Comments (20) | Posted in General, Journal, Merch, Music by jamie tworkowski

Hey Guys.

Our friend Stuart was here last week, visiting from Glasgow, Scotland. He spent a few days with our team, helping us daydream about the future of TWLOHA in the United Kingdom. Stuart will be working with our friend Olivia to make some things happen there very soon. Keep an eye on www.twloha.com for details.

On that note, we're excited to announce that TWLOHA will have a booth at Greenbelt Festival, where our friends in Athlete are among the headliners. Greenbelt is happening this weekend in England. There will be TWLOHA info and merch available, and we hope you'll say hello to Olivia from our team. Also, if you're interested in getting involved, Olivia would be a great person to connect with.

Comments (13) | Posted in General, Merch, Music by jamie tworkowski

Comments (30) | Posted in Merch, Music by jamie tworkowski

We have a new friend called Craig Owens. He sings in a band called Chiodos. We have a new tank top called Filled. They've been hanging out lately. We tried to think of a better name for Filled but we just couldn't do it. We should have asked you because you probably have a better idea...

Anyway, the purpose of this blog is to let you know that our new Filled tank is available on Warped and it's also available in the TWLOHA Online Store. It's hot in half the world right now so Filled has been making lots of friends. Craig has been stopping by our tent lately and he seems to have a lot of friends as well. 

We hope you have a great day. We hope to see you soon.
jamie

PS: We also have new stickers. Big ones, small ones, ones for cars... You'll find those in the Promote section of the Online Store.

Comments (4) | Posted in Merch, Music by jamie tworkowski

Hey Guys.

Exciting news!! TWLOHA shirts are now available at Zumiez stores across America. You can find TWLOHA at the following Zumiez locations:

Gilbert, AZ
Brea, CA
Santa Clara, CA
Pismo Beach, CA
Torrance, CA
Riverside, CA
San Jose, CA
West Covina, CA
Sacramento, CA
Modesto, CA
Fresno, CA
Cabazon, CA
Bakersfield, CA
Stockton, CA
Littleton, CO
Orlando, FL
Davenport, IA
Boise, ID
Gurnee, IL
Aurora, IL
Rockford, IL
Norridge, IL
Waldord, MD
Bloomington, MN
Buffalo, NY
Garden City, NY
Niagara Falls, NY
Woodburn, OR
Lincoln City, OR
King of Prussia, PA
Friendswood, TX
San Marcos, TX
Cypress, TX
Mercedes, TX
Pearland, TX
San Antonio, TX
Oklahoma City, OK 
Tulsa, OK
Grapevine, TX
Houston, TX
El Paso, TX
Round Rock, TX

If your local Zumiez is not listed above, feel free to go in and bug them about TWLOHA : )

HOT TOPIC UPDATE:
TWLOHA's Cities shirt shirt in black is now available in Hot Topic stores nationwide. Along with Cities, you can also find our Alive V-Neck in white, as well as our original Title shirt in a couple different colors. 

RON JON UPDATE:
We want to thank all of you that have supported TWLOHA at Ron Jon Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach over the last couple weeks. Thanks to you, TWLOHA is off to a great start in there and Ron Jon has decided to add TWLOHA shirts to their (South Florida) Sawgrass Mills location.

SO?
We're excited about all of this because our primary mission is to introduce a message of hope, help and community to people worldwide. We're trying to invite people into what we believe is an important conversation about issues that millions live with but few talk about. We want people to know that they're not alone. We want to do this by meeting people where they are and by doing our best to introduce this message in surprising settings. We've seen it happen online, with the 90,000+ emails and messages we've had the privilege of responding to, and we've seen it happen at universities and high schools, concert tours and festivals, even churches... We simply want to go where people go. With all of that in mind, we think the news above is another perfect example. 

Every TWLOHA shirt sold helps fund the unique mission of TWLOHA, and part of that mission is to give directly to treatment and recovery. We believe that help is real, that there are solutions for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide, and so we love that part of our mission is to invest in those solutions. Since 2006, thanks to your incredible support, we've been able to give nearly $500k to treatment and recovery, and that number continues to go up every single month. 

We want to say thank you and we want to say that we're excited and we hope you are too. We hope you have the best weekend in the history of weekends.

