Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Best of Rebuilding Paradise


     Rebuilding Paradise was a zine I published (Xeroxed) from the early to mid 90’s.  It was a rudimentary zine that was fairly typical for the time period.   It consisted of a few observational essays, some bad poetry, some graphic manipulation, you know shit like that. 

     I made roughly 3 issues, the fourth issue was tiny and I numbered it 3.5.  I always expected to put out more but I never got around to it.  I was proud of what I made back then especially issue three but as I scanned these images I got to look more closely at the “product” and most of it just sucked.

     It was similar to looking at old issues of Keep Laughing.  In all honesty KL mostly sucked aside from the great cover art done by Greg Telles.  It was a good zine because it had dozens of contributors each with their own style and thing to say.  Just like the original Keep Laughing zine, Rebuilding Paradise had some moments of brilliance and a whole lot of filler.  But it's still worth remembering.  


     There's some good shit in there but I've decided to only post a "best of" Rebuilding Paradise.  Some of that shit is too corny to put out in public.  The writing is naive, badly proofread, and rather juvenile.  My writing has grown by leaps and bounds since then.  I like to think.  Still the graphics are somewhat entertaining and I was lucky to have contributors who were also good friends.
     I wrote an extensive article about the death of the LVHC scene from my perspective focusing on the bullshit divide and conquer scenario of anti-nazis versus the nazis.  I should have included that here but it's somewhat laughable in retrospect.  I did a ridiculous write up about why "Industrial Music" sucks.    As you can imagine it's really dated.  I have included the interview I did with Catapult because it's bordering on funny and they were a bunch of nice guys.  
     Anyway.  The scanner at the Independent Publishers Resource Center did no justice to the numerous photos included in this issue.  Maybe I'll try and scan them again some other day?  




Contributed by Shannon Hennesee

Contributed by Ryland Luss


Catapult interview #1
Catapult interview #2

Catapult interview #3

Contributed by Bobby Klepper

    I'm still convinced that anything we produce that puts a spotlight on our own lives is extremely valuable.  It's such a rare thing to read about the world we share together a world that almost no one else knows about.  Be it obscure music we both experienced, the desert and it's expanse, even the trash, the drugs, and the awful horrible memories we thought we'd never forget.  It's not something we can find anywhere but within yourself.   How odd to think how fragile and transient memories can be.  It is valuable.  It is worth the effort to record these things we hold dearest to our heart and to find new things that are equally as valuable.  Maybe people in the future will understand and learn by our example.  Or maybe they will be baffled that we would give a shit about such mundane bullshit?   

     Almost 98% of the messages we see in our lifetime are useless commercial messages which do more to distract and divide us.  Any expression created outside that framework is an important counter point to the bullshit we see perpetrated everyday.  The fact that such expression exists at all is contrary to the stream of manipulation that bogs down our lives.  It is important.  Even if it's moronic.  But let's be reasonable.  If you are going to take the time to express yourself be thoughtful.  Be intelligent.  Most importantly be truthful.  If you can't be any of those and you can only be moronic at least be funny.  And TRUTHFUL.    

    The following drawings (comics?) I made as a contribution to a zine in 1998 that never got published.  In fact I submitted these drawrings to three separate zines which never materialized.  The flake factor in zineland is on par with the flake factor in any other art medium.  Hovering at about 75%.  Here are my moronic ramblings finally exposed to public scrutiny.  Maybe it's a good thing they never got published?




Back cover of Issue 3

    The scanner I was using wasn't so great so I didn't include the photographs from this issue which is a shame because there are some really good ones.  If I can find the original master of this issue I'll try and scan those pics from desert shows, house parties, shit like that.  

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

More Part-Time Whore Shit


      Surprise!  More Part-Time Whore stuff.   This post is mainly flyers and random shit that related to the band Part-Time Whore.  OK.  This might be the last of the stuff in my collection but if I end up posting more shit you won’t get pissed off at me will you?




     The photos included here are the only photographs I’ve ever seen of PTW.   The sepia toned photos were taken by Checko during a Halloween show.  I was dressed as Harpo Marx and I can only speak for myself.   I don’t remember who gave me the color photos included below.  Thanks to whoever deserves it.  Not sure why there are no color photos of Judd in this collection.




