I just got to have 10 days off to do absolutely nothing... I didn't go anywhere, I didn't work on anything and I barely went out... What did I do, I'm not really sure it's kind of a blur of awesome sleep, awesome food and getting my head together to do another year of grinding out crap. It takes a lot out of me, I basically have trained myself to do at least 11 hours of work a day... Between the world wide leader, painting, Timbers Army merch, I need about two to three vacations where I do absolutely nothing... Though, I've found out this past year that video games are really therapeutic, nothing that requires puzzling thought, aka FIFA 13. Anyways lets catch up the back end of 2012 and talk about 2013.
So I was so busy working at the Fanladen and with the TA webteam to blog over the past two months. We had to build a separate website for NoPity Originals so we could have complete control over the online store and work some new features to help us run it. That was a mind-fuck like no other. I had to learn stamps dot com, a new webstore plugin to wordpress, along with making sure the paypal was giving us the right info, align it with all the old orders from the previous site ... Then after we got everything figured out I had to teach the rest of the merch team, cause I'll be damned if I'm the only one running this mess (or even at all, may I remind myself that the season is in less than 3 months and we have a whole spring and summer apparel line to put out). The system works great, we have teams that go in and crank out shipping, keep the inventory right, and answer emails (well, we always answered emails but this time we actually know what we are talking about)
On Top of that we had a Black Friday (aka Green Weekend) sale and put out our winter lookbook
Fun story about the making of that lookbook, we literally got the last of the product the weekend that everything needed to go up (Had 3 days til shit went live)... Luckily I was prepared for all of it, and had a team of models (friends) lined up to be ready on a moments notice... We all met up at like 10am on that Saturday, to say we were hung over is an understatement. I was miserable the entire morning... We rushed up to forest park and shot the lookbook (the actual shoot was done within an hour, that's how good we've gotten at this shit), took naps then sat around doing product photos and building the lookbook and website store for the next two days. Everything was ready for a Monday release when a not-to-be-named British (hahaha) board member threw wrench after wrench at us, and delayed us to a Tuesday release... Worst part is that none of that we had to do for them was relevant when the problems started flowing in. I'll say this, we got threw it, we're better for it and I'm not going to relive it.
Other than that I helped out a buddy and made bowling shirts for his kids birthday party... It was too funny and took me like an hour to do a solid for him. Now he owes me one and he owns a pool, see what I did there.
I know I owe a review on the new Snuff album, I think it's actually out in America now, I've had a Japanese copy since the beginning of October. Anyways I'll get to it, I have a really fun story about them and when I first found out about those likely Ladds.
til then, listening to:
Drag the River - Get Drunk
This was ridiculous... I basically went to Vancouver and back, watched the Timbers win the Cascadia cup for the price of food and a ticket... For some reason people just felt like I should be there. This comes with the story of the last time I was in Vancouver and we won the cup, also the official story of how I broke the Cascadia cup.
The Timbers were in the USL and i think it was 2012, I was rolling with my buddy Finn, who is now the 107ist VP, through a whole long weekend in Vancouver.. Taking the train up, boozing, we had a swanky hotel room booked but only for the Saturday and Sunday night, So when we rolled up on Friday we had to scour the whole city (litterally walked 5+ miles in a fresh pair of Sambas ... Blisters in the first 3 hours there) looking for a place to stay, eventually just hitting the (BLANK) hostel.
We wake up the next day and check into our hotel, shower, I make fun of Finn for ironing his clothes after unpacking and hit the city... That was in the summer, so the weather was perfect, the day couldn't be better, plenty of good food and drinking. At this point you think we're just having a good time on vacation, nothing is going to go wrong. What could go wrong? Well we finish enjoying our day and head back to the hotel to shower up and go get dinner with the whole crew that had come up that day...
The next morning, like any darby day morning, I woke up fucking buzzing, I just had that inkling that epic shit was going to happen. We get breakfast, we meet up with everyone, and head to the bar to start drinking with the Cascadia cup, that Joanne had just brought up. We had won it the year before and it had been living in peoples houses, been lifted by the handles almost exclusively for a year (really we had no idea that they could get loose). At the bar I watch Vince and LTBJ5k shake the shit our of the cup in their ritual of saying goodbye in case it doesn't come back. We get drink enough that we get that Timbers Army obnoxious swagger going. We leave the bar chanting, holding the cup and shouting at tourists and doing Godzilla impressions, got on the train to head to Swansgard Stadium (for all the folks that are new to the Timbers, Swansgard was basically the size of Merlo field at University of Portland and the Whitecaps used to play there... The catch is that it's outside of Vancouver proper... You had to take a train and then walk two miles in the woods to get there... I'm not joking). Seriously here's a pic of us having to take a pee break on the way into the stadium.
So I grab the cup to hold it for the train ride to Swansgard (BTW I'm probably spelling this horribly wrong.), just cause everyone was man handling it and I wanted it to be safe (I really fucking thought this). About five minutes into the train ride we hit a bump, we went up and when we came down the cup was still cradled in my arm like a baby but the handle was in my other hand. Immediate panic, I look over at Shawn (Bickle) with a face that's about to cry and the handle in my hand... "I just broke the cup" I said, Bickle looks at me sympathetically "Shut the fuck up... Well, we can't do anything about it now."
Finn takes the handle for safe keeping and we go onward to the game... Now that's how the cup broke, but this is how karma's a bitch.
So we get to the game, we stand on our little bleacher that should fit 30 people but we're fitting 50 rowdy TA on it. We keep the cup low so no one knows we broke it. To best explain is that when the TA has to stand in bleachers, you would think we stand where you would stand up from the seated position, those low platforms in the stands... No (that's where we put the cup), the TA has to stand on top of where you'd sit your butt, where there's even less space to stand on, and the real possibility of that shit breaking (San Jose away last year). At half it was tied, at 0's, while I was coming in late from smoking I hear the stadium go nuts (the kinda go nuts that you know just what happened) ... goal Vancouver. The worst part is I have to walk through every happy face along the long way back to our little bleacher. On the way I run into Vince who is shirtless and eating a hot dog "what's up dude I just snuck into the VIP seats and got some hotdogs and beers" he says... I don't say anything, I just look sad being a goal down "Dude we totally got this, cheer up." The weirdest thing is I did... Within 10 minutes the Timbers respond and score a goal... Were dancing in the stands, at this point I'm standing at the top of the bleachers with LTBJ5k... Going into the 80th minute the game winner gets slotted home, LTBJ5k grabs me and we start running down the bleachers towards the pitch, and I feel it... I felt the cup leave about a 4-5 inch cut straight down my shin. I was too busy celebrating to worry about it, After the game I could already feel the blood making my pants and socks stiff... I didn't want to look at it though, knowing it would probably need stitches and I didn't want to ruin the night having just won the cup.
