Blue Ryder #24 (Olean NY)

By the time of issue #24 of Ken Wagner's excellent Blue Ryder zine, money had become a big problem. Forced by economics to scale back, this issue was the slightest of those that I have in my files. Printed on a huge sheet of newsprint (like your daily newspaper) and quarter-folded down to the size of the original Rolling Stone or Rock magazine, Blue Ryder #24 was still jam-packed with both reprinted and original content from the underground press.

Blue Ryder #24 kicks off with Wagner's "Underground Overview," a review and commentary on the news being reported by the alternative to the alternative press. Also on the front page you'll find Sharon Eiker's "Girlie Gone Bad" from Frontier Report zine and "My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama," my interview with brilliant fringe musician Eugene Chadbourne. There's "A New Punk Manifesto" by Joel from Profane Existence, "Supreme Court Totally Nude" by legendary drive-in movie critic Joe Bob Briggs and "Twisted Image" cartoons by Ace Backwards. Wagner had begun reviewing a lot more zines by this time, so there are a number of well-written short reviews of various publications, as well as a smattering of music reviews. Due to the limited space available in this issue, Wagner admits that he had to cut back on the poetry and literary content so prevalent in earlier issues. Never fear, dear reader, for Blue Ryder would later bounce back with some strong efforts....

(Click on the cover thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #24
• July/August 1992
• B&W, 4-pages (quarter-fold tabloid)
• Style: reprint zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Eugene Chadbourne interview (Radical Pizza)
"Girlie Gone Bad" (Frontier Report)
"A New Punk Manifesto" (Profane Existence)
"Supreme Court Totally Nude" (We Are The Weird)
"Viet Nam: Agent Orange Legacy Continues" (World Perspectives)
--> plus poetry, cartoons, zine reviews and a few zine ads