I went to my parent’s house today and they made me clean out the attic – well at least a box worth. I found a stash of old self-published comics and fanzines – a shitload of them. I was inspired to find them after visiting the Boston Zine Fair back in September. It took me a while to find them. 

I’ll probably end up writing something on The Social Consumer shortly on my life as a minicomic and zine publisher back when I was 16, but for now, I wanted to share with you some looks into the weirdo shit I collected over the year. I have to thank FactSheet Five – the original print version – for opening the door to this world for me. I fucking miss that mag.

Above are three examples of some localized comic newspapers from the early 90’s.

1. Manhattan Comic News 2. The Boston Comic News 3. Seattle Star. 

Out of the three, Seattle Star was the banger. It was published during the height of the Seattle rock explosion and includes some of the best alternative comics I’ve seen to date and Sub Pop was a frequent advertiser on the back cover. Dope!

Going farther into fringe was Comic Release, which was also out of Seattle. A much more edgy publication, it was also shot on newsprint for cheap shipping and handling – which was very important back then. Published in 1992.

Here are some examples of half sized mini comics. A true mini-comic was the size of a 8.5×11 sheet of paper folder into fours. These were folded down the center and, of course, printed off of Xerox machines. As much as the artwork in these was very amateurish, there was a certain mentality that came from them. 

I will go back home and grab my box of mini-comics soon enough. Some amazing shit in there. Circa 1988-1991.

A much much better half sized mini-comic was Dead Head Comix from Helsinki, Finland. This was my first dip into the world of European independent, self-published books. This was was printed on very high quality glossy thick stock and had some of the best ink work I had seen at the time. Really dope shit in this issue. If anyone knows where these guys landed, please fill me in. Published in 1990.

One of my favorite full sized, self published books was Wandering Star. Here’s an example of a book that came out of the death of a independent comic publisher. Teri S. Wood had been inking and writing books for Silverwolf Comics, when they quickly went under. Rather than sitting back, Teri started a new book and published it out. I remember dropping about $2.25 per issue via mail and getting these stock with a mailer back cover. The only full sized self published book I bought. Published in 1988-1989.

I have tons more of this shit. I’ll put more up soon.

Lansdowne Street in Boston – tucked away behind Fenway Park’s “Green Monster” – is a place of legend in Boston’s music scene. Where the Paradise (now known as the Paradise Rock Club) was the entry way for many music acts into not only Boston but the United States market, playing a room on Lansdowne was the next logical step up the venue ladder. For many bands, this is where they remained while monsters like U2, and Radiohead simply moved into the arena and stadium realm.

I went through my ticket stub stash (I love keeping ticket stubs – they are very much a reminder of a moment for me) and found the stub for the first show I ever saw on Lansdowne back in 1994 when I moved up here from Connecticut. The band was Quicksand.

A few years ago, when I re-located into the Fenway, I moved into a loft at the top of Lansdowne. Being able to walk to the Avalon or Axis was a convenience in its own right, but unfortunately, Lansdowne shut down for renovations as quickly as I moved in. The renovation was not simply a rehab, but a full tear down gut job of the old Avalon and Axis rooms to build one unified, 3000 capacity venue, which included seating on the third tier.

The venue, now known as the House of Blues, has just re-opened. I was lucky enough to see Thievery Corporation with my good friend Seth, last Tuesday. The new venue was worth the wait. The sound, size, art, and the spacious nature of the venue make it a very pleasant place to view a show. It reminds me much of the Paradiso in Amsterdam with a main floor and two mezzanine teirs of standing room and seating.

But like all new affairs, HOB needs to work on handling the door entry better, and should consider removing the second check with their metal detector wands. How many hippies go to a Thievery Show strapped? And what happened to the draft beers? Bring them back, please.

Boston needed Lansdowne to open again, and with more than 300 shows a year scheduled for the House of Blues, business is back. Welcome.

The 30lbs. gorilla of fashion has arrived…

Le Book 2009.

Still my choice for electronic music.

The new standard.

“Used to be arlight. What happened? Etc. Etc…”

This is what I call service. During our Bread & Butter retreat last week in Barcelona, Spain, we ran into some difficulty with the Wifi connection that feeds the Sport and Street Hall that we were calling homebase. Not having Wifi or any internet connection really makes our lives difficult, and in regards, brings our work to a halt.

So we called our Bread & Butter host Philip over to see if he could help the HighSnobiety/Selectism bloggers with this dilemma. Phillipe was unsure but promised he would look into it.

About fifteen minutes later, this three man crew arrived from the facilities team and began to quickly make phone calls. Who they were calling was unclear but within moments, the gentleman on the left, Thomas (a German with an honest to god Texan accent), asked me the most magical question I have ever been asked by a tradeshow handyman.

“How much bandwidth do you need.”

How much bandwidth do I need? That question is equivalent to a police force asking if they can clear a highway so that my team and I could race it rally style. Unbelievable.

So I asked for a meager half meg – enough to upload some photos and video. In moments, these three guys had a hardline and 5 port switch in place, dedicated to HighSnobiety bloggers.

Now that’s what I call fucking service. Bread & Butter and their massive support team (including Philip)  kept our work running smoothly and for that, we cannot thank them enough.

Who knew Bread & Butter printed their own money? Tomorrow, a story on how a trade show takes care of it’s exhibitors….

Highsnobiety will be live at the Bread and Butter Barcelona Show next week. Stop by if you’re in town.

Back in 2001, two days before I started working a new gig, I was up at Sunday River riding my usual early morning Sunday run on White Cap, when things got very fucked up. I was cutting (not carving – White Cap runs were bulletproof that morning) on my front side edge into what I knew to be a low slope.

What I did not know was that the slope had sunk into a wall overnight. I ended falling while crushing and bouncing off the run a good five times before getting enough grip to flatten and pull myself together. 

It was easily the worst fall I have taken on a mountain before or since. For as much airtime as I did get bouncing down, I only ended up with some serious bruises to my chest, ribs, and left thigh. I was pretty battered but walked away with nothing more than some healing and a shelved season.

The girl behind me, following my run, was no where near as lucky.

Since then, I have not been back on the mountain without a helmet, but I cannot say the same about riding my bikes in the city. For as bad as that crash was, I got into this crazy habit a few years ago of not riding with a helmet in the city.

I was reminded of how lucky I was to even be on a board or bicycle when my good friend Jimmy got battered terribly this past Fall in Harvard Square by a taxi driver talking on a mobile instead of checking his mirrors. Though his face and mouth took most of the impact, Jimmy in a not so direct way, was also able to walk away and ride again. 

For 2009, I plan to do my best to ride again with a helmet – on and off the snow.

Bern Helmets of Massachusetts, has removed all excuses by gifting me this past holiday with one of their “All Season”  Watts Helmet. It’s easily the best Christmas gift I received in 2008. The Watts is a great multi-sport helmet. The  winter liner and vent cover can be easily removed for the warmer seasons. It is also light enough to cycle in comfortably.

The 8-Track audio system,  available for most Bern Helmets, is a great feature for those looking for some music while on the slopes but keep it down or keep your eyes open, people.

When friends ask me if the whole fixed gear bike movement is a fad, I always respond that getting anyone to ride a bicycle is a good thing, as long as their safe first and cool second. If you want to crush it on the streets or slopes, at least toss on some protection. You may end up riding even harder.