Zines Galore
Ballast
A slim, elegant textured-paper wonder that keeps on arriving. Whimsical, witty excerpts of noteworthy reading, usually about art, design, or lit, in a stylish, tight layout – that’s all it is. Lots of reader submissions. Themes and references to particular books or personalities usually link together across pages of an issue. This makes a delightful dance of related quotes. Packs a punch. With plenty of nudges and winks thrown in. (The palindromes and puns are first rate.) (8 interesting 1st class stamps for 4 issues. 2022 X Ave., Dysart, IA 52224-9767. Roy Behrens.)
Bummers and Gummers
Newsletter of hilarious commune ranch. The only anarchist pub with a sense of humor. Their best idea is encouraging Ugly Strips as an effective way to repel yuppies, high tax assessments and developers – Camouflage your paradise with dead cars and burned trailers, and you can live cheap and unbothered. They also say they don’t post “No Trespass” signs on their land, but instead post “Litigation Free Zones” : Trespass all you want, as long as you don’t sue if you twist your ankle. Details of these settler’s lives, and how they deal with more mundane problems like getting kids to school, people to jobs, with minimal cars. Has a funny Q&A cheapskate farm-life advice column. ($2 sample. $6 cash 4-ish. POB 91, Lorane, OR 97451. Loki Quinnanelis.)
Attitude Problem
Board, snow and wheel sports combined with social critique, plenty of fringe-character interviews and indie youth culture taste-testing. Big black & white tabloid format. More energetic and punk than OYB, but along our lines in that it’s a Big Picture round-up zine. (Except Bandhu actually publishes more than once a year!) One of the few underground mags that cover sport and adventure, and fewer yet that aren’t macho or angry…which makes it a lot more accessible to outsiders. Recent issues had interview with old guy who drives his mule-pulled covered wagon around the country, with flock of goats, and preaches peace and sanity to all and sundry, plus a profile of a leading downhill speed skateboarder guru, plus homebrew beer info. ($3 per, 3/yr. POB 2354, Prescott, AZ 86302. Bandhu Scott Dunham.)
Rollerderby
OK, I’ve blurbed Rollerderby before, but it’s why I cancelled my subscription to Spy. Lisa Suckdog interviews everyone (Liz Phair, Courtney Love, et al) and essays up a storm. Excellent sub-pop scene overview. Letters section full of ongoing feud and sexual groveling. Gross, nasty, trashy. Whimsical, funny, friendly. (I laff, I cry, I am revolted.) Lisa tackles the issues as well as anyone with a bouffant hairdo. She just got profiled in Utne Reader, the twink! No pretension. Interviews with Mom about her body and Dad about his smuggling jail-time were hilarious. She’s hot and smart and you know what that does for fellow zine editors… ($3 per, POB 40791, San Fran, CA 94140-0791.)
Pinto
Non-indulgent 20-something art zine…amazingly enough. Reviews, fiction, art. No cynicism, scarce profanity, absence of overt bitterness. It’s like any other culture zine except that it’s original. Which makes it entirely different, but it’s in the delivery; you couldn’t tell if I just listed its topics. If you see it, you’ll say “Oh, that’s what people are trying to do.” ($3 sample, $10 6-ish. POB 2244, Olympia, WA 98507.)
The Fire Fly
The best family perzine. Long-lived look into the lives of a young brood of real nice folk. Only not nice like some aw-shucks family zines out there. Dad gets blacklisted in Ely, Minnesota for organizing the instructors at the flight school. One Dakota town fogs their low-income reservation housing with insecticides, they object, their lease gets pulled. In Idaho they meet a family with a violent Dad (our man’s boss as a snowboarding instructor), they try to protect the kids, find out the Dad has cop friends and have to go. Now the four are in a little cabin in Angle Inlet, a tiny wilderness town in Minn. only accessible through Canada. What next? Sometimes they come off as slightly PC and naive, but In the end all they want is to do right by the people who actually touch their lives. Nothing abstract here. No one else covers this particular beat in all of publishing, as far as I know. The kids contribute, too. ($1 sample. $10 6-ish. POB 133 Angle Inlet, MN, 56711. Lurie family.)
Nuthing Sacred
This zine is almost as big and styley as a mainstream pop culture magazine. But Jay does it almost alone, I’d say. Recommended for its insider info. Candid, non-ego-tripping editor gives good access and feel for the human side of the underground alternative scene. Music and movie stuff, road trips and superb interviews (Annie Sprinkle, John Trudell, Steve Perry, Wulf Zendik, GG Allin.) Not for the nervous. ($4 sample. POB 3516, LA, CA 90078. Jay Sosnicki.)
