Mixt Media Audio Zine

Here's my new 30 minute monthly program for The Global Voice radio featuring music, zine readings & radio news. Thanks for listening! 





Mixt Media Audio Zine May 2012

Zine Review: Cyanotype a how-to guide

Cyanotype: a how-to guide

mistydawn.mm@gmail.com

This ¼ size zine introduces the world of using sunlight to make blueprints / exposures on paper, cotton, wool and other materials. The process involves some basic chemistry & a small darkroom set-up but can be done in anyone’s house or apartment. I appreciate how comprehensive this zine is – explaining the history and step by step process for producing your own cyanotype graphics. There is also a brief resource list for further reading / learning. Let's get away from the computer printer & back to basics (and fun).  

Audio Review: SuperFriends

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Zine Review: Digging Up a Tennessee Anarchist

Ross Winn - Digging Up a Tennessee Anarchist 

Let’s face it: Ross Winn was not a saint. When Emma Goldman raised $60 in funds to help his impoverished, struggling family, Winn quickly used the money to buy a new printing press rather than to feed and clothe his wife and son. Yet this act epitomizes the passion Ross Winn embodied for his anarchist philosophies. He was on fire for social change & printed words were his tools. Over several decades, Winn published numerous journals including Winn’s Firebrand and The Advance. He understood that a free press is the key to discourse, that ideals and ideas need to flow between people in order to manifest in the realm of action.

With Digging Up a Tennessee Anarchist, Shaun & Ally are the curators of a perfectly choreographed zine. Robert Helms writes the introduction about the significance of documenting anarchist history so that we have role models and references to help frame our own philosophies. His meeting Shaun & Ally sent them down the path of uncovering and documenting Ross Winn’s life. This zine includes a biography of Winn, an essay about the process of discovering his history, letters written by his son to Emma Goldman, and excerpts from Winn’s journals. Digging Up a Tennessee Anarchist  is a substantial, cohesive, highly readable body of work. Paper journals and zines are more relevant than ever as we struggle to communicate in the age of communication and create dialogue above the din & roar of technology. Through his dedication to social change and the craft of journalism, Ross Winn heralded inspiration that will now, thankfully, not languish in obscurity.    

Zine Review: Somnambulist #19

actual zine cover is in black & white

Somnambulist #19

$15 / 4 issues

Martha Grover

PO Box 14871

Portland OR 97293

marthagrover@hotmail.com

The centerpiece of this issue is a narrative recounting two days of a grueling walk that Martha took with her boyfriend through Oregonian countryside titled “The Walking Trip – A Story About Learning How to Be Okay”. I could feel Martha’s pain as she bravely recounts what I would consider the walk from hell and the insights / lessons she encounters along the way. None of the writing by other authors in this issue grabbed me. From a reader’s standpoint, Somnambulist might work better as a perzine than a litzine.  

Zine Review: Junior Careers - Piltdownlad #3

Junior Careers

Piltdownlad #3

28 pages / $2 or trade

PO Box 86714

Los Angeles CA 90086

http://www.kellydessaint.com/

Even though I grew up in New Hampshire, I totally relate to this zine about a teenaged door-to-door candy salesman trying to scrape a few bucks together in the San Gabriel Valley (California). I remember my numerous preadolescent misadventures peddling Grit Magazine and other various sundries in my small neighborhood. In Junior Careers, Kelly recalls in vivid detail interactions with the bossman, customers, and how he wanted to escape from home and make some cash at the same time. There are incidents with tough bullies, police seeking permits, drunks, and other candy salesmen. Kelly’s direct writing style draws the reader into the scene and immerses you in that time and place – I can almost feel the sidewalks beneath my feet & hear the bossman growling. Now if I only had some chocolate seashells…  

Zine Review: Crown Jewels of the Wire

Who’d a thunk it? I’ve read all kinds of zines dealing with esoteric subject matter but this one really surprised me. Crown Jewels of the Wire (published since 1969) is a magazine for insulator collectors. I didn’t even know that people collected insulators! Insulators were first used extensively in the mid-1840s with the invention of the telegraph. They were necessary to prevent the electrical current passing through the wire from grounding out on the pole and making the line unusable. The first insulators were a beeswax soaked rag wrapped around the wire. They worked well in the dry laboratory but soon broke down when exposed to the weather. The next concept was a glass knob, which looked much like a bureau knob one might still find. By 1860, original insulator models could be found in both porcelain and glass. While glass was more common from the beginning for telegraph and telephone line insulation, porcelain would later gain a firm foothold as the preferred material for insulating high voltage power lines. Over time, glass manufacturers would produce hundreds of designs; millions of insulators were made of glass and porcelain, then later of rubber, plastic and other composite materials.

