zine, vol 2, #2, $3, Louis Rastelli (editor), Box 1232 Place d’Armes, Montreal, QC, H2Y 3K2
Having once received all kinds of flack for calling this the best zine in Canada, I’ll refrain from those kind of superlatives and simply note that this is a very very solid zine, one of the few that spans almost 100 pages and publishes regularly. In this issue, requiems and RIP to the York Theatre (destroyed by Concordia to make space for more glass and concrete), Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Rocket Richard. Fish Piss has been around for five years now or so, and I like the way it is evolving into a more underground/Montreal-located Geist, with editor Louis in the role of Stephen Osborne, essayist/ scenester/ raconteur with a conscience. This issue, Louis writes about visiting a really scary neighbourhood of Cleveland packed with illegal factories and liquor stores selling malt liquor quarts for a $1.29. Then there’s the personal-type stories by other contributors, like Alex Megelas on a shoplifter who goes crazy when he gets caught. Huge section devoted to the Quebec Summit Protests, interviews, fiction, comics and more. The best? I have my opinion, but I’ll keep it to myself. (Hal Niedzviecki)