|
|
|
       |
|
| About
// Contact Latest Stuff Links Art Satire Interviews Asstrology Fanciful Musings Poetry Row Voices of America T. Dubbs Samples Real News More News |
ZINE REVIEWS by Thom White ---
The main thing about this issue is the "fink-tastic" tribute to Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. For the benefit of all you youngsters out there (including myself), I did a little internet research and discovered that starting in 1958, Ed Roth was a big time suped-up hot car creator, and a leader in what became known as the "Kustom Kulture Kampf." Ed Roth passed away in 2001 and this tribute has been in the works for the four years since then, and is finally completed and on newsstands. Ex-editor (Editor Emeritus) Mike LaVella explains the four-year lull in Gearhead Magazine history, with a recitation of some recent happenings with the high-flying Gearhead Record Label, especially once the Hives, a Swedish pop-punk group with a hilarious lead singer, started selling big time in Europe in 2001 and then "broke" in the U.S.A. soon after. Then new editor Davey G. Johnson takes the reins to start talkin' hot cars. I must have read Gearhead Magazine in another life (or at least a few years ago) because it is similar to the magazine you are reading now in that the paper is of decent quality, the layout is everywhere, three clean columns, the content is thoughtful, and a glossy sleeve covers the whole. Gearhead boasts a brilliant full-color cover caricature of "Rat Fink" and the bulging eyes of his admirers.
There are three paths you can take to read this issue of Reviewer. For those who are S.D. focused, there are big stories on the May 2005 mayoral race. Then there's Dave Ostwald's reminiscences on the rise of heavy metal rock, some comics, and an autobiographical essay on the wives of U.S. soldiers in Iraq awaiting news from the front. A photo collage on the Phil Spector murder question, music reviews, and a number of tasteful advertisements fill out the issue. Professional photographer Reviewer Rob Rowsey has masterminded the Reviewer operation from day one. This zine has been published out of San Diego for near ten years, with varied frequency, but usually every two months. The format has recently changed, and the familiar red Reviewer script is no more. Reviewer is available free to the chosen few who can find it.
This zine has cheap paper but brilliant photography. Mused fills itself with the thousands of words from full-color images, leaving room only for terse one-word text messages. How beautiful are five fire red and white trucks parked by deciduous trees in winter? What about a picture of three American school buses, all lined up, or a boarded up 1980s-style McDonald's? Photographer Martin Buday knows the beauty of these things. Also of note is the sentimental postcard correspondence between the Ira and Gregory as they make their way through Victorville to the grand fortress of Utah, and onto retirement on the faceless plains of Indiana, far from Eden in Santa Barbara. There are also a lot of drawings & artwork, essays & randomness, a crossword for those who enjoy being challenged, and a madlib for those who don't.
"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -- Eric Blair Why would I bury the story of the century in the back of the magazine as a mere zine review? Well, this one is a doozy. This zine goes "all-out" in exposing the Bush Administration, and there's no room in here for cheesy interviews with bands you've never heard of, or uninspiring microscopic record reviews. This is all about facts and evidence from the Sept. 11, 2001, crimes, that have been swept under the mass media rug. September 11, 2001, was a historic day, and as such, has been compared to other famous days. In late 2001, many pro-war cheerleaders compared the events of 9/11, to Pearl Harbor, the "surprise" attack by the Japanese on U.S. warships stationed in Hawai'i in December 1941, an episode which ushered in war between America and the Axis. Nero Fiddled While Rome Burned offers a wholly different perspective. Editor Jacob David contends that on closer examination of the consequences of both events, observers will find a closer parallel between the "9/11 attacks" that struck New York and the Pentagon some months after George W. Bush became President, and the "Reichstag Fire" that burned down the German parliament in 1933, a month after Hitler had assumed elected office. Dr. Jerry Russell summed up the events of the "Reichstag Fire," a huge national crisis in Germany that newly-installed Chancellor Adolf Hitler used to full effect to enhance his own power: "The German Parliament (Reichstag) burns down. A dazed Dutch Communist named Marinus van der Lubbe is [accused]. Apparently, by and large, the German public believed Hitler was telling the truth: the Enabling Act was passed giving Hitler a dictator's powers -- and in the general election a few days later, the National Socialists cemented their hold over the German government. Communist leaders stood trial, accused of participating in a vast conspiracy to destroy the Reichstag -- and by extension, the German people themselves." Nero Fiddled contends that the Bush Administration's response to 9/11 bears strong resemblance to Hitler's response to the Fire. While Hitler sought out Communist terrorists to gain total control over the reins of power, George Bush has expanded government control and spying powers by fighting "Islamic terrorists." A month after the Fire, the Nazis pushed through the "Law for Terminating the Suffering of People and Nation" (known to historians as "The Enabling Act") to give the Führer his due powers to protect the people and suspend liberties, while President Bush's Republicans twisted arms to pass the USA PATRIOT Act within weeks of 9/11, giving his men "new tools" to fight dissent and