The February 2012 issue of Crown Jewels of the Wire is packed with photographs of colorful insulators and well written articles. There is even an article about foreign postage stamps that featured insulators in their artwork. There are descriptions of rare insulators, letters to the editor, even some comics! This zine is an education unto itself & highly recommended for those of us who enjoy curiosities & learning about new topics – and who knows? You just might find a new hobby or passion. For more information see www.cjow.com

Zine Review - Growing Things: A Guide for Beginning Gardeners

Growing Things: A Guide for Beginning Gardeners

In the closing thoughts to this zine, Joshua James Amberson (of Paper Airplane zine) writes “I think zines can be the perfect medium for learning the basics of a subject. Instructional books are often intimidating and offer too much information for the beginner (and I say this as a bookseller by profession). Zines are accessible and a good size for introducing a range of concepts.”

Concisely said! I for one prefer the format of zines for learning new information, then following up with books later if I choose to immerse in a subject. Growing Things: A Guide for Beginning Gardeners presents a wealth of information in just 40 pages. Readers will learn everything from preparing soil to planting seeds, watering, dealing with insects, harvesting seeds for next year’s crop, and much more. The six authors who contribute do an excellent job of demystifying gardening and related topics for those of us who have yet to cultivate a green thumb. With summer upon us, now is the time to garden … and it will feel great knowing where your food is coming from.

Growing Things: A Guide for Beginning Gardeners is available from ms.valerieparkdistro.com 

Zine Review - Real Life

Real Life A Magical Guide to Getting Off the Internet

A zine by Maranda Elizabeth & Dave Cave

One of the emerging issues of the past two decades has been, in my opinion, internet or screen addiction. It is an issue I personally struggle with to the point where I have declared at least one “technological Sabbath” a week and am working my way up to two.During the Sabbath (usually about 30 hours) I avoid technology, avoid buying things, connect with others, read, write, and enjoy being with my family.

Maranda Elizabeth & Dave Cave’s zine could not have been published at a more appropriate time in our culture. I see people whose smart phones never leave their hands, who send and answer texts compulsively, who lose sleep because they are surfing the web aimlessly, all the while their real, flesh and blood, body and soul lives and relationships are slipping into the abyss.

The catch-22 about screen addiction is that in these times, unlike alcohol where sobriety is essential to heal alcoholism, few people can realistically retreat to a pre-technology lifestyle. At the very least, most jobs require use of a computer.  Real Life A Magical Guide to Getting Off the Internet offers strategies and asks the right questions to help the reader wrestle with their own online addiction. There is extensive discussion about Facebook and how to disconnect … and truly reconnect with the people and activities that matter in our lives.

This is a well written, informative and essential zine. For more information check out schoolformaps.etsy.com 

ZIne Review: Radical Tones

Zine Review: Dangerous Hair-Raising Radical Tones

by Sarah (scaredsilly)

We’ve all made mixtapes for someone at some point in our lives (okay, so younger people probably add songs to one another’s iPods) … there is an art to creating a really potent mixtape involving progression, tone, mood, segues, themes, surprises, and the overall ambiance of songs. Finding a prerecorded mixtape is a peek into someone’s existence frozen in time. That’s part of the appeal of this mini-zine that explores a mixtape found & purchased at a thrift shop for nineteen cents. Sarah comments on each tune and what significance she thinks it may (or may not) have had for the anonymous mixtape creator. This zine is written in a breezy style and is a fun read. 

http://www.etsy.com/listing/95887711/special-issue-radical-tones

Audio Review: Fingers & Threads

http://www.etsy.com/listing/69228200/fingers-and-thread?ref=sr_gallery_1&ga_search_query=fingers+threads&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=ZZ&ga_search_type=handmade 

Audio Review: Songs of Protest #1-4

www.saintbeckett.com 

Zine Review: Railroad Semantics #5

Railroad Semantics #5
100 pages / half letter

Imagine you’ve embarked on a journey with only a few essential items in your backpack & a not-so-trusty cellphone … almost everywhere you travel on this journey you will be breaking the law, and almost everyone you encounter may be hostile. You’ll take pictures & write in a notebook as a chronicle of your journey. You’ll brave the elements. You may not arrive at your intended destination, and if you do arrive, it may not be on your timetable or on your terms. And almost everything you do on your journey poses a physical risk.

