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FANZINE RUN DOWN, OR RUN DOWN FANZINES YOU TAKE YOUR PICK

I wonder if anyone else out there in this thing we call the world has the same passions and emotions regarding not only the concept of sound pattered in certain ways to induce happiness but the truly free press (ie the rock fanzine circuit or what's left of it) that I do. Sheesh, I gotta admit that I still can be overcome by feelings of joy and happiness when I encounter not only the kind of music that strikes deep into my core of belief but a rock prose that can match that euphoria, conjuring up everything and anything for that matter that I have extracted from these sounds for years on end. Sometimes I wonder if I am the only one who can still exude pangs of pleasure when encountering a seventies-vintage fanzine done up in that Meltzer/Bangs/Saunders style of expression along with those sounds that seemed birthed from various opiate-riddled mid-sixties experiments that --- thankfully --- went totally awry.

The annals of fanzinedom are filled with many brave attempts, some successful while others rather dudsville, to combine frequency and quality with some succeeding but most flopping about. The comic and sci-fi fanzine world are filled with many stellar examples of product that came out with a startling frequency and top notch reproductions...THE ROCKET'S BLAST/COMICOLLECTOR being but one example but as far as music goes it seems as if a regularly-produced fanzine with a comparatively professional look and a longer-than-usual lifespan is quite hard to find.

I can point to one good example of a music fanzine that came out on a bi-weekly schedule and actually was able to exist for a few years, and that was JAZZ INFORMATION which, besides having such polar opposites as Ralph J. Gleason and Ralph de Toleando on its board, produced slick issues with a cover scheme swiped from LIFE before eventually collapsing under the pressure of such a Herculean task. Unfortunately the rock 'n roll world did not have such equal unless you could the early ROLLING STONE as being a fanzine (as John Sinclair once wrote in GUITAR ARMY) or the newsprint issues of CREEM (as Nick Kent did in a a Detroit area roundup in NME). I dunno if  LITTLE SANDY REVIEW counts as a rock fanzine??? Maybe. 

Oh yeah, some subsputum species out there will definitely want to point to MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL or FLIPSIDE as examples of rock fanzines that were able to make a reg'lar go at keeping a schedule whilst keeping uppa-date re. the music as it stood in the here and now, but we're talking rock 'n roll here, not some eighties derivative that basically became nothing more than hippie schmooze Mark Two!

I will give SLASH, SEARCH AND DESTROY and THE NEW YORK ROCKER their dues as far as fanzines that made good on their promise to keep the train movin' without derailing much (other'n when the music faded away as was with the ROCKER's case) while over in France ROCK NEWS INTERNATIONAL and PARAPLUIE (which was referred to as a fanzine in UGLY THINGS and who am I to complain?) were able to come out with the same accuracy as Mussolini got the trains to run, but other'n that what was there?

FLASH actually was planned to come out  on a monthly schedule starting with the April 1973 issue and if so that would have been a grand boon to the entire rock gonzoism movement that had been sprouting up around the same time. But other'n that what was there other'n the ill-fated SHAKIN' STREET GAZETTE and its spiritual offspring  entitled FOXTROT?

OK, who's the
wizenheimer who
messed up my
cover???

That was the effort of various ex-SSGers including Bernie Kugel as well as editor Phil Bashe, and I'm sure some of you heard about how the mag collapsed because of the inner tension between Kugel and Bashe over the concept of rock gonzoism a la CREEM versus the more journalistic (and perhaps stuffy) ROLLING STONE approach favored by Bashe. But while it lasted (throughout most of '76) this fanzine came out on a monthly basis, a tabloid on newsprint making for some mighty interesting reading, once you filter out the journalism and get to the gonz that is.

The creme de la whatever it was that was good about mid-seventies rock appears within these cracklin' pages with a good amount of press being devoted to the fresh up 'n comers along with the snoozers of the day, and once you get done filterin' everything. Kugel's writing is up with the other stalwarts of the rock fanzine strata and of course it's sure fun reading about the up and comers of the day written as it was happenin' rather'n n-generations down the line like ya get on this blog!

Kugel's scribblings on the likes of the CBGB scene really does send ya back while even things like the infamous Gary Sperrazza reviewing a live Peter Frampton show sure makes more sense than the same material would in the hand of some college paper flittery gal getting all pant gooey over the mere fact that she's within a good thousand feet away from her idol! 

And hey, Kugel's various fanzine histories are quite reminiscent to my various attempts to keep the memories alive to the point where I sure wish that I was still in touch with the guy so's I could beg for some photocopies of the rarities that I'm sure remain in his collection lo these many years later. Unless those were the ones he loaned to that college professor in order to clue him in on the more outre examples of rock pressitude and the guy actually THREW THEM OUT because he found them worthless next to the way more nobler musical visage of the likes of...what other'n ROLLING STONE! I hear the prof felt guilty about his actions and gave Kugel an "A" anyway.

