Pittsburgh vs. All Yinz

If instead of being a story about a lumberjack, Paul Bunyan had been about a dude that made t-shirts, Dan Rugh— who, along with his equally badass wife Shannon, owns Commonwealth Press—would have made a suitable main character. He’s the kind of guy that people envision when they talk about Pittsburgh—hard working and tough, but someone who would also give you the shirt off his back or in my case, print a ton of them for you because he cares about and supports what you're doing. My wife and I have referred to him as a life-sherpa and our families are an inseparable, boundary-less mess. In short, the Rughs are some of my favorite people on earth and I don’t know what the hell we’d do without them. 

As a sponsor of Yellow Couch Sessions, Dan has designed a new logo and printed two colors of shirts (shown: left). He also helped me build my website, backed the Kickstarter campaigns of the bands I work with and printed a vinyl banner that we use for the Three Rivers Arts Festival and at our house shows. Oh yeah, and on the subject of house shows, he’s helped me to nail down beer sponsors and even lent us a PA on more than one occasion. These are just a few examples of the things he’s done to help me along the way and while I appreciate every single one of them, I’m equally grateful for the late night counseling sessions, the surprise breakfast treats and the solid advice that he’s given me over the last few years. 

I’m not wildly unique in this regard. Dan does this kind of stuff for an awful lot of people and honestly makes Pittsburgh a better place to live. He’s proof that you can run a successful business while still giving a shit about the people around you. So if you, your band or business need design work, t-shirts or maybe even some regular old life advice, why don’t you hit up Commonwealth Press?