dominic mallary, totally great person, passed away last week in a fluke accident. thursday, while singing for his band at a show in boston, he developed a bruise on his neck, and later in the night a blood clot traveled from the bruise to the brain. he fell into a coma, and died friday afternoon. i met dom when he came in the shop with some noise cds he and his girlfriend angela made. soon he was volunteering at the shop every week, on thursdays. dom was always working on a new musical project or developing an existing one, and working the shop on our slowest day gave him a rare opportunity to do nothing but sit around and read books of philosophy, and interact with random people.

dom was 24 years old, and as a teenager frequented the firecracker bookstore, an anarchist bookstore in downtown worcester that i was a part of. one of the first times we met he claimed this as a source of inspiration, and this became a genuine point of personal pride for me– to think that i could have had an effect on his growth into a brilliant punk living beautifully. even more meaningful to me was that he wanted to be involved with the shop in an effort to carry this forward, and give others the experience of something new, something different. i will say this: he was someone i had a great deal of hope in, and we will have to simply imagine the fantastic heights he could’ve achieved. that i did not get to know him better, is one of my few regrets. but of course, i feel lucky that i got to know him at all.

punks rarely talk about an afterlife except to say that it doesn’t exist. nonetheless i can’t shake the feeling of dom watching over me, making sure i’m: squeezing every last bit out of life, falling in love a million times a day, trying my hardest to achieve my full potential, helping others do the same, and enjoying every minute of it.

dom, i have no intention of letting you down.

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this saturday (the 13th) HBML will be having an event to raise money for hospital and funeral expenses. if you bring in a blank garment, we will silk screen onto it an image of a very very thorny and wonderful plant in tribute to our friend. the image will be available in both black or white ink. the print will cost $5 or whatever, and all money will go to dom’s family.

someone left this under nicky revs’ car windshield the other day. he’s got a big HBML sticker on the back is why. it pays to rep!

HBML Commercial from Alex Goldberg on Vimeo.

yesssss!!!!! this is by Ben Schechter, of “the Schechter variation”! this rules!!

tonight (october 10th) dramatic instore performance by RUSSIAN ZARLAG (formerly russian tsarcasm). there will also be a movie, which will be NUTS. carlos (RZ/RT) is really unlike any performer or musician i’ve ever seen, really compelling. hopefully he’ll have some copies of his zine SLIME FREAKS.

do this do this do this

this saturday (october 11th) from 6 to 8pm, there’s an art opening at the shoppe, starring local painter keenan cassidy. the show rips already and plus he’s 13 years old. yesterday both newspapers did articles on the lad- see the womag and the telegram. the womag article is better, even though they do say “hipster”, which is a word that doesn’t actually mean anything, and the phrase “makeshift octopus”, which means “a temporary stand-in that takes the role of an octopus”, which is preposterous.

YESSSSSSSS. Joe DeGeorge, wizard-rock superstar of the band “harry and the potters“, made us this awesome video ad!!!!!!!!!! featuring turtle, boy, the duck, pizza wizard, puc man, and the puffy paint nirvana shirt that marge madigan made! KILLIN IT!!!!!!

Tribute To Duchamp
by Jacob Berendes
acoustic/kinetic sculpture
$15,000

you better believe it! fans: send in pictures of the ML stickerface that YOU put together! what, you didn’t get a sticker set yet? step to it, partner! or as roy shildt says, “don’t chumpatize yourself”. MLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLML

love this guy!

more photos from ashleigh russell’s collection of found items after the jump:

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