Freaky Saturday

Park decided to take a break from the concert scene this week -- sorry Johnny Winter at BB's! -- and work an event purported to be a haven for music/movie/sport memorabilia called the "Gotham Super Collectors Show." Instead it was kind of a haven for the strange and unusual. If you weren't talking to yourself or making jokes to others that they weren't getting, you were apparently doing it wrong.

The show was tucked away at the Holiday Inn on the mid- to upper-West Side. And since 'ark said it once hosted a contingent of Clapton fans in town for a gig, it appears the establishment is used to having weirdness around. I should have known it right off the bat when the organizer, a not-too-distant relative of Cousin Itt, showed me to my table. And when the neighboring dealer came over to look at the stuff as we were putting it up, but sans the usual pleasantries and/or courtesies -- aka a smile or introduction.

But that's mild, baybee, compared to what came later. One of the first happeners-by hadn't washed his hair for at least a month and looked offended that we had no comic books. An introverted Rain Man-esque type in a Giants coat looked very uncomfortable until a woman in a veryyyyy mini Santa Baby skirt showed up. He sat by her for hours. I'm trying to figure out who that was now, since she looks nothing like "Scream Queen" Debbie D nor the "First Lady of Wrestling" Missy Hyatt, both of whom were on the bill.

No wonder the show tanked. Not that it was the fault of former "F-Troop" actor Larry Storch (cough, cough, mothballs!) nor Brutus Beefcake (the 'roided wrestler), because both gamely sat at quiet tables in the room all day. There was a Gandolph, OK, he wasn't Gandolph but he was dressed to the nines in some kind of wizardry wardrobe -- minus the hip sneakers. Of course he was speaking in "fantasy" world language. Near the end, Gandolph started peeling pieces of his costume away. You'd look back and one thing would be different. Look again, and one more thing and so on until he was almost normal. And late in the day, an orange werewolf showed up and kept trying to massage me with his lobster-claw gloves on. 'Ark laughed pretty heartily at that ... but as you can see by the photo, not so much when it was his turn.

Our first customer of the day was a very chatty, very bag-laden lady who had unfortunate scars across her forehead. She thinks people should marry animals to lower the divorce rate. That's just one of the gems we gleaned in her couple trips to our table. But hey, she bought stuff!

We had a pretty good mix of stuff -- DVDs and CDs, hockey and baseball cards, movie photos and vintage concert shirts. We sold enough to recoup our table fee, but I think we could have done really better at a stronger show.

Back to the freaks though. One of the ones who spent extensive time at our table ... and I'll at least give him that since many glanced and decided against checking it out before their eyes even saw everything on it. Hey people, you spent $10 to get in. It's a small show, do yourself a favor and get your money's worth!! Anyway, before I get too off-track like 'ark does ;), this gentleman was looking through movie photos when he said, "These are all from the 20th century. My work is from the 21st century." And "I'm not going to be around much anymore due to my financial situation. So I might not be here next time, except if I come here anyway."

Why the small turnout? Well one of the first things we learned that day was that an enemy of the promoter had emailed people telling them the show was canceled. We were advised to look out for someone who looks like a Green Beret because he has been banned from shows and there's no telling what he might do if he got into ours.

But I'm hesitant to give the Green Beret too much credit. For music and sport collectors who may have previously been to the Gotham, they probably didn't see a need to return. So that left well, what we got. Basically none of the dealers seemed to make out like bandits. So we took it as we got our money back, plus there was an entertainment component we hadn't been expecting.

Oh wait, I almost forgot to talk about the Yankees fan. A young man with a suitable amount of Yankees apparel on happened by, so I started pointing out different Yankees things I had. He seemed to like different things, but at one point he stated, "I'm not giving these guys any more of my money." And then boom! He just ran off. I can appreciate him sticking to his guns like that.

We'll still keep our stuff together and wait for a music or movie show to pop up in the future, then just try to hold us back! 'Ark was glad for the opportunity to have a "starter" show for us, but then again he didn't know about my years of sports card dealer experience as a young 'un. I think I impressed him ... again.