Tim Burton & the Nightmare Before Curemas

True confession time: I have NO IDEA why I didn't blog the heck out of this when it happened. I'll blame it on the migraines. Or the summer heat (back in June 2010, which was like, NINE months ago). Whatever. In fact it only occurred to me to put it down tonight! I supposed it had to gestate or something.

So, you all know and love the story of the Nightmare Before Curemas shirt, right? How I made the design and then miraculously ended up being able to give them to the band, and then getting an awesome signed one in return? (Thank you forever and ever KU!) No? If you missed out you can read about it here.

Did you know that Tim Burton has ALSO seen and signed a Nightmare Before Curemas shirt? True story. But, alas, it didn't happen to me, it happened to Fuji! One fine day late last June, I got a little notice on my phone that I had been tagged in a photo.

THIS Photo, to be specific:

The photo of course is Fuji's Nightmare Before Curemas teeshirt (taken while he was wearing it), with Mr. Burton's signature right smack there in the middle. You see, Fuji, being an Australian and living in Melbourne, "the best city in the world" was able to go to the grand opening of Tim Burton's exhibit which was at that the ACMI in Melbourne. At one point, there was a red carpet of sorts, and the fans (including Fuji, of course), were lined up along the sides. When Tim Burton walked by, he happened to notice Fuji standing there, and walked over to him and said "That's a cool shirt!" to which Fuji could only reply "God Bless Robert Smith".

A few days after this post, a video of the moment surfaced (it's right at the beginning here) where you can actually HEAR Tim Burton and Fuji both, and you can see Tim walk over to the side line where he signs Fuji's chest. A big moment for me, but obviously, a  much much bigger moment for Fuji since he was the one getting the very up close and personal autograph. 

I still get more than a little giddy when I think about the fact that BOTH of the amazing godlike geniuses that were together at the NME awards show have seen and signed a Nightmare Before Curemas shirt.

Robert Smith accepts the NME Godlike Genius Award from Tim Burton in Feb. 2009. 

(Tim is all the way to the right of the frame) 

The best part about this story is that this was the SECOND time that Fuji had gotten an autograph on his chest while wearing a teeshirt that I made! The first time was in April of 2009, when he met Simon Gallup in Las Vegas and got his signature on the "Simon Gallup Kicks Ass" South Park style shirt. Both photos were also taken by Brad, so I am guessing that this is the magic combination for Fuji to meet celebrities. 

( Simon Gallup and Fuji. Teeshirt by me. Photo by Brad)

Thanks again Fuji, for sharing some of the blessed life that you lead, and for being a standout guy wherever you go. Happy Birthday again! 

The Cure for Halloween

This time of year is a favorite season for many Cure fans in the Northern Hemisphere as the weather begins to evoke some of our favorite Cure songs. The trees lose their leaves and the earth begins to chill, eerie mists fill the air and the sun hides behind a low, gray blanket of clouds. Beginning with the early brooding intensity of the first dark trilogy of Faith, Seventeen Seconds and Pornography, the Cure know how to evoke the emotions that come to us at of the onset of fall and early winter, and have captured some of the darkest nightmares of our psyches in musical format.

Since the atmosphere around Halloween is a perfect match for this music, I have brought together 31 of my favorite songs which speak to me of all of those haunted memories. This collection is naturally heavy on that early dark trilogy, however not all Cure albums are represented. There's not much Halloween feeling on Wish, for instance!

I have tried to stay true to the emotions that are with us the most at this time of year, choosing songs that speak of terrors, of blood, fear, despair, lust, nightmares and monsters. Death and decay are also popular themes in these choices, as are the shadowy figures of ghosts, spirits and yes, even the spider-man.

Most of all, these songs speak to me of the lonely journey of the soul through the dark night of the year. When the cold begins to surround us, it is a natural response to turn our minds inward, and begin to look closely at the things which frighten us the most, so that they will lose their power over us.

I hope you will enjoy this playlist and please let me know what you think! What songs would you choose besides these ones? What are your top 31 Halloween Cure songs? Feel free to leave your list in the comments.

Nightmare Shirts In Stock

Despite a minor delay, the 2nd printing is now complete! I have to mention that the new screenprinter did a kick-ass job, and the new shirts are even better than the first ones. The ink is thicker and more sparkly, and the edges are crisp and clean. So despite the setbacks, I think that they will be worth the wait!

There are a few shirts available and in stock right now, so get yours while they last. Sorry, these shirts are officially out of stock.

Nightmare Shirts Reloaded - Update!

I've had a lot of inquiries come in over the last week about the shirts, and so I thought I would give you an update on them. My original plan was to be mailing them before the 25th so that they would be arriving before Halloween. I am sorry to say that my screenprinter had other plans, and although he had the shirts for nearly 2 weeks he did not print them.

