published on January 30, 2010 under zine reviews. No Comments
Doris is one of the zines that I remember seeing in distros ever since I’ve started looking around for zines. Nevertheless, for some weird reason I never got my hands on an issue before. When I picked up this issue and started reading it, I just couldn’t put it down.
Cindy writes an ongoing encyclopedia and in each issue a few letters are featured. From these letters she rights a mixture of personal stories, politics and punk. In this issue it is R, S and T and you can read the following articles:
- Robin: It is about social change, people changing themselves and the world around them. Is it possible? It is also about having a difference of opinion then a person very close to you.
- Shy: A comic that recounts the story of Cindy’s first dealing with the punk rock scene. A shy girl that wants to be herself in a scene where people are so much different than her. How she managed to fit in and find people like her.
- Social Ecology: An introduction and personal view of the political theory that Murray Bookchin introduced.
- Truth: The way we remember and tell stories. How much truth is in them, and how much is left out to make it easier to remember, tell and understand.
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published on January 20, 2010 under zine reviews. No Comments
Since this is the first issue of Cometbus zine that I’m writing about, I feel I should give some background info on it.
Cometbus has been issued in one form or another for nearly 30 years now. Actually this is the 25th year anniversary issue and it came out in 2006. It is one of the first (if not the first) punk zines that escaped the standard band info, interviews, music reviews zine form and took a more personal direction. The author and creator of the zine is a guy who is known as Aaron Cometbus. A well recognized figure in the bay area punk scene, not only for his long run zine but also for his involvement in the punk scene, squat movement and also the numerous bands he has played for (most known as the drummer of Pinhead Gunpowder). He is self-described as a punk-anthropologist and if you read his zine you’ll realize why. If you want to find out more about Aaron Cometbus, I’ve put a bunch of links in the end of this post.
Now about this issue. As I said, this is the 50th issue and it marks the 25 years of the zine. The original idea about this issue (which took 3 years to be released due to serious burn-out), was to be exclusively a compilation of letters that Aaron had received from friends. Fortunately the idea was dropped and although this issue mainly consists of the aforementioned letters, there is some original writing from Aaron himself (and some from others) and also a bunch of interviews with band members.
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published on January 19, 2010 under news. No Comments
Yes, we’re back.
As some of you might have noticed, I haven’t updated the Words and Stuff site for nearly a year. Well, I’m gonna give it another try and update it more often from now on! As you have already noticed I’ve reconstructed the site and it is now a blog! The content is the same but as a blog, there are many new features like the ability to leave comments, send me messages and other nice stuff that are already added or will be added soon.
So from now on, I will try to add new content more often, I already have some reviews ready and I will be posting them soon. We now have a RSS feed so if you want to get all the updates without having to check the site, you can subscribe using your favorite feed reader. You may also subscribe via e-mail, just follow the link and put down your e-mail. Don’t worry, I will never share your e-mail with anyone or spam you, you’ll only get notices when new content is up. If you’re on twitter you can follow me at @dim_was. I will be letting you know about updates there too, along with other news.
Come back soon to check the new stuff or subscribe to be notified about it. I would love to hear from you, leave a comment under this (or any) post or use the contact form to send me a private message.
Thanks for visiting,
doesitmatter
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published on February 1, 2009 under show reviews. 6 Comments
I’ll shit you not, I went to this one to see Tragedy. How many people have the chance to see Tragedy play in a small pizza place! Quite a lot, if you live in Portland I guess but if you’re from Europe it’s definitely something new. Anyway, the small show room was quickly filled with about 100 or so punks and the show started at around 9.30.
First band to play was Lebanon, a rather new band from Portland with members of Hellshock (and ex-From Ashes Rise) which often share the stage with Tragedy. I wasn’t surprised and neither disappointed by their set. They play of course hardcore punk, but they’re not another Tragedy clone in any way, and I would say they sound kinda like Hellshock but not as metallic. I don’t know if they’ll have a record out anytime soon but if they do I’m definitely getting it.
Next one, oh yes, Tragedy! No introductions here, you should all know them already. Finally, after years of waiting, it was about time to see them live and it was amazing. The band was highly energetic and powerful with lots of fists thrown in the air and so was the crowd. Unfortunately they had some problems like electroshocking microphones, no vocals heard on the first track, some speaker wasn’t working and made the band stop to figure it out. But still, what a fucking show!!!
Next one was Extortion, coming from Australia to play their small set of powerviolence. Usually I can’t stand of powerviolence or fastcore but these guys weren’t bad. The crowd seemed to like them a lot so it’s all good.
Finally, Iron Lung, a duet band (guitar and drums) from Seattle. I guess you can put them under the powerviolence genre but they mix so many more hardcore sub-genres which makes them so unique. They mix ultra fast and slower parts in the most powerful way and they definitely won me and the rest of the crowd.
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published on February 1, 2009 under zine reviews. No Comments
Suze B. took a trip to Thailand and volunteered at a refugee camp at the Thai/Burmese border. She stayed there for 4 months, working and teaching with refugee tribe girls. Girls that have their human and political rights refused by both the military dictatorship in Burma and the Thai government who couldn’t care less and constantly mistreats Burmese refugees. But instead just teaching them english, Suze also tried to educate the girls on gender issues and feminism, something unknown to people on that part of the world. This zine contains writings from Suze during her time in Thailand, letters she sent back home, letters of the Burmese girls and also pictures and drawings. I have spent some time in both Thailand and Burma and I’ve witnessed how these people are treated, so this zine caught my eye immediately at the library. Nevertheless, it is a good read for everyone and a small introduction to the situation in the border through the eyes of Suze.
suzeb@riseup.net
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Doris is one of the zines that I remember seeing in distros ever since I’ve started looking around for zines. Nevertheless, for some weird reason I never got my hands on an issue before. When I picked up this issue and started reading it, I just couldn’t put it down.
