small print

I was in Wellington towards the end of last year, and picked up a few local zines, comics, and small-press things that have since been sitting in a pile on my living room floor waiting for me to write about them. One of those was White Fungus #8. I guess I’d been meaning to say that it’s another worthwhile issue of an always-interesting little magazine, full of smart writing & interesting art. #8 includes a piece by Tim Bollinger about Barry Linton’s comics (featured recently in the NZ Comics documentary The Comics Show), poems, lots of writing about local artists, a historical article about Rua Kenana, an interview with Nicky Hager, and other stuff.

The editor just sent me a press release about issue #9, which is about the be released. Details follow:

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Irreverent Wellington-based arts mag White Fungus is about to celebrate the release of its 9th issue with a party at the capital city’s fabulous bar and night-haven Mighty Mighty on Friday, May 9.Titled The Lost Weekend – in reference to the magazine’s weekly Sunday radio show on the VBC – the night will include performances by local artists Shanghai Sheba and avant-experimental group The Elephant Men. There will also be DJ sets by Eric Ultimate (Coco Solid), Tao Wells (Gambia Castle), Ace Hurt (Cortina) and White Fungus.

The new issue of White Fungus continues in the magazine’s tradition of mixing in local and international interdisciplinary content, putting contemporary art and writing on experimental music alongside local history, political satire and literature.

Issue 9 features work by artists Richard Killeen, Tao Wells, Greg Malcolm and Yao Jui-Chung, music articles on The Dead C, John Wiese, Justice Yeldham, and an interview with New York-based New Zealand sound artist Annea Lockwood.

The issue also includes poetry by Iain Britton (Auckland), Gu Xie (China) and Anne Cammon (New York), and a new colour comic by veteran Wellington comics artist Tim Bollinger titled Noah, commissioned especially for the new issue.

The Lost Week End kicks off at Mighty Mighty next Friday, May 9 at 8pm. Entry is $5 or $10 (including a copy of the mag).

As part of the weekend’s Ladyfest, Cherry Bomb organised a zines & things market day! Saturday’s weather was horrible, but impressive numbers of people turned up to Cross Street Studios to check things out anyway.

I took along a table of Moon Rocket leftovers (shhh, don’t look at that link, it’s broken! A replacement site is coming very soon). Other tables were filled by the Audio Foundation cd shop, Cherry Bomb Comics, Alex (Instant Intensity), Kim & Charlie from Wellington (Pinktricity & a distro table), Mini & 10-22-38 Astoria & friends, Radical Youth & Freedom Fighters, a girl who made jewellery out of buttons, & a music distro. There was also a reading space with some of the Cherry Bomb reading library, a free box & space for workshops.

I took a short workshop about zine structures and bindings, and showed people how to fold bits of paper up and sew them together. Other workshops included a discussion between Cherry Bomb and Wellington’s new Space Thing (joined partway through by The Girly Project) about DIY social spaces; “Worse Than Queer”, about race in alternative scenes, and a guitar workshop by Brenda.

I picked up some new local zines:

• Mini the typewriter special edition. Mini used to be in the Moon Rocket catalogue, but I hadn’t seen this issue. It’s pocket-sized and full of typewriter trivia, cut & paste art and a hot typewriter centrefold. Email hey_tess at hotmail dotcom if you want a copy.
• Two Fifteenths is a thin volume of sweet short fiction subtitled “A pair of stories by Cara Pollock, featuring two boys, some fish, a rather burnt birthday cake, the sky before dawn, and pictures of everything through from arsonists to zebras”. Cara can be contacted through her website, albatroi.net, which doesn’t have details of this zine but does have other stories she’s written.
• Drawn Out Lives: Collections from Suburbia by Shen Kim was made for an AUT 3rd year illustration exhibition, and is a visual exploration of suburbia (Botany Downs!). Email kimm.shen at gmail dotcom.
• Adventures Close To Home: a zine about The Slits was written by Melissa from Cherry Bomb – a little while ago but it’s new to me. The zine is partly about The Slits – their music & reputation & how their music was received when it was new, and partly about how the music of The Slits (& later bands) has had a place in Melissa’s life. Tobi Vail gets some of the fanzine love too. Contact Melissa through the Cherry Bomb website.
• 10-22-38 Astoria was the text copied on the first photocopy, and now it’s the name of a photocopy fanzine. Contents include copy-related YouTube recommendations, research into the question of whether photocopying your face is dangerous, the philanthropist who invented the photocopier, what it means when you dream of copiers, & more! My copy came in a limited edition envelope with a photocopier sticker on the front. Contact 10-22-38 Astoria on MySpace or hey_tess at hotmail dotcom.

Yesterday was Cross Street Carnival! The street was closed off for the day, and there was music, aerial acrobatics, performance art, general carnival mayhem and a Craftwerk market happening in the middle of it all.

This was the first time Cherry Bomb Comics had set up shop since closing their physical space in New North Road. They had a little table crammed with their usual fine selection of comics and zines, and were next to another table advertising Ladyfest Auckland, which is happening next weekend. Check out the websites for more details, but especially check out the Zine Fair happening next Saturday! Cross Street Studios will be full of zine merchants, and there will be workshops and zine-related things happening. I will have a table of Moon Rocket leftovers, and will be taking a workshop on zine structures and binding in the middle of the day. Come along if you’re in the neighbourhood, it will be fun.

I picked up some local publications from the carnival yesterday:

• Are We There Yet?: An overland travel story is by Fran H, who travelled from the UK to New Zealand overland and wrote about it in this comic, which she published in time for last year’s Wellington Zinefest. Fran tells travel stories that think about the politics & environmental impact of travelling, and appreciate the details of new places.
• Your Weight in Gold by Annabel Henderson Morrell is a little zine/chapbook of sexy, smart poems about relationships & the death of a friend.
• It’s A Zine Life is a little story told in photos of a plastic bogan doll and his adventures in Mount Maunganui

The first two I bought from Cherry Bomb (check with them if you want copies). The third was a free zine I picked up from a table selling crafts – I don’t have contact details ubt they might be at the next Auckland Craftwerk.