You’ll find all of this & more in Aaron Dactyl ‘s zine Railroad Semantics. Issue #5 continues the tradition of trainhopping journals from the tracks. Aaron relates his misadventures and is a tour guide into a rarely seen world, traversing ominous and beauteous landscapes. His zine includes news clippings related to train culture, exceptional photography, and lots of pics of railroad graffiti … this is a zine to disappear into … you can almost feel the rumble beneath the boxcar as you read. Highly literate & highly recommended.

Railroad Semantics is available from Microcosm Publishing.   

Zine Review: Rise Fall Repeat #2

Rise Fall Repeat #2

by Nathan Atlas Fox

30 pages / $5

PO Box 4868

Anaheim CA 92803

skepticamongthefaithful.tumblr.com

Four things really caught my attention in Rise Fall Repeat. The first is the brilliant graphic attention to detail and interplay between the photography and cut n paste text. The second is a piece titled “Waking Life” that is poetry in prose, revealing simple yet profound thoughts. The third is a photograph of sidewalk graffiti that poses the question “Instead of picking your poison, why don’t you choose a cure?” And the fourth is a heartfelt essay that calls into question rape culture and how such violence is still tolerated in our society. Rise Fall Repeat #2 embodies all of the qualities of an exceptional zine, a writer’s voice and vision liberated in print. 

Zine Review: Flermp

24 pages / $5
by James the Stanton
www.gnartoons.com

Brightly colorful zine with a plethora of original drawings & cartoons in a variety of styles. The title pages says it is " a zine comprised of doddle-based conglomerate matter to fill the voids in your day, left by inconveniently shaped hobbies, jobs & relationships, with carefully fitted nonsensical cartoon filler." I particularly enjoyed the drawings of a school bus and telephone wires. Flermp is a highly inventive visual zine.

Zine Review: Smog City #1

Smog City #1

Mulnix

PO Box 29753

Los Angeles CA 90027

eddiemulnix.blogspot.com

Mulnix was gracious enough to send me the back issues of his zine & this is where it all began. Smog City #1 set the bar high for graphic design & quality. The stories that unfold here might be considered “genre” fiction as they definitely blur the line away from typical literary narratives. The protagonists (or perhaps they are anti-heroes) are caught up in situations they have little control over, or worse, are oblivious to. The writing is straightforward without a lot of the flourishes that fiction is noted for – this is clean, minimalist work where there is more bubbling up behind the scenes than meets the eye, a la Ray Carver. 

Zine Review: Ray X - X Rayer

Thank the chariot of the gods that someone is publishing a newsletter / zine like Ray-X X-Rayer. It comes out on a regular basis & goes for the esoteric jugular with crisp writing and intriguing articles. #87 includes a discussion on prophet of doom Nancy Leider of zetatalk.com, everything you need to know about Peggy Bowles & her rosary workout (move over Jane Fonda) and more. #88 reveals some of the goings-on via the Liberty Net (a shortwave amateur radio operator network that broadcasts on 3950 khz). Ray X X Rayer #89 delves into the hyperlogic razors of Alex Jones and David Chase Taylor. I suggest sending Ray X a few dollars to support his zine-ing endeavors & reading these newsletters for yourself! Boxholder, PO Box 2 Plattsburg NY 12901-0002.  

Zine Review: Meta

Meta

a zine by Marissa Falco

www.marissaland.com

I thought I had never heard of artist Margaret Kilgallen until I read the introduction to this zine and made the connection – she was a railroad graffiti artist whose tag was Matokie Slaughter (and Meta). I vaguely remember glimpsing a photograph of some of her graffiti somewhere and her standing on a platform next to a dude named Right Bank Fred. Of course, that could have been a hazy dream.

