February 28, 2011

#20. I fell in love with the music from Hedwig and the Angry Inch before I even knew it was a musical. I used to diligently listen to The Chris Carter Mess, much in the way I used to listen to Rodney on the Roq, and he played a couple of songs from the Original Cast Recording. I’m not a big fan of musicals, but the ones I do like have albums that stand on their own. Purchased at Henry Fonda Theater, where I saw the production twice.

February 27, 2011

#19. This wasn't the first Wilco shirt I bought. But I did buy it before Yankee Hotel Foxtrot pushed them to larger arenas. At the time, people weren't aware that Wilco was a band, so I guess they decided to make that perfectly clear with this design.

February 26, 2011

#18. This shirt can't be worn to work. Nor can I wear it to Disneyland. But I'm hoping I can wear it at the Disney Concert Hall, because this is my fashion choice for tonight's Local Natives concert.

February 25, 2011

#17. How amazing is the Toy Story series?   Sure, I’m a sucker for animation.  But each Toy Story movies hold equal measures of wonder, energy and true love of our connection to childhood toys and maybe even our identity.  I’m not ashamed to admit I cried each time I saw Toy Story 3. 

February 24, 2011

#16. This shirt is from the brief run of Laserium at the Vine Theatre in Hollywood.  We went to The Beatles show and I thought the theater setting worked well for the laser show, with the stage focus making it seem more like a concert. 

A couple of years before that, we saw the laser show they were doing in the valley, and that was like being in someone’s living room sitting on their ratty couch.  That was quite the experience too. 

Of course, anyone living in Los Angeles will fondly remember their youthful rite of passage seeing it at the Griffith Park Observatory.  Or, if you did it right, you might not remember that.

February 23, 2011

#15. This eye catching shirt is the covers of the 4 solo KISS album, released in September 1978. I should have known the seriousness of my addiction to music when I worked odd jobs over the summer so I could buy all 4 on day of release. My parents thought it was crazy.

And for those who care, I rank my favorite solo albums Ace-Gene-Paul-Peter. The Ace album is still one of my favorite rock albums, but I have to say I really love Gene’s solo album with all those celebrities and crazy music styles he never tried before or since.

February 22, 2011

#14. Shirt from RedSable comic store, early 90’s in South Pasadena. Shirt still in good shape. Comic book store long gone.

#14.5. The back is larger graphic of smaller image on front. I think I won this shirt in a raffle.

February 21, 2011

#13. I spent yesterday afternoon at Griffith Park. Somehow I didn't know that Walt Disney's Barn was moved here in 1999, which I found out by watching Huell Howser's show. The barn is open the 3rd Sunday of the month, and I'm sure I'll do again soon.
I bought this shirt there. I've been trying to cool it on my shirt buying as I just don't have room for them. But I can't pass up some shirts, and this anniversary shirt from 2009 was marked down to $5 which made it impossible to pass up. Pic taken outside Fossleman's.

February 20, 2011

#12. Picked this up at Sunset Junction a couple of summers ago. The label is based on the UK design.  Although for many in the US it might be most familiar as the cover of my favorite Who album.

February 19, 2011

#11. I was lucky to hear The Runaways right at the beginning, thanks to discovering Rodney on the Roq in 1976. No one else was playing what was eventually called "punk rock". Oddly enough, to some people The Runaways were punk rock. Well, they did have a punk attitude.
This isn't a vintage shirt. However, I did see them twice. Once in 1977 at the Santa Monica Civic, with Cheap Trick opening. The 2nd time was at the Civic, after Cherie left, and The Ramones played too. Original line-up! How lucky I was to have cool parents to take me to these shows.
My favorite Runaways story involves Lita Ford, who was my favorite Runaway. She was on Rodney and I called in and asked for her address and she actually gave it to me. I sent her a letter, and I think I even included my freshman school picture (GEEK). Come Christmas, I actually got a card from her. Still have it too.

February 18, 2011

#10. After yesterday’s story, I decided to go the opposite direction and wear a shirt without a story. I have quite a few story-less shirts, and this Nightmare Before Christmas shirt is one of them. Sometimes a cool shirt is just a cool shirt. Taken at 7th and Metro station after meeting a friend for lunch at Corner Bakery.

February 17, 2011

#9. From my first Willie Nelson show at the Universal (now Gibson) Amphitheater in 2002. Ray Charles opened the show!!!

