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Burn Collector: Collected Stories from One Through Nine
A while ago, I had the opportunity to do a radio show for indie college station, KUOI FM 89.3. I had to choose a name for my show... and I ended up naming my first show "elaborate burn" partly in ode to the electronic group Future Sound of London and also as a nod to a brilliant modern writer, Al Burian. Follow our protagonist as he works for Kinko's copies, travels on a "hell bus" and personifies existential punk rock wanderer. This is, without a doubt, one of the BEST products to result from the "zine" fad of the 90's. Written on an ancient 1980's Macintosh and photocopied with punk rock skill this contains some of the best and most meaningful writing I've seen in years. This is, in my opinion, a modern classic, a "new classic" as they say. When I got my show approved, in a moment of stinging irony, I was given the burn in that the Media Director spelled my show wrong resulting in the name "Elaborate BARN!" I got a harsh Burn. I then had to yell at the Media Director to please change it. Another interesting fun when I read from this book on the air, people were dumb enough to think I was reading MY STORY. Wow, profoundly stupid. No, I was reading from this book and please purchase it if you find it interesting. I even said I was reading from a book and people still didn't get it. College drunkards. Anyway, PLEASE pick this up for a read it's simply awesome. Al Burian also plays in the band Milemarker. And Hammerhead is a real rock group that actually does in fact have an album called "Into the Vortex." If you like this you might Jack Kerouac Douglas Adams Kurt Vonnegut
280 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
August 18, 2007
As I read this collection of shorter zines, I kept thinking a couple things.
First, I kept Cometbus in mind, comparing the two zinesters. Both share an extreme loyalty, affiliation and alligance to particular physical locations - Cometbus to Berkeley; Al Burian to Portland. The two share some basic ideas about society, DIY ethics, punk rock, and self-imposed poverty. Both are from middle class families (perhaps both with academic fathers? Not sure about Cometbus). But there are some marked differences. Al is haunted and hounded by guilt and self-incrimination. His failure to live up to expectations; his failure to get his shit together. Maybe it's that Al went to college, and Aaron didn't? Aaron always seemed "in it" for the long haul - whereas Al is, as he mentions in literal anecdote, a badge-wearing "visitor". Also, for all his 'higher' education, Al doesn't really seem to GET the extent of his visitorship. His trite, willful refusal to engage in the real CHOICE of his lifestyle, is odd. And I wonder would Aaron would say.
Secondly, I kept wondering to myself why zine culture never really had its Girl. Sure, there were the riot grrrl zines that I bought from girls in Portland and Olympia in the mid-90s. But mostly I remember them being political/feminist diatribes and home yeast-infection remedy recipies. Why wasn't there a Girl Cometbus? A Girl Burn Collector? Why were there so many of these young, drifter men, furtively scamming coffees and scanning photocopies in the bleary midnights of Everytown USA?
I began to wonder if perhaps there was something inherently GENDERED about their behavior and lifestyle choices. Perhaps women simply COULDN'T tell these stories of wandering abandoned industrial tracks alone in the middle of the night. It's interesting, because I suddenly realize that perhaps huge pieces of the subcultural identities I do or have ascribed to myself have, in fact, always excluded me because I'm a girl. It's more than just the "little boys like to go out and play in the woods" mentality. It's the fact that the post-feminism of 90's riot girl and later subcultures have taken as a given that women CAN do what men do, and that women DO do what men do. When, in fact, we really can't, and don't. Because, well, at the end of the day, we don't have the same choices. We can't be those kind of "visitors", even if we wanted to.
First, I kept Cometbus in mind, comparing the two zinesters. Both share an extreme loyalty, affiliation and alligance to particular physical locations - Cometbus to Berkeley; Al Burian to Portland. The two share some basic ideas about society, DIY ethics, punk rock, and self-imposed poverty. Both are from middle class families (perhaps both with academic fathers? Not sure about Cometbus). But there are some marked differences. Al is haunted and hounded by guilt and self-incrimination. His failure to live up to expectations; his failure to get his shit together. Maybe it's that Al went to college, and Aaron didn't? Aaron always seemed "in it" for the long haul - whereas Al is, as he mentions in literal anecdote, a badge-wearing "visitor". Also, for all his 'higher' education, Al doesn't really seem to GET the extent of his visitorship. His trite, willful refusal to engage in the real CHOICE of his lifestyle, is odd. And I wonder would Aaron would say.
