Thrift-Store Art

Todd Morman of Monkey Media Report offers a short, solid summary of the inspiring tale of Mingering Mike:

A self-taught artist, music-lover and one-time AWOL Vietnam soldier loses his beloved stash of 70s-era songs and fake album covers after getting behind on payments for his storage spot. The stash is found by the right kind of crate-digging djs in a D.C. thrift store, who not only have the heart and soul to track Mike down but -- can you believe it? -- actually manage to find him.

In the meantime, the DJs posted what they'd found on soulstrut.com, word spread through the blogosphere, and soon thousands of people had seen the man's album covers. By the time Mike turned up, there were "gallery owners scrambling to offer him shows and folk art collectors 'salivating to get their hands on this collection.'"

Who can blame them? You can see the man's work here. It's great stuff.