BOOK REVIEW: APARTMENT 4B, LIKE IN BROOKLYN by Evan Ginzburg

WHAT could have been a wistful look back at one man’s childhood growing up in a culturally and racially changing neighbourhood in New York City, instead ended up being a painful look at racism, petty crime, random childhood cruelty and school bullying. Evan – the editor of long-running wrestling nostalgia sheet Wrestling Then & Now – is a good writer and this short book of anecdotes certainly held my attention. I just felt quite depressed afterwards. For every story about Evan’s parents, his wacky friends playing stickball or reading comics is countered by an unpleasant tale of being mugged in the street by black kids, beaten up by a gang of Puerto Rican teenagers or being forced into an all-white class at school for his own protection from the non-white students. All forms of racism – anti-black, anti-white, anti-Hispanic, anti-gay, anti-Jew, hell…even anti-Jehovah’s Witness – are addressed and the overall picture is a very unflattering portrait of 60s/70s multicultural America. Apartment 4B is available through mail order from Evan at PO Box 640471, Oakland Gardens Station, Flushing, NY, 11364, USA for US$14.95 and US$2.50 postage and handling (add US$5 for overseas orders). It can also be bought by credit card at www.evanginzburg.com and www.wrestlingthenandnow.com.

MINI-REVIEW: Stephen K. Amos @ Newtown RSL (April 9)

FIRSTLY, let me say this: Newtown RSL is a shit venue, quite possibly the worst RSL I've ever stepped foot in. The place has always been run by a bunch of over-zealous bully-boys who get off on making life as difficult as possible for people trying to enter the place. Seriously, I've been to a ton of RSLs in Sydney, and Newtown's the only one that I have trouble with when it comes to photo IDs and the like. Unbelievable.

As for "Level 3", the classy name for the small venue for tonight's gig, the kindest thing I can say is it's an...intimate space (as Amos described it, "This...sauna...").

Stephen K. Amos himself? Well, he was good. Not great, but good. This was the last night of Sydney's Cracker Comedy Festival, so maybe the British funnyman was taking it easy, but it was a little disappointing that he took his five-minute set from Cracker Night (see review below) and merely stretched it out to fill an 1hr 20min. It was those five minutes that encouraged us to attend tonight's show, so it was a shame to hear ALL his old jokes again (as good as they were the first time, they lose something in the retelling).

Still, it could've been much worse, I suppose. We could've been at an Eddie Perfect gig instead. Boom-tish! Ouch!

COMIX REVIEW: Dreams Of Tomorrow

A RECENT obsession with independent British comix (see upcoming reviews) led me to get all patriotic and seek out some Aussie-produced mags from my local (aka Kings Comics in Pitt Street, Sydney). I used to be an avid Aussie comix supporter back in the 80s/90s when you could find them popping up with some regularity in newsagencies. Of course, those days are long gone.
Nowadays, the only reliable sources for local product are comic shops, the Net or zine fairs such as the ones I used to attend each year at the Newcastle Young Writers Festival.
Sadly, I quickly learned 95% of Aussie comix are either (a) crappy underground wannabes, (b) substandard Tolkein wank fantasies, or (c) woeful attempts to do Japanese manga (which is pretty fucked to begin with).
So it was nice to pick up something that wasn't quite so...lame. Dreams ($5 from www.aplaceof.info/dreams) is an anthology with the loose theme of "hope and fantasy...lyrical, silly, political, fun and whimsical with a dash of jetpacks and hamsters from outer space". Hmmm, whatever...
Ignore the hippy bullshit and check out the nice art inside the 36-page A5 mag (with colour covers), all by people I've never heard of, which is nice.Pick of the strips was a couple of sexy pin-ups by Maggie Mcfee, the cynical anti-superhero yarn "Dreams Of Tommy Tomorrow" by Mark Selan and Colin Wells, wacky Xmas hijinx in "A 2020 Christmas" by Caanan Grall, the delightfully sick art and humour in "Grossgirl And Boogerboy In 'Beans, Beans, Good For The Heart'" (pictured below) and "Seed Dreams", the genuinely delightful end strip by Liz Argall (who also compiled this anthology) and Matt Huynh.
Like all anthologies, Dreams is a bit hit'n'miss, but it's a worthy effort and a CHEAP way to check out some budding new talent down-under. Like my good, gay friend Molly would say, "Check it out."