R.I.P. Erika Hynes 04/01/09
Erika Hynes, wife of Patrick Hynes and co-founder of Little Type Mail Order, passed away on April 1, 2009 after a long illness. She had been hospitalized for most of the previous two months, but was able to spend her last few hours at home, surrounded by people who loved her.

Erika was born on May 23, 1971, in Rockford, Illinois, and lived there until she moved to Minneapolis to attend the University of Minnesota in 1989. Following her graduation, she moved to Berkeley, California, where she found employment as the head of mail order for Lookout Records and met her husband-to-be. Patrick and Erika were married on October 13, 2001 and made their home in El Cerrito, California.

Erika was one of those rare individuals able to elicit warm feelings from virtually everyone who encountered her. During her years at Lookout and later with Little Type, she dealt with thousands of people, lending a personal touch to what might otherwise have been a mundane commercial transaction. But while enclosing handwritten notes or “extras” like stickers, posters or fanzines might have been good for business, it never came across as contrived or calculated. Erika so obviously enjoyed making people happy, to the point where many of her customers thought of her more as a friend than as “that lady who sends me my mail orders.” As Ben Weasel said in a tribute read at Erika’s memorial service, “In 18 years I’ve never heard anyone say a word against her. Not once.”

Erika’s family and friends miss her terribly, of course, but it has been comforting to see the outpouring of sympathy and good wishes her passing has elicited. Many of you have written to ask if there is anything you can do to honor Erika’s memory, and while the family has requested that there be no flowers or gifts, you can, if you wish, make a donation in Erika’s name to one of her favorite charities:
The Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society
2700 9th St
Berkeley, CA 94710

In response to another question some of you have asked: yes, Little Type Mail Order will remain in business. Little Type was very close to Erika’s heart (as many of you will know, it was named after the Little Types, the band she formed with the children next door when she was nine years old), and we feel certain that she would want it to continue. Although no one could ever really take Erika’s place, there are now three of us working to make sure Little Type continues to deliver the same fast, efficient and friendly service it has in the past. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or problems you might have concerning any Little Type orders, past, present or future. And thank you once again for all the care, concern, and messages of support you’ve sent our way during this very trying time.

Patrick, Patrick, and Dan
Little Type Mail Order

05/05/2009

Erika & LittleType Update
Dear Friends,

It's our sad duty to inform you that Erika, mail order mistress supreme and the heart and soul of Little Type Mail Order, is seriously ill and has been hospitalized for some time now.

As a result, some aspects of Little Type may not have been functioning as smoothly as we'd like them to. Here's the situation:

Please feel free to continue ordering from the website. Orders are being filled and will continue to be filled. However, because of the current situation, we recommend that you make your orders online to be sure of the fastest service. Also, if you have any questions or complaints about existing or future orders, please contact us via email at service@littletype.com. Unfortunately, there's nobody available to answer the Little Type phone right now, and while mail sent to the Little Type post office box will eventually be read and responded to, it may take a while.

If you're a record label or zine that has sent stuff in to sell, please be advised that most items that have come in for the past several months have not yet been processed, which is why you haven't seen them for sale on the website yes. We are currently in the process of getting some help to catch up with this situation. Again, if you have any questions or problems in this area, please contact us via email. If you have stuff that you're hoping to sell through Little Type but haven't sent it in yet, you might want to wait until things are a little better sorted out and we issue the all clear.

If you're someone who has been selling things though Little Type and are waiting to get paid, rest assured that checks and statements for the most recent pay period have been issued, but not yet mailed out. We have a couple people ready to start putting them in envelopes and sending them out, so you shouldn't have to wait too much longer.

To everyone who loves and misses Erika and wants to know what they can do to help: what she needs most of all right now is your prayers and best wishes. You're welcome to send get well cards to the Little Type PO box 1993, El Cerrito, CA. 94530. But please, no flowers, candy, or other bulky objects, as they won't be allowed into her hospital room anyway. We all look forward to her making a full recovery and returning to the helm of the good ship Little Type as soon as possible, but in the meantime, please bear with us.

