Today’s first pick in The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide is a returning favorite, an online retailer where you can get just about everything you need to pay tribute to our fighting forces in 1/6 Scale and more.

I’m talking about Cotswold Collectibles, who have over 30 years’ experience in supporting the action figure hobbyist.

Full disclosure: I’m friends with Greg Brown, who now owns the company. I mean, who wouldn’t be?  Greg’s a great guy and I buy tons of their GI Joe-compatible figures, toys and equipment from him every year. Cotswold Collectibles carries a great assortment of vintage GI Joe and Action Man items, ranging from the 1960s to the revival toys in the 1990s and beyond, and they also make their own Elite Brigade items that bring back the glory days of The Adventure Team and also veer into the military side of things.

This is pretty much the coolest action figure shopping site on the planet. It’s a clearing house for all things 1/6 scale, but they’ve also branched out into other popular scales of figures, and they have a wide range of items available to fit any budget. This is where you go for replacement body or uniform parts, or newly-created pieces that you can kitbash into something creative and unique.

You’ll find diorama pieces, uniforms, complete dressed figures, vehicles, and anything that you might need to help you get down to the serious business of playing with your toys.

They also have an impressive selection of cool items made right here in the USA by a collection of customizers and 3D-printing geniuses.

Cotswold also sells Greg Autore’s inflatable Ghost Tank, which is on sale this week for Thanksgiving.

Recently they added a slew of Lanard’s “Corps” figures in 1/18 and 1/6 scale, and they’ll be offering even more in the future. The “Primal Clash” line, with soliders vs. dinosaurs, is particularly cool-lookinng.

Soon Cotswold will have exclusive Adventure Command sets, showing their support for the revived Super Joe line that’s been very popular with PopCult readers.

If you want to find high-quality photos of their most recent offerings, check out their website and their Facebook Page.

Over the years Cotswold Collectibles has also reached out to import terrific new 1/6 scale items from Spain, Brazil and France and they also offer a great selection of products from Dragon Models, Sideshow Toys, Hot Toys, Threezero and many other top 1/6 high-end companies. Even with the current tariff uncertainty, they deliver the best prices posible.

If you have a collector of the original 12-inch GI Joe action figure, or a dioramist or action figure fan of any scale on your holiday shopping list, you need to shop at Cotswold Collectibles.

Your humble blogger is still hard at work on The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide, which is now going to run an extra week, and that’s not really why, but we are going to tinker with the Radio Free Charleston  that you can hear today on The AIR.  To listen to The AIR, you simply have to point your cursor over and tune in at the website, or you could just stay here, and  listen to the cool embedded player found elsewhere on this page.  

You can hear Radio Free Charleston Tuesdays at 10 AM and 10 PM, with boatloads of replays throughout the week.

Today’s show is the first of three “Best of 2025” episodes. I open the show with a new song, plus a new set of six tunes, and then we go back to earlier this year for chunks of previous shows–the best chunks–I’m talking USDA Grade A chunks of internet radio–so you can revisit the vital and thriving local and independent music scene that our free-format show brings you each week. Also, I’m going to be out of town and this keeps me from having to just schedule reruns.

We open our show with the opening track from the newly-released and highly-anticipated debut album by Charleston’s own Gardenn, and then we mix in six more new tracks from Jim And The Sea Dragons, Corduroy Brown, The Capenter Ants, Cheap Trick and more.

And then we check out some of the best segments from Radio Free Charleston from the first two months of 2025. We don’t do the hourly breaks clean at the top of the hour, so the playlist is just one long stream.

