In Good Company

NAME: Ben
LOCATION: The Firkin & Pheasant, Orchard and Diversey

They gave it to us for free at the video store I worked at. So, I stole it. We were supposed to wear it in the store, but I never wore it in the store, I wore it everywhere else. And it's comfy!

Are you a fan of the film?

I don't hate it. Any movie where Topher Grace gets to bang Scarlett Johansson, I'm all for.

Do you wear it, though, as an advertisement for the film?

No. I wear it as an advertisement for comfortable maroon shirts. And Topher Grace. And Dennis Quaid and Scarlett Johansson, but not the movie itself.


But you told me that it's your favorite shirt.

It is my favorite shirt.

What makes this your favorite, as opposed to a shirt advertising a movie you actually like?

I got it for free. Um, it's the most comfortable shirt I wear. It doesn't wear out no matter how many times you wash it. I've probably washed it ... at least more than once, hopefully. It doesn't fade. When it's hot out, it feels cool, when it's cool it feels warm. And it's ironic enough not to be hipstery, but it's also not a hipster shirt because I actually got it where I worked, I didn't buy it in a second-hand store or anything.

Is there irony in your wearing it because you don't think it's a very good movie?

No, I don't hate it. I mean, I think I have a burned copy of it somewhere, from the video store. But I don't watch it a lot. If it was on TBS when I go home right now I would probably watch it. They order Domino's because their dinner gets ruined and then Topher Grace hits on her by playing ping pong in the garage then the lovable little sister comes in and it ends - well, I'm not gonna say how it ends because it's really cool. And then she goes to school and lives in a dorm even though she's like 29 or something. And then Topher Grace bangs her... I haven't watched it a lot, I swear to god.

Iquitos, Peru

NAME: Samantha
LOCATION: Starbucks, Lakeview

Well, I got it at, um, in Peru when we went on a cruise down the Amazon River. We stopped at this village and, um, it was - they didn't take money so we bartered our stuff. My mom brought a bunch of things and I traded one of my old dolls for this beautiful shirt.

You traded a doll for this shirt.

Yeah. Isn't it cool? It has like cool little birds on it. And we went down this river right here - well, the Amazon - and then this is like ... [Samantha is pointing out the geography of Peru's rivers on the map on her shirt] ... other little rivers and then we went to Peru. Iquitos, Peru.

And it was in Iquitos where you bartered-

It's not in this actual town. It was in a little village. I don't know what it was called but it was tiny.

What kind of doll was it?

It was like a barbie and then I also gave them one of my old Mickey Mouse shirts.

And do you feel now that it was a fair trade?

Yeah, because my Mickey Mouse shirt had a hole in it.

How old were you?

Eleven? Twelve? Eleven, probably. I also got to touch this really cool frog that's poisonous. It's red, and if you boil its skin that's when it gets poisonous and people would put 'em on their arrows in the old time to shoot stuff with.

Fishbone

NAME: Angel
LOCATION: Whole Foods, Lakeview

Fishbone was an early-80s band that was a ska/punk/metal hybrid ... they had a couple good records in like the mid-, late-80s. Still around. But I found this shirt vintage at, um, Brown Elephant, I believe?

I just, this kinda brings me back a little bit to my childhood, I guess. The early 80s, or the late 80s, 90s.

Are they from here?

Uh, no no, they're from California.

Is that where you're from?

No, I'm born and raised in Chicago.

But have you seen them live?

No, not live. I've seen them - I've seen, like, footage of them on TV. I mean, they were an exciting band at the time. They were one of those bands that you couldn't really pigeonhole because they just had so many different styles but like the Chili Peppers were down with them and um, a lot of metal bands, too. Primus, I know they toured with them, so. And it glows in the dark!

Nice.

And it's very appropriate because I work in the fish market. So, you know.

You wear it to work a lot?

I wear it out and about. I do get comments from the old-timers, they see it, they're like, "Yeah, Fishbone, yeah!"

The New Theater, St. Louis

NAME: Kate
LOCATION: house party, Roscoe Village

You can't pretend that you don't know where that shirt comes from.

I actually don't, I swear to God. I mean, seriously, I have three older brothers, I have two parents. And like, one day it was in my house and I was like, "I like red." And it says "theater" on it. And I do theater. So I was like, "This shirt should be mine." So I just took it. I don't even know what "The New Theater, St. Louis" is. But it's a nice t-shirt. It's like stretched out and old. So it's like really really comfortable. And it's red.