Tuesday, May 20, 2008

...and all I got was this lousy T-shirt

Not too long ago, my mom excitedly told me how she had spared my old concert tees as she was purging some of my junk from her house. Her excitement led to my excitement as I considered how cool I'd look were I to show up at the Rock n Roll Hotel decked out in my authentically retro shirts from similarly cool arena rock shows from yesteryear. Back in the day, you had to come away with a concert shirt. It was, after all, proof of your attendance at a show, and you were expected to flaunt your shirt the next day at school.
"Yeah, I was at the ZZ Top concert last night, but I was really there to see the Black Crowes open...check out my shirt."
But something happened to my shirts between then and now. They don't fit like I remember, and I'm basically the same size I was in high school (sad but true). These shirts also have a strange smell to them. I washed them twice, and they still smell weird.

Women know about shrinkage, don't they?

INXS - 1986
This makes me look like a super fan, pre-Kick and all.
But I didn't go to this show, my sister did. I'm such a poser.

U2 - 1987
1 of 3 Joshua Tree shirts I had

2 of 3 Joshua Tree shirts,
the 3rd disintegrated completely

RUSH - 1989
there's no mistaking this shirt for cool

Primus - 1991
What's even better is that I got this shirt
when Primus opened for RUSH
(Roll the Bones tour -front row, bitches)

U2 - 1991
This shirt has a mock turtleneck feel.
I'm actually choking as I wear this.

Faith No More - 1992
This shirt is the most malformed of all.
It's like a half-shirt. I look like a punk rock Richard Simmons.

Metallica - 1992
I got punched in the back of the head at this show.
I'm wearing this one when we go to Jaxx.

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14 comments:

  1. sacklunch8:29 AM

    That is a fine collection. I wish I had some of my old t-shirts. I had this really cool REM t-shirt from the Life's Rich Pageant tour that more or less disintegrated.

    Actually, back in college, we had some t-shirts made to sell at local Grateful Dead shows. They had 7 "dancing bears" on the front of the shirt. It said "What is better than 7 dancing bears?". On the back of the shirt was a single dancing bear, underneath it said the answer to the question on the front of the shirt "An Eighth."

    Get it?

    I think we sold enough of these shirts to pay for weed, acid, our tickets, and perhaps a veggie burrito or two....
    Ah, the good old days....

    I also remember Jimbromski buying this Graffix t-shirt around the same era (or maybe it was a few years later). I don't think he ever wore it, kind of like Jumboslice's pink Dan Deacon shirt.

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  2. Anonymous10:15 PM

    i dont think it's the shirts. i think it's the awkward/creepy self-portraiture poses. especially the first one. yikes.

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  3. Jimbromski6:53 AM

    Etc is right, it looks like a disembodied, pale torso floating alone in the darkness

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  4. Jimbromski7:54 AM

    All Rush-o-philes hold Presto n high esteem

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  5. Jumbo Slice10:42 AM

    Seems like a lot of the shorts have that mock turtleneck cut. Was that the style back then?

    Three Joshua Tree shirts? Were you a U2 a super fan? I loved that album.

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  6. Anonymous7:16 AM

    I saw that Rush/Primus tour as well. I didn't know the first thing about Primus, but was intrigued as the fans began shouting the "Primus Sucks!" chant as they came out. Unfortunately, I don't even have one shirt from that show at the Nassau Colliseum.

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  7. Potsy9:38 AM

    unfortunate? that might be an overstatement, da cut. Although, the album cover for Roll the Bones was award winning. So I think the tee from that show with skulls on it beats out my shirt with the bunny rabbits. RUSH. What a downward spiral. The old stuff rocks man.

    And as for my disembodied creepy torso shots, what can I say? I agree. It's not easy being Potsy.

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  8. Jimbromski10:01 AM

    What sort of organization gives awards to Rush for their album covers?

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  9. Potsy10:15 AM

    that's a good question. From Wiki: Roll the Bones is the fourteenth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1991. The album also won the 1992 "Juno" for best album cover design.

    Get this, (also from wiki): The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music.

    So it's a Canadian award only. Perhaps not stiff competition in 1992 considering the other Canadian releases that year:
    Ingenue, k.d. lang
    Harvest Moon, Neil Young
    Smeared, Sloan
    Fully Completely, The Tragically Hip
    Whale Music, Rheostatics
    Gordon, Barenaked Ladies

    I assume that all of the above album covers were drawn in pencil, and/or had a picture of an animal on it.

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  10. Jimbromski10:32 AM

    Canadians giving awards to other Canadians, AKA The Special Olympics.

    I miss the days when you could reliably make fun of all Canadian music. Next thing you know the fucking Mexicans are going to start exporting indie rock bands to the US. We need to repeal NAFTA asap.

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  11. Anonymous8:41 AM

    There's probably some appropriate reference to the South Park movie that should be made as part of this Canuck bashing, but I can't think of it. To further confirm the lameness of this award, does anyone know how many Junos Bryan Adams has won?

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  12. Jimbromski9:48 AM

    Probably all of them

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  13. Anonymous10:48 PM

    Christ that mock turtleneck is bad. Solid work on the Metallica shirt though.

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  14. Anonymous1:15 AM

    i'm not gonna lie, you sort of look you have boobs in that rush t shirt picture.

    hey, i told you i wasn't gonna lie!

    i turned a friend on to soul coughing a while back. i felt, like, so totally cool.

    you know a lot about music. i know what ipse dixit means. i think i win.

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