Trashball 092606: A "Big" Desire

Old calling card recovered from discarded ephemera. A terribly suggestive bit of paper, I can't help but wonder what this card was once tied to, to whom it was given, and what happened afterward. Note how "Miss" was effaced—loss of virginity, maybe? Or is that just me and my dirty mind?

Trashball 092606: The Outline of Martha

Recovered from discarded ephemera. This is the label from Book I (of four) of a painstakingly written outline of "Montgomery's English History", done in fountain pen in September 1920 by Miss Martha. A sample from page 5 is above.

Trashball 092406: 1968 Riots

Washington, DC, like many other cities, was very hard hit by riots following MLK's assassination in 1968. The photos show some of the aftermath and were recovered from a discarded photo album. Each was labeled on back with the location.

1st photo: 14th St. and Park Rd., NW
2nd photo: 14th St., NW
3rd photo: 8th St. and H St., NW - Kay Jewelers
4th photo: 7th St. and Florida Ave., NW

Trashball 091906: A Common Disregard

1969 penny found in damp grass in College Park, MD. Few people care for pennies anymore, and there is pending legislation to stop minting them altogether. But people would do well to save their pre-1982 copper pennies (since 1982, they're made of zinc with copper plating).
According to this website, a copper penny's melt value is now $0.0224392, or 224.3900% of its face value. So if you've got too much time on your hands, get thee to a bankery and buy a lot of pennies and get to sortin'!

Trashball 091906: "The Whole Fraternity Clap"

Lovely bit of writing I found in the basement of a University of Maryland frat house today while struggling to remove a gargantuan industrial stove. This was actually in the oven. The writing has a stutter but then maybe this was the work of an emerging playwright...

Must...Go...to....Art Opening... Thursday, 9/21, from 6-9pm

Nice group show I'm in at Senate Realty, located at 909 U St., NW. Several other accomplished artists are in the show. Click here to view the e-vite.

One Down, Three to Go: Andy Rourke Is a Lovely Fellow

Just 4 weeks after getting "Still Ill" [title of a Smiths song] tattooed on my forearm, the stars aligned in such a way that I got to meet a former Smith, the Smiths being a band I unabashedly revere.
Andy Rourke was in town to DJ at Rock n' Roll Hotel, a new venue on H St., NE, here in DC. As luck would have it, Phung and I have become friends with Coby, who's married to RnR's co-owner. These felicitous circumstances led to a very relaxed 30 minutes visiting with the superb former Smiths bassist.
I labored to avoid discussing his history with the band, a topic that I would imagine he gets a bit tired of discussing with wide-eyed acolytes, though I confess it came up a couple of times, with only one elliptical reference to Morrissey. Mostly, though, we talked politics, marriage, the molecular structure of Balian sand, the emerging dialectic in the great Hobo Debate (tip of the hat to John Hodgeman), and our favorite Peruvian porn stars.
Anyhow, thanks Andy. You are a very nice old bean and Phung and I had a dilly of a time.

Fastow

After nearly one year of not painting, I finally started again. Here's the first result. Fastow is the title, no need to ask why.

Now all I need to do is finish three more by Sunday morning because I committed to doing a group show here in DC. Details on that are forthcoming.

Jesus Christ

This girl is marrying me.

She just returned from a hairstyle brainstorming for our wedding day (October 9, 2006, in Positano, Italy, chumps) and this particular look is knee-weakeningly gorgeous. Go with it, baby!

Goddamn, I Got to List Some Shit

This is but a tiny fraction of all the crap I need to list on eBay. Recently I got a huge cache of gun accessories, mostly holsters and belts, on one of my junk-removal jobs. I don't really care for guns at all, but I'm staggered at how well crafted these holsters and belts are; they're like expensive handmade Italian shoes, except you slip your revolvers into them.

I'm also surprised at what people throw away. Certainly these things are worth something. Indeed, people are already bidding.

Trashball 091306: Word Up

Couldn't have said it better myself. Recovered near River Terrace Elementary School in NE DC.

Trashball 091306: Class War? Lifestyles of the Poor and Not-So-Poor

Found within 2 feet of each other in a Capitol Hill park.

Trashball 091306: Chinatown After Dark

Something terrifically lurid about these circa 1930s ticket stubs. Recovered from discarded travel ephemera.

He Was a Perfectly Nice Taxi Driver

Putting the "Fun" in Funeral Home

Coveted Hysong's Funeral Home shirts available at last. Other styles and colors available, too. Get your funeral on!

Ellen's East Village Deck...

...and the buzz of a day well spent brought out this lovely moment between Phung and me.

Trashball 091206: Doldrums

Recovered from a circa 1974 box of discarded papers.

Olympus Fashion Week NYC: In My Element

Anyone who knows me knows that I would not miss Atil Kutoglu's runway show this past Saturday during Fashion Week at New York's Bryant Park. This, of course, is an insupportable lie. Nevertheless, there I was, three rows back from the runway—trod by none other than Victoria's Secret model Karolina Kurkova, though I didn't realize it until Phung told me later—with the rather disappointing goodie bag that awaited me on my seat.

Phung was the reason I was there. She is herself a fashion talent to be reckoned with, both in appearance and design, and going to Fashion Week was a long-nursed dream of hers. And it was a very good opportunity for me to be steeped in her world of interests. I had a blast.

Thanks to Ca$$idy for securing our tickets.

I Drive a Dump Truck. This Is My Story

Here's a small Flickr set of pix from a typical day.

Trashball 090506: Glossy with Borders

Recovered from a pile of construction debris on Norwood Drive in Chevy Chase, Maryland, on a very wet day. This envelope was dropped off at Penn Camera in DC on April 18, 1974. Sadly, no photos were inside.

Trashball 090406: One Less Thing to Worry About

If a Wheaton terrier named Boo bites you, you can probably avoid the rabies shots. Found near 11th and C Streets, SE, in Washington, DC.

I pick up trash all the time, both for fun and profit (I drive a dump truck for Junk in the Trunk 2-3 days a week). Much of it I set aside for my Trashball! machines, particularly found objects and ephemera. I will occasionally highlight pieces of found trash here on Ex-Communicated.

Salmonella and the American Dream

Several years ago, my friend Tim and I were looking for a place to have a quick breakfast before he hit the road back to Massachusetts. We chose the decidedly louche Steak n'Egg Kitchen on Wisconsin Ave. in DC, where our final moments together were passed marveling at the number of health-code violations committed before our eyes. Our appetites waned but we developed a sort of admiration for the fry-cook's brazenness in using our toast as a convenient place to wipe yolk off of his ungloved and unwashed hand. Turns out there's a very nice story behind this greasy spoon, as highlighted on the front page of today's Washington Post.