2007 Slingshot Organizers Are In!

So come and get them. We have both the traditional pocket size and the wirebound desk calendar in a rainbow of colors. AND, this year, the large sized organizers are even laminated!

Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

In the spirit of reducing, reusing, and recycling, Feed Your Head is hosting several events over the next couple of months aimed at providing a higher environmental consciousness.

The first is an art supply swap scheduled for Saturday, November 4, from 2-4. Instead of letting those brushes you bought last summer and never used rot in the closet, how about trading them for some ceramic tiles that someone else has left over from a project?? A great way to get yourself some new materials and clean out the stuff you'll never use. Any left over supplies will be donated to Raw Art Works in Lynn.

Next up, we have a clothing swap, which will be held on Sunday, November 12, from 3-6. If you want to get a new wardrobe and help others in need, then this event is for you! For every 5 pieces of clothing you donate to the swap, you'll get to choose 2. At the end of the swap, all the excess clothing will be donated to the Salem Mission's Second Chance Thrift Shop, which not only sells items to provide financing for the expansion of programs and services, but provides work experience to trainees enrolled in their job training program. So if you're looking to spend a few hours chilling out, trying out a new look, and also donating to charity, come check it out. Additionally, all in-stock clothing items will be 10% off.

And, last but not least, we're going to be having an art show in December/January entitled Recycle and Reuse: The Art and Craft of the Repurposed. The aim of this project is two-fold: to educate the public about recycling and conserving resources and to inspire artists to think outside the box and be creative with their materials. All forms of art and craft will be accepted; the only guideline is that the work must in some way incorporate recycled materials--this can range as broad as transforming the original purpose of an item to incorporating found materials into artwork. Proposals or examples of work must be submitted to me at randie@feedyourheadbooks.com by November 5, 2006. The opening of the show will be December 9, which will coincide with the first ever Salem Open Studios.

"Who Is Bozo Texino?: The Secret History of Hobo Graffiti" (Screening)

Who Is Bozo Texino: The Secret History of Hobo Graffiti
Screening Followed by A Discussion with the Director
Tuesday, October 17, 7 pm
$5 Donation Requested

Come join us at Feed Your Head Books next Tuesday, October 17, at 7 pm for a truly unique film screening. Freight rider and van tramp, Bill Daniel will be stopping by for a screening of his 16-years-in-the-making, documentary, Who Is Bozo Texino?: The Secret History of Hobo Graffiti. This gritty black and white travelogue—shot entirely on film, primarily aboard speeding freight trains—tells the mostly factual account of the epic quest and unlikely discovery of railroading's most mysterious artist, Bozo Texino.

Daniel, who began the project by taking still photographs in 1983 before switching to Super 8 says, "When I first started seeing the graffiti on the trains—the monikers, the hobo stuff—I flipped out. It was an instant obsession. I'd just come back from New York, where I'd shot a bunch of Polaroids of graffiti in the street. I was really psyched for graffiti, politically and aesthetically, so when I saw the stuff on the trains, it was a real revelation." A revelation that led to a traveling man's two-decade odyssey, a trek covering 14 states. In 1987, Daniel and his trusty Bolex camera began hanging out in hobo jungles and riding freight trains across the West, looking for clues to the identity of a strange boxcar graffito. While gathering interviews and discovering clues to the identities of many of the most legendary boxcar artists, Daniel discovered a vast underground folkloric practice that has existed with little notice for over a century. Today these drawings live on as a new breed of hobos have taken to the rails and kept the tradition of moniker chalking alive. This art form provides unlikely common ground between mostly conservative rail workers and old school tramps and the kids whose approach includes spray cans and punk lifestyles.

For more information, please contact Randie at randie@feedyourheadbooks.com or 978-744-4009 or visit www.billdaniel.net.

A Crazy Man's Utopia

or a collage exhibit by Matthew Theodhos. Whichever you choose to call it, Matthew's show is now on display at the store. Everyone who's come in during the past week has oohed and aahed over and you should too, so come check it out at the opening this Saturday, October 14, from 4 - 6 pm, or any time during the month of October.

Thieves Jargon Takes Salem by Storm!--Don't Miss It!

They're raw, they're edgy, they're weird, and they're some of the most talented writers currently on the local underground scene.... Join them on Saturday, October 7th as they take the city of Salem by storm. Matt DiGangi, editor and publisher of the North Shore-based web journal and publisher Thieves Jargon (www.thievesjargon.com), will be in attendance with a colorful cast of contributors from the journal for a day filled with fiction and poetry.

You can either catch them here at Feed Your Head Books at 4 pm or at Cornerstone Books at 7 pm.

And, if it's any added incentive to get you to come check out some great writing, Salem Access Television will be on hand to tape both events.