words and stuff

Zines to download -weekly roundup- March 7th 2010

doesitmatter — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:19:33 +0000

Ok boys and gals, here’s a new list of zines to download for the past week. This week two new zine-download blogs were started: essential ephemera and You’re a Disease (70s Punk Fanzines blog) and I’m really excited about it.

Let’s start with the new ones…
From essential ephemera:

update: A Trip Into Realism #1, 1984
Cobalt Hate #1, 1979
Cobalt Hate #3, 1980
New Crimes #5, 1981
New Crimes #6, 1982

From You’re a Disease (70s Punk Fanzines blog):

update: Alternative Ulster #2
For Adolfs Only

From the Digital Fanzine Preservation Society:

From Punks is hippies:

I also found:

Once again, shitloads of zines, pamphlets, political publications at the zinelibrary.info:

Finally from this site words and stuff:

The Prisoner #1

Did I miss any? Let me know. Did you upload or planning to upload a zine? Let me know. Do you know someone who uploads zines? Let me know…
Happy reading!

The Prisoner #1

doesitmatter — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:14:51 +0000

I don’t usually review zines that I don’t have a physical copy on my hands because without the physical copy it is hard to get a better understanding of the zine and its author. However I’ll do an exception for this particular one since the creator doesn’t have the luxury to go xerox and mail it. As you might have already figured out from the title of the zine, the author is in prison, serving a 6 year sentence. So the only distribution it gets is in the digital form, online.

This is an autobiographic mini-comic. The writer recounts his first days in prison, starting from the judge ruling against him. He presents the absolute absurdness of the life in prison. He describes his days, how he bears with the guards and their snitches, the fear of solitary and how boredom turns into depression.

Despite the horrible conditions that this comic was written under, the author manages to maintain a sense of humor and an optimistic attitude, which I can only imagine how important it must be when you are locked up.

Unfortunately there is no contact info to provide. You can download it from the link below.

Download

New zines to download -weekly roundup- February 28th 2010

doesitmatter — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 06:58:43 +0000

The weekend is here again, time to roundup all (?) the zines that were uploaded in various websites this week. Download, print or read on screen and when you’re done, send your thoughts to the creator(s). So here we go…

New zines from Punks is hippies:

New zine from the Digital Fanzine Preservation Society:

Wrong Fanzine #2 (1994)

Here’s a bunch more from various sources:

Schizofrehn #4 is now for grabs. Thanks to Crucified Freedom blog for letting us know.
The Runcible Spoon #1, A DC-Based Food Zine
The Big Black #3, it comes with free MP3s
The Juice #1
Daily Note #13/24, get it here
SEA/collectiv’s NEWSLETTER
Clitocore Zine #2
Complete Story of Assassination. I found this on twitter, sorry I don’t know who posted it

As usual, there are tons of new zines, pamphlets, political publications at the zinelibrary.info:

Not a zine but here’s the Microcosm Publishing’s 2010 Catalog in PDF.

Did I miss any? Let me know.
Happy reading everybody!

New zines to download -weekly roundup- February 20th 2010

doesitmatter — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 23:08:03 +0000

This is a collection of the zines that were posted online this week. All the credit and thanks goes to the people who scanned and uploaded them, so leave a comment to thank them!

New zines at the Digital Fanzine Preservation Society:

New zines at Punks is hippies:

New zines at the The Queer Zine Archive Project:

Homoboy #5

New zines at the zinelibrary.info:

As we found out from a post at the Digital Fanzine Preservation Society, Richard Johnson has scanned and uploaded all the issues of his fanzine, Disposable Underground. Follow the link to download them.

Did I miss any zines? Let me know.
Happy reading!

*update*
Here’s another one: PUNK ZINE, released two years ago, focused mainly on the punk scene in Columbus, Ohio.

Black Carrot #12: The Jewish Issue

doesitmatter — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:45:44 +0000

Strangely enough this is a punk zine about religion. More surprising it’s not a religion bashing zine, on the contrary actually. Don’t worry, no one will try to proselytize you to follow religion in this zine. It is only the personal accounts of the author, Dave Fried (also known as Dave Taco and Dave Pulps), a Jew for life as he is says, in a big auto-biographical story.

He writes about growing up in a Jewish family. He shares how as a teen punk he stopped practicing religion and how he started again years later. How he’s trying to balance between tradition and his personal believes. He goes shortly into politics (Israel, Palestine, Gaza strip etc) and more into the oppression of women and LGBT people in traditional Judaism (and Christianity and Islam). However as he explains, things have started to change. He writes about Jewish feminists and LGBT activists who are trying to make a difference and how more Jews see their point and support with simple acts such as adding an orange on the Seder Plates.

