Want the crew to visit your town? Contact us here!

19 Nov: Dalby – Zine Workshop @ Dalby Regional Library

We were spent. Our hearts, souls and drive for the tour was almost gone, but we had to end on a high. We left Roma Friday morning with our sights set on Dalby.  The drive was mind-numbing and the scenery wasn’t helping. The only things that kept us going was the chance of a decent op shop in Miles and checking in with the crew from the Dogwood Crossing Gallery. Entering the gallery, the last thing we were expecting to come across was an exhibition from the Umbrella Studio which included work by the artist whose house we sat in Townsville, Gerald Soworka! We also picked up a copy of the graphic novel, The Lure Note.  Our Dalby host and librarian, Joel Kelly coordinated the project via the Western Downs Libraries. Elouise and I both had previously heard about the massive project but hadn’t seen a copy. Both instantly impressed with the amount of work and originality, we couldn’t wait to meet these creative Dalby crew.  The Lure Note is a graphic novel that was put together by the young people of Miles, Tara, Dalby and Chinchilla where they wrote, acted out and photographed the story before being illustrated by a graphic artist. You can grab yourself a copy at Smells Like Zines here. (shit product placement ahoy!)

During the entire month away we hadn’t spent a cent on accommodation, and Elouise and I planned to keep it that way even though we had no accommodation planned in Dalby. For a brief moment we did consider heading back to Toowoomba for a good night’s sleep but opted to crash in the car instead, as we felt doing so would be cheating.

The final day arrived! As the tour, which now feels like months ago, began on a high, we had to without question wrap this sucker up on a high. As Dalby is only an hour away from Toowoomba and 210km from Brisbane, we recruited ex-Dalby gal and ‘Take Aim Zine’ author Angie to share her wisdom as well as honorary Bizoo members Luc and Adele to deliver a shit hot workshop.

19 Nov: Dalby – Zine Workshop @ Dalby Regional Library (Photo: Angie)

It’s been two weeks since that Dalby workshop and we still can’t believe the imagination and creativity that came from the Dalby participants. Maybe they put something in the water but WOW! Crazed fantasy tales, the story of a pacer pencil that lasted a full year without changing the lead and that’s just two of the zines produced from that workshop. I guess we delivered the workshop we had hoped for. One of the most exciting outcomes from the Dalby workshop was the inception of a zine library to be housed at the Dalby Regional Library.

The tour had come to an end. We did everything that we set out to achieve and more.  Both Elouise and I have started to receive thankyou letters, handmade one off zines and photos from the tour appearing on social networking sites.

Our goal was to plant cultural seeds throughout regional and north Queensland areas as well as motivate people to create within their home towns.  Both of us can and have been sleeping soundly knowing we delivered such. I’m one to let actions speak rather than words. So, we assisted the inception of a festival to happen in Roma as well as a band to form, the local pool in Longreach is now regularly hosting workshops and events, inspired a lady to host her own zine workshops in Mackay and continue working with the Palm Island community to professionally print and document their bilingual map project.

19 Nov: Dalby – Zine Workshop @ Dalby Regional Library

Where to next… well we plan to deliver more workshops throughout Queensland and then take on the rest of the country. But before any of that will happen, we need to refuel and take a month off. Huge thanks most go out to everyone who made this journey possible. Thanks to the beautiful Steve and Ness for letting us use their wagon, without it the trip simply wouldn’t have happened.  All the communities that hosted our workshops as well as housed us. The Edge, for believing in our crazy idea and throwing us some coin to cover some of the basics and the most important people of all, YOU the ones who came along to our workshops that created new works and made this entire journey so successful.

So that’s it, 5 months worth of planning and 1 month on the road has come to an end…. well nearly… Over the month we created and kept a tally of oddities we spotted on the road. No doubt we missed a bunch of things but it kept us entertained and is much more fun than games of eye spy.