Secondly, I kept wondering to myself why zine culture never really had its Girl. Sure, there were the riot grrrl zines that I bought from girls in Portland and Olympia in the mid-90s. But mostly I remember them being political/feminist diatribes and home yeast-infection remedy recipies. Why wasn't there a Girl Cometbus? A Girl Burn Collector? Why were there so many of these young, drifter men, furtively scamming coffees and scanning photocopies in the bleary midnights of Everytown USA?
I began to wonder if perhaps there was something inherently GENDERED about their behavior and lifestyle choices. Perhaps women simply COULDN'T tell these stories of wandering abandoned industrial tracks alone in the middle of the night. It's interesting, because I suddenly realize that perhaps huge pieces of the subcultural identities I do or have ascribed to myself have, in fact, always excluded me because I'm a girl. It's more than just the "little boys like to go out and play in the woods" mentality. It's the fact that the post-feminism of 90's riot girl and later subcultures have taken as a given that women CAN do what men do, and that women DO do what men do. When, in fact, we really can't, and don't. Because, well, at the end of the day, we don't have the same choices. We can't be those kind of "visitors", even if we wanted to.
August 2, 2018
Al Burian writes very well about what a gigantic, irredeemable, unrepentant asshole he is. Burn Collector is a do-it-yourself manual for shitheads.
July 15, 2011
Al Burian will always remind me of the dark charm of certain cities- cities no one really wants to live in all that much. Providence, Cleveland, New Jersey. Jobs no one really wants to work- the late shift at Kinkos, the loading dock off truck yard, tying fliers for a shitty deli to fence posts. He writes about these types of places and situations with a dark humor and reverence, an observer and reluctant member of the spurned working class. Yet somehow, Al Burian does not make excuses, perhaps because he simply isn't interested in that type of conversation.
In the first nine issues of Burn Collector, during his heavy but well thought out critique of society and social structures, Burian owns up to his flaws. I respect that. Burian is a totally amazing, crazy person, who, for all his self-depreciating remarks about his own laziness and lack of discipline, has a lot of worthwhile things to say about the punk scene, capitalism, the job market, housing structures, gentrification, and what is actually important in life beyond the repetitive nature of personal zines. This being, that girl meant a lot to me and man I love my friends and hate my job, but into something way bigger. Which is more or less about learning to build meaning from the mundane, how boringly normal it is to be completely clueless, how despite all the disappointment and meaninglessness every person has some sort of place in the world, and no one is more important than anyone else. Remembering that Burian was in his early twenties for the better part of the writing of this book, it makes the raw discourse all the more impressive, hilarious, and enjoyable to read.
In the first nine issues of Burn Collector, during his heavy but well thought out critique of society and social structures, Burian owns up to his flaws. I respect that. Burian is a totally amazing, crazy person, who, for all his self-depreciating remarks about his own laziness and lack of discipline, has a lot of worthwhile things to say about the punk scene, capitalism, the job market, housing structures, gentrification, and what is actually important in life beyond the repetitive nature of personal zines. This being, that girl meant a lot to me and man I love my friends and hate my job, but into something way bigger. Which is more or less about learning to build meaning from the mundane, how boringly normal it is to be completely clueless, how despite all the disappointment and meaninglessness every person has some sort of place in the world, and no one is more important than anyone else. Remembering that Burian was in his early twenties for the better part of the writing of this book, it makes the raw discourse all the more impressive, hilarious, and enjoyable to read.
January 14, 2024
it's nice to see none of my opinions or actions or beliefs are novel or new.
March 8, 2013
What can I say? The fucker is brilliant and funny. This book (as well as "Natural Disaster", which is a continuation of the Burn Collector material) is another one I've been reading lately that frightens me with how much it resonates. I think there's a little Burian in all of us, but mine has been acting up something fierce lately...that is, before I started reading these books and now especially after reading them. It's very hard to say anything about Burian's writing without resorting to cliches that don't do it any justice. I remember seeing someone's review that said something to the effect that Burian reminded her of an ex-boyfriend whose excuse for being a chronic fuck-up was "I can't change...this is just who I am, man." I'm sure there's a certain amount of truth to that, just as I'm sure certain things in Burn Collector are embellished, over-dramatized, and maybe some didn't actually happen at all.
