Ministry of Zines

Ministry of Zines Update

2007-07-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

Hello,
The Ministry of Zines blog is effectively out of action. However, the Ministry of Zines will be organising part of the Newcastle Young Writers' Festival Zine and Independent Press Fair, further Academy of DIY events and so on and so forth. All our info is now being run, oddly enough, through our MySpace page:

www.myspace.com/ministryofzines

Do feel free to visit. Otherwise, keep an eye on my other blog, where I'll doubtless be posting stuff as well:

http://nonpapierkrieg.blogspot.com/

yours,
Ianto Ware
Co-Director
South Australian Ministry of Zines

Really Good In Theory

2007-03-27T23:57:00.000-07:00

Karl just sent me the Official Really Good In Theory blurb. There's a meeting at Urtext for all interested parties on Sat, March 31st from 2:30.

REALLY GOOD IN THEORY

Saturday April 14th

The Local Produce Market was a huge success last year and has expanded to include even more cottage industry record labels, zines, small press, visual art, distros, badge makers and more. Representing will be the likes of; Fuken Stoner; EC Productions; Blank Tapes; A Perfect Gentleman; Salvage Music; Patterns In Static; Smashed Records; Mercy Mercy; Spiral Objective; Noisy Disturbance; Ministry Of Zines; Paroxysm Press; The South Australian Institute for the Photocopied Arts; Urtext Films and much more. All will have their wares on show. CD's, records, tapes, books, patches, clothes, zines, badges, even, second hand goods, all at prices even the guy from that cheap shop ad couldn't believe. And then there is The History Lesson. A table dedicated to indie and DIY releases of Adelaide's murky past. All over the country there are old releases gathering dust under people's beds and in their sheds. Effort has been made to track down releases from labels like Pop Gun, Hip To Hate, Rim Of Hell, Greasy Pop and others to provide an opportunity for people to rediscover (or discover for the first time) Adelaide's pop underground heritage.Local art will adorn the walls and include such mediums as paint, photography and sculpture. Established and rising stars of the Adelaide art world will be on display for all to marvel at.then from 8.30pm for a cost of seven bucks you can witness the aural and visual joys of HOME FOR THE DEF, AVIATOR LANE, EMERGENCY CRANK RADIO and AVANT GARDENERS (who are also launching their two-years-in-the-making debut cd). there will also be dj's, light shows, films, hecklers and lovely people.

For more info visit:

www.myspace.com/rgit

Or email:

apg@junkcentral.com

Fame and Fortune: 2007 Zine & DIY Fair

2007-03-25T23:10:00.000-07:00

Despite the sudden onset of autumn, March 24 saw zinesters, artistes and DIY practitioners emerge in their dozens to attend the second annual Fringe Zine Fair! Huzzah!

Local artist Laura Wills displays her enviable new range of stickers, soy milk wallets and artworks

Wollongong's favourite son Andy, one half of a dynamic duo completed by Wollongong's favourite daughter Maddy Feline (also in attendance but out of frame)

Adelaide's favourite zine import, Luke Sinclair of Melbourne's Sticky Zine Shop smugly surveys his empire.

Infamous Adelaide expatriate, scholarly gentleman, pony lover, street artist and art director of 'Bogue' Magazine, Chris Tamm pretends to eat a papier mache icecream.

Sometime zinester and Free Marketeer Sophie props up her trademark zine suitcase from the prevailing winds.

Greg aka. Musical Sherpa takes a break from the Spiral Objective stall to join the Sticky Pages Soundsystem and drown out the gentle sounds of jangling coins and turning pages.

DIYers victorious!

2007-03-18T19:41:00.000-07:00

On Saturday 17th March, DIYers from across the city descended on the Karen Eliot Social Centre & Cafe in Brompton for an action-packed day of workshops, discussions, skillsharing and falafel rolls. Running for almost a full 12 hours, well over 50 people squeezed into the Centre for topics as vast as photo developing with coffee to contemporary feminist activism. An enormous thanks to all who participated in this event, and to those who ran workshops, facilitated discussions, brought equipment or ideas to share or made excellent food.