Don’t be a stranger!
Dr Jerm

Tally

- Novelty Letter Boxes 14

- My Family Stickers  63 + Frangipani Stickers  4

- Kookaburras 14

- Tidy Towns 9

- Traffic stops for road works 32

- Shitty Skate Parks 9

- Live Emus 11

- Cans of energy drinks drunk on tour 5

- Limp Biscuit cover of ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ playing on the radio 5

- WaterFall Buckets at Man Made Swim Parks 3

- Eggings 1

- Typewriters 8

- Shoes on a Wire 2

19 Nov: Dalby – Zine Workshop @ Dalby Regional Library

It’s been over a week since the tour ended but the blog is not complete till we mention all the amazing places and things we’ve done and seen. Since returning to the real world, we blew up the vacuum cleaner, trashed our respective houses full of trinkets, souvenirs, dirty clothes and typewriters that need maintenance, and tried to shake our badly timed body clocks. Sorting through the trash heap that became the back seat and boot of the car, it was discovered that Dr Jerm lost one of his Macbeths, and I lost my 187 brand knee pads, making future falls while playing roller derby an unpleasant experience.

After writing out this blog entry, again around 1000 works, I accidently deleted the entire thing, or lost it. So expect this blog to be a little smaller than usual. Anyone that has spent a decent few hours writing something and have it deleted will know the second time you do it, it comes out short and sweet, and really, I’m sure you didn’t have the time or interest to read all thousand words anyway.

13 Nov: Blackall – Music/Zine workshop @ Blackall Memorial Hall

Packing up the Longreach experience and heading onto Blackall, we were met with a sight I wasn’t, and still aren’t ready for. So, so many dead kangaroos on the road. Just as my eyes began to adjust to seeing whole bodies, or maybe just bits splattered around, my heard sank. It was a family of boars bloated on the side of the road. Mumma boar, daddy boar and babby boar. I’m guessing someone shot them for sport. My gentle vegan soul just couldn’t and can’t handle it.

Returning to civilisation, we went to the newsagency to meet Bonny to pick-up keys for the memorial hall. It was scorching heat, but by the time we had set up we’d enticed a local group of young skater boys, or should I say scooter boys from the skate (scoot?) park next door. You wouldn’t believe that coming from Longreach, which, by demographics had more people and places, that Blackall had such a pimped out Hall. Thanks to funding from ‘gritty places’, the hall had been completely done up.

I met Victoria Nugget for the first time after meeting online,(thanks to my first day on Twitter – sweet right?) She’s a young gal who runs the weekly newspaper for Blackall all by herself. Going to all the events, taking photos, writing and editing articles and layout and distribution. A hell of a job, but it shows the further out you go, the more opportunities or experiences you allow yourself, regardless of age or experience. Something I love about small towns. The workshop had a pretty diverse group. Mainly scooter boys, an awesome dude called ‘Frosty’, Victoria and Bonnie. After the BBQ and workshop wrapped up we were treated to a town tour from Victoria, taking in some of the local pubs, and of course, the main street.  We took it all in ready for the next day…

14 Nov: Blackall

A rostered day off. There weren’t many on the tour between driving days and workshop days, or promotion and setting up days, but this was a full rostered day off. Of course being opportunists that we are, and thanks to a town and local sights map provided at our accommodation (more on that in a sec), we headed out for the day, ready for the real Blackall experience.

The first stop was the Opal shop, run by none other than a true blue fair dinkum ozzie. As well as all manner of precious rocks, the shop also features his old warn and found akubra hat collection. We chatted for a good while about his missus, local stuff and being in the outback. We had met the first of many Blackall characters.

Following the map took us up one street that had not only the local dump, but the Woolscour, and cemetery also. The dump shop was an open area of refuse, with something burning in the distance, real outback style. The Woolscour, well, we drove round it and left… not really our thing. But the cemetery… it housed the grave of local legend Jackie Howe, who is remembered in Australian history as the legendary fastest sheep shearer.

Being as hot as it was, and cramming in as much into the day as possible we also got photos (from within the car – lazy lot we are!) or the many monuments including the very, very cool big Rolly Polly (a massive empty sphere made of old fencing barbed wire). You’d hate for that thing to go rolling through your pasture.

