Hank's Summer Sale Mailer - 1957

Discovered a stack of these old Hardware Hank Summer Sale Mailers sitting on the overwhelmed checkout counter at the Waterville, MN Hardware Hank.

I particularly like this rendition of the Hardware Hank character. He looks alot wiser and handy than the neutered later (through current) baby-faced checkout-boy they have employed as a mascot. "Hey, boy, how about showing me fewer teeth and more smarts about straightening or replacing this fan blade?"

On our visit, Autumn and I also found plenty of neat old stock amidst the packed from floor to ceiling shelves. We left with some camping fuel, a battleship-strong Swing-a-way™ can opener, a skeleton toy and the mailer.

What was even cooler than this nifty old advertisement? We've been to many a hardware store where the staff takes interest in you because they are paid to. We've been to others where the advice is handed down from a pulpit. The Waterville Hardware Hank store is still run by the Jacobson family, a family who has handed down more thna just a business. They were welcoming, interesting, smart, and absolutely love what they do, helping people, and it shows. Long live the family store.

View the complete 1957 Summer Sales Mailer.

Don't miss the fabulous insecticide spread on page 22.

Unfortunate CNN feeds on Oral Sex story

An old pal, Dave Zuck, shot me a line, out of the blue about this unfortunate sync of a story on CCN.com's the chart and a couple of their reporters' twitter feeds. I miss Dave.

BLACKBIRD BURGLAR SERIES: COLTON HARRIS MOORE CREW NECK SWEATSHRT

This is incredible. Please, tell me it comes in middle-aged man sizes.

PS: Dear Santa - you love sneaking into people's homes. Please, leave this under the tree and our silver where you find it.

From Blackbird: The second burglar of interest in our series, we bring to you Colton Harris-Moore

Colton A. "Colt" Harris-Moore (born March 22, 1991) is a former fugitive from Camano Island, Washington. He is suspected in the theft of at least five small aircraft, a boat and two cars, and in the burglaries of at least 100 private residences in various locations around the Pacific Northwest of the United States and Canada. He fled to the Bahamas on July 4, 2010, allegedly in a plane stolen from Indiana. He was indicted on July 6 by a U.S. Federal Court in Seattle, Washington on charges of transporting another stolen aircraft in that state. Harris-Moore was arrested in Harbour Island, Bahamas on July 11, after police shot out the engine of the boat in which he was attempting to flee. Two days later, he was deported from Nassau, Bahamas to Miami, Florida and transferred on July 21 to SeaTac, Washington where he is awaiting trial.

DETAILS: Soft 80% cotton 20% polyester crew-neck sweatshirt with 1" double-stitched ribbed collar, double-stitched shoulder seams, and 2 3/4" ribbed sleeves and waistband in black. Runs a little big so size down (if M then buy S) for a slim fit or get your size if your feeling relaxed.

NOTE: In no way are we promoting or glorifying crime. Sweatshirts are the known uniform of thieves and this is our inspiration.

Thanks Sean Whipps for the find!

Urban Outfitters Mt. Holly Mayor Mask

get yours

Happy Birthday - Ellie Greenwich, Brill Building Songwriter Extrordinaire

Ellie would have turned 70 today. She blew up the Brill Building in the 60's writing such hits as Leader of the Pack and this monster which reportedly put Spector over the edge. Spector paid Ike $20,000 to stay away from the studio during the recording and an additional $22,000 on production, which is probably why he scrimped (with fabulous results) on this promo for the song.

Let's Trade Arrows - The Mt. Holly Mashpole Project

Be a part of The M*A*S*H Pole Project

1. Make your own arrow pointing to whatever you like - your home town, your barbershop, your favorite spot for a beer, where you hid the bodies or anything really that you can point an arrow at.

2. Send your arrow to
Mike Haeg
305 Holmes Street S
Mt. Holly, MN 55379

3. I will nail your arrow to the M*A*S*H pole pointing to your destination and add it to our map.

4. I will send you an individually numbered Mt. Holly arrow that you can nail up pointing to our little city.

For more info and to follow the progress visit The Mashpole Project

Beautiful Hands Gallery Grand Opening in Mt. Holly this Saturday, October 9th.

This Saturday as part of the Scott County Art Crawl, we are opening the Beautiful Hands Gallery in Downtown Mt. Holly. The gallery will be open from 9am - 6pm, followed by a campfire. The show will feature artists from the Greater Mt. Holly Area including:

- Morgan Hawley - Dolls and Wooden Robots
- Gary Hawley - Toys, Painting and Photography
- Autumn Haeg - Photography and Emphiria
- Isabella Zadra - Birdhouses
- Mike Haeg - Junk Guitars, Red Arrows and Mini-Mini-Comics

Plus some surprises.

