Ephemera: Me & The Dead Kennedys
A lesson in objects
The things you own end up owning you.
Just out of college I bought this fake fireplace, mostly because people referred to it as “the Dead Kennedys fireplace.” Legend had it that this Fiberglas “field stone” thing had once graced the grotty space where the famous punk band rehearsed. The “fire” is a crackling rotating brush and a red light. The mantle is hinged along the back. It lifts to reveal storage space inside.
By 1992 the fireplace was out of my life. Given away, I think. But Fiberglas is forever. Today I found it for sale in a resale shop. In good writing, as in Portland, no object is ever entirely lost.1 It returns again and again. Perhaps the fireplace will now be known as the “Dead Kennedy and Chuck Palahniuk fireplace.” If you’re interested, as of this writing it’s $125 at the Village Merchants, on the back patio.
It has no curse on it. You can become part of its legend.
Sorrow floats.
There were 5 items that my father carried with him from his old life with my Mom after they divorced. I watched them all be auctioned away online after his death to various people. Things he stole from family members and denied—- a wooden cow’s head that I remembered really stood out. I showed Mom the photo and she told me how she bought that with her own money when they honeymooned in Niagara Falls— she was pregnant with me at the time in ‘73. It was strange how he kept it from our first home—- 35 some years later—- how it traveled to Indiana and now— who knows. I think I’ve had the most difficult time with seeing this secretive man’s life exposed—- for anyone to see—- even down to his shoes and bathroom items— a whole lot that was just a junk drawer—- these are the last memories of him I have— all the money went to a church, claiming he had no children. His house also went to auction on August 11th. That’s the end. I’m so curious about the new life they will have and pissed off about it too. There’s no resolution.
It’s your thru line object returned!