I was looking for something and poking around in our archives (or perhaps I should say “archives” since it’s really just boxes, shelves and file cabinets bursting with ephemera) and fell upon some real fun stuff. Quimby’s has such a rich legacy of weirdness and a lot of folks have come through here, either as employees, consignors, shoppers, event performers or friends. Here’s a few choice things I pulled for you today.
Shoplifters will be damned to hell. Who made this sign? Shappy? (RIP, good man.)
Mini-comics BFFS It’s designer and musician Paul Koob (on the left) when he was in the thick of his Hamster Man days and director/illustrator/designer Arthur Jones who similarly sold his comics 900 Lb Gorilla and Magic Pants here. 2002, baby!
Two experimental writers On the left is Shelley Jackson in the days of her tattoo short story project called Skin Project where people would get words to get tattooed on their skin and all the participants’ tattoos added up to a short story, around 2003. She was one of the first writers to really embrace hyperlinks as storytelling, which she did in her 1995 book Patchwork Girl. On the right is writer, Small Beer Press/Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet co-editor/Book Moon Bookstore co-owner, and MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipient Kelly Link. Her newest novel The Book of Love is awesome. I think this photo was roughly 2003-ish.
When I found this picture of Billy McCall and texted him with it, the main thing he had to say about it is how amusing the Goldfinger shirt is. Former manager of Uncle Fun, editor of Behind the Zines Distro, writer of Chicago Joe and the Ancient Pages, zinester extraordinaire and so many other things, we miss the fact that he left Chicago. He now resides in Albuquerque. This picture is probably 2004 maybe? He had just started running his Chicago-based mail order Loop Distro.
2005: When We Printed Out Articles Ahahahahaha this is hilarious to me! We got a mention in the Trib because they talked about Zisk editd by Mike Falloon, Mike Fournier & friends. And they have a yahoo address! This is the greatest thing ever. I apparently have grandparent tendencies if I was printing out articles. Well, long live paper, may bit rot rest in peace.
xoxo
