Jimmy Buttons and His Videovore Crew Prepare to Go Totally Tape Ape with the Upcoming Tape Ape VHS Swap Meet Happening on April, 25th 2015 in Columbus, OH! Buy, Sell, Trade and Unite!!
VHS-obsessed events do much more than bring together analog-inclined minds in search of brain-bending magnetic magic. They foster the tangibility and expansion of a culture. Tape-talking online forums such as Horror VHS Collectors Unite! and those java-jivin’ VHS revivin’ VHS Misfits help collect the central interests, opinions and overall conscience of the VHS collector via the internet, but it’s events such as Severed, Tape Eaters, VHSwap and now Jimmy Buttons’ upcoming Tape Ape VHS Swap Meet that make the VHS collector culture explode into an arena of reality. These events bring fellow Tapeheads face to face in an atmosphere of pure analog-driven excitement, resulting in far out friendships, immense amounts of video knowledge, and of course, your very own sexy stack of radical analog slabs. But don’t take my word for it, mang. Read on, my fellow Videovores, and hang with Jimmy Buttons as we prepare to dig on groovy video vibrations and go absolutely Tape Ape!...
Probably less than 5 known copies exist. There was a bounty out for this tape put up by Chris Bouchie of King of the Witches, and I really don't collect adult titles, so the rest was history. That's the shit that makes me go Tape Ape, totally.
The radical-badical, totally bodacious button logo for Jimmy! HE THE BUTTON MAN, MAN.
Tell us a little about yourself and your Videvore habits. What makes you go totally Tape Ape, mang?! Hi, I'm Jimmy. I live in a big ol' punk house in Columbus, Ohio and I have made a profession out of making buttons. I guess that makes me a professional buttoneer? I have been celebrating the vegan lifestyle for 20 years, and am currently a little obsessed with green smoothies (spinach, banana, coconut water, tahini, ginger, turmeric, black pepper. TRY IT!). I truly enjoy cooking in general; it's a good outlet for creativity. I've been waffling everything unconventiionally lately. Tater tots? Yep. Leftover pizza? Of course. Fried tofu? Absolutely. One day I will conquer the Falafel Waffle and the world will be mine! Cats are awesome and I enjoy travel. My Videovore habits? Well, just as most of us who are inclined to this "dead" format, I grew up with a VHS deck positioned neatly atop our TV set. There's something you just can't explain about the look and feel of a VHS tape played through a clunky chunk of a boxy tube TV. It's just right. I never got into DVDs, and still have never watched a Blu-Ray. There are just scads of interesting content out there on VHS that will never see the light of day on digital formats. I'm not so much interested in Hollywood blockbusters; I wanna watch the no-budget zombie film some kid made in 1989 on his parents' camcorder. I'm constantly scraping across the city for tapes, every opportunity I have. I don't even go to the Post Office without making a stop or two along the way. Barring the winter, I tend to travel far and wide on VHS treasure hunting adventures! Finding those rare VHS gems make me go Tape Ape, son! Two years ago, I stumbled onto a rather mint copy of one of the rarest and most infamous titles among the most elite of collectors, an adult film entitled Wet Wilderness.
The flyer for the upcoming Tape Ape VHS Swap Meet! LOOK AT THAT TAPE APE GO, MANG!!
Speaking of going Tape Ape, that's the name of this totally awesome analog-inclined event you’re orchestrating. You know I can dig it. Tell us about the inspiration to put it together and how it came to be. Where and when's it happening? Yeah! I'm really excited for this!! Tape Ape VHS Swap Meet is happening in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday, April 25, 2015 from Noon 'til 6PM at the Mint Gallery, 42 West Jenkins Avenue. The inspiration for this event was born from the groups on Facebook: VHS Collectors Unite and VHS Misfits Ironfist Bliss, equally, if not more, from similar events I have attended like the Tape Eaters convention and Severed. Local Tapeheads Nick Rohrbach, Kevin Merryman, and I have talked about the possibility of having a get-together with a few of the other local Tapeheads from the groups to swap some tapes. After some time, we realized there were many more collectors in and around our city than we had initially thought. Couple that with the cities nearby within driving distance and it pretty much just presented itself. Columbus is just a good central location for any type of event; I guess we're just lucky in that sense.
Jimmy created the too groovy buttons for Vultra Video's fresh VHS big box re-issue of the underground cult messterpiece DARKNESS! That's the OG release featured, though. BAM. BOOM. BITCHIN. BUTTONS.
What can Tapeheads expect when they waltz into the upcoming Tape Ape VHS swap. How many vendors, any guests, etc? The event will be free for general attendance. Anyone, regardless of Tapehead rank, can come and shop for analog goodies from the dozens of vendors. There will be thousands and thousands of VHS tapes of all kinds!! Heavy emphasis will be based on Horror, cult, and exploitation films, but there will be something for everyone from children's titles to adult titles, sci-fi, comedy, drama, etc. You'll even see plenty of big box and clamshell releases for the hardcore collectors, too!! Tapeheads can also expect to see a bit of other formats like Laser Disc, CED, and Betamax, as well as VCRs, and players of other analog formats. We're looking to host 20-30 vendors, or hopefully more. There has been a lot of interest so far! No celebrity guests or anything like that, as of yet. We really didn't aspire to have that "type" of convention. Just a little bit of a swap meet to get some friends together and strum up a little bit of local interest in a format that is widely considered "dead."
A peek at just a small portion of Jimmy's personal collection. Dang, man! Some real head-spinners up in he-uh!
What do you think makes these events so important? What does it do for the community and general appreciation for the format? These events are important as strengtheners to the VHS online community. We spend so many hours on the computer, reading and writing words to a two-dimensional screen, to hundreds of folks who are scattered around the country, and the world, for that matter. We NEED events like this to stay grounded in reality and remind ourselves that there are so many folks out there JUST LIKE US, who enjoy the same things we sometimes feel are so strange, since society puts us on the fringe because we choose to embrace a dead format. We must UNITE and STICK TOGETHER!! It's events like this that may give a bit of publicity to our otherwise underground community, giving other, previously unconnected folks the chance to connect.
There he is! My Videovore homie! Jimmy gettin' all trippy dippy with his froggy friend. This picture RULES.
Anything else you wanna shout out to all the Videovores in LM Land?! Thank you, Josh, for the ultimate opportunity to share my words in Lunchmeat Land!! I am a big fan of Lunchmeat Zine, the blog, and yourself as a human. I am humbled. Also, I'm looking for an original copy of the Canadian low-budget mind-bender Science Crazed, if anyone's holding...Yo, if anyone can help the totally bodacious Jimmy Buttons attain the above-mentioned slab of analog-era insanity, give him a VHShout and make his anti-digital dreams come true! Or better yet, bring him a copy and see him go Tape Ape in person! It'll be rewind radical, no doubt! DIG IT! You can reach Jimmy about helping feed his Videovore need or forward any inquiries you might have about the analog-awesome upcoming Tape Ape VHS Swap Meet by visiting the Offical Facebook Event Page or emailing him directly at TapeApeSwapMeet
Groove and Groove and Gotta Stick Together!
Josh Schafer