Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Life is a Joke by Joe Franke


Recently I noticed a listing on ebay for some punk zines and to me that's about as cool as it gets because the entire realm of punk zines is entirely DIY and the DIY universe is extremely awesome. This cat, Joe Franke, started his zine in 1989 while living in Northern California. He was in a punk band (he still is) and he formed Axis Records. He moved from Northern California to San Francisco to Southern Maryland to Las Vegas. Now, Punks in Vegas to me is just weird but hey - he made at least 10 issues of Life is a Joke, plus other one-timers or knock-offs.

Zines, especially the work of an individual. The lay-out, the content, the name and images are all the work of one person. Twisted, illogical, awesome or scary: one person! These are the work of one person who delved in black humor. What writer of punk songs doesn't delve into black humor, I ask you? Well, Mr. Franke certainly does. Keep on keepin' on, Joe Franke. Kewl that.

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