Woah bro-seph, Trip-out City! The strength here is really in the design. Excellent choice of art for a zine. Not too shabby with the “Deep Dish Apple Pie” recipe on the fourth page, too. Screwy little comics, and monochrome art plaster the pages for an interesting Willy Wonka ride for the eyes. After about five minutes though, it becomes a little too abstract and I start reading Winston Churchill’s biography. But hey, whats this? A CD? This was a super pleasant surprise. A mixtape just for me! Thank you As I would Say. This is really a great little number. I’d recommend it to anyone. Especially someone who wants to get turned on to cooky and fun mixtapes. Hurrah!

-Nikolaus Bartunek

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-Alexander Zeddemore

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superfinosvto.com

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If you can get past the title, the grammatical errors (Miss Potter has been wronged by schooling AND spell check) and nearly 100 astonishingly disorganized pages, Carissa Potter’s first writing effort should satisfy you.

Let me explain: Miss Potter is a frustrated pro-choice Christian-raised graduate student with a misconceived Impostor Complex. She lies to her therapist, plots the death of her sister, and fucks in front of the neighbors on whom she spies.  This is the stuff of fantastic writing, but Potter’s “collection of short stories” (it’s really an autobiography) is not.

I’ll Think Of You… is littered with malapropisms, misnomers and jarring non-sequiturs that are structurally confusing.  She experiments with footnotes -although I’m not entirely certain she understands their function- and makes bizarre references to ‘shoe elfs’ [SIC].  Most egregious is her juvenile effort (initially I thought she was a teenager) to recount self-discovery in a ‘writerly’ fashion when she should really just focus on writing what she thinks.

There are exceptions. “Band-Aid”, a more honest effort, has some truly touching moments. And despite instances of serious self-sabotage -“Not to be stereotypical, but he looked like a middle-eastern plane-bomber…[He] blanketed my nights in soft romanticizes [SIC] about falling for someone you knew nothing about”- there are others that couldn’t be more hilariously accurate.  She also shows more than a bit of gumption with the inclusion of her rejection letters, a decision that nearly saves her from the sanctimony that plagues the zine’s first 80 or so pages.

I’ll Think Of You… can be appreciated only as a case study:  We can learn from Carissa not through her literary ‘insights’, but by instead studying the actions that she admits to so readily.  Given the context, we can surely learn a thing or two from her confusion

-Lindsey Piscitell

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What made you jump into the whole touring aspect? You’ve toured quite a bit with bands, and usually on a whim.

Portugal the Man was really one of the only bands that I looked at and said “I want to shoot them”. I manifested the idea of following a band on tour, only because I got a gig with Portugal The Man shooting them for a magazine. Sheepishly I approached their manager about shooting them, and surprisingly from there I got flown out to Chicago to shoot them again. At that moment I knew I didn’t want to leave, and I didn’t. I stayed on for the rest of the tour. It was an on the fly decision.

You’re on you’re own for the most part, but do you consider yourself to be in the industry?

I do consider myself to be in the industry. A part of it at least. The photography industry is very difficult. I think every year it starts to get more intense. There isn’t a correct way to pursue this, but I’ve had to do it my way. I don’t have a degree in business or a big diploma saying that I’m some fancy photographer. Photography is like any art. There are many paths to take, but there is no formula, or “right” way to do it. I’ve realized that a lot of the industry is based on decisions. Making hard decisions is a part of the job. Most people aren’t used to having that much responsibility, especially about the stability of their job.

In your line of work, what has been the most fulfilling experience?

The most fulfilling experience I’ve had is a hard one. I’ve done so much with photography, and seen so many people and things. I was assisting a shoot for a friend, and it was shooting cats and dogs, [but] the handlers also have a lot of exotic animals. They happened to have two white Bengal tiger siblings—I was petting an endangered baby animal! Who in their life will get to experience that? Things that I would have never guessed.

You also had an amazing chance to work with the first ever Parkour Federation. How did this come onto your horizon?

Working with them has been so fate related. It was off of craigslist. I was browsing through, and found their posting looking for interns on an action sports show. They weren’t even looking for a photographer. I was the first person to contact them, and I got to talking to the co-owner of the World Federation of Parkour. I mentioned that I did photography and got the job from there. It’s been an amazing time too. The Federation is made up of some of the best Parkour athletes in the world. While I shot them, I get to ask if they can do crazy stunts, “Can you jump from this gap to this roof ledge, and do a flip here?” and they’ll do it. I feel sort of selfish knowing that I am endangering their lives for a photo (laughs).

What is your work like in a general week?

I’m constantly ping-ponging between LA and SF. I got to shoot the pride parade for the LA times, and then I drove back into LA that night. Got up the very next morning and shot a band for AP. I’m really throwing myself into this and going where the work is. At the same time I’m also having a blast doing the most random and interesting jobs.

You love this work, but more importantly, what makes this job worth it to you?