Meta is a concise, enjoyable, ¼  size zine that serves as an introduction to Margaret Kilgallen’s art. Marissa has peppered splendid graphics throughout. Now I am curious to see the Art 21 television program mentioned in Marissa’s introduction! 

Zine Review: Deafula 3

Continuing on from the previous issues, Deafula 3 illuminates the author’s personal experience of deafness and shares good information that those of us who are hearing

need to know. Even the most socially isolated of us can communicate via our senses – imagine what it is like not to hear conversations and live in a culture where “accommodations” like closed capturing, or speaking slowly and clearly and directly, are seen as a pain in the ass. Deafula 3 discusses speaking for one’s self out of personal experiences vs. speaking for one’s “group” (i.e. the deaf community), how to make or receive a relay call, five things people are missing out on by being hearing, 5 annoying things for people with hearing loss.  Deafula 3 is one of the most vital zines being published in 2012.  

Contact info: thecityonfire@gmail.com  

Zine Review: Smog City #3

Smog City #3

$5 / 40 pages

Mulnix

PO Box 29753

Los Angeles CA 90027

eddiemulnix.blogspot.com

Full disclosure: I only read half of this zine. The reason? A good portion is comprised of chapter three of “The Night Snacker”. Having not read the first two chapters I felt completely lost within the narrative.

Smog City is a “pulp litzine” written by Mulnix and given a stunning graphic presentation with dye-cutouts and halftone pages. The illustrations are crisp throughout the zine and the cover art done in purple borders on hypnotic and somnambulant. In addition to creating a graphically beautiful presentation, Mulnix can write! His short fiction is engaging and the brief essay on the cities of the mind (and the gnomes who inhabit them) is evocative of places and people everyone has encountered.

I won’t give away the scenarios of the two short stories in Smog City #3, other than to say one of them featured an extremely believable, though passive-aggressively flawed, punk paralegal named Fooz Pinkley.

Smog City is one of the highest quality zines both in presentation and content that I’ve read in recent memory. 

Zine Review: Shape & Situate #3

Shape & Situate #3

Posters of Inspirational European Women

32 pages

Edited by Melanie Maddison

Available from msvaleriepark distro

The introduction to this exceptional zine states that the name Shape & Situate “is taken from a quote by writer & activist Amber Hollibaugh who when commenting on why we should write about our lives makes some salient points about documenting histories, believing that history is not static but is a living thing that we can know, use, transmit and learn from.” Shape & Situate is a mostly graphic zine highlighting posters by numerous artists that celebrate well known and obscure women past and present. I learned more by reading this zine that I did in years worth of so-called history classes. I had never heard of Margaret McMillan and her influence on childhood education, or mathematical genius Ada Lovelace, aviator Amy Johnson, or the brave Bryant & May matchwomen who fought for workers rights in 1888. Reading this zine is a process of discovery. Each mini-poster has its own unique style. Artists include Verity Hall, Julia Downes, Jo Harrison and many more. Shape & Situates gets this olde reviewer’s highest recommendation.

Zine Review: The Idea of North

The Idea of North

Nocturnal Visions of a Hypomanic (Spooks) Tragic

by Skully Adams

half sized / 20 pp

skullyadams.com

The Idea of North is a fascinating zine that blends television fiction with dreams and self analysis. Skully Adams encounters several characters in her dream life from a popular BBC series about MI-5 agents. Like a detective / journalist of the psyche, she delves into the meaning of her dreams as they relate to her mental health. The Idea of North documents her process of discovery. Well written and highly recommended. 

Audio Review: Dear You - Letters to Lost Friends

Zines by Turner Hilliker

I asked Turner Hilliker for a review copy of Prompts: Writing Derivatives and he generously mailed me a package of his zines.

Prompts: Writing Derivatives is presented as a beautifully printed book bound with twine and is Turner’s “index of thoughts that continues to expand.” I appreciate writing exercises and prompts and my expectations were high. Unfortunately, most of the writing contained within is mundane and uninspired, with several exceptions. I hope Turner finds his writing voice because he has the kernels of a stimulating project here.

