A Celebration of Steves
If you're lucky enough to have a Steve in your life, my friend Steve Kurtz has created the perfect gift, a picture book called Steve's America: A Celebration of Steves. You can order it here.
Flipping through the book, I noticed a disproportionate representation of photos from Upstate South Carolina (samples here and here. When I mentioned this geographical peculiarity, Steve replied:
As to Greenville-Spartanburg, that was just one of the fascinating things about doing the book--you never knew where you'd find cool stuff. Sure, the populous states had plenty of places, that was bound to happen. But the in-between states were always mysteries. One state might be a washout while the next was amazing. For example, Minnesota was a disappointment, but Wisconsin more than made up for it. And going down the Eastern seaboard, while the state of Virginia offered surprisingly little, South Carolina was a cornucopia. It's not that I stayed there long, it's just that there were a bunch of places, relatively close together, worth checking out. I might add that Steve's Pallets (listed in the phone book as "Steve's Bags Gaylord Box" for some reason I can't understand) was way out along a country road and, just as I was about to turn back, I found it. The guy let me walk all around the area after I first promised I wasn't with the IRS.
In fact, I left out a few places since I had so much. There's Steve's Car Wash of Inman, Steve's Muffler in Greer (just a mile up the same street as Steve's Fuel Oil), Homework By Steve in Greenville and Steve's Printing in Spartanburg, none of which made the final cut. I remember tracking down Steve's Printing and it turned out to be the guy's garage. I knocked at his front door and no one answered. Then I walked into his backyard, into his garage, and took some photos. I was quite worried I might get in trouble, but no one was around.
And that's the kind of stuff I did for several months. It was a strange time.
Buy the book here.