I ONCE WAS LOST, BUT NOW I'M FOUND
A Conversation with Davy Rothbart
By Edward Burch
www.foundmagazine.com
I first came upon Found magazine's debut issue a few
years ago at Left Bank Books in St. Louis. After a few minutes
of thumbing through it I was hooked, but then how could I not
be? With my friends, I had shared a fascination for various
sorts of found ephemera for years. Cataloged in the pages of
this publications were discarded photographs, to-do lists, letters,
love notes--some hilarious, some heartbreaking, some both at
the same time, yet all resonating with a human connection. As
opposed to, say, the Readings section of Harper's magazine,
which compiles interesting "found" tidbits and annotates
them with source and contextual information, the authors and
origins of Found's material are unknown; it is up to
the reader to fill in the missing details. It is likely that
element of mystery which makes them so captivating and engaging.
Aside from being a documentary filmmaker, a contributor to
NPR's This American Life, and the author of The Lone
Surfer of Montana, Kansas, Davy Rothbart is the creator
of Found magazine. After waking up one morning to find
a note on the windshield of his car that read:
"Mario, I
fucking hate you. You said you had to work then whys your car
HERE at HER place?? You're a fucking LIAR. I hate you I fucking
hate you. Amber P.S. Page me later."
Rothbart felt compelled
to create a forum where people could share their found items.
Thus, Found magazine was born. To date, three issues
of Found have gone to press as well as a book-length
compilation published by Fireside entitled FOUND: The Best
Lost, Tossed, and Forgotten Items from Around the World
(252 pages; $14.94 Paperbound). Currently, Davy Rothbath is
in the midst of a 50-state, 126-city tour bringing Found
to the people. I caught up with Davy outside of New Haven, Connecticut,
after an unusually trying morning. You might say that he himself had
been "found."
EB: Nice to hear from you Davy. So how are things going?
DR: Pretty good. Kind of a crazy morning, I was sleeping in
the van last night and when I woke up it was being towed down
the street.
While you're in the van? That's terrible.
Yeah, no good. But after the tow-truck driver unhitched us
and we explained Found magazine to him, he got excited
and rummaged around in his truck and handed us two of his own
recent finds!
Very cool.
But things are going well otherwise. We're having fun with
the shows, and every night people are bringing us all kinds
of great found stuff.
You've obviously struck a nerve with this, with folks bringing
stuff to shows and sending stuff in to you.
Yeah, one of the great things has been that, along with new
finds that we brought out for the tour, we keep incorporating
new items that folks have brought to us along the way. So it's
like, every night the show is different.
So how much material do you get, either email or mailed in
and so forth?
We get at least 10 to 15 new items a week. And I always think,
because I've been doing this for so long, that I've seen every
conceivable type of found object, so that all that would come
in would just be more of the same. And I'm continually surprised
and amazed at some of the stuff we get. So as long as we keep
getting stuff sent to us, we'll keep making the magazine.
When is issue #4 slated for release?
Probably sometime in the spring, after I get done with this
big tour. I want to have a section of that issue set aside to
showcase some of the found items that we acquired on this tour.
Now, the book that you are out touring for is a few pages of
best-of, and then a lot of previously unpublished material,
right?
Yes, about 220 pages or so is all-new material.
So I would assume you still have plenty of material to fill
up more volumes.
Yeah, actually. I just finished putting together the details
for the next Found book, so I'm excited about that.
That's great. So for this tour, you guys are hitting bookstores,
record stores, rock clubs, theatres. Does the reception vary
depending on what kind of venue you're in?
All kinds of places. In fact, just the other night we played
an opera house, which I thought was kinda fitting given the
tragic-comic nature of the material we present. Yeah, I think
it varies, but on the whole, the audiences have really been
getting into what we're doing.
And how exactly do you go about presenting this stuff in a
live context?
Well, we present some of our classic favorite finds, and some
new finds that we brought along, and that we have acquired along
the way. My brother Peter is along performing songs based upon
some of the found items, and that usually tends to be a hit.
I saw in a recent email that you were putting out a call for
found videos. Is this another found direction?
Yeah. The idea came when a friend showed me this found video
where a guy is going around introducing his friends and relatives
to his girlfriend. As the tape goes on, it becomes clear that
the guy hasn't actually met the girl yet, they've just been
pen pals or something. So at one point on the tape, he calls
her on the phone, taping it thinking that this will be a fun
cinematic, romantic moment, but then she isn't really interested
in talking to him so it becomes this very heart-wrenching kind
of thing. So I thought there has to be more amazing found video
stuff out there.
A few weeks ago, I was out in New Mexico and I bought a used
book. Inside the book was a bookmark, and written on the other
side was a list: "Emma Goldman, propane, mimi long sweater,
thank you notes."
Oh, wow, that's amazing. What book was it in?
No Logo by Naomi Klein.
Man, that's great.
So I have to ask you, who are The Sweatpants?
Who are The Sweatpants? Well, one of them is here in the car
with me. They were my brother's band who tended to do rap covers
and all kinds of weird shit. So when we found that tape of booty
songs, The Sweatpants expanded upon the riffs and made up additional
lyrics to those songs.
Yeah, I have that CD [The Booty Don't Stop*].
So you've heard it? I think those songs are the best. I just
love that tape.
Me, too. I had that CD when we were out on tour, and we would
play it before we would go on stage. A few people liked it,
but for the most part folks were just like "What the fuck
is this?"
Maybe it's an acquired taste, but I just love it.
My girlfriend is not a fan. She says. "Why do I need someone
tellin' me to 'Wave Yo' Booty In The Air'? I don't need some
kinda command or imperative. I'll shake my booty when I damn
well feel like it." So, anyway, do you feel a connection to folks
such as the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players [who write
songs based upon found slides]?
Yeah, we actually did some shows together with them. I think
there are infinite variations of found items and things that
people can do with them. And with Found magazine, it's
like people are all a part of this giant art collaboration,
those who contribute as well as those who created the original
thing left behind.
Davy Rothbart is touring through the end of this year with
his Found revue. Upcoming appearances include Wednesday,
October 6, at the Cowboy Monkey in Champaign, Illinois, and Sunday,
October 10 at The Hideout in Chicago, Illinois. For more information
on upcoming appearances, or to learn more about Found,
visit www.foundmagazine.com.
* - A collection of one minute long "booty anthems"
with titles such as "Wiggle on Th' Flo'," "Taste
That Booty Flava," "Booty Coniption," and "Damn!
Yo' Shit Be Up In My Face!"
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