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MARCH 7TH, 2014 A BI-WEEKLY WEBPAPER ISSUE 30
A photo essay / by Ahmad Zaghal


My name is Ahmad and I am a blind concert photographer. Some of you reading this probably also read the interview Katie Alice Greer did with me a couple issues ago.

I have been taking pictures with my phone at shows and posting them on my Instagram page since last summer. When I take a picture, I try to use sound to determine the direction in which I'm supposed to be shooting. I also try to get an idea for how high the stage is (if there is one) prior to the beginning of the show. This lets me know how high or low to aim my phone. Most of my enjoyment of doing it comes from the feedback I get after posting. I'm always curious to find out how a picture turned out in both conventional and non-conventional senses (many people have told me that they prefer the blurrier shots).

The idea to start an Instagram account was a little joke between a few friends and I for a while after this Ian MacKaye interview aired on the radio in DC and quickly went viral. I eventually was convinced that A) results might be pretty funny and B) it would make for a good social experiment. How much interest would the public would have in such an idea? Hence my posting them in the public forum that is Instagram. Would the Instagram page remain a small joke between a few friends, or would people I'd never met get wind of it and . . .



Don't believe the hype about high school / by Liana Helene

In most high school movies that I can think of, “types” are portrayed through groups, and the people within them appear to act one way only. Usually, they find their place -- their spot in a group filled with people just like them. Generally, you’ve got your standard jocks, drama kids, nerds, and burnouts. These types have been shown in obviously exaggerated ways, and specific examples that automatically come to mind are movies like High School Musical and Mean Girls, yet . . .

The ways we mourn when stars pass / by Chris Lee

Two weeks ago I attended a memorial for someone I’d never met: José Esteban Muñoz, NYU Tisch School professor, queer theorist, dog lover, forty-six at the age of his passing. Known to his friends as José, to his students as Professor Muñoz, I was neither to him, more so a stranger, never once crossing paths, unless I was fortunate enough to have been unknowingly graced with his . . .

A 7 Seconds cover, plus tour dates






An interview with Laurie Spector, buyer for VA record shop CD Cellar / by Katie Alice Greer

Laurie Spector is the new LP buyer at CD Cellar, a record store in the greater-Washington DC area -- Falls Church, Virginia, to be exact. I spoke with her live and in person after work one evening about the responsibilities of such a job! We talked about money, the Foo Fighters, and how maybe Kendrick Lamar got robbed. But mostly we talked about records and money.

Katie: What does this job entail exactly? I mean, records come out every. . .

by Joe Steinhardt

“There is no shelter in the arts” – Vic Chesnutt

We often hear a ridiculous choice presented to independent artists these days: Do you want independence or success? Do you have values, or do you want to make money? The premise for these questions is entirely false, a complete bullshit lie. So, why are these ideas propagated by both the independent community as well as the conglomerates they're fighting to maintain independence from?

This false choice might seem true because at some point, “punk” and DIY values got mixed up with completely arbitrary rules; rules which prevent anyone who follows them from making any kind of sustainable income. Some of . . .



WEEKLIES


by Jenn Prince
Forever teenage.


by Noah Klein
A Collection of sketches from the LA Zine Fest.





by Faye Orlove and David Goldberg
Fvckin' Bangerz.



by Ali Carter



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