Aaron Draplin in Pittsburgh
a few years ago, me and some of my friends were talking about work and music and bands. the idea came up that running a business wasnt much different than being in a band. you gotta do the work - figure out how to reach people - get your name out - make things happen. many of us would be throwing events, parties, demos, whatever we could do to peak someones interest in what we have going on..and still have a blast ourselves.
we thought itd be a cool idea to pull together, do a bunch of events in a set number of days, and hit up each others events - like back in the day when you all played in bands and hit up each others shows. like a scene - like a music festival - but centered on what you do, why you do it, passion or drive or grit or talent p support each other and have some fun.
so we did that, we called it FULLTIME, and it lasted 4 days. it was a blast. we did it again the next year and it got bigger. it was a blast.
THIS year we (commonwealth press, sapling press, strawberry luna) wanted to bring in a person that embodied that spirit - someone that ooozed the feeling that you can do anything you wanted ... and do it on your own steam. Aaron Draplin is that person. on march 3 2017 he came to pittsburgh - in the middle of a snowstorm. he hosted a 3 hour workshop for 25 lucky people and then rolled to the hollywood theater to host a lecture for a sold out venue.
the whole thing was great. we made some next level posters and tickets combining all of our talents - screen printed, letterpress, foil stamped, perf cut. - went totally overboard, just because we wanted it to be 100% all in.
it was a balls out design collaboration and i couldnt be happier. the whole idea is complete the idea - you have ideas all the time - the next step is doing it, keep going, make it better, make it bigger, have more fun, reach more people. its amazing what happens when you just keep going.
so this has begun the FULLTIME LECTURE SERIES and we hope to bring you more. we hope you come to at least one of many FULLTIME events...we hope you host one. we hope you got to see Draplin lay it down. we hope lots of stuff.
my main hope tho, honestly - is that you are working toward something that means something, with people that mean something. life is too short to waste spinning your wheels on things that give you nothing back. get out and make something happen - fall in love with the process - get dirty - help someone do the same.
and thank you for any and all of your support.
*many of these pics were taken by MATT DAYAK - some were stolen from instagram - if i didnt credit you, let me know and i will.