Tommy TwoStep - The Story

The darker the room, the brighter the light you hold.

Thomas Stephen II was born and raised in the West Eastern geographic portion of the United States. Alright, maybe not. Maybe he was born during my four years spent attending Slippery Rock University in Western Pennsylvania. [Correction: four and a half years, for reasons unknown…]

Growing up, I was always into sports, playing almost anything I could on the mean streets of North Side [Note: North Side of Ellwood City, not mean at all]. Hockey, Basketball, Baseball, Football, anything I could get my hands on. I was a ball of energy, or so my parents say. I carried my passion for sports throughout my high school days and eventually moved on the college to further my education. Pretty in depth story from ages eight to eighteen, eh? Anyways...

I continued on and enrolled at Slippery Rock University during the fall of 2001. I was an active individual at Slippery Rock University, both in and out of the classroom. I was never one to sit around, watch television and play video games or sleep in on Saturdays. I enjoyed running around and exercises as much as possible. Throughout my first two years living in the dorms I spent most, if not all, of my free time at the Recreation Center. Not only is it a good place to pick up chicks, but you can exercise and meet new people. Each visit the Recreation Center required each student to swipe his or her student ID card at the front desk to be granted student access to the facility. But there were a few times when the computer system was down and you had to physically write you name down on a sign in sheet -- those times were inspiration. My friends and I would come up with ridiculous alibis to write down on the sign-in sheet. [Note: to this day I think me and my friends were the only ones who would do this] We found it hilarious. Billy Bicep, Timmy Triceps, Frank Femur and H.R. Shovinstuf to name a few. And we kept our little sign-in gimmicks coming, even after my original dorm crew all split up and moved on to various off campus living arrangements after my sophmore year at Slippery Rock.

My upperclassmen years at Slippery Rock University didn’t change my lifestyle much, besides becoming legal to drink, I still was a very active and energetic. I continued to be a regular visitor to the Recreation Center and continued to meet both old and new friends using the facilities. A couple times at the fateful, manual sign-in I would use the alibi, Tommy TwoStep. I guess it stuck. It was catchy. I continued to it for all my ridiculous alibis -- at the library to check a book out, signing attendance sheets, even signing in a friend at the dormitory.

When I wasn't at the Recreational Center, I was usually in class, bored out of my mind, trying to understand what the fuck I was doing or why the hell I even spent the energy to walk to the class in the first place. Even worse, any given morning I would find myself dozing off during a lecture [Note: Don't laugh, it has probably happened to you] and could only find doodling in my notebook as a reason to keep me awake. Many of my sketches didn't mean much or look like much, so I challenged myself to come up with a creative design for Tommy TwoStep. I wanted something to signify my alibi, a sketch, or logo, something that I could use with him. Hence, I came up with what you see all over this webpage and all over the t-shirts I am rockin’. It is more than just a bunch of lines thrown together to look like a face with no features, Tommy TwoStep signifies much more.

Top Hat:

Pimpin’. Stylin’. We all have our own sense of style. We all like to express ourselves in different way. Like a baseball hat on forwards, backwards, or sideway. It's a style to us. Or whether it is with other clothes, hairstyles, or even expressing ourselves with music, we all want to show off our style somehow, someway. This lifestyle is the total opposite of going to church, going to work or going school. This is our casual gear. This ain’t no Sunday get-up. The Lord can wait a day, can't he?

Just think, what would you wear if you were ‘Rollin Deep’ on a Saturday night with your crew? When your feelin' untouchable in your fresh new gear. Whether it is to the movies, to a house party with the best, to a dance club, or just out with your lady friend. This is how you get down. The Tommy TwoStep top hat is all about style.

No Face:

There are 300 million people in the United States. ‘nuf said. You’re just another face in the crowd. It is amazing how we develop our best and closest friends at a very young age, we develop strong ties to our home and family, and no matter how much we want to move on, we are always remembered of where we came from.

I feel home,
When I see the faces that remember my own.
I feel home,
When I’m chillin outside with the people I know.

I feel home,
And that’s just what I feel,
Home to me is reality, and all I need is something real.

~Of A Revolution

I always seem to catch myself daydreaming about everything else that is going on in the world and often times forget where I came from, where I am or where I am going. I always think to myself, there are millions of other faces to meet out there, a million other people out there, just like me. People you may ultimately run into, briefly cross paths with, or more often than not, never meet at all. There are millions of other people out there, millions of other faces in the crowd. The face recognizes your individuality among the millions.

Suit Shirt & Tie:

Gotta go to work. Gotta get paid. Gotta put that nine-to-five in. These are all things that surround us, even suffocate us, on an everyday basis. Work, a job, even school takes up so much precious time in our lives. Living in the United States has corrupted us into portraying a professional image for our individual profession. Nothing is more professional for men than the ‘ol suit and tie. It has been a part of our society for well over 100 years and still is used in most part for the same purpose.

Men have been wearing this gear from their first high school dance as a teenager until the last funeral they attend. It portrays the professional aspect of life we all must recognize. This suit shirt and tie is used as a contrast to the top hat on Tommy TwoStep. These two pieces represent the two polar ends of the spectrum we experience in everyday life. Our casual sense of being to our professional sense.

Once I had some significance behind the drawn out logo, I was fortunate enough to have a school project to complete where I was able to use my logo, Tommy TwoStep. The project was in one of my graphic design and multimedia classes, and it required each student to design and complete a personal letterhead, for career cover letters, etc., and a business card. I took this time to explore what I can do with my recently discovered logo and used it both on my letterhead and business card. [Note: I would like to still think to myself I received an ‘A’ on the project.] I liked my business card design enough that I actually went to a local printing agency and had about 50 business cards printed for personal use. I still tote a couple around in my wallet just incase anybody wants to know I am an Emerging Technology and Multimedia Graduate, my e-mail address or my cell phone number.

I associated my name with the logo for the school projects, but felt the creative fire and desire to designate an entire web site to Thomas Stephen II. So I dropped my name and now exclusively use my long time alibi, Tommy TwoStep, with the mythical character and the creation of this website.

Tommy TwoStep is a product line showcasing a creative logo and fictitious name that symbolizes style, work, and individuality. The image and name is put on clothing apparel and other merchandise often times accompanied by clever quirks that have original stories behind them or quirks that poke fun at popular culture.

...to be continued