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FANZINE REVIEW! SUNSHINE #10 (edited by Dennis Metrano...release date circa. early 1972)

Here'a recent ebay find to keep you tided over until the weekend. And for those of you who (like me) are enthralled with the concept of a rock & roll fandom that could operate and function fully w/o the consent of the "mainstream" rock press these reads from the late-sixties onward have more meaning and induce more pangs of a vital and dominant rockism even in these strictly anti-rock times. Enough fluff...anyway some of you may remember my review of a later issue of Dennis Metrano's SUNSHINE in an earlier rock mag smackdown a few years back and if so (or if not) well, here's an earlier one which at least judging from the cover promises to be a real winner. I mean, Alice Cooper as MAN OF THE YEAR featured front and center on the front cover!!!!! Yeah, I know that there were probably a dozen or so fanzines out there that exuded exactly the same sentiments, but you gotta admit that this cover really proves what's in store with this particular piece of primal rockist credo, eh?

Well in the sage words of Bo Diddley you can't judge a fanzine by looking at the cover either because SUNSHINE #10's twelve pages really don't kick out any really important jams the same way early-seventies competitors TEENAGE WASTELAND GAZETTE, CRETINOUS CRETENTIONS or even Boston buddy Fred Whitlock's SPOONFUL did. In fact, next to those three and many other seventies rock 'zineage SUNSHINE seems to rot on the vine right before your very eyes, and after even a quick gander it's not hard to see why.

Nice start on the first page tho w/Whitlock's adventurous declaration regarding the starting up his very own mag. The piece reads like a youthful-yet-on-target (re)affirmation of the rock and creative spirit on one double-spaced sheet as well telling about how it ain't just enough to be a listener and that writing about the music is such an exhilarating experience in itself. Gee, that's something I discovered on my own as well, though I don't think I've ever hit the same level of rockist satori that Whitlock did with his handfulla mags. Unfortunately it's all downhill from there as you the wanderlustful are subjected to rather light reading that certainly doesn't keep up the hard energy of what rock & roll at its best could aspire to.

A gander at page three will tip you off to Metrano's top albums of '71 and for an Alice Cooper fan you'd be surprised at the choice (he must be pulling our collective leg, eh?) with his mentions of everyone from Carole King ("kinky, kinetic, kleinish") to Seals and Crofts ("spiritual, clever")! Well, at least the Rolling Stones are "real, sexy"! Somehow I am starting to doubt the rah rahs that Greg Shaw used to give this mag in the pages of WHO PUT THE BOMP!, but maybe this was just an "off" issue since even I've had those myself and they can't all be gems. The rock gossip 'n trivia that follows doesn't rev up the rock adrenaline although it is interesting to find out that when the Beach Boys were moving to Holland they wanted to get Keith Moon in on drums! But if you told me this was just info swiped outta "Random Notes" or "Rock 'n' Roll News" I would believe you in the utmost.

And it goes on from there, with a few hokay jazz LP reviews, more gossip and a piece about rock promotion written by an actual promo man named "Major Force". The (then) infamous phony ROLLING STONE press release about the death of Ralph J. Gleason that was originally published in THE NEW HAVEN ROCK PRESS but was still funny enough to warrant a reprint also appears, as do a few tie-ups regarding the production of the rag (like the announcement that there will be no more record reviews because it's so hard to be timely doing a fanzine) and a closing page filled with quotes, not about SUNSHINE but other fanzines along the lines of BOMP and NHRP! I mean, you think that Metrano would have collected up enough nice words about his own pride and joy!

But the worst thing about it is, other'n a brief mention that he likes "Brand New Key" and "American Pie" there's absolutely nothing about Alice here! And that, sir, is something that really threw me for a loop!