HEADING DOWN TO KEY WEST TODAY: And along the way we stopped at some little exit. There were clouds rolling in. Thunder. Lightning. Rain. Big wind. I freaked out and climbed a palm tree, in a desperate attempt to avoid being "swept out to the sea" or some other tropical tragedy. I'm still up in that tree, as these words go to print. Big fun down here. Photo by Leigh-Leigh, who survived, also.

THEIR RESULTS ARE STAGGERING: We're wrapping up the second day of our workshop today. And man, these kids are making some KILLER stuff. I'm blown away. In the end, we'll have twelve hours together. And man, they are executing. One kid's doing this amazing portrait of his grandma, mom and daughter. I was watching over his shoulder, just blown away. Another kid is making an olive oil bottle for her grandpa! Like, a couple hours into it, and her first couple comps are better than stuff you see in packaging annuals. Another gal is doing a new take on tarot cards with her beautiful illustrations. So cool. The punker next to her is making a record. Save me a copy, man! Jennifer Cuena is making an ornate logo of her name! Miggs Mendoza (Miggie Smalls, Little Heisenberg, The Fresh Mig of Miami, Miggy Stardust) is making shit I can't even mention on here, and holy hell, remember that name. SOMEDAY THIS LITTLE GEMSTONE WILL BE FAMOUS. Or in jail. Funny little bugger. So rad. John Muñiz is making a logo of his name, too. All started with a quick sketch, and BAM, a whole logo set. Killer. Another gal is scheming up a positive campaign to promote natural hair in the African American community. Guts, people, guts! This one kid from New York took pictures of trash on the ground, vectored them and then made a poster. Done! Makes you think about stuff on the ground in a whole new way. Everything means something. Little Grace kept me in line, wouldn't let me mess with her, and made this beautiful illustration of her and her man Alex for their upcoming Kentucky-fried wedding. Congrats, you lovebirds!

Jose Rubio-Martinex doesn't know Juan Valdez personally, but makes Colombia a country to fear. This guys has logo chops! Such a nice guy, such a cool way about him and his work, and man, KEEP UP THE KILLER WORK!

And then there was Ramses. My buddy. First guy I met. From Cuba! made this incredible t-shirt, and, just sorta showed me he "did a little painting." I was floored. An INCREDIBLE painter. Someday, you'll know his work. Just you wait. Wow. Good to meet you, man.

I can't remember all the names, you know, cuz I'm a horrible human, but, damn, I won't forget all their faces and amazing projects. In two days. So much cool stuff. Thank you for having me, all of you. That was awesome.

"Gracias" from the DDC. See, I'm a dumb white guy, you know? The majority of the kids were Columbia or Venezuela or Cuba

I'll just say this right now once and for all: Anyone fucks with the design student of the New World School of Arts, well, they fuck with the entire DDC enterprise.

There you go.

Great work, you guys. Come to Portland!

Special thanks to Rosario, Annette and Maggie for a great couple days. Thank you! And for that incredible plate of food at Versailles. Still full, and still high from that Cuban coffee. Gracias!

ATTENTION, YOUTH OF MIAMI: Our workshop with graphic design students from the New World School of Arts kicked off this morning at 10am. Twenty wide-eyed students, eyeballing me hard. Pens down, punks! Get to work! Rosario is taking good care of me, and I, in turn, am going to slay these youths! BOOM!

And then later tonight, we'll be telling our story! At 7pm! Be there, Miami! Open to the public. Someone call Lebron.

FLORIDA-BOUND: Heading down to Miami today with Leigh. We've got OFFICIAL BUSINESS of the highest order at the New World School of Arts tomorrow. That's a fact, jack. Hopping flights this afternoon!

