The Little Shop that COULD
So you've got, what? Two certainties in life?
We know what they are, thank you very much, Benjamin Franklin!
Let's add a third, shall we?
The Germans call it Änderung.
The French: Changement.
That's right - Change.
Taken to task yet again for the dismal tone of ye olde Spine and Crown newsletter, clearly it's high time for change. And given the crazy game of musical chairs going on socially and economically at the moment, nothing could be easier! This one is upbeat! This one knows no defeat! This newsletter loves the world as it is and wishes it to be no other way than the way that it is, save for the ways that no one wishes it was and numerous other caveats too numerous to mention.
These are great times! Lots of unthinkable things are becoming thinkable! What a gift! I mean, we couldn't think them before, and now we can! It's true that many of us are getting bumped out of our cushy chairs- some, even from chairs not cushy at all! No one wants to leave a comfortable rut, but maybe it will all work out for the best... Most of us will survive (more or less), right?
Without all those pesky distractions (working, shopping, counting money), maybe we'll have time to finish that album we've been working on. Or that novel. Or maybe start growing our own food. We bought chicken and pig seeds from Lowes just this past weekend! Last year, the raccoons got all our pigs, but check out our new electro-fied fence!
Take that, raccoons!
You get a refund; we get a DEFUND
It's sweet, that moment when you check your bank balance- and there it is. A deposit from IRS.GOV. You overpaid, and now it's blessed, blessed refund time. But when you own a small business, overpaying is rarely an option, so come tax time, there is only PAYING.
Hey, it's owed. No complaints on that front. Someone's got to pay for escalating the war in Afghanistan, right? But the timing's not too convenient, to say the least. Profits are slipping, dividends are shrinking, shareholders are grumbling- you get the picture. So, if you were waiting for the perfect moment to come on down and splurge a little, we're not saying it ain't welcome. That is, we ARE saying it IS welcome. You've got some work to do, beautiful children of the refund!
And not just at Spine and Crown! Why, along this stretch of E. Pine St. alone, we have:
Travelers (best chai in town)
Le Frock (draping your body with the finest of vintage cloths)
Wall of Sound (a better record shop than this town deserves - fighting a recession and downloaders, too!)
and
Bauhaus (fashion parade + stout coffee + neighborhood convergence point = win!)
These are all businesses owned by real people, not faceless corporations. They won't be around if people don't rally now!
Did you pick up that book at Half Price? THEY'RE A MOTHER-LOVIN' CHAIN!!!
Starbuck's latte? They're brewing it with shareholders' sweat these days!
Local and little is the new black. Don't love something that can't love you back.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New this week:
All items mentioned below are first come, first serve. If you want something, let us know post-haste! All new items sell for cover price, used items as marked. Sadly, trade credit cannot be used for new items.
Our books are always searchable via ABEbooks.
-----
Bombshells: Glamour Girls of a Lifetime, Steve Sullivan.
Ten chapters, each on a different lovely lady. Cynthia Myers (from Russ Meyer's "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls"), Yvette Vickers ("Attack of the 50-Foot Woman" and "Attack of the Giant Leeches"), and Joy Harmon ("Cool Hand Luke" and "Village of the Giants") all feature. ($25)
-----
Who We Were: A Snapshot History of America, Michael Williams, et al.
Coffee table book of found amateur photos from ancient times to the 1970s. Showing a personal side to days gone by and presenting a virtual catalogue of ridiculously cool hats that no one wears anymore. This copy is signed by all three authors and includes an actual found photo and a DVD-ROM with found home-movies (a package that was a pre-publication offering from the publisher.) ($70)
-----
The Names of the Lost, Philip Levine.
A signed copy of the paperback of this out-of-print collection. Detroit poet, full of dignity, mortality, and beautiful words, sporting a pedigree that includes the mentorship of John Berryman, stints teaching at Iowa and NYU, and a Pulitzer. A personal favorite. ($25)
-----
Killing for Culture: An Illustrated History of Death Film from Mondo to Snuff (New, revised and updated edition), David Kerekes and David Slater.
The title kind of says it all. This book is a steaming tower of ick. I feel queasy looking at it, but can't take my eyes off it. If this book is for you... well, then it is, I guess. Please don't kill me!
($40) [Sold, thank christ]
-----
Slimetime: A Guide to Sleazy, Mindless Movie Entertainment, Steven Puchalski.
Hundreds of reviews, reproductions of posters, and essays on major genres (such as blaxploitation, biker films, and drug cinema.) If the titles "Invasion of the Blood Farmers," "Cannibal Hookers," or "The Black Gestapo" mean something to you (or pique your interest,) then get thee hither! Slimetime awaits! ($25)
-----
A Thing of Unspeakable Horror: The History of Hammer Films, Sinclair McKay.
Very nice import hardcover. Peter Cushing, heaving bosoms, Christopher Lee, heaving bosoms, "Plague of the Zombies," heaving bosoms, "Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires." You get the picture. ($25) [Sold]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soviet science: On the March!
-----
Everything's turning into a pile of shit. Except this.
-----
Everything's turning into a pile of shit. Especially this.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# of weeks since Spine and Crown inception: 179
# of weeks since inception that no mention of Spine and Crown has appeared in the print edition of The Stranger: 179
We know what they are, thank you very much, Benjamin Franklin!
