.co.za, she also produces inserts for TraceTV. You’ll see her name credited in countless publications for articles she’s written on South Africa music and youth culture.

Follow Maria around Johannesburg…

JOBUSY: Hi Maria, are you at Deerhunter today?

MARIA MCCLOY: Nah why?

J: Don’t you sell your earrings and vintage stuff there?

MM: Yes but only once a month at the Junk Sale, the first Saturday of each month with other cool vintage sellers. There wasn’t one last weekend ’cause of the holidays so there is one this Saturday (10am -3pm, 10 April 2010,  135 Greenway, Greenside)

J: Great

MM: I like the sale day it’s my favourite day of the month, I love satisfying my customers and friends with hot cheap items! It’s like a social get togetha. Plus having Ke Ai and The Street next door rocks, as does a Vida cappuccino. I must hang in Greenside more, now you’re most likely to find me in my hood Yeoville, town and Rosebank.

J: How’s Yeoville these days?

MM: I think my flat on the hill is the best space in the world. I can see Ponte, the Hillbrow Tower and people praying. Yeoville is gritty, but it has a heart and a pulse. I love the market and street life and that it’s cosmopolitan, full of people from all over Africa. Rocky Street and some other buildings have a new layer of paint, it’s getting cleaner and nicer.

J: Your view is amazing. Well done for staying.

MM: Well done? Why’d you say that? I’ve never wanted to be anywhere else in Joburg!

J: Because some people got scared in the ’90s and moved out of  Yeoville to the north. Well done for not being a woes.

MM:

J: Anything else up lately?

MM: I’ve been going to plenty of entertainment industry events for Rage. Like the SAMA nominee launch at Taboo, the MTV Base birthday at Urban Tree in Sandton, Bonang Matheba’s website and handbag launch at MiBAR in Rosebank and DJ Black Coffee’s birthday at The Bank. Also went to Arts On Main to see the fab exhibition by Kudzai Chiurai but it was over by 8pm on launch night? What happened to African time? But nevermind… I’ll go back, I love that area.

J: You’re busy.

MM: Shoo I am Jobusy neh! Last week I went to a deaf music event at The Bassline. Awesome, mixed with a predominantly deaf young crowd, a vibrating dancefloor, projections, lights, VJs. Music was by Kenzhero, the Blunted Stuntman, the Rudimentals, Kwani Experience and Desmond and the Tutus. Next week I’ll go to Belavista Lounge, I’ve only been there once before. Went to Troyeville Hotel last Sunday, I like their Sunday lunch plus PebbleKhethi and Nothende will be performing.

J: Thanks, you are very Jobusy!

MM: Thanks for putting me on the site!

J: See you at The Deerhunter on Saturday.

Alexia Walker has lived in Paris, London, Sydney, Skikda (that’s in Algeria), Amsterdam, Cape Town and now chooses Johannesburg as her home. Her, and partner Luntu Sishuba own What’sPhat, which started off as an independent music record label that has grown into one of Joburg’s most successful brand activators. She lives, works and breathes on the bleeding edge of media, design, fashion and eventing trends, and Johannesburg is a large part of her inspiration. She loves it here because the people are warm and genuine. It’s a stimulating place and makes her feel alive every single day.

Follow Alexia around Johannesburg…

JOBUSY: Hi Alexia. Are you too busy for Jobusy?

ALEXIA WALKER: Funny that! I checked the site yesterday and I was thinking that I owe you. Today’s a running around day tho..

J: Where you running?

AW: Must get fish at the Portuguese Fisheries in Troyeville, visit a friend’s newborn, catch the 5pm Japanese flick and then another friend’s braai. Pff, I’m exhausted already!

J: Japanese flick?

AW: It’s part of the free four-day Japanese film festival organised by the Japan Embassy at Cinema Nouveau in Rosebank. They show great flicks that are pretty impossible to come across elsewhere and it’s FREE!

J: Free movies – that’s very generous of the Japanese! Have you been to The Bioscope?

AW: No I keep wanting to go but for some reason I never make it. Looks really good though.

J: Well you are going to have to come on Wednesday [31 March 2010]…..

AW: Why, what’s up?

J:  Unhinged Joburg, a doccie by Adi Loveland. It will be the first their DocLove series, where documentary makers get to screen their films and get audience feedback.

AW: Sounds great. Last week I went to The Goodman Gallery in Rosebank to see the Hasan and Hosein exhibition.

J: I heard it was great. I’m so seldom in Rosebank these days, I still havent been to Circa – I’m embarrassed to say.

AW: Argh. I was not blown over by Circa. Okay, about places off our radar – Shaolin Monks at Teatro Montecasino. An okay show, but the Teatro is a beautiful theatre.

J: I try avoid Fourways at the best of times, and I just can’t for Montecasino. I prefer to pretend it isn’t there. Though I did have fun there once at an ad industry event. Hmm, too much fun.

AW: Ha ha. See you at The Bioscope?

J: LoveJozi at ArtsOnMain are having some drinks before the movie, see you there.

Ross lives in a loft he built in Frost Street opposite 44 Stanley Ave. He owns a company called Artlogic that produces the annual Joburg Art Fair. He is interested in the world of hand-made objects and would love to put a fair together that covers all aspects of artisinal or hand-made goods including food, fashion and design.

Ross lives in the same building that he runs Artlogic from, which means his commute to work takes all of 30 seconds. Which is a relief because his perfect Joburg day consists predominantly of going to work. He’s chosen a Thursday: starting with a bike ride to the Zoo Lake swimming pool for a 45 minute swim, back to the office by 9am latest for a meeting with the six staff members of Artlogic.

He eats out for lunch during the week either at: Service Station, Greenside Café, or a hot Vietnamese broth from 44 Stanley Ave, using this time to catch up with business partner Cobi Labuscagne. He chose Thursday as his ideal day as it’s the traditional ‘gallery openings’ night in the city. So after wrapping up the day he takes the opportunity to see what’s being produced, who’s buying what, catch up with galleries and artists and hopefully squeeze in a cold Grolsch. He likes to be home by 8 to enjoy the casserole he put on to slow-cook earlier in the afternoon, with his girlfriend Aurelie…

Justin is a photographer from Durban who came to Joburg to find his fortune. His favourite topics include documenting the city and its inhabitants. Lots of natural black and white graphics of the city. He loves party photos, and shoots portraits for a local escort agency.

In response to the question, ‘why do you live here?’, the answer was a categorical:  ‘money, money, money… too many photographers, too few clients in Durban’. Which is a cold hard way to look at the city, but he loves the fact that he doesn’t ever have to deal with traffic, and the shopping in the city. Further to that he inevitably finds himself apologising for leaving his keys and bank card at the Mexican place in Melville.

For this recent Joburg convert the perfect day in the city goes as follows: Wake up hung over on a Saturday, go for a vodka orange juice hair-of-the-dog breakfast at Xai Xai, then catch a minibus taxi to town, shop for secondhand clothes at the piles market just off Bree Street. Hawkers literally pile up bales of old clothes. It’s the best place to find baseball bomber jackets. My jacket collection is currently sitting on around 100. After that I’d catch a taxi home before the afternoon thunderstorms hit to have a power nap before I start editing the photos from the day’s adventure. Then hit Paul’s Tavern, or anywhere I can find Black Label and tequila.