T.T. The Bear's Place finds a goldmine of rock merchandise in attic, puts it on eBay

T.T. THE BEAR'S PLACE has found a rock and roll goldmine… in its very own attic.

The Central Square rock club has unearthed a ton of vintage old band merchandise from over the years, some of it dating back to the 1970s but mainly from the ‘80s and ‘90s. And the club is putting them all up for individual auction through eBay (seller ID: jjckmgt1212) to help recent tornado victims in the midwest.

Incredibly, T.T.’s manager KEVIN PATEY said the find was unexpected, and came across t-shirts, autographed gig posters, and other cool stuff while moving boxes and storage items around the attic a few days ago. Most of it is merch longtime club owner BONNEY BOULEY purchased directly from bands over the years to get them some extra cash for touring, recording, and other necessities, like eating and lodging.

“Probably about 30 or so shirts listed on eBay right now,” Patey tells the Phoenix. “I have a bunch more and Bonney said she has tons more at home, we're gonna just keep listing them. We also have hundreds of original posters too, a lot of them signed.”

Patey said the current lot of auction items includes stuff from the “Pixies, Lemonheads, tons of old punk stuff, Agnostic Front, UK Subs and of course lots of local bands, mainly from the mid ‘80s.”

T.T. The Bear’s Place opened in 1973, so a lot of bands have come through the Cambridge venue over the years. Especially young acts that eventually became legends.

“Yeah, it's funny to think [Bonney] bought a Pixies shirt to ‘help them out,’” Patey says.

As for us, we're holding out for the sweaty cut-off short-shorts Lou Barlow wore in Sebadoh's "Ocean" video.