Here Comes The Summer

Spring has sprung and has brought us two things: warmer weather and a ton of pollen! Tony, being an Arizona native, was quite surprised by how thoroughly caked in pollen Atlanta has recently become!

The climate change has also got us out working in the yard, planting things in the garden, making me think about all of my vintage planters, and how I should showcase some of my favorites here for you to see:

This large, multi-coned planter is my newest acquisition and it fits perfectly in the outside entryway of our home. I've never seen one quite like this before and I was very happy to find it. I love the color and the original speckled ceramic.

I've always wanted a Lagardo Tackett double-coned landscape pot made by Architectural Pottery, but they're outrageously expensive, so I was thrilled to find this tall Tackett-inspired piece a year ago. I love the hourglass shape and I really like the noodling design on this one, too. It's a very welcome addition to the foyer in our home!

Up next is the boat planter. I love its unique shape and size and it helps to bring some life into our great room.

We love bullet planters—we have a handful of them around the house. These two reside in our great room, between two of my terrariums and up against the glass wall.

This one rests in a cozy spot near our fireplace.

And, lastly, this one brings a colorful accent to our guest bedroom / home office.

So there you have it! This is just a small selection of some of my planters, but I think I'll save the rest of my exterior ones for a later post. I'd also like to offer a special thanks to Tony for putting up with my planter obsession and all of these plants and planters!

Hurts And Noises

Sorry, folks, the past few weeks have been hectic due to work and personal deadlines, so we've found ourselves with less time to spend 'round here. Fortunately, we've struck gold repeatedly lately, and our vinyl scores have made slogging thru the drudgery a fair bit easier.

Valery had been looking for this Nimbus 45 for longer than we've been together, and I'd made it my mission to locate a copy for her. Luckily, my pal Andreas (thanks, dude!) brought it to my attention because a.) the track she was after is the record's b-side (of course) and b.) the German PS misspells Lollipop, rendering all saved searches useless. I'm a complete sucker for the Pretty Things and being able to finally scratch the domestic pressing of their Midnight to Six Man single off my wantlist was a welcome relief indeed.

A few years back, my pal Michael gave me the Plugz Tie sleeve he'd inherited as part of David Wiley's (Consumers, Human Hands, etc) collection. I'd since kept the sleeve loose, storing it next to my standard copy of the EP, figuring I'd marry it up with a stray 45 eventually. Needless to say, I was stoked when my buddy Ryan recently came through with an unplayed sleeveless disc. Later that same week, my pal Marc pointed out a copy of the first Real Kids single that matched up splendidly with the mint picture sleeve (featured elsewhere) I'd found at last year's WFMU fair. Thanks again, fellas!

It should come as no surprise to you, dear readers, that those damn Gauls created some of our very favorite 70s punk rock, so imagine our elation at landing a Francophile 1-2 punch. How the Dogs' debut platter managed to elude us until now remains a total mystery. We'd been waiting and waiting for an unstamped, unclipped and unblemished copy of the Guilty Razors' sole vinyl offering for so long, it was beginning to look like we'd never succeed in snagging a copy. Many thanks to Hidehisa (and you, too, Mike!) for making this a reality!

You didn't think we'd leave you high and dry at the end, did you? Here we have a copy of the second Kriminella Gitarrer single—scored through sheer good fortune and, more importantly, on the relative cheap. Our hands-down favorite of their many fine moments ...although we would gladly change our minds if someone wanted to give us their Vårdad Klädsel 45.

Lastly, all of our li'l whittled models are recent acquisitions, too!

On Whom They Beat

Decided to devote this entry to the legion of furball Vikings who've had the good taste to make our foyer their own personal Valhalla. Popular during the mid-60s, the majority of 'em were manufactured in Denmark, Sweden, Spain and Japan. Valery originally started this collection, with me contributing a good chunk during our early courtship days. Nothing says I Love You like giving your girl an armed warrior bent on bloodshed and buggery.

Here are some of our favorites:

The middle guy's probably the most laughably hirsute of the bunch. Our blow-up doll Viking was a recent arrival and we're still trying to figure out what its designer, Carl Bent, was thinking when he dreamt it up. Guess he figured it was easy to get bored on a long voyage...

The guy on the left is my absolute favorite—I love his triangular body and mace. The other two guys are similarly bushy and menacing.

These three little guys make a great set. This larger one's an Italian lamp from the 60s. We've got a matching Caveman (as seen in the Sounds of the Weird-Ohs spread), too ...I'm sure we'll devote a separate entry to 'em somewhere down the line.

