637 lines
35 KiB
Plaintext
637 lines
35 KiB
Plaintext
From jis@panix.com Mon Aug 15 12:14:39 EDT 1994
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Article: 768 of alt.etext
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Path: news.cic.net!ddsw1!panix!not-for-mail
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From: jis@panix.com (jis)
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Newsgroups: alt.zines,alt.etext,alt.music.alternative,alt.music.independent,alt.comics.alternative,alt.non.sequitur,alt.slack,alt.society.generation-x
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Subject: E-ZINE: SUPER STUPID SLAMBOOK #5 (AUGUST 1994)
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Followup-To: alt.zines
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Date: 15 Aug 1994 09:53:44 -0400
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Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC
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Lines: 618
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Message-ID: <32ns18$73u@panix.com>
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NNTP-Posting-Host: panix.com
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Summary: A complete waste of time. Watch daytime T.V. instead...
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Keywords: stupid slambook super gum dangle masonna stereolab picasso
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Xref: news.cic.net alt.zines:5035 alt.etext:768 alt.music.alternative:114291 alt.music.independent:1121 alt.comics.alternative:2158 alt.non.sequitur:3902 alt.slack:20070 alt.society.generation-x:43782
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+--------------------------------------+------------------------+
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| %%%% %% %% %%%%% %%%%%% %%%%% | gUM |
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|%%%%%% %% %% %%%%%% %%%%%% %%%%%% | Masonna interview |
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|%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% | gUM |
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| %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% | Pablo picasso |
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| %% %% %% %%%%%% %%%%% %%%%%% | cARMEL |
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| %% %% %% %%%%% %% %%%%% | Fifth column |
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|%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% | tRAILER QUEEN |
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|%%%%%% %%%%%% %% %%%%%% %% %% | Gum |
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| %%%% %%%% %% %%%%%% %% %% | sTEREOLAB |
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| | Chocolate |
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| %%%% %%%%%% %% %% %%%%% %% %%%%% | sLEEPYHEAD |
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|%%%%%% %%%%%% %% %% %%%%%% %% %%%%%% | Lloyd dangle interview |
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|%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% | |
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| %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% | |
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|%%%%%% %% %%%%%% %% %% %%%%%% | |
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| %%%% %% %%%% %% %% %%%%% +------------------------+
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| |
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| %%%% %% %%%% %% %% %%%%% %%%% %%%% %% %% +-----+
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|%%%%%% %% %%%%%% %%% %%% %%%%%% %%%%%% %%%%%% %% %% | A 1 |
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|%% %% %% %% %% %%%%%%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% | U 9 |
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| %% %% %% %% %% % %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% | G 9 |
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| %% %% %%%%%% %% % %% %%%%% %% %% %% %% %%%% | U 4 |
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| %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% | S |
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|%% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% %% | T |
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|%%%%%% %%%%%% %% %% %% %% %%%%%% %%%%%% %%%%%% %% %% | |
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| %%%% %%%%%% %% %% %% %% %%%%% %%%% %%%% %% %% | #5 |
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+---------------------------------------------------------+-----+
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| [ Phooey, I say, on all white-shoe college boys ] |
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| [ who edit their campus literary magazines. ] |
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| [ Give me an honest con man any day. ] |
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+---------------------------------------------------------------+
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DIRECTIONS:
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1-- Unscrew outer cap.
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2-- Unscrew inner cap with tip.
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3-- Remove plug.
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4-- Screw inner cap back in place tightly.
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5-- Squeeze the container gently and apply zine as required.
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6-- Replace outer cap after use.
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7-- Dried zine on applicator tip or clothing can be rinsed
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off with warm water.
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Contains Xylene--Use with adequate ventilation,
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_ _
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| | __ _ ___| | __
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_ | |/ _` |/ __| |/ /
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| |_| | (_| | (__| <
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\___/ \__,_|\___|_|\_\
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+---------------------------------------------------------------+
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| [ E-MAIL ] [ STANDARD MAIL ] |
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| jis@panix.com P.O. Box 242 |
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| Village Station |
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| New York, NY 10014 |
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+---------------------------------------------------------------+
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TITLE: Strong Punch (CANDY)
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ARTIST: Bourbon
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"With a name like _Strong Punch_, it has to be good." I can just
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picture the marketing campaign for this gum. The name does not lie.
