Introduction

        Here we are back again. This time around there are several new faces, as well as most of the usual gang. As I put the reviewer list together I realized how nicely diverse the XD staff has grown – we have a teenager and the parent of teenagers, gay, straight, and in between, and several reviewers are originally from countries outside the US. There is a professional musician, a store owner and retail workers, professional writers and publishers, a mother, librarians, and a subway conductor. The one binding factor is a shared love of zines. XD just keeps growing, in both staff and readership.

        Asking Donny Smith to help edit XD is one of the best things to happen to the zine. His assistance has been invaluable. In fact, a few weeks ago he and his partner Mark (Hain) visited Baltimore and Donny and I spoke to a curator at the Baltimore Museum of Art about a zine component in a future exhibit. They are looking for donations, so see page 18 for details.

        I would like to mention the whole “PBS of review zines” idea here and essentially run our first pledge drive. The larger the zine becomes the more costly it is to print and mail. I’ve tried to keep the reins relatively tight over the years so the finances stayed manageable.

        To give you an idea: It costs about $60.00 to mail the zines to the reviewers for review. It costs the reviewers anywhere from $2-5 to ship them back to me (essentially a forced donation on their part), coming out to another $60.00. Print costs on the last issue were $441.00. Add onto that the cover paper and envelopes - another $17.00. Then there is the $0.83 per issue for shipping costs, plus the postage to distros, and reviewers – about $120.00 for the last issue if I recall correctly. We don’t make any profit on distroed zines because they are sold at a discount. Placing the zines in stores means more people will pick up a copy and hopefully read the reviews and order zines – maybe yours. In the end the cost comes very close to that $3 cover price. Some issues I’ve had to cover $200.00-300.00 of the cost out of my own pocket and some issues we break even. I’d like to see XD break even every time. Oh, and these figures don’t take into account the hours Donny and I put into organizing each issue, plus the time it takes every reviewer to read the zines sent in and review them. I almost forgot – there are the website hosting fees and the time it takes to get the new issues online so people can search for their reviews and read about new zines of interest. Yes, it is a passion for all of us, and we aren’t looking to profit – we just want to create a sustainable publication.

        Over the years there have been some very steady supporters, sending well in excess of the cover price each time a new issue came out to help the zine along. They have in essence ensured the zine was there for everyone. Instead of relying on a few to help with both time and money, we’d like to see more people involved; after all, this is at heart a community project. If you just read the web version consider sending in a buck or two. Or maybe when you send in your order, buy an extra copy for a friend or a local zine library.

        I’ll get off my Sally Struthers Soapbox™ and now get on with the show…

 

Davida Gypsy Breier

June 2004

 

Basic stuff you should know

 

        If this is your first issue, XEROGRAPHY DEBT is a review zine for zine readers by zine writers. It is a hybrid of review zine and personal zine. Xerography Debt has its own freestyle approach. It is all about communication, so each reviewer has used the format or style most comfortable to him or her. Also, each reviewer "owns" the zine in a communal sense. We are individual artists and writers coming together to collaborate and help keep small press flourishing.

        Do your part by ordering a few zines from the many reviewed here and, if you self-publish, please consider including  some reviews in your zine.

        Xerography Debt’s reviews are selective. To explain the “system”: Some reviewers choose to review zines they have bought or traded with, some review zines that are sent to Xerography Debt for review, and some do both. Also, I buy zines at Atomic Books (my local zine store), as well as zine events, so if you see your zine reviewed and you didn’t send it in, that might be where Ifound it. Generally the only reviews you will read in here are “good reviews.” Constructive criticism is given, but basically we don’t have the time or money to print bad reviews. If you sent your zine in for review and don’t see it listed, wait a few months and see if it appears in the following issue. I read and then distribute the zines to the reviewers about two months before the print date. If the reviewer passed on reviewing your zine, it will be sent out again for the next issue. So, each zine gets two shots with two different reviewers. Ultimately, many of the review copies stay in the XD archives, but some are donated to zine libraries. Occasionally mistakes happen, postal or otherwise, so if you have a question about a zine you sent in for review, please contact Davida at PO Box 963, Havre de Grace, MD 21078 or davida@leekinginc.com.

        XD is available for free online (some reviews and artwork will only be available in print) or paper copies can be ordered for $3.

        If you have an event, announcement, or project you would like to share, please get in touch.

        The lack of paid advertising within these pages is deliberate. Despite reviewing our friends and lovers, we try to be somewhat objective and free to do as we please. Needless to say, this brings up the point of needing some help to keep the machine running...

 

Sponsors

 

We see Xerography Debt as the PBS of review zines. It is by us, for us, with no financial incentive - just a dedication to small press. If you have a few spare stamps or dollar bills to help support us and the zine community, it would be most appreciated. Also, let me know if you wish to remain anonymous. This issue’s sponsors are:

William P. Tandy, Jan and Earl, DB Pedlar, Owen Thomas, A.J. Michel, Fred Wright, Blair Ewing, Christopher Robinson, Anne Thalheimer, Larned Justin, Randy Osbourne, Julie Dorn, Clint Johns/Tower Records, Billy McKay, Dar Veverka, Jeannie McStay, Sandy Berman, Donny Smith, Brooke Young/The SLC Public Library, and several anonymous benefactors.

 

Photos

 

A note about the photos in this issue. We decided with this issue to start including reviewer byline photos. Now you know more about these people reviewing your zines. Julie Dorn’s photo was taken in front of the Nkrumah Masoleum in Africa. The pez dispensers in Dan Taylor’s were his wedding cake decorations. Davida’s photo is credited to Uli Loskot (City Paper).

