Basic Paper Airplane #12

Basic Paper Airplane #12: The Interview Issue

Joshua James Amberson 

14cm x 21.5 cm, 36 b&w pages , risographed cover. 

$3 USD (plus $1 p&p w/in US, $3 international)

The theme for issue #12 of Basic Paper Airplane is simple - a collection of interviews - but what makes it unique is that they are all interviews Joshua made with a diverse array of artists, musicians, and writers, while working on a series of articles for The Portland Mercury. The original articles only included a few quotes, so this zine sets our to rectify that by collecting together longer interview transcripts for the first time.

Each section opens with a paragraph or two that sets up the interview, roots the process of interviewing in real time, real place, and a real mindset. What emerges is Joshua's sensitivity for the creations of the interviewee, and a genuine love of being excited by things other people find joy or inspiration in. As testament to Joshua's approach the interviews are full of pertinent observation and considered thought about the practice of creation - whether that discipline is music, writing, or film. 

The zine follows a simple layout, with a photo of each interviewee heading every section. The cover though, designed and printed by C Stone and Anthony Michael, is a thing of risographed beauty. 

The best way to look at Basic Paper Airplane #12 is as a primer on the work of creators you haven't yet discovered. It will have you scrabbling to track down albums & books, that you know from the interviews alone, will be rewarding. Its no easy feat in a cultural climate that constantly sells to us through every channel, to the point it's easiest to disengage, to succeed in creating active engagement. Basic Paper Airplane #12 does exactly this - through honesty, personality, and passion. I can't recommend it enough. 

Buy a copy from http://www.antiquatedfuture.com/zines/basic-paper-airplane-12-the-interview-issue/

Or say hello - PO Box 42081, Portland, OR 97242, USA. 


Review by Nathan Penlington

Shoes Fanzine #8

Shoes Fanzine #8: Interviews old & new

by Nate

June 2018

72 pages, 14cm x 21.5cm, b&w. 

$3 (Canadian dollars) plus p+p. Free to prisoners. 

The latest issue of Shoes contains varied and substantial interviews. While it's a zine pretty much grounded in punk, you definitely don't need to be part of that scene to discover something rewarding and thought provoking within its pages. The interviews tackle issues affecting countries the world over: the rise of white supremacy; the gentrification and cultural smothering of cities; the further marginalisation of certain communities.

Outside of those themes there are also very specific interviews that are utterly fascinating. For example Karmin recounts the story of when she sailed the Pacific Ocean for seven months with only her estranged dad for company. There is also an inspired then & now interview with the infamous Aaron Cometbus. Nate first interviewed him back in 1999, and asks the same questions again in 2018, without allowing Aaron to see his original answers. The result is a rare insight into the drives and despair of the man behind the longest running zine. 

In fact Cometbus is the closest comparison to Shoes that comes to mind - apart from the obvious overlap of punk & activism, there is a larger ethos both zines share. And from where we stand in 2018, spreading the reach of that ethos is no bad thing. 

To get hold of copy contact Nate directly: shoesfanzine [at] hotmail (dot) com

Or write: Shoes Fanzine, PO Box 88023, Chinatown, Vancouver, BC, V6A 4A4

Please say Syndicated Zine Reviews sent you. 

Review by Nathan Penlington

Were Stan and Ollie Anarchists?

Were Stan and Ollie Anarchists?

Readers Digress! #9


12 pages, cardboard cover, a5

£/$: exchange encouraged, and/or stamps to cover postage

An interview between the infamous Radical Slapstick magazine and Oxbridge Milhaven whose spill-all book My Life in Hollywood exposes the 'true' secret history of the Golden Age of Comedy. 

Were Stan & Ollie Anarchists? What was the real motivation for the anrcho-surrealist political prankster Buster Keaton? Was Mae West a true libertarian?

This zine is another welcome addition to the Readers Digress! series, the former incarnation of The Bubblegum Dada Corporation. The series is intelligent, sharp, witty, playful, very much in the tradition of the dadaists, absurdists, and the 20th century avant-garde. 


The B.D.C. is a curiously offline enterprise based on the coast of England, but if you'd like a copy of Were Stan and Ollie Anarchists? you can now contact them at their newly acquired email address - bubblegumdadacorporation (at) gmail (dot) com - with offers to exchange creative endeavours, or an offer of stamps to cover postage.

