The Civil Wars & The Cordial Churchman

Ellie’s best friend saw The Civil Wars very early in their existence and insisted we get their EP Poison and Wine. We did, and of course we thought it was awesome. The next thing you know, we hear that they’re going to be on Leno.   They got really popular really quick.

On Leno, John Paul White rocked a bow tie.   A little reconnaissance showed that these days the bow tie gets a rocking from him pretty much every day.

The Civil Wars were slated to play one of our favorite venues, The Evening Muse in Charlotte, February 9.  We’re awful procrastinators, which means that the show was sold out by the time we were ready to slap down our cash for tickets.

Ellie made the genius but obvious move of contacting John Paul White to see if we could get into the show in exchange for some custom bow ties of his choosing.  Deal.  Guest list.  Score.

Ellie and I got to the show late (of course), just before the opener was done.  We were smushed against the back door as John Paul White and Joy Williams came on in.  Ellie approached him with the bag of bow ties.  They were about to go on.  John Paul told Ellie: “I don’t want to just take these ties from you.  I want to talk about them, ’cause I’m obsessed.”

Ellie decided to play the 8-months-pregnant card and pushed her way to the front where she proceeded to look very pathetic until someone offered her a seat in the middle of the front row.  Yours truly remained standing in the back, behind a pretty tall dude.

During the encore, Joy grabbed the bag of bow ties from Ellie and they thanked her and The Cordial Churchman for the gift.  Joy pulled the ties out—all six of them—one by one, and showed them off.  To our delight, John Paul proclaimed: “I’m going to wear these for the rest of the tour.”  Score.

We hung around afterward to talk shop with Joy and John Paul.  Real nice folks.  And they were number 1 on iTunes the week of the show, which was also the week their record Barton Hollow dropped.  It debuted at #12 overall on the Billboard charts.  We’re very happy for their success.  They’ve each been playing forever, and they’ve worked hard.  As a duo, they are spellbinding.

John Paul is sporting our best-selling bow tie, the James—a navy wool with a subtle, classic plaid pattern.  You can buy the James here.

Here’s to Joy Williams, John Paul White and The Civil Wars.  Expect to see them at the Grammys next year, hopefully with John Paul wearing one of our bow ties.

I hear U2 is coming out with a record this year.  I wonder if Bono is going to be rocking the bow tie too.  Hmm….

Here’s their breakthrough single, “Poison and Wine”.

Tie Bars Aren’t For Bow Ties

I could never be an exclusive bow tie wearer.  Some are.  Not me.  I simply like neck ties too much.  These days, neck ties are almost as infrequently seen as bow ties.  Besides, tie bars look pretty stupid on bow ties, and one needs to rock a tie bar from tie to time.

I picked up this Southwick suit at Goodwill for $10 just before Easter last year.  I had Ellie hem the trousers with a massive cuff, just to be obnoxious.  I love it because it’s got no darts (a “sack jacket”) and doesn’t make you look like a linebacker with big shoulder pads.  Way, WAY better to look ridiculous with big cuffs than with boxy shoulders.

The tie came from a thrift store for a buck or two.  It’s a pathetic faker club crest number, probably sold at Target, then at TJ Maxx, then given for free to folks in halfway houses for job interviews.  After being rejected by all those markets, it finally found a good home with me.

The shoes are Florsheim longwings.  Muted brown.  Leather soles, of course.  Bartered for 3 bow ties (thanks, Ellie.  Easier to get forgiveness than permission, eh?) from a gent who couldn’t quite fit into them.

And the tie bar comes from my late grandfather, Papa Sam–master of thrifting and master of looking very, very suave.  Rico Suave on the el cheapo.  Ellie made the hand-rolled cream-with-navy-pinstripe linen pocket square.

This suit is thick as heck.  Better wear it a lot before South Carolina starts doing its thing.  I might just wear it tomorrow.  Hopefully it’ll be warm and sunny so I can pair it with my old Vespa.

Dapper Demeanor

photo from dapperdemeanor.blogspot.com

I just happened upon a blog post from C. Benjamin over at Dapper Demeanor sporting a TCC bow tie and looking pretty awesome.  He’s got a really cool and unique style – head over to his blog to see his wares.  What I really love about him is that he is quite tasteful in working thrift store purchases into his wardrobe much like my friend, Giuseppe.

photo from dapperdemeanor.blogspot.com

And before you ask, unfortunately, the bow tie he is wearing is sold out.  But you can find similarly beautiful bow ties on the store such as This one and This one.