First we made the poster. Then the torso cover. And now the patch! Lift-off! 01. Proudly made in the U.S.A.
02. Durable embroidery.
03. 2-1/2" wide by 3-1/8" tall. Just the right size.
04. Big, thick-lined shuttle. Atmospheric re-entry. Colorful.
05. Space Camp, Space Coast, Space Race, Spaceballs.
06. Great for jean jacket, hat, backpack, fanny pack or space activity suit.
07. Perfect little patch to remember that majestic shuttle program.
08. Fellow "Children of the Space Shuttle," you need this. $7.99 - Shipping Included (U.S.A.)

For customers using PayPal, click the link above they'll take it from there. For customers who aren't using PayPal, send us an email to "orders(at)draplin.com" and we'll get back to you with an address to ship the funds to. We accept money orders and cold hard cash, so, get with it, man! All orders are shipped out as fast as we can. Usually a couple days after the order comes in. We ship everything USPS "First Class" rates. If you want quicker shipping, contact us and we can ramp it up to USPS Priority, or whatever you need. We aim to please! We cover the shipping in the states and up to Canada, but charge the basics for International orders. Before you place the order through our PayPal account, send us an email to "orders(at)draplin.com" and we'll get you a shipping quote for the goods you are interested in. As simple as that! Thanks!

©2014 DDC Dry Goods Div., Merch Dept., Portland, Ore.

ALREADY BACK FROM NORTH CAROLINA: Man, that was a fast trip. All this travel is weird. Makes you a little upside down. Makes the distances between places seem small. Not the case. North Carolina is a long way away. Darn.

All smiles with the Brothers Cook. Incredible humans. Feel lucky to know 'em!

Met mac from Superchunk and Merge Records! Punch me harder.

ONE OF THOSE INCREDIBLE MORNINGS: Got to hang with Brad and Stella Cook! Brad's in Megafaun, and damn, we love that band. They carted me around all day, showing me EVERYTHING awesome about Durham. Nibbled on Videri chocolate and got to see how it's made. Thanks! They even took me into Merge Records where I got to meet Laura and Mac. Been a fan since 1991! We hit record stores and had lunch, saw Phil Cook And His Feat and, Beautiful Family Enterprise, over a tasty panini, and then caught up with All Tiny Creatures' top brass, just before hopping a plane the fuck outta there. Thank you, Brad and Stella! Come to Portland. Mandatory!

What a killer day!

GOING DOWN TODAY: At two in the P.M.! At the High Five Conference! Full merch table! Friendship. Big words. Complete bullshit. Laffs. Orange stuff. Long dogs. Wild shit. Tears. Multi-media action. Cmon, Raleigh!

WHIPPING OVER TO NORTH CAROLINA TODAY: We're telling our story to the High Five Conference tomorrow! Bam! Be there, Raleigh!

Bringing a stack of our spirited, tar-heeled North Carolina posters! Get one!

GEARING UP FOR SOME CAROLINA: North Carolina, to be precise. We have official business this Thursday in Raleigh at the High Five Conference! Be there! Been playing old Polvo records all day, getting myself in the right frame of mind...

I've been lucky to drive the western edge of Mississippi a couple times. The first time was with my brother P.J. "Hoss" Chmiel. We started in New Orleans, working our way up Highway 61 on all those back roads. The second time was with my other brother Ryno. We did the same route all the way to Minneapolis, except, that run involved lighting off bottle rockets and whatever else in the rig. Real nice, Ryno. Anyhoo, both road trips allowed me us to explore good chunks of Mississippi. Juke joint lurking, Mississippi River gazing and healthy doses of Natchez Trace Parkway skunk ape speculating and outrunning. All in all, great trips through Mississippi.

A couple months back I got invited to come down to tell my story to Mississippi State's design program in Starkville. We said "Yes!" right away. There was lore attached to the place. The stomping grounds of heavies Clifton Burt, Kate Bingaman-Burt and Will "Wild Style" Bryant. I was a fan of 'em first, and now we're all friends here in Portland.

I had to go, and it was an incredible visit. Thank you to the incredible Suzanne Powney for taking such good care of me. An awesome, fun, fast visit. Thank you!

