Man, what an amazing day. A good, full day. New friends, looks “behind the scenes” into realms that fascinate me to no end, laughs, good chow and a clean, comfy hotel room to come home to.

I got up, proudly enjoyed a somewhat of a unhealthy breakfast at the Waffle House just down the street and shot downtown to meet American Sign Museum Tod at his office downtown. He invited me down to see his signmaking library, get a tour of the Sign of the Times warehouse and talk signs a bit. He allowed me to grab some books, make photocopies of selected pages upstairs in the magazine offices. So good. Thanks again for the tips, leads and hospitality. Tod even went as far to call a couple colleagues in St. Louis to tell them I was coming over to check out the town. Wow.

291. “Sign of the Times Inner Sanctum Tour, no.01”
292. “Sign of the Times Inner Sanctum Tour, no.02”
293. “Sign of the Times Inner Sanctum Tour, no.03”
294. “Sign of the Times Inner Sanctum Tour, no.04”
295. “Sign of the Times Inner Sanctum Tour, no.05”
296. “Sign of the Times Inner Sanctum Tour, no.06”
297. “Sign of the Times Inner Sanctum Tour, no.06”
298. “Sign of the Times Inner Sanctum Tour, no.07”
299. “Sign of the Times Inner Sanctum Tour, no.08”
300. “Sign of the Times Inner Sanctum Tour, no.09”
301. “Sign of the Times Inner Sanctum Tour, no.10”
302. “Sign of the Times Inner Sanctum Tour, no.11”
303. “Sign of the Times Inner Sanctum Tour, no.12”

After having my mind completely blown with Tod’s signage techniques library, I cruised a couple blocks over and found “Pete Rose Way” and Chris Glass, of the “worth checking out daily” ChrisGlass.com. From the first visit to his site, I knew I had to meet this guy. Just, simply put, the kind of “good people” ya gotta know.

So that’s what I did. I met him down at the WOXY.com studio radio offices, which, sadly, was broadcasting one last time, due to things “not quite working out” business-wise for the station. Not that they did a bad job. No way. Every time I have tuned in, the selections have been right up my alley. Chris designed their website and handled photographic duties of visiting band sessions.

I got to meet all the DJs, tour the studio and ask tons of questions like, “How the hell do you find time to ‘get into a new band’ when you basically have access to everything out there?” There were stacks and stack of discs everywhere and a wall of discs that just took the wind out of my sails. So awesome. DJ “Shiv” had great answers. A musical encyclopedia, he offered up a couple tidbits of wisdom about the age of iTunes and the art of storing media. So awesome.

I have to say, I felt a little odd watching this spirited group have to say goodbye on air. It was kinda sad in a “fly on the wall” kinda way. Good work, folks, good work. Good rock-n-roll spirit.

304. “WOXY.com, “On Air” one last time.”
305. “Tom and Chris, hammering away.”
306. “Wall-to-wall discs.”
307. “Can’t get enough of this sorta stuff.”
308. “The WOXY.com cockpit.”
309. “Stacks and stacks of juicy stuff.”

We went out for a dinner at this converted diner/swank joint called, “Vinyl.” Communal plates of food, passed around. Good stuff. On the menu for supper: Little mini falafel burgers, mini burgers, shrimp, fondue, ribs and some sort of naughty chocolate desert. Yum. A good time was had by all.

310. “Vinyl.”
311. “Little falafel burgers.”

Winding, calm, murky Ohio Rivers of appreciation are in order for the following folks: Tod Swormstedt for opening up his sign world to me. You are a king. To Mr. Chris Glass for guiding me in safely, welcoming me into his group of friends and being all-around great in the web world and, of course, in real, breathing life too. To Tom for good conversation, Guided By Voices insights and farm talk. To Shiv for making me laugh wayyy out loud with quotes like, “I don’t have to smell them to know they are old.” (in reference to old fogies…) and other unmentionables. Nice, nice people, across the boards. Thanks for everything.

I rounded out the long day with a good fireside chat with one Brad Scheuffle about the finer points of our impending Coal Headwear web site launches. Pins and needles, you fuckers, pins and needles.