All the cool Queer kids and their aging Punk parents showed up at the recent Plymouth Punk Rock Market, a pop-up indoor bazaar featuring 90 vendors selling everything from vintage concert T shirts and witchcraft manuals to classic Punk vinyl albums and Punk-inspired dog treats.
I was told to set up my little table — where I hoped to sell copious copies of my new book about the significance of 80’s mixtape culture — next to a vendor selling pieces of art made from found (not murdered) dead animals. It’s not easy competing with a $1,200 mason jar filled with a preserved boa constrictor, but I made do. Sold a few dozen copies of my book, gave out a lot of business cards linking to this blog, and had some wonderful conversations with some very cool moms and dads and their very cool kids.
But more importantly, I facilitated the critical transfer of knowledge from generation to generation: my table featured a hands-on interactive “save this broken cassette tape with a pencil” station. It was a clinic in best practices for manual tape-rewinding. Sure – the $1,200 snake grabbed a lot more eyeballs, but the parents who stopped to teach their children well about the art of mixtape recovery were many.
And they were all very happy to explain to their kids just how important a No. 2 pencil was to musical happiness back in the 80s.
Here are some pix from the event:
Oh, and here’s my new friend Sarah and her $1,200 snake. Her artistry is actually pretty impressive, as evidenced by her amazing Etsy site.
Love this community of people: So much diversity, support and happiness.
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