Announcements

 

Upcoming Events:

The Philadelphia Zine Fest will be held Sunday July 11, at the Rotunda (4014 Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19104). The Philadelphia Zine Fest is a gathering of small print publishers, zine makers, comic artists, and other DIY creators to trade, display, and sell their work, attend workshops and other events, and hang out and have fun. For more information or to reserve a table, e-mail phillyzinefest@yahoo.com or visit www.geocities.com/phillyzinefest. (Ed.: At press time William P. Tandy, Dan Taylor, and I plan to attend.)

 

Minneapolis Zine Festival, July 24-25 at the Stevens Sq. Center for the Arts, 1905 Third Ave. S. July 24-Aug. 21 there will be a Zine and Flyer Art Exhibit. For more information, e-mail zinefest@yahoo.com or visit www.zinefest.org.

 

San Francisco Zine Fest, September 4 & 5 at Cellspace, 2050 Bryant St. Tables cost $10/15 (1 day/2 days) for a half-table, or $20/30 for a full table. Go to www.sfzinefest.com for more info. Admission is free. Join the mailing list by sending an e-mail to bayareazinefest-subscribe@yahoo-groups.com.

 

Arizona State University Art Museum Exhibition, When I Grow Up..., May 22 – Sept. 11, 2004  includes David Greenberger’s “The Duplex Planet” comic books with illustrations by such artists as Peter Bagge, Drew Friedman, Dan Clowes, Jim Woodring, Chris Ware and James Kochalka. http://asuartmuseum.asu.edu-/whenigrowup

 

International Expo-Zine, Salt Lake City, UT Sept.-Oct. 2004. Contact Fanzine Exhortation c/o Jorge Arellano, PMB 228, 869 E. 4500 South, SLC, UT 84107
New Zine Libraries

The new Denver Zine Library is seeking donations. Zine donations should be sent to 111 W. Archer Pl., Denver, CO 80223. For more info: http://www.geocities.com/denverzinelibrary/.

 

The Aboveground Zine Library and Computer Lab is coming to New Orleans and is looking for zine donations. Send the zines to Quickdummies, 6810 Bellaire Drive, New Orleans, LA 70124 or drop zines off at the Bank Street Warehouse during a punk show. For more info: abovegroundlibrary@yahoo.com.

 

Zines Seeking Submissions

Sins: I need your help on a zine project that I have been trying to get done for almost two years now.

        The project is going to be seven separate zines in a bundle, each on specifically about on of the seven deadly sins. Get it? That means ONE ZINE PER SIN!

        You can write or draw anything that relates to that specific sin, and if you want to do all seven, go for it.

        As of now, all the sins are up for grabs. I only have a few articles. Contact me about what you’re planning on writing and I’ll tell you if that sin is still open. There are 3 professional illustrators (I need more) working on this and I’ve contacted over a hundred different zinesters and writers. This project is going to be awesome. I am really excited about it, and I really want you to add something. I want a variety of writers and topics.

        E-mail me for more info at Denell@hotmail.com (please put “sins” in the subject) or write to me at

Supreme Nothing, c/o Denny, PO BOX 211, Burton OH 44021

 

Have you ever kept a journal? Have you read anyone else’s? For all those who journal (and those who don’t) here’s your chance to share a story. Send any journal inspired creations to Julie Dorn, PO Box 438, Avondale Estates, GA 30002 or to junieingeorgia@hotmail.com.

 

HAVE YOU BEEN BAD?

Sooner or later, everyone has the opportunity to do the right thing - and then doesn’t all for the sake of being bad. And now Eight-Stone Press (ESP) wants to hear all about it!

BEING BAD is a forthcoming ESP publication devoted to your tales/poetry/artwork of the high road not taken - opportunities to do right not so much missed as forsaken. From childish pranks to petty acts of revenge to good, old-fashioned raunch, ESP knows you’ve been bad (hell, you’ve read this far, haven’t you?).

For consideration, send your submissions to Eight-Stone Press

Attn: William P. Tandy

P.O. Box 963, Havre de Grace, MD 21078

or e-mail: esp@eightstonepress.com

 

Zinester Classifieds at Atomic Books

There is a new Zinester Classified section on the Atomic Books site. It’s basically, a page where people can place calls for submissions and people looking to submit stuff places can go and see what people are looking for: www.atomicbooks.com

 

New Zine Stores (or at least new to me)

Needles and Pens, 483 14th St (at Guerrero), San Francisco, CA 94103; (415) 255-1534; Open Thurs-Sun.12pm-7pm;

www.needles-pens.com.

 

Ecolibrium Environmental Shop, 1160 Capuchino Ave., Burlingame, CA 94010 (650) 342-6054.

“We will buy your zines on consignment (or pay up front). Please bring them in or call us. We would like to add to our zine selection but we need your support! Special requests will be honored. All types of zines accepted, unless they are racist or pornographic.”
Columns

 

The History of Zines:

Lisa B. Falour

 

By Donny Smith

PO Box 411, Swarthmore, PA 19081

dwanzine@hotmail.com

www.geocities.com/dwanzine

 

DS:What was the first zine you saw?

 

LF: I think it was my own! That would have been in 1976. It was titled Modern Girlz. Patti Smith was a contributor. I did five issues of it.

 

DS:Why did you start doing one?

 

LF: I was a very bored and lonely art student (graphic design and illustration, merit scholarship in my second year there) in Kent, Ohio, and could not find anything interesting to read except for books in their huge library. There were no magazines I could find for sale which truly engaged and interested me, so I decided to do my own.