I actually bought Burn Collector #11 somewhere around 1999 from Quimby's in Chicago (I think) where Burian was working at the time. I took it to the counter and said something like "Do you know if this is any good? I mean, have you read it?" I think he just kind of smirked and, to his credit, said something like he might be a little biased since he actually wrote it. I don't know what jumped out about it initially because I don't think I really read it (it could have been a more or less random purchase...I had only recently moved to Chicago from Kansas City, so was a bit more wide-eyed.) I think it sat around forever and at some point, I picked it up and started to read it and just thought "Oh yeah, another one of those clever hipster types who thinks that the most mundane shit they do is fascinating" and, in doing so, found my reason to dismiss it and read some more dead French or German guys instead. Burian, at least as presented in Burn Collector, is the kind of person you have to love and hate simultaneously, which is appropriate because he definitely appreciates a good paradox. Quite often, I would think, "Man, I really want to hate this guy" or maybe I would if I actually spent any time around him but ultimately I can't because he is someone whose mind is his own worst enemy and, furthermore, he knows it. I can definitely relate to that. I can't sit here and say "Well, if he doesn't do anything to change it, he's a prick" because I've pretty much done the same thing for a long time. There are moments where he's kind of proud of it...as am I (or I should say as I have been in the past.) It takes a special kind of fearless stupidity to know that you have a certain amount of intelligence that should probably be harnessed before it completely wrecks your life but still see how close to the edge you can get without going completely over...often in the name of having a good story to tell. What also saves Burian from being simply a hipster fuck-up cartoon character is that there is an honesty...not the self-consciously self-effacing honesty, either...although there is tons of that and it provides a lot of the chuckles. I don't know how to describe this honesty...it's pretty carefully disguised or guarded, I think...but just when you think "Man, you really are up your own ass with the feigned self-loathing", he shows you the other side of Burian...a guy who just loves life in all its debauched glory. At some point even a self-loathing, clever fuck-up has to just accept himself for what he is...and this is different from making excuses, as I've recently found out personally.
I have to remind myself this probably isn't for everybody (although I think everybody should read it). I have to remember that my sense of humor would be considered dark and dry by pretty much any standard, and I guess what "frightens" me (now who is being overly dramatic?) is that, despite how "absurd" these vignettes might seem, they pretty much seem in line with the world as I see it/have experienced it...and yet, Burian is a master of squeezing laughs out of it. And, lets face it, that's no mean feat given the material he's working with and the fact that his core audience is a pretty jaded/ADD-afflicted lot. However, I did come away from it with a sense of peace about my own fuck-upitude and was quite surprised to see that it ended on an ever-so-slightly serious note regarding the...erm, usefulness, of the artist in society.
I actually bought Burn Collector #11 somewhere around 1999 from Quimby's in Chicago (I think) where Burian was working at the time. I took it to the counter and said something like "Do you know if this is any good? I mean, have you read it?" I think he just kind of smirked and, to his credit, said something like he might be a little biased since he actually wrote it. I don't know what jumped out about it initially because I don't think I really read it (it could have been a more or less random purchase...I had only recently moved to Chicago from Kansas City, so was a bit more wide-eyed.) I think it sat around forever and at some point, I picked it up and started to read it and just thought "Oh yeah, another one of those clever hipster types who thinks that the most mundane shit they do is fascinating" and, in doing so, found my reason to dismiss it and read some more dead French or German guys instead. Burian, at least as presented in Burn Collector, is the kind of person you have to love and hate simultaneously, which is appropriate because he definitely appreciates a good paradox. Quite often, I would think, "Man, I really want to hate this guy" or maybe I would if I actually spent any time around him but ultimately I can't because he is someone whose mind is his own worst enemy and, furthermore, he knows it. I can definitely relate to that. I can't sit here and say "Well, if he doesn't do anything to change it, he's a prick" because I've pretty much done the same thing for a long time. There are moments where he's kind of proud of it...as am I (or I should say as I have been in the past.) It takes a special kind of fearless stupidity to know that you have a certain amount of intelligence that should probably be harnessed before it completely wrecks your life but still see how close to the edge you can get without going completely over...often in the name of having a good story to tell. What also saves Burian from being simply a hipster fuck-up cartoon character is that there is an honesty...not the self-consciously self-effacing honesty, either...although there is tons of that and it provides a lot of the chuckles. I don't know how to describe this honesty...it's pretty carefully disguised or guarded, I think...but just when you think "Man, you really are up your own ass with the feigned self-loathing", he shows you the other side of Burian...a guy who just loves life in all its debauched glory. At some point even a self-loathing, clever fuck-up has to just accept himself for what he is...and this is different from making excuses, as I've recently found out personally.
