NEW MUSIC REVIEW

FUSSBUDGETS
Hogwash! (Zenith Beast)
Fussbudgets were a late 80s San Francisco band that released low profile, hard-to-find, yet critically acclaimed cassettes—at least in the underground music scene of the time. Influenced by classic pop bands like Big Star and the Go-Betweens, Fussbudgets wrote songs that were surely right at home left of the dial. Hogwash! was the band’s first full-length and features twelve tracks equally split betwixt Larry O. Dean and Chris Lehmann who trade off singer/songwriter duties every other song. Very democratic. While this re-release (recorded in 1988-89) isn’t all college radio gold, Dean's for "For Crying Out Loud" and "Enjoy Your Attic" matches Lehmann's, "Something That We Heard on the Radio" and the dig on Talking Heads fans "Jacqui Digs the Heads”. Having two solid songwriters go toe-to-toe aided by the driving rhythms of bassist, Ned Doherty, is gonna pay dividends even if you have to wait 25 or so years to hear it—Jayne Wayne [Fussbudgets]

NEW ZINE REVIEWS

ROCTOBER #50
(Roctober)
Twenty years and fifty issues of Roctober. Kinda hard to believe, but you can believe it because it’s true and I tell the truth and I’m telling it to you right now, so there. This anniversary issue revisits some of the artists that have been featured in the past and publisher, Jake Austen, steps out from behind the curtain to weigh in here and there on the content, thereby breaking a rule of his to never insert himself into the story. Roctober always did chuck the rules out the window, however, and this is certainly an occasion to do so. In addition to interviews and updates, there are, of course, several tons of the comics and reviews we’ve all come to expect from this crazy hodgepodge of a magazine. (Full disclosure: there's even a Cassetty Comic or two). Here’s to another 25 years or Roctober!

THE HEAT AND THE HOT EARTH
Adam Gnade (Punch Drunk Press)
Adam Gnade returns with a new novella—a newvella, if you will. The Heat and the Hot Earth continues the story of aimless youth Gnade established with, Hey, Hey Lonesome. If you've read this previous title, you will recognize a few names (Tyler, Ted Boone, Joey Carr) and be introduced to new ones. At least they were new to me, they may have made previous appearances as Gnade often revisits characters in his work. The chapters of The Heat and the Hot Earth are presented in the forms of letters, dreams and blog posts, and from the points of view of the different characters. New or old, it is purported that Gnade will, at some future point in time, unite these characters, situations and locations and tie them all together into one tight knot. Or not.

NEW COMIC REVIEW

THE CALL
Steve Broom (Coal Minds)
The Call is writer/artist Steve Broome’s on-line graphic tale of the lives of three mythical and mystical African tribes who must turn to a new generation to confront an uncertain future. Broom allows us to observe these tribes as they hunt, gather, survive and perform spiritual rituals. While the story may be set in Africa, it is a purely fantastical tale trading in magic, witchcraft, assorted sorcery and strange forest beasts whose screams can be captured and turned into spells. Broome creates such a visually sweeping setting for his characters to inhabit (pun intended), that would only be better served in full color. The black, white and grey tones don’t make for the most visually appealing panels, but the action scenes are well done and create nice tension in the story. Speaking of the story, I was a bit lost in places as the storyline jumped from character to character and tribe to tribe in the space of a few pages but this may not be the last we've scene of The Call which could easily develop and fit into a larger, more comprehensive, narrative.

NEW MUSIC REVIEWS

LARRY O. DEAN
Throw the Lions to the Christians (Zenith Beast)
Chicago via San Francisco via Michigan poet/writer/musician Larry O’Dean has many accomplishments under his belt. He’s an award-winning poet, he’s a Poet-in-Residence for Chicago Public Schools, he’s worked with fellow Flintian, filmmaker Michael Moore, he’s had his work translated into bunches of different languages and such—but enough of that press release stuff. Throw the Lions to the Christians is a re-release of Dean's 1997 album. Dean writes straight-forward pop tunes that rock in the right places. His songs hearken back to the great singer-songwriter days of the 70s, and I'm not talking about your Fogelbergs and your Chapins or even your Lightfoots, but rather I refer to your Lowes and your Costellos. A little less angry than those fellows perhaps, but just as earnest. In fact, Larry sounds at times like Daniel Johnson in his more excitable moments. And there's always something to be happy about. Dean pens paeans to good days (“Well-Ordered Day”), humorous jibes at plastic surgery (“Nose Job”) and everyday topics that need a new look and a light-hearted spin without being too saccharine—Jayne O. Wayne [Larry O. Dean]

