“but who is jack weil,” you may be asking. he’s that guy. ——->

(yeah, he looked 107…)

more specifically, jack weil is the founder of rockmount ranch wear and is the inventor of western (or cowboy) shirts. god rest his soul. this guy invented button snaps. understand this: he invented a shirt removal method that involves no hand-eye coordination. it’s just yank and pull. it’s like the velcro shoes of the shirt world.

seriously though, rockmount is at the top of the list for coolest vintage western shirts. for those of you who see me on a regular basis, you know that i like to rock the western shirts. let’s say there’s seven days in a week (let’s say that because there actually is 7 days in a week…), i probably wear a western shirt 9 of those days… i truly love the look, the fit and the yankability of western shirts.

several years ago, i heard an analogy that has stuck with me. in making an analogy about postmodernism, tony jones (i believe it was…) referenced the cover art of madonna’s 2000 release music. on the cover, madonna, as you can see, is seen wearing a cowboy shirt and a cowboy hat. one, upon picking up the cd, would be led to believe that the album contains country music or western music. as we well know, though, madonna is far from country music. music is a pretty straightforward pop record.

the point he was making is that postmodernism isn’t a “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” kind of worldview. cowboy shirts and hats can easily and happily coexist with pop music (sort of the anti-country music). these two seemingly paradoxical things can live together in harmony—without question from those with a postmodern worldview.

ok, apparently my funny blog about western shirts just got co-opted by some sort of philosophical discussion of postmodernism… gee…i can’t help myself…

alright, back to western shirts and old wrinkled dudes….

the point i’m trying to make is that i, the proud wearer of all things western shirt, dislike hate loathe country music and the whole cowboy “thing.” that paradox isn’t really a paradox for me. i’m going with the ironic tag.

so, maybe me, madonna and the spirit of jack weil can just ride off into the sunset with our yankable snaps and boob pockets…

thanks, jack. we’ll see you in that big corral in the sky (get it…yeah…cowboy analogy for heaven…oh yeah…good stuff….)