charles bukowski t-shirt

[bluealbum]

hello.

new member here. i've found out that you can purchase alot of different bukowski clothing online, i felt like ordering a t-shirt for some reason. i was halfway through the ordering process but stopped and thought for a second and went - nah - and closed the browser window.

isn't it a bit geeky, wearing a t-shirt with an authors face on it? i feel that people would misunderstand the purpose, maybe even think the person wearing it was being ironic or adding to his or hers chicness.

maybe i should stop being so analytical and just order the damn thing, they did look cool.

and hey, i like the bukowski.net site and forums so far, keep the good work up.

-anders

 

[mjp]

And here I thought this was going to be forum spam for the tshirts you are selling. ;)

Apparently a lot of people wear tshirts for the irony/hipness factor. How else can you explain a 20 year old in an old (or made to appear old) Atari or Che Guevara shirt?

 

[HenryChinaski]

if there was any one bukowski shirt I could order, it would be the one he is wearing in my avatar.
i havent had any luck finding it and probably never will. i've tried to make my own but the quality is horrible.

 

[Lindsay]

When I was in middle school I used to wear t-shirts with author's names and faces on them - the idea that this adds to a person's hipness would have caused my bullies to roll around in hysterics.

And I wouldn't immediately discount the possibility that this person is spamming the forums for business - such practices are incredibly common and this might be an introductory post to ease us into the temptation to ask, "Hey, can I have the url for that site? I'd like a t-shirt too!"

Resist the temptation! Resist!

 

[bluealbum]

i am not selling anything :) hmm, the che guevara shirt there i must reply to. that is sort of what i'm after in a way, i really dislike it when people wear clothes, especially t-shirts with a print of say jesus or che, that really means alot to people (no comparison) just because that person thinks it's a "cool" apparel, and has no idea about what they express by doing that. i don't want people to think that about me, if i ever did wear a bukowski t-shirt. oh well.

 

[hank solo]

When I was in middle school I used to wear t-shirts with author's names and faces on them - the idea that this adds to a person's hipness would have caused my bullies to roll around in hysterics

Well, as you can see from Henry's avatar and many other pics, Bukowski liked to wear his own shirts. What does that say about him?

Anyway, I have a Bukowski T that I bought in 1990. Still like to wear it a couple of times each year. Doe's it make me look hip? Doubt it :D

 

[Lindsay]

Well, as you can see from Henry's avatar and many other pics, Bukowski liked to wear his own shirts. What does that say about him?

Absolutely nothing.

 

[mjp]

Well, as you can see from Henry's avatar and many other pics, Bukowski liked to wear his own shirts. What does that say about him?

I always thought that was a goof just for those pictures. But that's just what I assumed, I don't know. Maybe he wore it every day. ;)

 

[hank solo]

Bukowski Goes Belfast

He's also wearing one during the 1992 home video reading that features in the extras of the Australian Born Into This. But that ones one of his drawings rather than a photo (at least it looks like his drawings)

Bukowski Goes Belfast

Style is important.
Many people scream the truth
But without style
It is helpless - CB

The shirt is one that was once available from The Bookshop at Queen's, which is located in Belfast, Northern Ireland. But no longer produced.

EDIT: According to The Bookshop at Queen's, very similar shirts can be ordered at http://www.runwiththehunted.com/tshirts.asp
Well - maybe. I get a 404 from the order links at present.

Pics attached.

 

[sgtpeppers]

who cares maybe by wearing it you could get one person to go who is that on his shirt maybe I'll check him out and then you have one more person loving his work would that be so bad

 

[HenryChinaski]

they have those really cool Team Bukowski black sparrow shirts on ebay at times. they might be re-prints but i got one and it seems legit.

 

[bmcg]

I have a very soft spot for the "Bukowski Goes Belfast' t-shirt. Aside from the fact Belfast is where I live, the t-shirt was given to me by my best man during his speech at my wedding. Also the guy who produced the shirt is a good friend. It was topped of by them having En Vino Veritas printed on the back.

Couldn't believe it when I saw that "Born Into This' extra.

 

[Bukfan]

they have those really cool Team Bukowski black sparrow shirts on ebay at times. they might be re-prints but i got one and it seems legit.

Me too! I've got both the Team Bukowski T-shirt and the sweatshirt from Black Sparrow Press. The ones on ebay do look legit, yes! It looks exactly like the one I got from Black Sparrow Press. Same color and pattern on the cloth (and same motif, of course)...