The next morning I wake up and Finns like, dude you sheets are all bloody what happened... I'm like oh yeah, the cup fucked me up last night... At that point we're already late to meet up and ride home... So I sacked up stole a towel from the hotel and wrapped it up til I got home... I had to get a shot for a staph infection and have a noticeable scar on my shin to this day.
This past trip was up there wasn't as memorable as the the last one, but it was pretty freaking sweet... The drive up with Mike and Harper was tons of laughs and me controlling the tunes. Tons of great people were up there, the drinking and ridiculous antics are rated X and can't even be blogged... Was a great 2.5 days.
Gameday was something else though, I was so hung over and woke up way late, I was in a 107ists board members room on the couch... She and her daughter had taken off to go hand out tickets. I get on the wifi and try and find some Dim Sum, as I'd been dying to get some since before the trip, I knew it was darby day but I was too hung over to be buzzing, I was more concerned about getting myself right as there were only 5 hours til the game, and we had to be at the stadium in 3. I find a dim sum cart, and pound 3 steam pots while running over to the Railway Club where we had established as home base for the trip. Everyone's there, drinking, hangover killed, and game ready... Seriously if I could give another Blue Ribbon to Pabst it would have been that day, the beer saved my life from a brutal hangover.
It was probably one of my favorite walk-ups to any away game... We had security (though for what it's worth Vancouver is harmless when it comes to the walk up to the game, or after for that matter), we had drums, we had 300 people all rolling together through downtown Vancouver... Good vibes too, can't forget that, a good walk up can tell you a lot about how the games gonna go down. On the way into Seattle this year I knew it was gonna be bad just in the walk-up. We were getting shit on from all angles, people threw stuff, they made us walk around everything so it took forever, and you could tell you were just being led to slaughter. When we entering the stadium I knew 2 things, we were gonna get killed and I probably wasn't gonna watch any of the game.
During the walk up in Vancouver I just believed, and everything felt right, the weather was cooperating (as it had rained non stop before we left to go into the stadium) everyone was in a good mood singing hanging stuff in the stadium... Shit we couldn't do in Seattle, like wearing an ACAB banner like a cape. It was good, just can't say that enough. The game was tense and actually a fun watch... the goal was so unexpected that it made the game so much better and fun.
Winning the cup did bring tears to my eyes, watching our boys take that cup from the choche balls in fatigues and aviators was just epic.
Afterwards I split to get to the bar, get a drink and take a wiz.. When I came out of the bathroom there was my girl... The cup was all shiny and alone... I went right up and gave it kisses and hugs, I started seeing flashes go off and realized my private moment with the cup was compromised. The beer tasted a little tinny out of it, but by the time everyone had got their photo drinking out of it and Abe was forcing the rest down my throat.. I started to get pretty drunk, Poutine time... but not before we took a picture of us with the cup on a tank.
After that, everything got kinda weird, we stashed the cup and all of a sudden some of the Timbers FO start showing up, things got really fan boy/girly and I was out.. Poutine followed by drinking with the boys at a undisclosed location, bed. Next day was 6 hours of no voice (literally couldn't speak) and smiles while driving home.
It was a priceless experience but it left no scars and it wasn't the USL in a tinpot stadium... I don't think any away day will ever compare to that fateful weekend in Vancouver when I broke the cup.
Listening to: the new SNUFF album 1-2-3-4-5-Perhaps which I will review next week, it's really good.
Going to Wankouver, BC this weekend. A city that I would absolutely love, except for the fact that every time I go up there it's to watch the Timbers play and it puts a chip on my shoulder... So it's going to be a lot of stink eyes walking around the city this weekend... Though that being said I'm going to have some fun, Kokane beer, dim sum brunch and a Cascadia derby. NICE. If you want to see my progress and shenanigans check my twitter @JerkMcGerkPDX for the live diary ... It used to be TAonTour, but it was only used once for San Jose away last year and I need to use twitter sometimes, so I went with a new name... An hilariously awesome name.
I'll be back next week with a post of my favorite designs that never got produced... I've been going through the old files and theres some good ones in here.
Listening to: The CrabFeast podcast, legit funny!
also get MGK's new album... it's pretty dope. LACE UP!
Just fast forward to 2:38... Cleveland boys in the building!
I always get crapped on for backing MGK. Friends out here always make fun of me... calling him corny... Calling me a homer... There's a bunch of reason I love MGK, and Cleveland is the biggest (I am a homer). But his first album is seriously inspiring. I'll play it to get myself pumped up, or if I'm having a bad day to remind myself how good I have it and where I came from. Kelly came up really hard in Cleveland and is a huge success story and he's very poetic describing it on that first album. The fact that he still loves his people, always reps Cleveland and never let success get to his head... His show are always good (and he does a lot of them)... You gotta respect that and though he isn't my style, the songs are still good. Haters can hate, but kid's got skills.
FIFA 13, oh yeah, is sooo Good. I was rocking the demo for the last week to get my leg under me and then came out of my first night with fifa with a 3-2-1 record... Crushing my buddy J-wags 4-0 in my first match... The game is absolutely brilliant, it's so much smoother than the older ones, the graphics and the stadiums are better, and the fluent motion passing and first touch are just amazing, it might as well be real football. So there goes my life this winter. Good thing almost all the winter TA swag is oredered (that's right, everything is going to be on time this year haters...). But before I go into swag, I need to finish my thoughts on video games right now.
