in London, the shop clerk looks at my Dutty Artz t-shirt and says: “where’d you get that?”
me: “I made it. This is my label. We hired someone in the States to make them.”
him: “Oh, OK. Well I just wanna make one shirt – for me. it’s gonna say: IF YOU’VE GOT A PROBLEM WITH ME, I DON’T CARE, BECAUSE THAT’S YOUR PROBLEM.”
He says it drained of all emotion, like he’s reading a grocery list. I’m startled and look at him to make sure it isn’t some kind of joke. It isn’t. I am in Britain.
I say “OK”.
He says “would you like a bag with that?”
I say “yes, thanks.”
+ +
click on this if you want a t-shirt (or our music!), we have some left:
AwTaFrAf mostly hangs out in sub-Saharan Africa, so when he heads north, I’m happy. Cassette from Berber country! with extra helpings of reverb and echo underneath that.
[audio:Oudaden_Track_05.mp3]
You in London? Love the tee and the track. Great stuff.
Hi Jace! I’ve been reading the blog and loving your work for a long time- just wanted to drop you a line to let you know that I thought out-loud a bit about your recent Uproot video over in my own recent and quiet corner of the meme-cloud, secondnature.posterous.com – in case you have any interest. Keep up the incredible work!
-Isaac
What shop?! These days some places are better than others (but you know this, right) – e.g. Phonica and Sounds of the Universe have pretty regular people in them. But yes, record shops often do bring out the worst in our emotionally repressed, autistic Englishness I’m afraid!
a WH Smith in London Bridge train station!!