Kicks #6 (New York City)

It took about a year for Miriam Linna and Billy Miller to put together the average issue of Kicks, but as shown by #6, it was always well worth the wait. The cover feature is a lengthy story on Bobby Fuller, including an extensive discography; other articles include pieces on Sonny Burgess, Chicago garage bands, movie "star" Arch Hall Jr. (Wild Guitar), Ronnie Dawson, Elroy Dietzel and the Rockin' R's from Peoria, Illinois. Issue #6 also includes a Drew Friedman cartoon, zine reviews and the usual album reviews. With this issue, Kicks also jumped up in price to $4.50 per issue but they also checked in at a healthy 104-pages with a cool color cover. Given the range of early rock music that Kicks explored with every issue (a field they had almost entirely to themselves), one wishes that they could have put out issues more frequently.

To be entirely fair, however, Linna and Miller had their hands full during the mid-to-late-80s. Aside from Kicks, they also published a zine called Bad Seed, which I unfortunately never got a chance to see. They had also launched Norton Records and over the following 20 years would release seminal recorded works from great rockers like Hasil Adkins, Roy Loney, the Flamin' Groovies, the Sonics, Link Wray, the Dictators and many more. They're still going strong today with Norton, and aside from CDs and vinyl, they also sell books and zines. They also still have a limited number of copies of Kicks issues #6 and #7 available for sale through their online store. Because the subject matter is timeless and obviously well-researched as a labor of love, Kicks is a zine that is well worth the investment to find and add to your collection.

(Click on thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #6
• 1988, no month given
• B&W with Color cover, 104-pages (including covers)
• Style: music zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Bobby Fuller
Sonny Burgess
Ronnie Dawson
Arch Hall Jr.
The Swags
The Rockin' R's
The Rumblers
Sparkle Moore
--> also album reviews, reader mail, book & zine reviews, lots of smaller articles