#cindy crabb

[liquidlightandrunningtrees]

I learned to cook because it felt better than working more hours a day in order to afford restaurants. I drank in alleys and rooftops because it was more fun than working more hours a day so I could afford bars. And when I deprioritized work, I prioritized other things--writing, healing, learning to look at my community and to try and understand what it needed and where I could be most effective.

Cindy Crabb

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: Shane Parish

Shane Parish knows a few things about changes. Born Shane Perlowin, he grew up in the sticky flatlands of Florida and settled in the higher, dryer environs of Asheville, NC. He formed the Ahleuchatistas, a high-energy electric instrumental outfit that took its name from a Mexican revolutionary movement and a Charlie Parker tune, in 2002, and has been its sole consistent member (currently drummer Ryan Oslance is the other half of the band). In Asheville, Shane earns his crust as a guitar teacher and has made his cultural impact as the curator and coordinator of improvised music at a succession of venues. He’s demonstrated his responsiveness on recordings with Jacob Wick, Tatsuya Nakatani, Frank Rosaly, and Tashi Dorji, but also articulated a personal improvisational language that aspires to the formal coherence of folk songs and classical compositions on solo recordings like Odei and his Tzadik debut, Undertaker Please Drive Slow (reviewed on Dusted here). Along the way he’s acquired a different surname, a family, and a dress-up gig entertaining tourists at Asheville’s Biltmore Estate.       

Remembering Mr. Rogers (1994/1997), Charlie Rose

"We get so wrapped up in numbers in our society.The most important thing is that we're able to be one to one. At the moment. If we can be present to the moment with the person that we happen to be with at the moment. That's what's important.” I personally regard Fred Rogers perhaps the way many people do the Dalai Lama. A giant of a man who has made the world safer for millions of children and adults. And not a bad composer in his own right!! When Charlie Rose asks him, “Who has made a difference in your life?” Mister Rogers answers: “Oh, a lot of people. But, a lot of people who have allowed me to have some silence. And I don't think we give that gift very much anymore. I am very concerned that our society is much more interested in information than wonder. In noise, rather than silence.” 

Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists by Kay Larson

Having spent a large part of my college days reading and writing about John Cage for my BA in philosophy, I was super stoked when this biography was published in 2013. It features my favorite writing about Cage’s life and the global community of artists that he inspired. It delves deep into the Zen philosophy that informed his life and work, and draws lines connecting the various artists with whom he came into contact.      

The Complete Folkways Recordings, 1958 by Joseph Spence

Bahamian guitarist, Joseph Spence, mumbles and growls improvisatory variations on the themes of his repertoire throughout each performance.  While his playing is hard-driving, he doesn’t ride the pulse to death with a bass note on every quarter note. I once read that his style is “rolling” like the ocean he was surrounded by, as opposed to the American players whose feel mimicked the driving straight lines of the railroad trains. The music is constantly morphing and breaking into jagged angles, full of his own idiosyncratic ornaments that get recycled into subtly shifting permutations, while never losing the implied pulse. These songs could go on all day long and that would be a great day of head bobbing, indeed.  

What Happened Miss Simone? by Liz Garbus  

The 2015 documentary about Nina Simone is an intense emotional roller coaster about one of the greatest musical geniuses to grace our planet with her presence. Her life was a struggle marked by trauma and abuse. Her militant politics were uncompromising, as she responded to the daily violence and injustice perpetrated against black people by our racist society. Her pain found expression in the all-consuming, overwhelming intensity of her performances. As a virtuoso pianist, she seamlessly fuses Bach with the blues and jazz to produce the most kaleidoscopic and dazzling improvised fantasies imaginable.    

King of the Klezmer Clarinet by Naftule Brandwein  

A traditional Klezmer song performance cycles through a handful of themes a few times and then the song is over. Any fresh perspective brought to these tunes must happen with subtle changes in articulation, ornamentation, tone, and dynamics. Naftule Brandwein plays with such whimsy and abandon within the confines of this restricted form. The way he toys with the composed melodies keeps them alive and interesting for each cycle through. I have often thought about how his glissandi and trills can be realized on guitar. A great role model for avoiding stagnation within a context of repetition.  

Tallahassee, The Movie, parts 1 - 4 by Courtney Chappell 

In this piece of cinéma vérité the director takes us with her as she returns to her childhood hometown, ostensibly to work on an art project with a childhood friend. It explores themes of failure, trauma, nihilism and friendship against the backdrop of a mundane college town in Florida.  

Solo in Rio 1959 by Luiz Bonfa 

One of my favorite solo guitar outings, full of syncopated rhythms, incredible contrasts in tone, lyrical use of chromatic harmony. You get the sense there is nothing this guy can’t do. The guitar as drum. The guitar as orchestra, in the Segovia sense. He paints a rich and colorful picture of life going by with his instrument, as in the inventive tone poem, “A Brazilian in New York”, where he live scores his spoken narrative about walking through the city. “Murder” is an angular and varied improvisation that sounds incredibly modern, as if parts of it could have been played by Mary Halvorson or Thomas Bonvalet.  