Check out the playlist. Links will take you to pages for the artists…

RFC V5 249

hour one
Gardenn “Hello Gardenn”
Corduroy Brown “Hit Me Baby (One More Time)”
Jim And The Sea Dragons “Whale Shark”
Ed-g-Mary-A “Still Hurting”
The Carpenter Ants “Sending My Love”
Custard Flux “Opportunity Knocks”
Cheap Trick “The Riff That Won’t Quit”
Novo Combo “E-Train Revisited”
Shining Glass “Three Died”
The Polkamaniacs “Dream Water Wheel (Death Deluxe Remix)”
Hellaphant “In Between Days”
SPACE FREQ  “Open Your Mind”
Lene Lovich “Cats Away”
Tonto’s Expanding Headband “Timewhys”
Kate Fagan “Go Faster”
Ringo Starr “Rosetta”
Blue Million “No Man’s Land”
Deni Bonet  “Red Dog”
Raymond Scott “Powerhouse”
The Bible Beaters “Can’t Get To Heaven”
Ghoulbox “Rats In The Morgue”
Tony Levin “Turn It Over”
The Settlement “Rainbow”
Mogwai “Fact Boy”
Marillion “Forgotten Sons”
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel “Red is a Mean, Mean Color”
Hello June “Dance (M.Walker Remix)”
The Heavy Editors “Same Ole Way”
The Subjunctives “We’re Not Friends Anymore”
Camouflage “Laughing”
Annie Lennox “Train In Vain”
Brian Diller “Sooner or Later”
Scott Collins & The Sovereignty “Lament for the Loss”
Saycouth “Magic”
The Heavy Hitters Band“Come Dance With Me”
Madeline Peyroux “Dance Me To The End Of Love”
Massing with Shelem “Shabby”
Gyasi  “23”

You can hear this episode of Radio Free Charleston Tuesday at 10 AM and 10 PM on The AIR, with replays Wednesday at 9 AM,  Thursday at 2 PM, Friday at 9 AM, Saturday at Noon and Midnight, Sunday at 8 PM and  Monday at 11 AM, exclusively on The AIR. Now you can also hear a different classic episode of RFC every weekday at 5 PM, and we bring you a marathon all night long Saturday night/Sunday morning.

I’m also going to  embed a low-fi, mono version of this show right in this post, right here so you can listen on demand.

After RFC, stick around for encores of last week’s episodes of  MIRRORBALL at 1 PM and Curtain Call at 2 PM.

At 3 PM  The Swing Shift is an encore of two recent episodes.

 You can hear The Swing Shift Tuesday at 3 PM, with replays Wednesday at 8 AM, Thursday at 9 AM,  Friday at 10 AM and 8 PM and Saturday afternoon, only on The AIR . You can also hear all-night marathons, seven hours each, starting at Midnight Thursdays and Sundays.

Keith Haring – Dancing Figures
LEGO Art
Around $120

Today’s second entry in The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide continues today’s 1980’s theme with the LEGO recreation of the work of Keith Haring, the iconic artist of the decade. It’s the perfect gift for fans of Haring and 80’s pop culture.

With this LEGO set, you can recreate in three dimensions, Haring’s “Dancing Figures.” Once completed, you have one of the art world’s most famous motifs into your home with this frameless LEGO Art Keith Haring – Dancing Figures building set for adults.

This brick-built piece of pop art decor is inspired by Keith Haring’s dancing figures, featuring their instantly recognizable bold lines and vibrant colors. The 5 dancing figures are built as separate models to give you the choice of how to order and display them.

Aftermarket kits by third-party manufacturers, which can be found at Amazon, allow you to add lights or a Haring backdrop to the finished pieces.

Even without those kits, this Keith Haring LEGO Art set can be hung on a wall or displayed on a flat surface.

This is a great home decor gift idea for other art lovers and Keith Haring fans who want to enjoy an immersive arts and crafts activity.

This buildable art set comes with 5 building instruction booklets, 1 for each figure, so you can create your Keith Haring dancing people models with friends or family

LEGO Art’s Keith Haring Dancing Figures has 1,773 pieces and measures over 13 in. (33 cm) high, 34.5 in. (87 cm) wide and 1.5 in. (4 cm) deep.