Laura Wills shares her wisdom of the delicate art of wallet construction from soy milk containers

Anna Svedberg's badge-making workshop (and stack of old comics) provide solace from the hectic pace of handball

Yasmin shares some Turkish during Robin's linguistic crash-course

Matthew spreads the gospel of developing black and white photos with such unexpected substances as coffee, washing soda and salt water

Bike lovers Bonnie and Dan (and Darren) empower the masses with basic bike mechanics

Behold! The complete time table for the DIY Day!

2007-03-12T18:02:00.000-07:00

Saturday March 17
Academy of DIY - Day of Workshops and Panels
12 till 8:30ish, Karen Elliot Social Centre, 48 Hawker St Brompton

In theory, this is a day of non-stop DIY education. In practice it's likely to be more of a day long picnic and handball free for all, ending in three panels, a film screening and a dinner provided by Food Not Bombs. It's totally free to take part - although a gold coin donation to the social centre would be wonderful- you can turn up and leave whenever it suits you and there'll be alternative activities occurring for when you get bored. And bring picnic foods.

The time table looks like this:

Tutorials
12:00 Handball with Stan and Ben from Excitement Machine
Stan and Ben launch the day with a training session in the gentle art of handball. This is followed by a non-stop, free for all handball tournament. Those who don't wish to play can doubtless bet vast sums of money from the sidelines.

12:30 Badge Making Workshop 30-40 mins
Probably less a badge making workshop than a badge making free for all, although presumably with some sort of monetary charge to cover expenses.

1:00 Making Wallets out of Long Life Milk Cartons 30 - 45 mins
Laura Wills unveils the genteel art of turning long life milk cartons into striking wallets, which you can use to contain the money you've made betting on handball. She says she'll bring along the necessary supplies, but it probably won't hurt to bring some of your own milk cartons - if only so you can have a wallet reflecting your favourite brand of soy milk.

Seminars
1:45 Chemical Free Photography with Matthew - 45 mins - 1 hour
Using his powerful brain, Matthew with instruct you on developing photographic film using ancient herbal recipes passed down by the ancient Egyptians, or something to a similar effect.

2:45 Robin's Language Crash Course - 45 mins -1 hour
Within 45 to 60 minutes you will learn as much as you can from as many languages as is feasibly possible with the aid of Robin and her team of skilled linguistics experts.

3:45 Ready Set Ride Bike Repair Workshop - 1 hour
Our friends from Ready Set Ride present an overview of basic bicycle mechanics, designed to ensure you understand such vital procedures as changing a tire, fixing your brakes and cleaning your chain.

Lectures
After the primary learning experiences gained in the tutorials and seminars we move on to the evening program, containing three enthralling and painfully educational lectures.

5:00 Non-Famous Rock Stars Panel
Nigel Koop (Home for the Def/Blank Tapes), Matt Banham (No Through Road), Lara Souilo (Star Ten Hash) and the indefatigable Mike Radz (Aviator Lane), discuss the nuances of setting up home recording facilities, booking shows, distribution and generally being an entirely non-famous rock star. At least two members of this panel are guaranteed to be drunk and surly at any given moment.

6:15 The Laura Butterworth All Stars Feminist Hour
Laura Butterworth and her Feminist All Stars discuss feminist activism across the ages. A little like the Harlem Globe Trotters, except with more reference to gender, identity and politics. Particular emphasis on the new IR laws!

