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.

Ah, who cares you always end up in the city

The New Pornographers - Myriad Harbor

• Destroyer - Dark Leaves Form a Thread
• Constantines - Trans Canada
• British Sea Power - Waving Flags
• Testament - Henchman Ride
• Exodus - Children of a Worthless God
• Overkill - What It Takes
• Entombed - Public Burning
• Manowar - King of Kings
• She & Him - This is Not a Test
• Wye Oak - Please Continue
• The New Pornographers - Myriad Harbor
• Clinic - Corpus Christi
• Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Glue Girls
• Billy Bragg - Sing Their Souls Back Home
• Jonathan Richman - When We Refuse to Suffer
• Spoon - Rhthm & Soul
• What Made Milwaukee Famous - For the Birds
• Matt Pond PA - The Crush
• Elf Power - The New Mythology
• The Broken West - On the Bubble
• Local H - The One with 'Kid'
• Britta Phillips - I Am A Child
• Ida - The Killers 1964
• Kathleen Edwards - Oh Canada
• Jim White - Blindly We Go
• Mission of Burma - That's When I Reach for My Revolver
• Dead Meadow - I'm Gone
• The Breakup Society - How Failure Saved Me From Myself

this part of the day bewilders me

the weakerthans - civil twilight

• gary louris -she calls on sundays
• bob mould - shelter me
• band of horses - marry song
• steve earle - tennesee blues
• sage - too wild to live
• the weakerthans - civil twilight
• the broken west - down in the valley
• nada surf - imaginary friends
• portastatic - i'm in love (with arthur dove)
• the gutter twins - all misery/flowers
• ween - friends
• minus the bear - memphis& 53rd
• fountains of wayne - new routine

yeah, it's been such a long time

boston - long time

it's been awhile hasn't it? to be honest, i'm surprised this account was still active considering i haven't posted in almost exactly a year. lame. even more lame that i'm quoting boston too, a bad that i don't even like. i guess living in pittsburgh and listening to wdve while working at mctighe's some things just get burned into your subconscious. ok, i'll confess that "more than a feeling" is actually a pretty sweet tune. but i digress. i have a show again and as of yet i have no witty name for it like "the william zabka radio house" or "i've made a huge mistake." i guess it's just snuck up on me and i haven't been feeling creative. the lack of creativity has also led me to continue the whole "connected" theme for this first show. well maybe i'm not being fair to myself since i did make up the playlist and never had a chance to play the rest of it so i'm really just finishing what i started. and before i quote a lame van halen tune i'll just get to the playlist.

• thurston moore - frozen gtr
• sonic youth - unmade bed
• loose fur - the ruling class
• jim o'rourke - eureka
• amy millan - all the miles
• stars - the night starts here
• dean and britta - threw it away
• galaxie 500 - snowstorm
• luna - malibu love nest
• jets to brazil - air traffic control
• cub country - o great telephone
• burning airlines - wheaton calling
• j. robbins - fear is a man's best friend
• channels - lucky lamb
• death cab for cutie - information travels faster
• chris walla - geometry &c
• the postal service - against all odds
• maritime - guns of navarone*
• the promise ring - electric pink
• the new pornographers - letter from an occupant
• destroyer - it's gonna take an airplane
• frog eyes - stockades
• neko case - lady pilot
• butterglory - she's got the akshun!
• matt suggs - where's your patience dear?
• ryan adams - follow the lights
• whiskeytown - choked up
  

* i used to have this sweet playset for the little green army men that was based on ft. navarone. man i loved that thing. i sure wish davey von bohlen wrote this song about that. or at least that movie of the same name with harrison ford.

I am yours and you are mine the way it should be

The Smithereens - A Girl Like You







Go ahead and call me cheesy for doing a show of love songs on Valentine's Day. The shoe fits. I couldn't help it. So I'm interrupting the "connected" theme this week for a group of my favorite tunes about love, requited and unrequited and all types in between. I must confess I am a sucker for more of the "Love Untold" type but I wanted to give equal airtime to the likes of "Another First Kiss" as well.

• Billy Bragg - The Fourteenth of February
• They Might Be Giants - Another First Kiss
• Yo La Tengo - You Can Have It All
• The Smithereens - A Girl Like You
• Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
• Beulah - Popular Mechanics For Lovers
• The Magnetic Fields - I Don't Believe You
• The Shins - Gone For Good
• Sloan - The Other Man
• Freedy Johnston - While I Wait for You
• Luka Bloom - I Need Love
• Jets to Brazil - In the Summer's When You Really Know
• The Wrens - 13 Months in 6 Minutes
• Bob Mould - See a Little Light
• The Rosebuds - Wishing for Kisses
• Paul Westerberg - Love Untold
• Sugar - Your Favorite Thing
• Eels - Jeannie's Diary
• Damian Jurado - I Can't Get Over You
• Dean & Britta - Night Nurse
• The Orange Peels - You're So Clever
• Camera Obscura - I Love My Jean
• The Pixies - La La Love You
• The Martinis - You Are the One
• Portastatic - Sweetness and Light
• Weezer - Falling for You
• The Smiths - I Want the One I Can't Have