Tuesday, August 16, 2011

One of My Favorite Places

I like t-shirts. I'm not a slob. I can dress myself and I can dress really nicely. Some might even accuse me of being a metrosexual at times, if they still used the word. Aside from www.teefury.com, one of ym favorite places to get my t-shirts is a place in Des Moines, IA called Raygun.

Raygun is an independent shop that used to be called Smash. I honestly liked the name "Smash" more, but some band or some other store out in L.A. gave them one of those ridiculous cease and desist notices that bands and organizations in the United States of America tend to file as if they were going out of style. The funny thing is that I would imagine that there are plenty of places named "Raygun", not the least of which is a magazine that was intermittently pretentious the last time I looked at it. The difference is that they didn't get all litigious over the mere idea – which is actually underestimation of the public's intellect – that people would get confused.

I have purchased quite a few things from their shop. One of them this shirt with a James T. Kirk quote. It was at this store I also scored a pair of Chelsea boots (Beatle/Temptation boots) and a couple of nice prints, like one featuring the Traveler's Insurance umbrella, which is a Des Moines landmark.

Did anyone say stickers? Yeah, I've bought a sticker or two from them.

What can I say? I love my hometown. It's not a huge city, but who cares? It doesn't have to be. More importantly: it doesn't feel the need to be. It's a great place to be from and it was a great place to grow up. I'll usually take issue with anyone who speaks ill of it!

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Post Fringe

I used one of my days off this summer to drive back to the Twin Cities for an audition. I think it went well, but I'll find out soon enough. Because of the trip timing and my girlfriend's schedule, I had the evening free and I decided to use it to catch two Fringe shows.

I saw "Entwined" by Amy Salloway and "Fletcher and Zenobia Save the Circus" by LiveActionSet. Both shows were great. I felt great. I got to see MN produced independent performance and support people I know at the same time. It also helped me formulate a short version of one of my goals.

There are many talented people in the Twin Cities. I just hope to eventually be counted as one of them. It's up to me to keep working and to show it.