Andrew from Needles and Pens takes you to Chicago and updates you with best new zines.
The following tale takes place in one toddlin' lakeside berg. Known to some as Carl Sandberg's city of big shoulders, Upton Sinclair's hog butcher to the world, or the death bed to the Haymarket Anarchists. A town named Chicago, which literally translates in the native tongue of the indigenous people that first inhabited it as "bad stink" for the foul smelling onions the sprouted up everywhere in this natural swampy marshland at the southern tip of Lake Michigan.
It was time to return to the mother land and see friends and family. It had been nearly two years since I'd been back.
Holy Cow.
Everytime I go back to Chicago, I'm reminded that the only thing that's constant is change. In this town it's constantly changing at warp speed. I shot this photo 10 years ago at Montrose and Broadway in Uptown. This used to be a cutty bar that one had to be buzzed in to gain access to a cold bottle of Old Style. It's now a yuppie bar, that has no resemblence to this photo. Tear down rebuild, tear down rebuild...
My freind Marga just moved to Chicago from Madrid. If you were in a punk band that played in Spain in the last 10 years, she probably booked your show and put you up. ...Or if you're just an international free loader that happens to know a lot of people in bands she probably put you up too (...like me).
blurry liquor stores
and rooftops
One of my best freinds Chrissy Pissy was also having some going away parties, cuz he's moving to Berekeley (Chicago's loss and SF's gain). This is his band Sang des Loups playing at going away party #1. Chris is also a boss photographer check out his flickr page
Set list and whiskey in a plastic cup. I saw a lot of music in Chicago.
Dan Melchior is one of my faves, amazing biting satirical lyrics about hip urban life. Seriously brilliant, check him out. ...And he's only played the West Coast once!
My sentiments exactly.
Spokane Washington's Yokohama Hooks. Dig the Agent Orange cover.
And now the paparazzi shots. Old skate comrades Chuey and Ron at a 5am bar known by the locals simply as "Mistakes," ...cuz that's how you'll feel about it the next day.
Pornographers Todd and Ryan. Well, actually Todd's more of a former pornographer. His old zine Horizontal Action folded a couple years ago. His new jam is Victim of Time, the self-proclaimed "what-to-do for wierdos everywhere." And Ryan, well he's worked at Playboy for 10 years now ...Hugh Heffner's daughter is his boss. Yes sir, and that about wraps up my Chicago trip.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch in San Franciskee, there's some new zines worth checking out:
First up, SF's favorite zinester (says this weeks SF Weekly, congrats!) Jay Howell brings us PUNKS GIT CUT hot off the presses. It's a zine that's going to be included in his summer 2007 Anti Hero board series. The boards aren't out yet, you'll still have to buy mine for a couple more months (...sorry for the shameless self-promotion, no I'm not). But, if you don't want to buy a skateboard, there's an extremely limited amount that he dropped off at N+P.
The zine is filled with the standard Jay Howell hilarity. Man Plant, need I say more...? I don't think so.
Next up, Geoffrey Ellis dropped off a pre-release issue of SAD KIDS#4. It's filled entirely with rad signage and imagery from Memphis Tennessee. All done in 4C. Color copies/laser printers have come a long way.
I'm such a sucker for this kind of stuff. Honestly, all these signs need to be in the Smithsonian because in this age of fonts and signage that are out-put free of human error, these won't be around much longer. This zine is going to be released on June 7th at the Cartoon Museum here in SF. I imagine we'll have 'em in the shop at N+P shortly after that.
Also just in, Morning Brother Earth by Scott Barry. Did you see him recently featured in Juxtapoz? I saw dude at APE and he said he was making this zine to bring with him to Japan.
Lucky for us, he kept some state-side. Scott Barry's zines are serious eye candy for graphic design and packaging nerds.
He always goes the extra mile
Gocco printed inserts galore, stickers, matchbooks, book marks, you name it. This one even comes with a CD of moody ambient music and reverbed out guitar noodlings. Rad. limited edition of 60.
And last but not least, Dishwasher by Pete Jordan. I know it's a book, but it's a book about a dude who made zines. It's honestly one of the best things I've read in months. Dishwasher Pete vowed to wash dishes in all of the 50 states of America. Throughout the 90s he put out a zine called Dishwasher that told of his experiences and now this book tells the entire 10 year tale. Frequent guest on This American Life and one time guest on the David Letterman show (sort of), Pete is a modern day working class hero a la Paul Bunyan. He'll be at N+P on May 31st to release his new book, I recommend you attend. ...and hopefully, I'll get an interview to post up on Fecal.
That's it for now, over and out, 10-4 good buddy... See you next time. -Andrew your freindly neighborhood Needles + Pens Shopkeep.
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