The Kids Can’t Sing
This is a fairly decent collaboration split down the middle between Chris of Static Toe fame and Lisa whose zineology is unknown to me. It’s not exceptional, but if you’re looking for a couple of nice kids trying to come to terms with who they are and who they want to be, you can do no better. I guess the problem with this zine is that it’s a little too sincere. I mean, on the Chris side you have some good stuff, but it all comes out a little too self righteous. Like the story about the woman who used to tell Chris that heavy metal music would rot his brain. He takes just a little too much satisfaction in explaining that his brain is fine, but that the woman’s daughter’s brain is now all fucked up on acid. And those big collages showing breasts with the headline: “there’s more to pursue in life than some of this.” Okay, yeah, we know that. And if we don’t, we’ll just stare at the breasts, drooling. Lisa’s side is more writing oriented, but again, it’s a little heavy on the righteousness. Like her report on a trip on the train. “Accompanying me, business women and men…after their days of office work and phone calls. After the glow screen in their eyes…hands reach to the face and massage stressed foreheads. I never want that.” C’mon, you think anyone wants that? Still, there’s good stuff in Lisa’s writing, like her discussion of the guy in the Canada sweatshirt sleeping standing up in the subway. All in all, a worthy zine, but I’d like to see these two talented zinesters dig deeper, go beyond easy digs at suburban ideology. (HN)
zine, Chris and Lisa, $2, 99 Hawthorne Rd., London, ON, N6G 2Y2