Please say we sent you. 

Review by Nathan Penlington

Dynamiting Misery!

Dynamiting Misery!
by Avery Cruikshank and Pollard Laine / Readers Digress! #13

A5, 28 pages, cardboard cover. 

£/$: exchange encouraged, and/or stamps to cover postage. 

Dynamiting Misery! is a layered narrative of scholarly faction. It is centred around the world of early animation, the rise of Disney and the company's links to fascism, and the support lent to the witch hunts of McCarthy era America. 

The zine consists of a fictual dialogue between legendary animator Pollard Laine and celebrated critic Avery Cruikshank, which analyses Pollard's career choices and his desire to undermine the dominant rhetoric of capitalist cultural production. If that sounds a bit heavy, it isn't. The writing is erudite, witty, believable and well researched. The simple format of the zine lets the strength of the writing breathe. 

Readers Digress! is the former incarnation of The Bubblegum Dada Corporation - a curiously offline enterprise based on the coast of England. If you'd like a copy of Dynamiting Misery! you can now contact them at their newly acquired email address - bubblegumdadacorporation (at) gmail (dot) com - with offers to exchange creative endeavours, or an offer of stamps to cover postage. Please say we sent you. 

Review by Nathan Penlington

Gardening is for Eaters

Gardening is for Eaters
digest, 24 pages, $?
This is Laura-Marie and Ming's new gardening zine. Laura-Marie has been involved with gardens and gardening for much of her life but had found the experience to be mostly frustrating - until now. The gardens she has created and worked on with Ming have given her a newfound passion for gardening and a new level of satisfaction with her gardens. And so to share the excitement, she created this zine. In it she lists all of the plants that are growing in her gardens and includes a brief statement about each one. Then she interviews Ming about permaculture, Jade about food gathering, and Marcus about biointensive farming. This is a fun and informative zine, but it has left me wanting more, so I'm hoping that future issues are in the works.
robotmad@gmail.com
www.dangerouscompassions.blogspot.com

Twenty-Four Hours #8

Twenty-Four Hours #8
5.5" x 4.25", one-sided postcard, 25 cents
A special issue of Twenty-Four Hours (normally a digest size zine, $1 per issue), this one-sided postcard offers a short interview with Anya Kamenetz, author of the book, DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education. It's a very interesting and informative discussion about the shortfalls of traditional education, and how education is changing with the emergence of things like open-source technology and community learning experiments. Learn more at: www.diyubook.com This is a short read, but worth checking out.
www.twentyfourhourszine.blogspot.com
joshmedsker@gmail.com

Fanzine Ynfytyn

Zinester Interview: Emma

from Hannah Reads Zines by Hannah

Zinester Interview: Heather

Zinester Interview: Heather

from Hannah Reads Zines by Hannah

Radio Obsessive Profile #10: College Radio ‘Zinester Lew Houston

Finding WRKU cover

I’m a college radio history buff, so whenever I run across someone who has taken the time to document the early history of a college radio station I am beyond impressed.

http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2011/01/06/radio-obsessive-profile-10-college-radio-zinester-lew-houston/

Greenwoman Magazine's slow living columnist Dan Murphy

Interview: Bastian Fox Phelan

Interview: Anne Elizabeth Moore

Liz Worth Interview by Tara Bursey

I (Tara Bursey, Toronto Ontario) did the following interview last month with Liz Worth for an article on Zines in Canada in the 70s, 80s, 90s and today for the next issue of Broken Pencil. Only snippits of this interview will likely make it into the article, but I enjoyed doing the interview enough that I thought it would be worth posting here in its entirety.

http://tarabursey.blogspot.com/2010/12/zines-in-canada-interview-for-broken.html

Interview 13

OWT Creative is comprised of five young designers: Ste Beed, Jon Hannan,Katrina Currie, Sarah Stapleton and Ben Kither, based in Manchester, UK.

Interview: Vanessa Davis Pt. 1

From Zines to Blogs and Beyond: Eco-Activist Mark Hand Stays Above the Fray (Interview)

Kristy Bowen

Interview 12

Wolfwind Collective is an independent publishing and distribution collective founded by Phillip Hawkey and Rob Jones.

The Spirit of Punk: An Interview With Zine Author Bianca Valentino

BRD SNG