Although I’m not keen on religion, I thought this was a good read and I got to know a lot about Judaism. Don’t get put off by me saying that this is a religious issue. This is personal writing about religion. It is old fashioned cut and paste and if you want to download a copy and print it or read it on the screen, the Queer Zine Archive Project has it online: download Black Carrot #12.

You can listen to an interview that Dave did with FeastofFun.com and check his band Bromance.

To contact the author and/or order a hard copy:

Dave Fried’s profile in We Make Zines
black carrot
box 830
chicago il 60690 / usa
disdoom@gmail.com

Doris #26

doesitmatter — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 19:29:05 +0000

Doris is one of the zines that I remember seeing in distros ever since I’ve started looking around for zines. Nevertheless, for some weird reason I never got my hands on an issue before. When I picked up this issue and started reading it, I just couldn’t put it down.

Cindy writes an ongoing encyclopedia and in each issue a few letters are featured. From these letters she rights a mixture of personal stories, politics and punk. In this issue it is R, S and T and you can read the following articles:

Robin: It is about social change, people changing themselves and the world around them. Is it possible? It is also about having a difference of opinion then a person very close to you.
Shy: A comic that recounts the story of Cindy’s first dealing with the punk rock scene. A shy girl that wants to be herself in a scene where people are so much different than her. How she managed to fit in and find people like her.
Social Ecology: An introduction and personal view of the political theory that Murray Bookchin introduced.
Truth: The way we remember and tell stories. How much truth is in them, and how much is left out to make it easier to remember, tell and understand.

Cindy has also written the highly-recommended “Support zine” (which I should write about at some point) and published the book “Doris Book: an anthology 1991-2001”, a collection of articles from the 10 first years of making her zine. You can read an interview she did for Maximum RNR issue #83 in December 2006. Cindy Crabb (Doris zine) on Maximum RNR.

This issue was printed by 1984 printing and has a bright yellow cover that is hard to miss if it’s lying on a distro table. Numerous mail distros still carry it and Cindy distributes it herself through her little distro.

Visit her distro page: dorisdorisdoris, the distro
Follow her blog: Doris zine blog
You may contact her at:
cindy crabb, pob 29, athens ohio 45701

Cometbus #50

doesitmatter — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:57:24 +0000

Since this is the first issue of Cometbus zine that I’m writing about, I feel I should give some background info on it.

Cometbus has been issued in one form or another for nearly 30 years now. Actually this is the 25th year anniversary issue and it came out in 2006. It is one of the first (if not the first) punk zines that escaped the standard band info, interviews, music reviews zine form and took a more personal direction. The author and creator of the zine is a guy who is known as Aaron Cometbus. A well recognized figure in the bay area punk scene, not only for his long run zine but also for his involvement in the punk scene, squat movement and also the numerous bands he has played for (most known as the drummer of Pinhead Gunpowder). He is self-described as a punk-anthropologist and if you read his zine you’ll realize why. If you want to find out more about Aaron Cometbus, I’ve put a bunch of links in the end of this post.

Now about this issue. As I said, this is the 50th issue and it marks the 25 years of the zine. The original idea about this issue (which took 3 years to be released due to serious burn-out), was to be exclusively a compilation of letters that Aaron had received from friends. Fortunately the idea was dropped and although this issue mainly consists of the aforementioned letters, there is some original writing from Aaron himself (and some from others) and also a bunch of interviews with band members.

Here’s what you will find in this issue:

More than a dozen letters Aaron has received from friends and friends of the zine over the years. This is a collection of some of the most original/important letters he received and I’m sure it was really hard for him to pick them out.
The interviews section is a series of sort interviews with band members. The interesting thing is that these are interviews of the people, not the bands. No band related questions here. You will find interviews with Zak Sally (low, dirty three), Kyp Malone (tv on the radio), Dave Edwardson (neurosis, nailbomb), Greta Brinkman (moby, debbie harry band), Allison Wolf (partyline, bratmobile), Blake Schwarzenbach (jets to brazil, jawbreaker), Ian MacKaye (the evens, fugazi) and Christine Billotte (casual dots, quix*o*tic).
There is a series of seven short stories Aaron wrote about the time he lived in New York, unsurprisingly called New York Journal. It’s mostly stories about his adventures in the city with friends he met and spent time with. Aaron is such a great story teller and this is my favorite part of the issue.
Pensacola songs is a collection of lyrics by Scott Mylxine.
Next are two stories by Maddalena Polletta. One of the stories is about a cross-country roadtrip she took from San Francisco to New York, which I am a big sucker for and I loved it.
An in depth New York used book report written by Aaron. A big number of used bookstores is reviewed in much detail and it’s not just basic information but also the interesting stories behind the bookstores and the people who run them. It’s a very nice read even if you’re not planning on going book hunting in NYC.

