JAVELINA!

A big "HELL YEA!" to Herb from the band Javelina for sending this shirt. Who says writing a zine isn't a lucrative endeavor?

924 GILMAN: the story so far

$18
maximumrocknroll
pob 460760
San Francisco, CA 94146-0760
www.maximumrocknroll.com
Mother of all things punk, this is a great book! Historic, iconic, angry, and fun. I've seen advertisements and reviews of this book around for a few years, but until now had never ordered or picked up a copy. I picked this one up at Powell’s. It was funny because the book was wrapped in plastic on the shelf due to the fact that each page falls out immediately after touching human fingers. The store copy was a hilarious pile of mangled pages stuffed into a plastic bag. Regardless of how poorly this book is bound, it’s great reading and goes into incredible detail about the history, present, and future of this iconic rock club. It’s full of pictures and writing from dozens of people who have been involved throughout. 924 Gilman is an important example dedication and passion. After reading the book I checked in with the club website, www.924gilman.org and saw that they are currently facing a pretty big financial dilemma, that of a $7000 monthly rent increase. Donate if you can.

pic: my old Gilman membership

GOAT FARM #2

Goat Farm has the best cover art ever. This is a personal history of how the author, Kim Riot, came to love metal. This is a very visually stimulating zine full of collage and ironic imagery. I loved this zine and found myself getting jealous of all the bands that she got to see live during those formative teenage years; Neurosis, Cro-Mags, Nuclear Assault. The only concert that rolled through Helena Montana when I was in high school was Huey Lewis & the News……Goat Farm, good stuff.

BURN COLLECTOR #14

Microcosm
222 South Rogers St
Bloomington, IN
If you have read Burn Collector before, then you already know that Al is a really talented writer and artist. I love his strange visuals and ambiguous comic panels that sometimes follow the story and sometimes just make you wonder. In this issue he writes about Chicago public transportation versus biking, and all the shortcomings, pitfalls, and insanity of big city travel, life, and music. He also writes about the often hypocritical forces of gentrification. My favorite part of this zine is Al’s analysis of Daniel Clowes’, Modern Cartoonist and his take on the history of cartooning. He makes it personal and I could totally relate to the stories about reading comics as a kid and trying to mimic the art, coming up short and feeling defeated as an artist. And then you discover punk rock and take the reins of your own artistic journey. This issue of Burn Collector is particularly heavy with comics and art, hallelujah!

THE EAST VILLAGE INKY #42

$3
POB 22754
Brooklyn, NY 11202
This is a really funny zine. EVI has been around forever and is always excellent. I really dug this particular issue in that it takes place at a summer camp. Having been involved with summer camps as both a camper and a counselor on and off for over 30 years, I guess you could say that I could relate. Ayun is there to see to it that her youngins get a quality camp experience and some good eats along the way. You can’t just pick up The East Village Inky and start reading casually through, you have to pay attention. There are so many tangents and rants that she goes off on, and so many funny images and cartoons scattered throughout every page that casual reading is totally out of the question. This zine requires you to find a comfortable reading spot, a tasty beverage, and a few hours of your time. Great reading.

COMETBUS #53

POB 4726
Berkeley, CA 94704
This issue is split with longtime Cometbus contributor Maddalena Polletta. This one is an amalgamation of different stories that wander around and explore a wide variety of topics and issues with each author taking turns. As varying as each story is, this zine has a surprising flow to it. I have been a fan of Aaron’s writing for years and always appreciate his perspective on life and living. Like all good writing the reader gets to experience and view the world with someone else’s goggles on and see it through their filters. Aaron’s filters just happen to be shaded punk, and dipped in pure Berkeley. I really liked this issue and the way that each author peppered it with short, often blunt stories that continue to take you into their worlds, introduce you to thier friends, families, cohorts, struggles and triumph.

ASHCAN MAGAZINE #2

660 4th St #420
San Francisco, CA 94107
www.ashcanmagazine.com
This is a new art, music, comic and culture magazine out of glorious San Francisco. It’s a full-sized newsprint mag whose contents include spotlights on artists Michael Frank, and Chance, an interesting story about touring around the amazon entitled, “Swimming with Piranha”where a gram of cocaine goes for a whopping $2, you can fish for piranhas, and riding in a mototaxi can be a uniquely dangerous endeavor. It’s got interviews with Andrew Jackson Jihad, Make Me!, Kepi Ghoulie as well as record & zine reviews, comics, and some fiction. This is a very solid and quality read that will hopefully find a way to survive in the challenging and often depressing world of print journalism.

ARMY OF HER, SHOW AND TELL #1

I can only assume that the author is very new to the zine scene in that there is no contact information whatsoever in either the zine itself, or the envelope that it came in. This is a cute little mini-zine that I read, I’m not kidding, in three minutes. It’s a super quick read about growing up in Portugal, getting her first period, and moving to London. I hope she keeps it up and expands her writing more in the next issue.

Foulweather #3

foulweather.blogspot.com
Pete is another very talented writer. Foulweather is the perfect title for this meandering and often morosely personal zine. Pete writes about and explores the very real subject of death. He processes the reality of his own mortality through surfing, skating, camping with friends, and discussions with family which always comes to the same conclusion; no matter how well things are going, you are still eventually going to die. Obviously this is a spooky subject but Pete tackles it with an openness and honesty that is approachable and at times even entertaining. He also writes about his own struggles with technology and how to balance it out with reality. Highly recommended.