Jonny Numb

I know it’s February, but I hope everybody reading this – because you’re the truly Special Ones – had a safe and happy holiday surrounded by friends, family, or both (or if you lead a solitary existence and like to celebrate that way, more power to you!).

Or if you just have a cat or dog and celebrated with them, that’s great, too!

December always presents a challenge of working out logistics, getting gifts in time, and having everything ready by the time Christmas proper rolls around.

None of this is helped by the myriad distractions on display, which often lead me to acquire more things for myself than others (a problem I’ve had ever since selling my soul to a full-time job).

Just so we’re clear – this isn’t an account of the presents I found under the tree on Christmas Morn, but the things I wound up picking up for myself while I was out looking for gifts for other people…or during the uneventful post-Christmas, pre-New Year’s dead zone.

In any case: on December 2, Miss Ruth’s Time Bomb put on one of my favorite seasonal vendor events, The Market of Curiosities (MoC for short), at the Carlisle Expo Center. The 2023 edition saw me and my partner bringing her family along to check it out. Always a good time, and led to some nifty acquisitions from the talented artisans manning the booths.

The below cat-on-pumpkin painted woodcut is from the amazing Lawrence’s Emporium out of Hellam, PA. He was also there in 2022, and I remembered complimenting his talent but ultimately not buying anything. In any case, this one-of-a-kind piece is now hanging in the office sanctum where I’m typing this post.

The other noteworthy original I acquired was from Murphy’s Curious Goods. There was a small fake Christmas Tree with an assortment of creative pop-culture ornaments and, well…I couldn’t leave without adding some Rod Serling to my own small fake tree at home. (Yes, that’s an actual blinking doll’s-eye superglued to the ornament. Pretty cool!)

The booth also had cool homemade magnets (I got one with the original Die Hard poster art) and some very funny novelty postcards (one of which I picked up for my pal Lizard).

I also picked up some amusing Krampus stickers at Blood Rose‘s booth.

There are always so many neat things happening at the MoC, to the point where it’s an exercise in futility to list them all. Me and my S.O. have an annual tradition of getting goofy photos taken at Shesophoto’s booth, and this year presented the challenge of fitting 5 additional people in the shot (which, after some strategic positioning, worked like a charm).

Also, there is a faux “photo booth” run by the Carlisle Arts Learning Center where art-inclined kids get the opportunity to practice their drawing skills. You simply give your name and tell the kids what you’d like them to draw, and you return later to pick up your “photo” after its been created. This booth doesn’t charge anything, but does accept donations toward animal-rescue-related causes.

My request? “Holding a cat in the afterlife.”

Angel kitty! Forgive the quality of my photo – my phone is charging so I used the pixelated piece of junk built into my laptop. It looks much better in person!

After leaving the MoC, we made our way to the Carlisle Antique Mall, which I’d been to only once before. The large, multi-level structure on Hanover Street has a wide variety of items for sale, but I made tracks for the 2nd floor, which contains a flourishing midsection comprised of vinyl, CDs, and music memorabilia. Per the usual, I got wrapped up in the frankly overwhelming CD section, and walked out with a healthy stack of familiar artists and blind buys.

In mid-December, I was fortunate enough to meet up with my brother and hit a few spots that I’m particularly fond of in York, PA: Iko’s Music Trade and American Daydream Antiques.

I did find a gift for my partner at the latter, but ultimately picked up a small stack of stuff from Atomic Home Video‘s booth.

Insofar as the post-holiday exhale between Christmas and New Year’s is concerned, I took advantage of a generous half-day of work on December 29 to visit two of my favorite record stores: Record Connection and Extremities Entertainment.

I went into both shops with a list of things I was looking for, and, per the usual, wound up walking out with a bunch of unexpected acquisitions (see my experience at the Carlisle Antique Mall, above). Yes, one day I will be found buried under a collapsed stack of movies and music I never got around to watching/listening to!

Until next time, fellow scavengers…