Date: Sun, 26 Nov 1995 17:38:51 -0500
CAMBODIA : A ZINE FOR PEOPLE WHO FIND MUSIC TOO SLOW VOL 1 #9 Welcome to Cambodia. CONTENTS Art is not a Game Microsoft and Cars Small Tour notes ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -This ish is gonna be short - I've been way busy starting a new job, writing material for the next album, figuring out who is going to put it out and thinking about starting my own label for cleveland bands. -HTTP://WWW.APK.NET/CIHS/ -Thanks to everyone who came out to the craw/glazed baby shows. aside from coming home way in the hole financially the tour itself ruled. Look for a split 10" in the spirit of a great tour soon. also a live split with boston's La Gritona (who may or may not have just broken up) and a comic book craw 7" drawn by Derek Hess all in the new year. -Craw will be playing a show in cleveland on December 15th. we are also looking for someone to fund put out our next full length. We will be recording for the 7"'s next month ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ART IS NOT A GAME ... continued from last ish For the most part in the culture industry success comes from one thing - catering to the stupid. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not accusing anyone who has seen an ad on T.V. and then gone out and bought whatever it was they saw as being stupid (although I might believe it sometimes). The idea of catering to the stupid, in my experiences, came from my 7th grade english class and one Mr. Parker. He taught me that it is best when writing a paper to treat the readers as if they are children, that they know nothing and that everything must be tediously explained, make things simple so everyone might understand exactly what you are saying. Although Mr Parker fully failed in converting me to a simple writing style (see: every issue I have put out) he did hit the nail on the head in regards to a highly successful method of getting things across to the general public, the tribal conciousness. Ethan stated in the last issue the the only things that motivates most kids these days is short term pleasure. This happens to be a truism about our modern culture. And the heads of each and every corporate giant realize and understand this. Which pretty much explains why almost everything in the public eye, from movies to music to operating systems to whatever is catered to the idiot. Short term and instantaneous pleasure and likability. Windows vs. Unix, Batman vs. Candy Mountain by Robert Frank, Green Day vs. Dazzling Killmen. Here's a good ad for craw - "They can play in time signatures you can't even count up to!" Guess how good that'll float? "They're beyond math rock - they're floating point calculation rock." We're also gonna be poor til we quit this music shit and concentrate on our real jobs. That's the way it must be, though. For us and every other independent artist - small timers don't have the clout generally to demand and get what they deserve in a contract with <insert corporate giant here>. And in order to succeed at your art at the corporate level you become forced to cater to the idiot. Idiocy sells and sells well. You can pay off the amount of money <insert here> put into your work (film, record, etc.) and not have to worry about being dropped, being in debt and helpless and not able to control your next step cause you obviously are doing something wrong. Then the mental giants at <insert here> will determine your next course of action. ... continued next ish -------------------- The following was sent in by one of our ann arbor friends - the first half is support for the ann arbor film co-op which specializes in indie films, the rest is commentary/question regarding indie vs. corporate distribution. -------- For those of you who live in the southeast michigan/northwest ohio/midwest type areas...please try to support the ANN ARBOR FILM CO-OP by coming to see this premiere (see below). we're goin' out of business real soon. in a nutshell, we've been around for 25 years showing independent and foreign films, cult films, documentaries, etc. that no one else in their right minds would show. now it seems we're finally getting what many people would liked to have seen long ago. if you don't live nearby ann arbor michigan then i urge you to support and seek out any TRULY independent film venues locally. we are a very rare breed these days and because of the lack of public interest, and the plethora of "Hollywood independent" film (a total contradiction in terms) glutting the art houses of america, us types just ain't wanted no more. read the fine print folks, CRUMB is *NOT* an independent release. Modern Languages Bldg. MLB 3 , University of Michigan (812 E. Washington, corner of Thayer) Admission $4 single 7:00, 8:15 and 9:30 PM HOOKED ON COMIX (1995, David Moore) On the heels of the much heralded film, CRUMB (about the `father of underground comix') comes this insightful documentary about younger underground `comix' aritsts of today. Boasting 19 interviews with the most prominent and talented including: Peter Bagge (HATE), Chester Brown (YUMMY FUR), Dan Clowes (EIGHTBALL), and the Hernandez Bros.(LOVE AND ROCKETS), this film documents the recent rise in popularity of truly independent artists and writers. Bill Griffith, creator of ZIPPY THE PINHEAD, says: "It's heartening to see so much talent and dedication in the under-appreciated medium of personal, as opposed to corporate, comics." (65minutes) MODERN LANG. BUILDING IS CONVENIENTLY LOCATED NEXT DOOR TO HILL AUDITORIUM ON THE CORNER OF E. WASHINGTON AND THAYER, ONE BLOCK EAST FROM THE CORNER OF E. WASHINGTON AND STATE STREET. FROM I-94 take the State St. exit into downtown. >From US-23/M-14 take the Main St. exit then turn left on E. Huron and then right on State St. then go one block to reach washington. call the office at: (313) 769-7787 FYI: other interviews include Jim Woodring, Mary Fleener, Roberta Gregory, Pat Moriarty, Joe Sacco, Julie Doucet (Yay!), that Real Stuff writer guy, Triangle Slash, and more more more...my only complaint about this movie is the emphasis on seattle as a mecca for comix culture. maybe i'm just jealous. tapes can be ordered (but you should watch it with us). email the director for copies: DPworks@aol.com --- to explain, i've been in the ann arbor film co-op for over 6 years now, booking and publicizing independent, cult films that no one, absolutely no one else will touch. we're almost broke now. no one cares, no one shows up to our movies except a very small handful. it used to be that we'd sell out shows, back in the day, of films by goddard, bunuel, herzog, john waters, george kuchar, and on