BY MIKEY MIGO
We all have our oddball collections. I'm not talking about your DVD or CD collection because we all talk about that stuff already. I'm talking about the little things about you that separate you from your fellow music fans and friends.
With a music fan it's mostly always the CD or vinyl collection that's talked about. Be it a burnt copy of a bootleg, a band's first demo, or what have you; it's always something nerdy/interesting like that. My collection is no different. It's interesting and brilliant to me, but to you it's probably as entertaining as watching a "Greys Anatomy" marathon. I'm not trying to brag or show off, but to really just help you put your own collection of music related junk into perspective.
I figure it would be (even more) lame to talk about some of my treasured personal collection without sharing what it looks like. To avoid the paparazzi and stalkers from coming into my home to see and/or steal my items, I attempted to use my very old and shitty digital camera to take pictures. The framed posters are a bit glared, the flash sorta fucked up some of the color of things, and I'm not a photographer in the least bit. Still, it'll keep out the stalkers. I can't deal with another "summer stalk ‘05". Those wounds are still healing.
RANDOM SHIRTS
Last week I talked about how I was baffled at the thought that we, the music fan, PAY THE BAND to be their walking billboards. We happily shell out our hard earned money to buy a shirt with a band's logo, image, or current/past work on it. We do it because we're fans, we support their work, or we just like the way the design looks. I'm guilty of all of those reasons.
Here is a random few of my shirts:
(Please Note: Cutting sleeves off old band/concert shirts isn't my thing.)
Nine Inch Nails "Downward Spiral Shirt"
I'm not sure if this was my first NIN shirt or not. I know I have probably close to a dozen Nine Inch Nails shirts from over the years in my closet. I of course have shirts to cover the "Pretty Hate Machine" era, the "Fragility Tour", a few for "With Teeth" and a little bit of "Year Zero" love. I think this is the one shirt of the bunch I've worn the most. I've worn it under button ups for work, professional wrestling shows, at other concerts, and during many highs and lows in life. I mean seriously, look at it. It's almost a rag.
Sevendust "2002 Tour" Shirt
I bought this the same night I told Jared Leto to chew my foreskin. True story. Sevendust is a very underappreciated band and back then they were really on their A-Game. That concert was probably like the sixth or seventh concert I've ever been to and it's still up there as one of my favorites.
Outkast Crown Shirt
I don't remember where I bought this shirt, but I do know I've had it for most of this decade. I've always been a fan of Outkast going back to "Rosa Parks". This is the only brown shirt I own and I rarely ever wear this. It IS a pretty cool looking design though.
Dope "American Apathy" Shirt
This is one of those "I just liked the way it looked and how much it cost" situations. I like Dope. I loved their first album and have seen them in concert twice now. I wouldn't turn them off IF they were on the radio and I really have nothing bad to say about the band. It's just not so much my cup of tea that I'd be out representing their work. The selling point was that it was on sale. I think I literally bought this shirt brand new for fewer than five bucks. For that little amount, I couldn't pass it up.
Ministry "Rio Grande Blood" Shirt
This was the exact same situation as the Dope shirt. I bought it the same day and on sale for same dirt cheap price. If a band I didn't like was on sale, it wouldn't matter how much or how little it cost. It wouldn't buy it. So take that for what it's worth.
Signed MSI Tuxedo Shirt
A few years back MSI ran a design contest for a new T-Shirt. I jokingly put together THIS design and ended up getting the "Runner Up" spot. There wasn't supposed to be one, but they still printed up and sold this shirt across the country and maybe even world. It's really cool to think that something I designed is probably being worn by someone someplace I've never been to. Last Summer MSI headlined the second stage at Projekt Revolution and I got to get Jimmy Urine and Steve Righ? to sign it for me. I've been telling myself and others that I wanted to get this framed for over a year now. I will… someday.
RANDOM SHEETS
Just like the shirt situation, we PAY THE BAND to have their image, logo, or related artwork on our walls. When we have guests, family, or anyone over they're exposed to what you're displaying. Common folk have pictures of family, some have art, or some have nothing at all on the walls. A lot of the diehard music fans that I know represent their musical tastes in the décor of their home. I'm 25 so having a lot of posters is a bit immature. So to classy this joint up, I've framed (most of) my posters. If I pretend their art maybe I won't feel so embarrassed when lady folk come over. Yeaaaah.
