T-Shirts By Tavius

June 25, 2012 4 Comments

Tavius Aiton (Dyer) reading from his second book “Philosopher Stoned: Recovered” at Khalilah Ramirez’s Dance of Peace performance at The Downtown Yoga Shala, San Jose, CA.

This week I am focusing on Tee Shirt designs within my Blogiverse: Tom Boyle Photography is focusing on portraits of the models for my Seismic City line of tee shirts; “Tom Boyle’s Name Dropping with Tom Boyle, by Tom Boyle” has an encore release of My DIY Heroes 3: Tavius Aiton; and tombWriter has an interview with Tavius Aiton regarding his Tavius.org T-Shirts, as in T(avius)-Shirts.

And here it is!

In my column “Tom Boyle’s Name Dropping with Tom Boyle, by Tom Boyle” I introduce Tavius Aiton, number 3 in the series “My DIY Heroes”. The article was originally published by Vetted Word in 2010, and has recently been re-released for the opening of the Name Dropping blog. If you haven’t checked it out yet, please do so as he makes for an interesting story. Two, now!

When we last left Tavius Dyer, he had finished his second book “Philosopher Stoned: Recovered” and hosted the Release Party for the CD version, and Vetted Word, the community of writers and performers that had hosted live readings and an online periodical that I had been introduced to by Tavius, was just celebrating their Second Anniversary.

“‘Love Lush’ was inspired by the joining of twin flames in the most prolific disrobing of the miraculous that sanity, life, and love could withstand, even through the most spiritual heights unimaginable and indescribable, ending in attempted suicide.”

CD Insert from Tavius’ EP “spun 4a loop”. Design by Tom Boyle.

Since then, Tavius Aiton (he reverted to his legal name when he married in 2009) has released his third book “Love Lush”, the CD EP “spun 4 a loop”, and Vetted Word has since discontinued posting to their site (though you can still follow their posts on Facebook and attend the occasional show).

“I am thinking of re-realizing my third book ‘Love Lush’ as ‘Disrobing the Miraculous’, as it is my favorite line in the book and also cooler and more hip to what it actually is in my mind.” Tavius fills us in on where he has been creatively since our last interview. He summarizes “Love Lush” poetically, stating that “‘Love Lush’ was inspired by the joining of twin flames in the most prolific disrobing of the miraculous that sanity, life, and love could withstand, even through the most spiritual heights unimaginable and indescribable, ending in attempted suicide.”

Tavius’ third book, “Love Lush”. Design and editing by Tom Boyle.

Okay, sore subject.

Moving on. I was curious to know what had happened with South Bay Live, an organization that promoted the south San Francisco Bay area music scene, which Tavius had co-founded, and for which I designed the logo, website and flyers.

“This is a sore subject. (Oops!)” Tavius begins solemnly. “South Bay Live was raped, not only once, but twice, before it was killed without even having anything to do with it. First, South Bay Live got the attention of politicians, media, bands, promoters, performers, venue owners, and the like. Everyone participated in the discussion about how to enliven the south bay music scene. Many initiatives were created. One of these initiatives was taken by co-founder Chris Esparza with Giant Creative and turned into the club crawl we all know now as Left Coast Live. Left Coast Live drained the bodies, energy, and resources from South Bay Live.”

“South Bay Live was raped, not only once, but twice, before it was killed…”

Flyer for South Bay Live’s performances at The Theatre on San Pedro Square. Photo and Design by Tom Boyle.

I had the (dubious?) honor of being one of the photographers for the inaugural Left Coast Live event in 2009. Despite its questionable launch, the event the first year was a hoot, featuring some of my favorite bands like Letters Make Words (now split into The Trash Pop Icons), Monkey and Kung Fu Vampire. (I will be featuring photos from concerts on Tom Boyle Photography and interviews with these and many other bands on ..Name Dropping.. when I get into “My Rock ‘N’ Roll Lifestyle”.)

With the wind stolen from South Bay Live’s sails, Tavius did his best to steer the craft to safe port.

“I kept it going another year by developing the website and a series of events at the Theater on San Pedro Square. Under the non-profit umbrella of San Jose Jazz, we were able to provide a great venue for schools, local artists and bands to perform at no cost. Many great events occurred during this time including my second book release ‘Philosopher Stoned –Recovered’ along with my first album of the same title. This was the last event I did as Resonant Frequency Records.”

I was on-hand for that event, camera at the ready. Tavius had produced a truly diverse show, featuring in addition to his readings from “Philosopher Stoned: Recovered”: The Dancer of Peace Khalilah Ramirez, performances by singers / songwriters Jennifer (Ruby) Strange, Jake Chaplin, and Dennis Kyne, rapper Cisco and DJ Seabright.

“I love release events,” Tavius waxes about organizing such a show, “The planning, performance and magic of it all coming together is most satisfying. It feels complete to share these things with so many friends coming together for a moment of self-expression and communal experience of all being in the same moment together. The best memory from the days I had my record label ‘Resonant Frequency Records’ was the summer of 2007. I had my son with me most of the summer and released my first book ‘Philosopher Stoned – Incarcerated’ along with two albums, [one] from local band Reflectiv featuring my audio engineer Jake Chaplin, who developed the other album with lead member of reggae band ‘Lifted Roots’ Gerald Lee.”

C.J. White of CJ Public Relations, Khalilah Ramirez The Dancer of Peace, and Tavius Aiton (Dyer) at the Downtown Yoga Shala, San Jose, CA.