and on. no more. re: my comment on the film, CRUMB (doc. on underground comix legend) i wonder what if it wasn't distributed by Sony? would it have been possible for it to have gotten the attention and wide release it did if it stayed independently distributed? the same could be asked of Sonic Youth or Nirvana. What if Nirvana never went to the majors for distribution? could it have been possible that they could have broken chart records or whatever still? so my question to you, as an indie-artist... do you think it's possible for huge or at least large distribution and marketing of independent art, avoiding all corporate contact, to sustain an indie-community financially? in short, so that no one in such a community would have to work day jobs anymore? i want to make films, but i realize that it's sink or swim. either i make what i want and probably end up penniless never to make another, or i make a compromised work that kowtows to the corporate gods that be. but is it possible for me to contribute and be part of an indie-community that was self-sufficient and actually financially well off (no mcjobs)? the more folks who go to the majors, the less chance of this happening. are ANY of these indie-rooted bands now signed contributing anything back to their indie-communities? --besides recruiting more indie-bands to make money for the majors? that's how i see this whole indie-alternative rock sham. the true indies are getting their popular talent eaten up by majors. the majors make more money, so do the bands, and the indies are left with even less profitability (lets' face it, some indie bands make a lot more money for their labels than others --imagine if fugazi signed to a major). i'm struggling with this issue, and have been for a while. it scares me to think how only a few corporate, monolithic entities own so much of the mass media. we need more viewpoints, more perspectives than 3 or 2. we need more than one newspaper per town. people are getting too comfortable and complacent because everything is too damn convenient. now, we're supposed to think that we're getting "alternative" music and films to broaden our horizons. but obviously, we're not. ultimately, anyone who contributes to a major is contributing to the end of independent art. my indie/renegade film co-op is almost dead now, so who's to blame? tell me what you think. kevin $$$$$$6$$$$$$6$$$$$$$6$$$$$$$$$ anonymous productions$$$$$$$$$$$ http://kzsu.stanford.edu/uwi/endtimes $$$$$$6$$$$$$6$$$$$$$6$$$$$$$$$ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Old school buddy JohnK sent me this --- HOW THINGS WOULD BE DIFFERENT IF MICROSOFT BUILT CARS 1. A particular model year of car wouldn't be available until AFTER that year, instead of before. 2. Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you'd have to buy a new car. 3. Occasionally your car would just die for no reason, you'd have to restart it. For some strange reason, you would just accept this. 4. You could only have one person at a time in your car, unless you bought a car '95 or a car NT, but then you'd have to buy more seats. 5. You would be constantly pressured to upgrade your car. (Wait a second -- it's that way NOW!) 6. Sun Motorsystems would make a car that was solar powered, twice as reliable, 5 times as fast, but only ran on 5% of the roads. 7. The oil, alternator, gas, engine warning lights would be replaced with a single "General Car Fault" warning light. 8. People would get excited about the "new" features in Microsoft cars, forgetting completely that they had been available in other brands for years. 9. We would still be waiting for the "6000 sux 58'" model to come out. 10. We'd all have to switch to Microsoft Gas (tm). 11. Lee Iacocca would be hired-on as Bill G.'s chauffeur. 12. The US government would be GETTING subsidies from an automaker, instead of giving them. 13. New seats will force everyone to have the same size ass. 14. Ford, General Motors and Chrysler would all be complaining because Microsoft was putting a radio in all its models. If cars had experienced the same technological progress that computers have experienced in the last two decades, cars would get 400 miles per gallon, have 40,000 horsepower, cost under $500, and blow up at least once per week, killing all occupants. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BRIEF TOUR NOTES We had maybe 7 or 8 real good shows (out of like 30) - kansas city, baltimore, NYC, boston and toronto were some of them. the rest averaged between 2 and 50 people (making or some champion money making situations) Glazed Baby's van broke down outside of K.C. the day after that show and we lost them for 9 days while they figured out how to get financing for a very expensive 91 ford club wagon (can you say noose?) Our friend David in chicago fully schooled me in scrabble and showed us a great time and hospitality in the windy city. we played a garage in columbia, MO which was excellent til it got tagged by the cops after 4 songs. we spent a day off about 20 minutes south of nags head, north carolina which was completely beautiful. the 5 arlington kids up in ottawa were great as usual. The person to avoid dealing with, however, is mal thursday who books the bay state hotel in north hampton, mass. typical guy who skips out and doesn't pay the bands. The pittsburgh show fell through cause the kid didn't want to compete with the queers. weak. In morgantown, WV we played with neurosis who stunned us by paying us and glazed baby out of their own pockets after the club didn't pay us. I felt really bad about accepting cause it wasn't their responsibility, it was the club and promoter (brian barlow) who should have held up their end. regardless, thanks again to neurosis for showing their true colors and being some of the greatest people we've seen on this tour. then to end it off, we had to play against game one of the world series in kent, just south of cleveland. it was ok, however, since glazed baby sprayed us with so much liquid soap we could barely finish our songs. ahh, life with no label, booker, tour support, publicity - wouldn't have it any other way (yeah right). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Booking info for craw mail me or call 2164813769. Cleveland Independent Hardware Systems - http://www.apk.net/cihs/ --- rockie@neurosis.wariat.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Back Issues "http://www.apk.net/cihs/verbal/camb/cambodia.html" and "http://kzsu.stanford.edu/uwi.html" under Shopping Maul ... Thanks Jon. -- 'Renewal. Americans are crazy about renewal.' - R. M. Nixon http://www.apk.net/cihs/ - cleveland independent hardware systems