Posted on: December 6, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

ABC No Rio – Enter The Nineties: Poets, Punks, Politics / Free (Any Donation is good) / 1:15 / 44M / [email protected] / Vikki c/o ABC No Rio, 156 Rivington Street, New York, NY 10002

This issue of the ABC No Rio zine (I hesitate to call it “Tell Me About The First Time” as the tone is much different between that series an this one, even though both were edited by the same author) details what happened in ABC No Rio during the nineties. This is a narrative, and as such should be linked together with all the first-person quotes and narratives from this and other periods to make something that covers all twenty-five years of the venue. This could then be released by AK or another book imprint that would like to bite, but enough of discussing the intangibles. The issue leads forward more or less through the time frame mentioned in the title. This is a very text-heavy magazine, and as such, the breaks in fonts (every two or three pages, there is a shift into another font without rhyme or reason) provide an interesting way to keep individuals interested in the magazine. What might have made this magazine a little bit stronger would be organization of thoughts along topic lines. As it is right now, there are a lot of things mentioned, but in a sort of meandering way that seems to lack any real direction beyond trying to show the evolution of ABC No Rio from a hole in the wall to a defining place to be at in New York City. The true importance of ABC No Rio begins to be shown during the battles it had with homophobic and sexist hardcore during this period, being one of the first places that would not allow sexist, racist, or homophobic acts to perform on their stages.

Rating: 6.4/10

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