This shop is a great place. Shirts, mostly. But you can buy a mug here and all kinds of different things. Or you can just look at the different things. That's what I do. I just like looking at the different things. There are books here also but maybe you already saw those on the other page. The stickers are nice. Maybe you want to buy some?
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The Cheddar Man Life
Cheddar Man Brand is a lifestyle brand of Long Dog Outfitters, Tucson, Arizona. I like to draw that dog because it's one of the only things I can draw, so I draw it on a lot of things. I drew it so much and for so long I started liking the way it looked, so I wanted to have it on a sticker. So I've been making the stickers and I like to put them on things, like my motorcycle helmet and my motorcycle. I also like when other people enjoy putting them on things. Then I wanted a shirt with that dog on it. One thing led to another.
Old Gregg once asked me: "What does it mean to you to write Cheddar Man on things?"
One time I was performing some live music at a small place and I knew the guy before me couldn't say my name very well (my last name) and he was supposed to introduce me when he was coming off. It stressed him out. He'd kind of botched it the time before when we were in the same situation. So I told him, just introduce me as "Cheddar Man." I was not especially attached to that phrase, but I had just read an article about some extremely old human remains found in England and people called the remains Cheddar Man, because they could tell from the bones that it was a man, and the remains were in a cave near this place in England called Cheddar Gorge.
I like cheddar cheese as much as the next person, probably way more actually, but really I'd just read the article and around February of 2018 there were a few articles about Cheddar Man that came out that I saw, so that phrase was just rattling around in my head. I think I even drew the dog and wrote Cheddar Man on it before the day with the music, and I think I sent a picture of it to my nephew for a brief joke.
Then I made a new music rig and it was set up kind of like a desk, and it was looking kind of plain and boring on the side that faced out, so around that same time in 2018, a little later, I painted the whole Cheddar Man thing on my music rig because I can't draw much else and I was still thinking about that phrase. Because the guy called me Cheddar Boy the time before that, when I rolled my music rig up to the side of the stage and he asked me to remind him how to introduce me, I told him and said: "And it's here written on my rig too in case you forget."
So that's the sort of uninspiring beginning of the combination of the dog and the phrase Cheddar Man. But where does it go from here? I don't like the idea of using some kind of icon that I don't know what it means or what I mean by it. So going forward, if you want to participate in Cheddar Man and you want to be able to answer Old Gregg when he asks: "What does it mean to you?" here's what it means to me.
- We all come from the same place. There's something about Cheddar Man, and the fact that he was there in England in 7150 BC way before Roman times, and the social climate at the time when people were talking about him more, that makes him seem like he's got some weight as a concept. In any case, I feel like clannish divisions between races and nationalities are nothing more than how people get obsessed with their favorite sports team. Cheddar Man is about the opposite of that. Cheddar Man is about reminding us that we're just all the same not-so-big, not-so-old family on the timescale that's more relevant to the Earth as a whole.
- We'd do better to spend more mental energy producing and less mental energy consuming. When we're wrapped up in consuming, whether it's buying things or more to the point, consuming the content that is fed to us increasingly by algorithms, it takes energy away from us actually doing something. It's the difference between watching other people play a game on television or getting out and making some kind of experience for ourselves. Whether that's making something tangible, or producing our own content just because we want it to exist, it's a more satisfying way to live to be a producer rather than a consumer. Or at least to shift your balance that direction a little.
- We're all artists and the rhythm of what we do can define an art that's particular to us, and for us. It doesn't really matter whether anyone looks at or cares about your art, or my art. What matters is, it was important to you to make it and you learned and got better when you did. Even a simple, meaningless act can take on meaning and weight if done thoughtfully with care and focus and if done with a certain rhythm that helps it accumulate meaning across the many times that it is done.
And mostly, I like drawing that dog, he looks more finished off with the box around him and the words Cheddar Man, which I also like to write in that style of letters, and he just grew on me over a while.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does it say 74520 on the long dog? Is it supposed to be a ZIP Code or something?
No. It isn’t a ZIP Code. It’s five numbers for sure, but that doesn’t mean it’s a ZIP Code. I think I choose not to say what 74520 means. It’s homage. Either you get the reference or you don’t. I didn’t invent 74520 I just appropriated it from someone who also appropriated it. Inconceivable!