POB No More

Well the time has come to let the PO Box go. In the past four months or so, I’ve received exactly 4 zines for review, and that just doesn’t justify the cost of a pob. I will still do reviews here and there when I pick stuff up on trips to cities with zine stores and such. But as I’ve stated previously, my personal life is too busy right now to try and do regular zine reviews, and that’s just not fair to the people who took the time to send me their work and expected a relatively quick review response, something that rarely happened. This has been a fun experiment and I’ve made a bunch of great connections with all kinds of interesting artists all over the globe. I plan to keep publishing zines and making art, and hopefully I’ve built up enough good karma over these past five and a half years that others may give my stuff a hearty look and review. Thanks to everyone who sent stuff in for review, it was an honor to be part of it all. As always I can be reached at darlenezine@yahoo.com

ps: I still have about ten more zines to review, which I will be getting to asap. pss: Here's a link to my art blog http://randyp627.blogspot.com/

The Cultural Aether #1 & #5

Cultural Aether #1 & #5///$1///2440 E. tudor Rd. #364, Anchorage, AK 99507 I am putting these two zines together because they are very similar in style and content. Both of them are a mixture of interesting collage art and cartoon bubble phrases and statements and nothing else. They have a lot to do with love and relationships. The collage art is nothing short of amazing, where this artist gets the material I do not know, but it is truly exceptional. It’s like someone let Monty Python loose in the middle ages with a copy machine, an exacto, a glue stick, and a heavy heart.

Freak Tension #15

Freak Tension #15 freaktension@yahoo.com///www.freaktension.com///wbhauser@yahoo.com/// Freak Tension: super fun stories about life, punk, etc. Super hilarious reviews (The Doyle Abominator review being one that legends are made of), interviews with Brain Tumors, and City Mouse, and a very nice recipe for Roasted Minotaur Gizzards that I absolutely have to try! MP Johnson has a knack for the absurd, witch makes this zine a very entertaining moment in time.

The Soda Killers #6

bnb@hotdogdayz.com/// $5 or trade/ // I think this is the third time I’ve reviewed The Soda Killers, and I could basically write the same review for it every time. I would only have to change the names of the bands that I discover within (which is basically what I’ve done the past two times anyway). This zine is consistently good, and follows a very specific pattern: collage art, some stories, pictures of graffiti, and reviews by Nathan G. O’Brian. All of these things are great. But because I enjoy reading Nathan G. O’Brian’s reviews so much, the rest of the content has a tendency to get overshadowed. I’ve always been attracted to writing that is first-person, where the author injects themselves into whatever is being written about. I think that NGO does this in a way that seems very authentic and relatable. For punk type folks of a certain age, my age, his anecdotes and background knowledge make the reviews hum with a sort of undefined generational authenticity. Being in my 40’s and working in the world of education, I don’t have a lot of work peers that can I can relate to on these levels. I haven’t met too many people my age that know what a zine is, or spent their 20’s in smoke filled punk bars having their heads, souls, and hearts filled with the dysfunctionally creative dystopia of 90’s diy culture. NGO writing helps to fill that void. This particular issue of TSK is packed with so much NGO content that I wouldn’t feel bad about copying, pasting, and updating the band names at all. That being said, there is also a funny story about two dudes hating on some Food Network approved chili, and some collage art, and pics of graffiti. Bands discovered this issue: Condominium, Autistic Youth, Gas Rag, Hoax.