 

DS:What was in it?

 

LF: There were some interviews, some done face-to-face, some done by mail. Chris Butler, who was a musician who achieved some success in the late 1970s (the Waitresses, etc.) and in the ‘80s (he did the theme song for a short-lived but very good TV series called “Square Pegs”) was one of the interviewees. Another was poet John M. Bennett, of Ohio—I interviewed him by mail. Patti Smith sent me some hand-written, hard-to-comprehend rants, and I accepted poetry, artwork, short stories … I liked to clip out strange things from newspapers and make collages, and also to use things I literally found in the street, or which people had found in the street and given to me. Modern Girlz became Bikini Girl, which I published in New York from 1978 until 1991, though it has never officially ended. I used to feel very embarrassed to look at the first and second issues of that zine, but recently, I reread issue two of Bikini Girl, and laughed out loud. I think it’s funny, and I am not ashamed of the crude layout, grammatical errors, bad typing and typography, etc. Hey, for a couple of bucks, people got something pretty unique, showing up sporadically in their mailboxes! And I got a chance to express myself, with no one telling me what I could or could not publish.

 

DS:How did you go from 25 copies to 10,000?

 

LF: I’m bipolar, and when I am “up,” I am incredibly focused, productive and capable. I try to play fair and square, too, and be generous when I can, which helps! The 10,000 copies were issue 8 of Bikini Girl, printed offset method in New York, and included in Impulse Magazine, a Canadian fine arts and popular culture magazine for which I was a contributing editor for two years in the early 1980s. I paid for the printing and earned nothing, but was very, very happy to get my zine into so many hands!

 

DS:What was the zine scene like in ‘70s NYC?

 

LF: There were a number of shops which sold my zine on consignment. One was New Morning on Spring Street in SoHo. They’d only accept ten copies at a time, and I had to pass by once a month or so, count the remaining zines on the rack, and collect the cash in my hand, but they were very courteous. Since I lived on a budget of five dollars a day, any extra cash I earned was useful for buying myself a hot meal, or feeding a hungry friend. Often, selling zines on consignment by mail got me ripped off, but fairly often, shops were fair with me. Printed Matter on Lispenard Street in Manhattan was very, very good about sending me a proper accounting, plus a check, once a year, but they were rare. Often, I had to ride night trains to places such as Boston, to pick up my earnings and drop off new copies. I located some libraries and museums who’d buy copies from me. The Museum of Modern Art in New York was one, the New York Public Library, the University of Buffalo, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden—these are a few who come to mind.

 

LF: By the time I got to NYC around 1977-78, I was seeing more and more zines and went out of my way to meet zinesters and be supportive. A few zines went mainstream and made it briefly, such as Wet, which was never really a zine, but was a very free-spirited, fun California magazine to deal with. They had a zine spirit.

 

LF: Some rock music people were involved in zines. Devo did a zine back when they still lived in Ohio! It was a one-page, mimeographed affair, and very funny. I still have one copy somewhere and laugh when I find it and reread it.

 

LF: Some musicians, such as Half Japanese and the Residents subscribed to my zines and sent me free copies of their records. Others included B-52s, Fleshtones, etc. Members of the Cramps and Nervus Rex, to name just two, wrote and contributed to my zines.

 

LF: I did a video issue of Bikini Girl in 1991, and took it to radio format in 1988-89. My show was called “The Bikini Hour” and was a substitute program on WFMU-FM in East Orange, New Jersey. I’ve gotten some amazing fan mail over the years, and all three of my marriages were a direct result of my zine activities.

 

LF: Kindly note: I’m doing a joint perzine these days called Last Laugh / Quiet Days in Saint-Denis. It is published several times a year and is available for a few stamps and a few dollars (see reviews on pages 11 and 17).

 

The History of Zines:

A Little History on the History

 

By Davida Gypsy Breier

PO Box 963, Havre de Grace, MD 21078

davida@leekinginc.com

www.leekinginc.com

 

        People like tidy explanations. They like definitions. These tend to give people frames of reference. Urban legends and water cooler gossip thrive under these conditions.

 

v Zines are rooted in science-fiction fandom

v Zines are a byproduct of punk

v Zines are purely a modern phenomenon

 

        Or are they? These are all commonly held beliefs. The final statement is like thinking that your generation is the first to discover sex. If that’s so, how did we all get here?

        The history of zines should lead to the same question – how did we get here? Each of us involved in zinedom has a family tree of sorts. After 10 years, I can’t believe how many branches my tree has, but I know my roots.

 

Circa. 1988-90: Richard pilfers a copy of MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL (MRR) from Mrs. Nichols’s English class and discovers zines.

 

Circa 1994: Richard buys me a subscription to Reptiles of the Mind (a perzine) and a copy of FactSheet 5 (F5).

 

Circa 1994-5: I read the reviews in the back of Reptiles of the Mind and in the Medley section of F5 and write away for a bunch of zines. From those zines I find more zines, including Dwan (Donny Smith’s).

       

Circa 1995: I start my own zine, Slow Leek (a per-zine).

 

Present day: I’ve published 49 issues of three zines – 50 if you count the one you are holding.

 

        The spark for all this is that a teenager at South Dade High School forgot a copy of MRR during a class change and Richard seized the opportunity to pilfer what would become my future. In theory, my history of zines stems from MRR, but does that really make any sense? History isn’t tidy. That’s what The History of Zines Project is all about.