Oh yeah, we made a poster for our trip! A tribute to the great, wild state of Mississippi. All the stuff we've ever loved about the place. It's all on there. Those old blue guys, especially. So get some Bukka White going, and dig on this poster!

01. Printed on thick, durable, French "Insulation Pink" Pop-Tone 100# cover stock.
02. Four colors! Inspired by Mississippi state schools, and the blues.
03. 18" x 24"! Big, like that river.
04. Proudly printed by our river rat buddies at The Half And Half of Columbia, SC!
05. Want to get a in a little closer?: Dig in with a click here.
06. Mississippi, we did this for you. Works well in some bar frequented by local writers in Oxford, at the Blue Mountain practice space, in some beach shack along the ocean near Gulfport, in some flat in Yazoo City, in any/all remaining juke joints along Highway 61, over in Starkville in the home studio of Mrs. Powney, at some ranger office along the Natchez Trace Parkway, in any room in the home of Morgan Freeman, Tupelo double wides, cabins in the pines, and up and down that Mississippi, be it barge, lean-to or port. Believe in this posters, Missississippi.
07. Dedicated to the blues musicians of the Delta.
08. Hand-numbered, using our patented freehand technique.
09. Insanely limited edition. Priced to move.
10. Free 3" x 24" burly kraft poster tube with each order! Reusable.
11. Two free white plastic end puck thingies.
$30.00 - Shipping Included!!! (U.S.A., CANADA)

For customers using PayPal, click the link above they'll take it from there. For customers who aren't using PayPal, send us an email to "orders(at)draplin.com" and we'll get back to you with an address to ship the funds to. We accept money orders and cold hard cash, so, get with it, man! All orders are shipped out as fast as we can. Usually a couple days after the order comes in. We ship everything USPS "First Class" rates. If you want quicker shipping, contact us and we can ramp it up to USPS Priority, or whatever you need. We aim to please! We cover the shipping in the states and up to Canada, but charge the basics for International orders. Before you place the order through our PayPal account, send us an email to "orders(at)draplin.com" and we'll get you a shipping quote for the goods you are interested in. As simple as that! Thanks!

©2013 DDC Dry Goods Div., Merch Dept., Portland, Ore.

THANKS, MEGHAN: The shot above was sent in by our buddy Meghan. Better half of Vin. Two champions of Portland. Thanks. Summit meeting, soon. I'm horrible. I know.

NOTHING TO REPORT TODAY: Seriously, doing nothing. Too sore. Arms are messed up. Can't move 'em. Too much time in Kisar's pain cave this week. I'm so fucked up, I'm using purple. See? That bad.

WE'RE ON THE AIRWAVES TODAY: We're on the Bitchcast today with BitchWhoCodes! Click here to hear me ramble about all the shit I usually ramble about.

Special thanks to Stacey for having me on there! Sorry I got riled up over my inability to master all the tech!

SERIOUS MOVES GOING DOWN: I'm currently in the final, punishing stages of a KILLER PROJECT here in town that I CANNOT DISCUSS due to OUR PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS. And man, I can't wait for you to see 'em. Today we discussed "Nitro" options. Won't say much more than that.

Finally! A shop rag suitable for the spills, splashes, drool, accidents, tears, bloodbaths, grease, grime and all-out nastiness of the DDC factory floor. All situations. All fluids. Both of the good and evil persuasion. 01. Proudly made in the U.S.A.
02. 100% cotton, way-absorbent shop rag.
03. 14" wide and 14" tall.
04. Very orange and hard to lose in some sketchy shop.
05. 1-color DDC branding print by our buddies at Brewery Outfitters.
06. Three rags in each order. Also known as a "three-pack."
07. Serious threads.
08. Machine-washable.
09. Check yer oil with it.
$14.99 - Shipping Included (U.S.A.)