terrorism. Though it is widely believed nowadays, it has never been proven certainly that the Nazis actually set the Reichstag Fire that unleashed the political crisis allowing Hitler to concentrate power. And although Rupert Murdoch's New York Post (normally a Republican ally) had the audacity to print "BUSH KNEW" as a cover story in May 2002, this certainly has not been proven either, four years after the events. It has been shown, however, that the official story of the "9/11 Attacks," as put forth by the U.S. government's 9/11 Commission, is highly questionable. Write to Jacob David today, and he'll send you his review of the must-see documentary 911 - In Plane Site. The film, produced by Dave Von Kleist and William Lewis, uses photos, interviews, and live television footage (shown only once, and then never again, on T.V. news stations CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and CBS) to examine the events of the day in a new light. The most convincing case in the movie is probably Von Kleist's probe into whether a huge 757 filled with jet fuel could have made the damage found at the Pentagon. Video footage and photographs taken immediately after the Pentagon was struck at about 9:40 a.m., show no sizable plane wreckage to be seen (luggage, people, engines, wings, a tail fin) and make it hard to believe that a 757 could have caused the damage, unless the plane and all the passengers somehow "disintegrated" within the Pentagon structure. Additionally, photos with the first firemen on the scene show that the roof of the Pentagon did not collapse for another twenty minutes, and that the damage done to the Pentagon appears to be a circular hole too small for a 757 jetliner to fit through. Nero publisher Jacob David also reprints correspondence from concerned readers from around the world, and provides addresses and contact info which could be helpful for other zinemasters trying to get the word out. Send Jacob three stamps and you'll get a cool zine of your very own. Spread the word.
To see the world in black and white, you must read Warning fanzine. Warning zine is composed of recycled paper doused in soy or vegetable-based ink. Since everything is either pure black or no ink at all, at first glance the text and photos appear to suffer the effects of previous generations of xeroxed ancestors, prophets' words handed down through the ages till no gray remained. But look closer and you will see this full contrast is intentional, as is the thick, quality paper and professional stapled bindery. In the music department, this zine focuses on the crustiest edges of the worldwide punk rock scene, looking back at the origins of the scene, along with interviews with newer bands. There is Contatto from Italy 2005, and Wretched from Italy 1985. There is Hellshock who just put out the great Warlord EP, and then an interesting look at Discharge's controversial 1987 U.S. tour, where they shocked audiences with their new metal sound and refused to play any early classics. Warning zine also gets into its own radical truthtelling about "America's Reichstag Fire," drawing parallels between the planings of 2001, and the fire of 1933. Each event served the government in power as "an opportunity to introduce their agenda of constant centralisation of power through the technique of problem-reaction-solution." The editor also makes a list of some of the internationalist groups that have supported and guided the Bush Administration's war policies since 9/11, groups like the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bilderberg Group, and the Club of Rome, among others. After the September 11 attacks, to show people that this war was going to last a long time, President Bush compared his newly christened "War on Terror" to World War II,which last four years once the U.S.A. officially got involved. Four years later, the President is now comparing the War on Terror to the "Cold War" which lasted more than forty years. On New Year's Day 2045, with the War on Terror now lasting even longer than the Cold War, will President-elect George P. Bush assure a war-weary, peace-loving America that the neverending, liberty-devouring, total control, photo-enforced War on Terror is actually most like the Hundred Years War? Would this buy the politicians a little more time? --- Basic facts of the Reichstag Fire, 1933 By Orville R. Weyrich, Jr. January 30, 1933 February 27, 1933 February 28, 1933 • Free expression of opinion A supplemental decree creates the SA (Storm Troops) and SS (Special Security) Federal police agencies. Who Did It? But regardless of who actually planned and executed the fire, it is clear that the Nazis immediately took advantage of the situation in order to advance their cause at the expense of civil rights. The Decree enabled the Nazis to ruthlessly suppress opposition in the upcoming election. March 5, 1933 Over the next few weeks, each of the lawful Weimar State governments falls to the same ruse: local Nazi organizations instigate disorder, and the disorder is quelled by replacing the elected state government by appointed Nazi Reich Commissioners. March 24, 1933 ANALYSIS It is clear that in other situations, the Nazis did use the tactic of creating a "law and order" crisis so that they could provide a solution which further eroded civil liberties and entrenched their power. The Nazis also took advantage of the additional Federal police powers to suppress opponents. The point is that a democracy can be destroyed by creating a law-and-order crisis and offering as a 'solution' the abdication of civil liberties and state's rights to a powerful but unaccountable central authority. Orville Weyrich is a candidate to represent
--- Reader Comments No Comments. |
-- ELSEWHERE ON CITIZINE -- LATEST
LOOKS COMMENTARY
FICTION
Send
us your comments about this article. |
|
|
|
|