Here are some of the random posters currently on display:
Nine Inch Nails "2006 With Teeth Tour" Litho
I quit my job of almost four years to follow NIN around in early 2006. Three of the shows I went to were in three different states. This special edition tour litho covered those three dates so I HAD to have one. Since I was part of "The Spiral", I had the luxury of presale and really cool tickets. So if you're wondering, those tickets under the poster all have holograms on them and my name specifically printed on them. That's some bad ass shit.
Fun Club Poster
This is one of the rare unframed posters. It's just finding 11 by 17 frames at a fair price is pretty impossible. I hung this poster on my bedroom door last August because we used it during the filming of my first movie and haven't taken it down since. The lay out of my room, some of the furniture and even one of the band members has changed within the past year, but I'm NOT taking it down.
Creepy David Bowie Poster
The first time my friend and I drank absinthe this poster haunted us. It was as if Bowie was staring at us and scorning as we danced with the green fairy. I'm a huge Bowie fan and I'm under the idea that black and white is classy so I went with this one specifically. We ended up using this poster in the current movie and actually do some focus on it a few times. This poster is not illegal substance friendly. I know this first hand.
Signed Tech N9ne Poster
Another signed piece of my collection. I oddly have this hung right next to Bowie in my office. I ordered it last year from Tech's website for a very cheap price. Sometimes I don't care that the actual poster is cheaper than the frame. I support Tech N9ne and will continue to do so as long as he does what he does.
Fashion Bomb Poster
This is the most recent addition to my framed poster collection. I'm always talking about Fashion Bomb and listening to and promoting their work. I honestly believe they're the best band in Chicago and will be the best big thing to come from the Second City. This poster went on sale at their recent concerts and is the first of the "ERA 2.0" merch items. If this poster is any indication, I can't wait to see what's next. I'm really digging the design and imagery.
RANDOM SHIT
We all have our own shit. If you're into a certain scene then odds are your shit will reflect that. I love music so a lot of my shit is music related. In a lot of cases, these things would be garbage or very disposable to many people. But for whatever reason, we keep little trinkets, keepsakes, and randomness.
Here's some of my random shit:
An Ass Load of Ticket Stubs
There's some tickets in this pile that I could easily give their own picture and paragraph. And sure there are some random other tickets in the pile like Wrestlemania 23, a charity basketball game from the 90's that featured Glen Robinson and Magic Johnson, some tickets from original ECW shows, and I think at least one other sporting event ticket. This is probably only about half of the concert tickets that I've saved over the years. I think the oldest one is like 1998, so this pretty much covers ten years of my life. Lots of memories and experiences go along with these. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has saved their concert tickets.
Fashion Bomb Guitar Picks
I was never an athlete and have the motor skills of a sleepy toddler. So this means no matter how close I've been to the stage I never get to catch the water bottle, set list, or guitar picks. Thankfully, Fashion Bomb is an accessible band. I was given the black one a few years ago, but the new green one is the special one. I actually had a hand in putting together the design and lay out of it. Like that signed MSI shirt, this is another one of those "special" items due to it being something I did.
Mansithe Bottle
This is an empty bottle of Marilyn Manson's brand of absinthe called "Mansithe". Sorta lame name aside, this was some really good shit. The current batch of absinthe that's "legal" in the states is bullshit. This was made overseas and was really good. I wanted to get my hands on some absinthe, but being an American who hasn't done enough traveling I had no clue what to go with. So I did research and went with this bottle. I am a fan of Marilyn Manson so I figured I might as well go with it. I don't regret this purchase and will hopefully get some more in the near future.
Signed Ghostface Wu-Tang Towel
A few years ago at the Projekt Revolution tour it was Korn, Snoop, The Used, and other mainstream(at least at the time) acts headlining. But to me, the highlight was Ghostface completely owning the supporting stage. A friend and I found ourselves right in front and enjoyed every second of it. Afterwards, we both got Wu-Tang Clan towels signed by Ghostface. The dude was really chill and nice. Since we "met", I've seen him make appearances in a lot of random places like "Walk Hard", but his music is what sells me. Sadly, over the years of being exposed to smoke the towel is yellowish and ikky. I can't wash it or I'll lose the autograph so I'm stuck with a smoke stained Wu-Tang towel. I'm guessing a smoke stained Wu towel isn't a rarity.
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