Last week, Jesse Thorn interviewed Jason Bitner on his The Sound of Young America radio show on KSFS San Francisco, where they chatted about the LaPorte, Indiana book. Check out the podcast version of the program here!
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Kiera Butler put together an impressive LaPorte, Indiana review for New York Press this week. Here's a selection from her piece:
Officially, the book has no chapters; it’s just one portrait after another. But if you look closely, you’ll notice that the book’s greatest strength is its layout. The arrangement of the photos not only makes sense — it’s hilarious. Bitner sorted the photos into loose categories. The celebrity look-alike section includes a Scarlett Johansson, a DeNiro and a Drew Barrymore. Bitner’s book is more than just a collection of photos—it’s a remarkable portrait of a bygone era in one Midwestern town.
Check out the full New York Press review here.
More exciting news from radio land! Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister's Long Haul Productions crafted an excellent story about LaPorte, Indiana for National Public Radio (the story ran eariler on Chicago Public Radio). Collison and Meister talk to some of the people from the book, including Kathy and Hugh Tonagel, Patty Sallwasser, and more. Be sure to check out the full mp3 here and listen to some hilarious and touching stories!
The coverage of the LaPorte, Indiana book release party at B & J's American Café continues! Martha Bayne wrote a wonderful piece about the book and the party in this week's Chicago Reader. Here's an excerpt where Bayne talks about the book and former LaPortean Pat Orzech remembers sitting for a portrait at Muralcraft Studios:
The La Porte volume is warmer in tone and more conceptually consistent than the Found books, whose sense of slice-of-life discovery is served with a sometimes unsettling dose of voyeuristic glee. Essentially text free, save for Bitner's introduction and a foreword by Alex Kotlowitz, LaPorte, Indiana is a rich anthology of midcentury hairdos and eyewear, page after page of citizens young and old, dressed for posterity and doing their darnedest to relax. Pease had operated Muralcraft with his wife, Gladys, who hand-colored prints, ran the office, greeted clients, and helped them with their hair and makeup. Pat Orzech remembers being really nervous before her graduation photo, but "Gladys and Frank put you at ease," she says. And though the photos themselves are undistinguished - all have the same natural background, the same unsurprising poses - collectively they convey a lost moment in time.
Read the full article here.
Whitney Matheson has a interesting column over at USAToday.com called Pop Candy, where she goes about "unwrapping pop culture's hip and hidden treasures." After visiting BookExpo, the massive annual book fair in Washington, DC, she listed some of her favorite books ... including LaPorte, Indiana! Here's what she had to say:
Found Magazine's Jason Bitner hit the jackpot when he stumbled upon 18,000 old photos of La Porte citizens. This is the fascinating result - and it even includes John Mellencamp's seal of approval!
See her list here.
