Trailer Trad Grooming: Ivory Soap

Sometimes, change can reach up and surprise you. Even in the soap section of the supermarket. Growing up, my mom instilled certain brand loyalties in her kids. Many of them have changed over the years but some have stayed the same. Domino sugar, Tide detergent, Skippy peanut butter (Jiff? Jiff. -Do you really want to fight over peanut butter? We can you know.).

Some have changed. I no longer eat Kraft singles or Chef Boyardee. I no longer use Crest toothpaste or wash my hair with Prell. Oh, and I no longer shine my shoes with Kiwi shoe polish (sorry dad).

I'm glad that I've said farewell to most of these things. However, there is one item that I never, ever thought that I would stop using. Ivory soap. The good news is that I haven't. The bad news is, inexplicably, the shelf space devoted to it has shrunk to the size of the space devoted to replacement leather shoe laces for work boots. I'm sorry to ever say anything negative about you Harris Teeter. You know that my love for you knows no bounds.

It's just that finding a flagship product of mighty Proctor & Gamble relegated to such small shelf space is like finding out that GM autos must now be bought online like 'Teslas' because there are no longer any GM dealerships.

What's to blame? Axe. Axe is to blame. For everything. Everywhere. Here's a rule fellas. Get clean first, then smell good. Don't mix. You wouldn't just slop more fresh oil over sandy, dirty gears. You wouldn't just take a dirty, grimy wall and paint over it. And you would not disinfect a dirty trashcan by just gassing it with Fabreeze? -Well, maybe you would. Buddy, Axe is AWESOME!.

Me, I want to clean (not disinfect. That's different and not as manly as 'clean') myself efficiently  and thoroughly and then, at the end, apply a subtle cologne to finish.

But Monsieur Trad, you say, Ivory soap evaporates like the morning dew leaving me with little nubs of worthless soap bits that I rub over myself in a futile effort to raise a lather. To that I say, "have you a heart of stone, Sir?" Think about the poor working man who manned the machine that stamped Ivory on every bar of soap for P&G who retired at 42 in 1967 and has been collecting retirement ever since?

Listen, since you won't listen to reason I'm forced to paint you a picture. Buying something that comes in a 'tough' looking oil can container and is marketed by implying that you will become a chick magnet if you use it is like wearing a Harley Davidson muscle shirt before taking off to wow the gals at Hooters.

Now that we've cleared that up, go and enjoy Ivory's intoxicating scent of tradition and practicality.

Young Women and Leadership Part 1: It's Camp Time Again for Lil' Bean

It's camp time again for Lil' Bean (who's not so little any more) and time has flown. -She's already been there for two weeks! While I've shown you a little of the her beautiful waterfront camp in eastern, coastal Carolina, there's lots more fun things and beautiful sights that I didn't show here.

The camp helps girls become young ladies and young ladies become leaders. And what great leaders they are! This leadership is perhaps the most valuable, irreplaceable thing about my daughter's camp. It is evident in the people that staff the camp, the people that administer the camp and the people that guide and support the camp from Raleigh and elsewhere

The girls are carefully, gracefully, enthusiastically taught all of the good things. There are too many to list. The young women that counsel in the cabins provide such a welcoming, caring environment that it's almost impossible not to get caught up in the boating, crafts, and lets not forget KP duty and cleaning the bathrooms.

 

My daughter's camp is a most impressive effort and being able to send my daughter there has been a great privilege.

 

 

 

 

THIS Is What A Liquor Store Should Look Like

I was in DC last week and came across this awesome storefront on 14th Street NW in Washington a couple of blocks from my hotel. The liquor store appears to be from the 1940s with excellent original neon lighting and terrific 'barrel of fun' entry way. This neighborhood used to be sskkkeettcchhyy when I worked in DC but it has really become hot. There's even a Whole Paycheck (Wholefoods) in the neighborhood.

 

Trailer Trad Tunes: Shoe Gazer Indie Rock

'Shoe gazer' is a term to describe a sub-genre of alternative rock (there are many) that traces its roots to the UK in the early 1990s with the advent of subdued vocals and dreamy melodies driven by layers of fuzzy guitar and electronic accompaniment. The term 'shoe gazer' actually refers to the way that some of the musicians in these groups kind of stood and played while looking down at the floor, thus 'shoe gazing.'

The style is hard to pin down and some of these are probably not great examples. It's a little like 'post rock' which, by and large, I find monotonous and not good. I think that post rock is similar to the 1990s New Age music movement and therefore I refer to it as 'John Tesche's Revenge.' Shoe gazer also includes some brit pop, psychedelia and even techno dance music but it can differ from these which feature more bass and are more 'danceable' and have less of a dreamy quality.

Old Shoegazer




Recent Shoegazer

Trailer Trad North Carolina: Oberlin Road's Community Deli

Located on a very hot stretch of Inside-the-Beltline Raleigh, the Community Deli is the kind of classy anachronism that the new urban planners can never get quite right. They can plant some chain that research has told them has the right demographic appeal and can patch on a few 'local' touches. But will the latest 'upscale dining' option be there with perfect collards for News Years Eve? -Not bloody likely.

It takes the 'community' part of its name pretty seriously. Oberlin Road is kind of special in that, there are both ends of the social spectrum along Oberlin near my church and both ends are catered to at this deli. Gourmet chicken salad and other must-have takes outs are offered alongside '40s' (large cans of beer) and inexpensive hot dogs. Raleigh is kind of a mecca for hot dogs it seems with Snoopys, Roast Grill, Char Grill and others but that gets kind of ignored with the ever-present attention paid to NC barbeque (which Raleigh is kind of underrepresented in, surprisingly). Anyway, check the Community Deli out. The food is good and the owner seems cool.

Trailer Trad Time Travel: A Long-Ago Fourth of July (reshown)

 

 Photo Credit: Library of Congress. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection

Take Out Trad: Roadside Diners of the 1930s

Photo Credit: Farm Security Administration Office of War Information Collection, Library of Congress