How to Make a Promo Zine
The Silence of My Room Will Surely Fade and Disappear
Mark Rushton’s Abundant Spare Time is a weekly email on Substack where I talk about my ongoing work as a recording artist and visual artist.
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This week’s topics:
The Zine
Night Blooming Jasmine
Retro Weather
The Shangri-Las - “Footsteps on the Roof”
The Zine
For my July 19th ambient music gig at xBk Annex in Des Moines, I thought I’d create a little promo zine and snail mail it to various local places that might know of people who would appreciate the idea of this sort of thing, and maybe some people might stop by.
I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of all the tech shenanigans going on at the expense of artists. Too many allow themselves to be exploited in the pursuit of wannabe fame bragging rights or vanity metrics. Artists think they must give their money to Mr Zuck to buy ads or give up all their royalties so Mr Ek can push his fake bands and fake music. You can’t beat the billionaire oligarchs, but you can refuse to participate in their games and work on their plantations.
And before I get too deep, let’s go back to the beginning. Time is telescoping.
Back in high school, I made a “zine” for a while. I still have copies. It was mostly music and movie reviews, some collage things, contributions from others, and a lot of odd humor. It’s not too far away from the above.
Initially, I tried to craft the above in MS Word, but that was foolish. What a tech nightmare. I always hated “graphic design”. Before I dropped out of art school in the early 90s, I would see the kids trying to make things on their Macs and thinking how boring and soulless that nonsense is, shoving everything into a grid. Thank God for scanners and printers, especially my Epson ET-3843, a lovely machine.
The 2-page zine took me about an hour to complete. It’s basically an art project. I inked some Tyvek sheets for the background. I was going to type everything out on paper and cut/tape it down, but the ribbon on my Hermes 3000 typewriter hit a dry patch on the black part (red was fading, too), so I had to order a new one - the only upgrade required since buying it for $50 on Craiglist about 12 or 13 years ago. Most of the text ended up being produced in MS Word and printed off. I threw in some dumb things here and there, just to keep it a bit whimsical.
Of course, I had to get my humor knives out and call “Botify” one of the “lesser” services. Which, artistically, it is. “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon…”
Initially, I printed out the zine on typical 20# printer paper, but the colors were a bit weak. I found some 65# cardstock at Wallyworld, along with return and address labels, and it looked a little better.
For some of the recipients, I added small cards and stickers of the above image.
I added a little ink smear on the front and back of the envelope for them to notice, then a stamp, and we’re off in the mail. All local, so they’ll get them on Saturday, July 5th or Monday, July 7th.
Who got these? About 25 record stores, book stores, galleries, the Art Center, a couple of churches, the “new age” store in town, and a couple of other businesses I thought might appreciate it. I guess I’m building my local mailing list.
What’s the point? Well, I thought it would be fun to make “a mailer”. It was a quick art project for me. I liked making it. The zine mailer fits in with the vibe of the event, which is: a free concert, me giving out swag rather than selling merch, and doing something different.
Now, of course, I’m a little nervous about the concert. Who wouldn’t be? But I have nothing to fear. I’m not a perfectionist. The electronics work on their own. I’m DAWLESS but it won’t be FLAWLESS. It’s like being in my home studio, walking on a wire for a few hours, except we’re out in public and we’re being actually social.
Night Blooming Jasmine
As an occasional gravestone cleaner, I appreciate any stone with a saying, and David Lynch’s “Night Blooming Jasmine” is excellent. So “L.A.”.
And whoever left the ear. That’s perfect.
Retro Weather
Everybody of a certain age knows what this is. I found it here.
It arrived at the right time, as I used to occasionally bounce between NOAA and Accuweather and Wunderground, but all of those services have succumbed to the enshittification of ads and popups and clickbait alarmism. Just tell me what the damn weather is.
The Shangri-Las - “Footsteps on the Roof”
Shazam-ed this in public a few weeks ago. It sounded great, all upbeat and exciting. Who is this? Ah, “The Leader of the Pack” chicks. This is a b-side from their final, non-charting single in 1967. That’s a deep track.
Lead singer Mary Weiss died last year at age 75. They had an interesting history. “Bad girl” image. Besides the number one, they had two other top ten hits and some lesser singles, and like most bands back in the day they didn’t really get paid properly. Contracts, you know. One of the original four had a baby. Another had drug problems.
What I didn’t know until Mary Weiss’s death was that they tried to do a comeback in the 1970s. More like a reinvention. The record label wanted them to be a disco band, but Weiss wanted it to be more "punk-ish” like Patti Smith. They didn’t get signed and nothing got released.
Ah, “the good old days”.
Well, at least the bands were real.
Thanks for sharing this! I’m thinking of trying out a zine for an upcoming project - I appreciate the discussion of nuts and bolts, materials, etc. Break a leg at the show!