Another week, another t-shirt controversy.

As reported Wednesday by the arbiters of good taste over at Pitchfork, the L.A.-based, punk rock sensations No Age were entangled in an unseemly dispute with the powers-that-be (read: douchebags) at CBS earlier this week.

The band, glowingly profiled here in this very blog just days ago, was in NYC to tape a scheduled appearance on The Late, Late Show With Craig Ferguson. Everything seemed set, until word filtered down from corporate execs at the last moment that guitarist and vocalist Randy Randall would not be allowed on-camera with his pro-Obama tee (pictured below).

CBS cited an obscure FCC policy known as the Fairness Doctrine, which requires networks to give equal airtime to opposing candidates during an election cycle. According to the Pitchfork post and an e-mail the band sent to other media outlets, Randall (and his partner in crime, drummer Dean Spunt) were basically told that they would either remove the offending garment in question, or not perform.

The band apparently gave some consideration to ditching, but ultimately thought better of it (the exposure/forum being what it is) and arrived at a clever compromise: Randall turned the shirt inside out and using a thick, black sharpie, affixed “Free Health Care” to the front. The Doors vs Ed Sullivan it may not have been, but not a bad response either, given the limited options. That old saying about life, lemons and lemonade comes to mind here…

For what it’s worth, the gracious and funny host, Ferguson, tried to explain away the controversy later that night before segueing into the almost-aborted No Age performance. As you’ll see below, he makes it quite clear that while he had nothing to do with any of these shenanigans, he is not above milking them for laughs.

The book seems closed on this unfortunate episode, but there is fallout in a piece that I found yesterday on the L.A. Times website. One gets the impression that the band will be extra leery of making televised appearances in the future…

Feedback? Send it here: travis@founditemclothing.com

T-shirts pop up everywhere—including commercial advertisements on your television screen.

Take, for instance, a pair of half-baked AT&T ads that are currently running in heavy rotation on a varied assortment of stations and programs. Part and parcel of the same ad campaign, they play on a decidedly modern fear—missing important cellular calls and by extension, essential, life-altering moments (a form of guilt that shares more than a passing resemblance to what economists refer to as “opportunity cost“).

AT&T would have you, the potential customer, believe that with their service, you’ll always in touch at a moment’s notice, which is a laughable conceit and one that iPhone users (such as yours truly) know all too well is not true. That old aphorism about putting lipstick on a pig seems particularly relevant here, but I digress…

In the first clip (posted below), hapless Ned is set to address a board of stuffed suits at a Very Important Corporate Meeting. Sporting a baby blue tee festooned with “MERGER!” on the front, Ned sends the gathered executives into a comical frenzy with his unexpected bombshell. As recriminations fly and the rancor rises to a fevered pitch, cue to a second Ned, off in the corner of the board room, bemoaning the fact that he doesn’t have any “bars here in Finland.” Without service, the ad continues, he misses out on a crucial voice mail from his boss instructing him…to remain silent on the proposed transaction. The meltdown, this ad implies, could have been avoided with AT&T. Oh Ned, you silly rabbit.

The second video is even more self-loathing. An overzealous Michael Phelps fan (this spot was timed to coincide with the Olympics, if you couldn’t guess), Mary misses out on a once-in-a-lifetime chance to party with the decorated athlete because she has “no bars here in this podunk little town [she] just moved to.” Predictably, she does not field her friend’s urgent call, who is hanging nearby, unexpectedly collecting autographs and photos from the hunky swimming superstar, and her alter ego goes apeshit as a result. Stupid as the commercial is, the t-shirt is reminiscent, from a design perspective, of the golden-era in the history of the garment. From the ringer style to the bubble font to the actual text with the phonetics pun (”Phelps Phan”), it all speaks to the hand-made qualities that defined t-shirt production techniques in the 70’s. All for the cause, I suppose…

I’m not sure what the larger point of my musings are, but I imagine (and this is purely speculation) that both of these commercials sprung from the same creative wellspring—we can only hope they love tees as much as we do here at Found Item Clothing, Inc.. (The perfectionist I am, it should be noted that there are other ads in the same AT&T campaign that don’t feature t-shirts in any meaningful way.)

Follow-up: It has come to my attention that you can actually purchase the “MERGER!” shirt online. You can find it here. Meta and true.

The sporting calendar is overflowing with activity at present. Major League Baseball has finally progressed to the postseason (Go Sox!); the NFL wraps up Week 5 this evening with an exciting Monday night showdown between the explosive Minnesota Vikings and the Reggie-Bush-led New Orleans Saints; NBA squads are hunkered down in training camp, preparing for the long grind ahead; and the NHL season starts in earnest later this week, with a full slate of games scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

As with any new season, there are renewed expectations (optimism is for suckers) and hard questions (reality is a cold bitch). Will the Detroit Red Wings repeat as league champions? Can the Boston Bruins build on their near-upset of the hated Canadians in last season’s playoffs? Will global warming melt rinks everywhere? Do I look fat in this retro jersey? The answers to these questions, and no doubt, countless others, will be determined over the next six months.