Anyway here's one for you to look out for if you, like me, really miss that hard-driven seventies Golden Age of Rock Screeding style and loathe the current touchy feely style of rock "criticism" that's being written by college co-eds who should be out looking for husbands rather'n crank out alla that putrid prose about how some old Velvet Underground or Patti Smith record relates to the gal's sister's best friend who was living with a biker who eventually went to junior college and got arrested but she eventually made good of herself while the two would spin MORE SONGS ABOUT BUILDINGS AND FOOD while talking about their innermost feelings and...hey, am """""I""""" still awake?

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I never knew that Paul Welsh, the guy who gave us all of those issues of the essential fanzine PENETRATION with loads of hot info on the kinda groups that MELODY MAKER used to snivel at, was also involved with an earlier publication goin' under the title PURPLE SMOKE. It's a pretty nice fanzine too dating back 72/73 way, a lo-fi xerox affair from the look of it up to snuff with that under-the-counterculture mindset we all know and love as well.

You could say that PURPLE SMOKE was more of a personalist fanzine than PENETRATION, having those everyday sorta vibes you'd see in a whole buncha eighties/nineties fanzines where some girl would spend pages talking about her personal life and how her latest no-good boyfriend dumped her and how she's on the rag so she can't do any world saving right now, only Welsh thankfully has a tighter head on him and better taste in overall funtime gulcher as well.

These two mags in my possession feature everything from sagas on Marc Bolan and Warhol to encounters with Jesus Freaks after attending a performance of GODSPELL and heck there's even a moom pitcher review of the infamous INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES...  amidst an appreciation of Marvel Comics, a recipe for something called "Monday Pie" that sounds rather dee-lish as well as shots of shameless hussies showing off their suckems. What more do you spiritual thirteen-year-olds want in a fanzine now, anyway?

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A more recent fanzine, and one of a quite different nature is CROHINGA WELL, a Belgian publication printed in the English language which tends to concentrate of the more aerie faeire aspects of music. If you're a rough 'n tumble rock 'n roller don't let that get to you, for there's plenty of high energy thrills to read about in these mags from a detailed Hawkwind history (serialized into umpteen parts!) to tons of reviews of platters which even YOU (not necessarily me) might consider buying! I found a few interesting surprises from a review of Von Lmo who is described as sounding like what the Velvet Underground woulda had they stuck around (!) to a li'l bit on Third World War, a band that I'm starting to appreciate despite years of finding them rather iffy-like.

Speaking of which, the TWW ref reminds me of a time inna late-eighties when Al Simones of Purple Panda records was trying to sell me an original copy of that group's debut and I passed after hearing about a minute, a poor choice on my part I wish I could have rectified but hey, that was long ago and moolah was scarce! (Ditto for his attempts to sell the Edgar Broughton Band's second LP, the US pressing even, and the Hot Poop album...boy how I wish I was a trust fund millionaire kiddie back then!)

And speaking of Simones, one of his longplayers gets the shaft in these pages if only because of the price tag placed upon it which the writers felt was abhorrent...sheesh, what kinda reason is that to dismiss a record that might have been of some worthwhile value as if it costs mere pennies to put these things out. I say that the price of any object should be commensurate with the hard work, toil and intrinsic value of the item at hand and like, who were they to judge.

Oh well...you might get a kick outta these mags which are worth a little effort to track down.

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Here's an English "punkzine" from '77 entitled CONFIDENTIAL, which only goes to show ya that the blokes who put this effort out were unaware of the muckraking mag that got itself into much hot water back in the fifties! Or maybe they did know about it but just didn't care, which I would think is probably the case as if anyone really does care one way or the other.

Actually this CONFIDENTIAL is a fairly good read, nothing spectacular or as all-encompassing as such rivals like WHITE STUFF were but still good enough what with an appreciation of the likes of the Ramones, New York Dolls and offshoots, the usual English suspect and the various up 'n comers who sounded rather dreadful once 1980 rolled around. The writers shoulda spent more time reading the various weakly paper hotshots in order to pick up a few pointers on style 'n taste. Biggest complaint --- the promised piece on Third World War mentioned onna cover appears nowhere!

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While we're on the subject of English "punk rock" fanzines mebbee I should mention this particular issue of KINGDOM COME. It's a good one too more in the tradition of the early/mid-seventies punk advent efforts what with just enough Slade and Blue Oyster Cult mixed in with the newies, and it pretty much reads like one too. None of that cheapo everything that's old is hippy music no future waah! junk here. Writing is fine to and encompassing of a a whole lotta things that were good during them days from the reams of reissues to those new acts that sounded so enticing even if I could never afford any of their records but eh, I eventually did so nothing that much was lost other'n a few years.