        It is our sincere belief that the motivations behind zine creation are inherently human. That the common definitions bandied about regarding when and where zines began have been far too limiting (and literal), ignoring a rich past. Donny Smith and I agree that if a starting point for modern zines has to be set, it would be the Mid-nineteenth century and the invention of the tabletop printing press. The continued proliferation of zines in the twentieth century is also related to technology (typewriters, xerography machines, and computers) and the general populace gaining accessibility to these tools.

        So if my bloodlines start at MRR, my chosen ancestors include William Morris, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, The Roycrofters, the artisans of the Arts & Crafts movement, and the designers of the Art Nouveau period. Form and function given equal weight, but with a DIY spirit. My modern day family, who also influence me, are contained within the pages of this zine.

        History is what you take from it, and better yet what you make from it.

 

 

 

IT MEANS IT’S WANK

 

By Jeff Somers

P.O. Box 3024, Hoboken NJ 07030

mreditor@innerswine.com

www.innerswine.com

 

“So what does that mean? It means it’s wank.”- Vic Flange, www.fleshmouth.co.uk [now defunct], describing my zine.

 

“To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.”  -Elbert Hubbard

 

DO NOTHING, SAY NOTHING, AND BE NOTHING

...in which your intrepid columnist explores what the term “review” means, and what is and isn’t a review.

 

One thing that never changes, aside from my gnawing hunger for beer, sweet life-giving beer, is the disruptive force of an opinion, any opinion. We’re all taught from childhood that our opinion counts, that our vote counts, that we count. I’ll leave whether this is true or not to another column; let’s just stipulate that the whole world is made up of cheeky bastards who think their opinions matter, like me and you, you cheeky bastard. The end result? A lot of arguments. Say anything publicly that isn’t plainly obvious or easily proved beyond any doubt and you are undoubtedly in for a fight, bubba, with at least one person who thinks you’re talking out of your ass.

You get a lot of this with zine reviews, of course; I discussed in a previous column the futility of talking back to a bad review. What I’m wondering today is:

1. What, exactly, constitutes a review?

2. Can you catch a disease from drinking strangers’ cocktails when they go to the bathroom, or does the alcohol kill their cooties?

But mainly the review definition thing. One burning (in the case of many diseases, literally) question at a time, though. I’m wondering about what constitutes a review because of an incident which occurred on the Internet newsgroup alt.zines—the Thunderdome of zine-related discussion—a few weeks ago. It went like this:

Whenever I get zines in my PO Box at home, I post a listing of the items received to the alt.zines newsgroup. If I’ve read something of the zine beforehand I’ll comment on it sometimes, but often I just post contact info and a vague summary of contents, usually gleaned from the TOC and the cover. If I have an opinion on what I’ve read or gleaned, I’ll express it. Recently, I posted the following about a zine that had arrived in my mailbox: “I didn’t much care for this, but that’s a personal opinion.” The question is, was that a review?

The publisher of that zine didn’t think so, and took umbrage with me for posting such an uninformative and slipshod review. I’d agree with him if I thought this represented a review. It doesn’t. It’s an opinion, certainly, but if a review was just an unadorned opinion we’d call them opinions, and not reviews, wouldn’t we? I do not consider these opinions to be reviews, even though an opinion, certainly, is the main component of a review. But it isn’t the only component, and I feel very strongly that a simple opinion does not a review make.

What’s the difference between a personal opinion and a review? Well, a review has to contain several components in order to be considered a review: An opinion on the material, certainly; a reason or reasons for having that opinion; an attempt at balance; a formal structure; and, most importantly, the intention of influencing your zine-reading decisions. If you’ll excuse me while I spasm into italics for a moment, that is the whole goddamn point of a review. You can probably get away with leaving out one or two of those (and many reviews do indeed neglect the reasons for their opinions), but you can’t leave out the last component. If the statement is not attempting to influence your choice in zines, then it is not a review. A bare personal opinion cannot be considered a review. It describes one man’s gut reaction to something, with no attempt at justifying or explaining that reaction, or any expectation that the reader will use that opinion as a basis for their own choices.

As another example, I think The Adventures of Baron Munchausen is one of the worst films I’ve ever seen. I actually saw this atrocity in a theater, and paid money for it, back in the lazy, hazy days of my childhood. All I recall is chewing through a seat cushion to escape. Is that a review? No, it’s a personal opinion. Does it make you want to see the movie less? If it does, you’re a lost cause anyway.

Of course, a publicly stated opinion can affect people’s zine-reading decisions. The idea that someone is actually paying attention to what I say is frightening and exhilarating at the same time, making me feel like a Jim Jones-type cult may not be beyond my slim capabilities after all. If enough people, or even a single influential person, express an opinion about a zine, it certainly can affect how that zine is perceived. While this is true, it still doesn’t make an opinion into a formal review, and you can’t hold an opinion to the same standard.

As for my other burning question regarding yoinked cocktails, I will now launch an exhaustive investigation which will probably leave me friendless, bloated, and possibly diseased, with a throbbing 32-pound liver. But it’s worth it. I have dedicated my life to illuminating you cheeky bastards. Now, for god’s sake, mail me some cocktails.

 

The Reviews

Donny Smith

PO Box 411, Swarthmore, PA 19081

www.geocities.com/dwanzine

dwanzine@hotmail.com

 

        Spring brought a bountiful crop of zines, so I’m trying to keep the reviews short. No offense, please.