Going to the most run down looking pub on the outskirts of town for a drink and a squiz proved to be a pretty tense encounter. Yes, the pub housed the most hilarious collection of ‘saws’ objects, including the Ring Saw, the Chain Saw, the Rick Saw, the Sea Saw and more, it also housed what has now been added to the big things list: the Big Racist. I’m not going to repeat the altercation, but it was pretty terrible, big racist style. For some haggard leathered old dude who had been an electrician in indigenous communities, and was currently enjoying a pretty cheap beer on their land, he certainly had a lot of nasty things to say. I avoided retaliating much because I was sitting next to the guy and quite certain he was going to punch me out. The guy sitting next to him also backed him up, which was even harder to comprehend. Needless to say we didn’t stay long, before retreating to the local swimming hole, equipped with a super-hot natural spring. It was so relaxing we could barely get out.

14 Nov: Blackall

Returning to our accommodation, the amazing Blackall Living Arts Centre, a complex that can house a dozen or so artists in residence placements at a time, and comes with individual apartment rooms as well as an industrial kitchen. We were greeted by a few ladies having a chat in the communal (and shaded) outdoors area. The space runs in a bit of a square, with rooms on each side and the outdoors area in the middle. And so it turned out the women were in fact the major of the town Jan and the cleaner. Its not every day you share your accommodation with the major of a town. Even more endearing was her striking similarities to the much loved old major of Toowoomba; Di Thorley. Both were / are passionate about the arts and community in their town and take pride in what they have and can offer to others.

I hope in the very near future to come back to Blackall, check out the much talked about Shockwave festival, and spend some quality time at the centre.

It was time to move on, and Roma was waiting for us. The dead animals on the road saga continued, but, at least there were lots of live emus to be seen on this stretch. LIVE emu’s. We stopped through Augathella, home of the Big Meat Ant, a lovely librarian, and famous traditional folk song ‘Brisbane Ladies’.

In Roma, we planned two workshops over two days. Meeting with the ladies at DISCO, we soon realised DISCO was a big part of this town, with many of the younger kids proudly wearing their caps. We went to the skate park to round up some youngins, and realised all they wanted was to graffiti their skatepark, or rather, for someone else too. They seemed too scared of something (the man?) to do it. Roma was actually a lot bigger than I expected, and we stayed in accommodation above a local pub.

17 Nov: Roma – Street Art Workshop @ Community Hall

Dropping off books to Golders (who have taken copies of Bizoo in the past) and the Book n Bean Coffee shop, our first workshop surprisingly ended up being made up of their collective children, who loved the chance to play with the typewriters, ink sets and other resources, and funnily enough, work in front of the giant fans. Dr Jerm ran a bit of a music workshop for one guy who came along especially keen to find out about to put on a gig for their band. We were graciously invited to dinner with the Golders family, which is a big deal.

The next day, thanks to harassing the local skate (again, I think scoot park is more appropriate) park boys we had an energetic and short attention spanned group. They loved the gocco and worked in short bursts. But zine making didn’t really suit them, they were there for a street art workshop, so a street art workshop it became. Can you guess the stencils that got made? You’d be right if you were thinking they were of scooters. And proud, mind you. With a few more muso dudes rocking up, Dr Jerm ran another music workshop in the corner.

Life on the road has been a huge adventure, with so many new faces, places and people to meet, take out and be taken out to gigs, dinners, drinks, exhibitions and more. Through the workshops we’ve met young kids, school dropouts, teachers, musicians, journalists, skate kids and everything in between. We’ve also met all sorts of characters along the journey from stopping off in what’s become the op-shop and dump shop tour, of sorts. All manner of kitchy junk, aquariums, stuffed toys, books and mags have been acquired. The most noticeable item from the op shops has been our typewriter collection jumping that started at two. We’ll let you know how many we’ve found when we release the tally board, but needless to say the workshops have only gotten better.