I have to remind myself this probably isn't for everybody (although I think everybody should read it). I have to remember that my sense of humor would be considered dark and dry by pretty much any standard, and I guess what "frightens" me (now who is being overly dramatic?) is that, despite how "absurd" these vignettes might seem, they pretty much seem in line with the world as I see it/have experienced it...and yet, Burian is a master of squeezing laughs out of it. And, lets face it, that's no mean feat given the material he's working with and the fact that his core audience is a pretty jaded/ADD-afflicted lot. However, I did come away from it with a sense of peace about my own fuck-upitude and was quite surprised to see that it ended on an ever-so-slightly serious note regarding the...erm, usefulness, of the artist in society.
August 23, 2008
Apathetic wanderlust and other punk undercurrents.
March 15, 2019
I loved Burian’s writing when I stumbled upon Burn Collector in the 90’s and I love it even more now. When people talk about the “personal ‘zine” phenomenon that seemed to interlace itself with 90’s punk/hardcore, this is the high water mark.
September 13, 2020
my personal favs were zine five (I'm german and had way too much fun reading this), six (people suck) and eight (particularly the third part)
only 4/5 because of how much he used the r-slur, it genuinely made me uncomfortable
only 4/5 because of how much he used the r-slur, it genuinely made me uncomfortable
May 28, 2025
I have a love for punk zine memoir. I can't get enough of them and this took care of that craving. The long section about a tough year in Portland was the strongest piece and, in my opinion, should have been it's own book. I thinkit would have strength by itself.
March 23, 2018
This is how I wish I could write.
September 13, 2018
This collection is irreverent, funny, melancholy, thoughtful, and true-to-life all at once. Fantastic.
May 7, 2019
Aaron Cometbus is one of my favorite writers. I've seen Burn Collector mentioned a few times as something similar to his zine but I just found this collection a drag.
September 8, 2019
One of the greatest writers of our generation.
June 27, 2020
Different from so much. Stream of consciousness that sometimes comes across as too “I’m so punk” but it was very entertaining.
August 11, 2008
the only book i've reviewed so far.
al is an acquaintance, so i'm probably biased, but i love this book.
i buy copies of it to leave with friends who inspire me.
i'm always excited when i see copies of it are selling for inordinately high prices on amazon.
he's the kind of person we can all relate to. read his stories, and you to can relate and understand where he is coming from. everyone can, cause he's writing about life.
he lives. he writes. he is.
be it embarrassing, be it proud, he still puts it down. i hope its a call to arms to anyone who goes out there and lives. to you all: GET OUT AND WRITE! i would much rater read someone's true accounts, that fiction any day of the week. it's my favorite style of writing and i embrace anyone who tries to live in it's genre.
what happened to the memoir?
raw, real and dirty.
just as like it.
read, revel and enjoy.
al is an acquaintance, so i'm probably biased, but i love this book.
i buy copies of it to leave with friends who inspire me.
i'm always excited when i see copies of it are selling for inordinately high prices on amazon.
he's the kind of person we can all relate to. read his stories, and you to can relate and understand where he is coming from. everyone can, cause he's writing about life.
he lives. he writes. he is.
be it embarrassing, be it proud, he still puts it down. i hope its a call to arms to anyone who goes out there and lives. to you all: GET OUT AND WRITE! i would much rater read someone's true accounts, that fiction any day of the week. it's my favorite style of writing and i embrace anyone who tries to live in it's genre.
what happened to the memoir?
raw, real and dirty.
just as like it.
read, revel and enjoy.
September 20, 2007
Al Burian is my favorite living writer. I see his outlook on life as being dead on while still managing to be hilarious (laugh out loud funny). His writing is insightful and profound while somehow still coming across casually. He has a great sense of narrative and is able to translate his real life experiences into highly entertaining writing, which is quite difficult to do (read 90% of the other 'zines out there). This collection starts out a bit rough but gets better as it goes along. At the beginning it seems as if Al wasn't sure what exactly he wanted to do with the zine and it is a little more fragmented with a mixture of comics, interviews, writing, etc. Eventually he streamlines it into the form that he still continues today: straight writing (with the occasional illustration) separated by numbered chapters. Defintely my favorite zine of all time. He needs to write a novel.
December 4, 2012
Having read and enjoyed of the more recent issues of Burn Collector, I sort of knew what I was getting into with this collection. That said, I was pleasantly surprised by how good the early issues of this zine were. Granted, this is a collection that seems to cherry pick the best of the best, but that's exactly what I want. There's very little filler in this collection and enough variety in the form of each issue to keep me interested.
There are definitely times when it gets repetitive in theme and topic if you're reading straight through, but I feel like that's bound to happen over years of publishing a zine. If I had read the issues as they came out, I doubt I'd have noticed as much. Either way, I'm a big fan.