        My zine Libary (sic) Journal should be out sometime in August, from somewhere in Indiana. By the time you read this, we’ll be packing up and probably on our way out of Pennsylvania. Consult my web page for current contact info: http://www.geocities.com/dwanzine

 

Big Fag 01 (February 2004)

available from Inquisitor Mediarama, PO Box 132, New York NY 10024 USA, for $2; http://www.inquisitor.com/

what it is: an unstapled minizine and a linocut postcard in a clear plastic envelope (nice design)

on the cover: a young man in a sleeveless t-shirt shows off the tattoo on his upper arm

inside: In about a dozen breathless run-on sentences spread over 20-some pages, the story of choosing a tattoo design, which his friends who think he’s changed, or maybe not, don’t understand and don’t think he should get, and how that relates to his ex-boyfriend, whom he still has sex with, and all the gay Republicans he keeps meeting, and what that has to do with the story of his adoption and straight men who flirt with gay men and white gay men who fetishize non-white men. Illustrated with clippings of sexy tattooed men.

quote (which I guess is sarcastic): searching for a reason or something of enough import or enough meaning or enough enoughness for me to want to inscribe it into my own flesh, since intellectually and academically overthinking things has never really been a problem for me in the least bit whatsoever.

 

Call & Response Issue 1 (spring 2004)

available from Gianni Simone, 3-3-23 Nagatsuta, Midori-ku, Yokohama-shi, 226-0027 Kanagawa-ken JAPAN, for $3, 3 IRCs, or selective trade (inquire first); jb64jp@yahoo.co.jp

on the cover: Gianni with a cow

inside: photocopying his zine at work; mail art fun; meals in India; adventures with insects and spiders

overall: great first zine! (though Gianni’s not new to the zine world)

 

Cash Flagg #2 (February 2004)

available from Brian Marshall, 258 Main St Apt 3, Danbury, CT 06810 USA; no price (but it’s free at Atomic Books in Baltimore); cashflagg13@hotmail.com

inside: reviews of recent movies, which turn into personal anecdotes—with the emphasis on bad horror and youthful geekiness and rag-tag-ness

quote: Shitty people love bad ideas, even more than they love taking good ideas and making them bad. Because they’re shitty people, they’re inheritly drawn to bad ideas, and a snowball effect occurs. I call this trend the Shit Brown Snowball Parade. —from a review of Gothika

overall: hi-larious!

note: Cash Flagg doesn’t seem to have anything to do with filmmaker Cash Flagg (Ray Dennis Steckler), although I’m sure Brian loves Flagg’s movies (and who doesn’t love to see Liz Renay running in a tight skirt and high heels?).

 

Chumpire 168 (2004)

available from Greg Knowles, PO Box 27, Annville PA 17003 USA, for “free, 1 stamp, trade, etc.”; chumpire@hotmail.com

what it is: a tiny, skinny thing (8.5 x 2.75, 8 pp.)

inside: two pages of musings on current events, followed by five pages of zine and music reviews

overall: Another kind of zine I love. You can read the whole thing in five minutes and you get only the quickest glimpse of the writer, but as you read more and more subsequent issues you get acquainted. He trusts you to be part of the ongoing zine dialog, and eventually you can pick him out of the crowd (even though you’ve never met).

quote: This issue written in a few hours at MJ’s Cafe during screenings of Mel Gibson’s snuff film.

 

Dog’s Breakfast 1 (2004?)

available from 2617 Emerson Ave S Apt A, Minneapolis, MN 55408 USA, for $2 or trade; jrwbrit@yahoo.com

note: I was going to pass on reviewing this one because so much of the content is just reprints of stuff from the Internet, but how can I pass by an exposé of right-wing hypocrites? Anyway, it’s a first issue, so he gets a little slack.

inside: tribute to iPod; online profiles of gay men, including sanctimonious conservative suck-up Andrew Sullivan, who apparently likes “barebacking” in “one-on-one’s, 3-ways, groups/parties/orgies, [and] gang bangs”; a brief and personal history of the Minneapolis neighborhood around 26th & Lyndale; thoughts on the young men who’ve died in Iraq interspersed with readings of Walt Whitman

Dome Therapy 2nd edition (April 2004)

available from Bloody Mary’s Cool Sister, PMB 170, 40 E Main St, Newark, DE 19711 USA, for $1, 2 stamps, or trade

inside: one short story about war in the Middle East and the funny way God decides to push human free will a little closer toward peace

note: It’s a great story (or maybe the first chapter of a novel?), but it’s even better if you get to hear the author read it aloud. She’s very reserved offstage, but has a radiant voice and an intense presence when reading.  

 

Etidorhpa #9 (April 2004)

available from Bloody Mary’s Cool Sister, PMB 170, 40 E Main St, Newark DE 19711 USA, for $2, 3 IRCs, or trade

inside: a poem titled “american apartheid”; contrasting two very different writers’ conferences; comparing presidential candidates’ looks; review of Passion of the Christ; a short story about a Christmas visitor to a barely functional workplace

overall: funny, literate, thoughtful; probably one of the best zines I’ve read, ever

 

Extranjero numero uno (spring 2004)

available from Kris & Lola c/o Lucio Carrasco, calle Obispo 4 bajo, Plasencia 10600 Cáceres SPAIN, for “a modest amount of US$ or euros or your zine”

inside: (in English) anecdotes from US expatriate Kris, his extremeña wife Lola, and friends: Extremadura, storks, Spanish bureaucracy, Spanish impressions of the US, bullfighting, cycling across Galicia

question: Why don’t bullfights feature the salto de la garrocha (the pole vaulting described in the bullfighting article)? It sounds much more athletic and spectacular—and a lot less lethal for the bull. 