Peace to you.
jamie

Comments (27) | Posted in General, Merch by jamie tworkowski

Short version:

TWLOHA shirts are now available at Ron Jon Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach, Florida. 

Long version:

Hello from Australia.

Yup, i'm still here - big fan of this place. Stuck around after Soundwave for a few days of semi-vacation. i'm staying on the Gold Coast and cheering for friends who are here competing in the Quiksilver Pro at Snapper Rocks. This is the first event of the 2009 professional surfing season and it's pretty awesome timing that this happens to be happening right after Soundwave.

i've been a surfer my entire life. i am the son of a surfer. My parents grew up in Long Island but moved south to Florida before i was born, mainly because my dad fell in love with the warm and waves at Sebastian Inlet. After a few years, they ended up in Emerald Isle, North Carolina and opened a surf shop. i was born and after a few more years, we headed south to Florida. 

i grew up six miles north of Sebastian Inlet, which is arguably the best place to surf on America's east coast. For as long as i can remember, i've been around the ocean. Even now, if i'm away from it for more than a couple weeks, something in me starts to feel off. It's hard to explain but it's like part of me has gone missing. i don't usually realize it until i'm back home, or surfing somewhere, and then i begin to feel myself letting go of stress and questions. There's just something peaceful in it for me. That might sound weird, but it's become part of me being healthy. i don't mean that in some weird mystical spiritual way - i just mean it's become part of my story - it's part of who i am and it's something that i love... 

i worked at our local surf shop when i was in high school. After that, i worked for Quiksilver as an assistant in sales for four years. After Quiksilver, i worked for Hurley for four years. i handled all of their sales in Florida, which basically meant that i spent most of my time on the road, visiting surf shops all over Florida, making sure they had all the Hurley stuff they needed. Hurley took a pretty huge chance on me, offering a big job to an unproven 22 year-old (who liked to daydream and doodle and talk to people, but wasn't much for waking up early or paperwork). i learned so much in my time there, met amazing people and made amazing friends. 

A lot of people, myself included, assumed that i would work for Hurley for the next 20 years. It was a really good job and surfing and the surf industry were pretty much all i'd ever known, especially when it came to "career". But then three years ago, i met a girl named Renee and the five days that followed moved some things around in me. i wrote a story called "To Write Love on Her Arms", made a MySpace page to give the story a home, and ordered 200 t-shirts as a way to raise money for Renee's treatment. The surprising response to that humble beginning led to something of a crossroads and in July of 2006, i decided to quit my job at Hurley to pursue TWLOHA full-time. The rest, i suppose, is history. (If you're not sure what i'm talking about, It's pretty much all here in the archived blogs.)

One of my favorite things about my job at Hurley was Ron Jon Surf Shop. It's the biggest surf shop in the world and it's located just a few miles from where i live. People come from all over to see it - they follow the billboards along I-95 to a sea of boardshorts and t-shirts and bikinis. When i was with Hurley, i would go to Ron Jon every Monday to straighten up our section and to see what they needed. In the process as the years passed, the people there became my friends. There was a sense that beyond the business, there was caring in the room. It was nothing unusual for important meetings to begin with talk that sounded more like friends catching up over coffee. 

So when i left Hurley, it was really hard to say goodbye to Ron Jon. It was so hard that rather than call, i sent an email, which is probably the equivalent of breaking up with someone via text message... We did talk soon after and we did promise to stay in touch... 

Well, the exciting news is that i was back at the Ron Jon office a couple weeks ago, but this time it wasn't for Hurley and it wasn't even just to catch up as friends. i was there for a meeting about TWLOHA... It meant a lot to be able to bring them up to speed on everything that's happenened over the last two and a half years, how things have grown from a simple beginning, the surprising doors that continue to open, where the journey has taken us... It also meant a lot to hear their kind response.

The exciting news is this: TWLOHA shirts are now available at Ron Jon Surf Shop. 

We live in a world where everyone wants to label everything, put everything in a box where they can make simple sense of it. Well, TWLOHA is a few things at once and one of those things, in my opinion, is that we're a brand. We're also a non-profit, a conversation, a story, a collection of ideas, and maybe even a movement (though that's a very big word that shouldn't be thrown around.) 

