Blue Ryder #29 (Olean NY)

I seem to be missing a large swath of copies of Blue Ryder here (over a year), but it's obvious from issue #29 that editor/publisher Ken Wagner had bounced back somewhat from the cash flow problems that made previous issues so...shall we say..."thin" in stature, if not in content? Going with a quarter-fold half-sheet tabloid format, Blue Ryder climbed back up to sixteen healthy pages with this issue, each page packed with quality content.

By this time, Wagner had begun referring to Blue Ryder as "the best of the underground," his quest to make the zine into a sort of alternative Utne Reader altered, somewhat, by economic and practical realities. In my opinion, Blue Ryder had found a strong identity with this issue, providing readers with a balanced mix of reprinted material and original reviews of music and zines. Included in this issue are a couple of good articles from Jim Romensko's Obscure zine concerning the notorious "Frank," publisher of the incendiary psychozine Livin' In A Powder Keg..." that ask the question "Where's Frank?" while attempting to answer with the killer-in-training's alleged last interview. "Forfeitures and Seizures: Legalized Theft!" is reprinted from the semi-Libertarian zine Urine Nation News and "Secret Gov't Files on Jim, Jim & Janis" is from Harry Wasserman and the Alternative Media syndicate.

There are also original short pieces on the Disco Kings and the Goo Goo Dolls, Ben Weasel's "Doing A Single? Then Do It Right!" article reprinted from Jim Testa's Glut music zine, lots of music and zine reviews, and even more cartoon strips and zine ads than previous. Throw in some literary content that few other zines bothered with and Blue Ryder seemed to have hit its stride at this point, delivering a strong, entertaining issue that would appeal to a lot of different readers.

(Click on the cover thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #29
• May/June 1993
• B&W, 16-pages (quarter-fold tabloid)
• Style: reprint zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
The Disco Kings
The Goo Goo Dolls
Kurt Nimmo's "Eight Vignettes" (Catholic Girls)
Ben Weasel's "Doing A Single? Then Do It Right!" (Glut)
"Where's Frank?" (Obscure)
"The Psycho's Last Interview" (Obscure)
"Forfeitures and Seizures: Legalized Theft!" (Urine Nation News)
"Secret Gov't Files on Jim, Jim and Janis" (Alternative Media)
--> plus poetry, cartoons, zine reviews and lots of zine ads