We are looking for volunteers!

We’re really excited for our events this summer, like our upcoming collaborative zinemaking workshop at Pop Hop, and we’d love an extra pair of hands during these events. We can always use people to help us do things like loading and unloading workshop supplies, helping with setup, and other general tasks.  If you’d like to give us a couple hours, we would really appreciate your help!

We’re always excited to meet people who are interested in helping us strengthen LA’s great DIY community one zine at a time. We’ve been so lucky with previous volunteers and are looking forward to meeting more good people!

For more information, send LA Zine Fest a Facebook message!

Mark Your Calendars: May 18 is Riverside DIY Printfest!!

Riverside Print Fest is back and I am so happy to see it! Zinesters will have their wares on display, and there will be workshops and readings for you to attend throughout the day. Don’t forget to stop by the zine library, too!  Exhibitors include a lot of titles that are new (and exciting) to me, plus former LAZF tablers like She’s Not A Morning Person, Double Fur Press, Pimpkillah, and Seite Books.

BONUS: just after the Fest, there will be a screening of DIY: We’re Doin’ It, a short documentary about women in DIY culture–artists, zinesters, musicians–that stars two amazing ladies from Zineworks, Annie Knight and Angela Asbell. Can’t wait to check this one out!

Zine recommendations

We’ve had a lot of questions via the internet about where to get good zines. It’s kind of hard to say “Everywhere!” without feeling a little unhelpful, so we’re going to stop telling people that zines are all around them and try to give a little direction. We’ll be posting here every few weeks or so with reading suggestions from trusted sources,  plus the information needed to get the zine for yourself. This first rec comes from LAZF organizer Bianca Barragan. 

What: Lady Teeth #2 by Taryn Hipp 
Where I got it: Gifted from a friend!
Why I liked it: Before I get going on this, I just have to advise you to talk about zines when you meet new people. Like, right off the bat. If someone seems interesting, tell them you like zines because you will eventually get people giving you awesome things to read. Case in point: this zine, gifted to me by Brodie Foster Hubbard of Fair Dig zine and Shakeytown Radio Hour. 37 pages fly by as Taryn talks about self-care, attending zine fests, keeping friends, getting healthy (mentally, physically), music, food, and a handful of other topics.  By the time I reached the back cover, I felt like she and I had gone on a really solid road trip together because we’d had such an in-depth, varied conversation. I have always been a huge fan of perzines because I can’t imagine myself spilling intimate words onto pages and then sending those pages out for other people to see.  I admire deeply the brave people who can do that repeatedly and always keep it engaging.  For this reason (and others, I’m sure), Taryn Hipp is a total badass.
Other places to get it: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ladyteeth

From Lady Teeth #2:

“The truth is, my life has never been better & it really sucks that I am missing it. I am so stuck inside my sick brain that I can’t appreciate it fully. Some days it feels amazing & I can actually see that. I can actually feel it in my gut, how wonderful life is & how it will be ok. I will be okay. But other days I take it for granted because I am in a dark, dark place.  I try to go outside, lay in the driveway with my dog & let the sun soak through my skin. I let it warm my bones & breathe life into my sadness. I dig in the dirt , plant things that will grow, vegetables & fruits to consume, herbs to dry & turn to tinctures to heal & I feel proud of my bounty, even when the bunnies chew up my tomatoes or my dog eats my strawberries.”

Great trades from Claremont Zinefest!

Trades garnered from Claremont Zinefest. We’re going to have a few more pictures and a recap up soon! If you’d like to see what the Claremont ZF was like, you should probably check out this recap.

It was great to meet some new people! We traded with A Shop Called Quest (Skinner; ColorInkBook), Rusty Jordan (History In Ruins), Zineworks (Pocket Guide to Being a Safe & Sane Zine Pal), Allied Forces Press (Raw Bones, New Observations, ALFQuarterly, Battle Toads), Julia Glassman (Formulaic), SPEW Stickers (Midnight Madness), and Camera Creeps (Loophole). The superheroes-as-cats-in-costumes cards are by Nathaniel Osollo.

“The greatest compliment we’ve ever been told was that they read it every time they’re on the toilet.”

Alxis Ratkevich covered LAZF for ESPN and already gave us this awesome snapshot of what she saw.  Guess she just had an excess of great footage, because this new video shows a different but equally awesome perspective of inspiring, creative people making cool stuff–be it zines about mind-altering drugs or punk rock, or a whole community.

Our friend, Daniel

Daniel Rolnik, known around Los Angeles as the most enthusiastic art writer/appreciator in town, gave us the heads-up on his latest project: limited edition screenprints for the Venice Art Walk.  This video features a look at the prints done by local artist Gary Siff; future printmakers include Gary Baseman, Christine Wu, and Bob Dob.

I don’t get west of Western very often, so I’m really grateful for videos like this one. For more information on this project, go to http://intellectualpropertyprints.tumblr.com/

How To Make A Zine: Video Edition

Almost definitely going to use this with my students next week.

via Fly Away Zine Mobile’s tumblr

Great Scott!: time travelin’ zinesters

Q: If you could time travel back to issue 1 and say anything to the Ayun of that era, what would it be? Actually, what FIVE things would you say?

1. Move to Brooklyn immediately and figure out a way to buy a building. It will involve lots of boring numbers and require you to fill out forms and be organized in a way that does not come naturally, but I think in 15 years (or less!) you will be very glad you did.

2. Enjoy the culture books and newspapers and personal letters, for soon a pernicious and addictive phenomenon known as social media will sweep the land.

3. Quit dicking around.

4. Since you get such pleasure from comics and graphic novels, why not render the zine in that kind of format? You could go to comics festivals and have entree into a whole scene populated with people you could enjoy as actual friends, rather than just authors to be admired or envied.

5. When you find yourself approaching issue 37, be forewarned that that middle school you think is so wonderful is not what it appears to be. I know it doesn’t feel like you’re wearing blinkers, but that’s the Kool-Aid you drunk talking.

In keeping with the NYC kick I’ve been on since returning, here’s a cool interview including lots of going-back-in-time-to-advise-yourself-and-others-type questions with East Village Inky‘s Ayun Halliday.  The interview was done after her publishing of the 51st issue of the EVI.  As a person who struggles to get one zine a year done, I am totally in awe of her for hitting this milestone and being under 70 years old. Recalls Ker-bloom!’s 100th issue celebration, too.