WHAT # 2
edited by Kevin Connolly & Jason Sherman. Toronto, Conman Productions, december 1985.
Meet The Presses – arguably the event that gave rise to the now-widespread phenomenon of the "small press fair" – was organized by Nicholas Power (of Gesture Press) & Stuart Ross (Proper Tales Press) as a small monthly gathering in Toronto, first occurring in november of 1984 at the Scadding Court Community Centre at Bathurst & Dundas Streets. Nick & Stuart were both associated with York University (Nick working in the bookstore & his Gesture later publishing a poetry anthology called Ten Tandem via York; Stuart was typesetter for the student newspaper Excalibur), as were Kevin & Jason, both students at the time. they (Kevin & Jason) would come out to the fairs, both of'em all excited by the frenzy of obscure activity that was going on at the time that the fairs made visible for a brief few hours once a month.
Kevin is a poet & critic, Jason a scriptwriter. they both subjected themselves to the dream of a "wider audience" for the kinds of things they were encountering at the fairs & began plotting what magazine, later (with issue 3) drafting in 4 "contributing editors" of varied proclivities in an attempt to cast their net further than the surround that York offered (Brian Dedora for the "established avantgarde", Douglas Freake for drama, Stuart Ross for more traditional younger writers & myself for the newer nonlinear crew). what's first issue was a "shortrun" of 5ooo copies but, with issue 2, they leapt to double that, 1o,ooo of these things getting baled up & dropped off for free distribution at various booksellers & restaurants & whatnot around town every 2 months, something of a leap from having a pile on their table when issue 1 was launched at Meet The Presses.
this "ART'N POLITICS" issue has the editors interviewing Fred Gaysek & Jim Smith on "Art and Politics" & Crad Kilodney "On Writing" (also including his Fish Story). the "featured writer" (1o poems) is George Swede, introduced by jwcurry. 2 poems by Steven Now-Ross Smith & a prose work by Richard Truhlar constitute the rest of the "creative content" of the issue. the rest is commentary by Dan (not "Don", as R.D.Macpherson's cover has it) Bouzek (i believe the "Dan" of This Ain't The Rosedale Library backwhen) & book & theatre reviews by the editors. there're also some ads – a fun one for Gesture Press on the rear cover – & Macpherson's front cover comic.
as what evolved, it gained a letters (& responses) column, readings reviews (mainly by Nick Power) & sundry other attachments as it tried to be representative of more & more of "the literary scene" in its scant tabloid format (this one's 3 sheets/12 pages). ultimately, its aspirations outgrew its workability & the editors squabbled, the tabloid format was dropped, it became a standard saddlestapled 8-1/2 x 11 literary rag for but a handful of issues, then simply failed to show up at parties anymore. Connolly has continued his identity as a minor Canadian poet (& editor, critic & teacher); Sherman became a semi-celebrated playwright but proclaimed his apartness from it all in 2oo7 & now writes only for television.
according to some, what "was considered highly influential"; i can't imagine by whom. while it was "somewhat feisty", its trajectory was at a relatively acute angle away from sabotaging mainstream sensibilities toward accommodating them. this 2nd issue already has them embracing the "topical", subjugating art to the service of ideology (only 3 of its 12 pages carrying any of its above-noted "creative content").
what could've been a fun project: certainly the copies that were stacked around Toronto disappeared & were read (though i'd be willing to bet few were retained) but what of this supposed "influence" on what amounts to "club culture"? swiffed into the void that takes the place of content at the bottom of the birdcage, no doubt.
as a bookseller, i've been offering these things for free & for sale since it began & rarely does anyone ever pick up on them. for that matter, i find that rarely has anyone even heard of the thing, despite its continued presence in various lists & studies (not only mine). of course, this can partly be blamed on yr typical literatum's ignorance of what goes on beyond the magazine rack of the moment but it's not as though my comments in print or speech have been ascerbic warnings-away; i've repeatedly tried to encourage people to check it out & still have hundreds of them carefully stored to trade for an occasional 2buck token.
but i'll tell ya something: i personally only need one copy of each issue to keep & occasionally read parts of. this particular issue i've probably still some 75 copies of. when i run outta scrap newspaper & need to drain some french fries, it's often one of these i'll reach for. this is expressly not the purpose for which i select & acquire cultural artefacts as the conscience behind Room 3o2 Books. nevertheless, faced with such a conspicuous (yet seemingly invisible) production, what exactly is the difference between 1 or 5 fewer copies outta the 75 outta the 1o,ooo in a culture that couldn't give a shit & doesn't want it in the first place?
as someone who'd been involved with what – as contributor from issue 1 on, contributing editor for 1o issues, reviewer, advertiser, distributor, bibliographer, & performer at some of what's events – i've a lot of leftover ire that's worth a good burn but i've a lot to thank them for, too: it was unquestionably an entertainable part of the cultural continuum of the time rather than a mere entertainment apart from it; despite its somewhat convoluted agendæ, it carried a higher-end representative sampling of what was going on that was inclusive of the more esoteric zones of writing as just part of their range of content, rather than ghettoïzing it all into "special issue"s.
so this burner isn't soaked in starchy lard or otherwise unsaleable; it's a nice, clean, almost flat copy set free as memorial offering in order for at least this one artefactual example to have achieved greater meaning than waiting in a box for an attention that'll never come.