The final blog coming covers the final workshop and place on the tour, Dalby. It also releases the much anticipated final on the road tally board!

Elouise Quinlivan
Smells Like Zines

Ok, we’ll admit it. The tour is actually over, and we’re both finally back at our respective homes at the end of the journey.  But thanks to our lack of updates, we’re sticking to the plan of blogging the adventure, hold tight for another of the massive, long overdue blog posts, happening now…

Leaving Rocky behind, my solo drive onto Longreach was epic. Since getting my licence, all those years ago, I’ve had romantic dreams of being a truckie making each stop a home away from home, while traveling day and night to make the next delivery and pickup. The old fashioned road trip is a close second to the dream. Emerald was the highlight of the journey. Who would have thought a massive easel holding Van Gogh’s Sunflowers would be found in central Queensland. It’s massive and worth reading about.

For me, the biggest concern for the trip was hitting an animal. Heading west we knew that the risks of this would dramatically increase.so we avoided dusk and dawn to reduce the chances, but with bodies every thirty meters we knew it would be tough. Since our adventure is now over, (shhh!) we can safely say we didn’t hit a single soul for the entirety of the journey.

I arrived at Longreach in forty degree heats and half the town shutdown to attend a funeral. Lucky for me I was in good hands, with Claire, who I met roughly four years ago at a workshop that shaped Blackall’s annual Shockwave festival.

With all the youth development officers from council either leaving without notice or resigning  in the western Queensland towns while I was planning the tour,  I had to think on my feet, And thanks to Human, Brooke, Heather and Arts and Crafts Centre,  everything worked out perfectly. Because of the youth development officers disappearing acts, we had to drum up interest and participants. Claire and I hit the school, and to my surprise, I walk into the art class and find a familiar face, Phil, once Toowoomba’s hottest skater and trouble maker.  The local ABC station had heard about the tour through their networks and got me on their morning show as well.

Having the morning free and being a dinosaur and rock geek that I am, I decided the trip to Winton was a must. Sadly the home of the world’s largest dinosaur stampede, Lark Quarry was and still is closed for maintenance but Australian Age of Dinosaurs located just before Winton was open. From the outside, it would have merely looked like a large tin shed. Which it is, but a lot of action was unfolding inside.

I’ve met a lot of geeks in my time, but wow. Entering the gift shop and entry I was greeted by an over the top, bouncy, chatty bloke who upon first interaction, I thought might have been putting it on, but that wasn’t the case. George Sinapius, was actually a contestant on that terrible TV show, Beauty and the Geek. I’m not surprised on any level, but slightly disappointed I didn’t get a photo with him.

Thanks possibly in part to the 40 degree heat, the first workshop didn’t go so well, with only one young dude coming along, scooter in hand. So if the people weren’t coming to us, Bizoo would go to the people!

Thanks to Heather and the Longreach Cultural Association, our accommodation was at the historic Longreach Arts and Crafts building. Once the home of the local ambulance crew, now an amazing arts and crafts space that hosts gallery exhibitions and once a month markets. Lucky for us, that one day landed during our stay.  Continuing with the theme of taking the workshop to the people, we ran a workshop at the markets, then ran  another workshop at the local pool in the afternoon. Who would have guessed paper and water could be friends! Both workshops were a huge success, the young people of Longreach had a ball on the typewriters and alphabet stamp sets.

During our travels there have been a couple of side missions that we may not have highlighted. The first was visiting every dump shop in town, including all the OP shops. Thanks to Heather’s amazing backyard filled with fossils, and the Winton experience, fossicking has been added to the list. We haven’t found anything too amazing except fossilised wood and a pile of, as the opal shop owner calls them common stones.

The road has now officially taken its toll. We’re not getting any sleep but we totally exhausted. We’re up at 5am, have breakfast at around 7am and ready for more sleep around 8:30am. We’re total rock pigs!
Dr Jerm

To be continued…

3 Nov: Innisfail – On the Road

Re-reading the last blog of our adventures through Mackay, Palm Island, Townsville and Cairns, it feels like this all happened months ago, but I swear it was just last week. There is still another week and a half of the adventure to go, but it’s safe to say we are three quarters of the way through our journey. We’re leaving the coast behind now to head inland on to Longreach, Blackall, Roma and Dalby.  The plan was always to return to each area to see what has progressed in the short time we were away, and continue to push the importance of creative expression through art and zines.

