Cattle Call for Pictures of DCS Artwork

OK, we've been collecting pics for a few years from folks who have sent them in to us of tattoos and framed prints of Drowning Creek art work. Some of them got lost on an old computer when it went kaput, but I still have a bunch tucked away. What for, you say? Well, we've been toying with putting a collector's gallery on our web site for a while now, but we wanted to wait until we redesigned the site. The redesign is in progress and I'm a-lookin' to organize and add jpgs.

If you have a tattoo or a framed print (or heck, a wall of prints!) you think would be at home at drowningcreek.com, now's a good time to send 'em in. Please size your jpgs down to no more than 800 pixels on the longest size and make sure they aren't over 350 or so kb in size. If you send anything too big and clog our server, I'll mail bomb your email account with nasty alternative porn - and not the good kind.

Include the following:

If you want credit for the photos or framing, include your name and a brief line giving us permission to post your name. You can use just your first or last name or a nickname. Include your location if you wish.

For tattoos, if you would like to include the name of the studio and tattoo artist, send that info in as well.

Try to send in decent pictures, folks. We're good, but we ain't magicians.

We won't be "judging" any submissions, so don't think we're setting the bar with the pics here.... even though they *are* exceptional submissions. The tattoo is by Johnny Thief, of course.

A Tale of Two Businesses......

Once upon a time, there was a couple who started simultaneous businesses - each the dream pursuit of the respective person. The man's dream was to create an art and print studio for creating beautiful screen printed posters and the woman's dream was to create an organic co-op and greenhouse business. Each business was started, but it soon became apparent to each person that a start up for 2 businesses would be too much to juggle. It was decided that the art studio would be the primary pursuit... at least for a while.

Well, 7 years passed and the idea of the small organic farm and co-op never went away. The couple have decided to work towards a goal of pursuing the second business.

The new business will be named Drowning Creek Dry Goods. Though it will primarily be a brick and morter operation, at some point a web site will be created for this old/new operation. Meanwhile, nothing will change at Drowning Creek Studio with the small exception that Judy will not work weekends any more in order to work on the garden plans.

Judy is already immersed in the task of clearing off the debris left after a grove of pine trees were removed due to pine beetle infestation. The pine trees will be replaced with a small fruit tree orchard... the beginnings of the Drowning Creek Permaculture Adventure.

If you're interested in organic gardening and products, look for the launch of the Drowning Creek Dry Goods blog where Judy will post product reviews and progress reports on the trials and tribulations of starting a greenhouse.

DCS 2007 Subscription Information

We're currently offering the open subs we have available. If you are interested, please send an email to sales-at-drowningcreek-dot-com with 2007 Subscription Request in the title. Sending an email will not guarantee getting a subscription. I sent this following email to people on my waiting list yesterday:

OK, first let me apologize for keeping you waiting for so long to hear back about the 2007 subscriptions. It took me just a little longer to get confirmations from current subscribers than I thought, and I slammed myself with back to back poster releases. The dust is starting to settle....

I do have openings for new subscribers. I have not completely finalized the current subscribers, but I really did not want to wait any longer to contact you all. This is a group mailing, so I hope you'll forgive that, too! Please read this carefully and email me if I have completely confused you by the time you get to the end. I'm good like that.

I'm just going to start with the openings I have, and asign them on a first come basis.

I am doing a few things differently this year.... I had a much more difficult time getting payments this past year. Due to this, I am going to request that we be supplied with a credit card number that can be charged on or around the dates I have established for billing as follows:

4 Payment plan:
Payment 1 due now / Ships last 2 weeks of April
Payment 2 due between July 1-7 / Ships last 2 weeks of July
Payment 3 due between October 1-7 / Ships last 2 weeks of October
Payment 4 due between January 1-7 2008 / Ships last week of January/first week of Febuary.

I am also on a tighter schedule than I have ever been before and I need for my job at the shop to be as seamless as possible. Sending multiple emails requesting payment over the span of several weeks is not seamless, therefore the new credit card "rule."

Here is the text sent to the current subscribers:

I know you've all been waiting to hear something... anything... from us about the last 2006 subscription tube and news on the 2007 subscriptions. I've been putting off writing this email until I had a better idea of what we were doing on the '07 subs and I apologize for making you wait so long. Actually, I've rewritten this email several times.... Please read and respond!

