PUBLIC ENEMY Fear Of A Black Planet (CBS Records -- P.E.¨ Merchandise, Asiatic Dept A-1,, 510 S. Franklin St, Hempstead NY¨ 11550; see text) Yeah, no shit. Why did it take me so long to¨ hear this record? This is one of the best fucking records I've¨ heard almost ever. This record is ``radical'' in a way that makes most ``punk''¨ peace-punk stuff seem as boring and insipid as it really is. ¨ Most of the criticism of PE and this record in particular I've¨ seen in white-culture -- Anarcho/Liberal/Leftist; let's call it¨ ``{\it ALL}'' for short -- has been basically low-level racism --¨ the style, content and delivery is very different, and there's¨ this assumption that unless someone embraces ``{\it ALL}'' (sic)¨ people's \ae sthetic style) it must be suspect. This is supposed to be an abstract of a fucken record, not¨ criticism of leftist/liberal politics -- but what the fuck. Basically there's two main criticisms -- one of anti-semitism and¨ the dual-edged sexism/homophobia. I wish I could recall or find¨ in print the quote that someone claimed was anti-semitic, but I¨ do remember it was quite a goddamn stretch, and to me, sounded¨ just like the X-tians claiming metal lyrics being ``satanist''¨ and all that. In any case, if it's ``in there'' it's pretty¨ fucken hidden -- hey, maybe it's back-masked or something. I¨ dunno, ask the PMRC. OK so I'm a fag so sexism/fagbashing is easier for me to work¨ <<<< expound upon SEXIST SHIT here >>>> Though in ``Meet the G{\ninepointsanserif (erm)} That Killed Me''¨ -- {\10pointsanserif\obeylines\indent Man to man, I don't know if they can From what I know The parts don't fit (Ahh shit) \dots } I think in this particular department they got a severe lack¨ of imagination. I don't know about you, but this is the age of¨ interchangeable parts. Whatever. Get a clue guys. There's nothing¨ unusual here -- just the usual ignorance about sex. What else is¨ new? Mainly though, I think a lot of people don't like it cuz the¨ energy is very, very male -- something out of fashion amongst¨ ``{\it ALL}'' people. There's the unavoidable fact that there¨ really {\it is} blatant genocide against young black males going¨ on. The issues are a little more raw. I think {\it ALL} people¨ (sic) are jealous that they aren't so oppressed. OK, enough of that shit. The music is really tight and fast. It's¨ mostly original music, not scratching and stuff. (Definitely¨ studio music -- I wonder what they do live.) Lots of great audio-collage, lots of racist crap from radio talk shows, etc¨ that fit. An audio version of good punkzine collages. The¨ cassette I bought came with a large fold-out lyric sheet, but¨ unlike most stuff I listen to I can make out the words without¨ it. BROTHERS GONNA WORK IT OUT, 911 IS A JOKE, WELCOME TO THE¨ TERRORDOME, FEAR OF A BLACK PLANET, and FIGHT THE POWER; these¨ songs alone make it worth the price. And shit was it expensive --¨ \$10! For a tape!! At least it was a looong tape. And you might¨ have trouble finding it if you're not in a big city. It's labeled¨ ``EXPLICIT LYRICS'' which means that most chicken-shit record¨ stores are scared shitless of getting busted by the feds. Oh¨ well. I included the P.E. address above; write 'em if you can't¨ find it. Puddle #3 (Chris Applecore/PO Box 381/Miranda, CA, 95553) $1.00¨ Made by ANGRY KIDS/CABAL Split LP, INNOCENCE IS BLISS Comp. tape (Wasted¨ Effort Productions, Box 2095, Quincy MA 02269) LP:$4.50,¨ Tape:$3.25. There's no address on the record, sleeve, tape, or¨ insert! OOPS!! ANGRY KIDS is a fag-punk band -- or at least an¨ honorary one. Their side of the record is black with a red (?)