Ubgun12@yahoo.com)
There was a time when fanzines were the life blood of the entire rah-rah build 'em up portion of what we used to call fandom. They could either be a stepping stone to bigger and better things not only for the Sci-Fi, comics or musical entities that were being praised but the people who were doing the praising themselves. And, at least as far as rock 'n roll fanzines went, they very well might have been the first place many people found out about those truly "save-the-world" acts that would sweep the record bins within a few years. Chances are that had you been an avid rock 'n roll fanzine reader inna seventies you would heard about the likes of the New York Dolls or Pere Ubu (to take two random off the cuff groups) in some home-produced 'zine long before any of 'em made the pages of even CREEM (and that goes for the Gizmos who were plastered all over the under-the-underground press long before even that Rick Johnson piece appeared---y 'know, the one with the reference to "Camp Penis").
Nowadays fanzines seem to have lost their original joy de vivre due to the access of instant newz, and unfortunately for us all all that newz isn't exactly fit to print either online or on paper for that matter! But a few have persevered and these throwbacks to a wilder, more feral time really are to be applauded this late in the who gives a shit game. Of course you staunch BLOG TO COMM readers know of the biggies like VULCHER and others which seem to at least pretend to be sixties/seventies conscious in a late-'teens world, but I'm sure this li'l beaut has slipped through the fingers of more'n a few people who would definitely SALIVATE o'er being in possession of a copy, and if you don't have the latest issue of OWN THE WHOLE WORLD in yer mitts then brother you don't know what heights the Modern Day Fanzine can aspire to. And reach for that matter!
I gotta say that I do have a few beefs with the latest 'un since neither cover stars Col. Sanders nor Alice Cooper are to be found anywhere within (this reminds me of the issues of BEDLOE'S ISLAND and SUNSHINE back inna early seventies which plopped Coop's pic on their covers neglecting to mention the guy within their pages...irritating to say the least but OTWW is in some good company) and while I'm at it there seems to be way too much wasted space that coulda been circumcised up a bit. Like the first six or so pages of correspondence that featured junk mail complete with snappy answers to stupid questions kinda responses....this just don't quite gel with me at all! Yeah I know I saw things like this done many a time, especially in old Science Fiction fanzines that were cranked out by kidz with the exact same sense of snark as editor Robert Forward , but sixtysome years down the line maybe the joke has worn kinda thin. And I LIKE thin jokes too!
I know...why should I quibble when Forward is slapping on us a beautiful and brutal labor of love on whatever is left of the 1964-1981 born and bred rock generation that took the Velvets and Stooges to heart the way most did the Beatles and Stones (and followed the CREEM credo long after ROLLING STONE outgrew its usefulness with many of us growing to believe that Lester Bangs and King Richard Meltzer were the real life Gleason and Wenner...I can go on!). What ya get with OTWW #18 is a prize piece of rock 'n roll reading that ranks up there with the best in all-time rockscribe wonders, and who knows but it might just be the LAST WORD in true rock fandom (UGLY THINGS is too stellar to be classified as such) which doesn't surprise me because for all intent purposes it was "no later than '68" or at least whenever Max's Kansas City closed up shop and Bangs died (more "end of an era" for me than Kennedy getting shot!) for that matter.
Some rather hotcha material in here, like Eddie Flowers' moom pitcher reviews which I find quite entertaining the same way I used to pour over Michael Weldon's maybe not-so-recent discoveries in PSYCHOTRONIC VIDEO. Also mind-expanding in a perfectly non-lysergic way (tho who knows, that may help!) interview with Bill Weita who used to be involved in those Fuzzhead and Epstein Brothers tapes that were flyin' around a good thirty years back---the mere existence of this entry makes me wonder where I stashed their tapes (which are certainly overdue to a listening excursion). And Andrew Russ' live reviews of acts that you thought would have done the deep six back in the eighties and things were do bad even Iggy Pop couldn't get it up kinda makes you think perhaps it's STILL 1982 and you can't get that job you want because well...it was 1982 and you were still stooped even then! Ah memories...
There's even a piece of the editor's current fave band the Sunn Trio which not only proves that there is some attention being paid to current musicians who deserve a li'l boost, but that the editor has better tastes than you probably thought he did!
If that ain't enough yer also getttin' some live reviews courtesy Russ (big name in today's under-the-counterculture scene) recalling some recent public performances by the likes of Pere Ubu, 15-60-75 and THE CHOIR (1968 version) who didn't even perform their show-stopping version of "Macarthur Park" which upsets me to no end! There's a lot more too that I haven't even digested...yer gonna hafta find out for yerself!
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