How cool is this?!

When Suzanne F. Hackett responded to my call for 'zines (she was the first), I was expecting something a little more like the 'zines I remembered from my stint in Portland. Cut up artwork collages, hand-drawn weirdness, first-person writing that was more than a little raw, that kind of thing. I went into it expecting a pretty lo-fidelity publication.

Your Attention, Please! is a slick-covered 'zine subtitled A rest stop on the road. (This is a nod to its function -- as she travels the world and writes about it, YAP! develops.) Inside, there is a long, feature-length article that describes "Junkyard Cathedrals" -- outsider art on a grander scale. She researched and reported on these art "environments," drawing from a large variety of sources and highlighting some of the lesser-known treasures. The Simon Rodia Towers in Watts (Los Angeles) is featured with pictures and descriptions, and even though I'm not really keen on the idea of taking a quick jaunt to Watts on my day off, I'd consider it after reading this article.

It's not just the article, though. There's a fantastic comic section called "Microcosm" and a section of reviews of "road" books with a rating system of lemons and queens. Many of them I haven't heard of before this 'zine. (And I'm a hardcore road book reader -- one of these days, I will run off with a tank of gas and a smile into the great wide open.) After picking one up, the analyses of the ones reviewed was right on-target. I'd definitely trust her again.

And that's not all -- with each book she includes a smaller artist's book called Mr. Baudrillard's Casino of Fun which includes pseudo-coupons for things like image makeovers for models and 2-for-1 Elvis Impersonator coupons. (I'd explain the cultural irony of these, but it becomes self-evident when you read them -- they're worth the cover price alone.)

This is, overall, a thinking person's 'zine. Far from the all-too-often-seen teen angst and general whiney-ness, YAP! is like a shot of intelligence where it was most needed.

Your Attention, Please! is available straight from the editorial office for $2 per issue or a trade, and no subscriptions are sold. Trades are encouraged. Write to Suzanne F. Hackett, c/o Your Attention, Please!, 1040 N. Cordova St., Burbank, California 91505. Alternatively, you can find YAP! at Pisces 'Zine Distro for U.S. distribution or Adore Distro for Canadian distribution.

[ by Elizabeth Badurina ]