swampratphotography gets a makeover and other etsy things

a couple things on the etsy front.

first up, i did an interview about selling vintage 80s stuff in the blog scrivener's retreat. natalie was nice enough to feature FRENZY! and ask me a few questions about being an 80s kid. please check out her blog to see the interview, or go take a look at her shop if you like cute handmade animal toys (i love that she has a section called "meat toys" hahaha -- my cats would love to chew on a stuffed chicken leg!).

i also had my runaways "cherry bomb" tote bag featured in this pretty little cherry treasury by sunflowerexpress. neat-o!

i made a new treasury of my own inspired by my fascination of serial killers...nothing surprising there, huh?

madman on the loose

and finally, swampratphotography got a makeover the other day. here is the explanation i posted on the facebook page:

swamp rat photography is nearing its one year anniversary on etsy and to date we have only had a handful of sales. i decided it was time to try something different, so the shop got a little facelift today.

prints from the shop are now $10, instead of $15.
the listings are also for prints ONLY, and no longer come matted & framed.
(you still have the option to order them this way, but it will cost extra)
shipping was just too high to be packaging the frames properly, and i think this was scaring some people away.

shipping costs are now a much more manageable price, so hopefully this will encourage potential buyers to order a print and pick out a mat/frame on their own without the added cost of having one pre-selected and shipped.


i also revised the way photos were appearing on etsy itself. because i am not personally a fan of watermarks, i took off the large "swamp rat" text across the image. maybe this will help people who may be considering including a swamp rat photo in a treasury, because there won't be this big ugly text across the middle of the image. i, for one, prefer treasury photos to be clear and unobstructed. i am going to have to put my faith in humanity with this one and hope that i don't regret it later. there's nothing worse than accidentally stumbling upon your work without the proper credit given (or worse yet, when someone has stolen it and given credit to themselves).


i also added several new images to the shop today, including some live rock'n'roll shots and some summertime favorites.

i hope these changes make everyone happier in the end! if you have any questions, don't hesitate to let me know.

xoxo erin
swamp rat photography
http://www.etsy.com/shop/swampratphotography



here are some of the new prints that were added this week:

rat fink:


andre "mr. rhythm" williams:


joe buck yourself:


troll bridge:


carnival at night:


candied apples:


charlie's doghouse diner:


and back in stock is everyone's favorite half-man, half-rabbit NOBUNNY:

c'mon baby let the good times roll

things have been pretty good over at hotel hot trash. last friday josh and i hit up one of the best vintage stores in town, flower child. i just know some of my blog buddies would DIE if they got to see this place! (ben and valerie, i'm lookin at you!)
i bought some record totes, including my first 33 rpm box. I AM SO OBSESSED WITH VINTAGE RECORD TOTES! look for an "inside hotel hot trash" post coming soon with photos of my platter pak collection.

saturday josh and i did what we do best: went junkin. this time we scored so big i'm STILL on a junkin high. feast your eyes on THIS:

first up is this cute little piggy ketchup bottle (.50). it says "ketchup..squeeze me!" how could i resist?



next up, hands down the coolest back scratcher in all the world. you might recall that i posted not that long ago how josh and i had been looking for one and then we found the naked lady scratcher at a flea market. now we've gone from zero scratchers to TWO awesome ones in no time. who wouldn't want a back scratcher made from an alligator foot?!? it's horrifying! it's awesome! at first i thought this might be a turtle foot but i'm gonna have to agree with josh on this one that it's more like an alligator or crocodile. this cost $5, which i GLADLY would have paid, but josh insisted on splitting it because he didn't want me to have sole bragging rights and now he can say it's half his.







i've always wanted one of these guys, and this time it was my lucky day. usually they aren't cheap and don't even have all their clothes, so i got a real deal ($6). i decided to name him brian because he looks like he should be in the beach boys. i also like to tease josh because this guy has better sideburns than him (poor josh has been trying to grow them FOREVER and his babyface just won't allow it!)







this lonely guy needed a home. he is filthy and dirty and not in the best of shape. the price tag said five dollars and i was debating on whether or not i should do it. just then the junkin gods smiled down on me for being nice enough to take him out of this miserable existence and put him high on a shelf with other old and furry friends -- who was i to refuse when the lady offered him up for $1? oh goodness! you bet!