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_Strong Punch_ delivers the goods in a BIG way. Ever want to clear
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your sinuses, freshen your breath and wake up, all at once? Well
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look no further than Strong Punch chewing gum! The stuff is
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powerful enough that after chewing it for only about a minute or
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so, you'll be shakin' your head, and grabbing your temples as its
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unique properties kick into high gear. Afterwards, you'll be a new
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person, fully refreshed and ready to take on the world. Highly
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recommended to workaholics and other 24-hour-a-day people who need
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an artificial "kick" to keep themselves going.
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=================================================================
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TITLE: Masonna (PERSON)
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ARTIST: Masonna
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ADDRESS: Mazo Yamazaki (1-1-4-2E Bainan, Nishinari-Ku, Osaka 557,
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JAPAN)
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There's more to the Japanese music scene than _Pink Lady and Jeff_,
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_Loudness_ and all those horrific genetically cloned idol-singers
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like _Hikaru Genji_. Noise exists, and Masonna is a Japanese noise-
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nut. Saying anymore would just ruin the interview. Read on fellow
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readers.
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[Interview and translation by Matt Kaufman, 6/29/94]
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[SLAM] When did you develop an interest in noise?
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[MASONNA] When I was a child. I liked the sound of destruction on
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T.V. programs. The sound of a cup shattering when
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dropped. Hitting glass bottles and breaking them. Things
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like that.
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[SLAM] Is the name "Masonna" a play on Madonna?
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[MASONNA] Yes. I don't really like it. I want to change my name.
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[SLAM] Where and when was your first live performance as
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Masonna?
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[MASONNA] 1991 or 1992 at Shinjuku Theater Poo (Tokyo). Before that
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I played a few guerilla-style shows at record stores in
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Osaka (Forever 3, Soleil). Two times with Solmania as
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Masomania.
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[SLAM] What was the audience reaction like?
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[MASONNA] There wasn't any reaction. There was some applause when
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it was over.
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[SLAM] When you played San Francisco and Los Angeles, how did
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the reaction of the audience compare to a Japanese
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audience?
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[MASONNA] The audiences in Los Angeles and San Francisco were
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really lively. It was easy to perform live in those
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places. Especially in San Francisco, actually it was in
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Berkeley. It felt good to play there. A live recording
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from that show appears on the CD called _Noski In Ana_.
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American audiences are much better than Japanese
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audiences.
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[SLAM] Osaka underground bands are well known in places like New
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York and Los Angeles. How do you feel about that?
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[MASONNA] I think it's a good thing. I want to support more and
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more American bands who are interested in Masonna when
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they come to Japan. Please contact me.
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[SLAM] What foreign noise artists do you like?
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[MASONNA] I don't like noise.
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[SLAM] Besides Masonna, what other bands are you active in?
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[MASONNA] The Bustmonsters, Flying Testicle, Christine 23 Onna,
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Kinkakuji, and Yama's.
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[SLAM] Can you tell us how your performance differs in each one
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of those bands?
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[MASONNA] The Bustmonsters are a rock band (Members include
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Solmania, Monde Bruits, Merzbrow, and others). I'm the
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vocalist. Flying Testicle is a studio project with
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Merzbrow. Kinkakuji (Temple of the Golden Pavillion) is
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also a studio project. Christine 23 Onna is Psychedelic.
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Yama's include Yamatsuka Eye and Yamamoto Seiichi from
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the Boredoms. There's no concept.
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[SLAM] What is the most recent album you bought?
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[MASONNA] Sera Masanori and Twist.
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[SLAM] Who designed the cover to _Mademoiselle Anne Sanglante Ou
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Notre Nymphomanie Aureole_?
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[MASONNA] Ohno of Solmania made it on a Macintosh.
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[SLAM] Can you give me a list of everything, including singles
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and compilation tracks--you have released up until now?
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[MASONNA] I'm sorry. I don't really remember them very well. Check
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_Bananafish_.