Our army stares wistfully at their ship on the horizon. Found the gnarled and enormous (it's 5' long!) Witco Knarr portrait listed on eBay by a seller in Atlanta. We were both stunned when it went for the minimum bid of $9.99. Needless to say, we picked it up in person the same day!

Sick Of Being Sick

Being under the weather lately's got us thinking about the many ways we're gonna indulge once we get past this damn flu—and has also led to us to a wistful examination of some of the vintage barware we've got laying around the house.

Valery found this set while on a road trip through Florida some years back. Don't really have much to go on except that each Beast is apparently summoned through the imbibing of the hard stuff. Bear, octopus, jackass and rodent ...definitely sounds like most drunks I know!

We found this pussycat set at a local thrift store for .35 a piece. There were originally four of 'em, but one shattered in my hand before we even left the store cuz I'm such a hulking brute.

Lastly, we located this lost C. Schulz masterpiece at a great antique store in Austin my buddy Ryan took us to while we were trekking between Arizona and Georgia.

Turning Grey

Turning 35 last week wasn't as painful an experience as I'd previously expected, due in large part to great friends, an amazing dinner party and some really thoughtful gifts.

Here are a select few. 

My favorite of the bunch has to be the vintage mosaic piece that Tony purchased for me at a local antique store. This thing is HUGE—somewhere around 4 feet tall—and the quality of the craftsmanship is really impressive. I just wish our photo could do justice to the variety of shapes (and depths) for each individual tile. We really love this recent addition to our den.

I'd been searching for a copy of the Equals' Diversion single for a while now and was pleased when our friend Mike (thank you!) sent me one for my b-day. I also treated myself to the Creation's Making Time and Liz Brady's Hey O Daddy O 45s. The Finnish owl bank was a Valentine's Day gift from Tony, but it looked good in this spread, so I included it.

Another Valentine's Day gift was a female Zoo Line hippo Tony found buried on eBay. Despite the misleading photo, she arrived with her tail intact. I'm so glad we were able to match up my bull with his new girlfriend!

And, lastly, here's another recent purchase that wasn't necessarily a gift, but he is a hippo. It's a vintage ceramic bank. Unfortunately, no markings or anything—we just really like him! The mod owl perfume bottle in the background was yet another V-Day gift.

Once again, I would like to thank everyone for all of my gifts and for making this birthday a very special event!

Bird Dance Beat

This past month has found me heatedly pursuing an item, unlike any other in recent memory. I'd originally been introduced to the Worry Bird years ago via Dan Clowes' and Charles Schneider's similarly named tale from Lloyd Llewellyn #5 ...and there was also the later presence of an Atlanta record label that had adopted its name (and label design) after the same "sub-standard yarn."

I didn't really think much of it until a short time after that, while working behind the counter of a record store, when I experienced a tensed incatenation as I leafed through a CD booklet for a (then) recent Trashmen reissue. It was there that the thought balloon popped and I realized that the mascot emblazoned across their drumhead, standing proudly atop a surfboard while strumming its guitar, was none other than the same goddamn bird!


My search for answers resumed a full decade later, after fording Joey Myers' most excellent photostream. Joey had snapped a quick pic of his Worry Bird and the hunt began anew!

An early capture, this forlorn example is a rare piece of 60s Hawaiiana—an ashtray that stores butts in its rear. You really can't help but feel for this guy... Although not quite Zelig-like in its pervasiveness, who was this feathered fellow and who was the sadistic madman responsible for its design???

And here we have the creature that started the craze and set me tilting. A late 50s / early 60s ceramic novelty nodder, possibly created by Napco Ceramics and definitely made in Japan. Both of these have different tags, but the first one's more poignant (and applicable) and reads: "Don't be sad / Don't be blue / 'Cause I'm the bird / Who'll worry for you." Amen.

My apologies to all those who endured and sincere thanks to all who've helped!

I Spent The Rent

As another birthday quickly approaches, I decided to entertain the idea of treating myself with one of our longest held wants. I'd spied the Weltron 2005 immediately after it was listed and I'd kept an eye on it for the entire week, debating whether or not I would make a grab for it. I finally decided, with a few hours left in the auction, to toss in a low-ball bid and hope for the best... seriously doubting that I had any real hope of winning. So, needless to say, it came as a total shock when I realized that we'd actually won—and at way less than half of its current going rate.

Tony spent all day, in agony, as he dutifully waited for me to come home so we could open the packages together. The seller did a great job packing this up. She only charged us $45 and she had it Fed-Exed to us within three business days of the auction's end! I'm sure she ended up paying a lot more on her end. Thank you!

