By JP
I get a ton of stuff over the transom. Most dreck. I want to save you time and pushwhat I think are the cream of the crop of reading you won’t just bump into anywhere. I’ve really cut back on what I’ll put up with. I’ll try not to repeat past favorites…altho I still love ’em! Don’t forget mentions and ads elsewhere here! So, in no particular order….
·Jack Saunders, literary hero. OK, I’m repeating already. Jack bears it. Vernacular Writer. Noted Authority. Part of the 10% that didn’t get the message. (“Warning: Their shit don’t stink.”) It’s in his horn and he plays it. Join the Buzzard Cult. Movie, music, book, cultural reviews from 1950 to now in every rant! The trouble with success…the glory of failure. $5 to start to: POB 2724, Lilburn, GA 302262724.
·”Bud Stewart Lure Maker” Photobio of the only fishhook guy to hold my attention. Handcrafted integrity, even while massproducing, for 50 yrs. A Michigan legend. Totally psychedelic folkart. Coffee table book. Ferguson Comm., Hillsdale, MI 49242.
·Cormac McCarthy. He’s a novelist, in print, but I hear he does standup poetry, too. All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, Suttree, The Orchardkeeper. More. Explorations of the marginal. (CC writes about it, while JS is it. Who wins the prizes?) Lots of homebrew here, so to speak ‘splo’ it’s called. Oily liquid squinted at in jars. Great characters living in ditches, running trotlines along the river. The first modern writer I’ve read with a biblical diction and cadence. A weird combo of absolute completeness of description-he pushes you into really harsh places and keeps you there and emptiness of purpose. Still, there’s much honor and meaning and even some sermons. Everything happens yet nothing happens. Scares the consumerist mind. Anyway, his subjects are the Old South and the Old West. Favorite scenes incl.: Teen Texas cowboy, riding and starving in Mexico looking (nowhere) for bad guys-repeatedly rides into little ranchos and lucks under a clay arch and has a silent woman offer him a tortilla and water. Then there’s a speakeasy bar perched over a gorge in the gap of a Carolina pass. One corner built into a pine growing up from down below. Revelers become silent during storms as the whole place sways and rolls, then resume partying. They throw their empties out the black back door into the gorge far below.
·“Endless Winter” by Luke Bodensteiner. A candid, honest look at the life of an Olympian our best in XC skiing. The only nonhow to X~ tale in print. Proceeds go to the skier/author quest for ’98 Gold. Tons of energy, wildness, giantfighting and searching in here. And I thought I’d done tough workouts! $12.95 Alta Press 414338 2398.
·“Skijor with Your Dog” by Marl HoeRaitto and Carol Kaynor. A unique, wonderfully written and illustrated book of how to do something completely different and superfun with your dog! $14.95 from OK Publ, POB 84302, Fairbanks, AK 997084302.
·”Railbike” by Bob Mellin. The only bike on this quiet, nohands way to ride. Wonderful photos and history and howto, plus bios. Balboa Publ, 11 Library Pi, Anselmo, CA 94960.
·”The Magic Monastery” by Idries Shah. Tons of nifty, extremely provocative old stories. One of many books by the first Sufi to show this ancient way of realism to modern Westerners. Sufis use parables to teach nonlinear and counterintuitive discovery of necessary truths.
·”Bicycles le biciclette”. Part of the Bella Cosa series. A delightful little edition of exquisite photos of the most beautiful and intriguing bikes of all time. Art, not boring history. Available thru good bookstores.
·”Bike Cult” by David Perry. The newest book to wildly celebrate the whole of cycling. Huge.
·Backroads Bicycling. Quirky zine of homegrown, low-budget cycling. Join Randy’s family! But if you do, be sure to contribute or you’ll be out on your ear. I *really* like his stand on this now. It’s a pain, but he succeeds in making his zine jump from entertainment to real participation. $10/$1 sample to: Randy Wyatt, POB 372, Clay Center, KS, 674320372.
·RCN. Recumbent Cyclist News. The only magazine about recumbents. A real nice piece of work. Great info, stories and photos of a global hobby that really never gets local attention. The hub of the scene! POB 58755, Renton, WA 980581755.
· The Backwoodsman. Crusty mag/zine of oldtime outdoorsyness. Tons of content. No consumerist Blitz. Rendezvous, primitives and buffs gather round. Muzzleloaders, history, Indian lore. $4 sample/ $16 sub, POB 627 Westcliffe, CO 81252.
· OOP. Zine from local pal Joey Harrison. We’re the two main perzinesters around this here town! Joey has even quirkier stuff in Oop. It gives you a real push to look at ‘normal’ things in new ways. Other people send in stuff, too. I really liked Joey’s boyhood Visit to Mad Mag HQ and the excerpt from his mother’s diary about 10yr-old Joey and his little pals. It just expands out from there. Joey’s much more wired into the zine and music vibe than I am. He came and found me, the hermit. He takes great pictures at parties. He kills in Scrabble! He’s collected thousands of mag/zine firsts! If you like trailers, cemeteries and Captain Beefheart, get Oop. $3.114 Linden, E. Lansing, MI 48823. 73552.1671@compuserve.com.
· Pathetic Life by Doug Holland (aka). The diary of a fat slob. King Perzinester. He says he doesn’t have a life, but he does. Why is he down and out? Why does he get into trouble? What’s the fear all about? Find out. Highly addictive. I read it instead of Newsweek to find out about the world. $3. Doug, 537 Jones St. #2386, San Fran, CA 94102.
· Gun Fag Manifesto by Hollister Kopp. What cops call someone who is overly into guns. The only mag to admit that we like guns coz they’re loud and kick. A refreshing shove into gunbuffery rather than the dull, sober explaining that all the fearfuloftheirimage gun media get into. Frank, obnoxious and incredibly wellwritten. A perfect reaction. Everyone wants safe driving, but we still love the demolition derby! $5 to POB 982, Culver City, GA 902320982.
·Aeoleus Butterfly by Gabe Konrad. The best vintage bike history, art and culture zinc! Much interesting detail and arcane. Wonderful poetry and impossibletofindotherwise tasty lore. $2 sample/$12 sub for 6 to 13028 Cypress Ave., Sand Lake MI 49343.
· Cycling Times. An Eastcoast bikeshop tabloid. There’s lots of these around the country. But this one has the best stories. Fresher than the glossy mags. Helps make up for the loss of the great California Bicyclist. Sure, it’s regional, but it’s also global…and most of it’s fine reading no matter where you’re from. $12 sub to POB 1311, Fair Lawn, NJ 07410.
· Bicycle Trader by Bradley Woehl. Classified ads for bikes. Simple enough premise. Good cool ads, for starters. Then nice regular ads from cool bike businesses that you can tell are serious about supporting the friendly bike vibe. Then we have the filler….Some of the best got darn stories in all cycling media. It’s a big nationwide effort, but still has the underground edge. Go Brad! A rare great way to make up for the lack of US bike culture. $8/yr for 8 issues to POB 3324 Ashland OR 97520. www.bicycletrader.com.