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=================================================================
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TITLE: Kiss Mint: Wake Up (CANDY)
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ARTIST: Glica
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Kiss Mint is the name of a whole series of gums put out by Glica
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that are designed for losers on the go. This type of Kiss Mint has
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"Tiny capsules containing caffeine shake off your drowsiness";
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sounds neat, huh? Not really. It's flavor is chalkish, and while
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you can see the tiny caffeine capsules, I'll be damned if I even
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felt their effect. Maybe my tolerance level for caffeine has been
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heightened since I became a coffee fiend, but even 4 sticks of this
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gum didn't shake off my drowsiness at all. In fact, I fell asleep
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about 30 minutes later. This junk definitely doesn't deliver the
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goods. But I do have to give Glica extra brownie points for cool
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packaging. The gum comes in a resealable little wallet that allows
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you to carry this ineffective crap around without crushing the gum
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inside.
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=================================================================
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TITLE: Picasso and the Weeping Women (EXHIBIT)
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ARTIST: Pablo Picasso
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ADDRESS: Metropolitan Museum of Art (It's that big museum on the
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West side of Central Park. Central Park is that big patch of green
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that's stuck in the middle of Manhattan. Manhattan is a big island
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that is part of a big city that known as New York City. "You will
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never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy," said Obi
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Wan.)
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A whole exhibit devoted to the loves of Picasso? An absolute must
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see. All in all, it was a pretty neat but as I strolled through the
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exhibit, and read through the accompanying guide booklet, I was
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blown away by the irritating overuse of language used to describe
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the works and their history. Hyperbole and bullshit in "fine" art
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descriptions is a huge turn-off to me. It seems to me that such
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language is used merely for the pretention factor. Uggh. Just shut
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up, and tell me the facts; title, subject, date, medium, etc.
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Sprinkling overwrought art-school adjectives and arm-chair over-
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analyses all over the damn place is just not all that impressive.
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But I'm ranting. Back to the exhibit.
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Olga Koklova was a Russian dancer that Pablo met in 1917 and
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eventually married in 1918. Almost ten years later, the
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relationship started to stink on ice, as the booklet describes:
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"The monstrous screaming female heads that Picasso painted between
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1927 and 1930 reflect the increasing and violent tensions of their
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alienation." Do we really need this to be explained to us? Isn't
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pretty obvious that when someone starts to portray their marriage
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partner as a "monstrous screaming female head" that the thrill is
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_definitely_ gone. But Pablo was still on the prowl.
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Marie-Therese Walter was his next big fling. He was 45 when he
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hooked up with this 17 year old french schoolgirl. Is it any wonder
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that, as the booklet tells us, "She offered calm as well as
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ecstasy." Hmmm. I'd say the "calm" and the "ecstasy" were
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absolutely intertwined and inseparable; physically and otherwise.
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Heck the old dog even had a lovechild with her; his second child,
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Maya. It's no wonder that all of his paintings of her were
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beautiful, calm and peaceful. But a relationship based on one
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thing--that "thing" being sex--wasn't going to last. So he moved
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on.
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Theodora Marlovitch--more commonly known as Dora Maar--was his
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last, and most fulfilling relationship. "None of his previous
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companions had been as intellectually alert," the booklet tells us.
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Guess that's the nice way of saying that all of his other consorts
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were airheads. But who am I to say anything.
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=================================================================
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TITLE: Carmel: Milk Taste (CANDY)
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ARTIST: Toys Co., Ltd.
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"Carmel: Milk Taste"? Isn't that like saying, "Beef: Meat Taste"?
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Oh, whatever. First off, the carmel candy that comes in this thing
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is nothing to die for. It's pretty average if you ask me. But this
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product wins loads of kudos for its neat-o, retro, old time, post-
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World War II, Japanese tin toy based packaging.
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The candy comes in a drawer that slides out of a small, well
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designed and printed box. Flipping open the box reveals a neat
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panoramic picture of a robot driving his chic--and sporty--Space
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Patrol tin car across the moon. I kid you people not when I say his
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face has the frisky and wily look of a sly robot who's cruising the
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moon for some hot-to-trot tin. And in the area just below that
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there are three small cut-outs of robots that you can punch out and
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bend up, to make this a package a three-dimensional diorama. A fun
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and creative distraction. Too bad the candy is so plain and bland;
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caramel with a lot of packaging style and no sugar substance.
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=================================================================
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TITLE: I Love You But.../These Boots Were Made for Walking (7"
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SINGLE)
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ARTIST: Fifth Column/Trailer Queen
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ADDRESS: Dark Beloved Cloud (5-16 47th Road, #3L, Long Island City,
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NY 11101)
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PRICE: It goes for $3.00 post paid.