Whether you are coming to the show or not, you can be a part of the show. I whipped up what I hope to be only the first batch of 100 little wooden red directional arrows that point to Mt. Holly. Each is individually numbered. If you send Mt. Holly an arrow, we will put it up on a big post and send a Mt. Holly arrow back for you to nail up wherever you choose. It's a real world mapping project which will be supported by some online stuff like a blog and, well, if I can figure it out, a map.

What can you put on your arrow? Whatever you like:

- where you live
- your favorite city
- an imaginary city
- the business you build with your own 2 hands
- your studio
- anyplace with really great donuts
- where you hid the bodies
- your band
- pretty much anything that can have an arrow pointing at it.

This project is inspired by the directional sign post from M*A*S*H*. That sign post kept a lot of those characters going. Whether the unit was under friendly fire from an American soldier delirious from a gangrenous compound leg fracture, or shivering holes through their long johns on a frigid Christmas night in Korea, Klinger, Hot Lips and the crew could look up at that sign and believe that places like Toledo actually exist . . . and feel a bit of comfort.

We'd like to share a little belief with you all who have believed in Mt. Holly all of these years. So send your arrows!

If you're coming to the show:
- bring a shirt or something to screen on and we will print a big ol' Mt. Holly arrow on it for you (printing at 4:00)
- bring some quarters for the Crap-o-Mat

The Reverse Geocache. Box only opens at one spot on Earth.

A single button on a wooden box. Press it and a digital display reads "Hello, This is attempt 1 of 50" The message is suddenly replaced by a new one: "Access Denied". A third message give the only clue as to how to open the box: "Distance 257 miles".

Despite being subjected to the old box in a box in a box birthday gag repeatedly as a kid, I love when the delivery of a present is filled with mystery. It doesn't get much more mysterious than this.

There's a great write up on the spirit of this project over at Arduino artist Mikal Hart's Arduinia Website.

Thanks @seanhaus

Congratulations, Mom! Better Luck Next Year, Dad!

Hooray! My mom took first place in the Highlander class at the 2010 Cushman Club of America meet in Sturgis this summer! I'm so proud. Dad, you better step it up next year!

Digital Photography is Dead! - New Vivitar Film Camera Commercial

Thanks to @benhedrington who caught this on late night TV IN THE PAST WEEK!

Digital cameras take good pictures. The problem is your photos end up staying on the camera, or you are forced to sit at your computer to see them.

Looks like the folks at Vivitar are squeezing the last drops of blood out of this withered industry . . . Plus, a free roll of film!

(Don't get me wrong, I still do shoot some film. However, I choose film in these instance because of the difficulty and care involved, not because it is easier or frees me up from all the cables, confusion and costly home printing.)

"Lazy is as lazy doesn't." - Haeg

Hey Lazy,

Vote up my slogan over at threadless!

Mayor now posting to Superbeast!

My Buddy, writer, bedazzled ass hunter (SFW), and music expert, Casey Brewer has finally given me a key to his unholy k-hole, the Superbeast Creative Blog. I'll be throwing him a righteous bone now and then like this:

Sage Advice From E. Bloom

SUPERBEAST!

Lamano Corporate Overlord Speaks: Sammy The Mouse Release

Zak Sally says:
hey all--
heads up here; big party/ signing at Big Brain comics here this friday: it's a pre-MIX (about which more in a second) kickoff, and the release event for 3 new books: look, that's the flyer up above:

WILL DINSKI will have his debut book (from Top Shelf) FINGERPRINTS
AARON RENIER's newest, (via First Second) THE UNSINKABLE WALKER BEAN
i'll be signing/ selling copies of the brand new third issue of SAMMY THE MOUSE (Fantagraphics/ Coconino)

Will and Aaron are great cartoonists-- i'm excited to be doing this with them (and i can't wait to see their books).

and then the next day-- Minneapolis Indie Expo, or MIX.
(details above)

this thing is shaping up to be a fantastic event. Minneapolis (being the great city that it is) has a bunch of different comics events that occur over the course of the year, be it Zine Fest or Fallcon or the Rain Taxi Book fest: i like all of em, but they all serve different...niches, somehow.
but i'll tell you: both US coasts have a sizeable "Small press" convention (SPX in Maryland, APE in San Francisco, and MoCCA in NYC). all of those are great, but where the heck is the one for the midwest? i don't want to jump the gun, but there's some significant signs that the organizers of this here thing a) have their act together and b)have put a ton of work into this thing that has already paid off; from all your local knowns and unknowns to out of town heavy hitters like Sparkplug Comic Books and Top Shelf. hell, John Porcellino's coming out for this thing, and it's only the first year.
i have every belief that this thing is going to be fantastic for Small press nerds and casual "consumers" alike.

