| Zines S-Z |
| Safety Pin Girl #16, $2.00, 72 pgs, 1/2 sized |
| This issue of SPG is mostly comprised of a travel diary, however, that's not all you'll find in SPG #16 and the travel diary itself is not like the typical travel diaries you may have read or heard about in other zines. You will not be bored to tears with a mere catalog of places visited, sights seen, and food eaten--- no way. But you *will* feel as though you are travelling along side Jessica, sharing cigarettes with her on the open road whilst listening to cranked Daycare Swindlers or Minor Threat. Jessica writes about her feelings and impulses along with the details of the places she's travelled to and the interesting people she met along the way. She writes about hanging out with her best friend Ali, she writes about them seeing Henry Rollins walking down the street as they drove by in her car and wanting to swoon over him and follow him in her car but then deciding against it, she writes about going with Ali to see Sid and Nancy's graves (the legendary punk rock couple) and leaving offerings, going to The Waffle House, as well as other entries aside from the travel diary ranging in subject matter from her pregnancy scare to Christmas eve/Christmas day to bumping into young punks on the bus, her birthday/zine party, her lover Dan, and a piece called "Amerika Fucked me up" which has themed quotes and is sort of a 'travelling through the US manifesto type piece' (my words), among other things. Jessica lives like I imagine a punk rock girl *would*. Mostly uninhibited, loving who she wants and when she wants, road-tripping, beer-drinking, clove-cigarette smoking, meeting lots of interesting people along the way and listening to cranked up punk rock while doing it! She also includes a bit at the end of her zine which includes lists of what she's been reading and listening to and the *rad* ppl that have inspired her to write the zine. This section includes contacts for the zines she's read and this list has some *excellent* zines included in it. This zine is text-heavy and utterly captivating and beyond my descriptive talents ;) "No Oitering" I went to a Country Kitchen in Michigan with my cousins the other day. One of the letters was missing from the sign. "No oitering", it said. So I walked in with my fist raised, shouting "Oi"! at the bewildered midwesterners. |
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| Safety Pin Girl #17, $2.00, 64 pgs, 1/2 sized |
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| First of all I would just like to say, isn't this cover picture so fucking kewl?! Apparently Christy Road, the creator of "Green zine" drew it for her. Yay for friends with bitchin' artistic talents! Anyway, on with the zine: Jessica writes about being bi-polar, bisexual, and depressed; going to Ladyfest Lansing, cutting. feeling "deja-vu", taking Wellbutrin, a girl named Lola that went to the same middle school as her whom she hated + admired at the same time, May Day, Midwest anarchist book fair, her first cigarrette, a little punk boy she used to hang out with as well as pieces about how her and her best friend never felt like they fit in because they were too young to be old skool punks but never really understood or fit in with "this new school racket", Rock n' Roll and how it's not just about the music (it's about words and visual art too and those can be just as powerful + meaningful as the music), Ballistic Biscuit (a punk band she used to listen to back in the day when she first started getting into punk rock), not to mention other fierce, fabulous pieces such as "I've sucked too much cock to be a riot grrrl: A personal sexuality Manifesto" and her interview with The Distillers, among many, many other things/pieces/tidbits. This zine also includes the "obligatory hella rad section", which includes zine reviews and album reviews. Whoa, this grrrl continues to blow me away with all that is Safety Pin Girl. This is *so* worth two dollars! I always wanted to be able to call my zine a fanzine, but I never felt cool enough. Sure, I talk about bands and movies and zines that I'm a fan of, but I pretty much just write about my life. "So you do a fanzine, huh"? I can imagine someone asking me. "Yeah". "What are you a fan of, then"? "Uhh...myself". |
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| Safety Pin Girl #18, $3.50 w/mini zine that Jessica wrote w/her friend Tya of "Belly up" zine called "Six Shots of whiskey to a Nap" (see below for a description of it) or $3.00 for just SPG #18, 96 pgs, 1/2 sized |
