This past Sunday my wife, Heidi, and I celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary by attending a production of the Broadway hit show “Jersey Boys” at the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina in Shelter Cove on Hilton Head Island. The sold-out show was a part of a fun day with our usual State College area friends group from our Sun City development, Bob and Karen Snyder and Marge DeLozier, following a great brunch at the Black Marlin Restaurant.
We’d heard so many great things about the show and couldn’t wait to see it, even though the only seats we could get were in the very front row. We did the compulsory walk through the Arts Center Museum and avoided the trappings of spending money on merch (branded merchandise). It was a typically hot and humid summer day, so I decided to purchase drinks just before we entered the seating area. As I ordered my drink the attendant tried to persuade me to purchase a souvenir cup for an additional $3. The educated adult in me declined, as I didn’t really believe I needed another souvenir cup to go along with the many I already owned from Penn State, the PGA, NHL, NFL, MLB and many other branded mugs I got suckered into buying previously.
Perhaps I should have shelled out a few more bucks, as suddenly karma intervened. Just as we sat down and the crowd had all but filled the seats in the 300-person venue, the fire alarm went off! By law. the theater was evacuated, just 25 minutes before the show was to begin. Not surprisingly it turned out to be a false alarm. But the fire department had to come and be certain there was no foul play before we could re-enter the theater. I guess I jinxed us by not buying that doggone souvenir cup.
The cynic in me was thinking it was a great ploy to get everyone to have to walk past the theater concessions stands and buy more merch and purchase more drinks! But I’m betting one of the more “mature” attendees simply opened the wrong door. You know, the kind clearly marked “Emergency Exit Only – Alarm Will Sound.”
An unintended benefit of evacuating to the parking lot was getting to see the cast and crew up close. I even asked Gian Raffaele DiCostanco, the actor-singer who did an amazing job as Frankie Valli, if he’d ever experienced a delay like that before. He cleverly yelled back, “That’s the first time we’ve ever been ‘fired’ by a theater!” What a great attitude to take it all in stride. The show was phenomenal and a reminder that very few things are as energizing and joyful as a well-done live theater show.
My experience in the theater lobby got me thinking about a topic for a column, especially since my wife and I spent so much time downsizing our home when we moved. We are still purging things and shaking our heads at why we thought to save some items while departing with others.
What is it about our fascination with souvenirs, trinkets and memorabilia that makes us make those sometimes-impulsive decisions to shell out our hard-earned money for something that will likely lose its meaning rather quickly? Think about how many T-shirts, hoodies, hats, shot glasses, photos, posters and other forms of branded tchotchkes from vacations, plays, sporting events, theme parks and concerts for which you’ve forked over your (or your parents) funds.
By the way, what the heck does “tchotchke” even mean and where did it come from? Well, its entomology is Yiddish, and it means an inexpensive souvenir, trinket or ornament. Huh, I never knew that, and I’ve been ordering promotional “stuff” for fundraising and marketing for 40 years! One of the recommendations I read from a retirement budgeting column is “to avoid wasting money on trinkets, souvenirs and memorabilia.” Well, where’s the fun in that?
On the way home from the show, I started thinking of events we’ve attended where I succumbed to the “You brand it we’ll buy it!” urge. There was the time last year when we went to Pool Bar Jim’s off Coligny Beach on Hilton Head Island. Yep, had to buy T-shirts for the whole family. Salty Dog Café in Sea Pines? Got us for T-shirts, glasses, coasters and even a bandana and water bowl for the dog! Remember that Jimmy Buffet concert in Pittsburgh? Yup, dropped $40 bucks on the T-shirt. Pirates off to a great start this year? Boom! Bought our youngest son an official Buccos jersey (and they proceeded to lose nine in a row).
Skiing in Sun Valley Idaho in January? Branded long-sleeve shirt and ski cap and a sticker for the car. Visited Pebble Beach with the family back in 2016? Hat, golf shirt, golf towel and ball mark for me and our daughter got outfitted head to toe, including Pebble Beach golf shoes. Civil War battlefield visits to Gettysburg, Antietam, Fort Sumter, Fort Pulaski and Stone Mountain? Of course, I purchased books, DVDs, hats, shirts, maps, flags and framed photos.
We have been playing so much pickleball the past two years we had to get Palmetto Dunes branded pickleball shirts. Heidi’s says, “I’ve Got A Dinking Problem” on the back and mine says “Carpe Dink’em!” Hey, it seemed like the fun thing to do at the time. I even attended the Pickleball U.S. Open in Naples, Florida in 2022. Well, I had to buy the official U.S. Open shirt for my wife, pickleball crazy sister-in-law Karen, and of course one for me too.
The family vacation in Italy? Fuggedaboutit! We splurged. Steelers Bar in downtown Rome? T-shirts for all! At the Italian Open Tennis Tournament in Rome, we were fortunate enough to see WTA world No. 4 Jessie Pegula and her doubles partner, WTA No. 7 Coco Gauff play in person. So, we just had to buy Italian Open souvenirs, right? Then there were the golf shirts, flag and hats from this year’s RBC Heritage PGA Golf Classic at Harbour Town and flags and posters from the U.S. Open at Oakmont, the PGA Championship at Baltusrol and, of course, the Masters.
The costliest memorabilia for me by far? Attending The Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia. We dropped well over a $1,000 in merch on that trip and paid to have it shipped home. What were we thinking? I must admit that the Jack Nicklaus personalized autographed framed photo from his last Masters win that is hanging in my office is a favorite. I fell in love with golf because of Jack.
When I finally arrived home from the show, I started going from room to room looking at some of the interesting items I decided to keep and thought about others that I had donated to a charity for auction, given to Goodwill or ReStore or even pitched completely. What was the thought process, if any?
There is my framed NHL All-Star jersey collection that includes Bobby Orr, Bobby Hull, Dominik Hasek, Sidney Crosby and Mario Lemieux (that my daughter claims dibs on upon my passing!). Commemorative Wendell August Forge plates of the Penguins’ old Civic Arena and the opening of the ConSol Energy Arena (now PPG Paints Arena). A pretty significant hockey puck and signed stick collection from my coaching days and attending events, and even a Hockey Hall of Fame putter that we used on course for the old Icer Open golf outings.
When we downsized and moved, getting rid of the big stuff (furniture, yard equipment, etc.) was relatively easy compared to items with sentimental value. But I also started realizing some of the items I thought meant something to me suddenly were just things that didn’t seem to matter anymore. I got a good chuckle out of them for sure but looked at some like “what was I thinking?” I look back on some of the framed pictures and souvenirs that we kept, and I just have to SMH – that’s “shake my head” for the digitally challenged.
So back to the “why?” Perhaps it’s just as simple as our human desire to capture the feeling, the nostalgia, the emotion of some life experience to jar our memories at a later date. Let’s face it, the older we get the more jarring we need!
