ANOTHER ELEVEN REASONS TO DONATEGo to Razorcake.org TO RAZORCAKE and watch our video! Razorcake exists because of INCENTIVES an intertwined system of support. • For a donation of $10 and above, you get a sticker designed by Subscriptions and ethical advertising cover the costs Bill Pinkel. of our basic, day-to-day operations. We’re proudly punk. A print zine is at our core. Yet, your donations • For $25, MINI PUNK BOX fi lled with 7”s and a shiny Razorcake help us expand sustainably and strengthen everything kitty lapel pin designed by Bonedust. we do. They allow us to maintain a true alternative to outlets that skew their coverage to the corporate, profit- • For $50, PUNK BOX and a Razorcake lapel pin. driven mentality. We’ve worked non-stop for the past fourteen years to • For $75, “Wake Up Ding Dong!” engraved travel mug (Limited to 7) provide a home for thousands of underrepresented and and a Razorcake lapel pin. otherwise unheard voices. Without this support system, a culture we believe in could fall apart. • For $100, Offi cial Razorcake “Smash the Cake” mini-bat. (Engraved Join us. If you can afford it—and you appreciate with “2014 Razorcake, I Did My Part” on barrel) and a Razorcake Razorcake’s commitment to the DIY community—please lapel pin. consider making a donation. Everything helps. Or... • For $100, PUNK BOX, 1-year bulk sub, and a Razorcake lapel pin. HELP US CONTINUE TO BE AMERICA’S ONLY NON-PROFIT MUSIC MAGAZINE. • For $150, You buy Razorcake a camera in your name to fi lm live shows. (Limited to 10. We’ll thank you by name in the fi rst video we post on our YouTube channel that we fi lmed with the camera.) And a HOW TO DONATE Razorcake lapel pin. • Donate through our site: www.razorcake.org/donate or click on the “Donate” button on the left-hand side of the • For $250, Razorcake skate deck (see above image), designed by homepage. Kiyoshi Nakazawa. (8 1/2” wide, popsicle shape, 7-ply Canadian Maple) and a Razorcake lapel pin. • Send a donation directly through paypal. Our address is [email protected] • For $500, A one-of-a-kind 24” x 36” metal printing plate of issue #78. (Limited to 12) and a Razorcake lapel pin. • Send checks to: Razorcake, PO Box 42129, LA, CA 90042 • For $1,000, Sponsor an issue. Your name will appear on an issue’s table of contents page. (Limited to 6) and a Razorcake lapel pin. • Watch our donation video here: www.youtube.com/RazorcakeGorsky • For $750, we will revamp the podcast station. (Limited to 1). You will be sent a gold-painted pineapple trophy, includes Razorcake lapel pin. If you are of the means, please consider a tax deductible donation to Razorcake. These incentives are available until January 1st, 2015. Slow Culture That can’t be right. The math doesn’t make sense. I counted it Terra incognita. Although it’s gnarly and unforgiving, punk in L.A. on my fingers twice and double checked with Daryl. Razorcake has never died since it landed in ‘77. It’s thriving now. been around for fourteen years. We started in January 2001. Before Cultural time now is also massive and webbed. It’s constantly Razorcake, I worked at Flipside from 1996 to the end of 2000. Flipside speeding up. In the mid-‘90s, a manufactured trend like third-wave started in the summer of 1977. It lasted twenty-three years. At the time ska took a year to run its course. Cultural time is now measured in of its demise, it was the longest-running fanzine in America. Here’s microseconds instead of years. It’s everything, then nothing. There’s what makes less sense to me: Imagine if Razorcake started in 1977. just so much—all history up to this second (contrary to popular belief, Fast forward fourteen years and it’d now be 1991. The ‘80s are over. not everything’s on the internet), is somewhat more available. But When we talk about the most venerated punk scenes, the timelines there’s also corrupted code, pixel fatigue, endless distraction, and are often so short. L.A.’s first wave in Hollywood lasted eight months dropping cell phones into toilets. Blink and get overwhelmed by an to a year. Thirty-seven years later, we’re still listening to that glorious avalanche of information sheering off a cliff. shrapnel. I know I’m painting with an imperfect brush when I say this, Punks have more power at their fingertips than ever before, and but a lot of punk “anarchy” was and is shorthand for nihilism. Drugs yet… there’s this cumulative cost. Where’d the time go? It’s hard for and fucking and violence. That fun snake eats its own tail quickly and me not to fantasize of Razorcake in a pioneering time, but that’s a