| This zine is what I would call a punk rock fucking work of art. Jessica continues to write about her experiences with her best friend, Ali, as well as trips she's been on recently, show reviews (including pictures!), poetic stream-of-consciousness type writings, and punk rock folk tales/creative fiction which is written in the vein of what I would describe as Francesca Lia Block meets Aaron Cometbus, meets....well, Jessica. The stories seem to be fairytale cum punk rock influenced but Jessica most definitely has a distinctive style of her own. There are also writings on crushes, late night drinking and spontaneous adventures, How to make Cheap Fancy Candleholders, sex, punk rock boys, the moon, fast food coffee, and oh-so-much more. This zine made me drooling and ravenous for *more* Safety Pin Girl!!! If I could recommend one good long read from Basement Freaks distro I would say, GET THIS! In the back you'll also find Jessica's usual "inspiration" list of books, zines, and music she got into whilst composing her zine. This section is particularly thorough in SPG #18. Jessica is the punk rock grrrl fanzine-writing crush of my dreams. A truly adventurous Basement Freak! "If Chicago were a woman, she'd be young, probably in her early twenties, but she would look older than her years. Her skin would be sooty and lined with worry, tattoos would cover her arms. Her hair would look almost gray, dusty, the real color underneath would be hidden. She'd wear combat bookts and her eyes would be a fierce fiery green, wet and sad, with purple circles around them because she smokes too much. She'd be tough and she'd spew abuse at anyone who tried to fuck with her. She'd have lots of scars, from fights and track marks (She's a former junkie, of course) she could chew you up and spit you out, she's really quite a heartbreaker, because despite her ragged appearence there is something about her that is stunningly beautiful. And sometimes, in the summer, when she's had too much wine, she'll get tired of being rouch and want to be tender she'll remove her layers of wintery clothing and laze around near lake Michigan and the Chicago river, feeding birds, washing the dust off her, and wearing fireflies in her hair". |
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| Six Shots of Whiskey to a Nap, $.50 in Canada, $.75 in US or included w/Safety Pin Girl #18 for $3.50 for both US and Canadian zine lovers, 28 pgs, 1/4 sized |
| This was made by Jessica of Safety Pin Girl and Tya of Belly Up zine and this is randomness, moms falsely predicting the future, wanting to be a "new wave" feminist, dreams, punk + emo boys, "journal of a couch-sleeper", the contrast of living in New York Vs. living in the midwest, among a bunch of other cuteness and relating between Jessica and Tya. Hand-written, spur-of-the-moment. Cute cute cute. |
| Stolen Sharpie Revolution, $3.00, 96 pgs, 1/4 sized (Temporarily sold out! This WILL be re-ordered. For sure!) |
| This indespensible resource guide was put together by Alex Wrekk (of "Brainscan" and "I'm a wrekk") and has various contributions from other zinesters and d.i.yers. Whether you are new to the zine scene/d.i.y movement or are an old hat at it you will not regret reading this zine. It is an invaluable D.i.Y Zine Resource and is the only one of its (in depth and reader friendly) variety. SSR includes tips on zine layout, paper-making, book binding, silkscreening, scamming copies, distro ettiquette, starting/running a distro, mail, zine inspiration, and more as well as a small directory of distros, stores and places to send zines for review. The layout is fun and *very* aesthetically pleasing, this is a zine you'll wanna share with your friends! :) |
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| To Be Discreet #2, $.50, 32 pgs, 1/4 sized, comes with various crayon colored covers and "discreet" construction paper pkging (see below for the "discreet pkging" pic) |
| This zine has a very unique, wide-eyed wondersome quality to it. It's a personal-type zine filled with Billy's sincere ponderings on/about corperations and their sneaky litter advertising technique, fossel fuel, his fear of travelling but desire to beat stagnation, and where all the thoughts in his head come from (whether they all in fact originate from his head), as well as An Ode To Science + some science factoids, a piece on lucid dreaming and *more*. There are also cute drawings throughout the zine to illustrate corresponding articles/ponderings. This zine has a very child-like feel of curiosity, optimism, and a desire to communicate ideas within its crammed-full-of-hand-printed pages. Comes in various color schemes, hand-colored covers (colored by Billy himself) and construction paper "discreet" pkging. (See below for "pkged" picture). |
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| (Comes in "discreet pkging" in various colors) |
| Why Do you Hate Us, mini zine, $.50 if you're American, one regular stamp if you're Canadian. |
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| This mini zine is all about a boy and his personal experiences with being gay, the homophobia he experiences, and general ignorance that his high school presents him with because he wants to love and be loved freely. "I love him. You can't stop me. However, you can be a jerk and call me a 'faggot' and make fun of us". |