Crash
Miles Poindexter runs the Crash Network, where you send in $15 and a personality profile and you get to stay at anyone else’s house in the Network while you’re travellingŠ other people get to stay with you. Crash is his zine of informal travel. Diverse, well-written tales of eye-opening experiences at home and abroad. The latest issue is big, tall and gorgeous, and has stories of global wandering and far-out hitchhiking as well as a splendid account of biking home after work in New York City just after the first big snowfall. ($3 per, $15 membership, 519 Castro St., San Fran, CA 94114. Miles Poindexter. crash@barn.com.)
Alphabet Threat
PC social critique hits the gritty streets. About 20 local Gen X-ers contribute to this long-running, no-holds-barred zine. Often embarrassing – lots of apologizing for being white and hetero – yet sometimes insightful. A good way to watch the fabric of a Sacramento youth community…see when it pulls together, when it starts tearing apart. Also includes hard-to-find grunge tips such as how to brew your own absinthe. ($1 per. 3018 J St. #140, Sacramento, CA 95816. Co-op?)
Bike Culture Quarterly/Encycleopedia
Two big new hits to the bike scene. Knockouts from England. What great titles! What promise! So far, BCQ has fully-enlightened bike advocacy and hard-to-find bike news and info. HPV’s and recumbents dominate. Commuting and utility bikes. And the visionary bike art, old-style bike etchings and excellent classico-nubile logo all blow everything else away. Actually, there’s no one even competing. All the other bike mags are macho/nerd shopper’s guides. Go, BCQ, go! Then there’s the Encycleopedia. Hide it, Honey, or your bike nut won’t be seen for days if he gets ahold of this one! Chock full of giant color photos of the world¹s most unusual bikes, trikes and HPV’s… plus reviews, prices, specs and ordering info. Wow. Custom touring bikes, Hetchins’s, Peterson’s, special pannier and fairing makers. Tandems utility rigs, trailers, bike-trains. My oh my. Wonderful production values. Opens your eyes right big and wide. Full on. (BCQ: $10 sample. $35 for 4. Encycleopedia 1994: $11.50. 1995: $26. POB 1055, Ansonia Station, NYC, NY 10023. Jim McGurn.
California Bicyclist
Could be the best U.S. bike magazine. And it’s free in CA. No “shopper’s guide”. No tech mania. Fresh, pure bike culture! Some of it’s regional, and it’s just a tabloid, but even so, the culture shines through. They even treat their readers as if they’re savvy and intelligent. Actual art on the covers. Some of their ads are better than major mag features. Pushes you, helps you grow in your biking and in your camaraderie. Recent features include: essay on group-ride mind games ( la 1930’s “Gamesmanship” spoofer Stephen Potter); essay on the heritage and greatness of a garage sale 3-speed; profiles of unfamous gonzo founders of mt-biking; a women’s issue; a micro-brewery comparison. ($2 sample. $15 10-ish. 490 2nd St., Ste. 304, SF, CA 94107. Heath Maddox.)
Backroads Bicycling
A homey dot-matrix printout of cycling tales and thrifty tips from Randy and his extended family of cycling correspondents. Low-budget, true-hearted cycling thru and thru, with lots of dirt road riding in the Prairie State. If you give him stories or tips, then you may receive – participation is mandatory. Randy doesn’t mess around; it’s fun reading his excommunications. “Oh-oh! It looks like Patrick of Koko Notes is in trouble!” (But amends were made, and Patrick is back in the family.) Unpretentious tour stories and effective tips combined with unprofessionalism and an emphasis on the unfancy make this noteworthy. The editor seems to have a semi-itinerant nature, and is also a tank captain in the National Guard. In his past the bicycle often played the heart-wrenching role of carrying his family’s possessions to squalid new digs after getting evicted from the old, as he reported in one issue, with, he said, considerable pain and hesitation. The rubber hits an honest road in this zine. (Donation. Just send $1 sample & $5/4, if not more. POB 372, Clay Center, KS 67432-0372. Randy Wyatt.)
Mountain Bike Guru’s Forum
A wacky newsletter about the antics of a gang of MTBers. “Accepts no industry advertising.” The only zine with insider interviews with cycling’s semi-pros. It’s more fun to learn more about the reality of pro cycling from a zine than from a fancy mag. Inside reports on some midwest bike events, and mock-serious coverage of backyard nonevent buddy races. Numerous references to Star Trek. (50¢ POB 1067, Anoka, MN 55303.)