It felt like déjà vu as we retraced our journey through Mackay, Townsville and Rockhampton, but this time round we had a very different series of adventures to record…

4 Nov: Townsville –Michelle & Tashi’s opening + Chinchy

4 Nov: Townsville –Michelle & Tashi’s opening + Chinchy

To burn a few days in Townsville, we were helping Michelle Hall, who you’ll remember as the teacher from Palm Islands’ Bwgcolman Community School, and Tashi Wills, a crazy talented artist and zine maker launch their exhibition at Artspaced Inc. Part of the night included launching two 50 copy run art zines that show off Tashi’s mad skills even further. Yes, we snagged copies. Local band Chinchy rocked it downstairs, and local graff dude, RUN Collective member, Artground zine maker, all round nice guy Shane Troubles created a killer gocco print to make on the night to go with the Bizoo launch. When we thoughts things couldn’t get any better, the night was capped off with Chinchy member Jude springing Issue #18 of Bizoo (from back in February-March 2004) to get signed. Dr Jerm become an instant rockstar ! While in town we also got to check in at Umbrella Studios, that features the work by the artist we were lucky enough to be house-sitting for during our stay – Gerald Soworka

In my life away from zines, I also play roller derby for the Toowoomba City Rollers, and the following day I got to train with the Towns Villians. It had been about a year since I came up to Townsville last to watch the girls train, and this time I got a chance to train alongside them. At the end of the night I was asked by head coach Michael if I wanted to join the November Pain bout on the weekend as a Skull Raven. Having not trained since long before the tour started (thanks to other travel), and fearing a lack of endurance needed for the hour long game, I said hell yes. You just can’t turn down opportunities in this life! With one day to get a shirt screen printed and get in the zone for the semi-final (talk about pressure!), the game was super fast paced, brutal and a hell of a lot of fun. The Skull Ravens came out on top, just, against the Slaughterers 126 -115 taking them through to the finals!

5 Nov - Townsville Roller Derby

Still high from the game the night before, Dr Jerm and I headed back in to Artspaced for our community BBQ, zine workshop and fair from midday. When we arrived it turned out the BBQ was newly bought and Dr Jerm had to show off his ex-Bunning’s skills in putting it together in lightning speed. Similar to the last Townsville delivery, we ended up with a pretty young group of mainly boys. They were so dedicated when the food was ready they didn’t stop the zine making to even eat until we forced them to have a break. ‘The Typewriter times’ was one of the standout zines and contained an on the spot  interview with local band The Matadors, as well as one participant banging out two art zines in the session. We couldn’t be more impressed with the group that turned up.

7 Nov: Mackay – Zine meet up and Gocco printing

Packing back up the zine wagon, we set off for our quick stop back through Mackay. Heading back to CrossRoad Arts we set up in the workshop room. Karen, an art teacher and participant from the last workshop had found and brought along a special gem found in the back of the art cupboard – a BRAND NEW Gocco Printer ! Karne’s Gocco was the Orange model, the model before ours, and came as more of a screen printing set up, with a big roll of mesh, bulbs and paint. We spent much of our time fiddling with the little wonder, and although the mesh was over 10 years old (it had been hiding in the cupboard for that long), we still got an amazing print out of the little machine, and with the new screens you can buy, I foresee a long gocco printing future for Mackay. And not just Mackay… This tour may well have single-handedly brought back the easy, clean and cheap screen printing method of the Gocco. We can’t wait to see what gets produced.