WHAT # 2
edited by Kevin Connolly & Jason Sherman. Toronto, Conman Productions, december 1985.
Meet The Presses – arguably the event that gave rise to the now-widespread phenomenon of the "small press fair" – was organized by Nicholas Power (of Gesture Press) & Stuart Ross (Proper Tales Press) as a small monthly gathering in Toronto, first occurring in november of 1984 at the Scadding Court Community Centre at Bathurst & Dundas Streets. Nick & Stuart were both associated with York University (Nick working in the bookstore & his Gesture later publishing a poetry anthology called Ten Tandem via York; Stuart was typesetter for the student newspaper Excalibur), as were Kevin & Jason, both students at the time. they (Kevin & Jason) would come out to the fairs, both of'em all excited by the frenzy of obscure activity that was going on at the time that the fairs made visible for a brief few hours once a month.
Kevin is a poet & critic, Jason a scriptwriter. they both subjected themselves to the dream of a "wider audience" for the kinds of things they were encountering at the fairs & began plotting what magazine, later (with issue 3) drafting in 4 "contributing editors" of varied proclivities in an attempt to cast their net further than the surround that York offered (Brian Dedora for the "established avantgarde", Douglas Freake for drama, Stuart Ross for more traditional younger writers & myself for the newer nonlinear crew). what's first issue was a "shortrun" of 5ooo copies but, with issue 2, they leapt to double that, 1o,ooo of these things getting baled up & dropped off for free distribution at various booksellers & restaurants & whatnot around town every 2 months, something of a leap from having a pile on their table when issue 1 was launched at Meet The Presses.
this "ART'N POLITICS" issue has the editors interviewing Fred Gaysek & Jim Smith on "Art and Politics" & Crad Kilodney "On Writing" (also including his Fish Story). the "featured writer" (1o poems) is George Swede, introduced by jwcurry. 2 poems by Steven Now-Ross Smith & a prose work by Richard Truhlar constitute the rest of the "creative content" of the issue. the rest is commentary by Dan (not "Don", as R.D.Macpherson's cover has it) Bouzek (i believe the "Dan" of This Ain't The Rosedale Library backwhen) & book & theatre reviews by the editors. there're also some ads – a fun one for Gesture Press on the rear cover – & Macpherson's front cover comic.
as what evolved, it gained a letters (& responses) column, readings reviews (mainly by Nick Power) & sundry other attachments as it tried to be representative of more & more of "the literary scene" in its scant tabloid format (this one's 3 sheets/12 pages). ultimately, its aspirations outgrew its workability & the editors squabbled, the tabloid format was dropped, it became a standard saddlestapled 8-1/2 x 11 literary rag for but a handful of issues, then simply failed to show up at parties anymore. Connolly has continued his identity as a minor Canadian poet (& editor, critic & teacher); Sherman became a semi-celebrated playwright but proclaimed his apartness from it all in 2oo7 & now writes only for television.
according to some, what "was considered highly influential"; i can't imagine by whom. while it was "somewhat feisty", its trajectory was at a relatively acute angle away from sabotaging mainstream sensibilities toward accommodating them. this 2nd issue already has them embracing the "topical", subjugating art to the service of ideology (only 3 of its 12 pages carrying any of its above-noted "creative content").
what could've been a fun project: certainly the copies that were stacked around Toronto disappeared & were read (though i'd be willing to bet few were retained) but what of this supposed "influence" on what amounts to "club culture"? swiffed into the void that takes the place of content at the bottom of the birdcage, no doubt.
as a bookseller, i've been offering these things for free & for sale since it began & rarely does anyone ever pick up on them. for that matter, i find that rarely has anyone even heard of the thing, despite its continued presence in various lists & studies (not only mine). of course, this can partly be blamed on yr typical literatum's ignorance of what goes on beyond the magazine rack of the moment but it's not as though my comments in print or speech have been ascerbic warnings-away; i've repeatedly tried to encourage people to check it out & still have hundreds of them carefully stored to trade for an occasional 2buck token.
but i'll tell ya something: i personally only need one copy of each issue to keep & occasionally read parts of. this particular issue i've probably still some 75 copies of. when i run outta scrap newspaper & need to drain some french fries, it's often one of these i'll reach for. this is expressly not the purpose for which i select & acquire cultural artefacts as the conscience behind Room 3o2 Books. nevertheless, faced with such a conspicuous (yet seemingly invisible) production, what exactly is the difference between 1 or 5 fewer copies outta the 75 outta the 1o,ooo in a culture that couldn't give a shit & doesn't want it in the first place?
as someone who'd been involved with what – as contributor from issue 1 on, contributing editor for 1o issues, reviewer, advertiser, distributor, bibliographer, & performer at some of what's events – i've a lot of leftover ire that's worth a good burn but i've a lot to thank them for, too: it was unquestionably an entertainable part of the cultural continuum of the time rather than a mere entertainment apart from it; despite its somewhat convoluted agendæ, it carried a higher-end representative sampling of what was going on that was inclusive of the more esoteric zones of writing as just part of their range of content, rather than ghettoïzing it all into "special issue"s.
so this burner isn't soaked in starchy lard or otherwise unsaleable; it's a nice, clean, almost flat copy set free as memorial offering in order for at least this one artefactual example to have achieved greater meaning than waiting in a box for an attention that'll never come.