when print was analog

While unpacking last night I came across some old indie/punk zines that I was obsessed with back in the late 90’s. The kind of zines that you couldn’t get anywhere else but through mail-order or by driving to Lansing,MI and going to Vinyl Addict (R.I.P.)  For some reason, through all these years I have refused to throw them away. So last night I was flipping through them before bed, and I was overcome with that same exact feeling I had back in 98 about music, art and underground culture. I almost felt transported back to the dude who was just starting college and trying to figure out what the heck he was going to do with my life. 

While flipping through the pages of Nothing Left I remembered what it felt like to have hope and a wide open future. Hope in music and hope that culture would change…for good or for bad….just change. It also dawned on me that the zine I was enthralled with 10 years ago has shaped what I do today: art/music/culture. Somehow these magazines I read in my late high school an college years have served as fuel for the unknown journey I have been on for the past 10 years. That’s pretty amazing considering

Another thought I had while reading Nothing Left for the 198th time – our kids will have  NO IDEA what it means to get a magazine like Nothing Left and pour over every written word and detail about some obscure band you may never see or hear. They will have no idea what it means to track down a record you have been dying to listen to for months and then listen to it on your 2 hour drive home. They have the internet. I’m all for technological advancement, but this is one instance where I’m a bit bummed out.

Suffice it to say, I don’t think I will be discarding these few zines I found, because by looking through them, they somehow set me straight and remind me of the 18 year old Brian. I think I’m going to put them up on my office bookshelf and wait for the day when some punk kid, possibly our own, asks about the “old days of CDs and tapes”. Then I shall school them in the art of pre-internet, punk rock print.

punchy and unpacking

Ever been just tired of unpacking but you also enjoy finding stuff you forgot you had? Such as the worst sunglasses ever made that only Kanye could appreciate? That was us last night, tired and punchy, we put the glasses on and it turned us into dorks. here we are.  

Moved.

We have officially moved! I feel that this has been in the works for weeks and its finally done. Well, not really done. Our new place is at that level just below ‘chaos’ right now. I am told by Chad that it gets worse before it gets better, I hope that is true. I have consumed 2 cups of coffee this morning and I’m still insanely tired and sore.  So…. here are some photos from the move. As per usual, we were too busy moving stuff to take any decent photos. 

 

moving