There are definitely times when it gets repetitive in theme and topic if you're reading straight through, but I feel like that's bound to happen over years of publishing a zine. If I had read the issues as they came out, I doubt I'd have noticed as much. Either way, I'm a big fan.
February 3, 2015
Burn Collector is the quintessential personal zine. Most of the work that is put out by the zine community is petulant, narcissistic, redundant, or obnoxious by any other reason. But Al Burian in this collection remains relatable, very funny, very smart, and very stylish. I think he could be considered something of a trail blazer in the genre, and as a result the work remains fresh as a literary snapshot of 90's Americana. This is ESSENTIAL reading for anyone into the zine genre or in general is a fan of folk story telling/prose.
Read
February 17, 2017Picked up a loaned copy of this collection from my friend Nathan while in Colorado. I realize this is a bit of a zeitgeist that I'm picking up two decades too late, per usual, but I don't care, I unabashedly love this and I'm so glad someone printed it, not to validate it, but because it's increased the chances that this will continue to survive in hard copy form and people will keep reading it. I thought the quality of the work got better and better as the author went. Hoping to find more of the later issues.
June 2, 2008
Al Burian is just fantastic. He's super honest and easy to relate to and his thoughts are always really interesting. I've seen him perform, which is even better than reading his stuff.
His books are full of (mostly) real-life experiences and adventures. He does readings all over, picks up and moves on a pretty regular basis, tours with his bands (Milemarker and... the name of the other is escaping me at the moment), and drinks too much coffee.
His books are full of (mostly) real-life experiences and adventures. He does readings all over, picks up and moves on a pretty regular basis, tours with his bands (Milemarker and... the name of the other is escaping me at the moment), and drinks too much coffee.
May 2, 2011
This is seriously the book that got me through being an angst-ridden teenager. Burn Collector sure won't make you feel any better about your life, but it will leave you with a strange sense of calm in the face of a screwed up world. Al's writing is like the quiet voice in the back of your head at your darkest hours telling you not to worry, cause at the end of day, we're all in this shit together. Absolutely recommended.
July 27, 2007
I ended up with this book after h.r. tried to sell it at our "garage sale" where everyone showed up way before we had stuff out on the lawn and all of the older shoppers mocked our high prices. But anyway, I really like Al Burian's writing, and still pick up punk planets and flip to the columns first to see if he has anything in the issue.
January 17, 2008
One of the few books that I've re-read more than twice and still succeeds in making me love it every time.
Al literally just spends each section (originally published as individual 'zines) telling the story of part of his life. One section is a comic, one is about him and his brother wandering around Berlin and going to discos.
Al literally just spends each section (originally published as individual 'zines) telling the story of part of his life. One section is a comic, one is about him and his brother wandering around Berlin and going to discos.
April 17, 2008
Al Burian, will you please marry me? You're the only "zine" writer since I was a teenager that I've written fan mail to. And it came back to me undeliverable. So sad. Anyway, I'll be nice to you and bake things for you and you can write me love notes occasionally that will both break my heart and fill me with joy and hope, just like your zines do.
June 28, 2011
Reading these pages a decade and a half after they were first written, I realized I pine for this level of self expression and honesty from my own generation. Al's constant hitting the nail on the head of the confused state of contemporary living make me feel like I'm connected by proxy to these thoughts and insights. An amazing collection.
September 15, 2007
an anthology of a really strong zine that al still publishes. it's very cynical and pessimistic but always hard to put down. it's not totally negative but points out the weirdness of contemporary life with a ton of humor. one of the funniest things i've ever read.
September 21, 2007
I'm down with Al's music and writing. He's sort of a modern-day Jack Kerouac in terms of his zest for traveling on a shoestring budget and introspective way of writing about it. Must-read for people who like travel adventure stories, Midwest-core, indie rock, gutter punk, blah!
September 9, 2008
Al Burian really speaks to me. In "Burn Collector," what would otherwise be a cliche mess of greyhound trips, basement shows, and drinking far too much coffee turns out to be quite wonderful thanks to Burian's literary talent. This book is a great introduction to Al Burian.
February 8, 2014
the only reason i give this 4 stars instead of 5 is because there's a copious use of "retard/ed" throughout the book that i find difficult to reward. in all other aspects, burn collector is a favorite zine & being able to read nine issues at once is quite satisfying.
June 7, 2007
we're pretty much on the same page about pdx. i love ny way more than al does.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews