Exercising Demons Issue 2 Razorcake Review

Issue 2 of my zine, Exercising Demons has thankfully been reviewed by Keith Rosson for the Razorcake website that I hold so dear on my birthday. If you want to go to their site and read it then click here. Considering it was only my second issue and I'm still learning (even at my old age) I think it's pretty cool. There is room for growth as a writer and zinester but this review and the one for issue 1 make me feel that I'm doing something right, just not great, yet that is. So of course I'm going to copy and paste the review below but do me a favor and go to their site anyway. You might find something you like there. After all Razorcake isn't just a website, it's a record label, a magazine, a podcast, a book imprint (Gorsky Press) and so much more. They'll be receiving some of the sweet birthday money I just got very, very soon. Looks like it's about time to start on issue 3. And now for the review:

Personally, I don’t ever want to reach a point where I discount zines out of hand. I never want them to become rote, common things. There’s an inherent bravery in the attempt at communication that zines signify.Exercising Demons is the second effort from a fifty-something-year-old guy, which I think is super impressive and pretty courageous. It takes a lot to put yourself out there. This is a collection of anecdotal stories and a handful of poems. I personally found the stuff about his first band, his time in the military, and his experience as a reluctant participant in a frat brawl as a college kid the most compelling reads. The writing’s a little stiff and the layout could definitely use some visual sprucing up, but again, a nod to this guy for trying new stuff. –Keith Rosson

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

Exercising Demons Zine, Issue Two And A Review Of Issue One

In case you missed it, and you would have had to unless you were at the Tulsa Zine Fest two months ago,  issue two of my zine Exercising Demons is out. The only way to get it is from me or at Holy Mountain here in Tulsa at the extra low, low price of FREE! You heard me right. At some point I'll get around to dropping a few copies off at other places like Boulevard Trash. Eventually.

Yeah I was so focused on getting it ready in time for the zine fest that I forgot to announce it on here. There's lots of cool true stuff in this one plus a fiction piece and it's grown too. Twenty whole pages this go around and I did the artwork. I haven't drawn in over twenty years and it shows. These first few issues are teaching me important lessons about what to do (and not do in some cases) while I try and find my focus for the zine. Issue three is now in the planning stage, I just need to decide what stories I'm actually going to write or re-write in some cases..

Also, I sent issue one to the fine folks at Razorcake (zine, website, record label and more) to be reviewed and they did so online. You can follow the link to give them some traffic for their website by clicking here or look below where I've copied and pasted it. Do both, it only takes a few minutes. I pretty much agree with what Kurt says too for what it's worth. He knows what he's talking about.

EXERCISING DEMONS #1 trade/2 stamps, 5 ½” x 8 ½”, copied, 8 pgs. By Kurt Morris Monday, July 27 2015 This is a short zine with some personal accounts of family as well as some lyrics/poetry. While poetry has never done much for me, I felt like I was being teased with the personal material. There are foundations for some great longer pieces in this material. Don mentions offhandedly his time in the military in places like Germany and Saudi Arabia—there are probably some cool stories there. He also mentions moving around a lot and ponders why we say we’re “from” some place even when we haven’t lived there for years, which would be an interesting thought to explore further. There is also a piece on his father’s eight (?!) wives. I would’ve loved to hear more about that! For a first issue, this shows a lot of promise. Some more extrapolating would’ve been great. Don seems unsure with what he’s doing in Exercising Demons, but I would encourage him to keep going. There’s some good potential here.-Kurt Morris (Don Leach, 1546 S. 79th E. Ave., Tulsa, OK 74112, notmovingpictures@gmail.com)

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

Issue One Of My Zine Exercising Demons Is Available

Issue one of my first ever zine, Exercising Demons is finally out. It took me a lot longer to figure out what I wanted to do and how to do it than I originally thought so after this it should be an easier and smoother process. In case you're wondering what a zine is well, it's the easiest way to self-publish there is. You have control over what you want to do or say, how you want it to look, what size it should be and most importantly what the content will be. Or you can do one as part of a group, a collective. Really, it depends on you yourself. Some people like to interview bands or people they find interesting, some review restaurants or book stores, some write fiction or sci-fi, some write from a personal point of view and then there are those who do all of these things and more. Self-publishing is all about freedom.

Right now it's available at my favorite record store Holy Mountain here in Tulsa and I'm looking into other places that are good for zines. Of course I will be giving them away at the Tulsa Zine Fest (did I mention that it's free?) held at the Rudisill Library on May 30th.  I will probably be giving copies away or leaving them laying around venues when I go to a show (like The Slackers this Friday). Other plans include sending them into Razorcake, Maximum Rock N Roll and some websites that review zines to help get the word out. In July I've got a road trip coming up so I'll be sure to take plenty with me and leave them in a foreign land, well at least in Kansas City and Denver.

I've already got quite a few topics I want to write about for issue two as well as a separate zine that will be about me trips to Peru, all two of them, and what I encountered there. Issue two should be twice as large, one is only eight pages long and I've got a big mouth with a lot to say. The question you may be asking yourself is but if I don't live in Tulsa and am too shy to go to places like Holy Mountain how can I get it? Just send me an email at notmovingpictures@gmail.com and we'll see what we can do. I am extremely open (watch it) to trading zines with fellow writers and yes Mom, I'm sending some home so you guys can read it too.

It's strange that it's taken me so long in life to find this but now that I have I promise to bombard every place I can find with the fruit of my loins, at least figuratively. It's the least I can do.