His Great Songs by Atahualpa Yupanqui

The legendary Argentinian folk singer and guitarist’s playing is dark, lyrical and virtuosic, and he has the voice of an angel. In his hands, the instrument becomes a sparkling stream of water flowing. He blends classical technique with flamenco and folkloric traditions, performing breathtaking instrumentals and providing intricate accompaniment to his velvety vocalizations.    

Doris by Cindy Crabb 

A prolific handmade zine chronicling the adventures of a lifer punk rock political activist, dealing with issues around abortion, sexual abuse, masculinity, feminism, anarchism, and mental health. Often, the stories are accompanied by Crabb’s stylized cartoon drawings. For me, her short stories have a kinship with the realism and inner life revelations of Carson McCullers.  

Thelonious Himself by Thelonious Monk 

There is nothing quite like Monk alone. Brad Mehldau explained it well, even if a bit overly academically, in his liner notes to his own 2006 album, House on Hill. The internal logic of a piece is inherent in Monk’s improvisations, which flow naturally out of the theme. When anyone else plays a Monk tune, they superimpose their own jazz education, background and inclinations into the improvising. While this is unavoidable, and not a bad thing altogether, hearing the singular artist alone is a total immersion into his peculiar genius.  

Canticles of Ecstasy by Hildegard von Bingen performed by Sequentia  

This music was the soundtrack to the birth of my daughter. Haunting holy vocal music from the 12th century and some of the finest drone-based music ever composed. Transcendent. 

Paris is Burning by Jennie Livingston

Documentary about the New York gay ballroom scene in the late 1980’s. A candid and deep study in counterculture, persona, and fame. Dorian Corey, a drag queen whose insights are featured prominently throughout the film leaves us with these words, “You left a mark on the world if you just get through it… you don’t have to bend the whole world. I think it’s better to just enjoy it, pay your dues, and enjoy it. If you shoot a arrow and it goes real high, hooray for you.”  

[riylcast]

Episode 589: Cindy Crabb

In terms of both influence and longevity, few zines rival Doris. While Cindy Crabb hasn’t published an issue in several years, it remains a prominent presence in bookstores across the world.

The series, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, is both deeply personal and broadly relatable, regularly tackling life’s obstacles, both large and small.

These days, Crabb runs a somatic therapy practice, focusing on the ways the mind and body react to stress and trauma.

She continues to write, as well, producing works on a range of topics, including 2015’s Filling the Void, which focused on alcohol recovery and the following year’s Learning Good Consent.

[antiquatedfuture]

Look To The Sea + The Sky: Weekly Planner Any Year

Look to the Sea + The Sky: Weekly Planner Any Year is a build-your-own planner from Cindy Crabb of Doris zine. Weekly spreads with days of the week that you can fill in the dates of whenever you choose to begin. The best part: every page is adorned with a different Doris-y drawing. So lovely.

[antiquatedfuture]

So happy to be carrying one of our all-time favorite zines: DORIS! As well as a couple of Cindy Crabb's excellent interview zines: Filling the Void and Masculinities. Pick them all up and bask in their unstoppable goodness.

[feministzinefestpgh-blog]

Cindy Crabb @ FZFPGH

Get to know yr tablers: Cindy Crabb

Cindy Crabb is the author of the long-running feminist autobiographical zine Doris, which has been anthologized into two books; The Encyclopedia of Doris and Doris: 1991-2001. She is the editor of the book Learning Good Consent. Her work has appeared in The Riot Grrrl Collection; Stay Solid! A Radical Handbook for Youth; Girl Zines: Making Media, Doing Feminism; Maximum Rock and Roll; the Utne Reader and Teen Vogue.

http://dorisdorisdoris.com/

[wearepioneerspress]

IF YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO IS CONSIDERING QUITTING DRINKING OR DRUGS YOU SHOULD GET THEM THIS ZINE

FILLING THE VOID: INTERVIEWS ABOUT QUITTING DRINKING AND USING

Interviews conducted by and edited by Cindy and Caty Crabb

$4

Find this zine here.

A great resource for people trying to quit. Not spiritual or straight-edge. Eight interviews with people who have quit drinking and/or using. Frank discussions and stories about the positive and negative roles drinking/using had in their lives, why they decided to quit, what they struggled with and how they managed to do it.

Interviewees include Erick Lyle (Scam zine), Artnoose (Ker-bloom zine), Cindy (Doris zine), and John Geek (The Fleshies). Interviews conducted by and edited by Cindy and Caty Crabb

Also, check out our brand-new website here! http://www.pioneerspress.com/