Jeff and I have vascilated on doing/not doing the '07 sub for a few months now. Why? Well, in part, we've been trying to switch gears in the studio's work and we weren't sure how to present the '07 subscription. We have a lot of work already lined up for this year for some bands we currently work with, but we're also looking to print some art prints this year. In order to do art prints, Jeff has to have time to work on the art.... which means less time to chase gig posters. Those of you who got Jermaine's letter about why he is not doing a subscription this year will understand where Jeff is headed as well.

With that in mind, we've decided to do 2007 subscriptions, but for $800 instead of $900 as in '05 & '06. That will take some of the pressure off Jeff in the area of gig posters, and allow him to spend more time pursuing his own art interests without being art directed by someone. As usual, the $800 includes the cost of shipping and insurance for each tube which is averaging to approx. $60-75 for each subscriber.

We will include as much of what we design in the subscriptions as possible same as the last 2 years. There will, however, be some pieces that will not be included in the subscription. If we do a very limited run on an art print, it will likely be offered as an add-on to the subscribers first at a discounted price. That will not apply to all of the art prints, but probably any art prints that are done in collaboration with another artist where we will be splitting the edition between the artists and possibly some of Jeff's solo art prints. We are purposefully leaving this a little obtuse because we have no idea what we'll be looking at 3 months from now. Heck, we're not even sure what's up next month... ;o)

To recap, subscriptions will remain much the same as past years except we're lowering the cost to compensate for a few less gig posters and there will be some prints that may be purchased by subscribers at a special price available only for them. Subscribers will be asked first before those prints would go on sale to the general public so that we can try to do matching numbers. We've chosen this plan over raising the price to include all art prints.

The Burning Man print we will do this year will not be a part of the subscriptions at the request of Burning Man, Inc. If you are going to be on the Playa, let us know so we can get together.

So, there it is. If you've been watching the releases we've done so far this year, you know the subs already include the following:

A001DCS7_014 Yonder Mountain String Band Tabernacle '07
A001DCS7_028 Perpetual Groove Speed Queen
A001DCS7_016 Langerado Music Fest '07 Gator
A007DCS7_031 Umphrey's McGee South Bend St. Paddy's Day with Adrian Belew
A001DCS7_017 Jam in the Dam '07
A001DCS7_032 Perpetual Groove Variety Playhouse Lady Luck
A001DCS7_018 Widespread Panic Raleigh

There is also a poster for this weekend's PGroove show at the Little John Auditorium and an art print that has not yet been announced coming up. This should be somewhat of a gauge as to how the year is going to go. There will be more art prints and more posters for some of the bands we work with. The subs also include all handbills and little art prints we create.

So, there it is. Email me if you're interested.

Perpetual Groove: Littlejohn Coliseum on Friday!

Sigma Phi Epsilon and Clemson Major Events Present Perpetual Groove at The Littlejohn Coliseum Friday evening in Clemson, SC. This is the end of the year blow out for Clemson University, and Perpetual Groove's first performance in an arena. With the return of the Huffer Dome this weekend, it's a show NOT to be missed! Tickets are available through http://www.ticketmaster.com and map and venue inforamtion is available at http://www.clemsonmajorevents.com. We hope you'll join us for this very special event! Poster will be available at the show.

Time to P-P-P-Panic, Y'all!

Bet you folks weren't expecting a DCS Panic poster, were ya? This would be Jeff's first 'un since 2003. They will be available at the Raleigh show, of course. Don't miss it, it's a small run!

We Are Experiencing....

So, after days of grappling with the USPS labeling service largely unsuccessfully, I have come to the conclusion that the USPS web site's technical staff has been replaced by a committee of lower primates. Rick and I are unable to print labels at this time, so we are sitting on stacks of orders still waiting to ship. And we haven't even gotten to packaging orders from the release on Thursday.

If you're waiting on a package or a confirmation of an order, please be patient. Rick and I really like our hair and are hesitant to start pulling it out. The orders taken on Thursday will ALL be filled, so don't worry that you haven't been charged or sent a payment request yet. I am having to input all of the orders before I can start charging for them due to the abundance of multiple orders by individuals..... which really isn't a problem; I'm just trying to combine those orders to save folks a little shipping$$.

We return you to your previously scheduled program.......