I try to get the hell out of the house now and then. I live here, I work here, and that’s really not super-awesome for someone who’s already prone to reclusion. To be fair, when I leave the house, my human interaction is still pretty low — I avoid crowds whenever I can, even small ones. But, I’m working on it.
Anyway, so we went to Trader Jack’s here in Pittsburgh. It’s open all year, but the outdoor stalls aren’t really set up yet — just a few. Plenty to look at inside though. I went specifically to find ephemera for collage purposes. I did not find anything that really tripped my trigger, but I did find some shit I did not need. Of course.
A Russ Berrie button. I’ve seen ones with white backgrounds from 1987, but I’m not sure when the purple background came out. I’ve seen one for sale online for $50, which is hilarious. This is a keeper. My first impulse was to have a laugh at “partyer,” but now I’m not so sure I’m not the idiot. I don’t have time to do a deep dive (and yes, this is the type of shit I will spend a few hours on, which..yeah, I know). And I don’t have access to the OED (though I should, really), but it looks like the term “partier” has been around since 1910, and it seems that “partyer” is a variation, though I’m unsure as to why — is it simply a misspelling that dates back to early usage? Is it a British spelling? Eh? I don’t know. If you know, or have time for a deeper dive, or have access to the OED and would like to share your findings…please tell me.
No date, but snagged it for nostalgia purposes. Oh, old Pittsburgh Station Square…Story Time: Across Smithfield street from Station Square, back in 1993, there was a seriously dilapidated mini-putt. I can’t for the life of me remember what it was called, but I worked there for a bit making probably less than the $4.25 minimum wage of the time. It was a real low-fi operation, all cash money, which was counted and locked in a small safety box, and stowed away under the floorboards of the shack at the end of every night. If you got too close to one of the hole displays, you might get hurt — all peeling paint, splintery death traps. But people came and I handed out little putters the size of walking canes. In fact, I stole one and took it home with me — I carried that thing around for a long time. I lived on the North Side, which was a bit shady, so I just carried it like a cane and had it in case I needed to defend myself. The closest I came to that was when I left Allegheny Commons Building 10 at about 3am to walk home, I was followed by some creep coming from Federal Street. I veered off the sidewalk unexpectedly and obliterated a snowman with it. When I turned around, the guy was gone.
I don’t know why. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat button from 1985. Not a keeper, but a plant. I will put this in my bag and when I find the perfect incongruous place to stash it, I will, and someone, maybe years from now, will find it and have a WTF moment, courtesy of me. This is how I spread joy.
This is also how I spread joy…
Some lucky, or unlucky, person I know will receive one of these for no discernible reason, except that I am slightly touched in the head. There are eight or nine, and I will keep one of them. They’re all over the place, and maybe I will do another post, because, they’re pretty great. None of them have dates, which is a shame, but they’re all old — ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s, by my guess. This one is titled “Wolverine Ravaging Hunters Pack,” an Alaska Joe Original.
“These animals are very destructive in their search for food and will rip and tear savagely at anything man-made which attracts their curiosity.”
Well, holy shit, wolverine. Presumably, the hunter narrowly escaped.
Finally, this New Orleans tourist photo booklet — looks like from the ’60s. I’ve never been to NOLA, but I when I see stuff like this (some documentation of a place before a time of general destruction that further eroded your idea of the world and how things worked), I feel the need to get it. Like, items with the Twin Towers pictured, that sort of thing. This was before anyone thought of Katrina and that complete shit show of a response. Something about it is very optimistic, and that’s nice. I miss that…optimism. How quaint.
So, no collage ephemera, but we did happen upon a great stall for vinyl. But, again, probably good for another post — we found a bunch of cool stuff for a great price. It’s been a while since we bought some vinyl, but I’m warming back to it and it’s been on my mind lately. Anyone here from IG will know that I’ve been on a get-off-social-media and reintroduce-analog-back-into-my-life rampage since the end of 2023. Again, another post…
Lee Harper Oswald 