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

John's Song- First Draft

Here are some new lyrics that I wrote today. As it happens I was listening to an old episode of the Razorcake podcast and a band was singing in true punk fashion about a great lie. My mind took that to a different place and I was thinking about saying to my son "I hope you have a great life." I'm not exactly known for writing things that are super positive or really touchy-feely. These words were born as if this were something I would be leaving behind for him, basically as advice for him to live his life by after I've gone. Anyway, this is something I definitely want to put to music and have out there primarily for him. If anybody else likes it then that's a bonus as far as I'm concerned.

John's Song

Whether I live for a hundred years
Or die tomorrow
I just want you to know
I only wish the best for you

Always remember
I hope you have a great life
Whatever you choose to do
Whatever path you take
I hope you have a great life

I'd rather be around for a long time
But I'm unable to choose
There are no promises
No guarantees for anyone
So listen closely to what I say
Take my warning true
Follow what your heart tells you
Do what makes you happy

And always remember
I hope you have a great life
Whatever you choose to do
Whatever path you take
I hope you have a great life

Don't wait for what you want
Have faith in yourself
Go out and make it happen
Don't waste your time your life

Always remember
I hope you have a great life
Whatever you choose to do
Whatever path you take
I hope you have a great life

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

Yeah It's Christmas Time Again

Well it’s Christmas again. It’s a well-known fact that I’m not much for celebrating holidays and such. Right now at work they’ve been playing some abysmal Christmasy music over the loudspeaker which drives me crazy. I’m talking bland, elevator type of stuff with no vocals that just grates on my ears. It’s really the worst excuse for music ever invented and instead of putting me into a nice mood it pushes me in the opposite direction. Seriously, if I wasn’t able to listen to my IPod I’d probably end up going on a murderous rampage. Okay, I’m not serious and I don’t want to lose my job but you get my drift. It boggles my mind why they want to force this dreck on people.

Before I got married I never put up a Christmas tree nor did I decorate the house, more to the point I never decorated for any holiday. It’s just not my thing, I’m not into it. My wife, however, lives for this stuff so I indulge her and let her do what she wants so long as she leaves me out of it. My role is mainly to get things down from the attic and put them back up when she’s done with them. Other than that I’ll climb the ladder and put things up when she can’t do it but that’s about it. Of course our son gets into it, he is seven after all and yes I do love seeing his reaction when he opens his gifts.

I’m not a total Scrooge or anything. I do buy gifts and I don’t get upset (well not too much) when others can’t contain their upbeat spirits and go around wishing you a Merry Christmas. That’s alright, just don’t start waxing poetic on how much the holiday spirit means to you or you risk chunks being blown your way. Personally I am very hard to buy gifts for. Most of the things I’m interested in aren’t available at your local store. You can’t just bop out and pick something up. If it’s clothes I’m very finicky. The texture has to be right, I don’t like labels on them so, no v-necks, etc., etc., etc. Really I like plain, dark or earth tone colors but I have been trying to break out of that just a little.

Musically it’s extremely hard to know what I don’t have and would like since I get most of my stuff from smaller record labels/stores over the internet like Dirtnap or Razorcake. If it’s from a mainstream act or a large label you can generally count me out. My reading habits are quite eclectic as well so unless it’s a gift card for Powells or some like place you risk being disappointed in my reaction. At this point you might be saying “screw this guy, why should I want to get him anything?” and I can understand that but I can’t help the way I am. So deal with it.

My wife and I have learned that it’s better for us to get our own gifts or just tell each other outright what we want. It just makes sense to get somebody you love something that they actually want or like rather than something that you would like them to have. During my many years I’ve had far too many clothes sit in the bottom of my closet for a year or two before it’s okay to give them away than to ever want that again. It can be quite disappointing to receive something from family that you would never wear in a million years over and over and over.

Hey, at least look at it this way, Christmas is almost over so you won’t have to worry about reading something like this from me for another year. If you’re lucky that is, you never know when I’ll get the urge to write about anything. At least you’ve got that going for you, right? Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Bah Humbug.

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

Ten For Tuesday Episode 065: From The Pages Of Razorcake

This episode comes directly from the pages of Razorcake magazine #80. Every artist was featured in the magazine or at least were in an ad. Razorcake is a really great punk magazine that comes out every two months. It's not expensive at all so you should do yourself a favor and check them out. Lot's of great stuff there. Besides, they also do podcasts, are a record label, a book publisher and more. I'm sure I'll be getting a lot more music from them in the future.



The Marked Men - Right Here With You
The Joliettes - Quicksand
New Creases - Covered Bridges
Million Dollar Marxists - Parasite
Mind Spiders - Worlds Destroy
Dott - Leave Tonight
White Murder - Harold's Place
Nervosas - Window
Crusades - Beacons
Sedatives - Backlash

Ten For Tuesday is a podcast dedicated to playing the music I couldn't find anywhere else. The music I like varies from style to style, genre to genre and era to era. You will hear punk, ska, rock, Americana, metal, country, rockabilly and more from all over the world. It doesn't matter if it's a major label or indie as long as I like it then it gets played. The motto is Less Talk More Music which means you won't hear me waxing poetic for fifteen minutes between songs. At TFT its all about the music...and me of course.

Email: tenfortuesday@gmail.com Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Old Episodes can be found by going to www.archive.org and searching for Ten For Tuesday

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