Hello Brent, For good measures, I want you to know I had already contacted a printing company on March 13th to design these decals for me to go on the back glass of my GMC Yukon several days before the contest was ever announced. Honest! I wanted to do this for you, Eric, Barry, and Zach regardless of a contest. When finding out there was a contest to win an autographed Ipad from you and the band I got seriously Stoked!
I spent appx 2 weeks designing this for my back glass. I probably changed sizes of the art work 3 or 4 different times, at 1st the art work was suppose to be an 18 inch circle but i had to shrink it down to a 14 inch circle so I could accommodate a little larger text for the names Shinedown and Amaryllis . I changed the font and color many times before finally settling with what you see here. I spent alot of time with the printing company on the phone and sending and receiving emails making sure this was Nothing Short of Perfection!
Once I got news my decals were ready I went by to pick them up at the printing company. Actually the printing company I used was a residential home which she ran her printing business from. This was my 1st time to ever use this company and I can say I was very impressed. My husband got home around 8:30pm from working and the next thing I know he went "Incognito" I went looking for him and to my surprise he had inched his way outside with my decals and started applying them to my glass using a work light around 10:30pm that night and he did a Great job :) I was so Excited about the finished product I couldn't hardly wait to get started on my journey. NOTE: Please Dont miss the bottom corners of the glass. There is 2 black Shinedown Logos "S" one in each bottom corner of the glass!
Before I explain my journey on Saturday I want you to be informed that the center decal "the Art Work" is a Vinyl sticker, not a print off of the art work taped to the glass. Everything you see here on the glass is vinyl warrantied for 7 years. For Shinedown this means for the next 7 years "Everywhere" I go from now on I will be Promoting, Sharing, and Taking Shinedown & "Amaryllis" with me. This is alot of dedication from my heart and Serious Promoting If you ask me :)
I am quite honored that for the next 7 years and many thousands of miles I will be sharing my love for Shinedown with everyone I come across. I am sure there will be "Countless" number of people driving behind me traffic, as well as a "countless" amount of people who will see my truck parked in a parking lot at some Supermarket, Mall, Drs Office, etc. who won't mind asking me who is Shinedown? Then I will get the privilege to share with them My love for 4 Great Human Beings who has ROCKED & Touched my soul in every way with their music. I am proudly displaying my love for Shinedown just as Shinedown has displayed their love for fans like me, by making the best music to express just what a heart has been trying to say but never knowing how until You wrote the lyrics.
I wanted to do this in hopes of allowing others a chance to know who Shinedown is. And to possibly bring a new fan base as well as to help sell as many copies of Amaryllis as I can for you. I am so Proud of "My Band" that I want Everyone to hear you that I possibly can, so they can understand why my passion and heart runs as deep as it does because they think i am just Crazy for the way I Love Shinedown, haha.
Over the weekend, Saturday April 21st mainly, because I did have a very sick 3 year old baby at home. I hit the highway and drove appx 250 miles in and around the Memphis Tn.metro area (Home Of the King of Rock N Roll Elvis Presley!) with all 4 windows down, while Blaring "Amaryllis" at 70 MPH sometimes even 80 MPH. NO SPEEDING TICKETS! Yayyy Me!! I would weaving in and out of traffic so I could put my Amaryllis window right in face of every one I got in front of in traffic lol I would have taken pictures with my phone but my phone was occupied using my built in Ipod to play Amaryllis on my truck stereo. I drove to Downtown Memphis, Cordova, Germantown, Bartlett, Arlington, Frayser, and Collierville. All These cities are on the outskirts of Memphis Tn. Zach knows the areas well i'm sure.
I drove and drove and drove and drove around not caring who didn't like my music being so loud. Did you Adrenaline is one of the Best Damn Driving songs to Cruise to? OMG!! I cruised highways, byways, streets, avenues, boulevards and also the parking lots of major Grocery stores (KROGER), major department stores (WALMART TARGET KMART HOME DEPOT LOWES to name a few), fast food businesses (McDONALDS TACO BELL KFC BURGER KING WENDYS PIZZA HUT MCALISTERS DELI), and the best of all was the Outdoor Mall and the Malco Theater Parking Lot. I had quite a few people looking at me a little strange and you could tell there were some who were making remarks about the LOUDNESS but did I care? Not one Bit I was ROCKIN'!!! As I was driving by a Dilliards department store I had a few kids to throw a thumbs up at me, which let me know they knew exactly who it was rolling out my speakers. (That made my day, yes it did). The Mall was Super busy Saturday. I did get a little jittery that security might ask me to tone it down or even ask me to leave the premises because I drove that parking lot for close to 3 hours ALONE and I could tell Security was beginning to take Notice of me since I was Rocking as loud as the speakers would Go.