7:30 The Power of Community: Permaculture in Cuba with Elvira
We end the day with a special guest lecturer - critically acclaimed Elvira. Sophie sent me the following descriptive blurb:

"Amazing Melbourne non-violence, women's rights, and community gardening activist Elvira will be sharing her inspiring stories and photos of permaculture gardening in Cuba, as well as screening the film "The Power of Community: How Cuba survived Peak Oil" (see http://www.communitysolution.org/cuba.html).
Elvira is endlessly curious about what might go right in our future. To this end, she traveled to Cuba to see a society that went through an energy and economic crisis simultaneously, and had to rebuild its agricultural system from the worms up...Come and hear about a country where cities grow enough food to feed their citizens, where bikes outnumber cars, and where organics is the norm!"
And then, later in the evening:

Dumpster Cycling Tour
I think the plan is to meet at 10pm at the Mall's balls.

The Zine Resource Room

2007-03-07T15:49:00.000-08:00

The Zine Resource Room

21 Mellor Street

1st Floor

Inside the Old Balfours Factory/Fringe Offices

Open Seven Days a Week from 11 till 3

Until April 1st or So

I've had a few people tell me that finding the Zine Resource Room was a little baffling. To help ease confusion, here's an elaborate pictorial guide to finding it.

First you need to find Mellor St. This photo (above) is taken from the corner of Waymouth and Mellor, looking south. It's just opposite Light Square, a little south and on the other side of the road from the Grace Emily Hotel.

So you turn down Mellor. At the end is the Balfours Factory. In the middle is a Fringetix office. The doorway to the Zine Resource Room is on the right. You can see it in this picture, just a bit before the scooter.

The Doorway looks like this. I've put a sign on it, so it's pretty clear. If it's closed you might need to ring the doorbell, in which event one of the friendly staff from the Fringe Offices will come open it for you.

Then you need to go up some stairs (pictured). At the top there is a scary door. Don't worry. There's no one sitting behind it who will glare at you in surprise when you open it and tell you to go away. It leads into a little annex space thing.

Once you go through the door, turn left. You'll come out into an office space (pictured). The Zine Resource Room is at the back, on the right. There's plenty of signs directing you where to go. If you need anything, the people working in the Fringe Offices are all uber helpful. Keep a particular eye out for Rino and Penny, the most helpful of all.

The Fringe people are uber keen for us to use this space. If there's a proven demand they might be able to get funding for it and next year it'll include more than just a single photocopier. If no one uses it then it won't get funding and it won't exist next year. Thus, use it. Also, take in gifts of baked goods and so forth to give to the Fringe people. Any rumours you've heard about people working in the arts industry being either snooty or well paid are entirely unfounded.

Next Event - March 17th

2007-03-05T06:10:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Wizard for the Tour de Suburban Storm Drains, which went down a treat despite me being so tired I couldn't maintain conversation.

Our next event is scheduled for March 17th. The run down of it I sent Excitement Machine goes like this:

***
Academy of DIY - Day of Workshops and Panels
March 17th, Karen Eliot Social Centre
Cnr Hawker St and Coglin St, Brompton
12-6ish

This is a lengthy day of, theoretically, panels and workshops but, more likely, picnics, shit talk and handball. What follows is the conventional run down of events:

Tutorials

12:00 Handball Tutorial
I figure we kick the day off with you teaching people how to play handball, and then you just keep playing handball until your hands are bleeding. It will be like a marathon.

12:30 Badge Making Workshop 30 mins
Anna Svedberg is organising it, but hasn't got back to me yet so I'm not sure what her plan is. I figure she'll let people mess around with her badge machine.

1:00 Making Wallets out of Soy Containers 30 mins
Laura Wills shows you how to make attractive wallets out of old soy milk cartons. I've seen one of them and they're actually pretty amazing. And cheap!

1:30 Non-Chemical Photography
I think Matthew is going to run a half hour tutorial on developing photographic film on the cheap using non-lethal chemicals. I have no idea about this whole photography lark, but I'm pretty sure he knows what he's doing.

Seminars
1:45 Robin's Language Crash Course 45 hour - hour
Robin is getting a bunch of people to teach the basics of a wide array of languages within the shortest possible period of time. I think it'll be predominantly learning how to apologise profusely, order food and drink and probably how to recite select curse words. She's a genius, so I'm sure it will be amazing.