when josh saw me posing him in the window like this, he told me, "you're gay!"



but what's gay is what this monkey looks like if i DON'T pose him holding on to something:



i got this church sermon record, which anyone in their right mind would buy for $1.



the guy who sold it to me laughed and exclaimed, "ain't nuthin wrong with that! EVERYBODY need a little love sometimes!"

i also bought a bunch of 45s off the same guy and his buddy, who were two awesome old black guys that reminded me of sanford and son. they were cool enough to let me and josh dig through their van which was full of crates and crates of records. got some amazing old blues/r&b/soul, one of which is THIS gem!



on sunday nite i dj'ed a show with COREY FELDMAN. i'm waiting for my friend to email me a picture we took with him, so i'll just wait and post all the pictures i have together. all in all, an amazing weekend!


here are a couple random things to end this post that i forgot to post earlier.

josh and i went to see wanda jackson last week. i couldn't get any pictures of her playing because the club was dark and there were chairs set up, so i couldn't go stand in front of the stage. i did take a photo with her, and get a signed promo photo from her (she signed it, "love ya! wanda jackson" -- how cute!). she still sounds exactly the same...plus, she's a total babe! i mean, she dated elvis, after all ; )







my aunt posted this photo on facebook the other day. i had never seen it before. that's my cousin beth on the left, my mom in the middle, and me on the right.

c'mon, summer!

i'm ready for ya!
here is a list of things that makes me nostalgic for summer all year long, and makes it feel REAL once it finally gets here!

1. burgers on the grill!


(photo via flickr by willieabrams)

2. this song (and entire album) by green day!



3. this book!



4. this movie!



5. hot rods!


(photo via flickr by coconv)

6. doo wop music!



7. lemonade...the sugary, carnival kind! :)


(photo via flickr by lostvestige)

CALL FOR VENDORS!

i've got something exciting up my sleeve. i'm helping to plan and execute a big summer party at my regular hangout and it's gonna feature burgers, records and bands...SCORE! i present to you:


HOT FUN IN THE SUMMERTIME RECORD SWAP/FLEA MARKET featuring POPPETS (sweden!) and THE SWEET SIXTEENS!

this is going to be an afternoon show on the back patio of now that's class. it is gonna be on sunday, july 11th and go from 1pm-8pm. bands playing will be my good friends THE SWEET SIXTEENS from indiana, and rock'n'roll's cutest couple POPPETS all the way from sweden!





we will also be having a BBQ in the back parking lot of the bar, as well as a record swap/flea market set up indoors and out. anyone who is interested in setting up a table at this is welcome to no matter what you want to sell, just drop me a line on facebook or at brainstew3@aol.com. if you're in the cleveland area this is a cool way to hang out and get some exposure (and hopefully make a little money!). and if you're just outside of cleveland, well, this is a sunday and it will be ending early because there is another show happening at the bar that nite, so you can totally take a little roadtrip and be back at home at a respectable hour!

anybody wanna come sell some records? books? arts & crafts? whatever it is, you should bring it! we're asking for a small vendor fee ($5 measly bucks) to set up and all the money is going directly to the bands. this is a free show, but donations are encouraged.

SO...hot fun in the summertime 2010, who's in?!?

here is a link to the facebook invitation: hot fun in the summertime!

p.s. speaking of records, if anyone is into punk/rockabilly josh and i have a few things up on ebay right now. this includes some autographed shit as well as a french pressing of robert gordon! and a couple brand new elvis purses...

