Ben Is Dead #27 (Hollywood CA)

The "Retro Hell" series in Ben Is Dead wrapped up with issue #27, the third and final installment of this entertaining look into the (then) not-so-distant past. Issue #27 includes a (lengthy) Malcolm McLaren interview; "Judy Blume Slumber Party;" an overview of retro websites; an interview with visionary Terrence McKenna; an article on scandals like Deep Throat, Patty Heart, Roman Polanski, etc; as well as the usual book and show reviews.

The centerpiece of Ben Is Dead #27, however, is the second part of the "Retro Hell A-Z" feature, with entries on every pop culture personality and product from "Bob Mackie" to "zotz," and everything in between. I would have always liked to have seen Darby do a "Retro Hell" book with the A-Z encyclopedia, because the content was uniformly well-written, personable, sympathetic, and informative. Even when I didn't specifically know what they were talking about, I came away with a little more insight (and the feature was a hell of an entertaining way to kill time!).

(Click on cover thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #27
• Spring 1998?
• B&W, 154-pages w/color covers, newsprint
• Style: pop culture zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Malcom McLaren interview
Terrence McKenna interview
"Judy Blume Slumber Party"
"Scandals Rock"
"Retro Hell A-Z," part two
--> also book & show reviews, and lots of photos

Ben Is Dead #26 (Hollywood CA)

It was once said that zine publishers are a bunch of bitchy little girls (male or female), and by the mid-90s this was particularly true. Pre-worldwide web, zine people had only the alt.zines Usenet newsgroup to swap stories and such, and flame wars were persistent. I remember a cat named Robert who published a couple of zines out of Texas feuding with a few other zine publishers and, of course, by this time writer Bob Black had pissed off nearly everybody of note in the zine world.

Other zinesters, perhaps jealous of Darby Romeo's apparent success with Ben Is Dead, had launched various whisper campaigns and instigated several feuds with the notoriously prickly Romeo, who responded in kind. There can be no denying Romeo's success with the zine, however, as evidenced by issue #26.

A whopping 156-page collection, this issue featured the second part of the zine's immensely popular "Retro Hell" encyclopedia of '70s and '80s pop culture icons. From 7-11 stores and 8-track tapes through lunchboxes, each item is provided a funny and insightful description (M to Z are included in part three, I guess), better than a decade before VH1 produced its "I Love The 70s," etc series.

Issue #26 of Ben Is Dead also includes a lengthy, great interview with music satirist Weird Al Yankovic, the hilarious "Things We Ate" by Darby and Jen Garber (paste, crayons, etc), "The Squatter Scene Hollywood California" and "The Best Of The Wallace & Laomo Show," as well as the usual round-up of show, zine, and music reviews.

(Click on cover thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #26
• Winter 1996
• B&W, 156-pages w/color covers, newsprint
• Style: pop culture zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Weird Al Yankovic interview
"Retro Hell," pop culture encyclopedia, part two
"A Night At The House Of Mondo" article
"The Best Of The Wallace & Laomo Show" article
--> also live show reviews, album, zine & comics reviews, and lots of photos

Ben Is Dead #25 (Hollywood CA)

This was publisher Darby Romeo's first "Retro Hell" issue of Ben Is Dead, issue #25 tackling such heady issues as teen idols, with lot of nostalgia for both the well-known (Brandon Cruz, Johnny Whittiker) and the lesser-known (Eric Olsen, Mike Lookinland) and everybody in between! There's an interview with teen heartthrob Jonathan Paley (of the Paley Brothers), an interview with Debbie Harry of Blondie, an article on filmmaker John Hughes, a Johnny Lydon (Johnny Rotten) interview, and a very funny interlude with singer Tom Jones.

Ben Is Dead #25 also includes Patty Powers sharing her memories of the NYC punk club scene of the 1970s, there's a very cool article on "retro paper games" that we used to play as kids (football, fortune teller, etc), Noel Toeltino's "I Had Pac-Man Fever," a neat article on "Kiddie Records" by Don Bolles of the Germs, another piece of Darby's interview with the Church of Satan's Anton LaVey, and more memory-provoking nostalgia for years past than you can shake a stick at...and, of course, book, show, and music reviews.

