Some walls are empty without these, babe

So, it is a bit of a custom in Seattle for folks who are lightening their material load for whatever reason to just put stuff on the sidewalk with a "free" sign. This is done with all kinds of goods, from big pieces of furniture to small household effects, and Coco and I were not surprised to run across a small collection of artifacts stacked outside an apartment building as we walked to a nearby diner for breakfast. We're pretty much in a simplification mode ourselves and looked at the stuff more out of curiosity than desire, but there was one treasure mixed in with the old books, coffee mugs, and other domestic detritus:

Three beautiful, old-school portraits of Diana Ross, Florence Ballard, and Mary Wilson: The Supremes!


 Each is a foot square and printed on fairly heavy parchment-type paper.

They are a little worn with some dog-ears, but clean and in pretty good shape overall. 

The colors are still really vibrant, that's for sure.

A close look reveals that the portraits were album inserts, and a little Googling indicates they are from a greatest hits album by the group.

By the presence of the masking tape on the back of the posters, I would guess the original owner did not fully appreciate the suitability of the images for framing.

But man, these are still pretty slick. I have been listening to a YouTube mega-mix while posting this, and the early sound of The Supremes is timeless. These portraits really evoke the era for me when "girl groups"could rule the charts.

Bonus fact: DJ (and Reverend) Walt "Baby" Love got his nickname from colleague Steve Lundy, who played The Supremes' "Baby Love" right before Walt came on air. "Baby Love" was a nickname I picked up at the Seattle Public Library in reference to that.