shits out addiction, death, and prison. It’s the nature of the beast. cop out. “What about us, now?,” I often ask myself. I believe that our But then the unthinkable happened. Many punks didn’t die and best years are still ahead. It’s the difference between that stockmarket- got too old to die young. Many didn’t sell out. They bought in with ish rise and fall of “punk product” and real underground cultures— decades of time and long-view creativity. Resilient bastards. I like to ones that, now more than ever, by their intentional makeup—aren’t think I’m now one of them. manufactured for quick sale. In that respect, Razorcake is a punk time Yet, as someone who has been in the middle of a vortex for almost machine. We’re time travelers by nature. Part of us lives in the past. a decade and a half—the distinct cultural DIY punk feel spanning Part of us lives in the future. We’ve slowed down time for us because from 2000 to 2015 will never receive the same praise as 1977 or we’ve got to deal with today. 1982 or 1984 or 1996. Pioneers can only discover uncharted lands So what’s the bigger point? If you don’t believe in yourself, no once. That’s the definition of a pioneer. It’s their flag to fly. Cultures one else will. Forces larger than you will do their best to control you. celebrate “firsts.” But that doesn’t mean the pioneers had everything It’s a timeless theme, much older than punk. I don’t know about you, figured out after they staked new ground. but I still don’t want that big culture gun in my mouth—no matter The irony doesn’t escape me. I like Los Angeles, partially because what time it is, no matter what year it is. it’s so fucked and rarely anything worth doing here is easy. L.A. is also fractured. It’s like a map made out of a shattered pane of glass. –Todd Taylor Cover design by Erica Freas, Razorcake Rumbletowne Records THANK YOU: Hello photocopier, you rascal and old friend thanks to PO Box 42129, LA, CA 90042 (rumbletowne.com) - based on photos Erica Freas for the fantastic cover; Richie Rich was a dick. Haven’t razorcake.org by Craig Flipy and Lauren Denitzio thought of him in a long time thanks to Brad Beshaw for his illo. in gorskypress.com Sean’s column; It’s unanimous. Mermaids, whales, seals, walruses, facebook.com/razorcake and polar bears all agree that Jim’s new book Forest of Fortune is better twitter.com/razorcakegorsky “Not everyone than blubber and buried treasure! thanks to Bill Pinkel for his illo.; youtube.com/RazorcakeGorsky Heads up! thanks to Steve Thueson for his illo. in Cassie’s column; No. razorcake.tumblr.com benefi ts from Seriously. Fuck. U2. Thanks to Alex Barrett for Nørb’s illo.; Imagine a razorcake-records.bandcamp.com world where Reagan was only remembered for his chimp shenanigans, gorskypress.bandcamp.com a misspent not destroying the air traffi c controller union thanks to Jackie Rusted instagram.com/razorcakegorsky for her illo. in Dale’s column; “Dude, I’ve got to deuce it and you’re ADVERTISING / CONTRIBUTOR DEADLINE youth.” ruckusing? I’m gummi-scarring your other cheek!” thanks to Kasia –Thomas Pynchon, Bleeding Edge ISSUE #84 Oniszczuk for her photo in the Chicken’s column; Nardwuar baits Katie st Dec. 1 , 2014 Razorcake/ Gorsky, Inc. Board of Directors: into saying a fi sh name that sounds like a swear word thanks to Steve Visit razorcake.org/advertising Todd Taylor, Sean Carswell, Daryl Gussin, Larder for his Waxahatchee illo.; Kettnerd—unquestionably dynamic Ad rates start at $40. Dan Clarke, Katy Spining, Leo Emil Tober III, thanks for your guest comic; We are more than our names. Ignorance and Catherine Casada Hornberger. This issue is dedicated to Felix Lynn Terry deserves a swift kick in the kneecaps thanks to Rishbha Bhagi, Simon Sotelo, Becky Bennett, and all of the participants for “So… What Are You?”; We radiate thanks to Lauren Denitzio and Craig Flipy for the Black Rainbow interview and photos; Unsold boxes of records you put out? That’s called “punk furniture” thanks to Paul J. Comeau, Jake Dr. Henry Cunningham, Christine Dechichio, J. Flynn, and Angela Owens for the Pickles Tor Johnson interview and photos. Deep doop. Robots are good for some things, but we need physical Classy as fuck product so we can get our grubby human hands on them. Binary sky music does not compute… Thanks to #83’s rotation of music, Photo by Russ Lichter zines, books, and video reviewers: Craven Rock, Ryan Leach, Rich Cocksedge, Sal Lucci, Keith Rosson, Indian Laub, Chris Terry, Alanna Why, Ryan Nichols, Garrett Barnwell, Kurt Morris, Sean Koepenick, Lord Kveldulfr, Michael T.