the view from street level

back now to the workaday week, with all of its demands. while my head drifts off to faraway places to gaze up at the windows of buildings that no longer exist. and i sense the wrecking ball is closing in.

greetings carbon units!

where i've been

one of my favorite things about these matchbook stories is the evidence of travel. like a detective in an old noir i feel as if i am putting pieces of a mystery together. where did this come from? how do i get there? what will i find? puzzle pieces from someone else's forgotten past...

imagination
circumnavigates our thoughts
and then returns home

(fantastic four 249 - john byrne)

a happy 8 bit valentines day from the toastrobot!

through endless battles
we soldier on under the
eyes of Creator

he held his poker
face while demon wings fluttered
all around his head

(happy chinese new year...belated)

matchbook stories 05

one of the things i really love about our new matchbook collection is this intersection of history, art and often times cartography. latest case in point is this recent discovery in our ash can of treasures. the steak block restaurant no longer exists as such. a little detective work led me to the conclusion that it now operates as a mexican eatery known as "caso robles" or oak house roughly translated.
and although i was supplied with an address on the cover of this matchbook, it did not seem to match up to anything on google maps. but as i took a closer look at the tiny illustrated map inside the cover i began to put the clues together. the alignment had changed over the years and old peralta blvd had become mowry avenue. this was confirmed by an additional sighting of a later matchbook version turned up here on ebay. and as i looked closer at the architectural details i became convinced this was the place.


and this is what i love. the mystery of this long forgotten dining locale revealed through the artist's hand on a crude map. interestingly to me as well, this little haven happens to be a block from my old neighborhood. it was there that my wife and i first settled in a little cottage and i would regularly walk right past it on late night walks with my neighbor and bosom friend. and although the laughter of the old place has faded and the conversation may have turned to espanol, i am again reminded that i am back where life was lived for me here so long ago, and is again.

we shoot the bull while
the glass between us empties
and time's strands wind down

raise a pint

time now to share one of my favorite new presents found under the Christmas tree this past year. 4 shiny new drinking glasses featuring marvel superheroes. i think my family must have known the loss of my old captain america glass and sought to replace it with some bonus companions! and i am very grateful for the gift, although i initially wondered about the criteria for this selection. most popular? biggest money maker? it certainly seems to me they might have done the distribution a little differently. perhaps a 50 year anniversary of the fantastic four for beginners? which could then be followed by a charter member avengers set in anticipation of the un-released film. and how about putting the wolverine into a set of other x-men?
but then i suppose this logic would eventually lead you into some questionable territory. i mean, i can see a world war 2 set with cap and bucky and maybe 2 more members of the old invaders group, or perhaps sarge fury and dum-dum? but if you try and group these heroes by their supporting characters, you might find yourself with thin choices. (who really wants a rick jones or thunderbolt ross glass?)
and this whole line of thought reminded me of the release of empire strikes back in 1980. back then the merchandising machine was just building up steam, and burger king won the rights to distribute special collector glasses for the film. each week a new character was featured on a collectible drinking glass available when you purchased a soft drink. our family didn't make the weekly trip to bk as some did, and so when we finally got there i was pretty excited at the chance to score one of these. i hoped for boba fett, and would have been happy with luke or the droids. but as fate would have it we ended up showing up on lando week. sorry billy dee. i sure didn't appreciate you then.
but i do appreciate these new additions to the cupboard, keeping the kitchen and kool-aid rations safe from evil doers. excelsior!

space age usa

this little collection of images is from our newly acquired matchbook collection. they feature illustrations of the apollo 11 mission into space and lunar landing. i'm not really sure of their origin. although probably not nasa approved, they were most likely produced in the afterglow of the triumphant moon landing. as i looked around a little today i saw quite a bit of other independently produced apollo 11 memorabilia commemorating this mission.


i was just a baby when the world first thrilled to this event, but it has always produced a bit of awe when i think of all the incredible effort that went into the preparation and lead up to that day in july of '69. in my minds eye i see time standing still briefly here on planet earth, as the whole world holds its breath and stares into the night sky at that great beautiful orb and wonders. and stops to look at grainy black and white images through television shop windows. and in those moments tens of millions of the dreams of children are launched as well.

if you'd like to see more images from this collection, there's a nice little lot for auction on ebay here. bon voyage space travelers.

sounds of silence

so here we are again, perched on another Christmas eve's eve. the baby's in the manger. the presents are under the tree. our hearts and minds are weary and distracted by all the madness. and have you ever listened to snow? so quiet when it falls, it seems to blanket the air. it forces us to listen. sometimes you just have to stop what you're doing and be quiet. listen...

lubiam

this matchbox is my very favorite one out of our new collection. very similiar in scale and design to the lausanne/cerino, i love the graphic design of this little packaging. the 3 color red, black and white and the bold typography. the illustration of the boy behind the lubiam "L". a little web research could not find another like it, and the "lubiam" name also a mystery. there is an italian clothing manufacturer by that name and they have been around for decades, so it is possible i suppose.
i think what i love most about these is the thought that it was someone's job to create this. that somebody got paid for their creative efforts to produce a matchbox graphic. and the fact that as so many others race around today searching for something to spend their hard earned money on, sometimes the simplest things we hold in our hands are worth the most.