So on Halloween day I had to go rescue the box of shirts from him and take them to another screenprinter so that they could get done! I was extremely disappointed in him and I am very upset that I could not send the shirts out in time to you all, as I am sure that you are upset as well that you have not gotten the shirts as promised.

The good news is that they are currently at the new printers, and that I will be sending them out just as soon as they are done, which hopefully should be this week.
I am very sorry again that the first printer turned out to be so flaky, and that they were not done before Halloween.

Nightmare before Cure-mas - Reloaded!

Okay I give! You all love the design and I've heard from lots of people that didn't get to take part in the first pre-order. So here's your chance to get one now!


Ladies V-Neck photo by halo969

Sorry, these are out of stock at the moment!

The Gallery

Here's where you'll see pics of the fans in their Cure shirts or photos of the shirts themselves.

My shirts at the Myspace Secret Show in LA! 12:13 Dream!





Nightmare Shirt Signed!

I gave the band a bunch of shirts made especially for them at the Carson Daly taping in LA on 12/12/08. I got one of them back, signed by the band! Thanks Keith!!!

---

Rev Cats
Originally uploaded by moe29

Morris and the Rev Cats :D





Me and Davis Petterson from The Ghosts Project at their concert in SLC.

-- from halo969

-- from Sara Batson

-- from Sara Batson












Cure fan Chris says hello!

Wearing rev's Cure Kick Ass Shirt!
Originally uploaded by cure_kitty

Wearing rev's Nightmare before Cure-mas Shirt!
Originally uploaded by cure_kitty

With my awesome tattoo artist Shane

I see you
Originally uploaded by Las April

Nightmare Tee Shirts - Update 3

Thanks to everyone again for all your great feedback and comments on the shirts. I love that so many people ordered these as gifts for birthdays and the special Cure fans in their lives!

I love to see people enjoying my designs, so if you can, please send me a picture of yourself (or your significant other, friend etc.) wearing it!

Here's the most recent news about the shirts:

The ladies V-Neck shirts (photos of those coming soon!) and the large crew neck tees have been printed, packed and will be in the mail on 10/2!

If you were waiting on a shirt and have NOT yet received an email with your tracking number, please contact me ASAP! As of tonight (10/1), all of the pre-orders have been filled and sent out.

Update - 10/7 All the shirts I had as extras have been taken! But if you didn't get one, and you would like to order one, don't despair! See this blog post for details and scheduling!

Nightmare Teeshirt Update #1

First the good news - the regular crew-neck shirts are done! And they look just fabulous! YAY!

Well, they are mostly done. Actually more than 90% of the regular tee-shirt orders are not only done, they are all packaged up and ready to ship! They will go out on the 23rd. If your order is among them, you'll get an email from Paypal notifying you of the shipping. If you don't get this email, please see below!

And the not so good news -Ladies' V-Necks in black were impossible to find, I actually had to order them in from out of state after trying every available avenue to get them here. Fortunately, they should be here on Tuesday, Sept. 23rd and should be available to ship out by the end of the week. I'm sorry for the delay and hope this doesn't cause anyone any trauma or drama.

Large size shirts - for some unknown reason black tee shirts in Large were really hard to get! (almost as hard as black ladies' v-necks!) So we had to sort of patch together the larges from different stores / brands. I apologize that some of you who ordered a Large teeshirt won't be getting the promised Hanes tagless tee shirts. Since we couldn't find enough Large size shirts, there are a couple of orders to print when we print the ladies v-necks this week (above) and
again, I apologize for any delay. If you just can't stand the thought of wearing a Fruit of the Loom instead of a Hanes teeshirt, please let me know and you can exchange it for a Hanes one when I get the new order printed this week.

If you ordered a regular style crew neck shirt along with a v-neck, your complete order will ship when the v-neck shirts are done printing.

Enough chit chat, just take me to the pictures!!

Starting the packing process




Covered with teeshirts!



Even more shirts!



Print detail


(this one does not show the metallic glitter effect very well)

More packing



Stacking UP!



Metallic Silver


You can see the metallic silver glitter much better here!

Well, that's all I have for now, thanks again for all your support!

Nightmare before Cure-mas

2nd Printing now up for pre-orders!



Check out my Flickr set for updates as I will be documenting the progress there.

Update #1 - Sept. 23rd
Update #2 - Sept. 30
Update #3 - Oct. 1 - Extra shirts up for grabs!
Update #4 - Teeshirts Reloaded!

NEW! See the Gallery here!

Thanks for all your support and kind comments!

I love to see people wearing the shirts I make, so if you would, please send me a pic of you wearing your shirt!