¨ triangle and SILENCE=DEATH and ACTION=LIFE on it. Caught my eye,¨ kinda. They don't write "WE'RE GAY" on it, but... songs are A¨ LIE, reminds me of a punk equivelant of THE SMITHS "What¨ Difference Does it Make"; HATE IN NUMBERS, just what it sounds¨ like, about getting shit from gangs of idiots; LAST DANCE and LET¨ ME KNOW are more personal, why-won't-you-be-honest-with-me stuff.¨ Good punk music, a metal-sounding guitar but DEFINITELY NOT¨ metal-like music. Songs are all copyright \copyright\ 1987. Why¨ haven't we heard of these guys?! Absolutely write these guys c/o¨ above, get this record, support bands like this!!! They're all¨ hot boys too! CABAL is more one/two thrash sounding, with eight songs on their¨ side. Are they gay? Does it matter? (Yes goddamn it it does --¨ its GOOD that there might be queer people in bands. There¨ frequently are -- it's usually a secret though.) Definitely more¨ sohisticated than the usual peace-punk nonsense. OPEN THE DOOR¨ "You'll never know how it feels/ not to be able to kiss your¨ lover in a public place/ You'll never fear getting beaten up/¨ because your sexuality's not in place/" These bands are totally¨ new to me -- am I just in the dark or something? INNOCENCE IS BLISS 16 songs/16 bands. Proceeds go to¨ International Society for Animal Rights. BORSCHT, ANGRY KIDS,¨ VONNY BRATCHNIES, CHRONIC DISORDER, STINKING BADGES, NUCLEAR¨ ANTS, CRASH COURSE, TOXIC SHOCK, COFFIN CASE, THE BLACK PROBLEM,¨ THE CREEPS, RISE, MOUTH, SCREECHING WEASEL, MIMI & THE SCREACHIN'¨ CHINCHILLAS, and EGG. I love punk compilations! I got a booklet¨ that contained band contact info, lyrics, a sensible page on¨ AIDS, and some animal rights info. Printed on recycled paper -- I¨ mean they xeroxed onto the back of used paper, and stapled the¨ sheets together! Works just fine... Rusty N. at Wasted Effort sez they really need distributors. If¨ you wanna sell their stuff contact him. -- tj ASHTRAY (aka JDs #7) New Lavender Panthers, Box 1110, Adelaide¨ St. Station, Toronto Ontario M5C 2K5, CANADA) $4US. Another issue¨ of that infamous fag street trash sex rag by G.B. Jones and BLaB.¨ "Softcore zine for hardcore kids". Almost 60 pages this time,¨ even has a table of contents! Oh no! Not to worry -- there's no¨ page numbers. More of the same good stuff -- Top 20 Hit Parade¨ (#1 is Nikki Parasite's MALE CALL), JDs IS/IS NOT list. The¨ official TOP TEN HITS TAPE song lyric sheet. Story about cruising¨ the pit. (Pits are for groping.) Great story about picking¨ someone up at his boyfriends funeral. (Hot story!) More drawings¨ by G.B. Jones. Confessions of a gay skinhead. An interview with¨ Peter Berlin, world famous Professional HOmosexual. A family¨ tree of First Punk bands. Letters, including one from Vaginal¨ Davis of FERTILE LATOYAH JACKSON zine fame, that tells a lot¨ about that zine, indirectly. (And now I like F.L.J. even more!)¨ Far more actual girl content than the last issue. (So there.)¨ Maybe the best issue ever. FERTILE LATOYAH JACKSON magazine (7850 Sunset Blvd Penthouse¨ Suite 110, Los Angeles CA 90046) $4 CASH ONLY. At first a totally¨ puzzling and bizarre defeinitely FAG, QUEER not oh so gay zine.