My love of video games is no secret, but I am not a gamer. I never have time anymore to play like I used to. Like when my buddy Mark "Cougar" Tervine and I used to sit around all night and play a season of NHL 07... Or my buddy Johnny Swindle and I would play through all of Def Jam Fight for New York (btw WC has hands down the best into bit). I just don't have time, I'll come out of retirement for Zeldas and go to my buddy Kyles to play the new NHL's and Call of Duties... But now these guys are playing this Battlefield game where you are fighting for like an hour straight, no breaks... That's to ridiculous. But I recently got a deal on a PS3 for a buck fitty with all the extras you'd want... So I said fuck it and per-ordered FIFA 13. I have really enjoyed the previous versions of the game and have gone out of my way to mooch play off of friends. Totally worth it. I was going to get the new NHL, as stated above, I have been playing all the NHL's since the one that changed the hockey game landscape, NHL 94. Luckily, Kyle bought the game before me and I went over to his place Monday to put in a couple hours with it... Not impressed. This is a game that has improved every year since 94, that changed how games use controllers, real time action, fluent motion and actually got everyone on board with making these sports games quality simulators. The new one just doesn't have it right, the controls are behind, the AI is lagging, passing sucks, and it's really hard to get your timing. Kyle and I aren't NHL slouches and after 3 hours of playing we were still having the same stupid passing problems (won't let you control speed of pass or really the direction), hitting problems, and just shabby game play.. It's hard as fuck to time the L3 button on a ps3 controller as your speed burst... Not to mention the clicking joysticks are the first thing to go on one of those controllers anyways. It's almost for the best that we are heading into a full NHL lockout because it will help erase how bad this game is and give them a clean sheet next year (if there is even hockey then).
So the winter Timber Army gear is almost all ordered, blows me away how much we've learned about the merch game since last year when we did this. It's no secret either that we are going to do a Black Friday through Sunday pop up store for the winter gear at the Timbers Army Fanladen. Tons of cool shirts, hoody options and all the winter hats you could want. With all that ordered and set up, I can actually concentrate on getting painting done this winter and play a shit ton of FIFA... Which is good too, cause this season took a toll on me. We got spanked with sales, orders, lack of stock... So many more learning experiences which is great but it's left me quite burnt out. I need the silly offseason ASAP.
Here's our new Cascadia bar scarf;
We've been going crazy with bar scarves lately... We did that NEU one and we have a special bar box set coming out soon.
Here's some out of season tanks
This was everyone's bad, the tanks were held back due to missing stock from our supplier, then we forgot about them, then our printers forgot they had them, then I was like fuck it, lets make them out of season. I felt bad because we had some scorching hot games this year and these would have definitely been nice. Oh well, that design is tight though, we're going to use it more often, it's really strong.
The last three weeks I've been putting in days at the Fanladen, or as I call it "da laden", "fan house" or "bouncy castle". I made a special centerpiece wall for it (see below) that brings a little taste of my Midwest roots with it. Whenever we visited family in Ohio, East New York or where ever, I always saw Mail Pouch tobacco ads on the sides of barns. I always loved that rustic look. I thought it would fit perfectly in the new space to build an old bar wall and just rotate in Timbers Army for Mail Pouch... We got wood from the Portland Rebuilding center and started winging it, built a fake barn wall, and I spent two weeks taping letters, painting, and watering down tifo paint to get a really rustic look. I couldn't be happier, as an artist though I constantly look at the wall and see all the imperfections. Here's a little look at the process. I also had to come up with a decor for the other walls on the spot and come up with racing stripe idea... I included some of those photos too.
wood wall built
tracing with LTBJ5k
Taping
Painting
Finished
walls being painted
painted walls
There's a walk through openhouse this Sunday, if you get a chance go check it out.
So in the rest of my world I've been making other crap too... I'm working on a logo for a OHSU sub group. Trying to get that lifestyle apparel brand going. I also made a poster for my buddy Pongs DJ soul night. Ignore the misspelling. I also made the graphic underneath taking a stance against modern football and NBCs part in it. I'm not gonna get all high and mighty, but the over commercialization of American soccer is on it's way to contend with the top four... The problem is that American soccer isn't that popular, it's a death sentence. People that don't even like soccer aren't going to watch these national games ... They start late, the announcers and color commentary persons suck and they aren't committed to the sport.
There's still more but I'm already burnt out and wrote a pretty long blogspot. Will save the rest for next time.
Listening to;The Crab Feast Podcast with guest Tom Segura ... So freaking funny.
I had to break away from my usual titles that, for the last 4 or 5 posts, referenced how long it's been since I blogged... I know it's been a while damnit, it's Summer and I'm trying to pack my days. *edit, I was actually going to talk about sports but I got distracted with what's been happening and just didn't, oh well, next time. I do have a great rant by my little brother about Cleveland sports, but I think I'm going to wait a week when he moves out of Clevo to repeat what he said, ha.*
A lots happened in the past month. Heartbreak, healing, lashing out, way too much drinking... Oh, also I've been working on the Timbers Army clubhouse (I'm allowed to say that now that the official statement is out), affectionately referred to as the Fanladden... I'm currently getting all the storage space together so we can move the merch/shipping operation over... Also I've been building a special little Midwest mural with a TA twist to compliment the bar as a the centerpieces of of the main room. The place has a sneaky ton of space. We at the merch team have some special swag for sale at the Fanladden opening (despite what the official statement says, we will use the space to do some special members only sales, holiday sales, a pickup spot for pre-orders and some other random stuff). I'm currently taking pics of the process and will post them up here in a couple weeks when we're done putting all the finishing touches together.
Continuing on with the Timbers Army, I just finished up the majority of the winter line, It's going to be so cool, so many cool winter hats this year. We learned our lesson about under ordering last year, so we are making about 3-4 different style winter hats and ordering plenty for everyone. Along with a special Holiday boxset, we'll have the usual clip of new hoodies, crewnecks, tees and a special scarf. It's going to be a good winter, now that we have a place to call home, it's on my way home from work so I'm not driving all over town trying to get shit done. Oh ... we will have some late summer gear coming out too... Our labeling manufacture didn't send us all our shirts at once this year so we our going to have some late season tank tops (I know, I know) and some new womens and dudes shirts.