SECOND H. SAM
4-song EP (Shit Music for Shit People)
Samuele Gottardello is Second H. Sam. Does the H stand for Hand as in Second-Hand Sam? I have no first-hand knowledge one way or another. I do know that Gottardello is from Italy. I know that he is also the singer of the Hormonas from Venezia and Buzz Aldrin from Bologna. I know that he sings in a swarthy baritone voice akin to halo-bending, beat happener, Calvin Johnson. I know his music is stripped down to the bare essentials in instrumentation and recording techniques and that it was possibly performed entirely by himself. I know that this vinyl EP showcases four of his three minute plus songs of love, loss and springtime and that the cover for this seven inch was created by Turin-based artist Mattia Lullini. I just don't know what the H stand for—Jesus H. Christ [Second H. Sam]

HARVEY PEKAR'S
CLEVELAND
Harvey Pekar & Joseph Rembrandt (Top Shelf/Zip)
Harvey Pekar was as much a part of the city of Cleveland as the city of Cleveland was a part of Harvey. Hardworking, loveable, irritable, almost at peace with failure, the man and the town seem interchangeable. Don’t take my word for it, I’ve never been to Cleveland. Not once. Take Harvey’s words. Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland is a posthumously published work of Pekar's writing, illustrated by Joseph Rembrandt. In the first part of his last graphic novel, Harvey tells the history of his city from its humble beginnings as a part of the Western Reserve up through its rise and fall as an important industrial and economic player. Cleveland’s is a history not dissimilar to many American urban centers: industrialization, segregation, immigration and white flight all leading to loss of industry, population, tax revenue and resulting in decay and decline—it’s all there in Cleveland, "the mistake by the lake".

The second part of the book is Harvey’s own history with Cleveland. From his childhood through his divorces, American Splendor readers will be familiar with many of the characters and situations. It is good to catch up with Harvey at the end of his life. He's still the same loveable curmudgeon—maybe a little less bitter, although he was always the first one to remind himself of how things weren’t all that bad after all. He was still sharp and full of observational humor and wit even at 70 which, let’s face it, isn’t that old these days. Harvey Pekar's Cleveland is a fitting recap of his American story. The story of Cleveland continues—Chris Auman

ZINE REVIEW

ZINESTER'S GUIDE TO
PORTLAND
(Microcosm)
Never been to Portland—not Portland, Oregon, not Portland, Maine. I have watched five episodes of Portlandia, however. Does that count? Didn’t think so. If I ever do make it to the City of Roses (Portland, OR), I will surely be taking this guide with me. The Zinester’s Guide to Portland was put together by zinesters, but you certainly don’t need to be a zinester to use it. It’s written for the “low/no budget” type of traveler, which is a category I fall into. Museums, thrift stores, record and book shops, restaurants, bakeries, video stores, pizza joints, watering holes, coffee and tea shops, parks and bridges are all listed, laid out by geographic location and neighborhood and explained. It’s a Portlandicopia of useful information complete with maps and illustrations. It really makes me want to jump on the next Empire Builder out of Chicago for a slice of Portland's Sizzle Pie pizza.

COMIC REVIEW

KING-CAT #72
John Porcellino (Spit & a Half)
Number 72 of King-Cat Comics and Stories finds John recovering from the end of his second marriage. There's a a move to Florida and a new relationship. There's the end of the new relationship which results in an eventual move to South Beloit, Illinois (population 8,401). This is where John currently resides in between his jaunts across the U.S. selling his wares at various small press and comics fests. As in past issues of KC, we get snapshots of John’s life in the form of comic strips and sketches taken from ideas and notes he jots down in his notebooks. There are some “South Beloit Journal” strips depicting life in a small town (doing laundry and watching basketball at his mom's, checking his e-mail at the library, etc.). There's the “King-Cat Top Forty” with recommendations on books, music, movies, towns and sports teams that give John a boost, and there are various and sundry anecdotes, stories and observations on life's seemingly mundane moments that one can only hope will serve a purpose in retrospect.

