Davy and Peter Rothbart are two brothers that have developed a love for things that are “found.” The siblings collect everything from grocery lists to birthday cards, displaying their collection in their appropriately titled “Found Magazine”.

The brothers came to Grand Valley State University on Nov. 7 as part of the 10th anniversary tour for their magazine. The tour also served as promotion for Peter Rothbart’s new album “You Are What You Dream” as well as his brother’s new memoir “My Heart is an Idiot”.

Davy Rothbart is a writer for This American Life, and his memoir is a candid look into both the man himself, as well as his childhood. As Davy began explaining the first excerpt from his new book, he shifted uneasily in his vibrant red pants, adjusting his houndstooth cap as he spoke.

“This story is called ‘Bigger and Deafer’, it’s about my mom,” Davy said. “Promise me you guys won’t hate me after I read this.”

In addition to reading excerpts from his book, Davy also shared some of his favorite “finds” from around the world. He shared everything from awkwardly worded love letters to strange grocery lists, all found by people besides the original creators of the items.

“This one is a good one, I’m guessing it’s from a University of Texas student,” Davy said, while reading from the disheveled stack of papers. “It goes ‘Jenna, can I give you a sensual massage? Then I will talk about Jesus.’”

While promoting his new album, Peter also shared some of his favorite finds in song form. Standing on stage with his acoustic guitar, Peter had the same jovial and casual attitude of his brother as he began to sing songs based on some of his favorite finds.

“This song is based on a page of a love letter that was never delivered,” Peter said. “Even from the one page you can tell the guy had been holding this back for a long time, and that it took finding his passion to get the courage to say anything.”

Peter Rothbart went on to sing the love song “The Baddest Nissans in the Northwest”. The lyrics of the song consisted of an amalgamation of Rothbart’s own lyrics and excerpts from the lost love letter.

Davy read a letter that was found attached to a tangled, deflated tree in a cemetery, then went on to explain its significance.

“This was a love note to a deceased parent,” Davy explained. “It’s finds like these that mean the most.”
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