"it is curious how often you humans manage to obtain that which you do not want"
-spock

swiss matches

time now to share a matchbook, or in this case a matchbox. this is one of my two favorites from our recent acquisition from grandpa. thanks grandpa! it is a beautiful little box featuring an image of the city of lausanne on one side, and on the other, a rail car descending the alps with monte cervino or as we better know it, "the matterhorn" in the background.
i stopped and stared at this one for a long time when i first picked it up. there is something that draws me in. the lausanne image reminds me of a story book place like on the french riviera where cary grant and grace kelly played in "to catch a thief". and the matterhorn picture again is so filmic, as if it too were a character or setting in another hitchcock film.
i'm also amazed at the small level of color and print detail here. it is art on a mass scale for the time, put in the hands of the masses. i imagine ordinary working folks who couldn't afford a trip to these beautiful locales who were perhaps transported here for a few moments as i was, while standing on a street corner somewhere dragging on a cigarette. in our moments of pause we may fly away here.

first you learn the notes
as play becomes internal
the rhythm is jazz

for love of the game

even as the hoops hopeful watch helplessly from the sidelines, and see an ever darkening cloud moving in to wipe out this nba season, the game goes on. it goes on in countless pick up games in church and school gyms. it goes on at outdoor recesses and in driveway games of horse, 21 and around the world. and it goes on every tuesday night for me as i step into the role of a coach for my oldest boys in our local church basketball league.

i love watching these young men and women learning how to play together. although they are right at the end of it, they are still playing with the joy and enthusiasm of children. for the love. and one day for most of them, that love will probably be gone. the intense ratcheting up of competition will force many of them out, and some of them up, although it will carry with it an increasing expectation of performance. and that pressure combined with the sole aim to win.

and these are not bad things in themselves. but when the love is shed in this trade, it is a great loss. and so as i shake my head and watch grown men dig in with the sole aim to win on their side of a labor dispute, i have to wonder what happened to the love?

the cream rises

one of the things i love about where we live now is the spontaneous urge to re-discover the familiar. a few weeks ago while entertaining my folks at our new home, we finished dinner and i realized we hadn't thought to get a dessert. "no problem" i said. "why don't we all go to fenton's?" mom clapped her hands. the kids all asked "what's fenton's?" and soon we were in the car and headed down the road to oakland. for those who still don't know, fenton's is a long standing east bay stop for some of the finest iced cream you will ever find. what a book could be written on the thousands of birthdays, first dates, after game celebrations, anniversaries and the like all shared here. in fact as we ordered and then waited patiently at the table making crayon masterpieces on our paper tablecloth, we joined in on no less than 3 rousing choruses of "happy birthday" for tables nearby. proving that the good times shared with complete strangers over ice cream is enough to momentarily satisfy our human longing for community. i guess some other folks know it too as evidenced here in the final scene of pete docter's last film "up". and now i see from our crayon box souvenir that they even have a location in the new nut tree plaza. good reason to stop the next time we travel up to sac to see our friends there too.

the artist and the man

the artist and the man are one. yet they are often divided. the man contains the artist. he nurtures him, grows and tends him. the artist needs the man. for it is from the man that he draws his inspiration. when this relationship is healthy they give and take. the man gives the artist what he needs to create. he offers him time. time to reflect and time to be free. the man and the artist may take long walks together regularly discussing the deep things that matter and searching for new ways to communicate them. the artist takes these thoughts and turns them into something new and gives it back to the man. the man is enriched and blessed by the artist's gift and seeks to reward him with more time.
but often times other things make demands of the man. he falls in love and starts a family and soon they too want more of the man's time. the man invites his artist to join in and give something back to the family as well. and at first the artist is happy to do it, but after some time he begins to pull back and grows selfish. he misses the time alone with the man and demands that he give him more time. the man is torn. he loves his artist. the two are one. but he also loves his family and is divided. the artist finds he is a second, and begins to pout. if the man will not come play with him alone he will go off and leave. perhaps never to come back.
and for a time he does just that. he leaves. at first the man misses him. he wonders if he made the wrong decision. maybe his artist was more important than his wife, his family. he grieves the loss. and after a time his mourning ends. although he aches as each day goes by and feels like a dismembered creature, he accepts the loss. he knows that he must be true to the man and his family first. time goes by. and one day the artist shows up again at his door. he is starving, hysterical and naked. he begs the man to take him back. he says he will do whatever he asks, only that the man would take care of him again. the man takes him in his arms and brings him in. he cleans and clothes him. begins to feed him slowly. and soon the grateful artist is well and healthy once more. like a prodigal son he has returned. and although he wants more and more than the man can sometimes offer, he is grateful for that which he has. and the man is grateful too. for the artist has helped to complete him and give him back that which he needs to share with those he loves.

old and new

i have been at my new gig now just over a month, although it feels greatly accelerated. although i have been hanging around this place for the last 25 years, it still feels weird to be working here. and things i hadn't ever paid attention to before, i'm now beginning to notice. so i thought i'd share some that have popped out in recent days, and give you a sense of some of the more interesting images that have stopped me in my tracks these past weeks. (above, vintage motor oil cans sitting on top of an also vintage snap-on box)

(a leftover hubcap from joe's now gone, ten year 41' plymouth convertible project)


(nice typography layout on a floorwax bottle?)


(where the men go)


(where the women go, which is always nicer)