Lick Us Back!
Readers’ Letters
The Writing on the Wall is Filled with Typos
Lollipop staff:Although I’ve given the following piece of advice out before, I can’t think of any group of people to whom it better applies than your magazine’s writers. My advice to y’all: William Faulkner is dead – get off it.
Yours, Brian Varney Columbus, Ohio
[When I emailed back, politely asking for some clarification – Faulkner? What’s Faulkner got to do with it? – all I got was more cryptic nonsense masquerading as “wisdom.”]
Ben is Dead is Dead
Okay, We’re Leaving Already…We’ve publicly announced our future demise, and now the final issue of LA-based Ben Is Dead Magazine – continuing a long-standing tradition in the zine community of pushing back the *deadline* – is being completed. After publishing for 10 years (30 issues of themes including Death, Sex, Gross, Broke, Revenge, Obsessions & Bad Habits…”), the “Celebrity” issue will be on the stands at the end of February (through Spring).Though we’ve made it a sort of unwritten policy to never put names of bands, famous people, or photos of *stars* on our cover, this being the final Celebrity issue, we’ve made exception, choosing Crispin Glover as our cover boy. Lorraine (in love) stops by his haunted house to watch his new epic snail movie, What is it?, and talks email about all the details of his weird-celebrity existence. Darby goes to Europe no less (selling promo CDs to finance the whole trip!) to travel as the t-shirt girl/groupie for her favorite rock band (celebrities-in-her-mind) Chokebore. We also talk to Winona Ryder’s celebrity-in-his-own-right father, David Horowitz, author of Shaman Woman, Mainline Lady (famous woman discussing their drug experiences). In his first-ever interview, he discusses his daughter’s fame. Plus interviews with has-beens and not-yets, including stories, celebrity run-ins, and righteous mind-tweaked philosophies on the quest for and fear of FAME.We’re not going to pretend the bankruptcy of at least one of our distributors a year, the shifting maneuvers of the big corporate record companies (eating up/spitting out the small bands/small labels), and the “we’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for an Advertisement today” advertisers haven’t affected this decision. But regardless, 10 years, 30 issues – nice round numbers and a time that seems to yearn for something new. So we’re working on something new. Ben Is Dead captured an amazing period in a way no one else quite did. So we’re a little bit proud, and not too proud to say our time has come.From “I Hate Brenda” to “Retro Hell,” we’ve gotten more press for the pop-culture aspects of our work. For ten years Ben Is Dead has exposed new bands, underground zines, photographers, artists – especially supplying a forum for young, unpublished writers to hone their craft in an environment more conducive to creativity and less restrictive than much of the mainstream press. The “zine movement” as a “trend” is surely past, but as an empowering entity (along with the web) giving people the most valuable free form of expression, it’s just as strong and freedom of the press through zines lives on. Hallelujah! Okay, now we’re off to become movie stars.
X O X O X O X O X O X O X O X
[I’ll save you the trouble of reading my suck-up reply. Take it as given that the death of Ben is Dead is in part a failure on all of our parts (as an “underground culture,” I mean), and the zine community is just that much narrower without it. While their hands were are dirty as any of ours, Ben is Dead had an identity. While top-notch zines may rush in to fill some of the editorial void (not to mention try to scoop up additional advertising dollars and bummed loyal readers), the pressure is on those who’re left standing. While I’m sure it doesn’t help their bank account, nor the depressing realization that the wolves finally broke through their door after all the times they beat them back, Ben is Dead will forever be footnoted in print history. Posterity doesn’t pay the bills, but it’ll give you the warm fuzzies.]
Blue Priests Are Coming For Your Soul
I was just flipping through the channels and I saw what would normally be considered a boring public access show with Catholic priests discussing baptism, except that for some reason they were all blue. The backgrounds seemed heavily blue as well, so one explanation is that the source had color tint problems. Otherwise, this means that a lot of Catholic priests are indeed blue, which is scary, because if Japanimation has taught us anything, it is that blue people are evil and will stop at nothing to destroy our world.
Mackin
[Read more about Mackin in Chad’s interview elsewhere in this issue, as well as Mackin’s first contribution to Lollipop, “Grow Up, Sit Down, Log On.”]
And Now, A Few Words From a Rabid, ahem, Avid Reader…
Mr. Hefflon,I recently received a complimentary issue of Lollipop Magazine (issue 45, Fall 98) in the mail. And, upon thumbing through the pages I discovered a plea (“Writers Wanted“ page 9) to all of the intelligent Americans out there who are not so warped on MTV, AOL, and Jerry Springer that they don’t just stumble around like that burnout little jackoff Jesse on MTV. I remember Rolling Stone used to be controversial and stood for something, and it wasn’t just a big pair of Rocky Horror lips attached to Puff Daddy and Marilyn Manson’s assholes. As Ani DiFranco once penned “all of the radio agree with all the TVs and the magazines agree with all the radio.”As anyone who’s not using their tongue to give enemas can tell, electronic music is nothing but a metronome on crack, and ebonics is ruining American culture. Because a culture is based on whom it worships, and “money ain’t a thing listen to me sing over Sting” is not a proper image for America as the planets premiere power in the areas of technology, war, and education, as we are now known. And, I am proud of Lollipop Magazine for actually printing and bringing the overall decline of most American music to the surface. And I would love to contribute to the truth-telling, not just some corporate rock magazine.
Sincerely,Wesley Criblear
[This here’s a touchy one… For some reason, many people seem to confuse alternative with knee-jerk reactionaryism. I get a lot of emails (the modern-day equivalent of shooting off your mouth at a bar or in your living room, only this time broadcasting it to the world instead of your friends – difference is your friends like you) that bash easy targets and glorify unmentioned purity that evidently exists somewhere in the world. To me, the trick is to like what you like, don’t like what you don’t like, and who really gives a shit what label they’re on and if they’re finally able to pay rent by being in a band? Without someone to hate, loving someone has no reference. And unless you like something, anything, all the negativity simply cancels itself out and you’re just another bitchy jerk-off complaining about everything, supporting nothing, and your opinion has no balance, and therefore, no validity. I’m glad readers like Lollipop (even though I usually don’t like their reasons) – we try to call a spade and spade and a masterpiece a masterpiece, and while everything is subjective, we try to be honest and not be swayed by icon-worship, peer pressure, increased newsstand sales or advertising dollars. Good bands release lousy albums, and lousy bands accidentally get it right sometimes. Lashing out is easy, providing supporting arguments is crucial if your opinion – and that’s all any of this really is – is to be reputable in any way. Think, people, think. Weigh variables, cultural significance as well as “does it rock.” Music is attractive because it’s irrational, and while (I guess) I’m glad readers like us for ripping on the great numbers of bands that suck that’re still getting radio play, I just wish there was a little more well-thought-out dialogue going on. And all this is based on a positive letter…]
