You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory / The Lou Reeder

By Matt Monochrome Corina Fastwolf
P.O. Box 66835
Portland, OR
97290, USA
$3, half size.

A split zine! How exciting!

You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory is based around the Violent Femmes. There's a massive crossword I'm not even going to attempt because I know a grand total of one song by the Violent Femmes (guess which one!). It is a good song, and I'm listening to it right now! Maybe I should listen to more of their stuff.

The other VF piece is about how Matt was introduced to the band as a teenager in 1990. It features bootleg tapes, love, and riding in the back of someone's shitty car. Pretty typical teenage experience I guess.

There's also an illustrated guide to movies about punks, quite a lot of show reviews that are a bit complainy (just be happy bands come to your town at all! You can live in shittier places), and an interview with an artist who paints the guitarists in his favourite bands which was kind of neat.

I have even less knowledge of Lou Reed than I do of the Violent Femmes, so a lot of The Lou Reeder kind of went over my head. But I still enjoyed the story about discovering new music, making new friends through it, and going to concerts. Reading zines like this does make me feel kind of lame, as it's only been in the last couple of years that I've really been discovering music (or going to shows). Better late than never I suppose.