For customers using PayPal, click the link above they'll take it from there. For customers who aren't using PayPal, send us an email to "orders(at)draplin.com" and we'll get back to you with an address to ship the funds to. We accept money orders and cold hard cash, so, get with it, man! All orders are shipped out as fast as we can. Usually a couple days after the order comes in. We ship everything USPS "First Class" rates. If you want quicker shipping, contact us and we can ramp it up to USPS Priority, or whatever you need. We aim to please! We cover the shipping in the states and up to Canada, but charge the basics for International orders. Before you place the order through our PayPal account, send us an email to "orders(at)draplin.com" and we'll get you a shipping quote for the goods you are interested in. As simple as that! Thanks!

©2014 DDC Dry Goods Div., Merch Dept., Portland, Ore.

DANGER, DANGER: A lot of shit's coming to head around the shop. Projects, prospective speaking fiascos and new DDC merch. All the serious shit. And man, bells are going off, and reminders, and alarms, and dings and punches to the face. All keeping my butt in line with everything we've promised around town, on the phone, and on the web. We're doing our damnedest to keep it all going, thriving and keping those files flying out the door. How we do it.

Oh yeah, check this scary link from our buddy Derek Schille back in Minneapolis: "Scary Ass Dutch Safety Posters."

AND MAN, WHAT A BUSY WRRK IT'S GONNA BE: We got a list, and it's big, and we start chipping away at those lines NOW.

GONNA MISS YOU...GOLDEN, SHIMMERING PEAKS AND VALLEYS OF LAS VEGAS: Bye!

MOM FELL ILL: And we made her comfortable, loaded her up with survival items, and then snaked out to hit the strip a bit, TRYING TO TAKE BACK VEGAS. Managed to hit that fuckin' 34 a number of times at the El Cortez casino. One time, with 25 bucks on it. Boom! $875 smackers. That's awesome, no matter who you are.

MARK AND MOODY SUPER TOUR, COMMENCE: Mark and Moody took Leigh and I on a Vegas tour today! We hit the National Atomic Testing Museum, then the Pinball Hall of Fame and ripped through some quarters, ravaged a cool record store and then devoured a nutritious In-n-Out burger. Fun times. Then they took us back to old town, and pushed us out the door at a slow roll. Friends forever!

We cleaned our wounds, sold some plasma for gambling scratch and then hit a couple casinos downtown. Just being Americans, enjoying the American Dream, chasing the American Dream. And what a MAGICAL night it was...

WORKING THE WORKSHOP: Spoke to a spirited crowd today at Works In Progress, telling tales of making logos, behind-the-scenes shit and what it takes to make it in the cutthroat world of contemporary graphic design. Almost had a couple coders turn the workshop into a bloodbath. You know, me and my big ol' hairy mouth, messing with the coders of the world. Good, clean fun, fellas. We're all in this together, right? Thanks to Porter Haney for setting the talk up! Met some cool folks. Thanks for coming out to hang, everyone!

LADY LUCK, SLATHER ME WITH YOUR JUICES: Got upgraded to first class for ALL legs of this trip! Boom! May that luck follow me this whole mission, especially when I'm on that fuckin' roulette table, focusing the entire universe's energy on that "34" slot, in hope of procuring the slimiest of fortunes.

This will be the scene tonight. See you on the roulette tables, AFTER our OFFICIAL BUSINESS is done with Tech Cocktail conference! Shit goes down at 6 PM, Vegas!

Mom and Leigh are coming along too, so I have back-up. Anyone fucks with them, and just know, they fuck with the ENTIRE DDC. Stern words.

TOMORROW MORNING, WE SPLIT TO THAT SOUTHWEST: And shit, we were just there! Tucson was great, and we want to go back, but, THE SHOW MUST GO ON. And tomorrow, we head down to Las Vegas, that shimmering luck hole at the bottom of Nevada. We have the most OFFICIAL of OFFICIAL BUSINESS to attend to at the Tech Cocktail conference. We'll be telling our story to a room full of Vegas' finest creative, coders, thinkers and badasses. Porter Haney lit the fire under our ass on this one, and we thank him for rolling the dice on the DDC! Tomorrow, we slay!