Thanking you for your patience and understanding,
The Folks at Little Type Mail Order
03/13/2009

New Stuff Coming Up
Hey, y'all. Just wanted to let you know we have a bunch of new stuff coming up on the site soon. Good stuff. Zines, books, records, 7"s. It's been a long time coming! Yee haw!
09/27/2008

Oh no!
We ran out of the Screeching Weasel Boogada re-issue on vinyl, but we should be getting the 2nd pressing in soon. Just wanted to let you all know, since it was such a new item on our roster. xo Erika
05/30/2008

Yo Yo Yo
We're on vacation for the Merorial Day weekend and you can still place orders, but they won't get shipped until mid-week next week. Sorry for any inconvenience!! Have a good 3 day weekend! But we also might be on vacation Labor Day weekend, too. I'll keep you posted.
05/23/2008

Monona Merch
Hey! Just wanted to mention that Ben Weasel has started a little merch venture, for which we are working on together and we've added a few items to the store. He wrote about it on his blog, but it's pretty much the same info from the store. You can find more info and little blurbs that Ben wrote about the shirts by clicking on "more details" for each design.
04/03/2007

Erika's First Podcast
As always I'm early AND late to the game. Here's a sample of one of my earliest (fake) radio shows, circa 1981 or so. I also had 2 partners in crime, my buddies from the band The Little Types.
02/09/2007

What has the Wicked One been up to?
01/26/2007

Happy New Year!
Another year has passed, and we just wanted give a special thanks to the US Postal Service for getting our packages out to all the Little Type customers in 2006. And with this, we share some cheer from the Albany, CA police blotter:

12/31/2006

New But Old Lookout Magazines Added
We just added a bunch of Larry's Olde Lookout Magazines, from days of long ago. We have limited copies of most of these issues so please don't order 10 copies of each issue, because we most likely don't have them. Also, list alternates (in the comments section) in case we run out of what you ordered. It's a lot of Larry's political ranting and then it progresses into more political ranting and also covers much of the early punk music scene in the Bay Area and around & more (as they say)! Checky out, bro.

While you're at it, check out Larry's blog.
11/02/2006

French Onion Tomato Soup

This is the dinner I made last night, and I thought I'd like to share the recipe with y'all. It is getting to be hot soup weather (even though it's 80 degrees here in the bay area). Here's the whole recipe, but I cut it in half.

4 cups thinly sliced onions (about 2 largish onions)
1 garlic clove minced
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 can (46 ounces) tomato juice
2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules (I used veggie bouillon)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
2 teaspoons brown sugar
6 slices French Bread
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese

In a large saucepan, saute onions and garlic in butter until tender. Add the tomato juice, bouillon, lemon juice, parsley and brown sugar. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle soup into 10 oz ovenproof soup bowls. Top with French bread; sprinkle with cheese. Broil 4-6 in. from the heat for 2-3 minutes or until cheese is bubbly. Yield 6 servings.

From the Taste Of Home Cookbook, 2002.
10/26/2006

Overall Moshpit
Amy Dickinson, Chicago Tribune's advice columnist, sets things straight. This is from a column a couple weeks ago (thanks Kim!):

Dear Amy: In a recent column, you answered the question of a 12-year-old girl who said she and a friend got pushed into a "mosh pit."

What in heaven's name is a mosh pit?

-- Curious Betty

Dear Curious Betty: Picture you and your friends at a Neil Diamond concert. Just as he launches into "Cracklin' Rosie" there is a commotion up toward the front. Suddenly people decide to leave their seats, mash themselves up toward the stage in a circle and launch one another into the center of the crowd.

Basically, that's a mosh pit. They can be fun, but scary too -- certainly for a 12-year-old who has no business being at a concert where people are drinking and moshing.
09/27/2006

This from my sis in Chicago who saw D4 for the first time a couple weeks ago:

"The 5 p.m. all-ages version of the Dillinger Four show July 5, 2006 at Chicago's Beat Kitchen was "moist"! Actually, Paddy was "moist, very moist" but the show wasn't that loud. I found myself wanting it louder although I should know better. Even Paddy wanted it louder, breaking into an impromptu acoustic plea: "I want vocals, yes, I want vocals, Vocals, give me vocals, I like vocals." Shortly followed by "Where's our Jagermeister? We need three shots of Jager. When we get those, we'll get started here."