I really wish we'd taken some before photos because the record player was extremely filthy when it arrived. Tony used some miracle cleaner that his sister-in-law had given us the last time we visited his family and he methodically cleaned it for over two hours! I still can't believe what a huge difference it made!

Coincidentally, we'd found a pair of 70s Nivico sphere speakers on Craigslist a few days before the stereo auction ended. We managed to get the seller to negotiate with us and he priced 'em down and within our budget. No, these won't get hooked up to the Weltron—instead, we're running them through our main stereo system downstairs. We can't wait for the next soiree, so we can give 'em a good workout!

Up Against The Wall

Always in search of promo photos, fliers, posters and whatever other junk shop music-related paper items we can find, we decided that we should showcase our private gallery and some of the ephemeral trophies we've scavenged over the years. Enjoy!

Also, as always, make sure to click on 'em for a bigger picture.

Here's the view from the foyer. We hope that Nobunny, Supercharger, the Cramps and the Ronettes (among others) make you feel immediately at home...


A few more shots of the glossies. Highlights include ? & the Mysterians, Unrelated Segments, Gories, Dickies, Wire, Devo and DMZ photos.

Posters and fliers for fests and shows attended over the past few years...a few of 'em even designed by Gonked, Glooked and Slurped!'s own Valery.



Our obsession with 70s PUNK and the (early) Cramps should be obvious by now. Months of begging and pleading finally convinced my pal Howie to hand over some of his vintage Cramps' goods—including the Human Fly promo flier pictured in Punk is Dead, Punk is Everything. Come to think of it, he's also the same benefactor who forked over the record release poster for the MAD's I Hate Music 45...still the only example of it we've ever seen. Thanks again, Mr. Pyro!

Other notables included are a signed photo of the Gears, a shot of the Cramps playing LA circa '79 (taken by the Middle Class' manager) and a group photo of the MAD (from the same session as the interior of the Digusting EP's sleeve). We've also got a Screamers flier handsomely silkscreened by Mr. Gary Panter, a silkscreened Feederz flier from '78, original Undertones, Teenage Head and Starshooter record store posters, Automatics, Devo and Milk 'n' Cookies magazine ads and, lastly, a Trend flier / set-list from '80.

We're still waiting on a few things to arrive / get framed, so we can seal up the holes in this display ...and then there's always the stuff downstairs...


Our last stop on the tour and it concludes with a photo of our fish wall. They certainly do provide a welcome shot of color and life into this museum.

Cheap Rewards

It would seem like our New Year's resolution was to keep our spending habits on the cheap, since our last three purchases have been obscenely inexpensive—either via poorly listed items or through sheer good fortune at a flea market.

Poring over eBay listings on an insomnious jag, we discovered a Colani elephant bank ($10) and a set of Bosse's nesting hedgehogs ($15) for mere peanuts. However, the real topper has to be the 70s Guzzini mushroom lamp we located in the unlikeliest Athens, GA flea market a few weeks ago ...and at a measly $5! Whew!!!

We really hate the thought of jinxing ourselves and ruining this spate of good luck, but we couldn't keep it a secret any longer. Here's hoping for similar steals throughout 2010!

Glittering Prizes

It'd be fair to say that Santa treated us extra-special this year. Here are a few selected highlights for your perusal.

An original member of the Kay Bojesen (inspired?) Zoo Line series from 1959, this jackass has been a longtime favorite—and we were especially excited to welcome him aboard. This braying slackjaw actually arrived complete w/ spectacles, but we removed 'em because he looks way more dapper this way.

Feeling the need to adopt a mascot for our home, this noble Jonathan Adler creation made its way into the great room. The lion pauses to take careful measure and proudly survey its sprawling kingdom!

Couroc of Monterey produced hundreds of different objects from the 1950s through the 90s, utilizing phenolic resin, shells, coral and whatever other materials lent themselves toward interesting designs. Manufactured in the late 50s or early 60s, the Mod Birds trays have always been our top Couroc want ...and we were lucky enough to snag two (of the three) sets this year.

Although best known for his planters and kitchenware, ceramicist LaGardo Tackett designed the iconic Egghead in 1959 for use as a condom holder. As they were available for sale via Esquire and Playboy mail-order only, these have become increasingly hard to track down. Here we find our pal resting for a spell—after all, he's pretty tuckered out from his recent arrival (thanks, Mike!) and a truly debaucherous New Year's.

Sleigh Ride

It's that time of year, folks and GG&S will be closed for the holidays. Be sure to check back in 2010: we've already got a Yuletide recap planned, more home renovations slated for your perusal and plenty of looted artifacts to share.

Happy holidays!

GG&S