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Inside: Cultural Sausage. ~ Ludic Lists. ~ Skullbucket. Outside: Also, I will be appearing again tomorrow on Kevin Fullam's fine radio program Under Surveillance on Chicago's independent community radio station, WLUW. Tune in to 88.7 FM tomorrow at 10:00AM CST, or you can tune in live via the internet by going here. "lax lost and found e-mail" "baby bears baseball teams" "support pillar medieval" "red gold and green clothes" "dick moles" "Dr. Pepper stool" "Wonder Woman beaten in catfight" "preparing banana peels for smoking" |
06.21.2004
Each month in this space, Leonard Pierce reviews the latest textual offerings, with a special emphasis on the underworldly, the demimondaine and the justly neglected. A particular interest is paid to local publications both imaginary and half-dreamed. Chicago Through the Ages: A Historical Abstract (Hyphen Cooley-Dee; Paregoric Press). An interesting experiment in the sort of geometrically satisfying historical research pioneered by Grun in The Timetables of History and built upon by Johnshopper in The Big Little Kid’s Genocidal Jenga, this ambitious but flawed exercise presents a jumbo-sized wall chart (a handy pamphlet concealed inside the spine shows how it can be converted into actual wallpaper) of famous historical events ranging back to Egypt’s Old Kingdom, alongside a brief précis of what was going on in the City that Works at that same time. Unfortunately, the content is a bit thin for the first 5,500 years or so, consisting mostly of the comment “no changes” and the occasional gossip about passing bison herds. From around 1779 on, the narrative picks up a bit, but by that time, the reader has lost interest and is most likely watching reruns of Newhart. There is Power in the Union newsletter (various contributors; Blackula K. Thirstwell, ed.). The official bi-weekly newsletter of the Chicago Union Giants, an independent Negro league baseball team, TiPitU is remarkably comprehensive, featuring full accounts and box scores of all games played in the previous weeks, incredibly comprehensive statistical analysis worthy of the most friendless SABRmetrician, and very appealing interviews with and features about the team. Which is very odd, given that the Chicago Union Giants disbanded in 1904 after only three years of existence. Frustratingly, no information about where exactly these games are being played or against whom (the box scores invariably read “OPPONENT”) is given, a notable lapse in an otherwise impeccably researched publication. TiPitU is 300 euros by subscription only, and is hand-delivered when you are not at home. http://www.raphaelsheavenlyhousehold.com (Eliot Vociferous, webmaster; hosted by Z-Brew Super Dry Internet Services). Rogers Park recumbent bicycler and conjuration enthusiast Eliot Vociferous claims to be in near-constant communication with the archangel Raphael, he who is called Azarias, who troubleth the waters of Bethesda, the Shining One Who Heals. Apparently, angels do not sleep, and Raphael thus has plenty of free time to host this site, where readers write in for advice on home repairs, household tips and recipes “from God’s own cookbook”. Raphael’s tone is genial and gregarious throughout, though his household hints suffer somewhat from an unfamiliarity with post-agricultural technology and his recipes are over-reliant on such difficult-to-find ingredients as locust shells and manna. However, there is no denying his enthusiasm for his work, and the nude photo gallery answers many longstanding theological conundrums. Frame-Up on 62nd Street: a Colander Jones Mystery (Arclite Jackson; Tenesmus Books of Chicago). The latest installment of the controversial but popular Colander Jones mystery series starring the titular South Side anti-hero has been a long time coming. Legal difficulties plagued author Arclite Jackson (The Handjob and the Pity) since it was revealed that the bawdy and violent activities of his “pirate detective” were in fact barely fictionalized accounts of actual crimes he had committed himself. After a change of publishers, a widely publicized gun battle with Studs Terkel and the ghost of Cadinal Bernadin, and a hitch in Joliet for human trafficking, Jackson returns with a vengeance as Colander Jones faces his toughest case yet: a villainous crime novelist who concocts a new novel in which the first letter of each page forms a code that gives detailed instructions on how to get to his full-service meth lab on 62nd Street. A must for completists and speed freaks alike. Yourzine (authors unknown; published by the Neato-Anarchists of Oz Park Metatextual Continuum Society). Taking the d.i.y. aesthetic of ‘zine culture to its theoretical maximum, yourzine – debuting this week stuffed behind a homeless guy’s couch under Lower Wacker Drive – consists only of several sheets of orange construction paper and a brief note of encouragement from the unidentified authors. Readers are instructed to create their own interviews, features, reviews, editorials, and artwork, or, failing that, to imagine such things if they were created by someone with the time, talent and energy to do so. Why it took nine people to design this project is a mystery, and even more difficult to understand is the hefty $248.95 price tag, but the commitment to samizdat culture of those responsible is to be admired, if not comprehended. |
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| TODAY'S DRIFTWOOD: "Drawing is the honesty of art. There is no possibility of cheating. It is either good or bad." (Salvador Dali) |