Star & Shadow Zines (part 2)

I went for a coffee then came back to the scanner. Here are the second batch of scans from the zines that we made at the old Star & Shadow. Hopes for the new one can be seen here.

As with a lot of my ideas, this was maybe a bit wobbly and overambitious as a plan for other people to understand, but I'm sure something happened.

Not one of mine, and a scan of a photocopy of it, wonder who has originals?

This was a cut-up affair, from a participatory zine-making activity available to anyone who walked in the doors. When old S&S programmes went undelivered sometimes I used them for other purposes. On this occasion, making hybrids!

Not sure whose this was. "Most embarrassing."

This from a review of Kino Bambino from my Newcastle Zine Review of 2009(?) - again, I don't have all the issues, so would like to see the others!

This Mini Comics day was a much better-attended event than my usual affairs, positively buzzing. I think it was on the same day as a 2nd hand market in the cinema, so the families and passersby were persuaded to take part. Or just maybe it was adequately promoted! Anyway, a load of really cool, really quickly made minicomics got made and I have a folder of them : in large part this was because the new minicomics makers were helped by members of the Paper Jam Comics Collective on the day.

I'm sorry to forget the name of the lovely couple who made this minicomic (this the titlepage) but they were super regular attendees of the monthly Storytelling night by A Bit Crack and were so nice that I'm sure they wouldn't mind me including their self-portrait here.

  

This doodle is, I think, of Bill, Ilana and Mat, but you wouldn't guess it if you know them.

And finally, one sample page from the story zine we made. Others wrote fantasy, horror, erotic and comedy fiction in the Star & Shadow, but I realised I should ask their permission before sharing. I do think their pieces are worth rereading so hopefully I will upload them somewhere soon.

Finally, I found these from the Zine Trail I made once : the idea was you found a page hanging up somewhere in the building, read the clue and then followed it to find the next page:

Star & Shadow Zines (part 1)

For the next 2 months, the old Star & Shadow is on its big fundraising campaign to rebuild in a new premises in Warwick Street. Click here for more. This made me go into my old boxes and dig out the various quick, free, badly photocopied zines I did with people when I was there. Most of these selections are from 2008, 2009, and most of the words are not my own!

Participatorama was an article in a guide to the UK's Autonomous Social Centres, of which we were then one. I felt the words alone gave the sense of what made our place great.

I was always bothering fellow-volunteers to write reviews of the things they saw, and took part in.

Backpage artwork by Martin, Frontpage featuring the real Metal welding once on front of the building by Kev, and lego/robot image by James Johnson Perkins!

I forget if the get-together part of this happened, but the zine box was definitely a regular feature and unknown hands would add their own free zines to it, which I loved.

These little images were of just one of the many bands that played at the Star & Shadow, and the usual image of a local musician hanging outside the front of the building rolling a cig. Regular volunteers will remember the scene.

I love consensus decision making really, but boy does it make your brain grow by how hard it is to take everyone's view on board / second-guessing how the various perspectives might join to go forward, etc etc

Unreliable memory tells me this poem was by Joe?

Excerpt from Kino Bamboozler, a mini zine that was really really hated by some people at the time!

  

This, by contrast, was a surprisingly successful experiment, with new people coming together once-only with Anna Puhakka and myself to sit and wander through the different rooms at different times and do story exercises and create short vignettes, all based on the architecture and ambience of the old building.

Excerpts only of a longer film review, many of which used to be shared on the old wiki / internal volunteers' website.

One of many doodles from the bar, of musicians playing in the main venue.

A cut-up of some old Star & Shadow organisational principles, quite beautiful and quite impossible to read!

Cut-up adverts done for one event, which in turn then produced a 'Manual Zine', ie. one that did not involve a photocopier or computer. Everyone was challenged to produce, by any self-chosen means, 8 identical-ish pages to then share with the other producers. Potato prints, typewriters, darkroom processes and stitching were all involved.

Reviewing the Edinburgh Fringe

I spent a few days and a bit of money at the Edinburgh Fringe / Festival this year. Some things I sketched and other things I watched and then wrote up my experience. I've made a zine and an online page-turnable thing here.

More in the issuu publication.

There are more reviews, but it would take too long a blog to include them, scan the issuu version for more typos and opinion!