The poster sale went well... I think we sold almost all our poster, and a bunch of them sold out. I got way too drunk. The event raised over 40k ... blew me away, Harper's Playground is officially funded. It's so cool to be apart of the community like that, I remember going to Jefferson High to watch the kids play when we first started funding them a couple years back. It's a humbling experience that makes you feel pretty damn good, like there's some hope out there. I needed that in my life when we first started doing this, I had be jerked around by a bunch of companies, had been laid off, fired, not rehired, given severance... No one wanted me around, I had but all given up on apparel design, something I would like to thing I'm pretty good at. Then I started following the Timbers when I moved out here. I saw the scarves and this whole supporter DIY merch mentality and offered up my services... At that point I had recently finished another contract and was delivering wine because I had but all given up on the design industry and wanted to drive a big truck around... Next thing you know we start out with a couple of new scarf designs, couple of tee shirts, the Sunshine Trailer gets broken and we're off an running. It's been a truly amazing, once in a lifetime, experience. Having my designs effect community outreach the way it does, is so great that it brings tears to my eyes.
ANYWAYS, here's some photos from the signing and show:
So on the docket for the next month, new merch releasing, my ball hockey team, The Bill McCreary Allstars, made the playoffs that take place next weekend at Alberta Park... So that will be super fun, I have a hockey beard that's so think it's driving me insane... Gotta get the Fanladden open too. But in the end I'm just trying to slow down a bit heading towards winter, so I can start painting (my paintings) and playing Fifa 13. Got a couple of new logos I'm working on coming up. Other than that just making crap and trying to find new interesting projects and enjoying our perfectly weathered summer.
Take care, I'll be posting relatively soon with some picks of our new product.
Listening to: The Bronx albums The Bronx (1 and 3)
Also if you get a chance to check them out the Downtown Struts are this freaking awesome young up and coming band, their first real studio album Victoria is really good. Their finally getting to support some big bands, so expect bigger and better things. I love their style, it's a like rancids happy reggae chords mixed with dead to me ...
What up!
It's been a while I know... I can't believe my last post was in April, and here it is the beginning of August. So much has happened this summer, I've been painting, going to Timbers games, making dope swag, and working at a world wide sports apparel leader. Also I built a new apparel brand that's going to release pretty soon (Finally) and my Timbers Army design partner Camm "Maple Syrup" Murray and I are freelancing logos and collateral media. On top of that, it's been a great last two months for punk shows... So lets get into it.
This years TA swag was off the hook and a ton of work. If you want to peak at it you can go to the tumblr page . For the rest of the year we have some pleasant surprises, a couple good shirts of the month including this design that starts in August,
I have had this design in the pipeline since 2010 preparing for the first MLS season. I always thought it was a great take on the Descendents album "Milo Goes to College". Finally I get to see this get made. Pongs happy too, as he has known about this shirt since I created it. Every couple 3 months are so I get a text from him asking when we are going to make the shirt...
The TA hats over the past year have really hit a stride, they continue to sell out and we get lots of good compliments... To reward the merch diehards and congratulate ourselves (TA merch team loves to celebrate things) we are going to come out with a special colorway of all the style of hats we made, 4 styles total (two fitteds two snap backs). I put the colorways together the other day, and they look super slick and have a unique logo to separate these hats from their predecessors. I would throw a teaser out but it would give everything away.
Speaking of special editions, we (TA merch team) are going to run a special heritage line of gear out as well. At our last meeting Camm "Maple Syrup" Murray brought up the point that we really need to celebrate the history of soccer in Portland, starting at the beginning. Which is super fun for me because none of those late 1800's and early 1900's teams don't have any logos, so I get to research and inject my design style into these. So look for those, we have no specific information on release, how many, or what kinda of product. I mean we have a really good idea of what we're doing, but nothing that I can state as "Official."
I am still not even close to finishing on all the special editions, and new swag that's going to be coming out over the next 6 months... I am really excited. But want to move on and keep the suspense.
So there is a Poster show coming up this Saturday that I am participating in. "Maple Syrup" and I collaborated (under the name Soda Pop Productions) on a poster. The Saturday events that is open to the public has information on http://arttakeoverportland.com/ it also has information on when you can purchase the poster and what other artists are participating. Literally ever good poster artist in Portland submitted and the prints look great... There's 50 prints of each design and 30 artist. All proceeds go to Harper's Playground (you can scroll down to one of my first couple 3 posts and see how important this cause is to me), which makes this all the more special... Here's a tease at our poster.
This summer has had probably some of the best line up of punk shows that I've had in PDX in a while, and if you throw in the whole year of 2012 (adds NOFX, Dead to Me, Off w/ their Heads, and Poison Idea, ha), but this summer in the last month I've seen Strung Out (played Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues and Twisted by Design in their entirety), Teenage Bottle Rocket, Cobra Skulls, Swinging Utters, and next Sunday I'm super excited to see Dear Landlord (probably my new favorite band I've been listening to). Shit, you can probably call it a Fat month because 4 of the 5 bands I've seen are on Fat Wreck Chords... Openers worth noting, Such Gold (NY post-hardcore) opened for Strung Out and where really really good. They had such good breakdowns and dynamic vocals. Also the band Elway (from Ft Collins, CO), who opened up for Teenage Bottle Rocket was so good I had to go home and buy their album on iTunes that night. Really clever lyrics, great classic midwest punk rock guitars, and a touch of heartbreak... I love it when a punk band has just a touch of country in them, Elway was great, even their on stage banter was hilarious and witty. Still really looking forward to Dear Landlord this weekend, I"m basically gonna have to bike my ass off there right after the Timbers game, but this band is really good. Their lyrics are probably the most enlightening and sad I've heard is some time. Their onstage dynamic is great with 3 guys that could all be lead singers belting and doing that weird punk harmony that sounds so cool. Here's a video of them dressed up like Jugalos from The Fest.
Anyways I'm out, I'll be back soon to promote some of the new TA gear and tout my apparel company as soon as we can get a business liscense and get our name registered... We are pretty lazy for guys that are constantly busy... Wait what?
Listening to:
Dear Landlord, album Dream Homes - seriously buy this album
Elway song Passing Days
Been around a month since I last blogged... In that time I took on a full time contract job with a world leader in athletic apparel, did political design, finally finished all the TA apparel designs for the first half of the season, and totally flaked on updating my website.
Still painting and drawing... It's definitely slowed down as I anticipated. Though I can't complain because the days are just packed with activities, entertainment and projects.
