I probably should mention that my new book is out. It’s published by the weird and wonderful folks at BlueQ. It’s a nice little photo book of the sad chairs of St. Louis. No, really. Discarded chairs in alleys. Abandoned chairs on street corners. Abused chairs on loading docks. You get the picture. You’re gonna like it.
Check out www.50sadchairs.com to see some page samples and (if you want) by it at Amazon or Blueq.com.
C’mon!
Yep. It’s been a while. But didn’t think I would stop blathering on about my book, did you? Check out the latest press/etc mentions…
From an interview with me at Orato:
I saw a story on the BBC the other day about a 300-year-old shopping list that had been found in the UK. For some weird reason, I started Googling “shopping lists” and stumbled upon grocerylists.org, owned and operated by a man named Bill Keaggy. Not only was he running this insanely entertaining website, but he had published a book, Milk Eggs Vodka: Grocery Lists Lost And Found, which featured the very best of his grocery list collection! I found myself more interested in shopping lists than I ever thought I could be, and strangely satisfied, in a voyeuristic kind of way, by this little peep into other people’s lives. Who was this man? I just had to know, so I phoned him - here’s what he told me.
A 2007 books roundup from the Akron Beacon-Journal (now behind the stupid newspaper paywall — boo!):
Authors with area connections came through with fine work this year. Here’s a look at some of the best.
At Lifehacker: Never Forget an Item at the Supermarket:
Never forget to buy anything the next time you stop at the supermarket with the “Ultimatest Grocery list.” …For a comprehensive list that should cover anything you need on your trip to the food mart, this one’s it.
From the Real Life Survival Guide radio show on WNPR:
…it’s just a eight and a half by eleven sheet that has a lot of different products on it, pretty well sorted into the department that you’re gonna find in most grocery stores…
The Ultimatest Grocery List was featured in “Milk Eggs Vodka” and is available on the grocerylists.org site. btw, it’s good to know that the fine students at MIT have access to some quality study materials.
I just wanted to let everyone who bought my book this year know that I donated a percentage of the royalties to a couple great causes:
Thank you! I hope everyone has a great holiday season!
A couple weeks ago “Milk Eggs Vodka” was a recommended book over at the Barnes & Noble Review’s ‘The Long List,’ which is a rundown of “50 books, CDS, and DVDs to know about now.”
Nice! Especially the part where they called it “surprisingly but absolutely addictive.”
But then again they are absolutely right:
Based on Keaggy’s website, GroceryLists.org, the book is viewable online and is absolutely a must-see for anyone interested in found items, mild voyeurism, and the human condition.
Dang! I totally forgot to mention that I was going to be interviewed live on Sirius Radio Monday afternoon. So, um… “Hey everyone! I was interviewed on the ‘Everyday Food‘ radio show on the Martha Stewart channel Monday!”
Yeah, we talked about grocery lists.
Can’t sleep, so I just updated The Ultimatest Grocery List over at grocerylists.org. Numerous people pointed out that I forgot pasta. Duh.
Oops. I forgot to link up my interview on New York City’s NPR station, WFUV. On October 20 I was on Cityscape with George Bodarky, which airs Saturday mornings at 7:30 a.m.
I haven’t listened to it yet. I remember thinking to myself during the interview, “Usually I am much funnier.” I think the reason was that I did the interview in St. Louis’ NPR studio, and I could hear every movement and gesture in my headphones so I just sat still the whole time (usually I walk around and flail during interviews). Anyway… click the Oct 20, 2007 link to hear streaming audio.
This week’s Cityscape is chock full of tales from the supermarket. We’ll talk to a guy who collects abandoned grocery lists, hear why a Queens woman longs for the grocery stores in her native California, and check out a competition for New York City’s fastest grocery bagger.
Check this out! I got this awesome email from happy “Milk Eggs Vodka” reader named Bree:
Greetings!
While I sit here on October 1st, anxiously awaiting the free book alert that always alludes me, I thought I’d send you a note.
I’ve been reading your site for quite some time. It’s rather funny, of course, and it has taught me to reevaluate my odd grocery lists in the off-chance someone might encounter it and send it in for all the public to see and mock/reenact my purchases. And while it appears on nearly every list I write, I don’t think “food” is descriptive enough for people to stalk my buying habits.
On to my point… my sister’s birthday was quickly approaching this past July, and being the good younger sister that I am, I purchased her an assortment of presents: a t-shirt, lamp and a book—your book.
Upon my birthday visit to her, she also had an assortment of belated presents for me—though her collection of gifts put mine to shame, save for one item. Milk Eggs Vodka! We bought each other the same book! You can only imagine my delight and excitement to know that she had already experienced this book and that she wanted to share it with me. And honestly, I was jealous of having to part with the book that I had purchased for her. But in the end, we both won.
Milk Eggs Vodka for everyone!
Thanks for the quirky book. I look forward to sharing it with others, too.
PS: The best way to find out about the free book alert before everyone else is to sign up for my monthly email newsletter. Huzzah!
Been slow here lately, but I did get my first actual, cashable royalty check from the book! It was a real thrill but I won’t be retiring any time soon.
Anyway, yesterday I recorded an interview about the book and grocery lists with New York City’s NPR station, WFUV. I’ll post an update when I find out when it’s going to air.
Apparently we were featured in the September 2007 issue of Funny Times Magazine! Yay for us!
See? The book is F-U-N-N-Y. Funny!
Here’s a fun article by Mackenzie Dawson in today’s New York Post:
Book inscriptions, grocery lists, Post-it notes - one man’s trash is truly another man’s treasure.
Particularly if that man’s trash is really weird.
For example, a dated photo that features an older woman standing proudly next to a Christmas tree - which is topped with an enormous, jeweled armadillo.
Or a shopping list that includes “Kid hair de-tangler, ibuprofen, Fibre-all, Sensodyne, Prozac.”
Or a note that says “BIND ME, please! And bring COOKIES!”
It begs the question: What happens if the person brings the wrong kind of cookies - will binding not occur? (Or will they, perhaps, be bound as punishment?) When will the cookies be eaten: before, after or during?
It’s a lot for a complete stranger to ponder.
Bill Keaggy, the founder of Grocerylists.org, was leaving a grocery store one day when a sort of “silly serendipity” struck: he found a grocery list on a yellow Post-it note. The list itself was nothing special, but much like Raviv, Keaggy found himself fixating on the person it belonged to.
I did a Five Questions With in the Scranton, Pennsylvania paper (but oof — they got the URL wrong! Hope that gets fixed soon). Anyway, thanks Ron!
In his weekly feature, copy editor Ron Davis poses five questions to Bill Keaggy, author of “Milk Eggs Vodka: Grocery Lists Lost and Found,” based on the Web site
www.grocery-lists.orgwww.grocerylists.org — which is, basically, a collection of grocery lists.
Found this video on YouTube: Some goofballs doing shots of egg, milk and vodka, which seem to go down about as smoothly as my book!
And btw, “Milk Eggs Vodka: Grocery Lists Lost and Found” is now searchable through Amazon’s “Search Inside” feature.
Yay! A quick mention in the October design annual issue of HOW Magazine: “Laugh until you cry with this hilarious collection of lost-and-found grocery lists.”