This LEGO set sells for aroiund $120 at most retailers who carry LEGO’s high-end Art sets, like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and LEGO Stores.

Rewinding The ’80s
By John Malahy
Running Press Adult
ISBN-139780762489664
$25.99

Today’s first entry in The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide is our second recommendation from the book division of Turner Classic Movies, and it’s the perfect gift for the film buff, child of the 80s, or Gen X pop culture maven on your holiday shopping list.

Rewinding The ’80s: Cinema Under the Influence of Music Videos, Action Stars, and a Cold War, is an in-depth look at the ultimate collaborative art form during the “Me Decade.” This was when trash was flashy, the mainstream embraced the cheesy and the movie industry was fueled by excess and cocaine.

Readers can take a trip back to their favorite video store with this in-depth journey through the highs and lows of ’​80s cinema—with profiles of hundreds of films—and how Hollywood studios around the globe reflected a period of cultural change.

The movies were flying blind in 1980. “New Hollywood” was over and the era of auteur-driven, personal films that had defined moviemaking since the late ‘60s came to a symbolic end with Heaven’s Gate (1980), replaced by a new world of multiplex blockbusters supported by massive marketing campaigns.

Beyond the high-school comedies and hardbody action films came a new wave of cinematic excitement—an era defined by Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Purple Rain, When Harry Met Sally, E.T., and Top Gun, each of which are now classics for a new generation of nostalgic movie lovers.

The decade saw works that uniquely captured an era of cultural and technological change, from new indie auteurs to the highs and lows of animation, an emergent LGBTQ+ cinema, the last days of the Cold War, and the explosive impact of MTV.

With wit and authority, author John Malahy provides fresh insight about the films, filmmakers, and stars who illuminated each of the exciting new facets of Hollywood throughout the decade.

Illustrated with more than 200 full-color photos, Rewinding the ’80s is a lively, intelligent, and immersive look at an indelible moment in modern history.

You can order this from any bookseller, or from the publisher, who has a handy list of other online retailers, who might have the book cheaper, on their info page.

This week we go back to the awesome inspiration of Cinncinnati’s Union Terminal, an Art Deco Mecca that has already inspired a couple of pieces in this space since I visited there for the first time in August.

This time it’s a quick acrylic painting on cheap canvas board, done from memory, using a limited palette of colors because I need to stock up again in a couple of weeks when I go to Blick Art in Chicago.

This was just me limbering up the fingers after slaving away on The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide all month.  And that, by the way, will now run into December, instead of ending this week. More gift suggestions came in over the transom while we were putting it together. Look for two more entries later today.

Actually we don’t really have a transom, but it sure would be cool if we did.

This painting is me trying to be less accurate and more expressive and also less Hopperesque. I don’t want to be nailed down to hyper-realism all the time.

If you want to see this image larger, click HERE.

Later today we continue The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide.

Meanwhile, over in radioland, Monday beginning at 2 PM on The AIR, we bring you a classic episode of Psychedelic Shack, and then at 3 PM we do the same with Herman Linte’s weekly showcase of the Progressive Rock of the past half-century, Prognosis.  You can listen to The AIR at the website, or on the embedded radio player elsewhere on this page.

Psychedelic Shack can be heard every Monday at 2 PM, with replays Tuesday at 9 AM, Wednesday at 10 PM, Friday at 1 PM,  and Saturday at 9 AM. You can hear Prognosis on The AIR Monday at 3 PM, with replays Tuesday at 7 AM, Wednesday at 8 PM, Thursday at Noon, and Saturday at 10 AM.

Tonight at 9 PM we bring you our newish Monday night line-up featuring two hours each of Curtain Call and Beatles Blast, plus six hours overnight with an assortment of our programming from Haversham Recording Institute.

The above concert was run a little more than ten years ago in this spot, but I had to go back and fix the coding so it would play, and since I think we could use a little break from Holiday stuff and all that, I figure it might good to remind everybody how cool Emerson, Lake and Palmer were by giving it an encore.

