The Rooster’s Wife by Russell Edson (BOA Editions) As much as poetry dismays me these days, there are still certain poets I’m utterly fascinated by. Russell Edson is one of those. For nearly 45 years, Edson has been publishing poems that are ridiculous, disturbing, and offensive. Despite his longevity, he has never had much more […]
Kevin Sampsell
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biff
biff issue #3, by Allie & Bill Donahue, $2 at Reading Frenzy, Powell’s, and In Other Words, biffmagazine@hotmail.com We were bored and we decided together to make a story and then it led to doing the zine,” says Allie Donahue about the origin of biff. It may sound like a typical beginning for many magazines […]
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Sean Tejaratchi
Sean Tejaratchi creator of Craphound, available at Reading Frenzy Way back in 1994, a zine came out that blew people’s minds, but not with words; with images. Sean Tejaratchi’s Crap Hound was like a Clip Art book gone insane. Except, as he later learned, he couldn’t really call it “Clip Art” for legal reasons. So […]
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Prime Times: Writers on Their Favorite TV Shows
Prime Times: Writers on Their Favorite TV Shows edited by Douglas Bauer (Crown) The whole idea of an anthology praising TV shows pisses me off. In an era when there are God-knows-how-many TV stations full of crap and a recent report by the National Endowment of the Arts reports that only about 30% of Americans […]
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Invasion of the Zinesters
Invasion of the Zinesters an interview with Joe Biel & Alex Wrekk, organizers of the Portland Zine Symposium; Portland State University, Fri June 25 @ 12-5 pm, Sat June 26 @ 10 am – 5 pm, Sun June 27 @ 11 am – 4 pm, www.pdxzines.com The Portland Zine Symposium hits the PSU campus this […]
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The Minus Times
The Minus Times edited by Hunter Kennedy, www.minustimes.com I’ve known about The Minus Times for several years but have never known what to make of its humorous, almost Southern-gothic mysteries. Issue #28 of the zine has finally been released after a two-year disappearing act, prompting me to question editor Hunter Kennedy about his strange creation. […]
Posted inMusic
Sharing Secrets
Reclinerland: Sappy and Classic
Reclinerland Tues Aug 27 Blackbird If I were a girl I’d probably want to marry Mike Johnson, the creator and main force behind Reclinerland. I feel sort of shy and nervous as I interview him about his music. I want to ask him about his experiences growing up and get some really private dirt on […]
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Bio:Books
Joelle Fraser
Joelle Fraser The Territory of Men Powell’s City of Books Monday August 12 Some would say that Joelle Fraser is a floozy. Others might blame her mother, saying that man-eating apparently runs in the family. Perhaps it was all that moving around and living in the most liberal places of the pot and acid generation […]
Posted inArt
Eightball #22
Art Review
Eightball #22 by Dan Clowes (Fantagraphics) In October of 1989, Daniel Clowes put out the first issue of Eightball. It was a 32-page, black-and-white comic that catapulted readers straight into his bizarre world of fetish films, sadistic cops, and characters like the pathetic Dan Pussey. Clowes has always strung together near-surreal tales that span several […]
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The Banvard’s Folly
Book Review
The Banvard’s Folly Paul Collins (Picador) Paul Collins is one of those guys you always see at the library. He’s the normal-looking guy with the armful of old books, sneezing his way to an empty table. I can also imagine him at a dinner party, confounding people with factoids about unheard-of losers and scientists. Collins’ […]
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The New Sins
Book Review
The New Sins David Byrne (McSweeney’s Books) David Byrne has always been an artist in search of something bigger, something elusive, and full of wonders. He likes creating confusing, alternate realities (witness his movie, True Stories, or that early Talking Heads hit where he says directly to the listener: “This is not my beautiful house… […]