T-Shirts June 10 - 12

June 10: Izze
Year Acquired: 2005 (I think)

Location: Boston

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This a a strange one. Some friends had a mysterious box sitting near the mailboxes in their apartment building for weeks and weeks. It was addressed to a former resident and no forwarding address was available. It was determined that the statute of limitations for opening mail had passed so we opened the box. There was many t-shirts promoting that overpriced (yet tasty) drink that I've only seen in Starbucks. I'll never turn down a free t-shirt.

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June 12: The Wrens
Year Acquired: 2007 (I think)
Location: mailorder

One of the softest t-shirts I own. And I borrowed the name of this blog from a Wrens song off, "The Meadowlands," one of my favorite non-metal albums. The song is definitely worth hearing. And if the album title didn't give it away, the shirt will tell you where the band hails from.

T-Shirts June 3 - June 8

June 3: Sidney Crosby
Year Acquired: 2009
Location: Pittsburgh

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An excellent Christmas gift from Tim and family. It may be sacrilegious to say, but aesthetically I prefer the blue alternate uniforms of the Penguins. Thanks to a recent trivia question (hi Penny) I know Pittsburgh is the only city to have all their major sports teams use the same color scheme so I can understand the reliance black & gold. But I'd rather see the blue unis.

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Unfortunately, wearing this didn't bring them any luck.

June 6: Anthrax Judge Dredd
Year Acquired: 2011
Location: Pittsburgh

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Concerts used to be a major source of t-shirts, but I'm old and hardly ever go to shows. I couldn't pass up the thrash triple-bill of Death Angel, Testament and Anthrax. Anthrax is a band that I've loved for years, but for some reason it took until 2011 for me to see them live. The comic book/metal crossover with Judge Dredd and a favorite band made this a "must buy." A great shirt, but not nearly as cool as old one of Tim's that he destroyed during a rod hockey game.

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In addition to Judge Dredd, there were a bunch of other comics I started reading due to being mentioned in the liner notes of Among the Living. I started reading the John Byrne run of Fantastic Four, Boris the Bear, and some others thanks to Anthrax.

June 7: James Neal
Year Acquired: 2011
Location: Pittsburgh

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Because I'm a superstitious hockey fan I wore this under my dress shirt at work and while watching the Penguins lose their final game of the season. I was also wearing it during their last win of the season. I think I'll be taking a break from the Penguins gear for a bit.

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June 8: mnftiu
Year Acquired: 2002 or 2003
Location: Pittsburgh or Syracuse

I have a very similar shirt that will also appear. I'm a fan of David Rees's and his comic like "My New Filing Technique is Unstoppable" and "Get Your War On." Since the shirts are so similar I can't remember which shirt was a gift from which friend. The shirts often result in comments from strangers so if you're looking for a conversation starter you can borrow one of these shirts.

June 8: Wet Leather Congress
Year Acquired: 1996
Location: CMU
Two shirts in one day since this one was used for grass cutting.

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Much like the 2012-13 Penguins, Wet Leather Congress was a team built to win the CMU intramural floor hockey championship but that was not to be. I only wore the shirt once or twice in a game-action thanks to a torn ACL when playing for a team made up a most of WLC as well. Now the shirt shows up to yardwork and home improvement projects.

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T-shirts - May 29 - June 2

May 29: Orientation Shirt
Year Acquired: 2010 or 2009
Location: Meadville

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Not really much of a story for this one. One of many free Allegheny t-shirts, this one given out for helping at orientation. I can't remember which year exactly and the only thing that would make this really significant would be if this was from the year where there was a power outage on our street the day before move-in. 

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A telephone pole at the end of our street just broke in half, resulting in a flash of light and a power outage. Iris was obsessed with this since we toke her outside in the middle of the night. We probably would have forgotten about it, but Iris brings it up to this day. I guess there was more of a story.

May 30: International Festival
Year Acquired: 1996
Location: CMU

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I went to events for all the International Festivals while at CMU and I got the t-shirts from at least two, Africa and this one from Latin America. I remember Europe being one of the other regions, but I can't remember the fourth one. This is the only one that still survives. I think the Africa one was lost to a few years of yard work and painting.

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May 31:  Pittsford Pirhanas
Year Acquired: early to mid-2000s
Location: Meadville

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A gift from Liz commemorating my love of Rochester. Oddly enough I wore this a few days before learning I wouldn't be visiting the lovely Pittford schools any more. But I'll still have the shirt.

June 2: Iron Man with all the Iron Men
Year Acquired: 2009
Location: Meadville

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 Another gift from Liz and the first appearance of a comic book t-shirt. Many more to come!

I can't remember yesterday, I just remember doing what they told me

Queensÿrche - I Remember Now

Year Acquired: 1988 or '89
Location: Northway Mall t-shirt kiosk, source of many metal t-shirts.

 

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Sometime last year I realized I have a load of t-shirts. For more than half my life I've collected comic books, hockey cards, records/tapes/cds but I've never consciously thought of myself as a t-shirt collector. They just accumulated since I never part with things. Last year, once I had all my summer clothes unpacked, I decided to see how long I could go before repeating a t-shirt. I need more arbitrary rules for my life. Obviously, I washed and re-wore undershirts and gym shorts, but for my real t-shirts, I think it took me until October to repeat. I've decided that Memorial Day will mark when I pull out all my t-shirts and try my best not to re-wear anything until I wear all my shirts at least once. And thanks to recommendations from Penny and Jesse, the world is stuck with this blog where I will document the process.

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To start this process (i.e. ordeal for friends and family) I had to begin with a memorable shirt. Without exhaustive research I think this is the oldest shirt that I still wear. I do have a few relics tucked away in the attic that aren't in rotation, but this is the oldest that is regularly worn and definitely a favorite. I have many of the "black concert t-shirt" variety but this was my first. At the time of it's purchase in the late '80s, Queensÿrche was my favorite band. "Operation:Mindcrime" was just released and it was in constant rotation. My second or third favorite band was Metallica so when I saw that Queensÿrche was opening for Metallica on the "..And Justice for All" tour at the Civic Arena I asked my parents if I could go to my first concert. Not surprisingly, as a naive 8th grader I was denied. Oddly enough, less than a year later my parents allowed me to go to my first concert at the legendary Pittsburgh punk & metal dive The Electric Banana. Which I guess since it was smaller seemed safer than the Civic Arena?!?

Back to the shirt. As a consolation prize I couldn't go see Queensÿrche but I was allowed to get a shirt from the mall shortly after the concert. I didn't see the show, but I at least have the t-shirt...and still wear it 20 plus years later.