Skip the reports of social activism (how much more do I need to know about the battle in Seattle?) and – if you’re like me – skip the mountain inspired poetry and jump right into the hockey fandom in this literary journal slash ice hockey fanzine slash Nordic-Baltic music review. Reminisce with a Finnish exchange student who hates his American hockey coach but loves fucking his American girlfriend. Read assorted hockey fiction and keep up with arena reports from around the world. Montreal bureau chief Cindy Gawel writes scintillating tales from her position as pastry chef at the United Centre (home of the Chicago Blackhawks). When you run out of hockey stories, you can take a peek at the weirdly diverse selection of music under review. Since records are chosen geographically rather than by genre, Bjork and Pan Sonic can be found sharing space with Prusikoukku, Bukkene Burse and the Dumdum Boys. With a number of laudatory festival reviews included as well, there is way too much here to chew on in one sitting. There are so many voices, so many stories. The production and layout is great. The one downer is the iffy cover art: a nighttime landscape invaded by puffy, three-eyed greys and distant UFOs. Huh? (TD)
Over 15,000 Zine Reviews & Growing!