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Cover song-o-rama on this thing. I love Fifth Column, and they do
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a great job covering _I Love You But..._, the song that Ann
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Margaret (or Margrock, depending on your cultural lexicon) made
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famous. Slightly more rockin' than the original, but it still
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retains the original's groovy and bouncy guitar riffs. Total shimmy
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city on this track. Too bad the same can't said about Trailer
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Queen's cover of Nancy Sinatra's _These Boots Were Made For
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Walking_. Sounds way to loud and crunchy, not to mention that it
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doesn't have enough of the original's swingin' bass-line. Suck city
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on that one.
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=================================================================
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TITLE: EVE Chewing Gum (CANDY)
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ARTIST: Lotte
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This stuff sucks. You know your in trouble when an edible food-like
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product has the phrase "Memories of your Elegant Fragrance" written
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on it. Uggh! A chewable product that's supposed to remind you of
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"Elegant Fragrance"? Bleagh! This chewing gum smells like cheap
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drug store makeup! I bet you can only imagine what this stuff
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_tastes_ like. It's been a long time since I felt like scraping my
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tongue in a desperate attempt at getting rid of a bad taste. The
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last time was a year or so back when I almost swallowed a fly that
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flew in my mouth while I was riding my bike. Frankly, I'd rather
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chew on a fly--or any kind of bug--before chewing another piece of
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this crap.
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=================================================================
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TITLE: Mars Audiac Quintet (CD)
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ARTIST: Stereolab
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ADDRESS: Elektra put this thing out. Do you need a map?
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PRICE: I paid $9.99.
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I love Stereolab to death, but this album sounds like it was pumped
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out and recorded at gun-point. All of the tracks are pretty
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standard Stereolab fare. If anything, many of the tracks seem as if
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they were half baked overs from their last full-length album,
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_Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements_.
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For example, _Transporte Sans Boucher_ has a rhythm thing
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going that's pretty reminiscent of _Analogue Rock_. _Outer
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Accelerator_ has a poppy melody that sounds like it came straight
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off of the first half of _Jenny Ondioline_. The list goes on and on
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and on and on and on. Oh well. I guess some Stereolab is better
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than none Stereolab. Nah. Who am I kidding. This thing sucks.
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=================================================================
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TITLE: Pingu (CANDY)
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ARTIST: Morinaga
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You wanna know what this chocolate is like? Well let me ramble on
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like and old man, and I think you'll get the picture.
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A pal of mine needed some help copying stuff at the local
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Kinko's. I was the guy who had to lay the pages out on the machine
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and make sure everything was a-okay. I was getting hungry, and let
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my pal know it. Like Felix pulling junk out of his bag of tricks,
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my pal pulled out this stuff. It looked cute; little chocolate
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penguins sitting in a plastic tray. How bad could it be? Read on,
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true believers.
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In the middle of copying I ripped it open, and tried to eat
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some of them. What a pain _that_ was. The chocolate wasn't exactly
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melted, but it wasn't exactly hardened. Needless to say I couldn't
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pop _any_ of them fully out of the tray. It had taken on the
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consistency of sun-heated window caulk. But after putzing around a
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bit I managed to snag a small bite of it anyway; hunger makes you
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desperate. Desperate and stupid.
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Uggh, I wanted to puke. To say this stuff sucks is an
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understatement. The stuff was so bad that I had to stop copying,
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and literally get out of the store and toss this crud into the
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garbage. Hopefully some rat ate it and died as a result.
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=================================================================
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TITLE: Starduster (CD)
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ARTIST: Sleepyhead
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ADDRESS: Homestead Records (150 West 28th Street, Suite 501-OP, New
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York, NY 10001)
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PRICE: I forgot. Send a S.A.S.E. for a catalog.
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So everybody is telling me "Get this thing! Get this thing! It's
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great." So I bought this thing and well, ummm, it just doesn't
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work for me. Some songs on this album are decent and fun, like
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_Starduster_ and _Punk Rock City U.S.A._, but for the most part I
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was bored to tears. As a whole, it just seems to be slightly
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undeveloped and a tad too simple. And considering that Sleepyhead
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puts on some pretty decent live shows, I kinda feel jilted by this
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album. Oh well.