Writing is good and it sure brought back memories reading alla those reviews of old Radar label acts (and it was kinda funny reading that review which praised Radar for giving new acts like THE GOOD RATS a chance!), and seeing writeups of everything from DATAPANIK IN THE YEAR ZERO to that Flamin' Groovies 12-incher that I lusted after but never did snatch up sure makes me wanna thumb through my record collection in order to stie them embers of seventies record funzies up to the point where I'm on the hunt for old Seeds albums at some flea market! Only problem with this ish is that it's shrunk down and printed two to a side page-wize a la the earlier NEXT BIG THINGs and JUNGLELANDs making toilet-time enjoyment most difficult.

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I'm always game for the throngs of mostly small-statured hawkwind fanzines that have been fluttering about over the past few decades, and the ones that feature off/on frontman Robert Calvert really tend to tug at my own personal rockist tendencies. This special Calvert ish courtesy the longstanding HAWKFRIENDZ mag is but the latest in my collection of various Calvert-oriented mags and as usual it's a goodie. Yeah almost all of it consists of the usual fodder copped from the English "weaklies" and fliers but otherwise for a guy who never could get hold of alla that quap this does make for fine and BRAND NEW TO MY BRAIN reading material. Contains a rare interview from BEAT magazine and the text of a play featuring a meeting between Jimi Hendrix and Noel Coward. Enchanting.

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I've bleated a few times about how I've bemoaned the existence of a Velvet Underground fanzine being created if not during, but shortly after the band became a facet of Steve Sesenik's definitely Reed-less vision. Too bad Constantine Radoulovich, the guy who would have been the most likely to put this concept to fruition, did a quick bail-out from Velvets fandom. Well, at least we got Phil Milstein's excellent WHAT GOES ON which certainly exuded that seventies fanzine spirit (the ones edited by MC Kostek seem quite professional and don't quite feel as fanzine-y comfy as the earlier ones...still a boffo read tho) and later on this lesser known effort courtesy Sal Mercuri simply entitled THE VELVET UNDERGROUND a ndi t was a pretty good cooker of a fanzine as well.

Kinda slick what with the gloss that surrounds the thing but still good in that fannish way where you get the idea that the people who are writing for this are fans of the old gnarly fashion and not the newer ones of limp milksopdom. Nice articles, nice repros of rare pix and although many of you might think it's old hat fandom I find the entire effort pretty cool in that teenage all this music hitting ya from all directions sorta way that made record buying such a fun prospect way back when.

Now, I don't like alla the reprinted articles by then-recent (1996) "rock critics" who ooze none of the excitement and tension of the Olde Tymey Greats. Sheesh, after reading some Big City Newspaper crit's rehashing of things rehashed for ages I just gotta grab some Mick Farren or Richard Meltzer in order to cleanse my system. Otherwise I find this read pretty good even if for a dude like me it's all old wawa under the bridge. But it's the ginchiness that counts.

The mag works especially when Mercuri does what none of the sycophantic types would dare do and critiques his subject matter in the most cutting ways, as he does when digging not only into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame but the then-surviving ex-Velvets for their attitudes doin' a strange about face regarding that mausoleum up there in Cleveland. You might think its more nada about even more nada, but I think it's fantastic and one reason I can heartily recommend you searching out these fanzines whenever you can.

By the way, didja know that there was another fanzine called THE VELVET UNDERGROUND only this one was dedicated to famed cocaine queen Stevie Nicks? When doin' your shopping details, don't be fooled by cheap imitations!  

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I've written about FAT ANGEL before and while this particular ZIGZAG spinoff didn't always flibben my jib it wasn't like I loathed the effort given the care and consideration that was given to the nova music acts along with the usual West Coast mutations that editor Andy Childs seemed to bank his bucks on. This very early issue from 1971 is rather good in that Childs' tastes are even more widespread 'n the average longhair record buyer of the day would have dared to dream. 

This issue is more in the old fanzine tradition with typewriter print and amateur art, and although the likes of the English underground groups of the time are held in high esteem there's just enough space devoted to the underground precursors to get one's salivary glands working overtime. From reviews of HIGH TIME to the latest on the Pink Fairies, there's enough in FAT ANGEL to make more'n a few of you reg'lar readers perk up amid the reviews of ELP and Jethro Tull. I liked the Brinsley Schwarz article even though for the most part I'm supposed to hate that band (not that they're big faves 'round here, but they sure do come off fresh when compared to some of the bin stuffers that permeated the record shops of the seventies) like some have told me to for ages.

