Everyone’s favourite glossy, financially troubled British magazine that comes with a nifty CD has put out another issue (and, as is typical of its distribution in this far-flung corner of Britain’s former empire, I have obtained it just in time for the next one to appear, which I will presumably review some time next year).

It never fails to be interesting (how many publications can say they have interviewed someone while said individual is being shaken down by German airport security?) in its eclectic examination of experimental yet accessible musician types, and is stuffed with tons of reviews and layout/design to die for (along with the super-colourful covers, the depressingly small market for many of the artists within (many of whom could be superstars, though the example of history suggests that can be more of a curse than a blessing) and the CD that comes with many of the issues (usually stuffed with rarities), this probably accounts for the monetary woes plaguing this enterprise).

LarryBob, after far too long between issues, graces us with another hot number (this time in handy foldable newsprint, rather than the little booklet format).

As usual, he clues us in to many new queer publications/activities, and gives a voice to those who might otherwise not be heard (ah, nostalgia for Gene Loves Jezebel; accounts of HIV test results; bathroom, bathhouse and general cruising anecdotes; poetry; cartoons; and much, much more).

As a source for literary and personal essays, it is superb and, sadly, relatively peerless in the small, generally affordable marketplace.

It is also a long-term survivor, a rarity in this genre. Thirteen years…and long may it run…

Milo, for whom pronouns fail to serve, produces yet another eccentric-shaped issue (it’s sideways, about the width but twice the length of the average pamphlet). Somehow, it seems appropriate…and, once again, there is a new address (Milo points out that each issue has been sent out from a new location in the introduction to this prawn-filled installment (don’t ask)).

This time, there is an interview with precious pop band Dressy Bessy; a moving and intelligent piece on the plight of intersex children in a world intent on labelling everyone by sex and condemning ‘gender fucking mutants’; a vaguely amusing, but ultimately chilling, essay on the real-life perils of interaction with the police (remember – they are armed and dangerous – proceed with caution); a confession that our beloved editor has rock ‘n’ roll closet tastes (and who does not? I like Bananarama! I’ve said it, and I’m not ashamed…much…); a personal essay on how transphobia effected a relationship; and a rant about the evils of television.

There is either some real money behind this publication or a credit card that is eating a lot of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese©. It’s super-glossy, has a fashion spread and stickers, came with a poster, has many, many colour photographs and some big name interviewees.

It DOES, however, also have a lot of ads (nothing monstrously corporate, though, and very few that occupy full pages), so perhaps that accounts for it.

Anyway, I am hardly going to complain THAT much about a magazine that profiles The Breeders, Yoko Ono, Kim Gordon (I still love her, even if the bitch has my man…J, Ari Up from The Slits (!!!), Lydia Lunch, Sleater Kinney and Neko Case, and which does so with Sassy (pun intended) writing that Busts (again, forgive me) out with enthusiasm all over the place.

This is the fashion issue, by the way, so you also get some profiles of designers and some clotheshorse sessions (some of which feature garments a bit more costly than a similar feature from Bust, but are still, I suppose, very nice and stylish…what do I know, though? I’m a Bear – dip me in flannel and toss me to the furry boys…).

Noam Chomsky, 9-11 ($8.95 US/$13.50 CAN, Seven Stories Press, 140 Watts Street, NY, NY 10013,www.sevenstories.com, 2001)

Ed. Robin Fisher, What’s Wrong? Explicit Graphic Interpretations Against Censorship: A Benefit for Little Sister’s Defense Fund ($16.95 US/$21.95 CAN, Arsenal Pulp Press, 103-1014 Homer Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6B 2W9, www.arsenalpulp.com, 2002; learn more about Little Sisters Bookstore at www.littlesistersbookstore.com)

On the subject of suspending liberties…this collection of variously obscene, provocative or profane comic strips/illustrations is a benefit put together for Little Sisters Bookstore, a British Columbia bookseller that has been combatting ‘our’ friendly state censors/gatekeepers for more years than it should possibly have had to (winning victory after victory in court, only to get targeted again because the courts just say ‘naughty, naughty’ instead of, oh, saying that the whole freaking government agency MUST BE STOPPED – I suppose it would be unreasonable and unrealistic to expect that from a legislature appointed by the State, but still…one can dream…).

All the usual suspects are here and then some (GB Jones’ reconfigurations of Tom of Finland iconography into queer-female-empowering porn; Allison Bechdel’s witty dissection of lesbian power politics (uh oh – possible implied penetration, Canada Customs – red alert!!!); immature, disgusting and brilliant snuff porn by Howard Cruse; some S&M by Michael Manning; a side-splitting parody of smarmy Christian propaganda comics by Tommy Kovac; and the inevitable Tom of Finland cartoon showing a Mountie about to be, well, mounted), as well as a well-thought-out foreword and argument against Canada Customs’ increasingly unwelcome and pointless work.

Prurient AND thought-provoking – does Canada Customs know about this? Probably, and they are likely (just) smart enough to know that stopping it would buy right into the arguments against its insidious crimes. Read and learn (or not)...

 

Brian Howald, Blast-Off: Wernher Von Braun and the Making of the V-2 Rocket ($24.95 CAN/$17.95 US, Bookworm Literary Productions, P.O. Box 2095, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7L 5J8, 2002)

Brian is an acquaintance of mine who has self-published three books before this one; The Chopper of Lucy Electra, a sort of feminist murder mystery set in the 1950s; Sawdust and Spangles, a Civil War potboiler; and Moonrider, a book about one of the last men to walk on the Moon.