Emerson, Lake and Palmer…this is a band that he-man rock critics held in high contempt. A prog-rock supergroup, this band sold out arenas and moved millions of albums back in the 1970s when most of the critic’s darlings of the day couldn’t get arrested. YES, Emerson Lake and Palmer and Genesis were the “Big Three” of progressive rock back in the 1970s. While none of these bands could catch a critical break from Rolling Stone and the musical gatekeeper elite, all of them sold millions of records and concert tickets. ELP may have been the most-hated band in the closed clique of rock critics of the day. They still aren’t in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

And so, tonight we bring you ELP, in all their bombastic glory, with a full orchestra no less, at their peak in 1977 performing live in Montreal. Two-thirds of the band are no longer with us, but Carl Palmer is still touring the world, keeping their music alive, playing live drums to video playbacks of Emerson and Lake at their best.

Welcome back, my friends…

i

This week we go back to June, 2012, for the second half of our coverage of FestivALL.

This week we look at episode 162 of the show, including music by The Bob Thompson Unit, The Boatmen, Raqs Shakti, Tood, Sophie and Will Burge, Duo Divertido, Katzenbdrummers, Bare bones and The Leon Waters Blues Band. You’ll also see Ian Bode, Dr. Sketchy’s, The Dance Company of West Virginia and all kinds of other cool stuff. It’s nearly an hour of a city becoming a work of art, or something.

Original notes are HERE.

The PopCulteer
November 21, 2025

It’s a been a while since I’ve done a Kickstarter Alert, and I’m gonna need to interrupt The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide for a moment because there are FOUR great campaigns to tell you about, and one of them is only running for a few more days. Each set has a variety of reward levels for you to explore, which I’m telling you now so I don’t have to repeat it four times in the rest of this post. Also, if there are lines through some of the links, just ignore it. They will work. It’s just some weird quirk where WordPress does not play nice with Kickstarter all the time.

Fearsome Weirdos: Haunted Heaps 2 Trading Cards

Okay, this is the second series of Robert Jimenez’ trading card series that mashes up hot rods with cool monsters and it’s the latest entry in his Fearsome Weirdos series. You can find out more about that going to his ZeroStreet Store.

Fearsome Weirdos: Haunted Heaps 2 Trading Cards is a Gruesome Collection Of Revolting Rides and Wicked Wheels!

The 36 card set is made up of 24 Vile Vehicles, and Highway Hellions, a subset featuring portraits of 12 of the drivers.

The set also includes a lenticular card, a sticker and a promo card, all packaged in a tuck box

The set is written and illustrated by Robert Jimenez, with some writing assists by Paul Harris and Peter Zeis!

Also, available as add-ons are Sketch Cards, Original Art and more! And if you missed out on the first Haunted Heaps set, pick that up along with other Fearsome Weirdos sets which are available as add-ons!

This campaign only runs five more days, wrapping up the day before Thanksgiving. so rush over now and KIck in. It’s already fully-funded, so you know you will get your creepy rides.

Lincoln Mini-Monsters 3.75″ Action Figures

The classic, iconic Lincoln Monsters are shrinking down, ready to invade as a whole new scale of figures!

Exactly one year ago I told you about a new line of MEGO-scale figures that revived the classic cheesy knockoff Lincoln Monsters. The original Lincoln International figures were notoriously fragile, with cloth outfits that seemed more like cheap paper. They were knockoffs of knockoffs, and came with all the joys and pitfalls.

Now, the team that brought you the 8″ reproductions is back with an ambitious new project. Using special mad-scientist technology, they have shrunk the original Lincoln Monsters down to half their original size, and are Kickstarting production of these smaller ReAction-sized figures.

This campaign runs until November 30, and it’s fully-funded, and has blown through some of its stretch goals already. They’ve already cleared enough to make the original six figures, and are branching out into cheesy-knockoff “What If” territory with more figures as well as playsets.