Cycletoons
The main bike comic, as far as I know, but largely unknown. Comics from a dozen artists. (Still not as good as Cat 3, though.) ($2 per. POB 2568, Mill Valley, CA 94942.)
The New York City Cyclist
The major cycling advocacy newsletter. It’s about NYC, but I think it’s the only one in the U.S., and it’s info has broad appeal. 50 pages. Some broader culture features. ($20 membership? Write for info, beg for sample. Trans. Alts. 92 St. Marks Pl., NYC, NY 10009. Published by TA.)
The Lumpen Times
Amazing downtown tabloid, like an urban “scene” rag only broader and crazier. Covers Chitown culture from the lumpen perspective, but also includes reviews, comics and critiques of a general interest. Anti-cause, so this gang can be crazy, but also come off with less anger and self-righteousness, which is always noteworthy in modern publishing. ($3 sample. $20 10-ish. 2558 W. Armitage Ave., Chi, IL 60647. Lumpens.)
Small Farmer’s Journal
If you thought this way of life was dead, think again. This huge, old tabloid of small horse farming looks like the national forum for this stuff. Seems to be an amazing vitality here. The personableness of SFJ gives you a good feel for this old way, if you’ve ever been curious about it (it’s better than Mother Earth News by far). Also, if you wonder what they really mean by “sustainable.” Oldsters, Amish, hippies and bureaucrats all seem to be getting along here (mostly). Nice art, photos and tasty layout, old-timey presentation. Nostalgic and hard-core practical at the same time. Agriculture, with not a drop of agribusiness. ($6 sample. $22 4-ish. 3908 W. 1st, Eugene, OR 97402. L. R. Miller.)
Plain
An anti-tech Amish mag that aspires to publish with handset type on a manual press, but the editors can’t quite figure it out. (I hope they do. Handset looks so good.) As it is, each issue has some cool hand-pressed lithography. These guys are into reviving community and trying to be honest with themselves about what hinders this effort. So, they grow their own. And help their neighbor. Ride a buggy and throw away the TV. They’re into symbolism. If what they have or do doesn’t stand for goodness and necessity, they kind of chuck it. Plain is organic gardening as sacrament. And everything else, too. The Infobahn trendies need not apply. An antidote for a Wired overload. ($5 sample, $18 4-ish. POB 200, Burton, OH 44021. Scott Savage.)
Desert Skies, High Country News
Desert Skies is the best thing since the Mountain Gazette of the 70’s. Covers outdoor rec with plenty of how-to stories, plus solid environmental info. HCN covers environmental issues with personability and sobriety – a good window in if you’re leery of too much spin or craziness from other sources. They’re both western, but cover things like mt-biking, skiing, logging, fisheries with such insight that I’d say they would have national appeal. Desert Skies, free sub!, 5045 E. Speedway, Tucson, AZ 85712. HCN, $28/24, Box 1090, Paonia, CO 81428.
Slow Lane Journal
Folksy, friendly tabloid guide to backroads America with emphasis on Rt. 66 and the Lincoln Highway. A little too newspapery and upbeat to be ideal…but since it’s the only American Roads thing out there, I can’t complain. Heck, oldsters are on the road more than anyone, so let em set the tone. Info and trip reports on personalities, collectors, nostalgia, history, organizations, bridges, forgotten roads, diners and roadside attractions all over this land. ($3 sample, $9.50 4-ish. POB 361, Rocklin, CA 95677. J. Thomas McClelland.)
Out West
Like SLJ only O.W. A little more spunky. More oddball. ($3 sample, $9.95 4-ish. 408 Broad St., Ste. 11, Nevada City, CA 95959. 1-800-274-9378. Chuck Woodbury.)
Abapa Freer, Light Living Library, Message Post
There’s a zine scene out there from people who some would call homeless, people who live outside our economic paradigm. They’re low-tech nomads, and they seem to be doing fine. Their lo-tech zines often have microscopic type. Abapa Freer fits four regular full pages of solid typescript onto one 5×7 page! Use a magnifying glass, they say. So, if you’d like an articulate look at how people make do on very little cash, here ya go. Or if you ever need to rig up a cheap tarp tent, or fix your bike with no parts or tools, or make your own quickie panniers, these zines tell all. Hard-to-find book reviews of trips of various wanderers and low-budget travelers, famous low-budget personages (the biography review of this lady, The Peace Pilgrim, who walked everywhere was interesting), and botanical/foraging resources. Abapa Freer is the forum zine – the name stands for “Aberrant Assured Publication Arrangement of a Freer sort.” Apa’s are a print version of an email list. They set some ground rules and if you send in a bit of cash plus writing, it gets published, no matter what. AF has pro-con debate on “freer” places to live, including laws, taxes, and regional attitudes. Interesting communications mechanisms, I’d say. LLL, MP & Dwelling Portably, $1 sample, $8 for 4 recent issues & 3 future ones plus 100-pg mini-reprint of older stuff; POB 190, Philomath, OR 97370. Living Free $9 for 6 issues; $1.50 per; payable to: Jim Stumm, Box 29, Hiler Branch, Buffalo, NY 14223. Abapa Freer $1 “sampler” POB 759, Veneta, OR 97487.