2:45 Ready Set Ride Bike Repair Workshop - 1 hour
Our pals at Ready Set Ride will be hosting an overview of basic bicycle mechanics. They're damn nice and they'll make your cycling related life a hell of a lot easier by teaching you how to stop your bike falling apart.

Lectures
4:00 Non-Famous Rock Stars Panel with Nigel Koop (Blank Tapes, Home for the Def), Lara Soulio (Star Ten Hash), Matt Banham (No Through Road) and Mike Radz (Aviator Lane) - Discussing the nuances of recording, booking shows, playing rock and roll and not being a jerk about it. Most of the people on this panel will probably be drunk and at least moderately entertaining.

5:15 The Laura Butterworth All Stars Feminist Hour
Famous local feminist activists talk about being famous feminist activists, with the guidance of Feminist All Star of the Year (junior division), Laura Butterworth.

We have a late edition occuring from around 6:30ish. Sophie sent me an email saying she has a friend who, depending on whether she can get over here in time, would like to;

...present stuff on community-building in Cuba, based on her time there, which would include showing the film "The Power of Community", presenting some slides and definitely musings on what's working and what isn't in Cuba. She would need speakers, projectors, and a screen (I can organise a projector and the social centre has a screen).

And then, later that night...

Dumpster Cycling Tour with Roxy et al
March 17th
Starts around 10 PM, leaving from somewhere on Rundle Mall.
A cycling tour of city dumpstering locales with a couple of nutrition experts, giving a hands on display of doing your food shopping for free without accumulating dangerous stomach problems.

***

Joel is still in Africa fighting crime or whatever. He sent me an email yesterday telling me that internet access is a little dodgy in the Skull Cave, but he'll be home soon.

Zine Resource Room Launched!

2007-02-16T15:15:00.000-08:00

Now the Ministry of Zines has a three-dimensional home!

On a balmy Friday night in the old Balfours building, ribbons were cut to officially open the new Ministry of Zines/Fringe Zine Resource Room! The Room contains a photocopier, and sundry office supplies so that you too can make your very own photocopied wonders in preparation for the upcoming 2007 Adelaide Zine & DIY Fair!

Donations of extra stationary are most welcome, as are posters and notices for upcoming DIY-related events or projects!

A huge thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate the opening of the Zine sweat-box, and to Rino, Penny, Roxy, Adrian, Sophie and all others who helped with food, decoration and getting the thing off the ground!

The Zine Resource Room is open from 11.00am - 3.00pm Monday-Friday.

Proactive Pursuit

2007-02-13T04:22:00.000-08:00

There's another event on the Month of Adelaide DIY schedule:

The Proactive Pursuit Preliminary Party, as organised by Adrian and Roxy. For more info email them at: proactivepursuit@gmail.com

Ministry of Zines Resource Room Launch Party Details

2007-02-07T05:05:00.000-08:00

Alright, the first actual event is upon us:

The Ministry of Zines Resource Room

Official Launch

Friday, February 16th

6 PM
Balfours Factory - Enter via the lane way running down the side of The Garage off Waymouth Street, opposite Light Square. We'll put signs up.

Thanks to a total lack of funds the Resource Room is basically an empty room in the Fringe offices. According to the Fringe, a successful turn out at events this year will affect funding for the zine fair in the future. And funding would mean me and Joel don't have to pay for stuff out of own pockets and we can help support people to come over from interstate. So come along, pack out the Resource Room and we'll all get rich beyond our wildest dreams.

Reputedly the event will be catered by Food Not Bombs, although I haven't actually asked them about it.

Afterwards we'll all go out and wander the streets and cause trouble.

Joel will be leaving for a two week conference in West Africa. He may not return, so come say good bye to him.

