In house Wolf Kings: Swedish, Dutch, French,and Italian 7' sleeves for John Phillips Mississippi/April Anne 1970.

Vintage Rocky Mountain Featherbed Co (Wyoming), down vests currently up on eBay, these have been going $tupid of late, an all leather version, (second image) reaching 1,500.00 U$D. Bottom image, vintage ladies (the lady's) late 70's Denver Down vest with sheepskin collar, Rocky Mountain Featherbed adjacent.These are being re-issued you know where, in house relative here. Mountain Clown?

Beach Clown

Beach Clown is the new style silently taking over this season, with labels like Band Of Outsiders & Dries Van Noten offering striped cotton shirts in sophisticated palettes. Whilst using the term 'Beach Clown' to specifically define a fashion style is a relatively new thing (*credit to Ms K.Breslin of Los Angeles here) its roots shoot back deep into the collective creative consciousness. Trying however to designate the original 'Beach Clown' can get as gratuitous as crowning an individual for producing the first striped painting.

All we know is this; that the Bauhaus were big players and early promoters of the Beach Clown aesthetic, and that by the time the movement reached the states it had been reconstituted into a somewhat softer more malleable 'lifestyle' movement. Whilst Brian Wilson's brothers denied his emphatic calls to name the band 'The Beach Clowns', for fear of being too closely associated with the style (viewed by many as European vice) they agreed to adopt the candy striped button down shirts as their signature look, and in doing so inadvertenty gave the Beach Clown movement its most enduring endorsement.

RB/Reds/Blues/01/09

Holubar, Colorado, early 80's Gortex hooded windbreaker. USN, WW2 deck cap. Sierra Designs navy blue quilted nylon bomber, never seen this tag before, maybe 80's?. Sierra Designs nylon vest with 60/40 shoulder yoke, 1970's. US made gear for the mono season, from Rose Bowl.

Labourious, Mamma Andersson, 2008. More here.

One of my earliest posts was a photo of Frank Fairfield playing the dust out of himself at the Hollywood Farmers Market last year. I was pretty thrilled to see he has a 7' release out on Tompkins Square right now...could there be a better home for his sound? We think not. Further interweb research informs me that he's also been opening for Fleet Foxes of late.
*Frank Fairfield tracks also available on iTunes.

BALL BAND

Late 1940's deadstock Ball-Band (est 1898) canvas sport shoes, made in Mishawaka, Indiana. Look for the red ball trademark at the sole of every Ball-Band shoe...from Rose Bowl.

New Order

1950's Public Library Cart, the records are happy to be off the floor...from Rose Bowl.

There

This is good, the legacy of the Langley School Music Project reverberating in PS22's version of 'There' by The Innocence Mission... More longhairs with guitars teaching children music please.Via Tim's new blog SAL MINEO'S GHOST.

Service/Stand

Collapsible Victorian tea cart, steel, oak. Hand made plant stand, 1950's, painted steel, the top is a cut inverted gasoline can...something Evan Holloway about this rig. From PCC last weekend, Rose Bowl tomorrow.

O-shit, full story here. Pre-order from your friendly neighborhood comic store now

We Like You Here

Pinback buttons awarded to individuals who brought extra bodies (suckers) along to Sunday School/ misc set of three/'Reddy Kilowatt' pin, I was told this was the old logo for the WI electrical/power company. All found in Northern WI, last week.

Sierra Designs co-founders Bob Swanson and George Marks, looking like extras from The Bad Seeds, Berkeley 1968. Team 60/40.

Beaters

Tea With Lucie

Occasionally I throw Lucie Rie or Hans Coper at ebay, only to have the same few publications resurface, periodically there will be an amazing piece which is always out of range. I caught this one late at night, from an Australian listing, and woke up to find it sitting in my inbox the next morning, joy. It's a small piece with a large history to be living with, stamped with both LR and HC seals (made by Coper) from Albion Mews Pottery 1940's. Beautiful manganese glaze, and subtle variation in wall thickness left from the throwing process.

Center details of some vintage work bandanas found in Rhinelander, WI, last week, 1950's-60's?. They all have 100% COTTON, FAST COLOR, MADE IN THE USA, in the bottom corner, some with an elephant motif...the Lee one is an obvious favorite, I'm assuming these were a complimentary item following a denim purchase way back when.

Putting Paintings To Work

Rich Aldrich/exhibition and book launch, Thursday Jan 8th 6-8pm at Bortolami, NYC, somebody go and hug him for us ok....details

'What I do, which I have never let anyone know, is I close my eyes every time I have to do something practical apart from the daily chores everyone has, and then I picture how my father would have done it or how he actually did do it while I was watching him, and then I copy that until I fall into the proper rhythm, and the task reveals itself and grows visable, and that's what I have done for as long as I can remember, as if the secret lies in how the body behaves towards the task at hand, in a certain balance when you start, like hitting a board in a long jump and the early calculation of how much you need, or how little, and the mechanism that is always there in every kind of job; first one thing and then the other, in a context that is buried in each piece of work, in fact as if what you are going to do already exists in its finished form, and what the body has to do when it starts to move is draw aside a veil so it can be the person observing.'

*Reading Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson. Thanks Chad for the recommendation, glad I finally got there.

Custom Built

Allan Wexler/Coffee Seeks its Own Level 1990. Gardening Sukkah, 2000. Hat/Roof 1994. Parsons Kitchen 1994. More at Wexler Studio from Allan and Ellen Wexler. Out of print, expensive but brilliant catalog here.

Into The Mild

A few ice fishing huts (read: adult cubby forts) on the lake in Rhinelander, WI. Sometimes the most interesting architecture is that of modest practicality, these are all home made and reflect the owners needs and parameters sans flourish. You can kind of undo all the construction decisions just by looking at them, "we'll use the cut outs from the windows for a card table"- "genius!" etc...now let's see the Alan Wexler version, which reminds me...

Happy New Year

*Bas Jan Ader, Flower Work, 1974.