¨ From a punk grunge anti-fashion point of view, it's at first¨ kinda bothersome... until you sorta work out where they are¨ coming from. As she puts it -- "Fertile La Toyah and the Afro¨ Sisters are black teen drag queens, who are the taboo love dream¨ of every lily white punque rock boy in America." Fertile is a sensible girl. I liked her immediately upon reading¨ WHAT MAKES FERTILE MAD. She also has a dirty mouth, and is not¨ afraid to use it. Lucky for me, there's WHAT FERTILE SEZ PEOPLE¨ COPY -- a Fertile glossary: MOTO-BUTT: Ugly suburban trash that¨ come into town riding their stupid Ninja motorcycles and who wear¨ pleated pants (you have them too?). FAYE BOY: Very young, usually¨ wealthy boy whose mannerisms are extremely irritating. Fertile¨ trashes what needs to be trashed (dumfuck famous people) and¨ praises what needs it (phranc, F.Y.C, etc). There's lots of dirt¨ on nearly everybody -- revealing photos included. Thank god she¨ doesn't have mine. There's also ads for lots of local stores and¨ such that look worth checking out. This is unapologetically from Los Angeles so it ain't¨ MAXIMUMROCKNROLL. Peace punks might wither and die in here.¨ There's lots of hot photos, and also more funny stuff than in any¨ zine I can remember. -- tj Puddle #3 (Chris Applecore/PO Box 381/Miranda, CA, 95553) $1.00¨ Made by Lawrence Livermore's coworker at Lookout! records and¨ their radio show-the infamous Chrisser. This is a pretty good¨ example of the kind of zine Gilman St. has spawned-a couple of¨ laid-back interviews (Thang!, Cringer) a few handwritten rants,¨ and some weirdly drawn/concieved comix ("Phobia!" and¨ "Larry"-which pokes fun at Lawrence himself). Cool and relaxed-no¨ boring peace-punk self-righteousness. Bob Z "Jesus Is Coming Soon" tape () $4.00 My one complaint about¨ this is that its nearly identical to "Endless Sluts", his last¨ tape. But that was good so I'll just repeat the review I did for¨ it. Basically this is Bob and his guitar, but its not the same-old boring acoustic Dylan rip-off stuff (Well, OK, there's one¨ Dylan cover). Bob's pissed and weird and it comes thru on the¨ tape. "Flaming Underpants" and "Endless Streets" are adaptations¨ of Bob's punkture-style poetry, the rest is political-against¨ gentrification, the poster police (of course), bureaucrats and¨ the normals. Cool, lots of psych-stuff. Acid Zombies "Antichrist Picnic" tape (Dan Snuffin/8817 Franklin¨ Ave/Gig Harbor, WA, 98335) $4.00 Metallish punk with a sense of¨ humor and a political conscience! Songs about the Religious¨ Right, The Evils of Capitalism and Furry Animals (the vorpal¨ rabbit from Monty Python's "Holy Grail" makes an appearance in¨ "Psycho Bunny"). Also with a new version of "Nothing To Burn"-the¨ Zombies' old anthem to frustration & alienation. Funny, loud and¨ intelligent stuff. Jersey Beat #39 (418 Gregory Avenue #2/Weehawken, NJ, 07087)¨ $2.00 Maximumrocknroll with an East Coast focus and attitude.¨ This is the hello-to-the-nineties issue (bleah, when're we gonna¨ get to the onlt decade that really counts-the ZEROS?). Has lots¨ of self-indulgent "Best of..." lists from the 80's, the only¨ interesting ones being "the top 10 worst parts of doing a zine"¨ and "the top 10 warning signs of bad bands". Also plenty of¨ interviews-GO!, Das Damen, Supertouch, Big Wheel-and reviews¨ (Best review I've EVER seen of Soundgarden). The part I found¨ especially interesting, as a fledgling bassist, was "Things That¨ Go Bump In The Night", a series of interviews with East-Coast¨ bassists. Surprisingly they were all boys though, come on 1 out¨ of every 3 bassists is female, there's no excuse for¨ underrepresenting them. -- mike Chainsaw #2 (Donna Dresch/666 Illinois/San Francisco, CA, 94107)¨ $1.00 or interesting correspondance. A homo-girl-geek-core type¨ thing. Done by Donna Dresch of Dangermouse & Dinosaur Jr. fame.