Big boy dream projects are being whispered about in the TA merch crew... I am contemplating apparel construction right now limited lines of custom Jackets, Cagoules, and Polos (at least that's the dream). Still mocking things up and then when that's done, we still have to see if it's feasible, constructable and replicable. This is still a long way off, just like everything else on our wishlist, but man is it something fun and challenging to work on. I know I make part of my living doing apparel production art, but to do every aspect of it on your own is a totally different beast. It is addictive because you want it to be perfect and have all the cool aspects of design you have always wanted on gear like this.
I am also going to start blogging on the TA website... This was talked about before, I wanted to start a F&L style column with blog titles like "Zen and the Art of Fitting 9 people in 4 seats" and do running diaries of awaydays and shit. That got busted up before I even got to type one word. Now I'm setting up to do blog spots concerning merch and stuff. The merch team is starting to feel like we need to explain ourselves more often and also give people a heads up on whats on the horizon. Though I don't know if I'm the best candidate since I can barely write my own blog once a month. Someones gotta do it though, so I'll take the hit.
Continuing with TA merch, we almost have all the gear for the first half of the season made, the last of it, the new hats, come in next week and guess what... New lookbook coming! Every year we have tacked on a new look book, started with 1 in 2009/2010 to two in 2010/2011 and now we are going to have three in 2011/2012 (first half, second half of the season and winter). It's amazing see this whole thing grow to more and more products. So look for the new lookbook on the No Pity Originals tumblr. Here's a peek at one of the new scarves;
We are going buck on bar scarves this year... This is the beginning, but we're gonna do some new takes on old USL styles and we found someone who can do embroidery on scarves too... Gonna be SICK!
Somehow in all the business, my Ball Hockey league just started back up again. We went from 4 to 6 teams this year which is really exciting. I'm still captain of the Bill McCreary AllStars, who are technically undefeated right now (1-0-0). Also since the expansion of the league and it's 2nd year, the league can afford to help pay for team jerseys... Freaken sweet. Here is a look at the BMac jerseys we are having made right now.
Kickballs started up again too... It's so hipster that it's not hipster, but I love playing in shit that's not competitive and fun. Here's our runner up team from last summer. I think this is going to be my last year, and will probably retire. The fields are so beat up, I keep bleeding up my knees and I want my Sundays back.
The days are going to be just packed this summer, I love it... So very Portland, as soon as it stops raining you have no downtime. Anyways I gotta get back to the grind.
Listening to;
MGK- "Cleveland" - off of Lace up... I can't stop listening to this album... It's not my style rap, but i love the album and MGK for a couple reasons; He represents Cleveland (Shout out Sixth City), the albums super catchy, the rymes are surprisingly good and tell his inspirational story... Also you gotta love a goofy ass guy having fun being good at what he does, even if it's unconventional.
Looking forward to;
Flatliners at the Backspace on Saturday after the Timbers game... that's a fun night right there.
It's been forever. So many things have been made and procrastinated. Website is still going on, I actually had to get some consulting done just to get motivated. Painting is going strong, about 3-4 paintings deep, and still working on more. Most important is I've been making new apparel for the Timbers Army and there is a ton of it.
So the Timbers Army are going to do shirts of the month. 50 tees of various sizes, one design, every month. No reorders, no saving shirts, nothing... and real talk, they're all awesome. The reason they are all shirts of the month is that they are either out there designs or homage back to our punk rock inspired tees of yesteryear. The first one (below) is the CBGB inspired PTFC shirt. The next one will be done probably the game after the home opener (we got shipping problems again). There will be a special cascadia design for the month we play seattle at home... It's going to be a great promotion to go find the fan and get some super limited swag.
We are also doing about 5-6 new shirts that will be around all year. Really fun designs, and in womens sizes too. These shirts will be for sale around the second game of the season. Unfortunately we ordered our made blanks that get sent to our local screenprinters months ago, but they got behind tagging them and just shipped late. So our poor girls at Ink Brigade are going to get boxes of shirts next week and have a week to do 6 orders of shirts... We can't put that on them, so when they're done their done. That being said we already have them working on 3 of our new shirts that will be available opening day, the new PTFC tour shirt and a special shirt for the ladies.
Anyways, it's gonna be a good year for TA merch... Besides the new t-shirts we have polos, new snapbacks, a lightweight hoodie and at least 3 new scarves. Doing work.
So below are two of my new paintings, a series I am working on throughout the summer, hopefully to do a show by the fall. I tend to go years between painting series, and every time I start up again I wonder why I stopped. Things just get drained out of me and I run out of ideas... So I stop and then procrastinate starting again. I guess you could call that my process.
The other personal front, I have been laying low in order to get work done. I've been doing some design work for some political campaigns, other apparel groups, and just general crap. It is nice to have things slow down, but when the Timbers season gets going, the summer will fly by.
Also gotta send some love to by boys a Homage Clothing for this gem
Though I wasn't alive when the miracle happened... I spent my adolescence living by and going to the Richfield Colosseum. I have a lot of good and bad memories there (One of many reasons I loath Jordan). It was a sad day for me when they tore it down... Every once in a while when I'm back in Ohio I'll drive through there to pay respects and also visit the "hell town" that's a rock throw away in Boston Mills. Not really I stopped going to "hell towns" before the Colosseum was knocked down, but there's some good ones in Ohio.
Alright I'm out.
Listening to
Jay Mohr Podcast Mohr Stories w/ K.P. Anderson
Also MGK for my little brother
and watching the new Odd Future video for Rella... This cracks me up for all the wrong reasons, good job by them. It's so bad I don't even want to put a link to it on here.
It's almost a month away til Timbers footy... My ball hockey league drafts next month... Shit, I am going to Timbers preseason this month, like just over two weeks, and we don't have any Timbers Army swag to put out. Kidding, we're bringing the pain this year. We have some sweet designs, new scarves, hats, new accessories. New shirts every month, surprises around every corner of the season. We really tried to plan out a really good product line. Fun.
So in the next month I am going to slam revamping the no hope site, finish a couple three more paintings and other projects before my life goes green and gold. Also hence the short blog.
Next Tuesday I'll have a post full of painting photos, leaked TA designs and release dates, probably some new logos I'm working on.
Listening to:
Men In Blazers interview with U.S. legend Gerry Baker. I encourage everyone to email the US Soccer Hall of Fame to consider Baker’s induction.