What is worth it, is that I’m keeping my word. I’m being honest with what I do, in a world saturated with photographers who are just looking for a paycheck. I’m being reliable. Secondly, I’m getting the exposure I want. I live very in the moment, and the real accomplishment with photography is growing and learning more. Building a long history of my work that I can look back on. This is more about getting my art out there for people to share in, and letting people see the work I truly love.

Interview by Nikolaus Bartunek
Photos courtesy Emily Ibarra

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Be sure to visit ediphotoeye.com to contact Emily and see more of her work

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Manda’s first zine is, in her words, “a monument to that which I hate.” What she happens to hate so much are her breasts, the size of which have given her no end of problems since puberty turned on the growth switch. How big, you ask? She perfectly fills out a G cup (and has the pictures to prove it). For all you boys reading this with your jaws on the floor, this is not something women consider a blessing; imagine the stress on your back having to lug those puppies around 24 hours a day. If you can’t imagine, Manda spares no detail explaining how her cup size has negatively affected her life.

Unfortunately, the content of ManDuh Land came across less informative and more like a poorly organized rant. Also—and maybe this is what bothered me the most about it—she has an extremely negative image of herself that she feels would somehow miraculously be fixed if she were to have a breast reduction. I am admittedly very opinionated about the way American society pressures women, and it’s really heartbreaking to me that she believes a physical alteration will solve all of her problems (the back pain, of course, but there are clearly more mental wounds there that a knife isn’t going to take care of). Her message would have been much clearer if she employed more of an objective viewpoint. Self-publishing is an awesome tool, but in this case I feel like it was a bit of an over-share.

-Kelly Dalbeck

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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to ride an elevator all the way to Africa? Look no further than this CD. It’s less than an hour’s worth of tracks, but you’ll swear entire election cycles have come and gone in the span of a single listen.

The music of Africa is richly infused with virtuosity and tradition—it’s where Soul music gets its soul. Sadly, Tan Lines, a supposed “African” effort, is a bunch of drum loops and synthesizers that harkens to a 1980’s, post-disco hangover. Remember the first time you walked into a department store and heard the Muzak version of Smells Like Teen Spirit? Felt pretty awful, huh?

If you like Muzak, great, I’ve got a real gem for you. Play it at the mall, play it in the elevator. Just don’t play it around me.

-Matthew Monte

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truepanther.com
myspace.com/tanlinestheband

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Every once in awhile I’ll get something in the mail and upon glimpsing through its first few pages it becomes readily apparent this is someone who loves zines. Not only that, but after a good reading it’s clear that this is also someone who loves making zines, and that kind of enthusiasm is what really shines in this quarter-sized pocket of fun.

The first half is primarily composed of show reviews at local venues in Northern Washington Sate. Unlike a lot of zines covering their regional music scene we’re given a look at a wide array of different bands, with genres covering everything from Cambodian psych-pop to crappy black metal and folk-ska bands. The author has a casual, laidback writing style that feels like you’re shooting the breeze with one of your best buds, and by the time he’s done you kind of wish you were there in-person, if for nothing else than the epic drinking stories you’d have to share.

In the second half of the zine we follow along to Seattle’s hostel scene and check out the local vegan eateries. There’s also great piece about the fundamentals of the postal-driven “mailart” platform happening all around country, breaking down how it works and how to get involved. To top it off we’re given what I believe to be the first ever “Jail Review,” which is exactly what it sounds like—a rate-and-grade of one contributor’s forty-eight hour stint in Perry County lockup, complete with an overview of the evening’s dinner menu (it was hotdogs and mac n’ cheese, just in case you’re ever headed there yourself).

As if all of the above isn’t incentive enough to pick this up, the art and design from cover to cover flies off the page, filled with illuminating collages and a gritty eye for detail that would make any Xerox jockey salivate. When all is said and done I’m sure it took more than a few toner cartridges to put this little guy together, but sometimes the power of a pair of scissors and a gluestick is all you need.

-Sean Logic

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Oh Gainesville, you just don’t want to leave me alone this year, do you? Here we have another band from the Florida music Mecca, but don’t let their location fool you. Young Livers have nothing of the poppy punk we’ve come to expect from that scene. Noisy and brooding, their music reminds me a lot of early Isis (you know, before they started doing what a friend of mine calls “ambient space metal”).

Progressive hardcore is an accurate summation of Young Livers’ sound. Citing bands like Big Business and Baroness as influences, my expectations for the album were high. The Livers delivered (get it? delivered?) on their share of prog, but unfortunately a lot of those elements got lost underneath the distortion. Though all members are clearly excellent musicians, the songs take a couple listens to pick up on the intricate instrumental work. It’s a shame that it isn’t showcased more.

Regardless, the awesome hopelessness of the lyrics paired with the gritty vocals and surprisingly complex ocean of distortion make Young Livers’ latest album well worth a listen (or two). Recommended for moments of greater fear and loathing.