This campaign does require the use of the dreaded BackerKit to collect the shipping fees once they’re ready to ship in early 2027, but considering how fast the post office is raising rates these days, you can’t blame them.

Go check out the campaign and wallow in the monstrosity.

Pirates & Privateers Series Four

From my online buddy, RRParksCards, comes series four of an awesome trading card set. This campaign runs about another two weeks, and it’s way beyond fully funded, and it’s expected to ship in December.

Quoting from the campaign, this series includes:

72-card Base Set of PIRATES — a reproduction of the classic PIRATE’S PICTURE GUM series of 1936. And original set in mid grade would cost $1,000s ‘n $1,000s … but now you can have the full series in MINT condition for a pittance … a PITTANCE I sez … yarrr!
11-card subset by Macarie of classic era Pirates Portraits … pirates that have never been on a trading card before. Written and ‘figured out’ by Reidr Daniels and Matt McClaine … artwork by Claudiu Macarie … based on likenesses we imagined as what modern day actors ought to play them in a movie.
Sticker Subset of maps and flags with artwork by Marsha Parkins
Jean Gerome 3D Lenticular of BLACKBEARD
Elisabetta Stoinich 3D Lenticular of BLACKBEARD
Classic era Pirates & Parrot 3D Lenticular
KOSTO 9-booklet reproduction set of the 1920s ‘Pirate Pudding Booklets’.
KOSTO 9-card reproduction set of the 1950s Pirate Decals … instead of ‘decals’, though, they are raised UV texture cards!
BLACKBEARD genuine etching card. Artwork by Elisabetta Stoinich and produced in genuine ETCHING media by RRParks. Limited, numbered edition.
TWO Raised UV Arthur Rackham MERMAID cards
E. S. Hardy Raised UV MERMAID card
Pirate’s Picture Gum header card
Theodore Kittelsen SEA MONSTER Raised UV special card
Pirate’s Picture Gum reproduction wrapper … FOUR of these, wrapped around 18 different cards … have the fun of opening four packs of this classic era Pirate’s Picture Gum cards to build your set. Each wrapper has a complete checklist.
KOSTO decal pack wrapper (contains the complete set)
Macarie Pirates Portrait wrapper (contains the complete set)
Master Set limited edition Raised UV insert card
Packaging header panel
Two ‘tobacco style’ creator cards (one of Redir Daniels and one of RRParks)
ORIGINAL ART SKETCH CARD!
Treasure Trove METAL CARD with COA on the back … metal card produced by Faerie Metal.
Elisabetta Stoinich BLACKBEARD sepia ‘coffee stain’ variation.
Pirates & Privateers mini flier
DIY Pirates & Privateers Sketch Card Blank
Tim Shinn BLACKBEARD promo card
Let’s talk about the SKETCH CARDS a bit …
SKETCH CARDS! Oh yes indeed… original art sketch cards have been created (and are in the process of being created) — every one of them talented!

Go check out the Kickstarter page and get on board with this amazing card set.

Metropolis Picture Gum Trading Cards

Finally, we recommend a campaign that is near and dear to me because, not only do I love the movie, Metropolis, this project was also the subject of my final article for Non Sport Update.

In anticipation of the 100th anniversary of the classic 1927 Fritz Lang film, we have Metropolis Picture Gum trading cards from NostalgiCards. A faithful tribute to the non-sport sets of the 1920s-1930s, this is the first time a complete card series has been dedicated to this early sci-fi masterpiece.

NostalgiCards’ Todd Riley began work on Metropolis trading cards back in 1996, when it seemed that the film was about to slip into the public domain. In fact, it was to be their first product.

Riley picks up the story, “…I had been a collector and also a dealer of cards, in 1995, when non-sport cards were having a resurgence in popularity, I decided I wanted to try my hand at manufacturing cards. Metropolis was about to enter the public domain soon and being a fan, I thought it would make a great looking card set. So, I decided that it was going to be my first set and I started working on it. Then in 1998, the public domain laws changed and they were extended another 20 years. So, the project got shelved.”