La Mano will have a table, but unfortunately i'll only be able to be there for a limited time (due to a family wedding), but i cannot urge folks enough to get down to this thing; just go check it out.
if it's terrible you can get real mad and yell at me next time i see you, but it won't be.
terrible, that is.

Minneapolis Indie Xpo (MIX)
Sammy The Mouse #3

Mt. Holly Shirts - Free! Send me shirts an a SASE (That's Self Addressed Stamped Envelope to You Whippersnappers)

Free* . . . *send me shirts and a SASE (That's a self addressed stamped envelope to you whippersnappers)

For those of you who missed the best Mt. Holly Days ever, shirts are still available. Send shirts and return postage to:

Haeg
305 Holmes St S
Mt. Holly, Mn 55379

I'll screen batches of shirts once a month.

Be on the lookout for the real-world mapping project around these little red arrows that kicks off in October.

Check out the totally B.S. Chairman Mao / Mt. Holly hybrid that I had to screen for the LaMano overlord in the clothesline photo (above).

The Dark Side of Dr. Seuss - At the Trylon Tues. Aug 10th, 2010

As Dr, Seuss, Ted Geisel delivered a lesson with every story. Such was the case with the work that he did for internal use by the US army in World War II. Tomorrow night, you can catch a glimpse of rarely seen original prints at the Trylon Microcinema. A caveat: These films were made in different times and thank goodness we have grown beyond many of the racial streotypes portrayed in these films. (The cartoon above show's that our beloved doctor, himself also outgrew them.)

Film archivist Dennis Nyback will be on hand to present his collection and to take questions.

The Trylon Micro Cinema

"Stay Off The Internet and Learn How To Play An Instrument" - Ratso Interviews Dead Moon on Chic-A-Go-Go!

Toody & Fred Cole not only blaze the hottest rock & roll in any bar today, they are a hell of a couple. If you get a chance to watch Unknown Passage the documentary about their longest running incarnation as Dead Moon, you will see how genuinely great Fred & Toody are to eachother. It's really sweet. This clip from Chicago Public Access' great Chic-A-Go-Go is equally sweet.

Chicagogo's YouTube Channel

Handgun Bluetooth Earpiece Project

Photo by Curtis Thompson

Last week, the Open API group that I've been working with at Best Buy had a hack day. It was phenomenal. Gone were our computer screens and in their places appeared soldering irons, arduinos, robots, drawdios, LEDs, tweet-a-watts, ping pong balls, Legos and even a professional lock-picking course.

Any of you who know me well enough know that I hate talking on the telephone. I really, really, really hate it. Inspired by the Retro Wireless Handset project from Make Vol. 20, I decided to mod a Bluetooth earpiece for my phone out of a kids plastic toy gun. Now, I look forward to receiving a call from the First Lady while I'm at work. I draw the gun out of my pocket, stick the barrel in my ear (the speaker is in the business end), and pull the trigger to answer the call.

Below is a larger photo of the guts (in charging mode with the cable attached). It still needs a bit of work to flush mount the microphone and I've been debating on painting it to look like a real gun. (I get equally giddy and frightened by the panic that this could cause should someone not notice that the gun is a fake or should I accidentally take a call while at the bank.) But you can see how perfectly the trigger and switch work together on this model of toy gun.

Documentary on the Red House, Olympia WA

I almost died here back in 2001. I love this place.

1970's Film Tour of The Orange Show by visionary creator Jeff D. McKissack

Boner Cupcake taken off facebook!

Where is the love?

Read all about this travesty over at SUPERBEAST

A Robot Buys a VCR

Armenian grocer, Peter Hajinian writes the best robot-based radio dramas I've ever heard. His latest: A Robot Buys A VCR

Listen and laugh at all the episodes offer at Exorbitant Porridge.

Happy 10th Anniversary, Geocaching

On May 1st, 2000, the US Government disabled a feature within its Global Positioning System (GPS) called Selective Availability (SA).

From Wikipedia:

GPS includes a (currently disabled) feature called Selective Availability (SA) that adds intentional, time varying errors of up to 100 meters (328 ft) to the publicly available navigation signals. This was intended to deny an enemy the use of civilian GPS receivers for precision weapon guidance.

On May 3, 2000, civilian, Dave Ulmer hid a bucket of swag here and posted the coordinates on the internet, creating the first official geocache. Since then over a million caches have been hidden. The city of Mt Holly has found over 250 of them.

Disappearing for a while

Please stay in touch: Haeg / 305 holmes st. / Mt. Holly, MN 55379. Or you can follow my further endeavours at: http://lifewassomuchmoreinterestingbeforethe.blogspot.com/

Happy Again - Merrill Womach (organist, undertaker, gospel singer, burn victim)

I stumbled across Mr. Womach's records while crate-digging metro Goodwills back in the early 90's. Bought the records for the covers, still listen to them for the spirit and the undeniable set of pipes exhibited in the recordings. Had a friendly chat with Spokane's The Makers back in the day in which they charmed me with stories of recording some of their previous band's tracks at Merrill's studio, sightings of Merrill rollerskating around the city's paved trails wearing a terry cloth outfit , and the only Rolls Royce in Spokane! Enjoy!

