Hi Jerod,
Not sure if you can use these or not, but here's my latest batch of zine
reviews from Twisted Times. Enjoy.
X Magazine is one of my new favorites, a humor/music/alt.culture zine from
Michigan that's as good as anything you're going to find on the stands. The
layouts are gorgeous and the humor is megafuckinfunny. Recent music profiles
have included Negativland, Eugene Chadbourne, Pop Will Eat Itself, and
Japanese noise bands. Humor runs the gamut, but Jeff's forte seems to be the
long, rambling road piece - his upcoming issue includes an epic on driving
out to the Burning Man festival. Recurring features include "Please Pass the
Science," in which sci-guy Scott examines profound questions like the
difference between margarine and Crisco, and "macros," an ongoing compilation
of pop culture cliches reduced to a simple, terse programming code. You'll
laugh. Go buy a copy and snarf it all up. Price: $3. Address: Jeff Hansen,
POB 1077, Royal Oak MI 48068. Reviewed: various.
Gearhead has been getting a lot of hype lately, and it very nearly deserves
it. Editor Mike LaVella mixes features on drag racing and top-fuel music with
vintage ads, cool motor graphics, and perzine elements like a bar crawl
tell-all and a silly psych questionaire. I especially liked the brawling tips
and the side-by-side comparison of biker movies. Fat, tough, and smooth as a
racing slick. Exceptionally well produced; give it the checkered flag. Price:
unknown. Address: 421219, San Francisco CA 94142. Reviewed: 2
Project Z is a good little personal zine out of Seattle. The writer, Luke
McGuff, covers a variety of topics and includes a fat stack of correspondence
with reasonably brainy readers. One essay takes us onto the grounds of the
Microsoft campus for free sodas and a too-brief glimpse at what it's like to
be a code peasant on the Gates estate. Another piece describes the joy of
building a parade float. Excellent toilet-tank material. Price: the usual.
Address: Luke McGuff, POB 31848, Seattle WA 98103. Reviewed: 1.4
West Virginia Surf Report is six pages of closely-spaced type, most of which
seems to involve a small-town barber in a long-winded joke about lesbians and
fish. Truly a waste of paper. Price: the usual. Address: WVSR, POB 43662,
Atlanta GA 30336. Reviewed: 11 (?)
Esofea Report is a collection of rants and drawings from a stoner Vietnam vet
who likes the novels of Tim O'Brien. I like Tim O'Brien too, but there's not
much else to recommend this. Price: Free. Address: Esofea Report, RT#2,
Westby WI 54667. Reviewed: 4/1
Shish-Kebob's few cool sentences float belly-up in a sea of cliches. Serial
killers and office humor set the intellectual tone for this bobzine out of
Philly; its Subgeni editor has clearly mistaken laziness for slack. Not
recommended unless you're a devout Bobaholic. Price: $1. Address: POB 2704,
Reno NV 89505. Reviewed: 1/2.
On the Road is the first zine I've seen from Australia. It's got poetry and
fiction, but other than that I like it. Strong anarchist/prankster bent.
Handy tips on disabling surveillance cameras & tipping police cars, plus
plans for a cool "oxygen lance" cutting tool that I've gotta have. To sign up
for online reports, send e-mail to Mark Davis at 100251.3250@ compuserve.com
Price (hardcopy): US$10 cash for a 1-year subscription. Address: POB 1130,
Baulkham Hills, NSW Australia. Reviewed: 3.
Out of Bounds is a fat (74 pp.) collection of essays, reprints, reviews, and
comix. Topics cover a wide range of altie subject matter, with an emphasis on
Big Issues like the CIA's role in Guatemala, the roots of the Oklahoma City
bombing, and the GOP assault on public broadcasting. Lots of great reading in
one package. Price: $3. Address: POB 5108, Arlington VA 22205.
Snicker is an excellent all-comix tabloid from St. Louis featuring the
talents of Blair Wilson, Roberts & Siergey, Drew Friedman and too many other
artists to list. A great showcase for up-and-coming talent. The editing is
tight, and just about everything here is funny - a rarity in this genre. And
you gotta like a zine publisher who includes a cite for his attorneys in the
masthead right next to the copyright notice. Not like that's gonna scare me
or anything. Price: $1 (B. Dalton) or $5/3 issue sub. Address: Balducci
Publications, 1248 Oak Bark Dr., St. Louis MO 63146. Reviewed: various.
Bull Dada is a zine about comix from a guy called Yendie Boox. Lots of
gossip, reviews, and useful resources for the struggling pen-head. Good
stuff. Price: $2.95 (newsstand) or $12/4 issues. Address: POB 80204,
Indianapolis IN 46280. Reviewed: 3/5.
Pulled Mints isn't much to look at, but the writing is good and the subject
matter is fun. Sex toy reviews, a very strange reader poll, and a detourned
tv guide that includes this entry for the show "Blossom": Chevy Chase as a
giant space ant using someone else's identity to increase his sperm count.
Good Marlon Brando performance, and Stewart Stern's script faces issues
squarely. Lots of reviews and comix too - all in all a good package. A
solid little zine with promise. Price: $1+2 stamps or trade. Address: Voit &
Levinson, 1020 W. Franklin #2, Richmond VA 23220. Reviewed: 3.
Lies is a boring gen-x music zine with a cool layout and some of the best
photo halftones I've seen from a 600-dpi printer. If only the writing and
editing met the same high standards! Predictable targets, ho-hum reporting,
zzzzzzzzz. Price: $2.50 Address: 6001-O Lomas NE #154, Albuquerque NM 87110.
Reviewed: 10/95.
The Spamtasticx Catalog celebrates The Other Pink Meat in a snorting orgy of
greased-up merchandising. Slick color catalog includes SPAM ties, clothes,
clocks, posters, toys, furniture, even jewelry - everything but the
gelatinous pumpable meatfood product itself. What better way to say "I love
you" than a pair of handsome SPAM earrings? You need this. Call
1-800-686-SPAM in the US or point your browser to
http://spam.co.net/spamgift
