28
pages, 8.5" x 5.5", $3.00, fair trade or letter of comment, Ken
Bausert, 2140 Erma Dr, East Meadow NY 11554, USA + PassScribe [at]
aol.com + thekenbausertchronicles.blogspot.comOne of the greatest things about zines - or at least those few that actually have them - is the letter column.
Exhibit A: Fred Woodworth's
The Match! and the bags of letters printed in each issue.
Exhibit B: Ken Bausert's
The Ken Chronicles. This issue has four pages of letters, and one of them is from Don Fields [who produces his own zine,
Twilight World],
who writes a great letter. The main subject of his letter is about him
noticing another letter-writer [and zine maker], Rodney L. complaining
about the lack of letters he receives for each issue. Don goes on to
explain why he isn't too worried about letters, and mentions a couple of
other things, which led me to write Don a letter. Now I hope he writes
me a letter.
After Ken's letter column is a 'Travelogue' of where
Ken and his wife Ro went during August, September and October [not the
least of which was a visit to Wo Hop for some Chow Fun!].
Next up, everybody's favourite [or second favourite, if it's not the letter column...] section - '
What I've Been ______ Lately'. This time Ken and Ro saw an off-off-Broadway production of semi-semi-famous zine person Ayun Halliday [
The East Village Inky]. He also saw Joe Walsh at the Civic Center, and read
The Electric Acid Kool-Aid Test.
It was strange to read Ken's experience of it, remembering my own
reading of it many years ago, and how it opened a new universe for me. A
universe I had previously been unaware of!
Finally, Ken reprints
an Associated Press release about the death of Holly Woodlawn, the
transgender actress made famous by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey in
their 1970 films 'Trash' and 'Women in Revolt'. Ken's note at the end,
where he mentions that he read Holly's biography a few years ago, and
found it "very interesting" yet "kind of boring" appears to defy the
laws of Aesthetic Physics.