General Update

2007-02-06T15:38:00.000-08:00

Applications for the Zine Fair are flowing in thick and fast, but in other news:

Saturday, March 17th: DIY Panels, Workshops and Handball Tournament

It's already been noted that there'll be a language crash course, workshops on making your own shows and bike repair. However, the following additions have now been made:

Making Shit Music and Making It Well
Nigel Koop (Home for the Def/Blank Tapes), Matt Banham (No Through Road) and Mike Radz (Aviator Lane) talk about making music sans any form of funding, setting up your own studio, booking your shows and making yourself a legitimate DIY rock star.

An As Yet Untitled Forum on Feminist Activism
As run by the brutually charming Laura Butterworth, long standing feminist activist, and expert in good times.

I'm keen to hear from other people interested in doing panels or workshops on stuff they can do.

Also, I'm told that on Saturday March 3rd there's going to be a street party, starting in Victoria Square, to object to Workchoices. It's being organised by MediaStrike, who you can expect to see at the zine fair.

Emailing stuff

2007-02-03T23:05:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my computer blowing itself up (literally) I no longer have access to all my old email addresses. If you've emailed me recently or you're on the general Ministry of Zines mailing list, can you please send me an email at: kanbara@senet.com.au

Zine Fair Poster now available!

2007-01-30T18:35:00.000-08:00

The poster for the 2007 Adelaide Zine & DIY Fair is now available! If you would like to be emailed a pdf version to print, photocopy and distribute, email madhorsemanofmarrakesh[at]yahoo.com. Flyers are also available.

The poster includes confirmed participants for the Zine Fair, including Alistair Wallis (Little Mathletics, Fred Bassett zine), Antonyms for: Demure, Clara Tzara (Harrumph!, Cautionary Tales for Girls #69), Distruption Distro, Greg Wood (Spiral Objective), Ianto Ware (Westside Angst, Das Papierkrieg), Institute for International Grrrls of Riot, Laura Wills, Luke Sinclair (Sticky Zine Shop), Matthew Lorenzon (Glue Gun Records), MediaStrike (The Antidote), Philosopher's Sweat Shop, Those Meddling Kids, Trading Hearts Badgemaking, as well as Sophie Green coordinating a Really, Really Free Market, the Sticky Pages Sound System making a triumphant return and much, much, much more!

It's Official: Zine Fair 07

2007-01-30T18:06:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Please consider this your very own official invite to the 2007 Zine and DIY Fair, as organised by the Ministry of Zines and sponsored by Adelaide Fringe Festival.

At last year's zine fair literally hundreds of people from Adelaide and interstate made literally dozens of dollars selling, trading and generally giving away their lovingly hand made publications and associated DIY products.

It was so wildly successful that the Fringe has asked us at the Ministry of Zines to repeat the event. This year we'll be redoubling our efforts; there'll be even more zinesters and DIY enthusiasts eating even more delectable picnic foods and engaging in even more pleasant conversation.

Participation is free. Email us before hand if you'd like to book a table. The Fringe is once again providing us with a photocopier and a mass of stationary supplies for the day. You are encouraged to bring along picnic food.

What's more, there will also be a Really, Really Free Market, where everything is free! Already a stack of books and clothes has begun to grow in preparation - if you have books, clothes, plants or other smallish objects that you think someone might like, or would like to contribute in other ways, contact the Minister for Freedom at thesootyshow[at]hotmail.com.

To book a table or voice your desire to take part please email the Ministry of Zines at kanbara[at]senet.com.au

The Fringe is also offering a Zine Resource Room for a month. Get in contact with us to take part in the Official Zine Resource Launch Party and for access to free photocopying and pilfered office supplies.

Were also attempting to coerce other DIY types to put on a string of events in the lead up to the zine fair, thereby continuing the Ministry of Zines' primary goal of proving there's more to do in Adelaide than sit around watching TV and complaining because all your friends have moved to Melbourne. There'll be cycling events courtesy of Ready, Set, Ride!, a Food Not Bombs contingent, valuable tours of Adelaide Dumpster Diving locales, city wide Cold War chasey, a potential Cave Clan tour and urban golf tournament plus whatever else we can coerce people to put on. Get in contact with us if you're keen to take part.