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=================================================================
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TITLE: Lloyd Dangle (PERSON)
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ARTIST: Lloyd Dangle
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ADDRESS: Drawn & Quarterly Publications (5550 Jeanne Mance Street,
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Number 16, Montreal, Quebec, H2V 4K6, CANADA)
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You probably know Lloyd's work from his weekly comic strip,
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_Troubletown_. And if you don't know him from that, then maybe
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you've seen his full-size comic-book, _Dangle_. No? You don't know
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what I'm talking about? Well, what else can I say? His material
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is really funny and neat to read. The _Troubletown_ strips are
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political without being preachy and the _Dangle_ comic books are
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personal without being annoyingly self-indulgent. If you want to
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get an idea of what his stuff is like, you can pick up the latest
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issue (that's issue number 3, FYI) of _Dangle_, from your local
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comic shop. If they don't have it, you can get a copy by sending a
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measly portion of your hard earned cash ($2.95 U.S./$3.50 CANADA)
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to _Drawn & Quarterly_. This interview was done in July, 1994.
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[SLAM] How did you get into comics?
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[L.D.] Let's see, how did I get into comics? Well, I always
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drew a lot. I was always involved in art when I was in
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school. And I tended to want to tell stories and make fun
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of people. Make fun of my teachers and stuff. Comics
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seemed to be something that worked for me and it was fun
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and I started doing satirical stuff in my high school
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paper and I worked on a comic magazine in college at the
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University of Michigan, called _The Gargoyle_. Next thing
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you know, it's ten years later and I've ended up getting
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a lot of stuff published. It's worked out pretty good for
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me.
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[SLAM] Nowadays, what do you concentrate on more? The comic
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book, _Dangle_, or the strip, _Troubletown_?
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[L.D.] I do the strip every week so that's pretty much a
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constant part of my life. With the comic book, I go on a
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little comic book creativity spree for a few months where
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I work on an issue. I just finished one. But since I do
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the strip every week, it's right there in my face all of
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the time. I work on very current issues with
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_Troubletown_, so that's pretty much my outlet.
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[SLAM] Over here in New York City, I read it when it runs in
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_The New York Press_. How many other papers have it?
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[L.D.] It's in about 10 papers now.
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[SLAM] When did you start doing _Troubletown_?
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[L.D.] I started doing it in 1989 in the _San Francisco Bay
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Guardian_, and for a long time I didn't really promote
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it; I just ran it in the _Guardian_. Then starting last
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fall, I did a big promotion of the strips, and I ended up
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getting it in a few more papers. And now, _Troubletown_
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is sort of rolling along and people are calling me more
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and more about it. I'm going to do another promotion and
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hopefully I'll be able to pick up a few more outlets.
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[SLAM] As far as the comic book (_Dangle_) goes, one thing I
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remember is the detail in the diorama on the cover of the
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first issue. It's a pretty accurate rendition of the
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beach in Coney Island. Did you live in Brooklyn?
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[L.D.] I lived in New York for three years right when I was out
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of college and spent a lot of time out at Coney Island
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with my friends. I really liked that place a lot. I
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decided I'd build a little shrine to it. It was a papier-
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mache sculpture. I always liked those diorama exhibits at
|
|
natural history museums. The ones where the diorama is
|
|
only about three feet deep but the background curves up
|
|
and becomes a horizon. So I built it just like that.
|
|
[SLAM] Neat!
|
|
[L.D.] Yeah, but it kept getting bigger and bigger. I built the
|
|
little man, who is about a foot tall and then I thought,
|
|
the background would only have to be three feet high. And
|
|
then as I built it, and started looking at it, I realized
|
|
that it wasn't going to photograph right. So I was going
|
|
to have to make the sky larger. And it just started to
|
|
get larger and larger. So it ended up standing about 4
|
|
feet tall with the backdrop and everything.
|
|
[SLAM] Do you still have it?
|
|
[L.D.] No.
|
|
[SLAM] What happened to it?
|
|
[L.D.] Well it had lots of pieces of broken glass and stuff
|
|
collaged all over it. And there little animals and bugs
|
|
living in there. Eventually, it was all covered with
|
|
spider-webs. Not to mention, I was always walking around
|
|
my studio and stepping over it and I just said "Forget
|
|
it. I gotta get rid of this thing."