Lost Highways Quarterly
First-ever attempt I’ve seen to capture the wonder of 50’s-style travel-trailers and motorhomes. New rigs cost $20,000…but Martha and I have had our eye on a fine Airstream for $1000. Is the simple, chrome lifestyle still the key to happiness? (Write for info. POB 43737, Philly, PA 19106. Todd & Kristin.)
Messing About In Boats
A fine, old, friendly magazine of small craft of all types (with some rule-bending pieces thrown in when the editor likes – that is, there’ll be story on huge schooners every now and then). Voyages, trips, how-to…MAIB has it all. Without a trace of crass commercialism. It’s all the boating that’s left out of the big-money, fancy-gadget mags…basically all the real boating. Lotsa wood. Free sample. $24/24 issues (bimonthly), 29 Burley St., Wenham, MA 01984. Bob Hicks.)
Atlantic Coastal Kayaker
Fresh, candid, friendly new kayaking mag from the publisher of Messing About In Boats. ($3 sample. $20 10-ish. same address as MAIB.)
Citroen Quarterly
Another excellent resource about the only line of cars that’s had such an amazing interplay of genius, art, invention, culture and democratic labor relations throughout its history. A fascinating marque on many levels. These are the first cars with FWD and aerodynamics, plus they have hydraulic suspension…an amazing feature which gives the smoothest ride and wildly adjustable ride height. Sure, you can get some of this now for $25K, but Citroen had it since the 40’s. Then there’s their “look.” And the fact that the inventor went broke from gambling. You can’t beat such flair. ($3 sample. $18 4-ish. POB 30, Hanover St. Sta., Boston, MA 02113. Michael Fox.
Taggerzine
Loony perzine that’s surprisingly on target. I don’t know if Dan believes the UFO stuff one interviewee was spouting (or even if the guy himself did – he did UFO performance art), but at the end of it I decided that UFO’s do have important things to tell us. Interpret UFOs or any “fantastic” stuff from an inner perspective, take it all symbolically, and you can get at something to chew on, which is what I think the artist guy was driving at (maybe). Thus UFO’s are the psychological Other; the media and government which we blame for “covering up” can be seen as the mask we show the world…Dan may or may not be onto this. His zine also includes free-ranging debate on race and animal rights, some psychic channeling stuff, too, which I think it supposed to be more art than fact. (Free. POB 632952, San Diego, CA 92163-2952. Dan Tagger.)
Meshuggah (and Feh! Press)
Fine old lit zine and press that publishes solid unpublishable chapbooks and stuff. Bob Black on why work is evil. Blaster Al “memoir” on how he started Popular Reality Press (a funny booklet about how he and a half-wit impersonate a dead friar and keep a men’s shelter functioning in snowballing disarray until the police find out’a total chaos tale which somehow inspires a new magazine). Held in long-time high regard by underground community. Mature misfits, not nasty. ($5 grab-bag. 147 2nd Ave. #603, NYC, NY 10003-5701.)
Murder Can Be Fun
“Please Mr. Postman – Don’t Shoot!” Long-time zine of crime, its lore and hilarities. We know you secretly watch “COPS,” well, this is better for you. Each little issue has a theme and is full of intriguingly evil tidbits you never knew. It’s not gruesome. It’s witty, and a good cultural backgrounder, in fact. “Death Rides” was a great issue all about rollercoasters and amusement disaster. We all wonder about things and people gone bad…don’t we? ($1.50 per, write to: John Marr, POB 640111, SF, CA 94109.)
See Hear
Catalog of wild, underground zines, books and media. ($2. 59 E. 7th St., NYC, NY 10003.)
Factsheet 5
THE zinester bible. Lists and reviews thousands of zines by category. Access info. ($6 sample. $20 6-ish. POB 170099, SF, CA 94117-0099. R. Seth Friedman.)
– J.P.