 

Greenzine 13 (November 2003?)

available from Cristy C. Road, 14222 SW 83 St, Miami, FL 33183 USA, for $1.50; croadcore@yahoo.com

overall: I really resisted liking this zine. At first I thought it was all about spewing East Coast liberal arts college sexual politics propaganda, but really (if it is even that), it’s more than that. I kept reading and it sucked me in. The thing I love about zines is that they tell these great interlocking stories that aren’t told anywhere else.

quote: At sixteen I realized how being aware of my physiology helped me understand why the brown skid marks on the interior of my panties shouldn’t be a subject of humiliation. … I wanted to shit on his countertop and demonstrate my physiology for him.

on the cover: pen and wash drawings of young women with hairy legs, mini skirts, seed caps, and backpacks (Cristy provides adroit illustrations throughout)

inside: stories from Cristy and her friends about punk scenes, traveling, rape, activism, and home; not always coherently told, but I don’t know if that’s because of difficult subject matter or because of sloppiness or because of fuzzy thinking

another quote: I went to sleep that night, fulfilled in a way, or atleast to the extent that I was capable of after having a conversation with a women on a bus bench. She dubbed me the total barer of false hope.

        I talked to her about actions i would partake in and she would ask me if the phrase “we’re fucked” was often bellowed by my fellow demonstrators. I said yes and caught the next bus home. And I admit there has been pauses of despair.

 

Hobnail Review number two (Jan. ‘04)

available from Ade Dimmick, PO Box 44122, London SW6 7XJ UK, for $2 or £1 cash only

subtitle: A Guide to Small Press & Alternative Publishing

inside: publishing-related reprints from zines, calls for work or donations, articles on the cost of publishing and on mail art, letters, and of course, reviews of micropress books and of zines in these categories: radical, art & literature, esoteric, strange, zine scene (fanzines), footie (soccer zines), review, and distro

overall: great to have another review zine!

 

How to be a good library patron / How to be a bad library patron (2004?)

available from Jerianne, PO Box 330156, Murfreesboro TN 37133 USA, no price (maybe send a library-related trade)

what it is: a mini comic anthology of the good and the bad; my copy came inserted into a standard library book pocket along with an author-title card from a card catalog and a library card in my name to the Phantom Public Library

overall: a treasure

 

Kissin (no date)

available at Wooden Shoe in Philadelphia for 50¢; hellosophiemol@hotmail.com

on the cover: a heart in gold glitter pen

inside: 10 little stories about kissing (little because the zine is only about 3” x 4”)

quote: the first time i kissed a girl i was quite aggressive. i don’t know why but now i look back on it i guess it’s because i wanted to know what it felt like to be a boy. i grabbed her and pressed her up against this wall and kissed her hard. i don’t remember much else.

 

Last laugh clxviii / Quiet Days in Saint-Denis tentative part 1? (2004)

available from Bill Blackolive, 1776 N McCampbell, Aransas Pass, TX 78336 USA, for “a few stamps and a few dollars”

what it is: A split zine between Bill and long-time Batteries Not Included and Dwan contributor Lisa B. Falour.

        Lisa writes in a letter to me, “I haven’t done a zine since 1990. I’m not feeling well enough, and also lack the funds and technology to do a project all on my own, so I am gonna team up with another zinester for at least awhile. He is Wild Bill Blackolive, who’s been doing Last Laugh since the ‘60s or something—a really long time. He only has about 35 subscribers—or something. His zine is not for everyone but I usually like it and he’s fun to write to … . Anyway, my zine will be attached to his, and my part is called Quiet Days in Saint-Denis … . And my days sure are quiet, in a kind of horrid way. Some things are good. I read a lot, listen to the BBC radio a lot, cook some, teach English sometimes, goof around with Kris in the apartment, don’t need an alarm clock, and I still shock people when I tell them I really like Saint-Denis. I am so lonely, I talk to anyone—anyone—and everyone seems to hate Saint-Denis and they just wonder what planet I am from (so do I!) and it’s funny, really. … Wild Bill is 63 years old, on SSI, lives in Texas, has no ‘Net access, and is a kind of hippie anarchist beat yeti type of thing. He admits he’s only semi-literate but his zine has brought me a lot of cheer in the past year and he really wants us to team up, if only for awhile, so I’m going for it. … I am doing this on a budget resembling my 1976 budget, when I started zining, but feels like old times and helps me when I have insomnia. (I used to just sit in the dark and get drunk all night.) But the sleep apnea machine has helped a lot. But being sober, ugh, I wish I could get a body transplant and drink again. That’s the truth.”

inside: Bill’s kind of stream of consciousness accounts of living with his mother, walking the dogs, dealing with rednecks, and musing about current events, interspersed with letters from friends and family; excerpts from Lisa’s autobiographical novel The Finishing School and from her accounts of day-to-day life in suburban Paris.

overall: like a long, long, long letter from two old messed-up friends

 

Object Lesson Issue Two (2003?)

available from M. DesPairagus, PO Box 4803, Baltimore MD 21211 USA for $3

on the cover: a sexy lady gazes at a large celeriac

inside: vaguely vegetable-themed articles on M.’s life: wasting time with The Onion’s personal ads, library weeding and garden weeding compared, Tater Tots, recipes, short short stories, reviews of books, zines, movies, parades, and burlesque shows

quote: I was not fully aware of how desperately I wished to be alone again until the moment after he was trying to get out of my car and I accidentally started to drive away while he was still only halfway out. We talked a few days later and I said I really liked him but just wasn’t romantically interested. He countered by explaining that he was really attracted to me, but just didn’t like me all that much.