I had this blog post ready a week ago, but the celebration from my 30th birthday left me with a cold that took me out of commission all last week, but I'm back, borderline healthy and here we go.
So this is ridiculous... I went through all my old tees that never made the cut and there's no way to post them all on this blog and not take up 4 pages... So what I did was set up a photobucket album that you can view all the shirts, along with descriptions of what happened. I also included some other tees, besides TA ideas, that got rejected. You can view the album here. This was almost depressing, so many bad designs. I still have another hard drive to go through, so I'll keep adding to the album.
Paintings are flying out of me. Here's a giant pile of cut out drawings,
Here's a couple of paintings laid out, One still needs to be glued
Still have a lot more coming. It's weird how I go in and out of inspiration with paintings. It's so hard to get myself motivated to do paint.
Anyways saw a ton of punk this week, NoFX Monday, Voodoo Glow Skulls Wednesday, and Bannor Pilot Saturday... Was epic. Before all of this, I turned thirty, I got sick, quit smoking and couldn't drink... So it was bitter sweet. Great shows though all the way around, all three bands killed it.
Looking forward to the next couple months, it's super exciting having paintings that will be finished, Timbers season starting, a new NoHope website, and a lifestyle clothing line. Will continue updating on these topics as they come.
Had a ball hockey tournament over the weekend, my team finished in second place. It's the second time I've made it to the finals in one of these tourneys and lost. I want my name written on either the summer or winter cups really bad... Hopefully the no smoking will give me that extra push to win one of these tourneys. Anyways if you are interested in checking them out it's PDXballhockey.com .. I did their logo too.
Listening to,
Sklar Brothers Podcast, Sklarbro Country ... Always funny
Lillingtons - Teenage Asshole, from the album Idiot Word Search
Back to the grind since the holidays, selling tons of swag and watching the beginning of Basketball season.
So what's new, everything, been painting, working on the new website, working on summer TA merch (and other Timbers promotional stuff), working on my own swag and moar sports.
New painting below... Making a series through the year, all of which will be for sale on the NoHopeDesigner website when I finally finish the new look.
Summer TA merch is going to be so sweet, we are expanding our traditional stuff and going beyond t-shirts. We are bringing in more designers (mostly to take it easier on me and I want everyone that wants to, to have a crack at having their product made). I moving to more of a creative director position. The gear is already looking great and we have some great promotions too.
Also from all the TA merch meetings I came up with a hilarious idea to do a blog (probably next week) of all the shirts I've come up with that never got made... Some are awesome, some are armature and some you can tell were only half finished. Should be pretty great, or maybe a touch embarrassing.
The lifestyle line I'm working on myself is coming along pretty good. Actually too good, I have way to many designs to put out and not enough money to do it. So I think what we are going to do I call some favors and get a whole bunch of different sticker packs with our logos, funny phrases and just stuff that represents us and sell them in packs for 5 bucks to raise the extra money to get the line off the ground. I'm excited, I love stickers and I expect them to cover all the local dive bathrooms all over Portland, Cleveland, and where ever else we can convince our friends to buy and stick them all over. I'll post up a link to get them soon.
Oh basketball is back... I hate the NBA sometimes, a lockout with millionaires fighting with billionaires... Mr. Stern blocking trades, kids pretending to go to college only to be busts in drafts, and just a bunch terrible marketing and fan experiences. Though in the end I love the game, when it's running at full speed it reminds me of soccer and the player personalities (complicated handshakes, ridiculous rituals and tattoos, and drama on the court).
I originally fell in love with Basketball as a little kid when the Indians sucked, and the Browns games were too rowdy to take a kid under 11. My dad wanted to take me to sporting events (share his love of sports with his first born son) and the Cavs were good and played near our suburb of Cleveland. So my pops and I went to a ton of Cavs games... I got to meet Brad "Big Dookie" Daugherty, Mark Price, Larry Nance and Hot Rod Williams. Except for my burning hatred of Micheal Jordon, it was a glorious time in my life. Lebron kinda ruined basketball for me in Cleveland, just so much promise and chances at titles wasted, that I kinda stopped watching for a while... Until I moved to PDX and this only child city forced basketball back down my throat.
I've been high on the Blazers... They look good right now and despite the injuries that will obviously pile up, but the compact schedule is gonna give every team about 5 more losses than they would normally. Though I've been high on the Blazers I'm loving my Cavs... Kyrie Irvings killing it, they're playing competitive 500 basketball (which in the eastern conference is good enough for a playoff spot), and they're pretty fun to watch... They're bench is so shallow they have to scrap for everything. It's fun basketball to watch.
Like every year since I moved to PDX I went to the Blazers v. Cavs game, the series is now 2 and 2 next year will be the Dan McNinny tie breaker. Here's a picture of me and my buddy Kyle who went with me (below). Also it was not nearly as bad as last year when the Blazers beat the Cavs by over 40 pts (picture from January last year blog)
Anyways, gotta bail, look for the T-shirts that never were post soon.
Listening to:
The Basketball Jones podcast
Eagles of Death Metal, album Peace Love Death Metal
I know it's been forever, but when you release a winter line of clothing with lookbooks, a black friday release, working live sales of the product and shipping twice a week.. Woof, it's been a busy 3 weeks since Thanksgiving. Right now I'm taking a week away from just about everything and beating the new Zelda. I am using a walk through to move along fairly quick. I know my gamer buddies will give me tons of hate for it, but I am in a hurry. As for the game itself, it's got great game play and is super freaken fun to play. The one beef I have, is that using the wii remotes is tiring and when you are used to playing via controller it can be tough to get up for some serious hours of play. Other minor grievances is that the map seems smaller than twilight princess... A lot of repeating temples from twilight princess... poor bad guys, and Zelda is ugly. I'm not trying to be superficial but when Link is hotter than Zelda, there might be a small problem.
Anyways, what this does lead to me wanting to do a video game bit about some of my favorite video games and my favorite style of games. Here's how were doing it, styles and favorite games within that style... Sometimes there's gonna just be a franchise.
Fighting: Soul Caliber for game cube so you can play with Link (biased)
Old School Mortal Combat... either genesis or super nintendo
My Favorite Def Jam Fight for New York, This game is so much fun with the create-a-character and the fighters are all rappers and the storymode is quite entertaining with Hank Rollins as your trainer. I can't even fathom the hours I wasted on this game with my buddy J. Swindle in college. Funny too I found this movie on the previews for Black Dynamite and it has almost the same exact plot.
