Posted May 03, 2017in Collections & Hobbies
Rob Kuhn has a love like that “She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah…” When the immortal Beatles lyrics above played on the car radio four decades ago, Rob Kuhn was hooked. “I was like, this song is great,” he remembers. Riding skateboards and tossing the football had previously been his
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Posted April 05, 2017in Collections & Hobbies
Not done making noise Interesting conversation with Chris McAninch is easy. He makes his own whiskey, used to sell guns, and he patented the Handi-Racker — a product that helps manipulate the slide on a semi-automatic pistol, thus making it easier to fire. But when McAninch wants to really liven
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Posted March 01, 2017in Collections & Hobbies
Dumpster diving with Dr. Vote “Do you know everything that’s in here?” That’s the question to John Olsen, a collector of political campaign memorabilia who is widely known as “Dr. Vote” for his stockpile of sometimes rare, fun and non-partisan “Get Out The Vote” items. Olsen thinks for a moment
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Posted February 01, 2017in Collections & Hobbies
Some might say Randy Bieghler is sick. The Des Moines native works in IT, he has a family, and he generally appears to be a regular person — until he reveals that he roots for cold weather. “My wife would say I’m an ice fishing fanatic,” he laughs. “I enjoy
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Posted January 04, 2017in Collections & Hobbies
“I originally started listening to my mom’s Elton John, Billy Joel and Paul Simon records,” admits Steve Ratcliff. From there, he says he turned in to a “total metalhead.” “A lot of the metal I used to have, I’ve replaced it with punk,” he laughs. “When I was a young
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Posted November 30, 2016in Collections & Hobbies
Don’t tell Mitch Clefisch’s mom, but after 40 years, maybe it’s time for him to fess up. “The first day ‘Star Wars’ was on HBO (circa 1983), I pulled the whole, ‘I’m sick, ahem, ahem (coughs),’ and I was able to stay home from school and watch ‘Star Wars’ that
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Posted November 02, 2016in Collections & Hobbies
When two become one, it’s a beautiful thing. But a wedding isn’t just a joining of love; it’s also a combination of two tangible sets of real-world items. When two people’s souls are united, two people’s stuff now needs to merge under one roof. Tony Kirby is engaged to be
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Posted October 05, 2016in Collections & Hobbies
In between rocking all night and partying every day, hall-of-fame rock band KISS took time to honor veterans at its Aug. 19 performance on the Grandstand at the Iowa State Fair. Among those honored was former Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class James Martin, who got more than just a meet-and-greet
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Posted August 31, 2016in Collections & Hobbies
Deep in the heart of Greg Malone’s garage, a bright light shines in the darkness, heat radiates from the open garage door, and the sound of metal hammering against metal rings out. Malone lives within a stone’s throw of the seller of the least expensive form of any item in
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Posted August 09, 2016in Collections & Hobbies
“Excuse me, sir. Do you mind if I take your picture?” If you asked filmmaker Kristian Day three years ago if he’d be taking photos of strangers smoking on their front porches on a street behind a row of Ingersoll Avenue businesses, he would have said no. He doesn’t identify
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