ONE OF OUR LITTLE DREAMS, COME TRUE: We got our ass in the pages of Juxtapoz magazine! Here's proof right here: Check the March issue!!!
Special thanks to Brent Gentile for giving the DDC a shot in there! Risky ventures.

ALL CREATURES, GREAT AND SMALL: Except spiders, sorta. I mean, I'm cool with spiders, but, they just sorta creep me out. Snakes? No prob. Scorpions? Nothing 300 pounds of American beef wouldn't solve. There's something about spiders that really gets me. Going to Tucson really got me thinking. Found myself checking corners of the room and under the bed and shit, looking for tarantulas! Ha.

When I get a spare second, I'm gonna go hit a pet store in town, to check their tarantula inventory. Kinda want to hold one? Can't believe I'm even typing that shit out.

I have two legs. They have eight. We can work something out, you know?

WAS ON THE LOOKOUT DOWN THERE: Karen from U of A School of Art took me out into the desert a bit. Up over a little mountain pass, that opens up and you whip down to Tombstone. We stopped and took a couple shots, as I need a background for a record I'm working on. Can't get into specifics. Anyhoo, I was ON THE LOOKOUT the whole time for tarantulas. Little shits. Since it was winter, the little buggers are in the ground, hiding out.

Was really hoping to see one. February in Arizona? No tarantulas. No bueno.

Couldn't help but get "real grabby" with Joey.

Hell yeah, Ryan!

IT'S A LONG LIFE: And I hope to live another 99 years. And when I die, at the ripe, withered aged of 139, I'll remember this morning as one of my greatest of "rock-n-roll mornings."

I met Tucson designer Ryan Trayte of Sayswell Design Co. awhile back when I spoke in Phoenix. Nice, nice guy, and we spoke about living in Tucson (he drove up to the show) and how he worked closely with Calexico on record packaging. I about died. Got to work for Calexico? Killer.

I love Calexico. All the way back to "Spoke" in what, 1997? Those songs punched me in the face back then. I knew about Giant Sand and Friends of Dean Martinez, and specifically, their rhythm section composed of Joey Burns and John Convertino. When these guys made their own thing, I went nuts. Loved the stuff.

Convertino's drumming is high, high on my list. Such swagger and grace. I forget to watch all the other players in the band when he's behind that kit. Incredible.

The Black Light came out and blew me away. Southwestern sounds! I ate up Scenic and Friends of Dean Martinez and bits of Giant Sand. This stuff was new, and yet, broken-in and beautiful.

Okay, fast forward half a life...uh, some 17 years later. And this morning, I got to meet Joey Burns from Calexico. Ryan set it up!

Joey is quite possibly the nicest fella in ALL of Arizona. We spoke of bands, and records, and art, and travel, and going for it, and family, and travel, and tarantulas, and he handled me and my "fuckheadedness" with great poise and patience. Thank you, man.

I love Calexico. And sometimes, you meet the guys from some band you love, and they are dicks, or weird, and then you can't listen to their records ever again the same way. That's not the case here. My love for them is cemented that much more. Hell, I listened to all my Calexico stuff this week. Even the Iron and Wine stuff. Even Joey's stuff with Neko Case. Such a talent.

We had these little pizza breakfast things, and man, I destroyed mine. Thanks again, fellas! Making friends!

THAT SHOW WAS GREAT! AND WOW, I'M BUSHED: I'm in my casita in Tucson here, barely able to keep my eyelids open. So tired. So many kids came out to the show, and it was awesome seeing Mike Sadler and Noelle and Fezlabs and Trayte. Special thanks to Karen and Kelly for taking such good care of me, too. Thank you, Tucson!

DEEP DOWN INTO THAT SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES: Heading to Tucson today! Through Salt Lake! Got upgraded to first and everything! Yes!