7 Nov: Mackay – Zine meet up and Gocco printing

The other amazing result of the workshop was seeing  Donnielle’s new zine series, created while we were away. They were based on a racist sticker she saw around Mackay, and used the zines as an outlet for expressing herself and thoughts. They were amazing, high impact, and we were grateful she brought them along. Making zines really hit a nerve for her and I’m sure her students will be benefiting from her knowledge (and zine pack she took home).

Making a dash for Rocky, we once again luckily secured a room at the prestigious, though possibly under-utilized Walter Reid Centre, ready for the launch James Douglas’s ‘A Piss in the Ocean: Cameron Borg, A ripple in the Mainstream’ documentary. Cameron Borg was the guy pushing punk rock in the 90’s in Rockhampton, and from the footage from the DVD, he did one hell of a job of it. So many regions in Australia have a vast as yet undocumented history, and the showing of this film along with the Bizoo Book shows just how much goes on uncelebrated. Zines, Books, DVD’s, exhibitions and events can all retain a little piece of history for an area for the future. Without it, places like Rockhampton (and Toowoomba) get a bad rap for ‘nothing every happening’. Write, film and showcase your areas history today! And when you do, please send us a copy – we’d love to see it.

8 Nov: Rockhampton – A venue & Bizoo music meet up & screening of ‘A Piss in the Ocean’

This blog was written from Sophie Benjamin’s house in Rocky. Sophie launched the split SailorMouth and Sharks Vs Wolves EP right here on her roof for Dr Jerm and I when we came through last (download it free here). She went to work at 3am this morning for her news radio broadcast job, while I slept for a full 12 hours, which is a big deal considering we’ve been clocking about 5-6 hours most nights for the last month thanks to North Queensland’s love of sunlight, and fear of curtains.

While I sit here, Dr Jerm is taking the zine wagon on the long drive to Longreach with only the car mascots Borris and Roger the Tasmanian devil plush toys, and Zinc FM radio to keep him company. Both devils were found at various op-shops along the tour. I feel bad not accompanying him on the 8ish hour drive, but I’ve got a family wedding  waiting for me back home in Toowoomba tomorrow, so I’ll fly out from Rocky and join the tour back in Longreach, getting off the plane an hour and a half before our zine workshop there… here’s hoping for no delays!  Dr Jerm left really early this morning to get as many day light hours in as possible, as one thing we’ve seen most of on this tour is roadside kangaroos. Driving at dawn, dusk, or night just isn’t an option, if you want the car, yourselves and the marsupials to all continue being upright and healthy.

Car mascots - Borris and Roger

Elouise Quinlivan
Smells Like Zines

28 Oct: Townsville – Zine workshop

Life on the road can be all consuming and quite easily turn into a way of life without even noticing. Everyday offers endless possibilities, from exploring to meeting new faces, but, like any lifestyle change, something must always give, and for us, it was computer time. Blogging has taken the back seat to adventure, and let’s be honest, I don’t think it’s going to change.  Elouise and I have been photographing and documenting, but with no real time to reflect or upload to the online world, when so much is calling our names.

In March this year, I was lucky enough to be invited up to Mackay’s Artspace Gallery to deliver 2 days’ worth of zine workshops, and with Mackay being home to the bi-annual artist book conference, I knew there was a zine and artist book following up here. We decided that Crossroad Arts would be the perfect fit to host the workshop and zine fair. Crossroads are one of the very few arts community orgs that I find truly inspiring and not afraid to get their hands dirty with all walks of life. Steve, the director, is currently undertaking a residency at the Darpana Performing Arts Academy in Ahmedabad India. Checkout his video blogs here.  It was great to see familiar faces come along and hear about their current projects and developments.

24 Oct: Mackay – Zine Fair/Workshop @ Crossroad Arts

After a number of trips up and down the death stairs, the car was parked, we stank like wet dogs and the wagon looked worse than it ever had with boxes and zines all over the place. Off we went to our next home away from home, Townsville. We knew that the crew from Artspaced and RUN would be waiting with open arms.