¨ Has articles on Fifth Column (Dyke band from Toronto), K records¨ in Olympia, girl bassists (I TOLD you there were a lot), touring¨ in New Zealand/Australia and Bruce-La-Bruce talking about his¨ trip to SF (that many interesting things don't happen to me in a¨ YEAR, never mind a month). Personal, goofy, witty, what are you¨ waiting for? Comrades In Arms "Early Warning" tape (2261 Market, Suite 139/San¨ Francisco, CA, 94114) $???? Six songs by SF's own fag-boy punk¨ band, CIA. Mostly pretty rockin political-type tunes, reminiscent¨ of the Germs ("Darby Crash was a fag!"), major exception being¨ "Discordia", a melodic tribute to Eris, The One True God/dess Of¨ This World. Not the best sound quality, though, I had to keep¨ adjusting the volume. Frighten The Horses: Summer 1990 (Heat Seeking Publishing/41¨ Sutter St. #1108/San Francisco, Ca, 94104) $4.00 or 14.00 for 4¨ issues. "a document of the sexual revolution." This issue is¨ largely concerned with dispelling popular fears/myths about S+M¨ and other renegade (non mainstream) sexual practices. Many¨ political issues are covered (abortion, gay rights, censorship,¨ concensual sex, phone sex) by news articles and essays, and¨ sex/sexuality is explored through fiction, poetry, and¨ introspective essays concerning the doubts we all have about¨ sexuality. Not strictly gay, but not straight-dominated either,¨ this zine gets a definite thumbs-up from me. My only complaint is¨ that the editor felt the need to excuse the best story, "The Urge¨ Toward Jo". I found Kim Addonizio's "Thrills" to be far more¨ offensive and poorly written, but there's no accounting for taste¨ (besides, I rather LIKE to be offended.) -- mike SAINT PAUL'S GAY HERITAGE? (Reed N. Tell, Box 1821, La Porte IN¨ 46350. 25\cent\ stamp) Yup just what you think it is -- insane¨ fanatical jeezuz "bible research". Usually I just throw this crap¨ away, but this one's fun. Kinda like a punkzine style Chick pub¨ -- page after page of cramped miniscule text from a typewriter¨ with a clogged ribbon. Here's the story -- A holey man traveling with his concubine¨ found himself in a small town after dark. A stranger took him¨ into his private home for the night. Then, a street gang of gays¨ beat upon the door, demanding that the stranger turn over the¨ traveler to them for fun and frolic (authors words). Instead,¨ they gave them his concubine (?). The two men found her body on¨ the doorstep in the morning. The next morning the stranger cut her body up into twelve pieces,¨ and sent each one to each of the twelve tribes of Israel, to show¨ them the terrible things this gay gang did, and to convince them¨ they should destroy this terrible place. Anyways, the rest of the book is basically biblical conspiracy¨ theory, full of proofs that St. Paul was gay and tried to kill¨ christ the vampire. OOPS! Wrong story! "... yes dear readers, St. Paul's ancestor... was a gibionite¨ slave (see appendix) given a deal to father a new tribe of¨ Benjamin... by a jewess!" Great stuff I do say... all this for a¨ stamp! -- tj YOUTH LIB ZINE (Syndicat des El\`eves, 2035 Boul. St-Laurent,¨ Montreal Quebec H2X 2T3 CANADA, $2US) 32 pages of stuff by and¨ for kids and liberation. Articles from all kinds of sources are¨ included, illustrating the various insidious ways kids get¨ ignored, controlled and worse. There's also resources like book¨ lists, contact info on various support groups, etc. Very high¨ gay/lez/bi awareness here, not token niceness. Lots of french-language stuff (no surprise -- look at the address). Some bad¨ poetry (is there any other kind?) (turns out yes there is some¨ pretty good \& in some cases scary shit in here!). Lots of¨ marginal drawings and photos (as in-the-margins-of-the-pages).