BANANAFISH #5 Merzbow SCUM Smegma NON Boyd Rice SUCKDOG

$

25

Bananafish Magazine issue #5 -- Your Biggest Problem Is Behind You 7"EP

August 1990 -- 156 pages -- 1,000 copies printed, OOP -- comes with 7"EP:

EP: Original 1990 release on RRRecords (Lowell MA) (catalog # RRR-UMP), in Picture Sleeve.

from Bananafish Timeline by Fen Addison: When Glass took the fifth issue of Bananafish to the printers, the same company that had done the first four issues, they said they didn’t want to print it. Disapproval of the content was the reason given, and they made it clear that if the originals were not off the premises by the end of the business day, they would be shredded. This was around the same time that Jello Biafra and Alternative Tentacles were dealing with the problems caused by a poster by H.R. Geiger that came with early copies of the Dead Kennedys’ Frankenchrist album. The local printshops, bracing themselves for crackdowns and witchhunts, suddenly felt compelled to concern themselves with disgusting language and stories about people who were crazy, unhealthy, violent and using illegal drugs, and images of nudity, bondage and swastikas (detailed below). Glass searched for three months; the only company that agreed to print the magazine wanted to charge $5,000. Finally, Glass met I. Vern Beezer, who had been publishing socialist poetry magazines in Italy for many years. Mr. Beezer was moving back to San Francisco at the time and agreed to publish the magazine if he could write his own column in every issue. He found a company that would print the magazine for a reasonable price, but, in a ironic and somewhat inexplicable twist, refused to collate or staple them together. It was still the best offer.

By this point, Glass and Behr had assembled something of a skeletal staff, or perhaps more accurately, several people who could be counted upon from time to time for assistance and regular contributions, including photographer Scott Hoover, graphic artist Toni Smith, writer Gray Numan (no relation), Barbara Manning, Lucian Tielens, Ursula Blind, Bob McDonald, Brandan Kearney, David Hopkins, Greg Freeman, and RRRon Lessard.

At 156 pages, Bananafish #5 was over twice the size of the previous issue, and took most of the above, all five members of Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, and a few of Mr. Beezer’s assistants an entire weekend to assemble by hand (long days, dawn to midnight).

Cover photograph is by Nancy Terzian

“I’d Rather Shoot You to Death,” a letter from the publisher. So began the second phase of the magazine -- Mr. Beezer’s letter inaugurating The Tedium House years. His column satirizes other fanzines, especially Factsheet 5, and includes T-shirt reviews, butchered entries from a never-intended-to-be-published tour diary kept by Glass during a short trip to the East Coast with World of Pooh, and reviews of a Carpenters videotape.

Smegma interview, “Does the worker complete tasks cheerfully and in a timely manner? No, the worker does not.” As this band’s shyness and guileless lack of self-promotion makes virtually everything about them something of a mystery, the interview focuses on biographical details and band history. Includes sidebars that correct erroneous track listings of a German Smegma singles compilation, and a transcription of a rant used as lyrics to one of their songs.

“My Life Depends on You!” by Martti Koski. This is a reprint of a pamphlet by a fellow from Finland who had proof that the Canadian RCMP was performing mind control experiments on him. It does not read like the out-of-control raving typical of paranoid-schizophrenics. Quite thorough and even-toned.

Boyd Rice interview, “So, What’s the Deal with Non?” by Gary Numan. This was the first interview to appear in Bananafish that was not conducted by Glass. Questions and answers about the minutiae of Rice’s recordings, along with some attempts to debunk his use of fascist overtones. Presumably objectionable images include: an old Warner Bros. cartoon wolf plastered with swastikas; photos of a Natzi officer and a silhouette of someone wearing Mickey Mouse ears, each with Rice’s face superimposed under the legend “Boyd Rice -- neo-fascist or Mousketeer? You decide!” A sidebar reprints Non lyrics about Disneyland.

“The Mysterious Body of Earl X.” A transcription of a tape that was sent to Bananafish anonymously, in which two residents of Butte County discuss self-perception issues, hygiene, and the ways in which the human body is deficient. Illustrated with presumably objectionable images of wound maintenance; a disfigured tongue; excretions following a high-colonic; techniques for fishhook removal; and like that. Quite hilarious and nauseating.

