If I Only Had a Brain

The Media vs. the Juice
Slack no. 11, The True Crime Issue
July-August 1994 (published 7-14-94)
The Phat Summer Reader

The blood dripped from where the knife sliced in and pooled around the edges of the wood. Earlier the rain came so I had to abandon my grill plans (you know us charcoal guys, we need that 20 minutes to get it going at least, maybe a half hour). I was stuck broiling and I couldn't seem to get this piece of meat cooked.

I was thinking of OJ, who was a star player in the issue of Slack I just scanned last night, the True Crime issue. Issue no. 11 went to print in the middle of July 1994 and it was two weeks prior that the Juice went on his slow Bronco run. I remember the night vividly as confusion filled the Third Room on Chippewa as all action was suspended. The crowd stared at the slow moving chase on the bar TV. This city, the world was mesmerized. I was DJing that Friday night, but had to wait until OJ surrendered several hours later. Weird and surreal, to say the least.

The trial was still far off and everyone was talking about OJ around here a lot. Buffalo played a big part in OJ's life and I remembered seeing him at Mulligan's on Hertel Avenue in the '80s one night latched onto 2 blond women- I always thought one of them could have been the late Nicole Brown Simpson, before she became late. Time has not been kind to OJ as we have seen the media splash his name in front of us anytime anything happened involving the Juice-- and things happened often including violent outbursts involving golf clubs and memorabilia stick-ups and what not.

The Slack True Crime issue features some great text about Buffalo in 1994 including several OJ pieces, Slack writer Gary Marzloff's story about spending a night in the holding center, a list of the best crime movies, and a detailed timeline titled The History of Sensational Crime- us Slackers were awesome researchers (and without using that Goolge or Wikipedia you kids like to click on)! This issue includes some great local music stuff including: a set of musings about Buffalonian's lack of dancing ability in Dre's After Dark column, an interview with Moe (a young then 3 year old band) talking about gigs at the Essex Street Pub! and some local record reviews including the Steam Donkey's Cosmic Americana and Them Jazzbeard's Highballs, Lowbrows and Presbyterians CD. Great!

Notes on Slack number eleven:

> It's highlighted on the cover "More words per square inch than any issue of Slack so far!" and there is some really small 7 or 8 point type in this issue... I expected people to read this?

> Hollywood's Best True Crime Portrayals list includes the movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band.

> Some great old Buffalo ads including Das Boot, The Remix Shop and The Otherside- which was DJ Scotty's radio program he did on WJJL AM 1440 on Saturday evenings. This was when I first met Mr. Scott who went on to become the other half of deja blu (10 years strong! Peace!).

> A Pisces Horroscope that concludes:

" Mr. Big wants to see you in his office right away. Stop coloring outside of the lines. A positive approach leaves you dawdling. You feel expressive. Avoid all summer blockbusters. They will cause neuralgia. You should enjoy the weather and get in touch with friends. Tempers flare and so do nostrils. Your are sleepy. You can relate. You feel love. You peel potatoes. You reach new heights. You are alive. That is all."

Download it here: Slack n. 11, The True Crime Issue (3.5 Mg)

Don't forget these issues already up:
Slack magazine n. 18, The Two-Year Anniversary! issue
Slack Magazine n. 9, The Dead Rock Stars Issue
Slack Magazine n. 8, The Beer Issue
Slack Magazine n. 6, The Buffalo Issue