MILK EGGS VODKA [By Bill Keaggy]

…but not much happens over here these days. The book’s been out for a long time and until there’s a sequel, I doubt you’ll see any new content here at milkeggsvodka.com.

That said, grocerylists.org will always be a happenin’ spot, so head over there — we gave it a new paint job, updated the Ultimatest Grocery List and have been trying some new things.

Cheers!

Hey, I gave grocerylists.org a facelift. Highlights include:

• It actually looks cool, finally — has the feel of a publication
• Added the 2,000th list
• You can now upload a list to me through the contact form
• All blog posts now categorized
• The lists themselves are faster, easier to browse

Waste some time. Go check it out.

The Ultimatest Grocery List, a downloadable PDF shopping list that I made for the book and have available at grocerylists.org, made it into the sidebar on this Wall Street Journal story about the economy and making lists:

You know times are hard when the shopping list makes a comeback.

As the recession takes hold, consumers who used to shop impulsively are seeking ways to rein in their spending, and many are finding that sticking to a list can help them navigate through stores and limit their purchases.

Yes, I meant to post this a while ago.

Really. You can. Be a fan. On Facebook.

You can also follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/keaggy.

The holidays are almost here.

The easiest thing to do at this point is to just buy people you love/like/know/owe a copy “Milk Eggs Vodka: Grocery Lists Lost & Found.” No, really. That will take care of it. You’ll be done shopping. They’ll be happy. On Christmas, your drunk uncle (known as a “drunkle”) will page through the book and claim that anybody could collect scraps of paper and other people’s garbage and put them in a book — even him! You’ll point out that he’s a no-good drunk and, in fact, he didn’t collect these found grocery lists or get a book deal or anything even close. There will be yelling and fighting. Glass will be broken and tears will be shed. People will be disowned — banned from all future holiday get-togethers.

But at least you’ll have given the best present of the day, and whoever got it will love you and thank you and finally admit that they never liked that drunkle anyway.

Um, OK. Actually, none of that would happen. Hopefully things will go a bit more like this: An amazing reader email.

PS: If you don’t think they’ll like MEV, then buy them “50 Sad Chairs” instead!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Hey! On Monday, November 17 I will be presenting a portion of my immense collection of found grocery lists at an underground art event in Chicago, and giving a talk about the lists, collecting and my books.

The event is sponsored by He Said/She Said, an exhibition and event series held in the home of Pamela Fraser and Randall Szott. They take turns presenting what amounts to an ongoing conversation about art and culture — Ms. Fraser presenting art and artists, and Mr. Szott sharing the activities of people who work in other contexts (that’s me :-). Together they hope to offer up a fun and thoughtful take on current ideas in art and life.

All the info you need is here: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1327562/

Hope to see you there!

-bk

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!

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:

1. The St. Louis Area Foodbank (feeding struggling single-parent families, the elderly and the working poor)
2. Mentor St. Louis (a school-based youth and literacy organization)

Thank you! I hope everyone has a great holiday season!

Can’t sleep, so I just updated The Ultimatest Grocery List over at grocerylists.org. Numerous people pointed out that I forgot pasta. Duh.

Ha! The first sighting of my book on eBay!

My sister sent me a weird recipe — it actually uses the ingredients milk, eggs and vodka! Check it out: White Russian Cupcakes with Kahlua Whipped Cream Frosting. It comes from a recipe book called Cupcakes: From the Cake Mix Doctor. Thanks, Kathy!

A hearty and heartfelt congratulations to Laura (who needs bleach and eggs) and Amber (who shops for Cosmo, chocolate donuts and pads, but only “once a month”). Laura and Amber were the winners of the “Milk Eggs Vodka” book giveaway. Thanks to everyone who entered the contest (I’ll probably do another soon!). Take a look at the sampling of the community grocery list y’all created:

British Mars bar
salami
cheeses
olives
dried vegetables
Hershey’s Special dark chocolate bar
5-grain bread from the bakery
shredded cheese
alcohol
ice cream
milk
avocado
black rice
dried figs
chocolate covered peanuts
bleach
eggs
toilet paper
peanut butter M&Ms
Cosmo
chocolate doughnuts
pads
lowfat sour cream
saltine crackers (store brand)

“Milk Eggs Vodka” is for sale at your neighborhood Borders and is usually filed in the “Humor” section (right next to Garrison Keillor’s titles!). But should you visit Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon (and you should), you’ll see that my book stands proudly in the “Cooking oddities” section. How cool is that? I didn’t even know such a category existed!

Every month I give away free books over at The Grocery List Collection and this month I’m giving away my book! Find out how to win one at www.grocerylists.org (the deadline is May 31!).

Of course, if you can’t wait please feel free to head over to your local bookseller or Amazon to pick up a copy of the book right now!

Yep, that’s the ISBN of my first book. The idea was hatched in January 2006, I started working on it in April, I finished it in August, I proofed the pages in October and got my first actual copy of it in March 2007. Tomorrow, May 2, it’s available to everyone, though it already started shipping on Amazon.

This blog will document the rest of the journey: Release, promotion, sales, reviews, etc. The good, the bad, the fun, the fruitless, everything (I guess I like to put things up on the web). You can see the web site that was the genesis for the project here: grocerylists.org.

Grocery lists? Yes. The book is about found grocery lists. Funny ones, sad ones, healthy ones, unhealthy ones, short ones, ones with notes, ones for parties, ones by old folks, and on and on… In fact, on and on for 240 pages. In full color. with a hardcover! And it’s all thanks to HOW Books. Thanks, HOW Books!

It’s a weird thing putting a book out with your name on it. I’ve been publishing in a variety of ways since 1988. ‘Zines, magazines, newspapers, music, web sites. And although I’ve been a contributor to or subject of a number of books — this is my first book. It’s all mine, so I figure I ought to keep track of what happens.