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It might seem rather strange to some of you that there were people way back when who were publishing various fanzines simultaneously which someone like myself would  find not only time, but MONEY consuming. And hey, sometimes these fanzines were given out for FREE which really boggles the mind of a guy who hadda sell records and cash in aluminum cans found on the street in order to get enough scratch together to put one of my own crudzines out! What's even more amazing is that many of these multiple fanzine publishers went on to bigger 'n better things such as Lenny Kaye and today's star Greg Shaw, a guy who put out perhaps hundreds of various Sci-Fi, Tolkien and music magazines during the course of his youth, KARNIS BOTTLE'S METANOIA being just one but one of the more famed of the titles that he cranked out on his homebound duplicator which really does amount to what I would call a hefty backlog of high quality reading!

METANOIA was a boffo mag t'boot, a genzine in that this was a mag that might have had a Sci Fi look 'n feel to it but covered a wide range of personal subject matter. Hey, don't let the William Rostler artwork fool ya, METANOIA was as much of a rock fanzine as it was of any of the other fan substratas of the day and a pretty hotcha one at that what with Greg writing about everything from the recent bootleg albums comin' out to the neighbors and television programs affecting his life.

Once you get down to it, this fanzine really makes more like a face-to-face chat with a guy ya wanna play Monopoly with while MR. ED plays on the television just like inna old days. It gets pretty high-larious at time, especially when Shaw talks about some Eyetalian neighbor who actually put the moves on wife #1 Suzy!

The likes of John Ingham and boffo underground cartoonist and fanzine regular Jay Kinney pop up here and there along with letters from some of the bigger names in fandom like Dick Lupoff, and the mingling of such talents along with the general spirit mixed with the kick up yer feet 'n havesome fun feeling to these get down and talk TO ya's make METANOIA a whole lot more down home 'n THE PRARIE HOME COMPANION ever was!

You can read some of these pages in the various BOMP! collections that are easily enough obtainable via their site (see link on the left) and I have heard that there are plans to have these collected on their lonesome! Yet another one that might be worth holding your bowels in for because when it does come out boy, will it be toilet time for you!

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Here's one that just might not be a fanzoonie in the strictest sense but eh, it's an interesting addition to the rock mag collection here at the BTC orifice. It's Japanese too, a nice printed up package calling itself ROCKADOM and like the other Japanese seventies rock mags seen around here it sure reads pretty rock worthy! Not only that but the thing came out in late-'76 when punk rock was just starting to wrap its testicles around more and more unwary teenbo specimens making the oncoming excitement so thrilling in retrospect. 

The Damned pop up on the cover and the innards mostly consists of features etc. on punk rock, both of the sixties and seventies varieties which I know should make not only you Seeds fans happy but the spiky haired contingent as well!

Wish I could read it, because ROCKADOM sure comes off like a wowzer publication what with alla the snaps presented and the loads of reviews etc. Plus I kinda wonder how "gonzoese" reads in Japanese and I get the feeling that there were plenty of Far East variants on the likes of Meltzer and Adrien over them ways. Whatever it sure looks great and you might find a few things out even though I kinda get the idea that whoever put this 'un together got hold of a few issues of ROCK SCENE, THE VILLAGE VOICE and NME and sorta winged their way through it trying so hard to decipher those weird western letters'n all. Either that or there actually was a group called "Audition Showcase" that played CBGB every Monday night for years, and I never knew that the Shangri-Las' or Denmark's Gasolin' were punks but I learn something new everyday. Run this through one of those Japanese to English translators you find online and get even more laughs outta it than you could Anastasia Pantsios!

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AND FINALLY...with all of the Kirk/Spock, MAN FROM U*N*C*L*E, BLAKE'S 7, STARSKY AND HUTCH and WILD WILD WEST amateur fiction that has exploded o'er the fanzine scene these past thirtysome years, it just hadda happen! After years of speculation by many-a-confused adolescent boy in home ec, the first Pyle/Carter slash fanzine, none other than CALL OF DUTY has arrived in the boudoirs of many a Candy Striper so confused about his status in the bathhouse hierarchy! Authoress Tocklas B. Mills details the close and personal relationship between the hardened Marine Corps sergeant Vince Carter and buck (naked) private Gomer Pyle as the two explore their most innermost thoughts and desires whether it be behind the obstacle course or in confinement at the Hanoi Hilton for that matter. You too will thrill (amongst other things) to the passionate displays as they strive for endurance and withstand the cruel tortures of the Viet Cong. Don't miss the harrowing tale of survival "Last Gulp", the dilemma of "I Like Him, But I Don't Love Him" or the surprise ménage a trois in "Duke Walks In". Some wonky fan poetry appears in the form of "From the balls of Montezuma to the sores of Tripoli/We will sate our roaring urges on the land and on the sea". Word has it that Mills is working on some new fan fiction dealing with the Friday/Gannon relationship in the sixties DRAGNETs entitled HANDCUFFS ARE FOREVER.