For late breaking news keep one eye firmly fixed on: http://ministryofzines.blogspot.com

yours,

Joel Catchlove and Ianto Ware
The Ministry of Zines

General Update

2007-01-18T04:05:00.000-08:00

Long time no post, but things are gradually falling into place.

The zine fair is still set for Saturday the 24th of March. Expect to see flyers and so forth out soon.

We're also continuing to attempt to organise DIY events beforehand. We're having a 'meeting' on Thursday Jan 25th at the Exeter at 6 PM to further orchestrate. Email me at kanbara@senet.com.au or just turn up if you've got stuff you want to do for it.

Hot summer exhibitions from local geniuses!

2006-12-19T16:39:00.000-08:00

There are a couple of fantastic exhibitions running throughout December of work by fantastic local artistes:

The first, 'Giving and receiving' is a collection of images by the incomparable Laura Wills, painted and drawn onto maps in a gestural exploration of relationships with the earth. You may remember Laura from a number of art prizes and exhibitions, or perhaps you had the pleasure of meeting her at the last Adelaide Fringe Zine Fair earlier this year! It's being held in the foyer of Carclew Youth Arts Centre, Jeffcott Street, North Adelaide.

The second is a delightful exhibition by Carly Schwerdt and Claire Thompson-Richards, upstairs at the Tin Cat Cafe, Rundle Road, Kent Town. Carly's Morphe II soft-creature exhibtion down at NestStudio, Croydon recently concluded, and for those who missed it here's a grand opportunity for another taste! What's more, I've emailed her, and she may be appearing at the next Zine Fair! Ooh ah. You can check out the exhibition details at http://www.tincat.com.au, and you can check out their work at Carly's website http://neststudio.typepad.com/.

Yeah!

Nightrider!

2006-12-13T15:01:00.000-08:00

Join Adelaide's finest wheeled wonders for the third Ready, Set ... Ride! community bicycle adventure!
This Friday 15 December, 8.00pm, Victoria Square, near the monstrous plastic pine tree.

"Light up the night, decorate your bike!"

All bikes welcome!

Urban golf and Cave Clan

2006-12-12T04:45:00.000-08:00

I keep posting this and blogger keeps failing to recognise it.
I've talked to a guy who says he can help us organise urban golf. For pictures take a look at:

http://www.urban-golf.org/

And I talked to everyone's favourite Cave Clan tour guide who says he might be able to do another tour of the city's storm drains on the first or second weekend of February. Learn more here: http://www.caveclan.org/

End-of-year Zine Adventures in Sydney

2006-12-03T17:05:00.000-08:00

Well, if anyone's planning on heading east around Christmas, then be sure to check out this fabulous sounding event. One of the organisers, a fellow by the name of Keg Roll, was present (in spirit/zine form) at the last Adelaide Fringe Zine Fair and hopes to come over in bodily form for the next one, bringing with him armfuls of his delicately bound, pocket-sized wonders and promising highly successful workshops. From memory, he's had something to do with SquatSpace too - a rather inspiring bunch of urban arty activisty types: http://squatspace.com/index.php

---DIY ROOFTOP MARKETS (SYDNEY)---

the train is moving on this massive zine fair and DIY ROOFTOP markets we got planned as a special prelude to christmas and...

WE WANT YOU!!
to have a stall...

zines, records, cds handmade thingys everything you do or diy...

its $5 a table space [its byo table at the moment] so you might want to book one

its from 4pm til 10pm on the 23rd december hiberian house rooftop
342 elizabeth street surry hills [a stones throw from central station]
[get the lift to 4th floor- go through the door on your right you'll see us]

if you havent been to the plastic bag space before well now its time to ditch your green bags and come along- with its urban rooftop jungle and incredible city views you wont want to leave as you sip on tropical drinks... but the best thing is you wont have to!!

the afternoon will head on into a gig in the evening featuring:
the warm feelings and naked on the vague; plus more to be announced...

you can email me: kegkicks[at]yahoo.com for more info or check www.dualplover.com for more info closer to the date.