|
|
[SLAM] Where did it eventually end up?
|
|
[L.D.] This comic store in Berkeley had it in their window for
|
|
a while and it was pretty funny because the cats at the
|
|
store would sleep on all of the broken glass and stuff.
|
|
They liked it.
|
|
[SLAM] That's weird. They didn't get hurt or anything?
|
|
[L.D.] No. You'd see them scratching themselves, though. And
|
|
there were these fake hypodermic needles sticking up out
|
|
of the surf and the cats would rub their necks against
|
|
them.
|
|
[SLAM] That's so weird. What a bunch of sick cats...
|
|
[L.D.] Well, I guess they work in comic store so what can you
|
|
expect? They're reading comics all day, so they become
|
|
strange.
|
|
[SLAM] I remember in the first issue there was a story about you
|
|
playing hookey from a paste-up job just to go hang out in
|
|
Coney Island. Did you do that a lot?
|
|
[L.D.] Yeah. At the time, I wasn't really publishing any comics
|
|
when I lived in New York. I was trying to, but I was too
|
|
young and frazzled and I was just trying to make a
|
|
living. Doing paste-up work, at the time, was a great way
|
|
of getting by if you didn't have too many skills. I mean,
|
|
paste-up is a skill in itself. There were lots of people
|
|
who played in bands and stuff and they would have paste-
|
|
up jobs, or cartoonists would have paste-up jobs, and it
|
|
was really a fun existence. You could make fairly good
|
|
money doing it. So I would do that, and every now and
|
|
then me and some friends that I worked with would take
|
|
off and head out to Coney Island. Coney Island being a
|
|
pretty fun, cheap, place to go.
|
|
[SLAM] Around what year was that?
|
|
[L.D.] I lived in New York City between 1983 and 1986. I imagine
|
|
everything out on the east coast is desktop published
|
|
now?
|
|
[SLAM] Yup. Pretty much.
|
|
[L.D.] Because the East Coast got into it a little slower than
|
|
the magazines out here. The magazines out here were going
|
|
desktop pretty early in the game.
|
|
[SLAM] I guess that has to do with Silicon Valley and all the
|
|
software development companies being out there.
|
|
[L.D.] Yeah. I did a funny thing. I had a paste-up job at
|
|
_MacWorld_ magazine when I first moved out to the West
|
|
Coast. They weren't totally desktop at the time and I
|
|
still needed a day job, so I was doing paste-up there. So
|
|
I got to see them totally phase me out because of desktop
|
|
publishing. One of the last things I did was take all of
|
|
the paste-up tools and pieced together a little museum in
|
|
my cubicle devoted to paste-up.
|
|
[SLAM] Waxers and things like that?
|
|
[L.D.] I had big pieces of wax hanging down. I called them wax
|
|
boogers and I tagged a note that said "Paste-up artists
|
|
in the 1980s used to eat this as a food supplement."
|
|
(laughs.) And it's all still there. They still have the
|
|
museum up in the office.
|
|
[SLAM] Sounds like museums influence your stuff. Like when you
|
|
were talking about making the diorama about Coney Island
|
|
and now making the little museum archiving the tools of
|
|
paste-up artists.
|
|
[L.D.] Hmmm. Maybe I should be in museum studies instead of
|
|
comics?
|
|
[SLAM] Just an observation.
|
|
[L.D.] Maybe I should try some taxidermy. (laughs.)
|
|
[SLAM] Well you can go get some cats. Or come back to New York
|
|
and get some rats. (laughs.) On to other things. Were
|
|
you ever a bike messenger? There are references to
|
|
cycling and bike messengers all over your stuff.
|
|
[L.D.] Well, I've always ridden a bike. When I lived in New
|
|
York, I had a bike but I didn't ride it at all, at first.
|
|
I came from Michigan, and riding a bike in Michigan and
|
|
riding a bike in New York City are totally different
|
|
things. I was terrified to ride a bike in New York City.