Besides being a wonderfully memorable show musically, I have an even deeper memory of this show. I am a late comer to Willie Nelson, and most country music in general. But two bands kick-started my interest in this genre, The Geraldine Fibbers and Wilco. However, my love of Willie can be directly pointed to The Geraldine Fibbers and Carla Bozulich in particular, who at this time had just released her version of Willie’s Red Headed Stranger album.

As I mentioned in shirt #3, the “hipster” in me will not wear the shirt of the artist I am seeing. But I intentionally wore my Geraldine Fibbers shirt to this show as tribute to one of my favorite bands in the world, and for the #1 reason why I was at Willie that night.

I wanted to buy a Willie Nelson shirt, but the lines were really long. So during Ray’s performance, I quickly bolted to the lobby to buy a shirt and who should I pass in the very empty lobby but Carla herself. As we were crossing paths, she looked at my shirt and said “Fibbers!”. Stunned, I said “yup”. I was so excited, but thought I came off as a dope.

A couple of days later, Carla sent an email blast to the Fibbers list and recounted that very exchange. However, in her words I said yup “cool as a cucumber”. She went on to say it made her day. Well, Carla, that still makes my day remembering that. And wearing this shirt brings it all back.

February 16, 2011

#8. My grade school friends will probably shake their heads when they see I still wear KISS shirts. I’m pretty sure I exclusively wore KISS shirts in 7th grade. Although my wardrobe has expanded greatly from those days, I have quite a few KISS shirts in my collection. No vintage ones though. I gave those away in high school.
This shirt commemorates my most recent KISS show, Alive 35 at Staples. I’m actually kind of stunned that it has been over a year since that show. How time flies.
I didn’t buy this shirt at the show. I have a hard time supporting KISS with Fake Ace and Fake Peter. Found it a few months later for $5, and that was a deal I couldn’t pass up. However, the show was amazing.

#8.5. The back of the shirt lists all the Los Angeles concerts. I’ve seen 7 of them (1976, 1977, 1983, 1996, 1998, 2003 and 2009). I’ve seen 10 shows total, with the other ones being 1983 at Irvine Meadows, 1984 Long Beach Arena and 2000 at Pond in Anahiem. Or at least I’m sure that is complete.

February 15, 2011

#7. Maybe my favorite record label ever. A couple of years ago I started picking up the Hip-O Select Complete Motown Singles and discovered many more jewels beyond the singles that run through all our DNA. These boxes are beautifully packaged and contain all A & B sides by year. Unfortunately they have stalled at 1971 with no word when they are going to complete the series, which was supposed to compile all the singles through 1973.
I’m sure I don’t need to mention that Hitsville U.S.A. was the nickname given to the original headquarters for Motown in Detroit.

February 14, 2011

#6. I learned quite a few new words thanks to my parent’s copy of the Hair album and an unabridged dictionary. I missed the production that recently ran at the Pantages, but the production I saw at the Met Theatre in 2007 was so amazing I saw it 3 times. Out of the 3 productions I have seen, it was far and away the best. The shirt I’m wearing was purchased at the Met.

February 13, 2011

#5. Hand Banana, taken at Knott's Berry Farm. If you don't know Hand Banana from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, I'm reluctant to tell you much about him. I will just say that his actions are so crude that, even though the shirt itself isn't crude, I wont wear it to work.

February 12, 2011

#4. Elf Power, taken after my typically late Saturday breakfast.
This is a band that keeps churning out great albums, but I've only seen one time when they played with Neutral Milk Hotel at Spaceland in the 90's. Either I am not seeing LA shows listed, or they don't play out here much.

February 11, 2011

#3. Arcade Fire, purchased at killer Troubadour show right when they began to explode. Went to both early and late shows and they are both on the list of greatest shows I've ever seen.

BTW, I have a few shirt rules. The first is I never wear the shirt of the band that I am seeing. Since Arcade Fire are playing tonight, you can rightly guess I'm not going. But I can wear the shirt if I'm going to be there in spirit.

February 10, 2011

#2. This was from my first Coachella in 2003. I would have preferred a shirt with the artists somewhere on it, but this design was too perfect. Fell in love with Polyphonic Spree there, and I think I'm still bruised from the ass kicking I got from Iggy and the Stooges.

February 09, 2011

#1. I keep saying I'm going to start capturing my Shirt of the Day. What better way to start than with my cool Mott the Hoople shirt.