what was that? is that all there is? who is this? this is it.

The other other night I was digging through a Steelcase file cabinet drawer in a pile of zines and other random shit searching for old issues of kickstand to send to Cat.  I discovered very few kickstands. However I did discover Mobile City #5 and I chucked it in my bag to hand off to Alistair. But the next day before I handed it off I actually took the time to read it. Much more time than I devoted to it in 1999. This zine with contributions from messengers from all over the country is a great example of bike messenger talent. Not just a bunch of sweaty alcoholics but a variety of writers, poets, artists, photographers and musicians that may or may not be alcoholics too. 

Mobile City was quite literary and chock full of great stuff. One of its editors and big contributors Stephen Gibson went to Tufts undergrad then onto UW for an MFA in creative writing. He’s no slouch 

This brings to mind past conversations with Cat about printing the internet. Taking digital content and compiling a book. A book printed on paper. It also brings to mind the Tufts University Jumbos. 

Discussing Mobile City with Alistair brought up the concept of digitizing old paper publications and the difficulty of locating lost zines on the internet because they’re not on the internet. No one ever digitized them. 

I believe Matt Case is the only human that ever had a complete set of kickstands which I compiled as an alleycat prize and he promptly snagged it for himself because it was his alleycat. 

3 Comments

First time I've held a physical copy of Mobile City in my hands since 1997 or so. Reading it was like stepping into a time machine, it brought back memories of people and events I haven't thought about in many many years. Wild, and also heavy.

like a smell, or a song, or zine takes you 25 years, plus or minus. crazy blink-of-an-eye shit. what day is it?

mark! Whoa so apropos. I was going to tell you, speaking of Matt case, he met someone on the first night of the reunion gathering from Tufts. He was going to introduce me if he showed up Saturday. go jumbos! 🐘(do these work on your site?) Next reunion Matt needs to bring that complete set. And Clair!

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