This issue is very text heavy and contains only a small number of illustrations and photos. The ones that stick out are the illustrations that accompany the interviews, made by Troy Swain. The zine is all in black and white (photocopied?) and the cover/back art is awesome.

Overall this is a great read. Perhaps not the most representative issue of the zine but still very, very good. Unfortunately there is no contact information but you can find this zine in all the great zine-distros. I know that Microcosm Publishing carries it but a google search will get you more distros for sure.

As promised, here are some links to learn more about Aaron Cometbus and his projects:

Words and Stuff 2.0 (we’re back!)

doesitmatter — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:25:25 +0000

Yes, we’re back.

As some of you might have noticed, I haven’t updated the Words and Stuff site for nearly a year. Well, I’m gonna give it another try and update it more often from now on! As you have already noticed I’ve reconstructed the site and it is now a blog! The content is the same but as a blog, there are many new features like the ability to leave comments, send me messages and other nice stuff that are already added or will be added soon.

So from now on, I will try to add new content more often, I already have some reviews ready and I will be posting them soon. We now have a RSS feed so if you want to get all the updates without having to check the site, you can subscribe using your favorite feed reader. You may also subscribe via e-mail, just follow the link and put down your e-mail. Don’t worry, I will never share your e-mail with anyone or spam you, you’ll only get notices when new content is up. If you’re on twitter you can follow me at @dim_was. I will be letting you know about updates there too, along with other news.

Come back soon to check the new stuff or subscribe to be notified about it. I would love to hear from you, leave a comment under this (or any) post or use the contact form to send me a private message.

Thanks for visiting,
doesitmatter

Tragedy, Lebanon, Iron Lung, Extortion – 30/01/09 – Mississippi Pizza – Portland

doesitmatter — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 02:22:57 +0000

I’ll shit you not, I went to this one to see Tragedy. How many people have the chance to see Tragedy play in a small pizza place! Quite a lot, if you live in Portland I guess but if you’re from Europe it’s definitely something new. Anyway, the small show room was quickly filled with about 100 or so punks and the show started at around 9.30.

First band to play was Lebanon, a rather new band from Portland with members of Hellshock (and ex-From Ashes Rise) which often share the stage with Tragedy. I wasn’t surprised and neither disappointed by their set. They play of course hardcore punk, but they’re not another Tragedy clone in any way, and I would say they sound kinda like Hellshock but not as metallic. I don’t know if they’ll have a record out anytime soon but if they do I’m definitely getting it.

Next one, oh yes, Tragedy! No introductions here, you should all know them already. Finally, after years of waiting, it was about time to see them live and it was amazing. The band was highly energetic and powerful with lots of fists thrown in the air and so was the crowd. Unfortunately they had some problems like electroshocking microphones, no vocals heard on the first track, some speaker wasn’t working and made the band stop to figure it out. But still, what a fucking show!!!

Next one was Extortion, coming from Australia to play their small set of powerviolence. Usually I can’t stand of powerviolence or fastcore but these guys weren’t bad. The crowd seemed to like them a lot so it’s all good.

Finally, Iron Lung, a duet band (guitar and drums) from Seattle. I guess you can put them under the powerviolence genre but they mix so many more hardcore sub-genres which makes them so unique. They mix ultra fast and slower parts in the most powerful way and they definitely won me and the rest of the crowd.

Refugee zine

doesitmatter — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Suze B. took a trip to Thailand and volunteered at a refugee camp at the Thai/Burmese border. She stayed there for 4 months, working and teaching with refugee tribe girls. Girls that have their human and political rights refused by both the military dictatorship in Burma and the Thai government who couldn’t care less and constantly mistreats Burmese refugees. But instead just teaching them english, Suze also tried to educate the girls on gender issues and feminism, something unknown to people on that part of the world. This zine contains writings from Suze during her time in Thailand, letters she sent back home, letters of the Burmese girls and also pictures and drawings. I have spent some time in both Thailand and Burma and I’ve witnessed how these people are treated, so this zine caught my eye immediately at the library. Nevertheless, it is a good read for everyone and a small introduction to the situation in the border through the eyes of Suze.
suzeb@riseup.net