When most people think of a print shop being deeply intertwined with a local music scene, they think
Hatch Show Print. For years the Nashville-based shop helped promote the
Grand Ole Opry brand of country music.
A little closer to Duckpin's home, the Globe Printing Company has been a mainstay in the DC go-go scene for years. From early pioneers like Junk Yard Band and Experience Unlimited, Globe has been there to spread the word about DC's homegrown music. For much of the 80s and 90s, a trip along DC/Maryland commuter routes offered a cluttered, visual panopoly of Globe posters. Fluorescent-splashed signs tacked to traffic poles greeted you at every stoplight.
How many times a week can Rare Essence possibly play? I remember often thinking.
Various "beautification" ordinances and a declining number of clubs have conspired to eliminate most of the signage. Globe has since diversified into more mundane "Houses from the mid-$400s"-type advertisements. These
new signs (bland, plastic and text-only) are no match for the heyday signage of Globe.
Baltimore City Paper ran a great article on the
long history of Globe, from it's start as a letterpress shop through the present day. The article is accompanied by beautiful -- and often haunting --
photography of the shop's composition equipment, type cabinets, and some now-quiet presses. To us, they look eager to be pressed back into service. Just as Hatch has experienced a revival, perhaps the time is ripe for Globe.
Shop photos by Frank Hamilton, Baltimore City Paper
For our latest Poop Rainbow™ installment, we bring you the All-Vehicle Edition. Hat tip to our own printer's devil for the Buffalo bus [upper right], inspired by a recent trip there.
Like a reverse Secret Santa, every office has their own Sandwich Grinch. You know, that employee who enjoys pilfering someone else's lunch. Want to avoid being the next target? Protect your grub with these anti-theft lunch baggies from Lost at E Minor. They're preprinted with moldy splotches, making your sandwich an instant turnoff. Viola, no more roast beast for the Grinch.
On the heels of our movie poster post, it's only fitting that we highlight the other place where a film's graphic identity comes from: the titling. A great archive of title stills can be found at The Movie Still Collection, a compendium of hundreds of movie screen shots from 1920s-present.
Like Garfield Minus Garfield, these stripped-down movie posters offer a fresh perspective on something we've all seen a hundred times. Once you peel back the typographic clutter, it's surprising just how identifiable films are by their graphic treatment.
In a pinch for some last-minute stocking stuffers? Let us help you outfit your designer buddy in time for eggnog drinking:
Attention paper fetishists.
On a visit to the homestead, my brother and I sat in the living room playing Wii curling for what seemed like hours. I mentioned to him that a big part of curling involved calling the right strategy. I gave him the old line that curling was "like chess, but on ice." Characteristically, he came back with a wise-ass comment:
That Globe poster post got us thinking.
When most people think of a print shop being deeply intertwined with a local music scene, they think Hatch Show Print. For years the Nashville-based shop helped promote the Grand Ole Opry brand of country music.
A little closer to Duckpin's home, the Globe Printing Company has been a mainstay in the DC go-go scene for years. From early pioneers like Junk Yard Band and Experience Unlimited, Globe has been there to spread the word about DC's homegrown music. For much of the 80s and 90s, a trip along DC/Maryland commuter routes offered a cluttered, visual panopoly of Globe posters. Fluorescent-splashed signs tacked to traffic poles greeted you at every stoplight. How many times a week can Rare Essence possibly play? I remember often thinking.
Shop photos by Frank Hamilton, Baltimore City Paper
