Scanning the Bookshelf

There are lots of specialty magazines these days. But even in a crowded field, Found magazine stands apart. It's the publication of lost communication: letters unearthed in trash bins, notes found in gutters or at roadside turnouts, photos that didn't make it into albums.

Its co-creator, Davy Rothbart — who clearly loves his work as an editor on the magazine — has extended the Found franchise since the magazine debuted in 2001. He's assembled two books of "The Best Lost, Tossed and Forgotten Items from Around the World." (Both volumes carry this subtitle). And along with the magazine and the books, there's a show with dramatic readings of the Found finds, songs by Davy's brother, Peter (with lyrics inspired by selections in Found), and guest acts. Davy seems to love performing as much as writing.

The new book he's assembled and edited, which makes for wry, witty, funny and poignant reading, is "Requiem for a Paper Bag: Celebrities and Civilians Tell Stories of the Best Lost, Tossed and Found Items From Around the World." And to mark its appearance, Rothbart and friends are doing a 62-day, 57-venue tour.

Along with the Rothbarts will be The Watson Twins, a country and folk duo from Los Angeles who are also identical twins; Brett Loudermilk, whose performances, which include sword swallowing, hark back to circus sideshows; and DJ Andrew Cohn.

"It's testing my limits," says Rothbart, in his rapid-fire style of speech, by phone from the Northwest. "But we're on the home stretch now and this has been my favorite one ever."

One of the most satisfying parts of these tours, for Rothbart, is the finds that people bring to the shows. Some, of course, end up in a future issue.

As for "Requiem for a Paper Bag," he calls it a departure.

Instead of found items, these are, as the cover says, stories about found things.

"This book was an excuse to get in touch with some of my heroes, and I was amazed and wonderfully surprised by how many responded."

David Simon, creator of "The Wire," recalls his find, discovered during research for a book — the Baltimore police file on William Zanzinger. The man's violent crime was made famous in the early Bob Dylan song "The Ballad of Hattie Carroll." But Dylan's own letter to the police about the manslaughter case was missing. Months of searching never produced it. But there is more to Simon's story, as you'll discover.

Susan Orlean, The New Yorker writer best known for her book "The Orchid Thief," recounts how she had run out of reading material on a plane flight and went looking for something to peruse. She spotted a castoff section from The Miami Herald. A small item covered a man who stole orchids — and the rest is her book's well-received history.

Others with tales to tell — there are 66 in all — include Robert Evans, producer of films like "The Godfather" and "Rosemary's Baby," actor Seth Rogen, novelists Jonathan Lethem, Tom Robbins and Paulo Coelho, and musician Chuck D.

Rothbart is a writer himself. He garnered considerable praise when he published his first book of short stories in 2005, "The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas."

And one of the joys for him in doing this book was to include a writer who was a mentor, Charles Baxter from his University of Michigan years, and another who influenced his prose, Jim Carroll.

Rothbart — who lives and works in Ann Arbor, Mich., where Found is produced — has lost none of his boyish enthusiasm for the magazine or the touring.

"It always gives me a sense of wonder about the world. These are people's stories that are not heard elsewhere."

To find out more about Robert Pincus and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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