On the rare/unreleased music Grouper, Abner Jay, Dum Dum Girls, Wooden Shjips, Dutchess and the Duke, Jacuzzi Boys, the Great Unwashed, Nodzzz, Zola Jesus, Crystal Stilts, Finally Punk, 39 Clocks, the Bible Aires Spiritual Singers, Fresh + Onlys, Moon Duo, Explode Into Colors, Limes, Eternal Tapestry, Woods, Christmas Island, some Jamaican gospel, and even more. Inside the Joe Brainard's remarkable book cover designs, a rare manuscript by Abner Jay detailing his time at the antebellum-fetishizing Stepehen Foster Center in Florida, Grouper talking to Ilyas Ahmed, the life and work of poet/educator Nancy Dupree, comics by clients at Portland's Full Life center for developmentally disabled adults, drawings by J. Bradley Earl of Woods, and the music of Black Twig Pickers and Jack Rose. Plus interviews with artist Jim Woodring, author Lynne Tillman, SF-based band the Nodzzz, author/screenwriter Rudy Wurlitzer, also SF-based band the Wooden Shjips, and fiction by Mimi Lipson. Contributors include Erik Davis, Doug Elliott, Justin Farrar, Ross Simonini, Sara Jaffe, Kevin Elliott, Jesse Studenberg, and Michael Neault. The cover is a detail from a new painting by Mingering Mike (Pres. Obama as a boxer) with reproductions of his Obama-themed works inside.
Probably my favorite issue, and not just because the CD is so good. The Erik Davis article on a Beat-era inspired author (Rudy Wurlitzer) is one of the best articles of the year. Don't miss this.