If you hadn’t noticed, a few hot items just perked up on Ebay. So many choice items from one seller, I knew we had this weeks Seller Spotlight lined up.

I had a chance to ask nicktp a few questions about his collection. We’re not going to tell you who he is. If you really wanted to know, you would have guessed already or figured it out on your on. We’ll keep his identity close to the vest, because as he put it:

When i did my last round of shirts, kids would figure out who i was, somehow tracked down where i lived, and were asking to come by on friday night and hang out, listen to records, order pizza, and have me tell them stories of the old days. That kind of freaked me out.

Check it.

1. How did you get started in the punk/ hardcore scene?

I got into the music scene when i was real young. if i rigged up my crap radio just right, i could get reception from a college radio station that would play punk/hardcore stuff at night. i would tape the shows, then make my own mixed tapes from those tapes of the stuff i liked. I think i was like 10 when i did all this. Eventually I got into skateboarding and with that whole scene came the tie in with punk music and i got much easier access to new music.

2. How did you amass all these amazing tees?

All these shirts came from either being at shows, or from mail ordering stuff. The wishingwell shirts were all mail ordered. I got like 4 shirts, 3 records and a bunch of stickers. I traded the Youth of Today shirt in like 1991 for some awful CD. I wish i still had that one. The smorgasbord shirt i also mail ordered…but in my letter i wrote with my check (cause that’s what you did back then…mailed checks…in the mail!) that i was going to a show in CT at the anthrax. The guy who did the zine showed up with my shirts and records in hand…and went around the show asking if anyone knew me..until he found me. I sold that shirt to a guy years ago, he moved to germany. years later, some girl i dated pulled it out. Turns out it was her brother i sold it to and she brought it back after she went to see him…so she gave it back to me. now its on ebay. sad thing is, the shirts i kept are only a small portion of the shirts i had. so many ended their life being used by my dad to wax his car.

3. What’s the strongest memory attached to one of these shirts (like a great show, or a funny merch table discussion)?

I think i answered this one above. The UC shirt, one time some big dude in my high school came up and asked me, quite seriously, if it was a “gay” shirt. He thought the skinhead was grabbing another mans unit. In actuality, its the microphone. but, pretty funny nonetheless.

There you have it. Go support this dude. Plenty of provenance here. Plus each auction has a little detail on where he got the tee. You can’t beat that with a stick.