Another long name for a mediocre publication.
As I have mentioned many times in the previous, long before I had email, a computer or any knowledge of either, I cut my teeth in the world of writings by immersing myself in the zine game;
For those of you who perhaps might not be in the know, a zine or fanzine as they are sometimes known, is a homemade magazine chronicling the maker's personal affinity for any given topic. When I was young, I first learned of these through skateboarding and punk rock music, but as I grew older, learned that they can cover anything from politics to gardening.
As of today, there are a myriad of publications that cover our beloved realm of bicycles, and as I followed lock step with my naive D.I.Y ethos, I too made several zines back, as the kids say 'in the day'. I should also note that this is a regular time line 'back in the day'. Not the current fixed gear 'back in the day' which is 14 to 28 months ago.
Anyhow as I promised, I took time to scan one of these offerings, which in leu of a post, I will present for you now;
I offer you 'A Begger's Answer To A Question Posed' circa 1996;
Page one
Page two
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16 and 17
Page 18
Page 19
Page 20 and 21
Page 22 and 23
I apparently misplaced page 14 so here is 25
Page 26
Page 27
Page 28
Page 29
Page 30
Page 31
Page 32
Page 33
Page 34
Page 35
Page 36
Chee-rist. If this was even a fraction as much of a pain in the ass to read as it was to scan and post, then I am truly sorry. Certainly folding your computer into your pocket and reading the drivel while waiting for your turn at the Blackjack table wouldn't be as easy, which is why I was always attracted to the medium in the first place.
Though the fanzine isn't a lost art, it seems to be currently vaguely misplaced, and depending on your prospective, maybe that's not such a bad thing. Time will tell if I will complete the first issue of the AHTBM zine, but should it come to pass, it's my primary hope that it won't be so tedious to read as my former offering was.
Obviously when honing the craft of writing, the learning curve has been steep these last fourteen years. I can at least promise to omit the uselessness.
Or a bulk of it anyway.
Come Monday I will have the usual array of non-photocopied fare, which my scanner and your eyeballs will certainly thank us both for. Until then, I bid you apologies, a good weekend and if you're so inspired, happy xeroxing.
Comments
RADICAL! MORE OF THIS ^^^^
Posted by: STOOPZPOOMZ | May 28, 2010 7:31 AM
The Dischord ad is a good reminder to listen to those albums again. Been a long time since I spun up Destination Love:Live at Cold Rice.
Posted by: Andy Reimer | May 28, 2010 7:55 AM
Oh hi memory lane! There is a great bookstore (name escapes me) here in Seattle at Pike St Market that has an amazing zine section. I always make a point to pop in there to be reminded it is not a dying art.
Posted by: Ashley | May 28, 2010 8:44 AM
now i have to listen to Lungfish all day. thanks captain!
Posted by: 333 | May 28, 2010 9:06 AM
that hand only has nine fingers.
Posted by: fomenter | May 28, 2010 9:15 AM
Thanks for posting; so cool. And a Toadies interview! If you haven't seen Holeshot BMX zine, check it out.
Zines=paleo-blogs.
Posted by: BUB | May 28, 2010 9:40 AM
Wow there's roughly 10x the content of a modern day bicycling dead tree publication. Wasn't the internet supposed to bring us more of this?
Posted by: Chris | May 28, 2010 9:44 AM
I worked on some of the final issues of 'Ben Is Dead' back in the day. And that was only cause I had a thing for Darby. It wasn't mutual.
Posted by: Chuck | May 28, 2010 9:56 AM
Man, I still love that "Rubberneck" album...
Posted by: db | May 28, 2010 9:56 AM
I am pretty sure I have that in a box somewhere with a pile of Zines that look suspiciously like the first pic. I certainly remember all of those articles.
Was there another issue that came with a shiny metallic sticker?
Keep on keeping on.
Posted by: Tarik | May 28, 2010 10:59 AM
Speaking of publishing, nice article in Bike Monkey this month, you haven't lost your touch. So how do you propose to regulate the frame building industry, an ASTM standard, or possibly some sort of sanctioning committee?
Posted by: worldbtom | May 28, 2010 12:48 PM
A-Fucking OK!
This post rulez.
OG Pen Pals 4 Life.
Posted by: Herb Endotone | May 28, 2010 1:30 PM
I am reminded of my own effort, "Speak Out Against This Sort Of Thing." It had a circulation of 2, a 7-issue run, and was usually full of pictures of Star Wars stormtroopers and KISS in concert. None survived, and it's probably just as well...
Posted by: Chezedog | May 28, 2010 2:41 PM
Nice to see that you were able to find a way to slack off on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend and still have a weekend post. Well played.
Posted by: clarky | May 28, 2010 3:05 PM
Thank you all of you. It feels really good to get the feedback on this that I have. Monday will probably have somemore of the same.
In regards to @worldbtom's comment, in recent months there have sprung a couple of different guilds, but from my corner it seems more like a popularity contest than it does an effort to begin any sense of regulation, but again, my corner is a far cry from the eye of that proverbial storm, so really, I have no idea.
Posted by: Stevil | May 28, 2010 5:17 PM
Like a home cooked meal.
Posted by: jason | May 29, 2010 12:49 AM
club homeboy
loved the blend of bike, skate, music and art
yeah...zines were a good source of subculture pre internet
and still cool as hell
Posted by: leif | May 29, 2010 1:44 AM
Stevil,
Nice writing always.
-B
Posted by: Bluenoser | May 29, 2010 5:48 PM
I dig ur 'toons. More of ur art on AHTBM, please.
Posted by: JP | May 29, 2010 9:38 PM
Fucking Tanner!!!!!!!
Posted by: Lockwood | May 30, 2010 7:41 PM
Fuck yes. best post over. Man, toadies were a great band, really loved the track Tyler off of Rubberneck. Yeah, holeshot is a good zine, I've heard good things about Dropout too out of Austin, but haven't seen one yet. Foulweather is pretty sweet too, more surf focused, but great writing non the less.
Posted by: dpow | June 1, 2010 1:45 PM