new zines and what that means

it's funny i was worried our catalogue would be too boy heavy but the three other zines we got coming in, not listed here yet are all girl things. girls make good stuff. i gotta find me some boys making zines.

we picked up alex wrekk.

holy shit that's cool. this girl is old school and kind of the Angelica Houston of zine writers. total fucking class and style in all the good ways. her new issues of brainscan are what the form is meant for.

#21 is an about the end of an abusive relationship, laying it out for the world and #22 is about IUDs which I'm still not convinced boys should know about. she says it makes me cooler. that so doesn't help but i guess she's right. girls definitely need to know.

we got guerilla craftfare which is a very fun craft zine for the uncrafty or as maximum rock and roll put it, the drunk. i love this zine. its fun. it isn't hoi polloi. it isn't craft snobby, knitting as a social trend. it's about fun. we love this zine, did i already say that?, and having it in our catalogue means a lot.

we got pulse which cj is reading right now. more on that later. its pretty cool. a feminist thing, a find yourself in a good way thing. it's pretty but it isn't just for girls.

by the way, maximum rock and roll reviewed fake life and said we were "sloppy and trashy but good." i've never been so proud.

-mike

the question of definition

okay so we are a distro. but what kind?

i want to sell stuff i like. that's obvious.

i want to sell stuff that people don't normally get to see.

there is a tendancy to sell certain kinds of zines. i can't define it but i know it when i see it.

i wanna sell punk zines that aren't political, slacker zines where the protags have no redeeming qualities, i want to find the villons and the lautremonts rather then the next che'.

that's not it.

i have a meeting to get to. i'll write more when i figure it out.

later, days later.

i know what it is i want. i think that writing is half skill/half art and i appreciate when its done well but i want the sloppy fucking 3am zine you wrote cus your girlfirend ditched or the one you made really and dizzy. i want messy and immediate. i want right now zines. i want one hour zines. i want crazy and for real. i don't give a shit about clever.

i want zines like we used to make them. fuck art. get real. let that fevered ego have its way with your glue stick and scissors as long as you come back down and face. i want honest. i wanted the hoarse screamed fuck you but i also want the whispered apology and the sloppy make up sex zine.

more on this when i give a shit again. -mike

Our First Meeting in a While

We met last night to move the copier and the big stapler over to Clay's apartment but first we stopped at a shitty unnameable fast fuck place and had dinner. There was some discussion of cheese eating and dicks. Usual fare. I think Rob's acting out the man in a toilet stall grunting for and then dropping his own cheese log. See red faced white knuckling effort, the commercial ending with the message. The Wonders of Cheese.

We headed over to Clay's and lo and behold I left the paper carry at my office. Another trip. Another delay. And finally, everything is set up and the toner cartridge is bad. Fuck me stupid. Wait, too late. Now I'm really proud of the stapler which last night seemed to be the only thing working. It is, in fact, the big stapler that separates a press from an infoshop, that and bathing. Just kidding.

We did manage to discuss the copy issue for Fake Life. We have fifty copies to hand out tonight and we need 68 more to get to distros, reviewers and for comps to people issues have been promised to. This does not include sales of any kind. We agreed to sell these issues. Good fucking luck.

We discussed issue five. Not saying too much about it but its pro-gun. And there will be Jesus jokes. I think between that and my "anti" GI rantings and this next issue we'll manage to alienate everyone but the illiterate. We went from friendly neighborhood fanzine to holy shit run for your lives. RJ from Call for Fire won't even talk to me anymore. Walked past me without talking and won't return my email. I understand. He believes what he believes. I just expected that unity was more than just arm and arm drunk party bullshit. Real unity is disagreeing and still staying tight. CJ and I have unity. She thinks I'm totally fucked about the war and I disagree with her pretty much about the GI Opt Out issue. We got heated today, shaky voice heated but we're still tight. That's unity.

CJ, by the way, has a one shot coming out, an extension of a column she wrote for issue number two about being car-less, "One Less Car". Its about jerk drivers. It'll have some comix from Rob and Clay plus CJ always grammatically correct writing. I also have a few new projects coming up in the coming months. More on that as it develops.

Also we're picking up four or five new zines from outside writers for distro. I won't name them because I don't have copies in hand yet. I will soon though.

Finally, tonight is first Friday, a local Tallahassee tradition. Railroad Square opens up all its art galleries and its like a big party with art. We usually hand out the new issues on FF. If you see us there buy one. Argue with me about the war. Be civil. Stay safe.

That's all for now.