Fanzines that caught my eyeball, just call me the old bitch punk having some good times.

Or is it the old punk bitch ? I forgot how Jan said it ? Ha ha !

“… after you put this down, in the darker times, the deeper times, when you are looking up our of a hole that you feel like you’ve dug yourself into and can’t get our of, the connections that you’ve made from music, art, community and the people who have grown to become your family are all in there with you, because there will be lonely times, times of betrayal and doubt and unimagined anguish, but in twelve to twenty-four hours with the help of all the work that you’ve done the worst of it will have passed.”


Naturally, many of us leaned against the wall while before us were fanzine people. It was crowded, and the vibe was filled with curiosity and wonder to find something to catch your eye. I call it synchronicity walking that what you find is meant for you.

I also achieved my goal of bartering my little bubblegum cartoon / fanzine with other fanzine people. A couple of things I put money forth. The pretentious attitude was not there, that is the best part and merging with mostly a younger generation who thought fanzines like this started with the Gen-X generation,

In line I said,

“It started a lot earlier than that.”

The young man smiled at me seeing my age and he received my high five with a loud slapping sound. Oh, I love doing that.

I was forced to come to this event by a fanatical fanzine person and his friend. Trust Fanzine and Razorcake. Jan Rohlk and Daryl Gussin were table sitting for fanatical music fanzines.

After the free event outside the Broad my John and I walked around under the hotels, apartments hid within the Los Angeles City Hall and court buildings.

We ended up at The Redwood Bar & Grill. For a beer and a band. No band but to our surprise we again found Jan and Daryl doing something on stage. A performance of some sort? I punk rock charged them and then we went back to the bar for beer and some food.

The bar was easy and exceptionally low key. Next to us was a man giving toasts and told us about a certain word in Spanish.

“Do you know what SOCKS means in Spanish?”

“Tell us.” We all said.

 Socks like ‘eso sí que es’ in Spanish which means ‘that’s the way it is.”

We enjoyed this and glad I remembered it here.

This gentle man turned out to be a retired firefighter. We talked about the latest fires in Los Angeles. I was amazed by how he defined why the current fires happened. It was parallel to my campaign and his expertise. My “Mandatory Stop building in the San Fernando Valley,’’ is so right on and yes, he agreed with it and told me to keep up the decent work.

He knows that fires are part of an effect of bad or corrupted city and county planning. He affirmed,

“Who do you think is giving out these permits?!”

They are all taking money as they talk… in their back pockets. We have agreed that building big apartments right on the freeway and building big homes and massive apartments in fire prone areas is a sin.

This gentleman affirms my theory with experience and firsthand knowledge.

Driving the freeway from the San Fernando Valley to downtown Los Angeles is not one of my favorite things to do, we had no choice.

I am very happy we followed the night through realizing something. Always keep that meeting with a real friend! Who is more of a music fanatic than you! It is well worth it.



https://www.lazinefest.com

Plugged us into the underground network


Punk Rock Colleague & Historian and Professional Consultant

Hudley Flipside


Cut and Paste The American Hardcore

Click on Image to purchase Cut and Paste The American Hardcore Fanzine from Deathwish Inc.




Tony Rettman

Patrick Kitzel

First Edition 2024

2000 copies

Printed by Signature Book Printing, Maryland USA

Unterwelt Books is a division of Tribal Publishing


This punk hardcore-hardcover book stands for one of the first examples of handheld devices, besides cats. A history of American punk rock fanzines.

As I say there were a lot of players in the punk scene and some I knew well. Others I knew only in passing or by way of Flipside Fanzine’s uptown Whittier POBox.

It was an interval of time when a counterculture of punks communicated. The symbiotic relationship of bands, fans, record labels and beyond.

Some fanzines lasted a weekend, others a month or two and others endured the punk scene for years.

I am glad Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine and myself are included in this hardcover book smelling of vinyl records, ink, and a dark room waiting to develop some images taken at a show the night before. Those nasty addictions of mine come into play.

This book is an experience. I was placed back in that office in Whittier Los Angeles surrounded by punk hubs that circulated around me from town-to-town, state-to-state and country-to-country. A punk scene of memories and believing in something greater than yourself.

Sharing a scene, documenting a picture or contribution of a point of view in a letter. The best included are the lyrics to a song.

Living at that time we were a scene veiled away, hidden from the mainstream of our existing modern cultures, so we made our own living scene. Our own culture.

No checks, credit cards only cash came to us by trusting punker souls. I only messed up on subscriptions once in a while most likely due to a terrible hang-over.




Click on image to order