“A Universe of Disease: The Decline of Lisa Suckdog.” Firsthand accounts of two San Francisco performances by Lisa Carver, Jean-Louis Costes, and Debbey Richardson, during both of which Glass was chased from the building, along with transcriptions of live, on-air psychodramas performed by Suckdog on KZSC and KPFA. Presumably objectionable image: a picture of a naked, spread-legged Carver, pretending to have sex with Costes, who is using a plastic toy as a makeshift cock-ring.

Interview with Tad Baker of the Institute of Absurdity, “An Examined Life Is Not Worth Living.” A performance art group that lured lunkhead fratboys to weekly shows in the backroom upstairs from a Polk Street bar, peddled rotten tomatoes to them as they sat in the audience, and then ranted and raved until tomatoes were flying everywhere. Nearly every performance had to be stopped several times due to violence, at which point the fighters would be conned into getting onstage and subsequently pelted with tomatoes, which in turn lead to more violence. It was truly fascinating to watch this group, week after week, provoking people and then calming them down, then winding them back up again, and then calming them down again. Baker discusses the history of their group, the serious philosophical underpinnings (rooted in Greek tragedy), the biographies of the performers and their Greek mentor. Presumably objectionable image: a photo of The Monoliths, two football- helmeted dancers, one of whom wears an enormous strap-on dildo as the other smears it with Crisco and pumps it. Sidebar transcribes a particularly beautiful, curse- and hate-filled rant by Rob Alexander.

The Bringdownz interview, “The One Fear to Have When You’re Having More Than One.” Sharing members with National Disgrace, this band has a similarity or two -- homemade instruments constructed of garbage, and elaborate, handmade costumes that resemble disfigured nightmares -- but they also incorporate regularamplified instruments and a repertoire that leans heavily on corrupted cover versions. Their point seems to be rock’n’roll reimagined as a bad, bad, bad acid trip. Interview revolves around accounts of terrible experiences performing live; with “Filthy Carpet Ride,” a tour diary sidebar by Fred Bringdown.

Borbetomagus interview, “Nude Erections in Music.” Band history, and the aesthetic basis each member brings to the group. Interview with DNA Hoover of Kinothek Percussion Ensemble, “Steam Fist Futurist.” Composer of film libraries discusses recording techniques, aesthetics, and the like.

Interview with Masami Akita of Merzbow, “Metal Machine Music Up the Ass.” The first of many Bananafish interviews with a Japanese noise artist, although Akita’s English was not cleaned up for this one (a Big Regret that would not be repeated). Topics include fetishes, recording and performance details, other noise artists. Illustrated with several S&M images, which one presumes are objectionable.

“The Adjacent Transchronomorphic Symbology,” fiction by Neil Hagerty and Jennifer Herema of Royal Trux.

“Another Day in the Life of Ultra-Pal, Deputy Superstar.” A cheerfully macabre comic strip, unsigned. The author is unknown.

Archipelago Brewing Company interview, “Spread Your Legs and Pray.” Band history and personal details about this band featuring “Six Goddamn Girl Drummers.” “Strangest Damn Things, But They’re New,” reviews by S. Glass. The title lifts a bit of dialog from Eraserhead.

Your Biggest Problem is Behind You seven-inch (RRRecords, RRR-UMP), 1,000 copies
Cover is a found photo Glass says that if he had this seven-inch to do over again, he probably would have left the Non track off (it was too long, and Rice would not allow it to be edited [with good reason]), and replaced it with short tracks by Borbetomagus, Kinothek Percussion Ensemble, and the Institute of Absurdity. Simply for the sake of diversity.

Tracks:

A1 Earl X - Exercise Number One - The Grind A2 NON - Wotanslager (Studio Version) Bells - Anton Szandor La Vey Tape [Loops] - Boyd Rice , Michael Moynihan A3 Bringdownz, The - I May Be Slow, But I Do Poor Work B1 Archipelago Brewing Company With Four Goddamn Girl Drummers - Hindustan B2 Smegma - Seymour Glass Is A Stupid F*ckhead B3 Merzbow / Ray And Peter Mail Confrontation - Scratchin' S.C.U.M. / Decent Human Bein' / Fuckin' Piece Of Cocksucker

CONDITION: Mag VG+ / Sleeve VG++ / Vinyl MINT-   excellent shape, magazine has slight wear, light finger smudging on textured cover; sleeve has light general wear; vinyl is near pristine.

Graded conservatively using Goldmine standards [G / G+ / VG / VG+ / NM / ]
grade only used if record is brand new.
Bid with confidence -- over 11000 positive feedbacks selling vinyl on eBay since 1998, with a total 11-year average of 100% positive.

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