Puck heads are a dedicated and somewhat nerdy fraternity — I can personally attest to this, having played ice hockey from the time I was a wee lad until I graduated from high school — and this popular conception stems, at least in part, from arguably the greatest sports movie of all time, 1977’s Slapshot. (R.I.P. Paul Newman, btw.) The story of the Charleston Chiefs, a struggling, bumbling, minor league outfit going nowhere fast (save the penalty box), the movie won kudos upon release for its exaggerated archetypes, preposterous situational comedy and stellar individual performances.

Here at Found Item Clothing, Inc., we sell a classic garment from this movie that any true puck fan will identify with, the Charleston Chiefs tee, which was worn by various players throughout the movie. Channel your inner-Hanson Bros. with this super-cozy, American Apparel-manufactured garment.

For those in need of visual stimulation, I’ve embedded a side-splitting clip from this famed flick.

Some people will do anything for their 15 minutes of fame. Some people just really love t-shirts. And some people strive to be the best at what they do. The videos I’ve embedded below reflect a blend of all three ambitions.

Take this seemingly normal fella from California, Matt McAllister. In 2006, he waged a dogged attempt to establish a somewhat dubious Guinness World Record, donning 155 shirts over a period of 4 hours — presumably with a little help from his friends — live on a local t.v. station (and allegedly for some charitable cause). The tees, as you will see below, ranged in size from small all the way up to 10 XL (they make such a size?) and sport a typical, somewhat bland assortment of messages — tourist, college, political, commercial, sex jokes, etc. — on the front. Nothing really caught my eye from a design perspective, but kudos to Matt for making something of his life.

Now, it just so happens that there are other contenders to the throne. Roughly one year after his heroic accomplishment (that’s some SARCASM for those following along), a U.K. man, Charlie Williams, stole McAllister’s steez, upping the t-shirt count to a far more robust 224 tees. What’s more, I actually prefer this selection of t-shirts. They come with a thin, crude, and handmade look, which suggests to me that Williams bought in bulk and decorated his garments as he saw fit. As with everything in life, style points count with the judges.

My question then, is what to make of this madness? What were they thinking? Waste of time or time well spent? Sound off here: travis@founditemclothing.com

Normally, I try to fill the space here at It Goes to 11 with t-shirt-related content and commentary. Seeing as how it’s been a slow news week (code for I’m feeling lazy), I thought I might switch gears a bit and hit you up with a short list of albums, arranged in no particular order, that served as my summer soundtrack.

Ratatat, LP 3 (XL Recordings) This instrumental duo mixes hot riffage with hip-hop beats and shimmering electronic accents. On their newest full-length, the Brooklyn-based band successfully expands its sonic palette and incorporates both new sounds and influences.

Starfucker, Starfucker (Badman Records) The subject of intense media scrutiny and breathless blog buzz, Starfucker is an on-the-rise trio from Portland, Oregon. Their new disc features a bevy of breezy and seemingly effortless lo-fi indie pop songs that cry out for repeat spins. The whole affair — gentle guitar strumming fleshed out with sunny vocals and artfully strewn electronic bric a brac — emits a Sebadoh-and-Folk Implosion vibe. Very nice.

The Stills, Oceans Will Rise (Arts & Crafts Records) Bouncing back from a rustic and somewhat somber sophomore release, The Stills return to the moody, ’80s-influenced synth-rock hybrid that made their early recordings so appealing. The album’s standout track is “Being Here,” a huge, soaring anthem that cribs from the Muse and U2 playbooks.

Santogold, Santogold (Downtown Records) I’m crushing on Santogold, a.k.a Santi White, a one-time songwriter for pop tarts like Ashley Simpson and other forgettable Top 40 types. Stepping out on her own, White delivers a stunning, impressive debut LP noteworthy for its varied sounds and inspirations. Take for, example, the Strokes-as-fronted-by-Karen-O mid-tempo rocker (”L.E.S. Artistes”); the Go-Go’s-inspired, new wave pop song (”You’ll Find A Way”); the dubbed out reggae toasts (”Shove It”); the chunky and Elasticated-’90s alt. rock single equal parts Breeders and Veruca Salt (”Lights Out”); and the glitchy, M.I.A.-like slice of lurching, buzzing electronica (”Starstruck”). For my money, this is the best album of 2008 (thus far).

No Age, Nouns (Sub Pop Records) Considerable amounts of ink have already been devoted to this L.A.-based twosome, but in this rare case, the artistic output is equal to if not greater than the hype. The No Age formula — short, atmospheric blasts of distorted guitar leavened with half-buried snatches of melody and raucous, pounding backbeats — will be almost surely be copied by countless lesser groups in 2009. The lesson here: Accept no substitutions.

Honorable Mentions: Albert Hammond Jr. (RCA Records), Como Te Llama; Lil Wayne, Tha Carter (Universal); Girl Talk, Feed the Animals (Illegal Art Records); MGMT, Oracular Spectacular (Columbia Records) (technically speaking, this came out in 2007, but it didn’t gain widespread exposure until ‘08…); and Nine Inch Nails, The Slip (Null Recordings).

We aim to please here at It Goes to 11, so let us know if you’re feeling this. Kudos? Complaints? Both? Forward them to the following address: travis@founditemclothing.com