posted: June 7, 2011

It's been awhile since my last post here on Drawger. In short, my family and I did some downsizing, we sold the house, packed up the art studio, moved a garage full of tools, and migrated to a new house early Spring this year. We packed things up, threw things out, cleaned and sorted for days on end. Giving things away can be very time consuming, liberating, and painful all at the same time. My old studio was located in the basement of our old house (picture a New York loft with ample room to spare). On the contrary, my new studio will be located in a garage, albeit a garage that needs a radical renovation.
Anyway, in this new downsized, double-dip world I found something, that no matter where I'm at, helps me find my daily bearing.
I find my daily bearing by turning on my studio radio to my favorite station: WAMC. I discovered the radio station soon after moving to the Catskills in
2000, and I've been a loyal listener ever since.
WAMC covers a wide range of affairs, from topics like health, new books,  trends in publishing, media, copyright, computers, sports, and education, while also streaming the BBC news and other NPR productions. There is an astonishing amount of information that floats my way while I'm sketching and working on my illustration projects, and it's all commercial free.

About 3 times for 1 week, through the length of the year, the station runs a full force fundraiser program to cover its cost of broadcasting for the entire year. With the ongoing giant sucking noise in my wallet, and the guilt of not forwarding any funds, I felt compelled to do something for this wonderful radio station.  Last fundraiser, Alan Chartock, the founder of WAMC,  told the listeners a big tale of a guy trying to sell a huge batch of canaries that wouldn't sing. The tale is reminiscent of all the stories of false promises and crummy deals that are plaguing the country right now. So on a whim, I sketched out an idea for a t-shirt. A few weeks later I sent a layout proposal to WAMC, they loved the idea, and with the help of Somanyroadsprinting the T-shirt was printed and is now available for this week's fundraiser. If you are a listener, make a donation and ask for the new Singer/Dancer T-Shirt and you will be a well dressed, better informed insider.