East End Ink

It’s our favorite time of year !

Spring is just around the corner & that means only one thing… South by Southwest is approaching ! The fashion, the parties, the films.. the free food & drinks, the music and the interesting people… it’s almost too much to handle – ALMOST. SXSW officially starts Friday March 9th with both the Interactive and Film panels. The first couple of days are really for networking and socializing – Startup businesses come and showcase to the SXSW community, hoping to become the next big thing (success stories include: Twitter, Skype, and Instagram). Films are debuted in hopes of acclaiming the title for this year’s most promising piece .. and bands start arriving with aspirations of creating the largest buzz amongst the thousands of music fans that flow into the city.

We are beyond thrilled to be working on a bunch of SXSW projects and it is about time we start sharing with y’all (slowly of course, because anticipation is key)! The possibilities of SXSW are endless – we will try our best to keep you updated with the best events, screenings and shows that pass by us.. here’s a few links to get you started on the RSVPs:

3rd Annual Ignite Social Media Party /  EITS presents The Future of Music Showcase /  Austin Never Sleeps Official After Party / SXSW House Party 2012

Check back regularly for more sneak peeks, RSVP links and show updates !

In a city filled with bike enthusiasts, you can imagine how excited all of us are in Austin for this friday’s opening party for ARTCRANK, – an exhibition featuring 30 local artists and their bike inspired screenprinted posters.   Widmer Brothers Brewing will be slinging their craft beers to us, with all benefits going to the LIVESTRONG organization. – other sponsors include AIGA Austin, Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop, Big Table Studio and lovingthebike.com. The exhibition will be going on February 25th – March 18th but Friday is the time to go and mingle with all the artists !

Opening Night Party at Pine Street Station

Friday, February 24 — 6:00pm – 11:00pm

ARTCRANK Austin 2012 | Opening Night Party - Facebook Event Page

Inspired by The Onion’s talent show gone wrong, Famewhore, the Worst Tattoo in Austin Contest was founded by Devon Tincknell. The first annual event was held in February of last 2011, and this year it has been decided that the tradition will be continued! It’s all going down on Thursday,  February 23rd at Red 7 @ 8:00! So, bring your weirdest, most disgustingly awful tattoos and you could be a winner!

The winners will receive prizes (MORE TATTOOS) from Bijou Studio, Sailor’s Grave Ink, Austin Tattoo Company, Shaman Modifications,  Atomic Tattoo, and Sailor’s Grave.

The Mole People, will be rocking out and paying respects to punk tattoos!

Make sure to check out the half-time burlesque show by Jules Jezebelle!

And thanks to Sailor’s Grave, there will be cheap booze!

With the Rodeo Uncorked and Best Bites already finished, it is officially Rodeo Season. Every year everyone looks forward to the art exhibitions, food stands (fried oreos anyone?) and most importantly, the concerts. This year there will be headliners such as Lady Antebellum, John Legend, Enrique Iglesias, Duelo & Eli Young Band. As the concerts begin next week, make sure to head out a couple hours before. Have some turkey legs & fried oreos, check out the local school art submissions, take a look at the livestock, ride some of the carnival rides and make sure not to miss out on the bull rides and calf scramble before the concert.

So get ready for the show with Eli Young Band’s newest single – Even If It Breaks Your Heart. Make sure to check them out, they’re on tour and will in town March 10th.

With all the change that’s happening in the shop, it is totally worth mentioning the fact that our digital department moved their entire operation to the front of the shop….over the span of three days!? We are talking cleaning out, cleaning up, painting, installing ceilings, lights, metal walls… everything - 

These guys are magic makers !

The digital crew, led by the fearless brothers: Ernesto, Jose and Greg, with the additional talent of Tollan (a 15+ year experienced designer/printer), can pretty much do anything. If you ask them what their specialty is.. they would say installing vehicle wraps is their favorite trick up their sleeves – and we will have lots of proof coming up this SXSW ! With an ice cream truck sitting in the shop about to be wrapped and a double decker scheduled in the shop next week… we are all very excited to see the amazing digital projects that are going to happen this month. Stay tuned for the magic !!

Tonight is the opening of a brand new bar on west 6th street: Brew Exchange ! It will be the first of its kind in Austin… a bar stocked with 100+ beers whose prices are all market based – meaning the prices will be fluctuating depending on the supply and demand on the drink. Crazy right!? As I mentioned, they are having their opening bell tonight so head over and check out what this place is all about !

facebook: twitter:

We are proud to introduce our new and improved embroidery department, east end embroidery !

We currently have up and running our six machines, both multi-head and single- for a total of 36 heads ! Carlos Andrino, the head of the department, showed me all the cool projects they were working on today – including umbrellas, hats and even horse saddle rugs (which are extremely tough material)! Carlos’ enthusiasm for his trade is absolutely contagious, and I know there is no project that his hard working team wouldn’t want to tackle.

So cmon, challenge us to embroider something crazy, 2012 is the year of exploration and growth !

Gabrieldoes pretty much does everything… from marketing to travel to events to web development to just plain kicking ass !

And part of everything involves parties – awesome monthly parties !

On the last Wednesday of every month, mark your calenders for Gabrieldoes Wednesdays.

Tonight’s event will take place at CTC Garden/Cazamance Cafe and includes free 360 Vodka, free Hops&Grain beer, a pig roast from Cazamance cafe.. live music by Bud Cahill and photography by Alex Ponce !

Feel free to bring your own drinks, invite your friends, and meet lots of cool people.

Wednesday night never looked so good.

Time: 6pm – 10pm

Location: CTC Garden – 1102 E Cesar Chavez St, Austin TX 78702

The 121-year old family owned Dublin Dr.Pepper company has come to an unfortunate end this month.. after a long legal battle with the powerful corporate Dr Pepper Snapple Group. I know for all you peppers out there, this is a sad month..  However the factory (renamed Dublin Bottling Works) will stay up and running with other soft drinks and you can still purchase sugar cane DP, just without its iconic ‘dublin’ mark – although we know.. it’s just not the same anymore.

Local burger joint, P Terry’s, came to us recently to print these commemorative t-shirts… Starting on Friday, if you order a large Dublin Dr Pepper, you will get a free shirt ! This is valid at all locations while supplies last…

here’s some tunes from all local artist!

enjoy your weekend :)

-celestial pop-

*alternative rock*

~indie folk pop~

| alt indie |

(folk bluegrass punk)