ZINE REVIEW
SIMPLE HISTORY SERIES

HAWAI'I
Simple History #5
J. Gerlach (Microcosm)
Number five in Microcosm's Simple History Series chronicles the history of the Hawaiian Islands from their "discovery" by Caption Cook in 1778 to the eventual statehood granted by the United States in 1959. Hawaii's story is a tale of colonization, exploitation, imposed capitalism and governments and corporations slicing themselves up the biggest piece of the poi. It's a story of Kings, Queens, Politicians, Missionaries and, as always, ordinary People caught in the middle. And that, folks, is pretty much the history of everything everywhere. Unfortunately.

Hawai'i's history post 1959 would continue to have highs (the alleged birth of the 44th President of the United States) and lows (Honolulu's perpetual hosting of the National Football League's incredibly pointless Pro Bowl) and then of course there was Bobby Brady's "discovery" of an ancient tiki on September 22, 1972.

THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR
Simple History #4
J. Gerlach (Microcosm)
Microcosm’s Simple History Series is a collection of small zines on big historical events. They're sort of like the notes that a really good student would take in a history class while the rest of us doodled and decorated the covers of our notebooks with our favorite bands' names (Me: Hüsker Dü, You: Mötely Crüe, probably). The subject of issue number four is the Spanish Civil War—another major turning point in the war between left and right-wing ideologies that would preoccupy world powers for the next few wars (hot and cold) for the bulk of the 20th Century. This edition is interesting, easy to digest and kind of a cool thing to have on the bookshelf next to your Johnny Ryan comics—kinda classes things up a bit (no offense, Johnny).

THE CONGO
Simple History #9
J. Gerlach (Microcosm)
To quote the Daily Show’s Earth, The Book: “...no other continent could more truly say, I was raped.’” Talking of course about the continent of Africa. Pretty blunt, but there you have it. The area in central Africa known as the Congo is just one region, albeit a very large one, that was ripe for exploitation by European powers in the mad rush to secure the world's land and resources that started in the 16th Century. In the Congo's case, it was Belgium that took the lead, but they seemed to hardly have the heart for it. Control of the Congo was ceded and regained countless times as slave trading, foreign meddling and the indigenous peoples' inability to work out their own tribal differences and prejudices would plague them for decades to come. Congo's recent history is no less blood-free and has been mired in civil war and struggles with power-hungry dictators and staggering poverty. And that's a summation of J. Gerlach's simple history of a very complicated region of a very complicated continent. If I may again quote from Earth, "our species arose from Africa and we punished it for our failures ever since." Up next: Extreme climate change. Sorry again, Africa.

AN INTERVEW WITH COMICS ARTIST
JOHN PORCELLINO

Indy comics maven and distro champion, John Porcellino has been publishing comics for, oh I'd say about thirty years or so. With his long-running, autobiographical King-Cat Comics currently on its seventy-second issue, Porcellino shows no sign of slowing down any time soon. The Reglar Wiglar caught up with Spit & a Half proprietor between zine & comics fest jaunts and asked him a few questions.

COMICS ARTIST
JEFFREY BROWN

Jeffrey Brown is a very busy man. Not only is a film that he co-wrote currently in production, he's also held the titles of music video director, NPR contributor, children's book author, comics creator, diarist, husband, father and probably a cousin to someone as well. Mr. Brown is living proof that you can make a career out of drawing pictures of robots shooting lasers. Ok, maybe he doesn't draw pictures of robots shooting lasers exclusively, but still, that's pretty cool. So, if you are someone who draws pictures of robots shooting lasers, DON'T STOP NOW!

ROCTOBER MAGAZINE'S
JAKE AUSTEN

The conga line of Stormtroopers pictured above was not chosen arbitrarily, although there's never a bad reason to show Star Wars characters dancing. Even no reason at all is reason enough. In this case, however, those Imperial dancers are boogying down on Chic-a-go-go, the cable access show that Jake Austen has been involved in running for years. As a dance show host, freelance writer, puppeteer, rocker and publisher of the zine Roctober, Jake has been an important and busy part of Chicago's musical culture. So we figured we'd ask him a few questions about 20 Years of Roctober and other things. Read the Interview! 