 

[EliseEffect]

My friend and I made this:

 

[HenryChinaski]

my friend at harper/collins sent me one of the bukowski shirts they make. it says

"I'd rather be reading
B U K O W S K I"

it's a red shirt.

 

[Gerard K H Love]

Red is OK. I think your supposed to wear red for the American Heart Association on Fridays. Or is that if you support our troops???
Red is good. Pulp is a red book. Yeah.

 

[number6horse]

And pink is for breast cancer awareness.

 

[roni]

isn't it a bit geeky, wearing a t-shirt with an authors face on it?

I don't agree.
Can't see anything wrong or phoney in wearing a shirt with an author or a band or Che or Einstein or text written on it. Why not? I can think of a LOT other sorts of clothes, that REALLY disgust me!

(In the 90s I had made a Buk-Shirt myself, yellow of course! with a portrait from the Shakespeare-book. Unfortunately, when Falko Hennig of the Bukowski-society asked me to get it for his archive, I agreed. Me stupid!)

 

[Purple Stickpin]

I have an orange t-shirt with the picture from Post Office on it. It does seem to make some people a bit uncomfortable.

 

[Gerard K H Love]

And pink is for breast cancer awareness.

Fine, so when the red shirt fades..... The T-shirt is almost good enough to wear out to dinner, as long as you have a nice jacket. So take off your pants and jacket. ;)

 

[LickTheStar]

Me too! I've got both the Team Bukowski T-shirt and the sweatshirt from Black Sparrow Press. The ones on ebay do look legit, yes! It looks exactly like the one I got from Black Sparrow Press. Same color and pattern on the cloth (and same motif, of course)...

That shirt looks sweeeeet. I'm geeky enough to wear one. Now... to find one!

Or maybe I'll make my own. I'm also geeky enough to make my own t-shirt as well... Though the BSP would trump anything I could make. Did John\Barbara design that it?

 

[ROC]

Only one problem with the BSP T-shirt though.... It stinks.
I mean literally.
The polymer they used to render the image on the cotton smells really foul (to me) and the smell has not dissipated after 10 years (!)

 

[chronic]

They have these new-fangled contraptions called washing machines. Maybe if you were to put it in there with some soap?

 

[ROC]

Oh, I don't mind washing my clothes. The T-shirt has faded quite a bit with all the washes its had.
I, on the other hand, haven't washed for 10 years or so. Maybe that's what I'm smelling?


Seriously... It STINKS!

 

[Sulkpot]

I don't think there is anything wrong with wearing a Bukowski teeshirt, here in the UK I come across very few people who have even heard of him and if they have it tends to be because of movies like Barfly and Factotum.

I have a big problem with people wearing teeshirts with political or cultural statements when they have no idea what they mean and it is more about fashion than anything else.

That really annoys me the Che Guevara teeshirt is a prime example, if I see anyone wearing that teeshirt I ask them about him and more often than not they have no idea who he is or what he did. That makes me want to give them a slap.

 

[bospress.net]

I have a big problem with people wearing teeshirts with political or cultural statements when they have no idea what they mean and it is more about fashion than anything else.

That really annoys me the Che Guevara teeshirt is a prime example, if I see anyone wearing that teeshirt I ask them about him and more often than not they have no idea who he is or what he did. That makes me want to give them a slap.

Yes, this is what annoys many of us, I think. Many of the people who buy Bukowski t-shirts on ebay and wear them see him as a drunken, womanizer poet. They think that is cool and may have even seen barfly, but nothing past that. They do not see him as an accomplished writer, but as a cultural symbol. As an advertisement. These are the same people who wear a Che shirt, but do not know who he is (Would wearing a Che shirt in Miami get your ass seriously kicked? It would be funny if it did and one of these posers wore one and did not know why they were being hit!)

These posers are the same people who wear a Ed Gein or Albert Fish shirt.

Of course I could be wrong...

Bill

 

[Sulkpot]

Depressingly I think you are right. :(

 

[Bukfan]

That shirt looks sweeeeet. I'm geeky enough to wear one. Now... to find one!

Or maybe I'll make my own. I'm also geeky enough to make my own t-shirt as well... Though the BSP would trump anything I could make. Did John\Barbara design that it?

I don't know who designed it but the drawing was made by Robert Crumb.

ROC: I don't get it! Neither my BSP T-shirt or sweatshirt smells at all! I just checked and my big nose couldn't smell a thing...

 

[ROC]

Wow.
Maybe I got screwed with a dodgy one.

 

[bogthing]

My friend and I made this:

Is it me, or does Buk appear to be looking skyward, as if to say "Thank ya Jay-sus for putting me here!