---spread this around like aloe vera on sunburn---

More news about related events

2006-11-25T06:49:00.000-08:00

Two things are booked for the 15th of December:

(1) Ready Set Ride's Nightrider adventure leaves from Victoria Square at 8 PM. It's been rescheduled cause Bonnie's working.

(2) Steve Banham and Nigel Koop debut their long awaited film 'Napolean of Burnside' plus a few other things at the Mercury from about 7.

Vibewire call for papers

2006-11-14T17:13:00.000-08:00

My zine friend Maddie has asked me to spread around a call for papers from Vibewire. So here goes:

What's your big idea?

Interface Call for Ideas

Vibewire is looking for Australia's next generation of public thinkers to contribute to Interface, our annual magazine anthology of new writing on contemporary social, political and cultural issues.

If you're aged between 16 and 30 and have something innovative, insightful and engaging to say, we want to hear from you.

Send us a proposal of no more than 500 words (shorter is fine) outlining your idea, why it's important and why you're the best person to write about it.

Selected entries will be developed into longer, 1000-3000 word essays, articles and stories with the guidance of some of the country's leading young writers.

The scope of what you can write about is almost limitless - just keep it interesting. Submissions will be evaluated on originality, broad public appeal and expression by a panel of judges including Julianne Schultz ( Griffith Review), Tony Moore (Pluto Press), Julia Baird (Sydney Morning Herald) and Vibewire's Rachel Hills and Tom Dawkins.

Submissions close Monday November 20, at 5pm EST. For more information on the project, what we're looking for and how to submit, go to www.vibewire.net/3/interface.

More news

2006-11-14T16:27:00.000-08:00

I talked to Bonnie from Ready Set Ride the other day who was telling me about some guy who is into urban gaming who might do stuff during our month of DIY hell in the lead up to the Zine Fair on March 24th next year. Apparently he has a particular love for urban golf, in which one obtains second hand golf attire and clubs and takes to the streets of the city whacking a tennis ball around. It sounds ideal - just like the Dinosaur Jr film clip for Feel the Pain.

Also, mail art doyens Post No Bills and Flying Machine Zine Distro are looking likely to head over for the zine fair.

Return to A-Town

2006-11-07T15:39:00.000-08:00

This is the new and extremely formal website for the South Australian Ministry of Zines. The ministry is organising the second annual Fringe Zine and DIY Fair, taking place on March 24th. We're attempting to get everyone else we know to do DIY related events in the month or so leading up to the zine fair thus creating a swirling vortex of DIY. This website is intended as the online forum for our press releases and so forth and so on.

To that end, here are some general news bulletins:

(1) I've put out a new edition of Return to A-Town, my critically acclaimed series of zines about the city of Adelaide. I've been leaving copies around town but they disappear pretty quickly because they're, to use the vernacular of the youth, 'totally rad'. I'll make up more this week.

(2) Animate Quarterly, which is billed as a 'live literary journal' is being launched as follows:

Thursday November 17th
La Boheme
36 Grote Street (Opposite Coles in the City)

I got an ad for it from Bel Shenk, of Sonja and Bell fame.

Ready, Set, Ride! NIGHTRIDER!

2006-11-05T19:20:00.000-08:00

The Ready, Set, Ride! team has returned off the back of their tremendous second Community Bike Ride with 'Nightrider'

...

Hello riding friends,
The festive season is near, but before you are all booked up be sure to add this date to your diary.
Ready, Set, Ride! NIGHTRIDER
Saturday 16th December – Meet Victoria Square at 8pm.

Now you all have a few good weeks to think about how to decorate your bike and dress up. Think sparkles, glow in the dark, reflectors, mirrors, fire, fluoro and flashing lights. Be as fun and as creative as you wish. Prizes will be awarded!

How many lights can you fit on your bike?

See you all there!