This is a 1985 fanzine that presages some obsessions that college-aged editor Jim DeRogatis would later be somewhat known for; namely, his Lester Bangs fixation – which would result in him ultimately writing the Bangs biography, Let It Blurt – and his Wire fandom, which would somewhat ridiculously garner him & his friends a slot opening for the band on Wire’s entire 1987 US tour, doing Pink Flag from start to finish as “The Ex-Lion Tamers” so that Wire wouldn’t have to play any of it. I still think that’s preposterously awesome, and I wrote about it in one of my own fanzines.
Reasons For Living #1 was something of a “dummy magazine” and final project that had its roots in an NYU journalism class DeRogatis was taking that year. He’s got a stated goal of bringing back shameless gushing and enthusiasm, as opposed to deep snark and hatred of mediocrity. Well, which would you rather read? Yeah, me too, but this one’s got plenty of “spunk” and “vim” to go around, and a little “vigor” to boot. He wrote it from home in Jersey City, and called upon contributors to give some of their quote-unquote reasons for living. This results in stand-alone pieces on the Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, The Creation, R.E.M., XTC, power pop and Robert Wyatt. Naturally, your tolerance and enthusiasm will vary depending on your patience with said acts or musical movements. But of deep snark and hatred of mediocrity, there is not a whit.
Wire receive the full DeRogatis treatment, pre-comeback. A couple of years later, there’d be some deep snark and hatred of mediocrity pointed their way for sure, but at this point, with the 3 golden records being the sum total of their true discography, the track record was exceptionally solid. The editor also gets in his licks with coverage of The Velvet Underground during that hallowed VU-has-just-come-out period. I remember it well, as it was my introduction to the band, “Foggy Notion” and “Temptation Inside Your Heart” in particular – the latter of which bugged the shit out of me. He also spends a little time on Dumptruck and a New Jersey underground band round-up, including mid-80s east coast fanzine punching bag “Gut Bank”.
The star diamond in this one is Lester Bangs interview excerpts from a talk teenage DeRogatis had with him just over 2 weeks before his death in 1982. Excellent stuff. Take a look at this particular bit of Lester-on-Lester; it is kind of a drag and highly ironic, given that he’d be dead sixteen days later:
The back-half contributors get a little more free reign than the front-half gushers. Art Black, later or perhaps concurrently the editor of Away From The Pulsebeat, writes about his girl getting knocked unconscious at a show and about how that means punk is probably dying. Laff all you want, folks: Art Black was a fucking nostradamus on this one. Howard Wuelfing is given space to opine on ten things he enjoys, from sex to beer to Big Star. I love the 1985 “good beer” list he provides: “Stegmaiers, Straub’s, Ballantine Ale, Rheingold, John Courage (draught), McSorley’s Ale (draught) and Tuborg Gold (draught only!)”. Dude, I know things were grim in 1985 for beer – I was still a full four years away from my first “Sierra Nevada Pale Ale” – but right there in DC you had the Brickskeller, “the first restaurant of its kind to offer customers a beer list with thousands of beers from around the world.” I went to the Brickskeller not long after I’d hit legal drinking age, and my jaw nearly cracked the wooden floor. Let’s just say that Tuborg Gold “on draught” was far less than second best on that night.
Fanzine Hemorrhage 