NostalgiCards went on to release sets like Morbid Monster Cards and Galaxy Goons from 1999 to 2003, then Riley took a break from creating his own sets.

About the cards, Riley tells us, “The set consists of 45 base cards that tell the story on the backs. Then there are 4 bio cards which can be found 1:6 packs. Taking a nod from classic non-sport sets from the era, I will have color variations. Since the movie is in black and white, I decided to do 4 different duotone colors on each card (including the bio cards). The 4 colors are: green, orange, red, and yellow. This makes the series quite colorful for a B&W film.” The bio cards depict the film’s director and co-writer, Fritz Lang, plus the two stars and Lang’s co-writer, Thea von Harbou.

Riley has also designed a period-authentic album, and a three-piece display box that can also serve as a really great display piece. All the graphics are taken straight from the film and just scream “Art Deco.” Metropolis remains one of the most visually striking films ever made, and this NostalgiCards set is a fitting tribute.

Rewards for the Kickstarter campaign include: A single pack of five cards; A 45-card mixed color base set; a 24 pack mixed color box, as well as a Master Set of all four color sets and a “Hot Box” mini-case with all four color sets, each containing a single color.

Plus there are add-ons including the Album and other base and master set options as well as some limited offerings of previous NostalgiCard sets. An added nostalgic bonus is that each wax pack of cards contains one stick of Beeman’s chewing gum!

I know that last part would get ya. Go Kick in now. the set is fully-funded, so you can expect to receive your rewards in March, 2026.

And that is this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for fresh content every day, including The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide, which is now going to overflow November, and run until the first week of December, with the Master List hitting one week after Black Friday.

The Beatles Anthology
Anthology 4
Anthology Collection
Apple Records
Available where records are sold, or from The Beatles Store (exlusive versions) or Amazon (heavily discounted)

The second entry today in The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide is a must-have for die-hard Beatles fans, and if you were paying close attention, you probably noticed that this was originally scheduled for last Friday, following up four days of solo Beatles gift ideas, but I had to hold it until now because when I scheduled the Gift Guide,  I didn’t realize that it wasn’t released until today.

Back in August Beatle fans were surprised when it was announced that there would be a new release, Anthology 4, this Christmas. This is a follow-up to the three previous volumes, released on CD in 1995 and 1996, and is tied to the re-airing of the Beatles Anthology documentary series, with a new ninth episode, which will begin airing on Disney+ Thanksgiving Weekend.

Anthology 4 features 13 previously unreleased tracks and 17 songs selected from Super Deluxe versions of five classic albums. In addition to fascinating outtakes dating from 1963 to 1969, the album includes new 2025 mixes by Jeff Lynne of ‘Free As A Bird’ and ‘Real Love’. Anthology 4 presents 26 tracks that have never previously been released on vinyl.

This can be bought as a stand-alone release on vinyl or CD, but is also part of a huge, super-deluxe 12-LP set.

The Anthology Collection 12LP set includes the three groundbreaking Anthology albums from the mid-1990s, remastered in 2025 by Giles Martin, plus the new compilation, Anthology 4. Containing atotal of 191 tracks, the collection’s studio outtakes, live performances, broadcasts and demos reveal the musical development of The Beatles from 1958 to the final single ‘Now And Then’ released in 2023.

Pressed on 180g black vinyl, each 3LP album will be housed within a triple gatefold sleeve, featuring the original art, sleevenotes by Mark Lewisohn, and restored photos for Anthology 1-3; Anthology 4 has brand new sleevenotes written by Kevin Howlett alongside photos. The outer slipcase features the original Klaus Voorman triptych art, and a 3/4 O-Card image of the band with detailed track listing.

