squaresville
at around age 14, my family was at an amusement park. i forget which one, but i think it was Hershey Park. anyway, while in line for a ride my brother and i see this kid with his family. he's a bit younger than us and a lot overweight with a terrible haircut, but what we mostly notice about him is his shirt. it was a plain white shirt with a picture of the Fonz on it. his arms were out at casual right angles to his torso, giving the thumbs up and underneath the picture sat the simple caption "aaaaaayyyyyyy!" well, we couldn't contain ourselves not one bit. this was obviously the funniest, most out of place thing we had ever seen and we spent the rest of the day mimicking the pose and doing our best "aaaaaayyyyyyy"s, cracking each other up every time. we both felt kind of sorry for the kid, since we figured he didn't have any better shirts to wear, but his family had sprung for the entrance fee so how bad off could they be?
now though, i think about it and i wish i owned that shirt. the ironic humor levels are off the chart and it would fit right in with the #1 Dad/Mariners shirt (thanks Shawn!), the Born to Ump shirt (thanks, bro!) and my old Ann Taylor staff shirt. the wife decided to do an unannounced purge of my dresser recently and it was only by the slimmest of margins that i was able to rescue the Ann Taylor shirt from the scrap heap. sure the lettering has faded and the collar is frayed, but i've gotta be one of <25 men on earth who owns one and i'll be damned if i'm gonna give up a part of my identity so easily. i'm not sure exactly what message that shirt conveys about me, but whatever it is, i like it. anyway, i hope that kid still has the Fonz shirt and scores big points with his hipster friends when he wears it out.
the sad coda to this story is that Henry Winkler remains the biggest celebrity sighting i've had since moving to NYC over 4 years ago (seeing Spike Lee's brother constantly at O'Connors rates just behind eating in the same sushi restaurant as Patti Smith and watching a movie in the same theater as David Cross). he blew past me on the sidewalk outside the Virgin Megastore in Times Square one day. he was well out of earshot before i realized i should have told him to "sit on it".
Comments
Speaking of David Cross and Fonzie t-shirts, I'm almost 100 percent certain he wore the shirt you are referring to on an episode of "Mr. Show." I'll have to check the DVDs, but I'm almost sure I'm right.
Posted by: Matt | February 26, 2004 05:29 PM
...and I now know what to get Jamie as a Secret Santa gift next year.
Yes, I've posted two comments on this subject. On my day off, no less.
Posted by: Matt | February 26, 2004 05:37 PM
I recall once getting cheap laughs by mocking the touching send-off of an awkward boy dressed in a ridiculously loud OP knock-off (emblazioned with the logo "Freaky Tiki") by his morbidly obese father, who was wearing a white t-shirt embossed with the words "Warning: Explosive Gas in Rear."
Posted by: David | February 26, 2004 09:57 PM
Jess, Cara, and I were laughing at a photo the other day of a shirt Mary Kate had made for me: "I'll fuck you for a roofie." I put it on in the apartment but then she was really a little pissed when I refused to wear it out in public. Good job on saving your Loft shirt, Jamie :)
Posted by: Claire | February 27, 2004 02:36 AM
Dave - on the day in question, it's likely that i was wearing some sort of Gotcha! or Quiksilver skater gear even though i never skated. if there's any justice in the world, there was probably some cool kid and his brother laughing at me for being a poser.
Posted by: jamie | February 27, 2004 02:10 PM