Here’s a zine devoted to an individual who has, perhaps, gone just a little farther than he was supposed to. King of the Fairies is the zine dedicated to (obsessed with) the fiddler Ashley MacIsaac. The zine defends Ashley by arguing that through his public discussion of his interest in young men and what he likes to do with them, MacIsaac provides a much needed public role model for gay Canadians. (Keep in mind, of course, that Ashley is only 19.) There’s also a more personal essay called Music No. 1: Aubrey. Here, the writer explores his father’s, and his own, love of fiddle music: “…the New Brunswick landscape unreeled outside the car, always a fiddle tune in the air, as if traveling itself generated the music out of the ether.” One poignant tribute to a father now gone, and one timely attempt to articulate what an eccentric public figure might sound like to thousands of unheard voices. (If prose isn’t your thing, get this just for the comic in #2 in which our zinester masturbates with Ashley’s boxer shorts draped over his face.)
zine, #1, #2 / main creator: Glendon McKinney / $2 / 91 Sackville St., Toronto, ON M5A 3E6