Anyway, Ron Jon is home to a lot of popular brands such as Hurley, Volcom, Quiksilver, Roxy, Billabong and Element. There are a lot of popular brands in the world but it's rare that a brand has something to say. We believe that we do, that ours is a message that attempts to move people toward real hope, real help, real change. Toward conversations that heal and toward lives filled with real compassion. That's what we're aiming for.

We've also given nearly $500,000 to treatment and recovery, and with every TWLOHA shirt that someone buys, that number grows. 

We're excited about the Ron Jon news because thousands of people visit Ron Jon, and our message is one for people. It's a message of hope, help, honesty and community. We talk about issues that affect people so we like to bring our message to places where people go. We've been able to see that happen everywhere from universities to concerts in clubs to churches, even Hot Topic and NBC Nightly News. 

We're excited to add Ron Jon to that list and we hope you are too. If you're planning a trip to central Florida, or you call Florida home, we hope you'll check out the TWLOHA section at Ron Jon. Right now, it's just one rack, but with your help - who knows? Maybe we can make it grow. Like the rest of our surprising story, we make this stuff happen together.

Oh and if somebody asks why TWLOHA shirts would be sold in a surf shop, tell them not to overthink it. People are always the most important thing. People go surfing. People go to the beach. People wear clothes. People wrestle with questions and pain. We want to continue to show up where people show up. We want to continue to surprise people.

We're honored and grateful that Ron Jon would invite us. We hope to see you soon.

Peace to you, from the Gold Coast.
jamie

PS: i wrestled with this one being kind of long. Decided to share that stuff about my history with surfing and the surf industry as a way of explaining where this news comes from and also as a way of saying that this one means a lot to me. Thanks always for reading. Thanks for letting me write.

Comments (19) | Posted in General, Merch by jamie tworkowski

Going all the way back to the original TWLOHA story, contrast is something we think about and talk about. My friend Kory and i aimed for it when we worked on the original (TWLOHA) Title logo three years ago. It's the reason we chose black and white. To represent pain and hope. Addiction and sobriety. Our dreams and our fears. Life and death. These odd couples and these battles seem to be everywhere - i see them on the news and i see them on the street and i feel them in my chest - and yet they tend to stay as secrets.

We're not smart enough to fake it, so from the very beginning, we decided we would just do our best to say the honest thing, to put it all in one place and say "Let's talk about it." Maybe if you're honest about the darkness in a room, maybe then you can begin to show someone the light. 

We have a new hoodie. It's black and it's white and we're calling it "Contrast". We might be idealists to the point of believing that a sweatshirt can be more than a sweatshirt, that what we wear can be an expression of what's important to us and the kinds of conversations we hope to have. 

Available now in the TWLOHA Online Store.

Comments (28) | Posted in General, Merch by jamie tworkowski

Hey Guys.

i want to begin by saying that we're in Melbourne now, and so much of our focus going into this trip was on our time here in Melbourne, getting to visit people and places affected by the fires. We had plans to brings artists to shelters, to offer their time and their songs in trying to make life a little better for folks who have lost so much recently. Anthony from Bayside, Stephen from Anberlin, Aaron from Underoath, and Jordan from New Found Glory were all excited to go. 

Because of the weather, we had to cancel our plans. Unfortunately, the weather is simply too dangerous in the areas that have already been affected. The concern is that there will be more fires because of the temperatures and the wind. 

i mentioned the guys who were planning to go because i think it's important to say that they care, that there are people on this tour who are thinking beyond the stage and the shows. i walked up to Jordan from New Found Glory a couple days ago and gave this awkward introduction, started trying to explain our plans and he stopped me mid-sentence with "I'm in." 

The good news is that all of us will be at Soundwave tomorrow, and we'll get to spend the day with thousands and thousands of people from Melbourne and the surrounding areas. My guess is that everyone there tomorrow has been touched by the fires in some way, and that some have known significant loss. It's our hope that tomorrow will be a special day in the middle of a difficult time for people here. 

There's no easy transition. i'll simply say that the fires have been on our mind and remain on our mind. Again, the good news is that we're excited to spend the day with the people of this place tomorrow. Say a prayer for Victoria.

