xtra tuf no. 4

Arg, I have been waiting all my life for this zine! I heard about it long ago, and finally I got my hands on one--this issue was included in the package W sent me, 50 or so zines out of the blue.

If you haven't heard of it, Xtra Tuf is about women on fishing boats. Do you love fishing boats? Do you love women? Do you love the best writing in the world? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, do yourself a favor and locate an Xtra Tuf. I answer "yes" to all three of those questions, so I am really in luck.

Moe Bowstern
P.O. Box 6834
Portland, Oregon 97228

www.moebowstern.com

recinerated #1

This is an attractive zine, nice shape, nice thickness, mostly about working at the mall. I liked it a lot. There's some cynicism, but a thread of true emotion runs through it. I like the ending, about a good concert. It made me feel like life was okay. And I like the way it says it's not a commodity. And I like the offer of a mix tape at the end.

http://logios.weebly.com/

Paper Radio #6

Paper Radio #6 edited by DJ Frederick is a zine about radio. There's stuff about radio history here, some nostalgia. I really enjoyed the thoughts about pirate radio.

I remember listening to the radio when I was a kid, listening to top 40 stations in my bedroom. I remember once at the end of the year, staying up to hear what the top songs of the year were. I remember sitting near my stereo's speakers, keeping the volume low so no one else could hear. And I remember recording songs off the radio to share with friends.

I learned Morse code as a teenager in hopes of getting my ham radio license, something that never panned out.

I know the charm of driving on a long car trip, listening to random radio stations on the way, hoping to find a college radio station playing something interesting and possibly obscure.

So I know a little about the romance of radio. But there are whole radio worlds I am ignorant of.

Paper Radio #6 is a well-done zine--though I don't know much of anything, I felt welcomed and not completely lost. I like the essay that starts the zine--it's about European Music Radio. To hear about EMR's struggles was informative--I liked learning about what they went through. I also enjoyed the interview with John Anderson of DIYmedia.net. And I liked one DJ's account of some special music he first heard in the mid-'70s. Though I have never heard that music, I could relate to the feeling of finding something valuable.

I enjoyed this zine as an outsider, but I'm sure there are radio-enthusiasts who would go wild over this zine, as people who are in the know, and I hope DJ Frederick is getting Paper Radio into the hands of those people.