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There were hundreds of craft vendors set up on Park Ave.; a mile of white tents running double down the center line.
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Hundreds, nay, thousands of people walked through during the beautiful Sunday, checking out the crafts, food, and entertainment, which included poetry slams, bands, singers, and exotic belly-type dancing.
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After I finished my rigorous setting up duties, I went a walkin' to check out the scene. A few yards up Park Street from Liz's tent (she was sharing with Candace of the Intuitive Garden) I spied a store called That’s Entertainment.
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I went to college in Worcester back in the day, but I don't remember any store like this. And it looks like it's been there awhile. (However, I do remember Al-bums. Stacks of cool vinyl.)
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That's Entertainment is a warehouse chock full of new and used comics, graphic novels, action figures, toys, records, books, and other various memorabilia and ephemera.
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I spent almost 2 hours browsing, checking out the huge selection of unusual comics and graphic novels. At the back of the store I found a trove of used books. Mostly fantasy and sci-fi, but also some tasty pulp novels from the fifties. I picked up a lot of 12 John D. MacDonald paperbacks.
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Mostly pre-Travis McGee era titles, with names like One Monday We Killed Them All, You Live Once, and Dead Low Tide. Complete with appropriately lurid cover illustrations:
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Pretty hot stuff for the 1950s. I've only read titles from MacDonald's color-themed Travis McGee novels (Nightmare in Pink, Darker Than Amber, A Purple Place for Dying) so it'll be fun to see how it all began.
I picked up a new graphic novel I'd been looking for called Filthy Rich. A crime story that takes place in the 60s. I guess my mind has climbed in the wayback machine and broke off the knob somewhere around the end of the film noir era.
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I couldn't resist this oddity from Peter Bagge (creator of Hate and Neat Stuff) called Apocalypse Nerd, about a couple of buddies who return to Seattle after camping in the mountains and discover their city's been nuked. Hilarity ensues.
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Actually, it kind of does, with Bagge's spot-on character studies of nervous losers and slackers in extremis. This is the first of 6 issues. Guess I'll have to track down the other five to see how it turns out for A. Nerd.
When I finally went up front to pay, I realized the place was jammed with curious and collectors alike. Maybe this had something to do with the crowd:
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The next time you're in Worcester, head on down to Park Ave. and check out That's Entertainment. Oh, and see you at next year's stART on the Street.