Stateside Magazine started with an idea, an old laptop, a whole lot of passion, a few sprinkles of crazy and a bag full of “I don’t know what the hell to do” hidden in the closet.  Founder Adam Gray was told, “You can’t do that” by more people than you can imagine.  He kept one question in mind at all times, “why?”

It was November 2009 and Adam’s passion for art, artists, creativity and Santa Barbara needed an outlet.  Somebody also said….”you are going to need a whole boat full of cash to start a magazine, man”, and Adam thought “but I can’t afford a boat…”  Sometimes having no money makes you work even harder.  Adam went to Printing Impressions (thank you Jim, for believing in him!) and hit the street with a blank mock of the mag.  Yep, no print, no photos, just blank glossy paper the size of the magazine.

By February 2010 he had enough art and advertisers to piece together the first Stateside Magazine, which hit the scene March 2010.  Yeah, just try to get your hands on that first issue!  It’s still out there, because Adam said “Don’t throw it Away!”

More, “you can’t do that” came his way.  Every issue’s front cover logo HAS to look the same or people wouldn’t know what it is, right?  Adam believes, “people are smarter than that and want something new and different, and we are going to change the way people look at, and treat print media”.  The old laptop needed to sit on frozen meat to keep going…the flipflops were getting thin….the car and most of his possessions had to be sold to keep going, but it was worth it.

Helping distribute the magazine, I hear over and over again, as I walk into local shops, “Is that the new Stateside?”  People are excited to see each new issue, what the front cover will look like, the art and artists inside, the articles and oh yeah, Useless Facts.  Adam still hand delivers each issue to the 180 plus businesses that carry the mag….he knows people love it.  (one of those things that keeps him going)

Twelve issues later we were all celebrating the first Anniversary Bash at SoHo with the help of a bunch of Santa Barbara talent.  What an amazing milestone that was.  Ok, so the flipflops were even thinner but that twelfth issue was put together on a new laptop (the “Rubinator”, as we affectionately call her, is still on the desk….just retired).

A year and a half later, we celebrated the second annual AMASS Gallery in the Funk Zone.  Another crazy undertaking that required a mass amount of talent, effort, tenacity and more of those sprinkles….but we were able kept that other bag in the closet.

Do Not Throw away turned into shaRE-Cycle…pass it on, give it to a friend, keep it, or return it to wherever you picked it up.  Every issue’s front cover is still different….did I say different??  There are 18 issues out there…look for them.