Tulsa Zine Fest!!!!!!!

The Tulsa Zine Fest just wrapped up and it was amazing! I found a ton of great zines to read and handed out almost fifty copies of both issues of my zine, Exercising Demons. It was rather cool to meet and talk to people who had tables and share info with them. Any perspective is nice to have and there were people who are in the early stages of zine making to those that have been doing it for years. Quite a few of them loved the name of my zine. They came from Kansas, St Louis, Stigler, OKC, other places and locally too. Exercising Demons first issue came out in April and I had to rush to get the second one done in time for today. Last night after work I came home and had to start gluing them together. I had to do that because I screwed up. I procrastinated getting it together and instead of taping everything down to get my master copy ready and then gluing it in place, I skipped the taping part and just started gluing. After everything was copied and I needed to put the pages together in order, I realized I had messed up and could not staple them. Hey, I'm still learning.

Here's a picture of the loot I got at the Tulsa Zine Fest.

I spent thirty-five of the forty dollars I won at the last Ok, So Story Slam on zines plus some of the people here just traded me a copy of their zine after I had given them mine. Soon I hope to have all of the kinks ironed out of this zine thing and then I'll start selling mine. I really hope that the fest comes back next year and I can be on the other side of the table. I'll say right now that I'll do what it takes to help out to continue something so cool. Zines are the ultimate in self-publishing for me. We have Jay Hancock, the owner of Holy Mountain record store here in Tulsa and his wife to thank for not only the zine fest but also for making zines available in the store. That's what got me started reading and now writing them. Holy Mountain also has been doing some in-stores for local bands which is a good way to expose yourself (not that way) to talented bands for free and then further support them. Jay has done a lot so go in and help out the store by buying something you like. That way we can keep stuff like the Zine Fest happening and that's a very good thing.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Road Trip To Iron Maiden

Here's a couple of shots from the concert Saturday Night. Tommy, Chris and I took a road trip to Kansas City to see Megadeth opening for Iron Maiden. Yes we had nosebleed seats and right now my Sony Bloggie isn't usable so I had to use a dinky little one so the vast majority of the pictures are unusable. At least the trip has been fun. More to come later.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Another Reason The NFL Sucks

Today I had to stay home from church so that someone could come and fix a problem with my kitchen sink. My consolation was that the Cleveland Browns, the only NFL team that I ever cared about since grade school, are playing the Kansas City Chiefs. In Tulsa the Chiefs are the AFC team that is ALWAYS shown on the local affiliate no matter how bad they or their opponent is. Until this week that is. Instead a game with playoff implications featuring two teams from the East Coast is being shown. This is typical of how the NFL operates. The Browns are given zero respect in the league and in the media.

 

Don't get started with all of the garbage about how it's up to the local affiliates as to which games gets chosen because that argument is utter hogwash. The NFL doesn't want die hard fans of individual teams anymore, instead they want fans of the league. They want fans who have several favorite teams, fans who will accept whatever is given to them. Do you really think the NFL wouldn't exert any type of influence over the choice of games that are shown on TV? Please. Besides, the Browns vs Chiefs offers a back story of several former Browns players and coaches who ended up with the Chiefs and they likely want to exact some sort of revenge on the team that gave up on them and cut them loose. That makes for good drama.

So instead I'm given a game featuring the Ravens vs Washington, a game by the way that I refuse to watch. I''ll watch nothing instead.  It may actually all be for the best. It seems that as I write this and follow the game on the Internet Cleveland has given up a big play, an 80 yard touchdown run on the very first play of the game. Also it seems that Brady Quinn, the quarterback cast off from Cleveland, has also completed a pass for over 45 yards. He's on his third team after being unable to win the starting job for the Browns. If I were watching the game I'd probably be yelling curses at the screen as I pulled out what little hair I have left on my head.

It's not easy being a Browns fan. I've suffered through countless regime shifts. Often head coaches and general managers are gone after only two years and many of them never have been the right choice in the first place. It seems like every few years they start over, installing a new philosophy and having to change most of the players so that they fit the new system. Hardly a blueprint for success or longevity. I've said for years that they need to get personnel in who have done the job and been successful before instead of hiring those that never held that position. But what do I know, I'm only a fan.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.