Spaghetti Dinner & Dancing zine

I just wrote about Shat Upon zine, probably the best zine coming out of Montana during the 1990s. But it would be unfair to overlook another zine that was much smaller and personal, but always a great read. Spaghetti Dinner & Dancing was a perzine published by Randy James out of Missoula, he published it from 1994-2002. The publisher and sole writer was obviously from the punk scene, he'd occasionally feature a band photo, zine reviews, or small write ups on a live shows, but the bulk of each issue was filled with stories about hiking, camping and Montana history. Most of the stories read like journal entries R. James wrote as he'd sit down at a bridge, on a rock, or by campfire on a hiking or camping trip. They were deep in imagery and gave a quite visceral feel for the nature around him. Some of the stories were precluded with a history of an area before the hike, other just dove right into the tale of the trip. There was a great sense of self-examination, as well as a disdain for the deteriorating condition of the wilderness areas the author spent so much time in. for , then hiking it and stopping to write about their observations along the way.

Today Randy still randomly publishes Darlene Rocknroll Fanzine and says he has another zine in the works.

Shat Upon Zine

Shat Upon was a great zine published by Andy "Rusty" Smetanka and friends out of Missoula, Montana during the 1990s. I think I scored my first copy through a touring Missoula band like Sasshole or Humpy. I was kind of amazed from the get go because I always thought of Montana as a punk rock wasteland. Granted the aforementioned bands, along with a few others like The Fireballs of Freedom proved Missoula had a music scene happening, but it was big enough to support a large zine? Shat Upon usually clocked in at at least 40 full-sized pages. Each issue covered a wide range of topics, from band interviews and tour diaries, to reviews, Montana history, and funny personal stories. It was like 3-way split between a punk music zine, humor zine, and a zine about Montana... which rocked. I used to trade issues with Rusty and write little notes back and forth, there's still one from him in the issue I scanned in.

Smetanka went on to write for the Missoula Independent newspaper as arts editor before moving onto video and animation. He made short stop animation films for The Volumen, and later did a Decemberists video for the song "The Taine," which you can see here.

ZineWiki returns!

It's been a year since ZineWiki got hacked and the wiki was knocked out of functionality. I put a lot of time into scanning in zine covers, adding entries for a ton of old zines and zinesters, as well as editing all the poorly written entries from 18 year old zinesters. The result paid off, it became the largest database of information on zines both past and present, as well as zine publishers, writers, artists and more. So it was sad to see all that work just abruptly end and the information disappear. I bugged Alan, ex-ZineWiki admin, fairly constantly about getting it up and running again. But his passion went in a different direction from zines to video blogging (he's quite a hit on YouTube and has a book out now about viral videos and video publishing through YouTube). I'm happy to report, Alan recently gave the database over to Jerianne of Zine World and her partner Denny was able to revive the wiki. ZineWiki.com officially relaunched today. Jerianne and I will be co-administrators and hope to quickly get the project back up and running.

Skill Shot pinball zine

Skill Shot... In the game of pinball, a skill shot generally is a shot that scores bonus points when your ball first enters the playfield. Pulling the plunger back just the right distance can land the ball in precisely the right place to score maximum points, be it Rudy's secret hiding place on Funhouse or the ball getting grabbed by Thing's hand on Addams Family. It's a shot that takes practice and skill by playing the same machine over and over. Even on the same game at a different bar or arcade, the skill shot will be slightly different. In Seattle, however, Skill Shot can mean something different, for it's also a fanzine dedicated to Seattle pinball.

Skill Shot, like most zines, has a sloppy homemade feel to its layout and is published fairly irregularly. When you spot a new issue at Shorty's or in a record store on the shelf of free publications, it's like a special treat. And it's free! Upon opening an issue of Skill Shot, you can tell it's a labor of love. For pinball fans, it has a guide to the various neighborhoods of Seattle and the pinball machines that can be found in their bars, coffee houses and clubs. For the pinball fanatic like me (geek alert, I own and collect pinball machines and am currently ranked as the 890th best pinball player in the world), it's also got pinball news, trivia, graphics, game reviews and playing hints.

The latest issue to hit the streets is #6, pictured above, which features two different covers (both from the same pinball game, bonus pinball fan points to any of you that can name the game the artwork is from and/or the pinball machine I set them on for the photo shoot). Issue #6 has reviews and breakdowns for playing Champion Pub and the new Dark Knight games, Seattle pinball locations, pinball news, and suggestions for new ways of playing pinball with your friends. What's amazing is how positive the writing is, which in zineland is pretty unheard of, zines far too often are a platform for whining and melancholy. It's a cool little zine for pinball fans, keep an eye out for it! More info on Skill Shot can be found on their MySpace page.

Zine Fiend Festival

The Zine Fiend Festival was a zine festival and zine art show that took place in Seattle, Washington in the Summer of 1997. The festival was hosted by the Project 416 Art Gallery, located at 416 Occidental Ave South. The festival featured a ton of Washington zine artists and publishers, as well as a few out of town guests like Aaron Cometbus and R. Seth Friedman. And the Primate 5 and other bands played at night! I tabled between Chris "Wez" Lundry of Pooldust zine and Seth from Factsheet Five, it rocked. The highlight for me was hanging out smoking with a bunch of zinesters and Aaron Cometbus accusing me of not liking him, which couldn't have been farther from the truth. Creepy cool artwork by local artist and zinester Blair Wilson.