Role Playing/Adventure: Zeldas... All of them.. My personal favorites were the stable third person games after the top scrollers such as Occerina of Time, Windwaker, and Twilight Princess. I love Zelda because of the story of the Hero, it's heart breaking, encouraging and charming. The fact that link will always find another way to go to hell and back for the princess. Conkers Bad Fur Day, I get so sad at how few people played this game... In my opinion is probably one of the most creative, cheeky, raunchy and out right entertaining games of all time. It's re-release on xbox did it no justice that the game was basically the same and they ruined the multiplayer aspect which was one of the best parts of the game. I can't count the hours I wasted playing through that multiplayer with my buddy N. Britches. We used to wake up before work, crank out like 4 games of squirls v. nazi bears before we headed in.
There used to be a better poster of him passed out in the toilet but I couldn't find it Grand Theft Auto these games were so much fucken fun, even the top scrollers were fun. San Andreas was probably my favorite, because of the map size and how much there was to do, was really a accumulation of everything they did.
Sports: NHL Hitz(2001), another game that never got enough credit, everyone loves on the counterpart, NFL Blitz, but Hitz was far superior in game play, endless levels, season mode, and quality create-a-mode. Fifa The last three Fifa games that have come out are some of the funnest sports video games to play... the game play and endless amount of teams and stadiums is amazing... Amazing NHL 11-12 Could arguably be one of the best sports games ever, the controls are perfect (PS3) and the game play is sooo smooth. Great manager mode.
Alright, enough of video game ranting, since I rarely play vids anymore. Other things on the horrizon right now, trying to find a space for a NPO (NoPity Originals) pop up shop, getting more NoPity beanies in (lesson learned about not ordering enough product regardless of whether we think it will sell), I'm doing the front office season ticket holder patch again this year, with matching lanyard.
Still working on my own label ... Things are running smoothly, I have about 5-7 strong tee designs, Logo, and buisness plan (give or take). All that is planning on going into production, given I can find the right backing/promotion, in January. I'll admit I'm nervous about it... I want it to be well received that I won't even post any of the samples on here because I want it to be perfect. You don't really get many tries at this kinda thing, even with just a small tee shirt/hat line.
The website revision is proving to be a nightmare... I forgot how much I straight edited the wordpress php scripts... so now when I switch it over to a new theme or whatever, nothing but the posts stay. I came to the hard reality that I may be close to no where near done by my birthday in January. Big suck. It's ok, I still get plenty of promotion here and on the NPO tumblr.
Also I swear I'm painting again... I've been getting reamed out by some friends and family that I'm so flaky on doing more paintings, and I haven't had anything for sale since the "What the Timbers Saw" art show. The new No Hope website will have a section with paintings and what's for sale. I keep sitting on my artwork.
Listening too:
Ben Weasel The Brain that Wouldn't Die (live)
Maybe I should have said once a week. Ha. It was a super busy beginning of the week I had to in house freelance Monday Tuesday and Wednesday and then when I get out of that all I wanna do is have a beer, catch up on TV (Currently involved in Walking Dead, The League and How to Make it in America along with a plethora of cartoons) and maybe touch some of my crap. So blogging was just not gonna happen.
I'm getting old, I had about 4 beers with HC (from the Seattle retro live journal) on Monday night and woke up Tuesday with a splitting hang over... Now I can normally drink like a champ and always get a little bit of a head ache, but this felt like I was up all night with a bottle of Wild Turkey (my official break up remedy). As my 30th birthday approaches I become more and more apathetic and disheveled about my place in life. I only half mean that, I just really can't believe I'm gonna be 30.
Anyways on the making crap front, I forgot how exciting it is watching product roll in. I get so excited about nice clean swag, combine that with the fact I made it and I'm a kid on Christmas. So now it's all about getting another look book shoot put together so we can put product photos on the website and the tumblr... Not to mention one of the boys is working on a facebook page dedicated to merch... It's becoming glaringly obvious that we are outgrowing just being a little sect of the TA. We need more outlets than just the No Pity Van twitter.
On the No Hope Design front. I am actually starting to get business again and realized that not only do I not update the website or nohopedesigner.com but it is viciously out of date. So during the winter I'm going to start the long and arduous process of revamping the whole website. It needs better flow and organization in regards to showing off work so it doesn't look like a blog, that I can separate all the different things I do into better accessible categories and sell myself better as an all around designer who can work on just about everything.
Alright sorry for the delay, more exciting stuff including product pictures and possible names for my own apparel company next week... maybe Wednesday. ha.
Listening to:
The new Banner Pilot album Heart Beats Pacific
Best Midwest punk album this year if not the best album of the year
here's my favorite track Spanish Reds
Timbers Army Merch Tumblr is up. Tumblr turned into me dorking out on HTML for way to long, prolonged this blog post a day. Right after I say I'm gonna be writing every Tuesday. Where does the time go? A busy week working on crap and getting ready for shipping out tons of Timbers Army product.
Order is in for one more winter style TA hat. No hints yet, other than a possible 107ist preorder in a week.
So I'm gonna give a whirl doing my own Clothing. It's going to be simple, one shirt, then maybe a shirt and hat, then if there is some interest and it all sells, then maybe we'll go broke. I'm going to stray away from No Pity on this project. Going to be done with a friend or two and we're going to build a brand from the ground. Don't worry if you like anything I do, it will be must. This is a very long term project though, my goal is to have the first order in for shirts shortly after Christmas.
Other than that I'm totally beat up from a long day. More on the way as always.
Listening to:
Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
How sweet was the way the cartoon Boondocks incorporated the song Guillotine (Swordz) into an episode.
We will see how long this lasts with my combined busy schedule and procrastination. Though I feel this is something that really makes me happy and gives relevance to all the things I'm involved in. Anyways, got back from talking with the manufactures and we are a go for Timbers Army fitted hats, and I have to say they look dope as all get out.
Here's a version of the one style hat broken down
These will be ready for the winter line that comes out around Thanksgiving and runs through December, online sales only and free shipping (can't beat that with a flare from RSL). The lookbook for winter will also be online, through a yet to be named tumblr account. I will also do a print lookbook that will eventually be released with all the other lookbooks I've made in one giant book of all our product made since we started building the No Pity Originals brand.
