SEPTEMBER 2025

Whew…

It finally got hot enough to turn on my air conditioning for a few days. Just during the day. 87 degrees!! We’ve had it good here in SoCal, and truth be told, I could have toughed it out and made it without the AC. But I chose comfort for a few days while I’ve been really busy. And thankful to be really busy. When I started working on my own last year I wasn’t sure what to expect. And 2024 turned out to be a great year. But, to be honest, things have been slow this year. People have been afraid to spend money. Lots of uncertainty. Projects started and then abandoned. Then August hit and finally things have turned around…at least for me. Lots of fun projects with new clients, some really cool things happening with people I’ve been working with for awhile, and some very busy days! One of my new clients is a big restaurant group in Denver, Colorado and there are a million things that need done on a regular basis. I’ll be able to tell you more about some of the big picture things we’re doing in the near future, like billboards, trains and buses, and all-new branding. Very excited to be doing some new things.

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Here’s a little thing…as a musician and creaative person, I think it’s important to support the arts. Sometimes it’s as easy as making a choice. Is listening to music an important part of your life? I’ve been a subscriber to Spotify for quite a few years but yesterday I made the switch to Apple Music. If you’re a very low-level musician like me and have music on Spotify, but not a ton of listeners every month, it’s disheartening to know that Spotify stopped paying artists for any of their songs that get less than 1000 streams a year. I wonder how many millions of dollars they pocket from this? A few days ago I read that Apple Music actually pays artists TWICE as much per stream as Spotify. So I made the switch. Long time coming. I listen to music all day when I work and lots of the people I listen to aren’t huge stars. So, every penny counts to keep them doing what they do. Now when I listen to their music, they’ll make twice as much as before and it was an easy choice to make.

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And, of course, more cool stuff happening in Tulsa. The newest giant statue, Cowboy Bob, is now in place. This one was special for me because I got to connect some of my favorite creative people together to give Cowboy Bob some special details. We always come up with an “origin story” for these giants, and Cowboy Bob’s is that he was a country musician who played a show at the legendary Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa back in 1943 and decided to make Tulsa his home. So, Bob needed a guitar. And some cool boots. Being that I just happen to work with Iris Guitars on a regular basis, we got in touch with Adam Buchwald at Iris and he agreed that Cowboy Bob should be playing an Iris guitar. I’m going to go out on a limb and say this is the largest Iris guitar in the world. Mark Cline of Enchanted Castle Studios (recently seen on American Pickers) built the giant and all his accessories, and did an amazing job of replicating a massive Iris AB model guitar, complete with sunburst finish, tiger striped pickguard, and headstock logo originally created by yours truly. Bob’s boots were another great connection with our friend Nevena “Bosslady” Christi at Rocketbuster Boots in El Paso. They make the coolest western boots on the planet and Nevena agreed to let us use their design called “Happy Trails” on the boots. Bob is wearing a vintage H Bar C Western Wear shirt that Mary Beth had been saving, and now H Bar C is going to recreate that shirt design and offer it for sale. Oh, and H Bar C Western Wear will soon be opening a company store in the new 66 Collective where Cowboy Bob and Buck’s Vintage reside. Lastly our friend Beverly of Genuine Oklahoma Souvenirs custom jewelry designed a custom bolo tie and hat pink for Cowboy Bob, which Mark Cline also recreated at giant size. The whole project came together in the best way possible, and I can’t wait to see it in person. I’ll be back in Oklahoma at the end of September for some new brainstorming and a float trip down the Illinois River, and I’ll take some new photos to share. Until then, enjoy these Cowboy Bob photos

900 Things…

One of the biggest, sport-altering events to happen live on television was in 1999 when Tony Hawk completed the first ever 900 trick during the X Games Best Trick contest. Skateboarding had been through a down period, but Tony’s intense, never-say-die accomplishment that day literally changed the trajectory of skateboarding, and his career. Not long after that, his very first video game, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, came out and became the massive, unexpected success of the video game world. More games followed, Tony’s career hit the stratosphere, and the rest is history. Now, 26 years later, Tony has decided to put that very skateboard, helmet and pads that he used in 1999 up for auction through world renowned Julien’s Auction House. Additionally, he has also gathered a bunch of other historical items from his career as part of the auction, including significant skateboards, rare clothing, awards, and even a few things that I designed…how cool is that? Online bidding has already been underway for a couple of weeks, but the big live auction event will be happening on September 23rd starting at 10:00 AM PST. Separately and simultaneously, Julien’s is running another auction of vintage skateboards and other skateboard memorabilia, and one of the lots is a big bunch of old Airwalk skateboard stickers, some of which I designed. You can bid on those here.

Truckin’…

I always have a nice array of Vibrosonic Design Studio tees, hats, and other fun stuff in my store. I like to change up the designs from time to time, so if you haven’t checked things out lately, today would be a good day to look at the goods. Here are some fun new Vibrosonic trucker hats and a Padres-inspired corduroy dad hat I just added. Because…Go Padres.

All paintings STILL (STILL!) 50% off!

Deja Vu! I’m just going to keep this rolling… We keep selling a few paintings with the big 50% off sale, so stock is dwindling. Just enter the code FEZ50 at checkout and you’ll get 50% off any of my paintings in my online store. That means the little ones are only $25! And the bigger ones are crazy cheap. Let’s clear those suckers out. Head to the store (link above) and start picking out your favorite friend!