Blast from the past: T-shirt story

From S6 Concert Hall

Thanks L for the tip. At the Pgh Podcamp I asked her if she had any Libertarian t-shirts and she said, "No."

iheartpgh.com The PG is looking for your t-shirt stories
Posted on 01.20.07 by Lindsay @ 12:40 pm

I saw this little post on the website for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette today. I thought this might be of interest to some of our blog readers. I am not sure if they are only looking for Pittsburgh stories or for stories from all over. I think I might submit my story about myIheartPGH t-shirt. I am looking forward to reading this article when it comes out.

Seeking Your Help: Your favorite T-shirt
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Every favorite T-shirt usually comes a with good story on why it’s so special to you. Maybe you were wearing it when you met your future spouse. Or you got it at the best concert you ever attended. Or it’s from a special reunion. No matter how old or how tattered, you’ll never give it away. We’d like to hear your stories about your favorite T-shirts. Please send your reflections to Virginia Linn at vlinn@post-gazette.com. Include your name, home town and daytime phone number.

I made up a batch of t-shirts last year before the Steelers won the SuperBowl XL.

But there is more to this story as I was a candidate for Pittsburgh City Council in a special election on March 14, 2006, as a Libertarian. And the t-shirts went to everyone who attended our first ever house concert. Johnsmith, singer from Wisconsin, was here with his song, "Don't Put Me In a Box" (another theme of the campaign).

An opponent, Bruce Kraus, D, who didn't win -- thankfully, stood up at a community forum hosted at City Theater and said that all the different neighborhoods in the district have all sorts of different needs. What the people need in Allentown is different from what they need on the South Side Slopes. The needs in Oakland are so much different from what the people want on the South Side Flats. All this diversity presents a big range of needs to a city councilman to fill. One size does NOT fit all he claimed. Blah, blah, blah.

In the line of candidates, when it was my turn to speak, I stood up and blasted the concepts put forth by Mr. Kraus. I said, "I can't disagree more with Bruce Kraus. He is wrong because I feel strongly that one size does fit all. The Founding Fathers had it right. We need freedom, liberty and justice for all. That fits me well. That fits my neighbors well too -- regardless of the neighborhood residence. Liberty is what everyone in Pittsburgh needs, and that comes in one size. I want Extra Large Liberty, Liberty XL.

The affinity of the XL from the SuperBowl -- made the shirts popular and warm to all. One gal took the shirt to Detroit with her to wear to the game -- under the black & gold jersey, of course.

Of course the Steelers won, but I didn't win the election. But my message scored a touchdown. The t-shirt history lesson did make the goofy candidate for city council change his tune. He didn't campaign and express those silly thoughts again. Not with me around, at least.

See this image of the t-shirt:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mark.rauterkus/S6ConcertHall/photo#5023045145074368690

And look around the photo album of our S6 House Concert venue -- in our game room.

All my images are in the public domain.