The small hot dark venue was filled to capacity with a well-practiced mosh pit and surrounding attendees who knew exactly when to stab the air with their fists and how many times. And despite all I'd heard about D4 going into this, it seemed like they too knew exactly what to do and when. The songs were fast, tight, powerful, hmmm, I dunno, punk? It was early enough in the evening that sunlight was still streaming through in the back for most of the show, making it all the more dark up front but not menacing. Something seemed to be missing but can't quite figure out what it was, having never been before.

I will say the banter from Paddy and Billy made the show for me, being somewhat of a novice of D4. I especially liked their advice in regards to the sorry state of government today and general punk behavior (as a 30-something, I need to be reminded), slightly paraphrased: "There are more of Them than Us, get annoying, get thrown out of places, fuck shit up, get loud." "FSU" will now be entering my vocabulary and promises to inspire my actions on a more regular basis!

The audience was quizzed about what they've stolen. I thought it was a good question. The best answer was "2,000 oranges." Not sure if that's fucking shit up but it's definitely putting the squeeze on The Man.

Overall D4 played a very congenial if not absolutely adequate show to an audience that seemed to know its role all too well. Nobody fucked shit up, too much. Maybe they were saving it for the 10 pm "adult" show?"

Thanks, Kim, for the show review!
07/13/2006

Show Photos
Here are some Modern Machines and Chinese Telephones photos from a few shows last week in Oakland and SF....
06/29/2006

The Avocado Wins
Maybe...
05/28/2006

Autographed King Dork Books
It's still sunny here in east bay CA. Also, on this sunny day, if you order Dr. Frank's book King Dork from us, yours will be autographed by the Doktor himself. At least while supplies last.

If anyone needs a good lasagna recipe for this weekend (veggie not vegan) send me an email and I'll hook you up. erika@littletype.com

As they say in Rockford IL circa 1988, "Lazers!"
04/21/2006

Because I Like Talking About The Weather...
It stopped raining here in the east bay CA. It's been raining for like the last 5 weeks or something. I don't mind the rain actually, but in a way it's kind of nice to have some sun today. It seems like it would only start to really pour when I would head out to the post office each afternoon. The post office is stinky, but really stinky when it rains. Now if only all the earthquake talk would simmer down. Since it's the 100 year anniversary today of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, earthquake talk has been all the rage. We're doomed, they say. Doomed! Happy 100 year anniversary of the 1906 SF earthquake!

On a much lighter note, it was a week ago when Pat and I attended the Dr Frank King Dork book release party. It was a really fun event with acoustic songs sung by Frank and excerpts read from the book. It was held at Catos in Oakland, a fine establishment where you can get veggie chili, a good veggie burger and most importantly, a tasty pint of beer. Here are some pictures and songs you can check out on the blog of Kendra (scroll way down as it's been a week since the event) http://kendrak.com/blog/ or check out Dr Frank's own blog with news about the book and events http://www.doktorfrank.com/ Lazers for now! We'll keep you updated on the weather! -Erika
04/18/2006

In The Better Late Than Never Category...
We've got some new stuff for y'all. Yeah, I know it's been a while. But let me tell you, it's not because Erika, Yeti and I are sitting around LTHQ sipping martinis all day. We'll be adding new stuff in the next few days, too.
-Patrick
02/07/2006

What's New Is Actually New!
What's New Wednesday, is supposed to happen on Wednesdays. Well, this week, it happened on Monday, and it's new stuff (duh, but not really duh because so much of the stuff we sell isn't brand new, as good as it is, it isn't farm fresh all the time). It's cold and rainy outside right now and if anyone wants a recipe for some good wintery-style home-made bread, email me at It's cheesy and peppery (the bread) and it goes great with glögg which is a Swedish holiday drink, very strong, a mulled wine sort of thing. And no, this was not composed under the influence of glögg, even though it seems like it. more...
11/29/2005

Update
As usual, here at the LT our new stuff is not always brand new, but rather, new to the site. I think the only thing that's relatively new is the Whiskey Plus 'zine. The rest belong in the "old but still good" category.
11/05/2005