The task du jour - of the last several jours, actually - has been typing up my remaining Maximum Rocknroll columns. Lo and behold, it's finally done, and not a moment too soon, either. I'm not sure I could have faced another page of naive, ill-informed opinions sententiously expounded by the late-80s/early 90s Larry Livermore. Fortunately, I won't have to, as all my remaining copies of the mag have now been boxed up - thanks to Erika over at Little Type - and will soon be winging there way to JoeIII in New Jersey, who was the first to lay claim to them. At one point I thought about trying to sell them on eBay, but it seemed more important to get them to a good home, ideally one where I'll never have to look at them again. Though seeing pictures of Aaron Cometbus and Lenny Filth as callow teenagers did bring back some happy Gilman Street memories.
Speaking of which, Gilman's 20th anniversary is coming up soon, on Dec. 31 to be specific, and I just realized that I won't be here for it. I'm slightly annoyed by that, and will be more annoyed if they repeat the offer made during the 10th anniversary (which I also missed): show up with your original Gilman membership card from 1986 and get in free! Frankly, since the original membership card states very clearly that it was a LIFETIME membership, a provision not honored by the new collective that took over Gilman in 1988, and since as a result I've probably had to buy at least 15 annual memberships at $2 a pop since then, I figure they owe me two or three shows at least.
But never mind; in honor of Gilman's multifarious contributions to the community and what it has meant to a couple generations of young people, I guess I can let it slide. And for the same reason, I don't need to be here for the New Year's Eve celebration. To me the real celebration is the simple ongoing miracle of what was from the start and has continued to be ever since the most amazing punk rock club in the world.
More news about ratty old magazines: I also uncovered a box of Lookout zines, dating all the way back to the very first four-page xeroxed issue from 1984, and have consigned them to the fine folks at - where else? - Little Type, who I believe have already put them up for sale. You can look here if for some reason you feel compelled to own a complete set of all 40.5 issue, the .5 being a digest-sized issue that I did around 1998 and never got circulated much beyond immediate family and friends. The writing is nothing spectacular; its main collector value now might stem from its cover, which features an original drawing by fast-rising comics star Gabrielle Bell. And if you're a fan of Ms. Bell's work, you might like to know that Lucky, her newest book, is out this month on Drawn And Quarterly, and is already available for pre-orders at Amazon. Yes, she's my niece, but don't hold that against her. She didn't ask to be related to me, and so far it doesn't seem to have stopped her being a genius.
Speaking of which, Gilman's 20th anniversary is coming up soon, on Dec. 31 to be specific, and I just realized that I won't be here for it. I'm slightly annoyed by that, and will be more annoyed if they repeat the offer made during the 10th anniversary (which I also missed): show up with your original Gilman membership card from 1986 and get in free! Frankly, since the original membership card states very clearly that it was a LIFETIME membership, a provision not honored by the new collective that took over Gilman in 1988, and since as a result I've probably had to buy at least 15 annual memberships at $2 a pop since then, I figure they owe me two or three shows at least.
But never mind; in honor of Gilman's multifarious contributions to the community and what it has meant to a couple generations of young people, I guess I can let it slide. And for the same reason, I don't need to be here for the New Year's Eve celebration. To me the real celebration is the simple ongoing miracle of what was from the start and has continued to be ever since the most amazing punk rock club in the world.
More news about ratty old magazines: I also uncovered a box of Lookout zines, dating all the way back to the very first four-page xeroxed issue from 1984, and have consigned them to the fine folks at - where else? - Little Type, who I believe have already put them up for sale. You can look here if for some reason you feel compelled to own a complete set of all 40.5 issue, the .5 being a digest-sized issue that I did around 1998 and never got circulated much beyond immediate family and friends. The writing is nothing spectacular; its main collector value now might stem from its cover, which features an original drawing by fast-rising comics star Gabrielle Bell. And if you're a fan of Ms. Bell's work, you might like to know that Lucky, her newest book, is out this month on Drawn And Quarterly, and is already available for pre-orders at Amazon. Yes, she's my niece, but don't hold that against her. She didn't ask to be related to me, and so far it doesn't seem to have stopped her being a genius.
5 comments:
Uhhh I feel compelled to own all of the Lookot Mags but for now I think I'll buy a few.
Oops. The only Lookout magazine that I haven't added to the store yet is the 40.5 issue that you wrote about. We'll get that up ASAP. Some of the rarest and earliest issues have already sold out.
wow... i think i'll have to buy that. thanks for putting them up for sale larry.
Oddly enough, I actually am going to be in Berkeley for the Gilman 20th Anniversary show. What will be, I assume, my first time being there too.
as had to be explained over and over...it was lifetime membership of the CLUB, not yer lifetime.
hey, not my idea!!!
hmm..i must have a few of them lying around somewhere....
cheers
fraggle
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