Tavius continues to explain the Rise and Fall of South Bay Live, and subsequent rebirth. “We got new blood in CJ White from CJ Public Relations. He ran with it the following year, which was successful. Then he dismantled South Bay Live after months and months of no communication with the board as director, and started ‘South Bay Live Music’ in lieu of South Bay Live.”

He adds with all due resignation, “I was done.” Moving on.

More recently, Tavius has launched Tavius.org to house his writing and music, and launched Architectural Acoustics to install custom sound systems. To rally artists of various media together, Tavius started The ArtistCollective.biz, with the tagline “Artists helping artists be artists”. “The idea is to create a social ecommerce-based site for all the arts and their “fans” because no one appreciates art more than artists and their friends,” he explains.

With all of these various projects, I couldn’t help wonder how he kept it all together. “I juggle writing, music, radio, tee shirts, etc. by keeping active on whatever is in front of me until the inspiration wanes, and I am up to something else. I find that I can go 30-45 minutes hyper focused, and then I pull away and shuffle to something else. However, there are times I just go out there and work on many fronts until I realize it has been hours and I need to do something else. Supporting my own family keeps me from getting overly obsessed on projects, and motivated to work, but I still struggle with balance quite a bit because when my mind focuses on something it wants to just go with it and run with that energy until it is all gone, much like unraveling the mind through diving and releasing layers of signs, sounds, and other perceptions conceived.”

So which of his myriad projects, if any, stands out as a favorite?

“By far my first book ‘Philosopher Stoned – Incarcerated’ is my favorite project. It came out of a necessity to escape the jail house walls and live somewhere within myself and beyond over the year I spent fighting two strikes, based on some bar room violence, which got me sober. It took two more years to get that project done and it was my first big personal project. I was working with friends including, mainly, Tom Boyle, on editing layout, and print.”

But with his T-Shirt line in its infancy, the next time we chat like this, he might have a new favorite, the “T” standing as much for Tavius(.org) as for Tee.

The logo for my Seismic City tee shirt line, Tavius’ favorite.

Which brings us to the point of this article – his latest venture of tee shirt making. This has been a sideline of mine with my Seismic City tee shirts, which began when I lived in San Francisco. Considering our past work history, it only made sense that I provide the design work for his tees, some are shown below along with some of my Seismic City designs. The Seismic City logo is Tavius’ favorite of my current tee shirt images (I had to ask!), because “it is a witty visual representing the Golden Gate, seismic activity, but also sound or vibration waves which is like the cultural extension of the city life.”

“This is not a short term profiteering plan!”

“Save the Planet, Be a Lemming” Tavius is hoping to coordinate with the artist of the piece above for his current favorite T-Shirt concept.

So which Tavius.org tee shirt concept does he currently favor? “I absolutely love the ‘Save the Planet, Be a Lemming’!” He is currently trying to track down the original artist to secure rights to use the image to the right. He continues to explain the appeal of this concept “No matter how much we ‘reduce our footprint’ it is still there, and as long as we ‘create’ technology and attempt to play ‘God’ we will always take more than we need in an attempt to build the delusion that somehow, identifying ourselves with material things has anything to do with control of anything.” Did you notice his use of quotation marks? Yeah, me too.

So does he have long term plans to become a designer tee shirt legend like Ed Hardy? “I dislike Ed Hardy. It reminds me of bad prison ‘art’ or tattoos. In my mind, the fact that it is popular only emphasizes that mentality. The contradiction in me about this is that I will not wear any clothing that has someone else’s name on it or logo. I like plain clothes, or crafty/witty or artful articles.”

Despite his reluctance to become a walking billboard for someone else, he paradoxically creates T-Shirts with promotion of Tavius.org as the main objective. Is it hypocritical if he’s not selling them for a profit?

“People want shirts, and will pay for them, but I find I would rather buy them as gifts and give them to people,” Tavius explains his motivation toward this project. Currently back-ended for sales and production through Vista Print, the profit even through online sales that don’t end up gifted by their creator is a narrow margin. So he does it for the promotion of Tavius.org.

“Most of my tee shirts market my website www.tavius.org, so if someone is willing to wear it, it advertises for me and I take value in that! I’d rather give away my content to lure people back again, and again…” Tavius explains and adds emphatically, “This is not a short term profiteering plan!”

The T-Shirt line stands the chance of garnering well deserved attention, featuring clever slogans and quips like “Problem Child”, “Manifest Destiny” (a command to create your own path more than a reference to the spread of White America), and “Higher Powered”, and graphics by Tom Boyle Iconography, like the Apple Computers logo with the word “Forbidden” under the fruit, a vector image Einstein with his tongue out, and Believe with aliens on a street crossing sign. Maybe we’d be wrong to “identify ourselves with material things,” but many of his tee shirt concepts seem to say “check me out” in the way a good tee shirt does.

Conversation starters, social commentary, and of course, a plug for his Tavius.org site.

Check out some of the designs I’ve provided for Tavius’ T-Shirts, as well as some of my Seismic City designs!

: Some of Tavius Aiton’s T-Shirt concepts, designed by Tom Boyle.

: Einstein sez “Ah!”

: Problem Child – available in children’s sizes.

: Wonderbred

: Some of Tom Boyle’s Seismic City tee shirt designs.

: Censorship is Kinky

: Cuddles the Urban Pirate – Contact me to order a copy of one of the mini comic books.

: Punktuation

: Lil Toughie

: The logo for my Seismic City tee shirt line, Tavius’ favorite.

: Tavius Aiton (Dyer) reading from his second book “Philosopher Stoned: Recovered” at Khalilah Ramirez’s Dance of Peace performance at The Downtown Yoga Shala, San Jose, CA.