 

Second set out (May 2003?)

available from Moe Bowstern, PO Box 6834, Portland, OR 97228 USA, for $1.82

inside: Moe’s stories about fishing in Alaska, traveling around the country, having an abortion, and all the people’s stories she hears along the way; with a “foreward” by Ursula K. Le Guin

quote: “Yes.” he said firmly. “I play the euphonium.” This kid couldn’t have been prouder to be who he was. He played his euphonium—which is some kind of tuba—in a fife and drum corps that he was heading to meet in Rosemont, Illinois. He paid $1200/year for the privilege of blowing his euphonium with others of his ilk in Rosemont, which is the name developers gave to the cluster of convention centers around O’Hare Airport. On the way to Chicago he read to me (at my urging) from his Christmas book, The Physics of Star Trek. It is one of my favorite adult Christmas experiences.

note: seems to feature some of the same characters as Greenzine

 

Songs about ghosts issue number two (August 2003)

available from Jasmine Dreame Wagner, 252 Norman Ave #203, Brooklyn, NY 11222 USA, for $1?; http://www.songsaboutghosts.com/

on the cover: three friends hanging out (their photocopied faces covered by photocopied coins)

inside: an autobiographical story about halfway connecting with people (if it’s not autobiographical, she’s done a great job of making it real)

overall: still another zine subgenre I love: the summer camp reminiscence perzine

 

Thermidor issue #2 We regret to inform you (winter 2003)

available from Kate Amok c/o Erik Osheim, 17 S Chester Rd Apt E, Swarthmore, PA 19081 USA for $1 or trade; e-mail for current address thermidor@bearhome.net

inside: “Eccentrics I Have Known,” including Pro-Life Anderson (his legal name) and 8-Off Spicler, “the Hispanic Hitler” (poet); “Troma vs. The World: An Interview with Lloyd Kaufman”; “D.I.Y. Zombie Gore,” with detailed instructions for cheap special effects; “The Interesting Case of The Showboat,” a creepy abandoned strip club; “The League of Insane Georgia Politicians”

quote: Women are the smart ones in Troma movies. … [Women] save the men in Troma’s War. Toxie’s wife urges him to stop working for The Man. Tromeo and Juliet is all about Juliet. She’s the focus. Sure the [women] are in small clothing, but so are the men. Sure, there are some fucking scenes. It’s R rated. Why not? Pourquoi pas? I like it. A lot of people do. They aren’t porno films. If you want to see women hung up on a meathook, watch TV. Watch Friends. Those women are pansies. Femmies. That’s exploitation. —Lloyd Kaufman

 

Dan Taylor

PO Box 5531, Lutherville, MD 21094

www.dantenet.com

dante@dantenet.com

 

Dan Taylor has spent the last several weeks trying to block out the ceaseless noise of the cicada army massing in his yard. When he’s not trawling ebay for kool Klaus Kinski kollectibles he’s editing The Hungover Gourmet: The Journal of Food, Drink, Travel and Fun. $3 gets you a copy of the latest issue, which features the writings of Davida Gypsy Breier, William Patrick Tandy, Christine Coleman Taylor and a bunch of people who only have two words in their name. Contact him at PO Box 5531, Lutherville, MD 21094-5531, or visit www.hungovergourmet.com.

 

THE EX REVENGE PROJECT ($5 from Robin Bougie, #320-440 e. 5th Ave., Vancouver, British Columbia V5T 1N5 Canada. 40 pages, digest sized, color cover. Visit bentcomics.com) Wow, I knew guys sucked, but THE EX REVENGE PROJECT takes it to a new, lower level. Somewhere in the basement, near housewares and men’s accessories.

        I’ve had chicks pull some crazy shit on me, but I never thought about doing the stuff that CINEMA SEWER editor Robin Bougie documents in this harrowing publication. In a quest for “free, interesting porn” Bougie posted online classifieds requesting “nude or compromising shots” of former lovers. What followed was an avalanche of photos and correspondence from men filled with what can only be described as a hateful rage against the women who’d done them wrong, in some real or perceived fashion. Hell, some were never even in relationships with the victims.

        Bougie faithfully documents the correspondence next to stark, black and white drawings representing the photos he received. Shocking and titillating in a caught-lifting-panties-from-your-neighbor’s-dresser kinda way, it’s an art project gone horribly wrong that you’ll have a hard time forgetting.

        Okay, so maybe I THOUGHT about it, but none of my ex’s ever took me up on that whole “tasteful nude photography” idea. And if you’re looking to explore the world of revenge web sites, check out urdumped.co.uk.

 

FISH PISS Vol. 2, Number 4/Winter 2004 ($6 ppd from Box 1232 Place d’Armes, Montreal, Quebec, H2Y 3K2 Canada. 120 pages, 7” x 9”, two-color cover, newsprint insides.) I’m always amused when a zine’s title appears incongruous with the content. Take FISH PISS, for example. While the name makes sense to the DIY fan, artist or old school graphic designer – fish piss is often an ingredient in inks – the title certainly raises an eyebrow and a comment or two as I’m reading it on the beach. Try explaining that contained in the pages of this well-executed Canadian journal are discussions of politics, avant garde cartoons, and a detailed look at the history of the recording industry.

        It’s a pretty impressive package, even if a bit of it is inaccessible to me, the reader, due to language barriers or geography. I was intrigued by the title of one article, Isabelle Bourret’s ‘Shut Up and hit RECORD,’ but they lost me at the first “Avez-vous une enregistreuse?” As Beavis would say, “Uh, what?” Other pieces on Canadian politics were in English, but lost me just as fast. Hell, I can barely keep American politics straight. Seems like dying has somehow turned Ronald Reagan into one of our country’s greatest leaders, not a sinister, lying con-man who – if there’s any truth to what I learned in grade school – is slowly roasting over hot coals at this very moment.

