Dishwasher Pete
© Thomas Wilson Shawcross 14 April 2005
I jumped on the blog bandwagon and began producing my own blog this week. This is a big deal for me, who did not even participate in the zine movement. It is safe to say I have never been on the leading edge of writing. Before blogs, there were zines – independently published pamphlets that represented the personal visions of their creators. Most zines combined journalism and art (often, copyrighted art, and maybe that’s why many zines have failed to make the transfer to the internet).
My friend Rich Marcy introduced me to zines when we worked together in Buffalo, New York. My favorite zine was Dishwasher, created by Pete Jordan, a.k.a. Dishwasher Pete. In some ways, Pete has inspired me to blog, albeit not as directly as my niece, Heather Shawcross, who asked me why I wasn’t. Dishwasher Pete’s goal in life was to wash dishes in all fifty states. As Pete washed dishes, he wrote stories in his head and later published them in his zine. Here is page 1 and the front cover of Dishwasher No. 15:
Page 1
Front Cover
The cognoscenti will recognize this cover machine as a circa 1910 Vortex, Right Hand model, which featured two tanks and had a capacity of 3,000 pieces per hour, washed, rinsed and dried, and required a ¼ Horse electric motor and floor space of 5 feet 6 inches by 30 inches. Note that the piping is all in front.
Rich Marcy loaned me a Dishwasher zine from his extensive zine library, so I would have something to read on my flight home. I remember being surprised that Dishwasher Pete had been able to create a 36-page zine with stories about his dishwashing jobs and those of his friends. My surprise turned to amazement when I realized he was mining this dishwashing theme on a regular basis and had already published many issues! I had a lot of reading to catch up on.
Dishwasher Pete loaded every issue with stories of his dishdog jobs, dishwashing cartoons, literary quotes (that referenced dishwashing) and photos. He revealed the secret life of the professional itinerant dishdog and described the theater played out every night in the dish rooms and kitchens of America’s restaurants (starring the wait staff, bussers, cooks, and dishwashers).
Dishwasher Pete earned a grudging admiration for his refusal to accept any “promotion” from dishwasher to cook. He knew what he wanted to do in life, and he stuck to it. And, he was in no hurry to wash dishes in all fifty states. As he put it, “who wants to be 35 years old and have achieved all their life goals?”
At the time I discovered Dishwasher zine, Pete had washed dishes in 34 states, and I had done consulting work in 35. I was ahead of him, but then, I was older than he was. Anyway, I had never really set the goal of working in all fifty states. I wasn’t as focused as Pete.
Dishwasher Pete went on to some measure of fame as a result of his zine. He became a regular contributor to the This American Life (TAL) series of National Public Radio, hosted by Ira Glass. TAL is a great radio program, but it is not easy to describe. It is like movies on the radio. Click on this link to hear Dishwasher Pete describe his first day of washing dishes on an oil rig: http://www.thislife.org/pages/descriptions/98/115.html
I don’t think Dishwasher Pete is still writing his zine, and I haven’t heard him on TAL since he did a story about riding on a Greyhound bus. He may have quit – quitting seemed to be one of the primary joys in his life. He rhapsodized often on the ecstasy that accompanied the quitting of a job and moving on. His humor-writing style reminded me of a hybrid between Studs Lonigan and David Sedaris. I hope Dishwasher Pete is still moving on, and writing, even if it is just in his head.
I jumped on the blog bandwagon and began producing my own blog this week. This is a big deal for me, who did not even participate in the zine movement. It is safe to say I have never been on the leading edge of writing. Before blogs, there were zines – independently published pamphlets that represented the personal visions of their creators. Most zines combined journalism and art (often, copyrighted art, and maybe that’s why many zines have failed to make the transfer to the internet).
My friend Rich Marcy introduced me to zines when we worked together in Buffalo, New York. My favorite zine was Dishwasher, created by Pete Jordan, a.k.a. Dishwasher Pete. In some ways, Pete has inspired me to blog, albeit not as directly as my niece, Heather Shawcross, who asked me why I wasn’t. Dishwasher Pete’s goal in life was to wash dishes in all fifty states. As Pete washed dishes, he wrote stories in his head and later published them in his zine. Here is page 1 and the front cover of Dishwasher No. 15:
Page 1
Front Cover
The cognoscenti will recognize this cover machine as a circa 1910 Vortex, Right Hand model, which featured two tanks and had a capacity of 3,000 pieces per hour, washed, rinsed and dried, and required a ¼ Horse electric motor and floor space of 5 feet 6 inches by 30 inches. Note that the piping is all in front.
Rich Marcy loaned me a Dishwasher zine from his extensive zine library, so I would have something to read on my flight home. I remember being surprised that Dishwasher Pete had been able to create a 36-page zine with stories about his dishwashing jobs and those of his friends. My surprise turned to amazement when I realized he was mining this dishwashing theme on a regular basis and had already published many issues! I had a lot of reading to catch up on.
Dishwasher Pete loaded every issue with stories of his dishdog jobs, dishwashing cartoons, literary quotes (that referenced dishwashing) and photos. He revealed the secret life of the professional itinerant dishdog and described the theater played out every night in the dish rooms and kitchens of America’s restaurants (starring the wait staff, bussers, cooks, and dishwashers).
Dishwasher Pete earned a grudging admiration for his refusal to accept any “promotion” from dishwasher to cook. He knew what he wanted to do in life, and he stuck to it. And, he was in no hurry to wash dishes in all fifty states. As he put it, “who wants to be 35 years old and have achieved all their life goals?”
At the time I discovered Dishwasher zine, Pete had washed dishes in 34 states, and I had done consulting work in 35. I was ahead of him, but then, I was older than he was. Anyway, I had never really set the goal of working in all fifty states. I wasn’t as focused as Pete.
Dishwasher Pete went on to some measure of fame as a result of his zine. He became a regular contributor to the This American Life (TAL) series of National Public Radio, hosted by Ira Glass. TAL is a great radio program, but it is not easy to describe. It is like movies on the radio. Click on this link to hear Dishwasher Pete describe his first day of washing dishes on an oil rig: http://www.thislife.org/pages/descriptions/98/115.html
I don’t think Dishwasher Pete is still writing his zine, and I haven’t heard him on TAL since he did a story about riding on a Greyhound bus. He may have quit – quitting seemed to be one of the primary joys in his life. He rhapsodized often on the ecstasy that accompanied the quitting of a job and moving on. His humor-writing style reminded me of a hybrid between Studs Lonigan and David Sedaris. I hope Dishwasher Pete is still moving on, and writing, even if it is just in his head.
posted by Tom Shawcross | 7:07 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home