"i'm EVERYTHING you EVER were afraid of!" -pennywise the clown

stephen king's IT is by far my most favorite movie AND book in the world. i can remember watching it for the first time when i was about 12 years old at my cousins beth and amy's house and there was just something about it that i fell in love with. i never remember being afraid of it -- in fact, i think we always laughed at it more than anything because we thought pennywise the clown had quite the sense of humor and we wished we were friends with all the kids in the first part.





when i read the book shortly after seeing the movie (all 1,093 pages of it!) my obsession became even more intense. i felt like i knew these characters and i really wanted to be friends with them! beth and i began a tradition of reading the book every summer (or trying to at least...sometimes it's more like every other) and we still do it to this day. to us it feels like summer is the only time to do it, i guess because what happens in the book takes place in the summer and that's our way of relating to our "friends." or maybe it's just because it reminds us of when we were younger and would have sleepovers during summer vacation, staying up late to watch our favorite movie. i really like the casting for this movie and i've grown so attached to these characters that i realize it's downright silly, but i can't help it! have you ever felt attached to made-up characters from a book or movie?




in more recent years i have realized that i have this obsession with books and movies that feature groups of kids/teenagers in the fifties. i think this must have been me in another life...or at the very least, it's what i WISH i could have been! i love plots that tell the story of a group of young friends and the bond they have, specifically in the 1950s/60s. that's probably weird, but i can't really explain this. besides "it," some of my other favorite movies are "stand by me," "liberty heights" and "this boy's life" if that helps you understand what sort of genre i'm talking about.

because summer is right around the corner, i've been thinking of my "friends" lately and i can't wait to pull out the book again. i didn't manage to read it last summer, but i did make josh watch the movie with me. this also inspired me to create an "IT"-themed treasury on etsy the other day:

the losers club

this was by far the hardest treasury i've done yet, but also one of the most satisfying and close to my heart! (the thing that delights me the most is the stream photo i found and how it looks almost IDENTICAL to the place in the barrens where the kids used to play! it looks so simliar its creepy, really.) people that are familiar with the movie/book will probably see where i was going with this one...and those that aren't should really take my advice and get acquainted! 

HORRIBLEFEST 5!

***WARNING: SOME OF THIS CONTENT IS NOT SAFE FOR WORK, SMALL CHILDREN, OR DELICATE FLOWERS! IF SWEARS, EXPOSED FLESH, SONGS ABOUT DIARRHEA, OR FAKE BODY PARTS OFFEND YOU I SUGGEST YOU NAVIGATE AWAY FROM THIS PAGE RIGHT ABOUT NOW!***
note: all photo/video in this post was taken by me and may not be used without permission/credit

boy am i glad its over. don't get me wrong -- i had fun hanging with friends, making new ones, and seeing awesome bands. i even had fun watching all the chaos that is bound to happen at horriblefest unfold before my very eyes. what i did not like was watching people get so drunk that they ruined other people's time, and accidentally getting thrown into the chaos instead of just watching from a safe distance. i saw one kid get his front tooth knocked out during a tiny apartment show. i saw a girl give the lead singer of the southside stranglers a bloody nose AND a wedgie. i saw naked guys, fat guys in diapers, broken EVERYTHING, bikes flying through the air, and a band covered in glitter that apparently included peeing in a cup and throwing it on the audience as a part of their set (luckily i missed that). TOTAL MADNESS!!! such is horriblefest, i guess.

i know if i give a detailed description of each day this post will end up being TOO LONG, so i'll just post some highlights and let you draw your own conclusions.

THURSDAY:


[femsickliver]


[josh & russ romance]


[mcshitz]


[the mahonies]


[shat]


[shat]


[shat]


[shat]


[yes, that is a diaper taped to the wall - thanks, shat!]


FRIDAY


[mr. california live from the dumpster]


[mr. california live from the dumpster]


[birds of maya]


[this was all i saw of cock esp before a band member covered in glitter jumped right on top of my head -- thanks, ass]


[homostupids]


[homostupids]


[timmy's organism]



SATURDAY


[savage pinkos]


[savage pinkos]


[fascist beauties]


[causeheads]


[russ romance samples grady's wings!]


[the infamous tony bitch from the ladies]


[unholy two]


[liquor store]


[southside stranglers]


[southside stranglers]


[following a trail like this...]


[...can only lead to trouble...]


[OH, HAI BOYZ!]


[sheesh. cleveland enjoys the hot tub we rented. we're classy like that.]


this is not nearly all the bands that played over the weekend, just the ones i managed to capture on film. here are a few videos as well. thanks to all the bands who played, all the people who came out, and everyone who helped out during the fest to make everything run as smoothly as it did.