Let's add a third, shall we?
The Germans call it Änderung.
The French: Changement.
That's right - Change.
Taken to task yet again for the dismal tone of ye olde Spine and Crown newsletter, clearly it's high time for change. And given the crazy game of musical chairs going on socially and economically at the moment, nothing could be easier! This one is upbeat! This one knows no defeat! This newsletter loves the world as it is and wishes it to be no other way than the way that it is, save for the ways that no one wishes it was and numerous other caveats too numerous to mention.
These are great times! Lots of unthinkable things are becoming thinkable! What a gift! I mean, we couldn't think them before, and now we can! It's true that many of us are getting bumped out of our cushy chairs- some, even from chairs not cushy at all! No one wants to leave a comfortable rut, but maybe it will all work out for the best... Most of us will survive (more or less), right?
Without all those pesky distractions (working, shopping, counting money), maybe we'll have time to finish that album we've been working on. Or that novel. Or maybe start growing our own food. We bought chicken and pig seeds from Lowes just this past weekend! Last year, the raccoons got all our pigs, but check out our new electro-fied fence!
Take that, raccoons!
You get a refund; we get a DEFUND
It's sweet, that moment when you check your bank balance- and there it is. A deposit from IRS.GOV. You overpaid, and now it's blessed, blessed refund time. But when you own a small business, overpaying is rarely an option, so come tax time, there is only PAYING.
Hey, it's owed. No complaints on that front. Someone's got to pay for escalating the war in Afghanistan, right? But the timing's not too convenient, to say the least. Profits are slipping, dividends are shrinking, shareholders are grumbling- you get the picture. So, if you were waiting for the perfect moment to come on down and splurge a little, we're not saying it ain't welcome. That is, we ARE saying it IS welcome. You've got some work to do, beautiful children of the refund!
And not just at Spine and Crown! Why, along this stretch of E. Pine St. alone, we have:
Travelers (best chai in town)
Le Frock (draping your body with the finest of vintage cloths)
Wall of Sound (a better record shop than this town deserves - fighting a recession and downloaders, too!)
and
Bauhaus (fashion parade + stout coffee + neighborhood convergence point = win!)
These are all businesses owned by real people, not faceless corporations. They won't be around if people don't rally now!
Did you pick up that book at Half Price? THEY'RE A MOTHER-LOVIN' CHAIN!!!
Starbuck's latte? They're brewing it with shareholders' sweat these days!
Local and little is the new black. Don't love something that can't love you back.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New this week:
All items mentioned below are first come, first serve. If you want something, let us know post-haste! All new items sell for cover price, used items as marked. Sadly, trade credit cannot be used for new items.
Our books are always searchable via ABEbooks.
-----
Bombshells: Glamour Girls of a Lifetime, Steve Sullivan.
Ten chapters, each on a different lovely lady. Cynthia Myers (from Russ Meyer's "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls"), Yvette Vickers ("Attack of the 50-Foot Woman" and "Attack of the Giant Leeches"), and Joy Harmon ("Cool Hand Luke" and "Village of the Giants") all feature. ($25)
-----
Who We Were: A Snapshot History of America, Michael Williams, et al.
Coffee table book of found amateur photos from ancient times to the 1970s. Showing a personal side to days gone by and presenting a virtual catalogue of ridiculously cool hats that no one wears anymore. This copy is signed by all three authors and includes an actual found photo and a DVD-ROM with found home-movies (a package that was a pre-publication offering from the publisher.) ($70)
-----
The Names of the Lost, Philip Levine.
A signed copy of the paperback of this out-of-print collection. Detroit poet, full of dignity, mortality, and beautiful words, sporting a pedigree that includes the mentorship of John Berryman, stints teaching at Iowa and NYU, and a Pulitzer. A personal favorite. ($25)
-----
Killing for Culture: An Illustrated History of Death Film from Mondo to Snuff (New, revised and updated edition), David Kerekes and David Slater.
The title kind of says it all. This book is a steaming tower of ick. I feel queasy looking at it, but can't take my eyes off it. If this book is for you... well, then it is, I guess. Please don't kill me!
($40) [Sold, thank christ]
-----
Slimetime: A Guide to Sleazy, Mindless Movie Entertainment, Steven Puchalski.
Hundreds of reviews, reproductions of posters, and essays on major genres (such as blaxploitation, biker films, and drug cinema.) If the titles "Invasion of the Blood Farmers," "Cannibal Hookers," or "The Black Gestapo" mean something to you (or pique your interest,) then get thee hither! Slimetime awaits! ($25)
-----
A Thing of Unspeakable Horror: The History of Hammer Films, Sinclair McKay.
Very nice import hardcover. Peter Cushing, heaving bosoms, Christopher Lee, heaving bosoms, "Plague of the Zombies," heaving bosoms, "Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires." You get the picture. ($25) [Sold]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soviet science: On the March!
-----
Everything's turning into a pile of shit. Except this.
-----
Everything's turning into a pile of shit. Especially this.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# of weeks since Spine and Crown inception: 179
# of weeks since inception that no mention of Spine and Crown has appeared in the print edition of The Stranger: 179
posted by K. at 5:32 PM
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