Turner is already a prolific artist & publisher. All of Turner’s zines are skillfully printed and presented and are a visual treat. Holiday Pay #5 is particularly ingenious in its pop-up design and flowchart. One of the jokes in Holiday Pay #23 had me rolling: the seasons in Philadelphia – fucking hot; fall; fucking cold.

For more information visit www.turnerhilliker.com or www.turnerhillikerart.blogspot.com

Mixt Media Review: The New Heaven and The New Earth

The New Heaven & The New Earth

All Saint’s Day

(tape & LP formats)

www.edibleonion.com

This release by The New Heaven and The New Earth distills the most creative elements of psychedelic pop / psych folk / indie music as it is evolving in the 21^st century. Autoharps reverberate, organs hum in the background, cellos shape an undercurrent, guitars chime softly and voices weave songs that seem to come from a castle suspended in time. This six song suite is thematically related to life as a sacred & spiritual journey. Yet The New Heaven and The New Earth are not afraid to navigate the shadows. There are echoes of another Philadelphia based band here, the Espers, and I mean that in the most affirming way. The New Heaven and The New Earth create a unique, captivating sound, layered in clouds of beauty, music close to our dreams.

Noah

Zine Review: Feel Better

Feel Better – a zine about self love

By Marlee Grace

Marlee Grace has created a beautiful graphic zine that shares healthy ways to take care of ourselves. Each suggestion / topic / action is featured with an artful image on an elegant risograph print. This zine is bound in twine is the perfect remedy for our overstressed culture. Feel Better is highly recommended by ye old zinester DJ Frederick & can be ordered here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/95144169/feel-better-a-zine-about-self-love?ref=v1_other_1

Booklet Review: Sabadee and Back

Sabadee and Back

by Cosmo’s Mom

$1 / 14 pages

cosmicrockbooklets.com

Spoiler alert: Ok, I don’t know how the boy flies home at the end of this story but I’m an adult & the story takes places in a child’s imagination where all things are possible! This is the perfect zine for your first grader, and any kid who likes dinosaurs. Keep that long train runnin’ 

Zine Review: Memories of Freedom

Memories of Freedom is a zine chronicling the activities of the Western Wildlife Unit of the Animal Liberation Front (which I believe has been pronounced as a terrorist organization by the US Government). Animal rights / freedom / advocacy is a mystery to most Americans. We’d just as soon not know where our food comes from or cosmetics or clothing & how many animals were captured / confined / tortured / killed in the process. I’ve always been dismayed by the mindset I would call speciesism – the notion that human beings have the right to dominate the lives and deaths of other living creatures, and eradicate all other life on the planet if we so choose. I guess humans feel that we have biblical permission to do whatever we want “and God gave man dominion over animals so that he could prosper”.

 As an integral part of the fabric of nature, we are the only species that acts in ways that could destroy whole ecosystems. Memories of Freedom is a thorough, 75 page account of the Western Wildlife Unit’s activities in the early 1990’s. You may or may not agree with their philosophies and actions, yet this zine presents “the other side” that we don’t hear about when we hear there has been a raid on a mink farm or that coyotes have been released from a lab somewhere. In the United States, it is a felony to free animals from laboratories, fur farms, factory farms, zoos and rodeos, punishable up to ten years in prison and a $100,000 fine. Why? Corporate profit.

Mixt Media Review: Archaic Fetishism Vol. 3 (tape)

Tape culture is alive & well at the DIY music label Edible Onion. To be honest, I didn't care much for the thrash & dirge of side A of Archaic Fetishism Volume 3, but side B soothed my aching ears. Side two starts off with "Helicopters" by A Stick & a Stone, a subdued indie folk piece full of ghostly harmonics that would make Sufjan Stevens proud. The Horror The Horror follows in a similar sonic vein with a dreamlike cover of Brian Reichert's song "I Like People."  This tape is limited to 100 copies, and well worth seeking out for Side B alone.  

