Boo Boo #1

Terrific 1994 glorification of various countercultures here by Brett Sokol in Boo Boo #1, complete with a weed-smokin’ radical on the cover and a glorious pastiche of 60s-90s anti-mainstream vibes. Royal Trux were perhaps the perfect “bridge” band of this ilk from one generation to the next, and I loved Sokol’s opening disclaimer before his interview with them: “Royal Trux take the attitude toward interviewers that most people have towards their landlord: why would you want to give them more than you had to?”. Turns out that they’re actually quite game to answer his questions; I’ve noticed through the years that if you really wanted to get Neil Hagerty talking, start asking him about Zappa, or Jefferson Airplane, or Creedence. Sokol figures this out pretty early on in the interview and it just flows from there.

Boo Boo #1 is exceptionally Cleveland-heavy, which is where the fanzine emanated from. So there’s a cool interview with Scott Pickering, talking about Ragged Bags, Spike in Vain and more, along with tangential scans and reprints, such as a recent Anastasia Pantsios review of the Cleveland portions of Clinton Heylin’s From The Velvets to the Voidoids book (oh man was I excited when that book hit the shelves in 1993). Also a deep dive into the discography and aesthetic of Fuzzhead, a project/band I’ve only really recently connected with, thirty years later, and am still trying to figure out. Then there’s just out-of-context advertisements for stuff like Terminal Records, clipped from another fanzine fourteen years earlier – although I know when I first saw  this in 1994 I was ready to spring for that Cleveland Confidential 45 at $3 before realizing what Sokol was up to.

About 50% of the way in, it’s almost like Sokol ran out of steam, or perhaps he did what he really wanted to do anyway, which is to bask in the glories of the freak underground of 15-25 years prior. The mag re-xeroxes hippie-fied excerpts from the “Bring The War Home” early late 60s/70s would-be revolution, with reprints of pieces from Ramparts; Fugs ads; a ton of Zappa ads and reviews; Weather Underground articles; CLE magazine scene reports and more. You just need to roll with it, and once you do it’s actually pretty great to see the “big picture” as it existed in Sokol’s brain at the time. It’s a winning concept and it’s kept my Boo Boo #1 tucked safely in a poly sleeve and in a sealed box for safekeeping for nearly the last thirty years. 

Sokol later went on to write for the NY Times and elsewhere, and now runs a Miami publishing house called Letter16 Press primarily focused on photography; I gladly bought their Charles Hashim book a year or two ago, and it’s really something. If I’m not mistaken, he was also behind White Heap Records, who put out a Vile Cherubs CD and then called it a day, just as this fanzine did after this single issue.