Oh DMLH, how you have grown.

Im sure you've already gathered that the main theme of this tour is not only self growth for those involved, but us learning to grow together. Everyone who is apart of this tour has a different goal, yet we are all helping one another to achieve them.

As long as I have known Dan, and many years before that, he has always been involved with helping developing artists realize their full potential. He was one of the founders and main organizers of the Nine37 art collective and Five Town Massive in Bristol, Vermont. For the last ten years this festival opened up new doors to artists of all different mediums and styles as well as involving this small town with its growing Arts community.
you can find out more info here:

www.myspace.com/fivetownmassive
http://nine37.blogspot.com/

I can honestly say if it weren't for DMLH's constant support and inspiration for the last 3 years, I may not be on this tour. I never considered myself an artist and found the stencils I made to just be my way of opening peoples eyes to the problems our world is facing, never thinking they would go anywhere past Portland sidewalks.
Since working with him, my stencils have been apart of reclaiming projects, craft fairs, benefits, and now a national art tour.
In response to DMLH's post showcasing the stencils I have worked on for the past 6 months, I would like to showcase DMLH's growth as a performer in the years since I have been blessed to be called his friend.
And also to show everyone how much fucking fun you will have if you make it out to see him play.


This is DMLH performing on First Friday at 2013, an old store in portland that was dedicated to selling all locally made crafts, clothes, and music. He dedicated alot of time to helping get this store get off the ground and First Fridays were a chance for anyone to come out and perform or showcase their art.



Two years ago, DMLH's good friend Alex Connor aka Shermstixx moved to Portland and together they formed Start Fires, a futurebeat empowerment hip hop duo that have been rocking house shows and venues consistently since 2006.

Even when the police shut down a house show they were about to play, it didn't stop them.



And when Shermstixx had to get a tooth removed and couldn't play a Start Fires set, DMLH still went on, playing a solid 45 minute set alone even though he was recovering from a cold and losing his voice.



Start Fires was Interviewed by Portland Noise during a show at Chaos Cafe, talking about their history and how the Portland community has responded to their music.

Watch Start Fires on Portland Noise


Not only has DMLH's energy at shows become more and more engaging, but so has his stage presence. His crazy colored shirts, glasses, vests, and hats are not commonly seen in hip hop, making him stand out even more and helping him open up to a larger audience. Here is a show he played with Start Fires at The Hush, an awesome all ages venue that also serves as a living space with monthly community meetings he has been attending off and on for over a year.



So here we are now in the present, and I can't wait to see where DMLH goes with this tour. I am fortunate enough to be with him every step of the way, knowing that( Like my stencils and I) he is doing this not only for himself, but as a response to the world around him, hoping to find solution to the problems, and having as much fun as he can along the way.

Thrashley's Stencils Summer 2008

When I first met Thrashley she was a young activist with a million ideas and the energy to work on them all. She was one of the first people in Portland who I really connected with on the level of direct action and creating art for the greater good. We both volunteered at an ancient indie movie theater and spent time talking about possible street art projects and bouncing ideas around. She told me about her interest in stencil making and showed me some of her stencils around town. They were simple but meaningful, images of her cultural heros, or direct political statement. 2 years went by and I noticed a few new pieces popped up on her photobucket page, notably the starving child, which has now undergone several transformations and applications.

Her hand cut lines were smooth and well defined and a greater sense of overall design seemed present in the final pieces. At this point she was combining images to create a sense of perspective, or setting, as well as using multiple layers to achieve greater detail with individual images.

In the summer of 2008 we found ourselves living together in a collective house of artists, and in that space dedicated to the creative process, her work really began to take on a whole other dimension. She has always been politically and socially active, and with that as her driving point, she went to work on creating images that would speak her mind. Images of young women and girls started popping up, with reflective personal statements.

At this time she set out to create as much work as she could with the goal of hanging the pieces in the street to enrich the local community. This project grew and became a larger effort involving many people, but it was her original action and continued effort that made it come together. You can read more about this at one34.wordpress.com.


Through these projects she has come to view her work not so much as "art" to be enjoyed, but rather a point from which to engage the community around her and express her views. This focus is driving her new work, which juxtaposes images from The Great Depression with those of The Consumer Ideal.

I recently had the good fortune to watch her through the entire process of creating a stenciled image. We captured it on video and added some music from our friend Shermstixx:



Her work continues to grow, and as we set out across the country to put it up in new places, I wonder how that story will affect the work and vice versa. She has a talent for being direct, and taking action, and the combination will only result in continued free expression. Who knows, maybe you will end up with a stencil mural in your favorite cafe!

Puzzle Pieces

The parts are starting to take shape into something of a more tangible plan. This week we felt the universe give its blessing for this tour. First of all my brother Dre called to tell me he would join us on the first half of the journey, through California and out to Austin for SXSW. That was great news, but later on that night he called with another well timed coincidence - his friend happened to be driving across country to visit his older brother in CA during the same time Dre would need to get out here. So now Dre has an adventure ride out here, to join up on our adventure leaving from Portland.
It is going to be an adventure. We have teamed up with our good friend Michael Cantino, who creates music under the name Orange Jam, to tour from Portland to San Francisco, with stops planned in Eugene and Eureka along the way. He plays a soulful garage blues that you can feel when he lets it out, which will be a fine complement to the soulful empowerment raps that Dre and I will come with later on in the night. We are looking to find artists that want to play with us, to turn these nights into 2-part shows, starting with the acoustic garage music and ending up as a hip hop dance party. That way we can get people of different scenes to mix up, as well as give people who love good music a night full of it. We are planning on doing this night at small venues, including house shows and gallery spaces, and doing our best to get in touch with as many cool people as we can.
As well as getting a better idea of how the music is going down, Thrashley found a great resource of legal walls for street art across the country, so we have started to include those spots on our itinerary. She will be doing life scale stencil and wheatpaste art that deals with themes of life, love, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, in all the different forms and meanings those take.
This week also brought us the message from our good friend Dizzy, who is heading from Salt Lake city to Austin for SXSW, and I am pretty sure that we will be there with him for the whole ride.


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So, Portland, to Eugene, To Eureka, To San Francisco, To Salt Lake, To Flagstaff, To Albequerque, To Austin? Sounds like a pretty awesome time!