On April 26th I jumped in my truck to hit the Highway again and I ended up in Tupelo Ms. Birthplace of Elvis Presley. I had No intentions of actually going there thats just where i ended up after about an hour in a half of driving down Hwy 78. I just drove around with the windows down and Amaryllis playing from the stereo. I roughly spent an hour running through town trying to allow as many people I could hear Amaryllis playing and to see my back glass :)
I have been to several other places in my truck to run ess you release another new album within the next seven years.errands ect and each time I know I am sharing Your MUSIC with those I come in contact with on the Highway. So every time I leave home its always like an adventure a MISSION to Promote as much as I possibly can for yall. Also, I could probably come close to purchasing an IPAD for myself with the amount of money I spent on my back glass to decorate it and the cost of fuel for my SUV. But you know its not about the money here. It's about helping those who have helped you. Thats why I have dedicated myself to promoting Amaryllis for as long as the decals hold up and there is a 7 yr warranty.
The Reason I was inspired to choose "The Will To Live Will Always Outweigh The Ability To Die" is because it applies to so many Ironic issues that leads to survival, but it applies to my own personal survival as well, and not to mention its one of Brent's favorites.
Being that the "Amaryllis" flower itself can survive under some of the worst plant conditions in the deserts of South Africa. It has bloomed using Strength, Determination, and Will in order to share its beauty for the World to see just like the Band Shinedown has kinda done over the past decade. The word Amaryllis means "Sparkling" and that is exactly what Shinedown is doing right now on Tour. When you are on the stage you "Sparkle" like Gold.
Reason #2 why I had chosen that particular quote is....I am sure you as a Rock band have fought your way through disappointments, Doors slammed in your faces, Rejections, discouragement, but your WILL is why you are here still making Great Music. That is why there is this Strong Love and Passion I have to celebrate the birth of "Amaryllis". "Amaryllis" signifies SHINEDOWN'S WILL TO LIVE & DETERMINATION TO ROCK!!! And Are YOU EVER!?!?
The quote is also representing "Rock N Roll" which pretty much sums up the Power, Will,& LOVE US "ROCKERS" have Supported to KEEP Rock n Roll ALIVE which has made it what it is today!!!
And finally The Will To Live..... Also Has inspired me during some of my most darkest hours as well as During some very trying times of my life. Please Dont Think I Dont Like "The Vast & Brillaint" quote because I do and I know it goes with the new album but The Will To Live has spoken to my heart and given me the Will to want to reLive my life again after some private incidents in my life had occurred. I also think it will be inspiring to others who happen to read it.
The Art Work I downloaded from "Google Images" of course. I had to have the highest pixel resolution I could find to keep this art work of 14 inches from having any distortions or blurry areas. It shares every detail as the album cover does and its so Vivid and clear which made for a very nice clean decal to accent the center of my glass.
I went out on a limb and Promoted Amaryllis on Facebook as well. This is the link to my sharing and tagging of the Art Work of Amaryllis... http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=408254525865958&l=b3589e44ed
I know you don't have a Facebook account and are more of a Twitter Man so you may not quite understand how tagging and resharing works on Facebook. 50 people is the MAX number of people a person is allowed to tag in one photo, so I tagged ppl from different parts of the country and a couple of the tags were to some of my friends who are from a couple different countries who in return reshared the post with their friends.
I have had appx 15-20 people so far to reshare my post which actually allowed an estimated 12,000 (give or take) people to see Shinedowns New Album from different parts of the USA and also from a couple other countries as well. Depending on each individuals number of friends they have on Facebook will depend on how many people came in contact with the post. I'm sure if you have any questions Jake can help you with the answers, he seems to frequent Facebook quite Regularly.I also have been Sharing/promoting All the songs from Amaryllis via YouTube. I have posted all the songs to my wall to share with my 900+ friends.
TO SEE MY FACEBOOK PAGE: http://www.facebook.com/angela.a.devore
As I close, I hope you're impressed with the start of my Journey, words cant begin to describe HOW MUCH OF A HOPELESSLY DEVOTED SHINEDOWN FAN I TRULY AM. I'M ALREADY LOOKING FORWARD TO #5 TO BE RELEASED, #5 AS IN THE 5TH SHINEDOWN ALBUM LOLLL I want to Thank you Brent for all the great and powerful lyrics you have written through the years. They all have such a special meaning in my heart and they will forever continue to Rock My Soul!
"Maybe It's Me.... I'm Just Crazy!!!! Maybe I Like That I'm Not Alright!!!"
\m/ \m/ Fists In The Air!
I Love You Brent & Shinedown!
Sincerely,
Angela
P.S I want to share a couple other
photos of my back glass with you.
So please be sure u see the Parts
2, 3, 4, and 5. Especially 5 for the
added bonus (Its in here somewhere lol)
Thank you again!
A FYI: In Greek lore, the Amaryllis flower is named for a shepherdess whose love for a gardener was unrequited. Endeavoring to impress Alteo, Amaryllis walked the path to his door for one month, piercing her own heart each day with a golden arrow. The blood flowing from Amaryllis' heart created beautiful flowers blooming in scarlet hues along the pathway. I Hope you enjoyed the Romance behind Amaryllis.