On Thursday August 20 I will once again be playing a show at Darrell’s Tavern in Shoreline. I’ll have a full band with me — Sir Ken Nottingham on Bass, Jamie “Jazz Hands” Baumgart on guitar, and Dave Forrester on drums. I’ve been playing with these guys for a while now. We have a lot of gigs under our belt. We are sounding better with each one. It’s a real treat to play music with these guys.
And because every good show deserves a good show poster, here is the poster I designed for the upcoming show.
It features a turtle and a volcano. It heavily implies that one should drop a turtle into a volcano in an attempt to make the most out of your Thursday night. It’s a concept that I’ve never seen before on a rock show poster or anywhere else for that matter. That thought occurred to me in the shower this morning. I was secretly proud of myself for being so “original”. It’s the opposite of how I normally feel about myself, which is that I’m a big dumb fraud.
I was curious about how “original” my idea was so I asked Google. In the image search, the only show poster that came up was my own! It was from my own Instagram post a few days ago. Thank you, Google. Now I finally feel validated as an artist!
Here is what regular Google said when I searched for “drop a turtle in a volcano”.
Dropping a turtle into a volcano is animal cruelty and will kill the turtle instantly through extreme heat and incineration. In reality, some resilient species like the giant Galapagos tortoises naturally live on active volcanoes such as Woflf Volcano, but they do no survive in molten lava.
Why It Is Harmful
- Severe Pain: turtles feel pain and suffer immensely in high-heat environments.
- Instant death: Molten lava reaches temperatures over 1,000 C (1800 F), destroying organic matter immediately.
- Illegal act: Harming or killing wildlife violates animal protection laws
Wolf Volcano?!!! That sounds awesome. I want to go to there!
This is what Google said when I searched for “drop Mike Votava in a volcano”.
Please do not drop Seattle indie rocker Mike Votava in a volcano. That “volcano” step is just a joke from a local concert poster for his upcoming show with The Grebes and Shaun Crawford & The Reasons at Darrell’s Tavern in Shoreline, WA on August 20.
The Real Plan
Instead of a fiery demise, the actual recommended steps for that Thursday night are much safer:
- Skip the volcano: It is completely optional and unnecessary.
- Head to the venue: Go to Darrell’s Tavern at 18041 Aurora Ave N.
- Catch the Show: Doors open at 7:0o PM, music starts at 8:00 PM, and cover is $10 (21+)
Google nailed it again! They really know their shit!
I am definitely including that quote in my next next press packet. “Please do not drop indie rocker Mike Votava in a volcano” is the best review I’ve gotten in years! Thank you again for your kind words, Google!
Anyhow, no. I don’t actually want anyone to drop a turtle in a volcano. The mere suggestion that someone should do that is absurd to me. The absurdity is where the humor comes from. I felt bad for the proverbial turtle involved so I added the disclaimer to the second step *optional and completely unnecessary. I’m still not 100% certain that I got the wording right to maximize the funnyness but at some point you’ve just got to make a choice and go with it.
When I started this poster I had no idea what I was going to do. I had turtles on my mind because a few nights prior I drew this picture of turtles on their backs.
So turtles seemed to be a good place to start. I searched for turtles on Unsplash, one of my favorite royalty free stock image libraries, and I found this little guy.
The turtle is being held as if the hand was a robotic claw from one of those claw machine arcade games. Looks like he’s bagging to be dropped into something. I know… what about a volcano?!!! Great idea!
Here’s the original volcano stock photo that I used for the poster before I Photoshopped it up.
I cut everything out, removing elements from the background. Then used some photoshop magic to paint in the top edge of the arm because in the original photo the top of the arm gets cut off by the edge. I used even more photoshop magic to get that flat, grainy, illustration look on the turtle and volcano. Then I added some cool textures and a cool font. I spaced everything out and arranged the elements to balance the design And WAAALLLLAAAA! I’ve got myself a finished poster.
Here is the first iteration where I was trying out ideas, getting my proof of concept to see if it would actually work.
This is early in the process before all the details and spacing, and the copy was fully worked out. In this version you can see the edge of the top of the arm before I painted in a more realistic sleeve.
I think the final result looks more like a book cover than it does a show poster. Reminds me of Paperback Paradise. Maybe it looks enough like a show poster for people to understand what it is without having to think about it too much. It has all the elements, venue, band names, dates, event info, and it does literally use the word “music” in one of the subtitles. Hopefully there are enough clues in there to help people understand what they are looking at.
As always, I made a few prints. The prints look awesome! They will be available for sale at the show. (email me if you want one)
I also hung one in the most high foot traffic area I know, my bathroom. It looks great in a frame sandwiched between my Huey Lewis And The News Puyallup Fair mirror and NicGoatalas Cage poster.
Hope to see you at the show!
And don’t forget to do the Puyallup!