|
|
But then I started doing it and I just got so hooked on
|
|
the exhilaration of it. Next thing you know, I was just
|
|
all over the place on my bike. Then I just started to
|
|
observe the bike messengers. I never actually did any
|
|
messenger work, except for delivering my own
|
|
illustrations and stuff to places. But I ended up, sort
|
|
of hanging around bike messengers and picking up what
|
|
they're talking about. Just overhearing them.
|
|
[SLAM] The lingo is great. I almost did it, but I don't have the
|
|
guts to do it out here in New York City. It's just too
|
|
crazy here.
|
|
[L.D.] Bike messengers out here in San Francisco are a little
|
|
bit different than the New York City ones. But they're
|
|
just as intense. They're almost like pirates.
|
|
[SLAM] Do they weave in and out of traffic like crazy and yell
|
|
at pedestrians like the ones here in New York City?
|
|
[L.D.] Out here they have a reputation for running over
|
|
pedestrians and stuff--the same like New York City--but
|
|
they have a whole different style. They're more grunged
|
|
out and real kinda hippie influenced. To me, bike
|
|
messengers are exactly like pirates. If they had eye-
|
|
patches, bandannas or even hooks on their arms they'd be
|
|
perfect.
|
|
[SLAM] So they're two-wheeled traffic pirates. Getting your
|
|
stuff to you, while breaking every law and endangering
|
|
lives of innocent pedestrians along the way.
|
|
[L.D.] (laughs.)
|
|
[SLAM] Back to comics. What's the reader response to your stuff.
|
|
[L.D.] I get a ton of really positive response. But I do have
|
|
some psychos who write to me. I have a bunch of Rush
|
|
Limbaugh fanatics who are really writing some hateful
|
|
stuff to me. But I just figure, hey, they're crazy.
|
|
[SLAM] What do they write?
|
|
[L.D.] They refer to specific things. I can't even understand it
|
|
half the time. It's like they write in this insider
|
|
language that they all understand amongst themselves I
|
|
guess. To me, it doesn't make any sense.
|
|
[SLAM] Back to art. How do you feel about technology's influence
|
|
in comics?
|
|
[L.D.] One thing that I'm getting tired of is all of the comic
|
|
artists that are using computerized color. Hardly anybody
|
|
does any hand-coloring or painting on their work. It
|
|
seems like they do a mock up, and they send it off to
|
|
some computer place that produces that "perfect" kind of
|
|
computer color. And the thing is, that if they did it
|
|
themselves--even on a computer--there would be little
|
|
touches. They would develop their own way of dealing with
|
|
the computer, and their would be certain trademarks and
|
|
ways you'd be able to tell that the artist did it their
|
|
own way. They may have used a computer, but it would have
|
|
their specific style. It bothers me and bores me that
|
|
every time a pick up a comic that was colored on a
|
|
computer it looks like it was done by the same person.
|
|
[SLAM] Yeah, it's so canned.
|
|
[L.D.] And it always has those gradients, which really bug me.
|
|
I feel funny when a cartoonist shows me the brand new
|
|
cover they've done and the color is entirely computer
|
|
generated. They're very proud of it and they can't
|
|
believe how the computer is so wonderful, and I don't
|
|
want to tell them I don't like their cover. Generally I
|
|
might like the artwork a lot, but when I see that canned
|
|
color I just think that there has to be a million
|
|
different ways to do color, even on a computer or by
|
|
hand. But there's more than one way to do it, so why do
|
|
it the exact same way everybody else is doing it.
|
|
[SLAM] Some people are taking the easy way out. People just get
|
|
too lazy.
|
|
[L.D.] Yeah, like the computer is doing all the work.
|
|
[SLAM] Well, I also noticed when I picked up number three, you
|
|
did another 3-D cover thing. The guy with the pen, and
|
|
the hand kinda jumping off of the page. It's subtle, but
|
|
it's cool.
|
|
[L.D.] It was photographed. I did a watercolor, and I cut out
|
|
the part of the watercolor of the man with the hand and
|
|
put it in front of another painting. I like doing things
|
|
like that. It gives it an interesting quality.
|
|
[SLAM] It looks like a person, rather than a machine, did it.
|
|
Even on the insides, the pen strokes and weight of the
|
|
lines and such. That has the same effect.
|
|
[L.D.] You should see how much cutting and pasting I do on my
|
|
stuff. The originals _really_ look hand-made. When I'm
|
|
working on a drawing, if I don't like the way the face
|
|
looks, I'll just cut out another face and stick it on.
