Friend Saturday or: Hey(day), Let’s Get Graphic

Salutations™!!

Note I did this on Saturday this week so I could give a good write up…

Remember when you used to do the #FF on Twitter just a few years back? It stood for Follow Friday or Friend Friday (according to who you asked) and as far as I can tell, no one really does that any longer and whilst I’ll admit I was slack on that on Twitter, I will also say that Twitter isn’t my main social media platform and I just didn’t do it. But, I think it was a good idea and I’d like to pick that back up, except do it here on this blog.

I have a slew of friends that are interesting folks. They may have businesses, they may be musicians, they may just be eclectic as heck, whatever! I just think they need to be highlighted more because they bring awesomeness to the world and we’re lucky to have them here in WSNC.

When I’m in my “The Man Who Ate the Town” persona (which really is all the time, but when I’m out in public with it), I like to wear one of my custom made t-shirts that bear that name and my likeness. Those shirts were made by Machine Gun Graphics. Well, at least the printing on them. Also, the extra-large wall decal that we take pictures in front of after every episode of The Less Desirables was printed by Machine Gun Graphics. I have a banner that bears the logos of TLD, TMWATT, Fan Interference, The Beer Dads, Apartment 5B and Beeswax Vinyl & More that I’ve never gotten to use (and that I need to upgrade) that is quite large and that, too, was made by Machine Gun Graphics.

Kyle and Nikki over at Machine Gun Graphics are awesome to work with. Their product care and quality are unmatched. The shirts that I had made and the ones that bear their name (MGG) are high-quality material, comfortable to wear and fit me great. Having to have 3XL sizes makes getting clothes that fit an ordeal at times, but their sourced shirts are great. They have taken several of my logos and made great things for me.

Do you have a logo that you need to be printed on something? It would look great on shirts but it’s not exclusive to shirts. How about sweatpants? Hoodies? Banners, buttons, caps, koozies, and so on? They do that! How about embroidery? They do that! Get something directly embroidered or make an embroidered patch that you can put on yourself.

Let’s say, though, you don’t really know what you want but you just need some stuff printed up? Well, fantastic. They have a free design studio right on their website. You go on there and mock up some fun stuff and see how you like it. If that’s daunting to some (which I can see where it could be) then start working with it and let Nikki or Kyle help you do the finishing touches!

Machine Gun Graphics is eco-friendly and eco-minded. They try to keep the shop as eco-friendly as possible and use sustainable garments and materials any time they can. They do large-scale printing, discharge printing and basically, if it hits your brain, they can print it on something. Machine Gun Graphics is located at 610 Cotton Street.

And, to any TLD listener (or reader of this blog) if you have some printing that needs to be done, once you’ve made your kick-arsed design, when you checkout on their website use the discount code TLD15. That will get you 15% off your order (before taxes of course).

Full disclosure, Machine Gun Graphics is a sponsor of The Less Desirables so I may get compensation from them, however, this is an honest and heartfelt (and was not asked to make it) recommendation.

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This brings me to my full-on “Unsolicited Recommendation.”

Right up the street from Machine Gun Graphics is my pal, Michael Slawter. Michael owns Heyday Guitars, a neighborhood guitar shop that well, sells, guitars. But, it’s not like some guitar shops that just get new inventory or may have a trade-in or two. Nope, Michael specializes in both electric & acoustic guitars as well as tube amps, be they vintage, new or used. He really focuses on guitars and amps from the 50s through the 70s.

Michael also does guitar setup, specs, modifications and if something’s going wrong, he’ll do some repair/troubleshooting for you. He’s worked on a few of my basses in the past.

Heyday Guitars’ shop is quaint and in the warmer months, he’ll roll up the big garage door and let nature in while folks are strumming along, tinkering with a potential new toy. It’s not unusual to catch live music there, either. The BCPF and I got to check out one of her musical faves, David J from the band Bauhaus and Love and Rockets. Don’t get me wrong, there isn’t a ton of room in there, so it will be packed, but that’s what we call in the biz, intimacy!

Michael is a musician and has put out some music in the past. I know he has a record at Underdog Records because I’ve seen it! This brings me to the point that he is a vinyl fan, as well and has a turntable in the shop that you can go by and listen to some tunes, talk music (or shop), strum some stringed goodness or just hang out. Michael is cool and will have a grand conversation with you. He has been on The Less Desirables a few times, as well as The Beer Dads. Heyday Guitars is a great shop and is located at 414 Brookstown Avenue. For more info visit their website or heck, even better, just go by there.

I hope you’ll visit my friends soon, not just Fridays Saturdays, and help local businesses and local business owners and hey, you can get good beverages and delicious pies! Thanks for reading about my friends.

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

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“Cool, old and weird is what we like!” – Heyday Guitars