(Click on cover thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #25
• Spring 1995?
• B&W, 146-pages w/color covers, newsprint
• Style: pop culture zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Debbie Harry/Blondie interview
Jonathan Paley interview
Anton LaVey interview
Tom Jones interview
teen idols
Pac-Man fever
--> also album, zine & comics reviews, and lots of photos

Ben Is Dead #24 (Hollywood CA)

Another FAT issue of Ben Is Dead, issue #24 features a complex (and disturbing) portrait of mayhem by artist Justin Forbes. Just about every iconic touchstone of apocalyptic culture can be found hidden in this painting, from scum-rocker G.G. Allin poking a needle in his eye and what appears to be serial murderer John Wayne Gacy hugging a pinhead to cops beating a poor brother, "Uncle" Charlie Manson, Kurt Cobain with a shotgun in hand, Richard Ramirez (The Night Stalker) and much much more...

Of course, the cover artwork is entirely appropriate as Ben Is Dead #24 is publisher Darby Romeo's "Death" issue, with articles on cult archivist John Aes Nihil, "Death, The Final Frontier," "Beyond Burial," an interview with Timothy Leary and Robert Anton Wilson, another with prankster Boyd Rice, and yet another with Satanist Anton LaVey, and much more murder, psychos, and mayhem! You'll also find interviews with the band Codeine, Stephen Malkmus of Pavement, and death-metal legends Carcass.

There's also a "zine within a zine" called "Brett Is Dead," printed on green paper and including sensationalist (fictional) tabloid fodder on such the "death of Brett Gurewitz," all of which masks an eight-page advertising section for Gurewitz's Epitaph Records label. You'll also find stuff on Lydia Lunch, Nicole Panter, and "Teen-Girl Stars Who Fell To Earth" as well as the prerequisite music, comix and zine reviews in an issue that has content to die for....

(Click on cover thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #24
• Summer 1994
• B&W, 154-pages w/color covers, newsprint
• Style: pop culture zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Timothy Leary & Robert Anton Wilson interview
Anthon LaVey/Church of Satan interview
Boyd Rice interview
Codeine
Pavement
Nicole Panter interview
--> also album, zine & comics reviews, and lots of photos

Ben Is Dead #23 (Hollywood CA)

Found a bunch of copies of Ben Is Dead that I thought lost forever, stuck in the back of a box of computer magazines destined for the recycle bin. At its best, Ben Is Dead was always a cross between a perzine (personal zine) for publisher/editor Darby Romeo and her friends, and a pop culture zine without peer. Each issue that I ever saw was crammed full of fun and funky stuff, and issue #23 from Spring 1994 is no exception!

Ben Is Dead #23 is the "sassy" issue and includes an interview with Sassy magazine editor Christina Kelly, talking about the popular zine's teenaged female readership and behind the scenes stuff. There's an interview by Lisa Suckdog with Courtney Love about women's clothes that goes into some odd directions; articles on the Zappa brothers Ahmet and Dweezil; and a cool interview with punk goddess Pleasant Gehman, with whom I once spent a weekend of debauchery in Nashville.

Music-wise, there are articles on Shudder To Think, Foreskin 500, Possum Dixon, and That Dog. In keeping with the issue's theme, there's an article on "101 Saddiest Things (of the moment)"; a funny and informative article on the sassy first daughter, Chelsea Clinton (this was the '90s, after all); and a piece on "grunge prostitutes." There are album reviews (mostly of old records), a number of smaller articles on various subjects, and lots of photos. With it's theme slanted towards teenage girls and "sassy" stuff, not my fave issue, but well-done nonetheless.

(Click on cover thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #23
• Spring 1994
• B&W, 134-pages w/color covers, newsprint
• Style: pop culture zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Courtney Love interview
Z: Ahmet & Dweezil Zappa
Shudder To Think
Christina Kelly/Sassy magazine interview
Possum Dixon
Pleasant Gehman interview
--> also album, zine & comics reviews, and lots of photos