Journal of Provincial Thought Personals

The Journal of Provincial Thought

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This service of jpt is 100% bona fide, for real, no-jive, straight up, for true. We provide here recommendations of products and services from beyond the fringe—stuff, ideas and intriguing concepts that should captivate jpt readers, with their vaunted sophistication, ennui and general cogniscentism. No payment has been made for the opinions expressed. Feel free to send us your own favorite ideas for recommendations. Who knows, they might be useful!

If you want a cosmic travel experience without budging from your armchair and TV, track down a copy of Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations (1995), a marvelous 10-tape (10-hour) VHS journey with a zany crew of art historians and cultural commentators (Randy Mason, Michael Murphy and Don the Camera Guy) round the heart of America to sites of “primitive art,” “outsider art” or whatever it’s called today—fantastic buildings, sculpture, artifacts built by down-home folk and featuring interviews with many of the makers. You haven’t really lived until you’ve seen Evermore, for example, a giant one-man sculpture park across the road from the old Badger Ammunition Works outside Baraboo, Wisconsin. Originally issued by KCPT Public Televison 19 (Kansas City).

Interested in unique American music by a self-taught genius, friend of Bix Beiderbecke and man with a name like a suburban street? Then you’re seeking Eastwood Lane, a quirky maestro of Piano Deco, jazz-inflected music of the 1920s, as played and recorded superbly by a modern piano master, Mike Polad. Lane’s sweet and hot music echoes the Jazz Age but also hints at the bucolic splendors of upper New York State. It was danced to by the greatest ballet explorers of the day (Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, in fact) and applauded by all the era’s cultural heroes, including members of the Algonquin Round Table. Available on three sumptuous CDs—works by Lane and many of his contemporaries. Enquire at mpolad@notecloud.com

Books in the middle of nowhere: should you be in or near Bayfield, Wisconsin, one of the great small towns of America, on the southern shore of Lake Superior opposite the enchanting Apostle Islands and surrounded by glorious views everywhere, make a 15-mile jaunt south to the other tiny town of Washburn, stop opposite a wonderful old bank building (now a super fabric store and art galley) and trot into Chequamegon Books, whose fabled biblio-hoard is wondrous, especially the jazz books, modern fiction, children’s books and works on food and cooking. The texts are cheap and nutritious, as are snacks and coffee for hard-core browsers. Contact peruse@chequamegon.com

Wanna peel fruit or other soft foods without making a big mess? Try the Zyliss Soft Skin Peeler, one of the few gadgets we’ve seen that does exactly what it’s supposed to do. It’s handy to use, inexpensive and works like a charm to peel peaches, tomatoes, ginger and other delicate foodstuffs. It may look like a garden-variety potato peeler, but it is specially designed by those canny Swiss to do what it does, is ergonomic and pleasant to look at. What more do you want with your fresh produce? Check out www.zyliss.com

For kartoon-nutz: if you don’t know the work of Ben Katchor, you need to, for he is to supposedly sophisticated “graphic novelists” as Rembrandt is to. . . to . . . to bad drawers. He writes amazingly esoteric and archaic stories (nostalgia squared) like Proust on madelaines and draws obsessively detailed scenes in an excellent ink-washed style. His work has appeared in many magazines and newspapers over the last 15 years. See his tales of feckless city-walker Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer (Cheap Novelties, 1991, Stories, 1996, The Beauty Supply District, 2003) or his bizarrely intricate history of the early republic in The Jew of New York, 1998.

If fascinated by old-time radio, you must obtain and digest as much as possible of the fabled Vic and Sade, the longest-running “soap opera” (really a zany family comedy) written by certified genius Paul Rhymer, on air 1932-45. It featured a quartet of voices and retailed gem-like stories of a small Illinois town, foreshadowing Jean Shepherd’s wonderful fictions. Rhymer’s tiny dramas are as surreal, finely etched and unforgettable as the incomparable Krazy Kat comic strips. Cassette tapes available from Radio Spirits Inc., PO Box 2141 Schiller Park, IL 60176.

Or if early TV is your thing, you need to have the remastered and brilliantly packaged DVDs of the fabled SCTV comedy show of the early 1980s. A worthy rival and parallel to Saturday Night Live, the program often outshone its New York rival (SCTV came out of Toronto, coded on the show as “Melonville,” site of an eccentric station run by one Guy Callabero and staffed by an incompetent but endearing staff, played by John Candy, Dave Thomas, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Catherine O’Hara, Rick Moranis and Martin Short. Three volumes by Shout Factory, each with nine 90-minute shows plus many auxiliary features—superb interviews, documentaries, out-takes, etc. Shout Factory SCTV, Vols. 1, 2, 3. See www.shoutfactory.com

Should you want hip guidance through the jungles of American modern vernacular, a small company called Knock Knock produces decks of flash cards that will teach you the languages of the young and strange. Good for communicating with kith and kin or just navigating through the buzz on street and subway. You’ll find Dey da bomb, man! Find these folks at www.knockknock.biz, or contact sales @knockknock.biz.

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