My 100th Post!!!...& the Ol' Zine Scene

hi dear curious ones. today marks my 100th post-woo hoo! i really can't believe i've written that many posts since joining in the beginning of December. but i wanted to talk about something else today. and it's something i used to do, back in 1998, called SLANDER 'zine. hm, how many of you know about fanzines/zines? well, they've been around forever but since the internet has taken over in many communication ways, there's very few around anymore.

basically a zine is like a blog, but on paper. and you can have one theme or many themes. it can be written by one person or it can be written by more than one person. you can charge $ for it or you don't have to charge for it. so back in the day, my best friend & i decided to do one because we were seeing so many local bands (mainly at coffee shops) and wanted to give them some praise (and sometimes not praise...but mainly praise!). well, my friend & i had a falling out w/both our friendship & the zine (no need for details) so i decided to do it alone. oh, and again my zine was called Slander & my alias was Empress Slander.

so the theme for mainly writing about local bands eventually disappeared and instead i replaced it with cd reviews, stuff about my life, general interests, some live show reviews (big & local), etc...You get the picture! and i did it for about 3 years (maybe less can't recall) and i never charged $ for it. so i was in the hole a lot of times because i didn't feel like peeps needed to pay to hear me vent, rant, & praise things. i got ads a few times but they never covered the whole cost of what it cost for me to make it. in the beginning i was using a word processor then transitioned to the computer...and then off i went to Staples to "mass produce" (maybe 50-200 copies each time) my zine.

it was good times. and i met a good amount of peeps through it. i had a po box, so that helped. and i always included a survey, and that also helped me to see what peeps thought & what to maybe change/work on for the 'fans.' honestly, my "fan mail" was usually very positive & that always kept me going. but all good things must come to an end at some point. and i made it up to issue #9 before calling it quits. i think this was in 2000, and as said before, the internet really took over the 'zine scene' in many ways. and i just couldn't afford to keep making it anymore. it was pricey & of course i wanted to make more copies but i just couldn't. and the places to distribute them at became few & far between. so my Slander days were up. :(

but...having a blogger is very similar to having a zine. :) and the greatest part is that it's free! and you can meet peeps from all over the world rather than just your local area. so i'm very glad to have made a Blogger because it helps me to: vent, share, and praise just like SLANDER did. don't get me wrong, zines are still cool. and if i saw one today for free or for sale, i'd probably get it because i definitely support 'em still (been there, done that type of feeling). and they are usually done by peeps who are smart & very creative. so the zines you see at the top of my page is a zine called Cometbus. it's been around a long time...don't actually know if it's still around. but i remember that it was like The Bible of the zine world. so the typical zine really looks like that one-black & white xeroxed pages typed up or even written by hand (now that's hardcore!).

so that's my 100th post of the day-yayyy!!! (and i am feeling better-no migraine, thank God.) i do miss those zine days but having a Blogger is just as fun, and it's just easier now...for the reasons i said above (mainly being $ issues). also, i am glad to have met each & every one of YOUS. your comments mean a lot to me & i enjoy reading your zines...i mean blogs, as well. ;) i hope to keep this Looking-Glass going as long as i can. thank YOU so much for being part of my experience!
have a wonderful day my curious friends!
~your friend, eve noir aka: empress slander