      After we pressed the album we were convinced we would never be able to get rid of all 500.  Last time I checked I noticed I’ve got about 10-15 left at my folks house.  We did a lot of trades with other bands and labels and we later started a modest distro of our own filling it up with trades from other bands and labels.  Here’s a letter from Jello Biafra of Alternative Tenacles.  He traded a couple of his records for ours which was mighty white of him!

       Dierdre Luzwick let us use some of her artwork on the inner sleeve of the record.  Here is the letter she sent in response to receiving the record upon it's completion.  Her art is amazing and she comes across as a real, soulful, person.  She should be more well known than she is.  Thankfully she has embraced the internet and you can view her work online for free.  Go here and be amazed.  Miss Luzwick and Mr. Biafra both sent hand typed letters using manual typewriters.  That might be where their similarities end.  



     This was a fun benefit show we played for Food Not Bombs Las Vegas.  Bunko Squad was awesome.  I never heard from them again.  They appeared to be a high school ska band replete with crazy looking skinheads dancing along to their set.  




     Once again thank you to the Independent Publishers Resource Center in PDX for the use of their scanner.  There may be more Part-Time Whore stuff coming.  I can never tell what's coming down the pike. 

     Oh yeah I found the original lyric sheet for the PTW demo.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Art Show Las Vegas 1997



    Here's another video from my archives.  An art show featuring students from the UNLV Art Department.  It's one of the first things I shot with my first videocamera.   I've always been bad about labeling my tapes and it's come back to bite me in the ass more than once.  As a result I'm not sure when this show happened.  I'm guessing the end of the semester 1997.

     It took a lot of balls to show up and start videotaping peoples artwork without asking.  I feel like most artists are a little gun shy about people taking pics or videos of their work.  Maybe they like it?  I suppose it's good manners to ask first before you whip out a camera.  If I remember correctly I just barged in and started shooting which in retrospect seems a little uncouth.   I wish more people would capture these events on film since art exhibits come and go pretty quick and it's not like the photographer/videographer is stealing the images by getting them on film.  This clip will never be as valuable as the artwork contained within.  In fact it's of almost no value.  It's just a reflection of what happened that night.  More than anything I think it goes a long way to promoting the artist's work.  An example of taking the memories with you.  That's all we've got here is memories.  Hopefully the artists in this video will agree with this assessment.  

    Speaking of which I don't know the artists featured in this video.  If you are familiar with these artist or their work please leave a comment so we can give credit where credit is due.  As often as I could I tried to video the placards on the wall featuring the artist names.  If you know these artist please tell them this video is here!

    I've always enjoyed the the different variations of artistic "scenes" that flowered, withered, and flowered again over the years when I lived in Vegas.  You'll see a very pronounced Las Vegas inspiration in this show.  Be it the 10 foot tall stir sticks based on real stir sticks from Las Vegas Golden Age or the numerous paintings based on gaudy carpet patterns found in casinos in Las Vegas at that time.  Also included are some subtle and not so subtle installation pieces, sculpture, and paintings.  Overall a great show that I would have forgotten about had I not found this video.  If you go to a lot of art shows and you own a camera of any kind do us all a favor and ask the artist personally if they mind you taking some snap shots.  It's something we'll all benefit from when we look back over the years.  Especially since the internet allows us access.          

     I've heard rumors that UNLV will be making some drastic cuts to their art department which is a bad move in my opinion.  These cuts could affect one of my best friends Checko Salgado who has been teaching a course on commercial photography for the last 7 years.  Get in touch with UNLV and let them know how important the arts are to your community.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Vegas Flyers 1996-2000

All flyers by me unless noted otherwise.
First show for Part-Time Whore, last show for Dwarf Bitch.  Weird how that happens.  Instead of Pabco this ended up taking place at GT's house.  West side assholes stole Greg's dartboard!  Bullshit.

Rob didn't want me to include a map to his house on this flyer.










flyer by Greg Higgins


flyer by Greg Telles
flyer by Nathan Robards