FOUND Magazine, the voyeur’s
treasure-trove of love letters, shopping lists, Polaroids, sketches, and
anything else found on the street, is on tour. Publisher Davy Rothbart and his
brother Peter were in Providence, Rhode Island, at the end of April, and in
December will end their 50-state Slapdance Across America Tour on the West
Coast, after hitting a different city almost every night.

Their Rochester stop was at the very
apt Bullwinkle Café (622 Lake Avenue), itself an homage to the once-discarded.
Davy reads some of his favorite finds for the audience with a beer bottle held
under one arm and a funny insight into the people behind the finds. We caught
up with him after the show.

What gave you the idea for a magazine of found stuff?

I always loved finding stuff. When I
was a kid I used to walk across this field and just pick things up. I was
always amazed how powerfully I could connect to someone through what I found. I
started collecting stuff, and eventually friends started giving me stuff. As I
traveled people would have one prize find hanging on their fridge. And I always
thought it was sad that only the people who trooped through their kitchen got
to see it.

Many of the “FOUND” items are funny. Do any of them make you
sad?

Many of them. There’s such a mix of
emotion. A lot of them are sad, just crushing. I’m always surprised by the
economy of language. So many finds come in. Sometimes I just start crying, from
the accumulated weight. All those people who aren’t going to get what they want
so badly.

How many people recognize their own lost items in the
magazine?

It’s happened a few times. I didn’t
know if they’d be freaked out or not. Most of the time they’re honored or more
often just completely mystified — they’re like, why would you be interested
in my little love letter?

Do people think you are more approachable because you take
such care of these little lost scraps?

I want to be approachable. I’m just a
regular guy. This project belongs to everybody.

Do you publish everything you get?

Just a tiny percentage. We publish our
favorites, whatever seems most interesting to me, what makes me laugh out loud.

— Erica Curtis

This article appears in Sep 29 – Oct 5, 2004.