¨ There's some cool safe-sex stuff that I'm gonna put in HOMOCORE,¨ cuz it's not insulting or idiotic or afraid of sex, written by¨ PROSTITUTES SAFE SEX PROJECT (Toronto -- 416-926-1626). Lots of¨ stuff on public schools. There's articles on kids' political and¨ social actions. Overall it's more how-to street-kid oriented than¨ suburban school kid, very definitely has a practical and cultural¨ aspect that's really the basis of why it's a good zine. -- tj AMOK FOURTH DISPATCH (AMOK, Box 861867, Terminal Annex, Los¨ Angeles CA 90086-1867 ,$8.95 + $1 shipping) Not a zine but a 200¨ page catalog -- "Sourcebook of the extremes of information in¨ print". No way I will attempt to cover it in detail -- thousands¨ of titles, all strange shit you won't find in stores. Selections¨ from the Table of Contents: animal, Noam Chomsky, Malcolm X,¨ male fantasies, situationist, Zion, Ring of Fire, Isabelle¨ Eberhardt, Ted Bundy, Murder Can Be Fun, forensics, turture,¨ Kenneth Anger, A. Crowley, Voodoo, A.E. Waite, Korzybski,¨ Paracelsus, R.A. Wilsom, AIDS, anorexia, death world without men,¨ Straight To Hell, Wilhelm Reich, totalitarianism, JFK, Gnosis,¨ fiction ... Our copy stayed on the kitchen table for over two weeks. -- tj ANGRY KIDS/CABAL Split LP, INNOCENCE IS BLISS Comp. tape (Wasted¨ Effort Productions, Box 2095, Quincy MA 02269) LP:$4.50,¨ Tape:$3.25. There's no address on the record, sleeve, tape, or¨ insert! OOPS!! ANGRY KIDS is a fag-punk band -- or at least an¨ honorary one. Their side of the record is black with a red (?)¨ triangle and SILENCE=DEATH and ACTION=LIFE on it. Caught my eye,¨ kinda. They don't write "WE'RE GAY" on it, but... songs are A¨ LIE, reminds me of a punk equivelant of THE SMITHS "What¨ Difference Does it Make"; HATE IN NUMBERS, just what it sounds¨ like, about getting shit from gangs of idiots; LAST DANCE and LET¨ ME KNOW are more personal, why-won't-you-be-honest-with-me stuff.¨ Good punk music, a metal-sounding guitar but DEFINITELY NOT¨ metal-like music. Songs are all copyright \copyright\ 1987. Why¨ haven't we heard of these guys?! Absolutely write these guys c/o¨ above, get this record, support bands like this!!! They're all¨ hot boys too! CABAL is more one/two thrash sounding, with eight songs on their¨ side. Are they gay? Does it matter? (Yes goddamn it it does --¨ its GOOD that there might be queer people in bands. There¨ frequently are -- it's usually a secret though.) Definitely more¨ sohisticated than the usual peace-punk nonsense. OPEN THE DOOR¨ "You'll never know how it feels/ not to be able to kiss your¨ lover in a public place/ You'll never fear getting beaten up/¨ because your sexuality's not in place/" These bands are totally¨ new to me -- am I just in the dark or something? INNOCENCE IS BLISS 16 songs/16 bands. Proceeds go to¨ International Society for Animal Rights. BORSCHT, ANGRY KIDS,¨ VONNY BRATCHNIES, CHRONIC DISORDER, STINKING BADGES, NUCLEAR¨ ANTS, CRASH COURSE, TOXIC SHOCK, COFFIN CASE, THE BLACK PROBLEM,¨ THE CREEPS, RISE, MOUTH, SCREECHING WEASEL, MIMI & THE SCREACHIN'¨ CHINCHILLAS, and EGG. I love punk compilations! I got a booklet¨ that contained band contact info, lyrics, a sensible page on¨ AIDS, and some animal rights info. Printed on recycled paper -- I¨ mean they xeroxed onto the back of used paper, and stapled the¨ sheets together! Works just fine... Rusty N. at Wasted Effort sez they really need distributors. If¨ you wanna sell their stuff contact him. -- tj