-Kelly Dalbeck

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myspace.com/younglivers
noidearecords.com

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In a world gone mad, the flow of every day life is left to rot and decay. Corrupt police officers roam the streets enforcing the tyranical decrees of “The Man”. Watch where you step, because you’ll be thrown in jail for free thought! No, this isn’t a dystopian sci-fi novel, this is every day American life as illustrated, and commentated by Ken Dahl, in his comic collection Welcome To The Dahl House.

Spanning his various characters and ideas, Ken Dahl paints edgy and strange modern day tales about the ass-backwardsness of American life. Old Punks, Super Hero Dogs, and the strange wierdo Gordon, narrate their way through tales of arrest, sex, and death. From an art standpoint I really love the cooky cartoon feel, mixed with a nice smooth artistic style. In terms of story there are some laughs and some shocks, but I became a bit tired with the repetive “our-country-is-ruined-and-here-is-all-the-corruption” rant. It only became uncomfortable as I constantly felt like Mr. Dahl was sitting the fence between groovin’ Hippie Sign Holding Protester, and Ranting Anarchist Bomber Militant. Over all though, I give it my three thumbs up (The third thumb is from all the radiation the Government dumped in my yard as a child, those bastards).

-Nikolaus Bartunek

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A girl shouts those words in ecstasy as the teacher instructs the small group of students to close their eyes, undulate their hips and shout out the hottest image they can fathom. For this class of participants, they’re learning how to make a porn—not the hand-held amateur style for your lover’s eye, but the kind of porn you can actually produce and distribute.

As a prominent adult performer/director in the BDSM community, the class’s instructor, Madison Young, imparts the participants in her “DIY Porn Workshop” with all the knowledge she’s gained over the past eight years in the industry. She teaches the seminar at the Femina Potens gallery in San Francisco, a space dedicated to feminine and transgender artists to create a dialogue of sex, art and gender, in which she is also one of the co-founders.

Many of the attendees are interested in either pursuing porn with their backgrounds in video production or simply spicing up their sex lives. Numerous couples have contacted Young about how extraordinary her work in BDSM has been.

“The workshop is for your erotica so you can tap into what’s erotic and what turns you on,” Young exclaims as she states the mission of the seminar. “To really connect with our erotic center, we need to get into our bodies. We’re going to cover everything and hopefully change the world.”

After the class shouts out their erotica and free themselves from their comfort zone, Young leads the group straight to visualization. For this exercise, she passes out a script from one of her movies and asks the class to write the next scene. “A director films picture by picture, not by action,” Young says. “They need to identify the shot.”

Young’s workshop has been met with praise and popularity, leading her to teach the class near and afar, to Santa Cruz, Milwaukee, and even Toronto. But with all her travels, San Francisco will always be her home.

“I’m still deeply in love with San Francisco. There is an immense sense of belonging with a lot of strong and diverse communities,” Young recalls as she grew up in the tiny conservative farm town in Loveland, Ohio. “San Francisco is for people outside of the box, like an ‘island of misfits.’”

With her knowledge of porn Young is the perfect teacher, but just as many multitalented artists come across obstacles, she mentions performing and directing simultaneously has proven the most difficult. “They’re completely two different parts of your being. With performing, I can go in and just do that job one-hundred percent without worrying about other details and where everything should be.”

During her two-hour long seminar she speeds through every minutiae detail of the porn industry including distributing, producing and budgeting. Young mentions that it can be hard creating a typical sixty minute-long film without a ludicrous amount of money, but sometimes you “just need that one killer scene.”

She also goes through minor details such as location, model release forms, scene lengths, talent rates, AIM (adult industry model) testing, and the box cover as she passes numerous handouts. “[Even] setup can be just as important,” Young adds. “And with location, how many different situations can [the director] work in one room.”

For many viewers and couples, porn can be a facilitator for communication as Young states that her work even helped saved relationships and spark something new. “Porn can be inspirational and provide guidance for people. It’s about visually watching instead of telling. Make it sexy and people will listen,” Young says as she states that good communication is the most important lesson for newcomers.

Ultimately, she wants her class to know that making porn doesn’t have to be what she calls “mainstream, fast-food porn.” Young states that porn doesn’t have to solely sprout from Los Angeles and show unsafe sex from only one perspective, usually ignoring the mens’ pleasure shots.

“[Critics] go off that pornography is demeaning to women but really the men are the ones who are completely objectified. They are referred to as the ‘penis’, like that is what they are there for,” Young says referring to porn in Los Angeles and soon urges for more sex positive porn. “What really turns us on is showing a lot of the reaction, showing a lot of the pleasure, and showing that connection with close shots of both performers.”

And to make that exceptional sex film, she attests the director needs to collaborate with their team to engage their audience.

“You need to get them on board for your vision and collaborate with them,” Young says as she instills this lesson when she directs her own films. “Incorporate their fantasies and turn-ons because it helps the performer get involved. You can’t fake that kind of chemistry.”

Words by Chris Huqueriza
Photos by Taylor Whitehouse

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Make sure to visit the Femina Potens website and gallery for upcoming events and exhibits.

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