        My (lack of) international language skills and politics aside, FISH PISS is loaded with enough reading material to keep you occupied for hours whether you’re bi-lingual or not. My advice? Don’t miss Vince Tinguely’s applause-worthy piece on the world of K-Tel Records and Ian McGillis’ laugh-out-loud ‘Arguments for the Superiority of Vinyl.’ Also includes an interview with former Minuteman Mike Watt and pages of reviews for audio and print projects that I’ve never heard of. Un excellent puits de publication intéressant chercher.

 

DIG #2 Winter 2003/2004 ($3 from 2215 Hickory Park Drive, Kingwood, TX 77345. 36 pages, digest size, black on color paper cover with photocopy insides. Visit digzine.com) I love technology in all its many forms, but I’m not hung up on having the latest or greatest this, that and everything. In fact, I listen to LPs as much as CDs, don’t own an MP3 player or game system, and have a dependable (but hardly high-tech) DVD setup.

Another thing I’ve never been able to get into is hacking and phreaking. Reading zines like 2600 gives me a headache because: a) I don’t know what the hell they’re talking about, and b) I’m at a loss to find a practical application for whatever it is they’re talking about.

        DIG strikes me as wanting to tap into that whole 2600 audience, but without that mag’s resources or direction. An article called ‘The First Big Hack’ left me scratching my head afterwards because it seemed more like rambling insider gossip than anything. A how-to about recording phone conversations – which I would have a practical application for – left me with more questions than answers. For instance, why would you spend time talking about the use of CD-R/CD-RW when no portable device exists that allows you to record onto the medium?

After saying all that, I’ll also say this – it’s only their second issue. A third is available as a text file from their website and I’m sure a print version will be available soon. Looking back on the first few, hell the first dozen issues of my early zine makes me cringe. There are plenty of technology issues to be discussed in the pages of DIG and I hope they find their voice.

 

SLUG AND LETTUCE #78 (It says 60 cents per issue, but send ‘em a damn buck you cheapskate. No checks less than $10. PO Box 26632, Richmond, VA 23261-6632. 20 pages, tabloid size, newsprint.) This is one of those publications that I’ve heard mentioned from time to time and I’m glad an issue finally popped up in my review stack. How it got to 78 issues before I saw a copy is really beyond me.

        Were I about 15 years younger than I am, I bet SLUG & LETTUCE would be a pretty indispensable publication. Edging closer and closer to 40 – a fact I’m sometimes loathe to admit or even believe – I had to hold it about three inches from my rapidly-deteriorating eyes in order to even read it. But you know what? Chris(tine) – the zine’s editor – addresses the small type complaint in the first column on the front page, so I should probably just – as she writes – “stop complaining about it.” And you know what? She’s right, and anybody that’s published 78 of ANYTHING is okay in my book.

        S&L reminds me a bit of MAXIMUM ROCK & ROLL and FLIPSIDE, two publications that I did read with regularity about 15-20 years ago. (Where does the time go?) Lots of columns, show reports, band photos, zine reviews, and a healthy helping of audio reviews that are frequently short, to the point and free of the showy and snarky verbal diarrhea that passes for music criticism these days. (One notable exception? The great, pinpoint accurate reviews by rawk and roll legend Jeff Dahl in the pages of CARBON 14 or any publication he graces.)

On first glance I didn’t think SLUG & LETTUCE was for me. The more I read the more I got into it and the more I wanted to read. If you’re looking to stay current – or re-familiarize yourself – with today’s punk scene, get it now.

CASH FLAGG #2 (No price listed but send $2 to Brian Marshall, 258 Main Street, Apt. #3, Danbury, CT 06810. 18 pages, full size, photocopied.) My first zine was a drive-in movie review newsletter, so I’ve got a soft spot in my heart – and head – for like-minded publications. I like editors who have a goddamned opinion (whether I agree with it or not) and slather the pages with a bit of piss and vinegar. Hell, if I want “film criticism” I’ll read some glossy rag I can pick up at Borders.

        Reading CASH FLAGG – which takes its name from one of the many pseudonyms of B-movie legend Ray Dennis Steckler – is like taking a trip back through time to the mid-1980s when zines like this showed up in my PO Box with dizzying regularity. Some lasted an issue or two and disappeared without a trace. Others – like SLIMETIME, GORE GAZETTE, WET PAINT and CRIMSON CELLULOID – lasted for years and became reliable resources for outings to grindhouses and video stores. In still another instance an editor that had published one of the sleaziest cinema rags wrote to say he’d found God and hoped I would do the same.

CF has all the earmarks of an ‘80s film zine… black-and-white movie ads featuring the likes of Burt Reynolds, Stella Stevens and Jim Brown fill the background behind blocks of text that look like they were banged out on a thrift store typewriter. Photocopied images of Don Knotts act as a rating system and the reviews contain personal details that you might wish the editor kept to themselves (such as the puke-tastic review of the final installment of THE LORD OF THE RINGS).

        While I don’t know that I would give the aforementioned Tolkien saga Five Furley’s, I found myself agreeing with Marshall’s reviews more often than not. And I wish that I’d heeded his warnings about the wretched excess of MASTER AND COMMANDER. What I found most interesting about the zine was that beneath the insults and text that seemed geared to shock, the publication – or at least it’s editor – seems to have a real heart. A review of MY FLESH AND BLOOD touches upo