Michael Ely

I have been living with my partner, Spider, for over 40 years. We were part of the first wave of young gay couples living together openly shortly after Stonewall. We are originally from Los Angeles, but we have been living here in Tucson for the past 17 years. We are both musicians. Back in the day, we performed together in alternative rock bands, whereas today we record soundscape CDs (mixing different music genres ranging from rock to ambient to world to jazz to film score) which we release independently (in other words, we have no label support). We live in a pueblo style track house and our inside decor is an eclectic mix of cowboy and Indian, Hindu, nautical, Alice in Wonderland and, of course, lots and lots of kitsch! I am so happy to have discovered this great site, a place where I can share my love of kitsch with others, a site created by the wonderful, talented and charming Allee Willis.

Submissions


Picture Cook Book

This is my all-time favorite cookbook. It was published in 1958 and contains recipes along with photos that appeared in Life Magazine betwee...

Wind-up Gorilla Toy

This is a wind-up gorilla toy made in Hong Kong in the late 70’s / early 80’s. He is made of hard plastic and stands about 3 inc...

Toy Ranch Phone

This is a toy “ranch” wall phone from the 1950’s. It is made of metal and particle board and features wonderful cowboy and...

Glitter platform shoes

These are my silver glitter platform shoes from 1973. They have 3 inch heels. I would wear them when I went up to Hollywood to dance at Rodn...

Three Little Pigs

This three little pigs planter was made by McCoy pottery (circa 1940’s – 1950’s). From the front we see the hungry little ...

Ceramic Kali head

Kali is a Hindu goddess. She is the ultimate warrior goddess (once destroying a regenerating demon by drinking his blood, hence her protrudi...

Fort Cheyenne playset

This is a Fort Cheyenne playset manufactured by Ideal toys (circa 1960’s). Ideal was competing with Marx’s popular tin litho ...