The Beatles Store exclusive format will contain 4 x 12” band photo art cards in a custom black, numbered envelope (8500 total). I’m not sure that the art cards are worth the extra expense. This set is also available as an 8 CD set for a fraction of the cost of the vinyl version.

It all depends on the preferred format for your giftee.

Whether you just go with the single release of Anthology 4, or the mega-boxset of all four volumes of Anthology, you can’t go wrong giving Beatles music to a Beatles fan.

The first entry today in The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide is for two great local businesses that…aren’t local to us. I know I tend to make PopCult a little WV-centric, but the truth is, probably 90% of our hundreds of thousands of readers are from outside of the state.

Heck, a big chunk are from outside the country.

So today I’m going to tell you about a couple of great, quirky local-to-other-cities businesses, both of whom have had products featured in the Gift Guide before, The Ky 4 Ky Fun Mall in Lexington, and Transit Tees in Chicago.

The Kentucky 4 Kentucky Fun Mall has a brick-and-mortar location at 1315 WINCHESTER ROAD #341 in Lexington, and while that may sound a little complicated, it isn’t. In fact, it’s in the Eastland Shopping Center, which is right on US 60.

Yes, that’s the same US 60 that runs through West Virginia. You could, if you wanted to take the scenic route, hop on 60 (MacCorkle Avenue) around the Mound in South Charleston, stay on US 60 and go West until you find yourself in Lexington a few hours later. The Eastland Shopping Center is on the right, just after you cross the Route 4/New Circle Road beltway.

Once you get there, you’ll find the Kentucky 4 Kentucky Fun Mall. It’s part tourist trap, part oddities museum, part gift store, but most famously it is the final resting place for the real life Cocaine Bear, of recent Hollywood movie fame. Is it the real Cocaine Bear?

Why not?

As KY 4 KY says…

OUR MISSION IS TO ENGAGE AND INFORM THE WORLD BY PROMOTING KENTUCKY PEOPLE, PLACES, AND PRODUCTS. AND TO KICK ASS FOR THE COMMONWEALTH!

Of course, they have a sizable assortment of T-shirts, soaps, stickers and even plush devoted to the creature that made cocaine funny again. They also have all kinds of other cool things, like shirts that list Kentucky cities with lewd-sounding names, and merchandise that tips its trucker hat to Colonel Sanders, Bourbon and popular racing horses.

KY 4 KY Fun Mall is filled with all kinds of cool stuff, not all of it Cocaine Bear-related, and it’s a fun diversion if you find yourself in Lexington. And if you don’t find yourself there, go to their website and at least buy yourself a Ho Bag.

Meanwhile, in Chicago, to which I cannot provide easy, if implausible, driving directions, we have Transit Tees. With locations in Wicker Park and Andersonville, and a very accessible website, this store celebrates the city of the wind with a variety of cool T Shirts, Hats. home decor items and several fun and exciting board games and card games.

They’ve also added some really cool LED home decor items lately.

You can find games devoted to the El, The Loop, Rat Hunting and some of the peculiar Chicago culinary creations. They also have jigsaw puzzles, Christmas ornaments, enamel pins, and, just as KY 4 KY has Cocaine Bear, Transit Tees has the Freakin’ Pope!

Best of all, until December 1, all website orders can get 24 % off by using the code, “24-OFF.”

Because it’s their 24th anniversary.

As for who they are, it’s all in their history…

Founded in 2001 by Tim Gillengerten, Transit Tees takes visuals from Chicago’s metropolitan landscapes and transforms them into fashionable artwork, accessories, home goods and more. An official manufacturer of Chicago Transit Authority products, Transit Tees locally designs, fabricates and retails their signature brand online and at two storefronts in Wicker Park and Andersonville. Items in stores are created in their design studio and produced on-site by local artists and craftsmen.

You can find all sort of cool gift ideas for anybody on your holiday shopping list who loves the city of Chicago (like your humble blogger and his wife, who got married there).