The trip has been great so far. Here's my best attempt at bringing you here with words:

I went and said hello to the Bayside guys just before they went on stage at Soundwave in Sydney last weekend. My friend Jack plays guitar in Bayside and I asked him how he was enjoying Australia. This was his response: 

“I’m trying to think of one good reason why I shouldn’t move here, but I’m having trouble coming up with anything.” He eventually added that living in Australia would put him far from his family, though it was the only negative he could find.

We heard similar things the next day when we introduced Aaron and Spencer from Underoath and Stephen from Anberlin to Bondi Beach. At Bondi, the shops and cafes and houses stand along the water like an audience, and whether you prefer city or coast, we all agreed it would be hard to find a prettier place or a setting more alive. (I’m a surfer so I may be a bit partial.)

Our (TWLOHA) team on this trip to Australia is Chris Youngblood and Rich Sullivan and myself, and we are here primarily for Soundwave Festival, which happened last weekend in Brisbane and Sydney and will happen again tomorrow in Melbourne. Sunday is Adelaide and then we get one day off to fly across the continent to Perth. Adelaide and Perth will be firsts for us so we’re certainly excited. 

Chris was our first intern and when I met him, about two years ago, he had never left Georgia. I think his first time out of Georgia was to help us at The Almost show in Columbia, South Carolina. Over the last couple years, he’s become a big part of our story and our team. On our better days, Chris reminds us that community is not some idea for blogs and stages. It is something real and needed, as we have become his and he is part of ours and mine. He traded everything he knew to join our team.

These days, Chris handles everything in the realm of the internet and social networking for TWLOHA. He also spent last summer representing TWLOHA on Warped Tour and will be back out there again come June. Chris and I just took a long walk down Chapel Street in Melbourne, Australia, and this makes me smile because it’s safe to say that he is a long way from Georgia at the moment. 

Rich is one of my oldest friends. A few years ago, we shared a room in a house nicknamed “Summerset”. Byron Cutrer is TWLOHA’s Director of Operations, and he lived there too. Well, technically he didn’t live there, but he slept on the couch probably five nights a week. Summerset was a bunch of guys who liked music way too much, doing life together and wrestling with dreams we didn’t know what to do with. We walked through a lot together. We look back now and smile because so much has changed since then, but also because the things we began to believe back then are the things we get to believe now with TWLOHA. 

Anyway, Rich was part of the first “Stop the Bleeding” tour we ever did, to Nashville and back in 2006. He has been a friend ever since, played a major part in HEAVY AND LIGHT last month, and started full-time with us just after that, focusing on all things related to music and events. 

Okay, back to Australia. (Sorry for the detour, but I feel like I am usually the one who writes these things and I like the idea of you getting to know the folks behind the scenes.) 

We’re here for Soundwave and we’re off to a great start with Brisbane and Sydney. Brisbane is a beautiful city on Australia’s east coast, the furthest north we get to go on this journey. Brisbane’s downtown is really cool – lots of shops and really clean and alive with lots of young people walking around. Sydney is hard to describe – I haven’t been everywhere but it must be one of the world’s great cities. It is a beautiful mix of harbor and hills and skyline and beaches. In trying to explain it to folks back home, I’ve found myself saying that Sydney is like San Francisco meets Seattle meets the tropics. I don’t know if that’s remotely accurate but that’s what comes to mind. To say it a different way, I could totally live here. 

The folks from Soundwave have been incredibly generous and inviting to us. We arrived the first day in Brisbane to find that they had set us up our own tent, more space than we needed, right next to the main merch tent. They have something like 50 bands to look after, not to mention thousands of people coming out each day, and we were blown away that folks from the Soundwave team kept coming by asking how our day was going, asking if we needed anything. It’s an amazing thing when people believe in what you’re doing, when people get excited and start sharing whatever they have, opening whatever doors they can. 

The kindness we found with the Soundwave team didn’t end there. It must be an Australian thing because people have been really amazing to us, thanking us for coming, asking how we like Australia, asking our plans for this place and how they can get involved. We’ve had countless conversations with folks here who believe in the work and mission of TWLOHA. It’s been exciting for me personally, to see the passion and belief in the people here. There’s something powerful about finding things are true around the world, that we share ideas and needs and solutions, that we’re all people in need and that hope is contagious and universal. 

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Comments (14) | Posted in General, Merch, Music by jamie tworkowski