Amped: Notes From a Go-Nowhere Punk Band.

Jon Resh (Chicago: Viper Press, 2001)

The final piece this month isn't a 'zine but a book, although it's got many elements of a 'zine. Essentially, this is a brief history of the Florida band Spoke. Written by the guitar player/singer, its small initial chapters are two-to three-page autobiographical stories that set up the background of the hand, while the later sections are tour ruminations and philosophical and ideological monologues pondering What it is to be punk (if that's what it is), what role music plays in the big picture, and how sometimes the shittiest of times are the best of times. Resh seems to have the pedigree and isn't contrived or condescending in his treatment of the anecdotes that make up the life of Spoke. There is an appealing sincerity and straightforwardness in the delivery, and what I consider the mark of good literature of this genre: Resh makes so many identifiable and universal references; and not the pop-culture references found in mainstream stuff such as Pulp Fiction or the Simpsons, but rather stuff that any punk or band member or skater who's ever taken a' road trip and slept on a shitty couch will identify with. It's just a damn good read.