History
Backstory – Where it came from
In the fall of 1992, I was in my 2nd year of art school in Philadelphia. (The University of the Arts) I was working on the last issue of the Media Locals Zine. Media is the town that I grew up in. My friends and I started a little skateboard zine. I kept it going for years. The issues got more odd as time went on. The last issue featured a spread about milkcrates.
In September of that year, I moved into a house with a few guys. We didn’t have much furniture and the house was pretty big. There was a grocery store just down the block and I started bringing milkcrates home to satisfy our household needs. First, I lofted my bed. It was six milkcrates high, on just four columns of crates, and very unstable. Obvious note: I did not have a girlfriend at this time. Second, my roommates had a party that got a little out of hand. Someone fell on our coffee table. The legs were replaced by two milkcrates. Third: My friend Don Khaler hung around the house a lot and he set up a milkcrate dividing system for our recyclable trash. The list goes on. Don and I built a skateboard ramp in the basement. The ramp was one milkcrate tall. (11 inches) The platforms of the ramp were supported by milkcrates. All of this inspired a silly group of drawings that depicted different things you can do with milkcrates. Some were real, like my bed lofting and bookcases. Others were just plain silly. This little article was the seed.
How it started – Issue #1
In 1994 I transferred colleges and moved to Providence, Rhode Island. When I moved, I rented an apartment by myself. I could do anything I wanted. I quickly decided to use milkcrates profusely. I raised my bed up. Only two milkcrates high, in the hopes that my luck with the ladies may change with the move. I created large bookcases out of milkcrates. My TV, VCR, and video game systems were all up on milkcrates. My sofa was a crappy foam thing on top of eight milkcrates. It was at this time that I began to embrace the milkcrate lifestyle. In my first semester there (Fall) I took a photo class. My final project was Milkcrate Digest #1. I was surrounded by many new friends, who were willing to take part in my silly milkcrate photo shoots. Andrew Frieband, Ben Woodward, Jen Danos, Rob Blackson, Kate Malone, and many others were involved in very loosely organized photo sessions at my apartment. I had about forty milkcrates at the ready. The ideas came quickly within the small creative group. These photo shoots were the bulk of Issue #1. My friends showed great interest in Milkcrate Digest. Their support, energy, and creativity helped me see the potential of the idea.
more coming soon…
Art
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Photos
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The Crate Wall of China
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the MBA, Milkcrate Basketball Association and milkcrate sports
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Dr. J
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Karl Malone
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Playing crateball
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Milkcrate Sports Illustrated
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The Providence Crateheads – the poorest team in football
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milkcratedigest.com overhaul
Finally I am moving and updating the milkcratedigest website. This is step one, getting the new blog up and running. Now we can all comment and communicate the goings on in the crate world. I’ll be transitioning content from the old site over in the coming days and weeks, as well as adding some new goods.
Astoria dreamscape
This image came my way many moons ago and actually ended up in the digest. I recently found the man who took the photo and his photo blog. Mike from satanslaundromat.com has allowed us to spread the milkcrate love.
