Electric Relaxation

Slack magazine Goes Online- sort of...

Well I threatened, and it finally happened: I create a PDF of issue number 9 of Slack magazine to introduce the world to one of Buffalo's greatest Zines! Hopefully in the next many months, I will try and get all 20 issues up!

Slack magazine ran from July 1993 to the March 1996. It totaled 20 issues, each with a theme. The original Slack was dreamed up by my then-substance-influenced roommate (Duds!) at the time and myself. Teaming with beats-influenced DJ Andre (Megadose!!), the plan was to create a truly alternative publication that catered to like minded individuals with a sarcastic sense of humor that skewered all that was around us. "All The News That's Fit To Be Tied," the Slack claimed to be the "greatest alternative publication to unearth from the streets of Buffalo" and included original comix by Mack, Hump and Don Keller's serial Slacker in Space, record reviews (Cool Like Dat) , DJ lists, the original Horrorscope by Brad M., band interviews (808 State, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, Lance Diamond), and boatloads of snarky sarcasm! Themed issues included: Sex in the '90s, TV, Buffalo (with Jimmy Griffin on the cover), Dead Rock Stars, Cartoons, Radio, Sci-Fi and two hugely successful Beer issues.

Birth, School, Work, Death:
My man, Andre took care of the ads and was the music editor, I did all the editor work: assigning stories, bugging the writers at deadline, picking up the floppy disks (no email really as of yet) and sometimes typesetting the stories (Mr. Jeff Strickland!). I would spend hours mapping out the content and ads, cramming it all into the pages set up in Pagemaker. And I wrote stories and music reviews!

Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe:
The Slack aesthetics was cut and paste, yet the 'zine was created using my Mac Se30. So it was early computer graphics, scans from vintage, rock and skateboard magazines (again, no real internet or Google Images yet, kids), semi-grunge design, a multitude of typefaces and lots of content packed tightly within 16-20 pages. I used to print out the page spreads on Stat Paper after-hours at my pre-press job, and get the 500-800 issues printed at Kinkos, all on my newly minted Kinko's Credit Card (boy, that was a mistake). They would take a few days to print and I would pick up the stacks of legal pages, go back to the North Buffalo, Woodward Street apartment and have a beer drinking/ folding and stapling party. Then Andre and I would spend a few days driving around the city dropping off stacks of Slack at shops, restaurants and bars.

Renegade Soundwave:
Instead of starting at issue 1, I thought I would jump right into the meat of it with issue number 9, the Dead Rock Stars issue which featured: recently suicided Kurt as "slacker of the month", the Slack Complete Listing of Dead Rock Stars, Rock Gods Who Should be Dead, a list of all the drugs in Elvis's medicine chest, Dre's After Dark club column, a Bitter Boy (was not me, honest...) pen about bad driving habits and, of course, the legendary (and often copied) Horrorscope. From May 1994 the issue is soaked in mid '90s rock with many references to Cobain, ads for the Grand Opening of The Atomic on Chippewa and the rock club ICON (75¢ Rolling Rocks), and notes about then-prez Clinton, the death of Dick Nixon and Bosnia.

Enjoy- click here to download PDF (3.1 Mb) of Slack #9- print it out and read it, do not read it on the computer (this is a print publication)! Let 'em R.I.P.

Raisin Blowme where are you?