MORE REVIEWS
music, comics, zines, books, cassettes

HANS RICKHEIT's
ECTOPIARY

REVIEWS

WHITE HILLS
Frying on This Rock (Thrill Jockey)
Don’t know where the White Hills are (the moon?) but apparently they’re on a planet or satellite rock where dudes like to zone out on gnarly jams (Earth?)—a planet where it's customary to grow some hair, keep your head down and riff. White Hills like to lay into it and stay there for extended periods of time. From the opening of “Pads of Light” (an epic space rock jam) they just roll it on out into a “Robot Stomp" in which robots dish out a repetitive mechanical beat-down for nearly twelve minutes (that’s three days in robot time). “I Write a Thousand Letters (Pulp on the Bone)" one-ups that in reaching for the 14 minute mark and making it. If you're prospecting in the White Hills, you're likely to hit a heavy lode, so grab a pick ax and a bucket, Klondike, and start diggin'—Sam Clemens [White Hills]

RHYTON
Self-titled (Thrill Jockey)
Rhyton is an improvisational musical outfit—a jam band of sorts—a Brooklyn trio of like minds who lay out songs, riffs and free-form progressions with little or no pre-planned structural consideration. Organic and experimental yet never quite aimless and not like listening to your stoner next-door-neighbors wank ‘til dawn, although the five tracks on their self-titled debut certainly owe a debt to late-night bull sessions where this or that might be passed around to facilitate some sort of process. One would think anyway. “Stone Colored” meanders to the twelve minute “Pontian Grave” which may or may not be about a genocide. "Teké" abandons even the minimal outline of a plan, going in for effects over notes. "Dale Odalíski" further devolves into the primordial murk which allows "Shank Raids" to march into the fray with a purpose that might otherwise not seem so valiant—Jubson Jones [Rhyton]

WOODEN SHJIPS
Remixes 12" (Thrill Jockey)
Fans of the San Fran band, Wooden Shjips, as well as fans of vinyl and 12” remixes, will be happy with this new Thrill Jockey release—as will fans of stuff that's limited edition, as well as fans of droning, spacey stoner music. The Remixes EP features three songs utilitzing the mixing and production talents of Andrew Weatherall, Sonic Boom (Pete Kember of Spacemen 3) and Kandodo (aka Simon Price of The Heads). In Weatherall’s hands, the first track “Crossing” (from last year's West LP) slows down the pace of the origninal, strips out the guitar, ups the bass and adds some synth to the mix, thus creating a more electronic edge than previously present. Pete Kember, who helped master the West album, took it upon his ownself to cook up "Wiking Stew (aka Red Krayola-ing)" as a mashup of tunes from that record. For "Ursus Maritimus (Last Bear’s Lament)" The Shjip’s Ripley Johnson laid down the main structure for Kandodo, who added various instrumentation to create a droning, twelve minute collage that is haunting in its stark chain-gang clang—like breaking rocks, not in the hot sun, but under a black moon. You feel me?—Jubson Jones [Wooden Shjips]

PROJECT 0
Phase 1, Part 2
John & Charles Agbaje (Central City Tower)
The Central City saga continues in Part 2 of John & Charles Agbaje’s graphic novel, Project 0. Although the story is only just beginning, from the action so far, it appears that the Outsiders are dead set on sabotaging the military equipment of what one can only presume to be an intrusive, authoritarian government—isn't that just like intrusive, authoritarian governments though? It looks like our young protagonists (Aatu, Bea and Owen, introduced in Part 1) are going to get caught in the middle of the struggle where they'll likely play a pivotal role as they try to find the last piece of their rocket puzzle. New installments of the comic are already available on the Central City website if you can't wait for the next issue.

VERMILLION SANDS
"Summer Mellody" b/w "A Sweet Bitter Winter" 7" (Shit Music for Shit People)
The Italian band Vermillion Sands give us the two seasons on this 7" record. Vivaldi would certainly roll over in his grave and laugh (possibly outloud) at the thought of excluding fall and winter from any musical work concerning the seasons. But then maybe Vivaldi would've had the bread to kick in for a double seven inch. Yeah, that's true, he did die poor, but I was thinking more like when he was at the height of his popularity—like when Charles VI was all up on his jock. Well, that's ridiculous and a completely unnecesary digression at any rate. "Summer Mellody" is provided for the A side and it is bouncy and infectious and has a carnival-like vibe that would make it hard for Vivaldi not to smile and tap a toe along too. "A Sweet Bitter Winter" on the other hand, is also an upbeat number but in a garage/blues kinda way. I must confess, I have not a clue how Antonio V. would feel about it, but I like it—J.S. Bach [Vermillion Sands]

READ THE REGLAR WIGLAR BLOG OR DIE!