Quintron & Miss Pussycat - The Drum Buddy Show.

Father and Son - Canned Hamm

Father and Son - Tim and Eric

My first hand-knit QR code

Want to find out the data?

1. Get a QR code scanner on your iphone or android based smart phone

2. you can use the scanner to scan the knit piece (or even this photo) and it will give you or take you immediately to the link.

3. It's totally worth it.

An uplifting horoscope today!

Boy/Girl - Sort Sol featuring Lydia Lunch from Danish TV (1984)

I was introduced to Sort Sol while living in Copenhagen back in 1987. Still own and play this 7" and the Everything That Rises Must Converge Album. A incredible band that was probably just one step away from popping up on a Giorno Poetry Systems LPs of the mid 80's. I still kick myself for not picking up the 1988 limited edition live double Lp (i think there were like 50 made or something crazy like that) that William S. Burroughs, another Sort Sol collaborator, did the liner notes for.

Back in '79, before they were known as Sort Sol they were Sods. Here's a great song about the motorcycle gang wars that raged through Copenhagen for almost two decades.

8 Natural Handstands or (Hold on for your life!)

ROBERT KINMONT
from 8 Natural Handstands 1969/2009
silver gelatin print, 8 1/2 x 8 1/2 in/ 21.5 x 21.5 cm
edition of 10. Courtesy of Alexander and Bonin

Just discovered this series over at one of my new favorite design blogs: Ready for the House. If I owned one of these, I'd be tempted to hang it upside-down. Looks like he's in a last ditch attempt to hold on to the bottom of a giant asteroid.

Cheetahs vs. Monkeys- Videos

Cheetahs Vs. Monkeys from Mike Haeg on Vimeo.

Cheetah and Monkey, destroying minds and forgetting to take names, because animals are like that. You want some C v M gear? Send your pre-washed shit and a S.A.S.E (that's a self-addressed-stamped-envelope) to:

Cheetahs vs. Monkeys Fan Club
c/o The City of Mt. Holly
305 Holmes St S.
Mt. Holly, MN 55379

We kneel at the alter of The Library Shanty, Tony Rubin, Infoshanty Eric, The Art Shanty Project and all of you salivating slaves of true rock & roll!

Never get out of the boat!

Free Cheetahs vs. Monkeys Shirts - Send your shirt & SASE

Alright, you salivating rockhounds. Your pleas for Cheetahs vs. Monkeys gear will not go unheard or unanswered! Here's the deal. Send your shirt and an SASE (that's a self-addressed stamped envelope for all you teeny-boppers) to:

Cheetahs vs. Monkeys Fan Club
c/o Haeg
305 Holmes St S
Mt. Holly, MN 55379

I will screen up a batch of shirts before March 1st, 2010 and send them back in the mail to you.

What makes a good shirt?
• 100% cotton
• Wash that shit
• Bright and light colors. Black stinks, think chartreuse or lemon yellow or electric teal.

Will also screen fabric tubetops or totes, whatever. If you can send it, I will screen it.

Here's what the design looks like:

Meet the Salesmen.

Jesus Christ, do I love movies like this one. Movies that capture, nakedly, in near Weegee-like bravado, the atmosphere of an era through voyeuristic glimpses into the actual daily life and flow of dialog of its subjects. I relish the background signage, the homemakers details, but most of all the directness of interaction that existed in pre-popculture America, (yes, this did still exist in the majority of the country in 1968). This little taste, via baseball and film aficionado, writer / journalist and Loafers Tower custodian, Peter Shilling, Jr. introduces you to the 4 main Salesmen, their methods, and the general milieu for this great documentary. A real life Glengarry Glen Ross.

More about Salesman from imdb.

Video - The Incredible San Francisco Artists' Soap Box Derby of 1975.

The Incredible San Fancisco Artists' Soapbox Derby, 1975. from Mike Haeg on Vimeo.

I stumbled across and purchased an actual print of this film back in SF while working on a project for the SF MOMA. Amanda Pope did a great job capturing the spirit of creativity and the event itself. I wonder where all of these cars are today?

2010 Art Shanty Projects Poster is also a boardgame

Well, the first batch of posters is complete and for a first time screen printing job, they turned out pretty darn good. Each poster comes complete with 'individual character', you know the slight imperfections (over-flooding, dry spots, all of those things that ensure your poster was pulled by a human and not a robot.)

Here are my photos so far.