Many of you know I collect stuff—mostly weird music-related ephemera from the past. This is one of the weirdest (and coolest) things I possess: Harry “The Hipster” Gibson’s mailbox!
On my way to Arizona a couple of years ago, I stopped in the scrappy Imperial Valley town of Brawley, California, to find the abandoned mobile home where Harry “The Hipster” spent his final days (and indeed, the trailer where he shot himself). You can see lots of footage from the trailer in the Harry the Hipster documentary Boogie in Blue.
By the time I got there, the trailer was abandoned and open to the elements and in a state of rot. This cobbled-together mailbox stood out front, with the address sign clearly painted in Harry’s handwriting. It looked like it was going to fall over at any moment, and the trailer was in the same condition. So I liberated the mailbox in the name of musical historical preservation and conservation. I guarantee you if I hadn’t, it would be in a city landfill by now.
If you don’t know Harry “The Hipster” Gibson’s music, go directly to YouTube and check him out! He wrote crazy songs like “(Who Put the Benzedrine) in Mrs. Murphy’s Ovaltine,” played wild boogie-woogie piano, and I swear was the greatest influence on Jerry Lee Lewis’s visual act—standing on the piano, acting crazy, all while tossing around a mane of blond curly hair. Harry is one of my favorite musical artists, and I suspect if you listen to his music, he’ll be one of yours, too.
(Hat tip to Harry’s granddaughter Flavyn Mendoza for making the documentary, and helping me find Harry’s trailer in Brawley.)