He continues in the literary biography mode this time, in telling the story of contentious German rocket scientist Wernher Von Braun (whose first association for me is with the biting Tom Lehrer song, which does not get a mention here).

Mr. Howald’s command of grammar and spelling, which has been uneven in the past, has improved remarkably here, and he has clearly done his research, while attempting to tell a balanced tale that avoids either making von Braun unequivocally into a Nazi tool or letting him entirely off the hook (neither approach would likely be historically accurate, at least from the man’s OWN point of view).

If you have a history buff on your wish list who also doesn’t mind a fair amount of literary and speculative technique being applied to the accounting of events, this is definitely the volume for you!

Robrt L. Pela, Filthy: The Weird World of John Waters ($23.99 CAN, Alyson Publications, www.alyson.com, 2002)

It is an attempt by the author to understand the work of noted infamous movie director Mr. John Waters (famous for Hairpsray, Pecker and, goodness knows, Pink Flamingos, and for introducing Divine to the world), both by watching it and by visiting his background, home environment, etc. Of course, he makes it clear he did not really try to speak to Mr. Waters, and only briefly spoke to any of the surviving members of Dreamland Productions, the 70s and 80s collective that was responsible for the depraved works of cinema.

The best part of the book is the contentious summaries of the movies, complete with theories about symbolism, high and low points and trivia, though the stab at looking for recurring themes and devices was occasionally interesting.

Does Robrt (and, no, tragically, it is not a typo – I hope it is not some gay male equivalent of the girl who signs her name Cyndi with a heart over the ‘I’, when you just know she’s Cynthia Schwartz…) ultimately get into the mind of John Waters? No – as an Amazon.com reviewer rather snippily stated, the writer seems to think that he can understand the director just by virtue of their both being gay, and that doesn’t pan out. However, it’s still an interesting trip, and proof that Baltimore has some oddballs even Mr. Waters might run screaming from… J

ed. Ian Phillips, Lost($24.95 CAN, Princeton Architectural Press, 37 East 7th St., New York, NY, 10003, USA,http://www.papress.com, [email protected] for more info on Mr. Phillips' work, 2002)

Well, it's a collection of lost and found pet posters from around the world, which were originally compiled by Ian, who is a zinester and the publisher of small press Pas De Chance Books, who finally had to go to a (semi)corporate source to get an updated edition out.

The compromise was worth it. It's a delightful, sometimes funny (once in a while, one assumes the humour is meant to be there...) and sometimes heart-tugging collection. The love some people spend on their animals can be alternately creepy and affirming of the worth of the human species.

Cringe in terror at the suicidal cow who hangs out around steakhouses; ponder the mystery of a half Siamese, half normal cat; discover that some people are REALLY serious about making sure the rightful owner gets the pet back when they've FOUND the beast (do YOU have five official pieces of ID on you?); and just generally have a good/entertaining/sociologically instructive time reading.

Salman Rushdie, Step Across This Line ($37.95 CAN, Alfred A. Knopf Canada, www.randomhouse.ca, 2002)

Not quite as urgent or focused as Imaginary Homelands, his previous collection (which came out at a time that concerns with nationalism, censorship and identity were perhaps much more central to the author’s life), this is still a good sampling of essays, op ed pieces and scholarly works.

It ranges from an analysis of The Wizard of Oz to an appreciation of U2 to a hilarious Dr. Seuss parody… and it also reveals the truth of his exile (which, I must confess, I had some of the misconceptions about its conditions which the right-wing press had spread as well…).

Not a light read – bur certainly a provocative one.

Matthew Tinkcom, Working Like A Homosexual: Camp, Capital, Cinema ($28.50 CAN, Duke University Press, Box 90660, Durham, NC 27708-0660, 2002)

I am not very good at or patient with academic writing, especially when I discover that enormously-worded treatises contain concepts that I both understood in Grade 9 and figure I could phrase more clearly now, and possibly even then.

I did get a bit of a headache reading this book, therefore, and I am not entirely sure it had to be even as relatively-few-in-scholary-circles pages as 194, but the idea grabbed me.

The book tries to analyze the films of Vincente Minelli (a mostly musical director, daddy to Liza and husband to mama Judy Garland – hmmm, instant camp and gay credentials, even if he weren’t a big old fag himself…); Kenneth Anger (director of rather arty homoerotic pictures – I found it interesting that it failed to mention he played the infant in Midsummer Night’s Dream, a camp classic in and of itself of the 1930s – oh, missed opportunity, thy name is academia…); Andy Warhol (again, the links to Candy Darling, Jackie Curtis and even Miss Lou Reed are not as exploited as they could be) and John Waters (well, you’ve hit a camp goldmine there, and that section is, of course, the most developed, if only because there is simply a wealth to work with).

The gist of the argument in the book, which is only marginally a Marxist take, is that camp is about making surplus value out of trash, and seizing the means of destruction while, paradoxically, still producing something. Oooh – holy dialectic, Batman!!

Track down a queer theorist with a background in Marxism and have him go over the book with you. When I concentrate very hard, I can get things from this book, and its analysis of queer subtext in Minelli’s works is perceptive…however, it could just be written in much plainer English and make just the same provocative points.

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