My friend Dan mentioned that he hasn't seen any reports from the 2011 Pittsburgh Zine Fair yet, so I figure I'll post an impromptu one from the perspective of an organizer and exhibitor at the show.

This debut PGH Zine Fair was the baby of Erin Oh, who started working on it back in June (I think). I joined the organizing crew in early July, and attended meetings every Monday night at Pittsburgh Filmmakers in North Oakland.

While Pittsburgh's had other recent small press events in the past few years (SPF and PIX come to mind), this Zine Fair was dedicated to zines above all else, making it a bit different than its predecessors. Also, it stands out from the pack by being a wholly volunteer and organization-free project. There was no backing company -- profit or non-profit -- involved.

Anyway, we all worked hard to design the best show possible with limited resources, and I think Erin did a fantastic job leading the show to definitive success. I was really impressed with the attendance. I would say it was a good-to-great turnout for a random late summer Thursday evening. Also, because the main vendor space was tightly packed, it felt really well attended.

The crowd was more bohemian than I expected. I'd consider myself one of the less traditional people that I can think of in the Pittsburgh comics scene... but the Zine Fair crowd made me feel like I was one step away from wearing a suit and tie to the event.

I'd be lying to you if I said I got a good feel for the material that was there. Honestly, I didn't walk around that much. But I did see a pretty wide range of stuff, from minicomics to photocopied prose to art books to perfect-bound novels.

Personally, I did a very modest business. But I always do a very modest business. And the Zine Fair was on par with how I normally perform. One friend of mine did what I consider to be very strong business (and it was her first show), while another did very weak business (and this was his umpteenth show). I fell somewhere in between.

And there were more than zines! We had DJs (I was one of them). The first DJ to go on was AWESOME! She should have played the whole show. The next DJ didn't show up, so a show organizer went on next. I was last. 

We used a PA system, which was great for microphones... but not so great for music. The speakers couldn't handle low or high sounds (it's just not in their dynamic range), so half of my tunes sounded great and the other half sounded empty. But it was awesome that we even had a PA at the show in the first place, so kudos for that.

We also had free food (not my style of grub but it was kickass that we had some), water (I love water), and workshops. I was too busy manning my space to go to any of the programming, but I assume it all went well. I didn't hear any complaints!

Also, there was a raffle, and what I found notable about the raffle was how PACKED the room was when we announced the winners. It was a healthy mix of vendors and attendees, and that was really nice to see.

Here are a few more pics from the Zine Fair on the main site. And here are the same pics plus more on Andy Scott's blog. And here's some personal reflection on the show from Wayne Wise, putting the event in a historical context.

All in all, I had a good time and I felt like the show did terrific for its first year. I really hope we can bring it back again next year and make it an even greater success!

On Thursday, September 1st from 5-10 PM I'll be at AIR peddling my minicomics and zines at the mega-awesome super-bodacious PITTSBURGH ZINE FAIR!!!

Here are my new releases created especially for this year's debut show:

Tales for a New Gen

I'm thrilled to present this zine of three short sci-fi tales by Justique Woolridge. I did a few illustrations and the book design for TFANG, but make no mistake -- Justique is the star here, writing the kickass tales and designing the gorgeous cover.

NoPants Zine Anthology

NoPants was my early 00s satire of corporate magazine culture, full of nonsense and cheeky ignorance. I've decided to collect the three original NoPants issues and create a new one just for the Pittsburgh Zine Fair. But instead of printing them individually, I'm collected them into a 48-page anthology of insanity.

Along with these two new releases, I'll also have issues of Time Log, some Super Haters ashcans, my sci-fi minicomic Passage, Poetree (which was randomly featured on the front page of Pop City today (see below for a screen cap), and more.

Still not convinced? Check out this video ad for the Zine Fair:

You might recognize the music -- it's my song Essential from Brilliant Shower. I'll be playing my Nik Furious music at the Fair from 8-9:30 PM, tearing it up with some of my mixtape mixes, original instrumentals, and favorites from other musicians.

So that's it. That's all I've got. That's my best sales pitch. Hope to see you there!!!

dive like a leap
windows no sleep
a cliff a wish
to turn into mist

and reform at
the bottom
of that insanely
deep chasm

who invented?
Mario relented
allowing me to fall
straight down, long

jumper, in Speedo
remind me that
it was found at the
bottom of the trash

but why would
you throw this away?
like throwing away
the other side of the

world filled with so
much ingenuity no
matter how bizarre
and fractured I

insist on fitting
my thoughts into
squares and for
cing them to li

ve as plastic
reminders of t
he time I took
one long dive

I'm posting this poem in honor of National Bad Poetry Day.

If you like this sort of thing, you can snag yourself a whole zine packed full of my sub-par poems -- Poetree -- at the Pittsburgh Zine Fair on Sept 1st!!!