Here's a snap shot of one of the winter hoodies that will be out in November
I can't wait, I've been wearing around that sample hoodie everyday for the last week.
Anyways I'm out the door to go to work, but next week I'll update with more writing and some snip bits about the winter line and personally exciting news. Also some non Timbers Army crap to show off.
Be good,
listening to:
Old Man Markley - Guts and Teeth , great punkgrass album.
They'll be here sometime in November... So dope. Limited order with Timbers Army usual snapbacks (scroll down to see). Been busy lately, stopped delivering wine and back to full time design... So technically I will be updating a lot more often. Especially since the Portland winter is upon us. Feels like summer just flew by.
You will notice on the below photo instead of ax and roses on the back these hats have a PDX flag. Fucking Smart. Here were the possible looks for the hat
My favorite was the blue... just thought it'd be cool to have a blue hat.
Other notable crap out or coming out;
Flat brim wool hats for the Timbers army. Just put the order in today, will have a sneak preview of them next week.
New Harpers Playground scarf. For University of Portland's Woman's Soccer program fundraisers.
New winter line for the Timbers army. Tons of work but it's going to be so worth it for everything to be in and ready before Thanksgiving. Look forward to the events and fundraisers during the silly season (soccer offseason).
Finishing the Timbers Army Summer Lookbook (haha I know it's late). It came out great though, thanks to everyone that helped. You can download a free PDF copy from my website, here.
Summer Wrap Up
Other fun things from the summer besides an asston of soccer at the beautiful Jeld Wen Field. I went on a bunch of great trips most notably an away game to San Jose. I started a twitter account for running diaries of this and future away trips @ta_on_tour. I find that twitter is gonna be my new way of doing running diaries as it's easier to write stuff on my phone than in a notebook that I have to haul everywhere. So I will let everyone know either here or on facebook about my fake twitter accounts used for running diaries on future events. I know I'm going to do one for the last game of the season vs Houston and capture the day in the life of working the trailer, setting up displays, drinking and dancing, and driving the Van (which means no drinking, but dancing). Should be fun.
Also from the summer I finished an awesome hockey league and ball hockey tournament with PDXballhockey.com a group I helped start. The final tournament was sponsored by New Belgium beer and was probably the most fun I've had since they sponsored the tournament last year. My team Speed Wolfe once again finished runner up... We can't officially make it the distance with all that delicious food and beer around. None the less was great. My league team The Bill McCreary Allstars unfortunately finished last, but were the only team able to beat the team that one the league... So that was good I suppose... None the less we had a blast as well. If you don't know who Bill McCreary is, my buddy Kyle and I worship his mustache, but he was one of the NHL's most respected referees and retired last year and we only found it fitting that we show some respect to the man... Pictured below.
Alright I'm out for now.
Currently listening to:
Men in Blazers Podcast from Grantland Network
Ellwood - Lost in Transition ... Some dudes from the Mad Caddies playing just some good drinking and chillin music. Very danceable!
Seriously a mind bender when the rain finally stops in PDX in late July. The summer is half over and it feels like it just started.
Anyways I've finally recovered from my bender post Timbers loss to Seattle. I regret nothing the game was intense and the stadium was buzzing... So glad I was there. But I do have to apologize for those who had to deal with me trying to passout with the water on in my buddies bathtub. I think it was just a release after being up for 4 days straight tracing and designing banners for the tifo display that I went all out and by 5 in the afternoon I had to be put to bed. Here's some Pics;
Just shot the Timbers Army Summer 2011 Lookbook. You can download the Winter 2011 Lookbook here. The shoot went great. It's amazing to realize how much more crap we've made per year and how better the quality is from back when we were selling TA merch out of the back of our cars. Shit, that was back when I had a car. Ha. I was telling someone the other night at the West Brom game, it really is a dream come true to have this opportunity to grow a brand out of nothing.
So, I was supposed to be back in Ohio this past weekend to go to the Columbus Crew v. Timbers game, but my little bro had to have his gallbladder taken out on Friday and had to cancel. There was no way I was gonna blow over a grand on planes, tickets, booze and bail to go without my little bro. The kids ultra. So I ended up watching the game at a swank bar with a few other buddies. I want to like the Timbers coach John Spencer (Spenny) so bad but man his game time decisions are going to be the death of me. I agree with my buddy Garrett, we gotta give him a year before the "Spenny Out" banners come out.
Ok I'm all out, gotta work on this Underdog promotional scarf. Plenty of crap to be made and things to do in PDX before the weather turns to shit again.
Listening to,
Portlands own MEAN JEANS... These guys kick mad ass... So classic '77 style punk rock.
Been super busy lately. The blog is the first thing to get neglected in times like this. Anyways here's some peeks at what's new
More Hats for the Timbers Army... All new Bike caps and new limited flatbrims (Circa 1970's Oakland Athletics). Both are super limited so follow the NoPityVan on twitter.
There is also a brand new Timbers Army Cascadia shirt series. Here's some sneak previews.
Been working on beer labels for my buddy Vargo (yes who's wife threw my phone in the lower posts) here's some of the early comps.
It's been two weeks and I still don't think I've recovered... Got to see my dads beer labels that i designed, got to see a bluejackets game, and my buddies wife threw my phone... Not kidding video below.
Blue jackets game photo diary... too much happened to do a running diary, plus I forgot my notebook... I blame my little bro, but the pictures are fun enough.
album is here
Actual beer labels I designed for the dad:
My buddies wife throwing my phone... Luckily It was on video?... you can't see anything but just listen, it's quite funny. The best is the OOOHHHH NOOO my buddy Mike T yells. Wow...
Now that the products are in the public I can show them off and brag about them.
First one is a Patch for the Portland Timbers to send out with their Timbers Army season ticket packages to commemorate the new inaugural season. I basically went for the combination of both the Timbers and the Timbers Army logos. Unfortunately they took my first try at it and I never got to keep tinkering with it. Make note kids.
Second is a scarf I designed for the Harper's Playground Foundation... This is a combination scarf between the Timbers Army and Harper's to spread word and gain donations for the cause.
Listening to Coquettish, Album "High Energy Politics"
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