|
|
Basically, I just get into a frenzy, and I get all the
|
|
tools out.
|
|
[SLAM] All the blades, glue and tape come out of the drawers, I
|
|
guess. Sometimes when I'm reading your stuff, I notice a
|
|
lot of the cuts. Near word balloons and such.
|
|
[L.D.] If you look closely, you'll be able to tell. Or you might
|
|
notice a big cut line going across the middle of a
|
|
drawing sometimes, but it usually matched up pretty good.
|
|
[SLAM] Anything else you want to tell the world. Like should
|
|
they send you money?
|
|
[L.D.] Yeah, send me money. (laughs). Also, one of these days
|
|
I'll get a modem and I'll be right there on the Internet
|
|
with you.
|
|
[SLAM] One of these days...
|
|
[L.D.] Let's see what do I have to get next. Hmmm. A modem. Then
|
|
I have to get cable T.V. so I can watch all of the
|
|
"important" things on MTV.
|
|
|
|
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
|
|
| This was SUPER STUPID SLAMBOOK #5 (AUGUST 1994) |
|
|
| All contents (c) 1994 Jack Szwergold, all rights reserved. |
|
|
| And after saying all that, I realize that this is an elec- |
|
|
| tronic zine, which by the nature of it's medium, allows it to |
|
|
| be duplicated with little or no effort. So this is to let |
|
|
| you know that distribution is free. You can copy and send it |
|
|
| to as many people and places as you want. But the content is |
|
|
| mine, and plagiarism is just not a nice thing. Which is the |
|
|
| only reason why I stuck a copyright statement on this thing. |
|
|
| So be nice, and don't claim authorship to things you didn't |
|
|
| write. Okay? |
|
|
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
|
|
| [ DONDE ESTA SLAMBOOK? ] |
|
|
| |
|
|
| USENET: Each issue of the Slambook is posted to _alt.zines_, |
|
|
| _alt.etext_, _alt.comics.alternative_ and _alt.music. |
|
|
| alternative_ as well as various other sundry news- |
|
|
| groups on the ever expanding gimmish of babble that |
|
|
| is known as the USENET. |
|
|
| GOPHER: gopher.well.sf.ca.us (Thanks to Jerod at Factsheet 5) |
|
|
| E-MAIL: For all you lazy types who don't like slumming on the |
|
|
| USENET or playing around with gophers, you can get an |
|
|
| e-mail subscription to the Slambook. Drop me a note |
|
|
| telling me you'd like to subscribe and you'll be |
|
|
| added to the Slambook's ultra-lame electronic-mail |
|
|
| distribution list. Just say please, and the deed will |
|
|
| be done. (NOTE: I'm not a LISTSERV, and I don't |
|
|
| play one on TV. So please don't send me any cryptic |
|
|
| LISTSERVish messages, okay? Also, if you have more |
|
|
| than one e-mail account, _please_ clearly state which |
|
|
| account should receive the Slambook.) |
|
|
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
|
|
| [ SUBMISSION GROUNDRULES ] |
|
|
| |
|
|
| Be sure to remember, folks, that any and all materials sent |
|
|
| to the Super Stupid Slambook offices will not be returned un- |
|
|
| less it is accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope. |
|
|
| You got a problem with that? Then meet me outside buddy, and |
|
|
| I'll kick your butt all over the asphalt with the help of my |
|
|
| my wondrous spider-like, reflexes. |
|
|
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
|
|
| [ I DO WINDOWS _AND_ MINI-COMICS ] |
|
|
| |
|
|
| If you haven't even read or seen any of my minis, send me |
|
|
| some e-mail and I'll zap you some info on them. Groovy hip- |
|
|
| sters dig them. So do babes of all genders. Get hip to the |
|
|
| scene daddy-o and drop me a line. And, oh yeah. Just say |
|
|
| NO to strawberry Yoo-Hoo. Friends don't let friends drink |
|
|
| strawberry Yoo-Hoo. |
|
|
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
|
|
| [ E-MAIL ] [ STANDARD MAIL ] |
|
|
| jis@panix.com P.O. Box 242 |
|
|
| Village Station |
|
|
| New York, NY 10014 |
|
|
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
|
|
|
|
|
|
|