Zine Review: The Sugar Horse

The Sugar Horse

by Skully Adams

half sized / 8 pages

skullyadams.com

The Sugar Horse delves into Skully’s bipolar disorder in honest, soul searching ways as she comes to terms with the dark side and highs & lows of hypomania. As a culture we pathologize and isolate people with “mental illness”, we don’t understand the dynamics of experience from the inside out. We medicate symptoms and we don’t allow for the process of healing which sometimes follows a descent and journey through hell. Skully doesn’t sugarcoat her thoughts and feelings, she expresses herself honestly in this zine which hopefully will help others with their own awareness. There is nothing so terrible as living in oblivion of one’s self. And, as Skully says, it takes a village to be a person. 

Audio Review: Nine Gallons #2

Zine Review: How to Buy Land

How to Buy Land

by Sam Bain

half sized / 28 pages

backyardhabitats@hotmail.com

How to Buy Land features a wealth of personal insight from the author, who has purchased a five acre parcel in the rural Northwest. This zine opens with philosophical musings about homesteading, and then considers reasons not to buy land or how to find alternatives to buying land. There is an excellent section on how to find land. Sam Bain’s zine is not quite as comprehensive as I had hoped but there’s only so much territory (lame pun intended) that can be distilled into 28 pages. Returning to the land and creating roots and community might be the one sane option left to participating in this destructive culture. One needs the tools and know-how to work within (or without) the economic systems involved. More specific information on mortgages and how to obtain one (even with bad or no credit) would have been helpful, yet zines like How to Buy Land are authentic and honest and come from direct experience.

New project: Cuneiform APA

Cuneiform APA: Circulating Unedited Notes Expressing Ideas For Original Reading Material

Cuneiform Amateur Press Association will be launched in 2012 and is open to people who participate by contributing material on a tri-quarterly basis. Due dates for material will be February 1, June 1, and October 1. Mailing should occur later during those months. Contributors are welcome to send up to 4 double-sided printed 8 X 11 pages of original material related to the following topics:

·        Zines & Zine Reviews

·        Micro journals and presses

·        Issues related to paper publishing / publishing in general in the digital age

·        Obscure and lesser known books, authors, zines, and music

·        Letters and writing / Postal mail / Mail art

·        Personal reflections and musings

·        Other topics related to philosophy, reading, life, the universe, and everything.

Central mailer for 2012 will be Frederick Moe. Please mail a minimum of 30 copies of your material to Cuneiform APA attn: Frederick Moe 36 West Main Street Warner NH 03278. Please contact singinggrove@conknet.com with queries, etc.

Copies of Cuneiform will be mailed to each member who contributes material and a couple of dollars toward mailing.

Zine Review: Going Postal (Gallery)

Going Postal

Going Postal was a mail art project curated by Tanglecrafts in Derby UK in 2010. Going Postal features artists’ trading cards inspired by mail, mail arts, letters, and the postal service. Some of the artists who submitted their work are Hazel Fisher, Sam Farman, Danielle Ryder, Melissa Esposito, Judy Alkema  many more. The art ranges from collage to primitive and it all celebrates the connections we create through written and visual correspondence. Going Postal is an exceptional project that illuminates the joys of mail art in its many forms. For more information on Tanglecrafts projects visit  http://tanglecrafts.wordpress.com

Zines by Casey Bradley

Easy Sticker Makin’ Guide

How to Make Your Very Own Zine

by Casey Bradley

In this media saturated world, it’s reassuring to find these two excellent mini-comic “how to” zines Casey created for kids in her bookbinding & drawing classes at art camp. Kids love to draw, write & create and these zines share simple to follow steps to help kids connect with paper and pen. The stickers look like they’re fun to draw and make as well. I’m going to share these zines with the grandkids & see what they come up with! 

You will find Casey’s zines here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/soiledrainbow?ref=seller_info

Zine Review: How to Be More Creative

How to be more creative more often even if you have a job, responsibilities, & need more than three hours of sleep each night.

half sized / 24 pages

Here's a zine that delivers exactly what its title expresses. Breanne Boland knows how to juggle priorities. She also knows how to make creativity a priority. If you are a creative person working in any medium, the practical advice shared in this zine will be useful, from letting go of your need for perfection to creating small, achievable goals for yourself. Along the way she discusses dealing with energy draining people and situations, and how to stop beating yourself up. There are clear, simple strategies in this zine that may work for you. Everyone needs coaches and mentors - let this zine be one of yours. 

www.breanneboland.com

Audio Review: Fireweed #1