27 Oct: Palm Island – Zine workshop

27 Oct: Palm Island – Zine workshop

Palm Island, an aboriginal community 20 minutes away by a tiny 8 seater flight off the coast of Townsville, was, without a doubt the most anticipated workshop of the tour. I’m sure when I mention Palm Island, certain connotations come to mind for you, and with the lack of adequate housing and employment opportunities within the island, it’s hardly the Marriot Hotel. That said, we were both excited and unsure of what we were going to be in for. The early morning flight gave us both the lay of the land and sea before landing, which was breathtaking to say the least. Michelle Hall from Bwgcolman Community School greeted us with excitement. Normally the schools art teacher, Michelle had picked up the slack with a chronic shortage of teachers and has taken on-board subjects like Geography to keep the subjects running. Our full day workshop was to be a reward for a  group of grade ten girls who had been working hard and attending school. It took a little while for them to warm up to us and the zine making plan, but less than thirty minutes in, the typewriters were in full swing and some of the best zines of the tour were in motion.

Michelle’s group are currently working on a project to create the Islands first cultural map with all the locations written in English and Indigenous dialects, and we can’t wait to get our hands on a copy.  Over lunch Michelle gave us the guided tour around the school, showing off the graff murals that Townsville’s RUN collective have done. We ate kebabs for lunch at one of the few shops and gazed at spectacular views of the surrounding islands. Both of us can’t wait to head back and stay for a week and work on a longer term project. We were lucky enough to have a taste of what Palm Island can offer thanks to Jeanette from Artspaced.

Unlike Palm Islands reward class, the following day, students from schools in and around Townsville were in attendance because there were either suspended or expelled. The workshop was going great, we connected with the students, and they were making their ‘we hate cops’ and ‘teachers suck’ zines. Within an hour more teachers and staff arrived unannounced, out numbering the students. Sadly that put a stop to our ‘No rules zine making’ workshop and creativity. It was clear the zines had also come to a dead-end. With the wagon packed back up, and looking like we had been living in it for the past 2 years, not 2 weeks, we drove off to Cairns with plans of hitting up Wally’s (The Upholstery) birthday party!

29 Oct: Cairns – Zine workshop @ Crate59

Our workshop was really well received in Cairns.  Great number and quality crew rocked up, some even brought resource materials with them. I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised, as it wasn’t that long ago that Gutter Trash was held which launched ten local zines.  I’ve got a soft spot for Cairns, it’s the home of some of Australia’s most kind hearted arty crew, and lucky for us most of them helped us out in one way or another. MOFO, the Merchants of Fine Objects, once the home of limited edition T-shirts and artwork, is now the home to off the grid gigs, events and the new gallery, Room 1.  MOFO also became our home during our stay in Cairns.

29 Oct: Cairns – MOFO Gig (Meat Bikini)

As part of the Cairns launch, Joel Goodman of Auxiliary organised a gig at MOFO the same night as the workshops. Listening to one of Cairn’s punk intuitions Meat Bikini (best band name I’ve heard in years) made me think back how surreal the last three days have been. 27 October we were on Palm Island, 28 in Townsville with the quote, unquote bad eggs from the schooling system, and on the 29 the tropical city of Cairns in the beautiful community space Crate59 . Every workshop was so dramatically different, the places and people were real and we both wished we could stay longer and engage with each community. We have been in Cairns for the last week and we head back south today. Throughout the entire journey we have been treated like kings and queens, and are yet to ‘rough it’. The beautiful people of MOFO, Auxiliary, Room 1, Crate59, Arthouse and The Upholstery of Cairns have entrained, supported, hosted and housed us.

During our stay we quickly discovered that the only way to escape the subtropical heat is to delve into the depths of the rainforests. Stoney Creek has been our favourite getaway… you should have seen Elouise’s dismount from the rope swing! Picture a mid-air karate kick while slipping over. Classic!
Dr Jerm

The first workshop, Oct 20th was a late night affair with both Steve Towson and Sophie Benjamin talking ‘the magic of good lyrics, community and the Importance of making your own music’. Around 15 people showed up for it, got linked up to places like APRA and A Venue, jumped some barriers to getting started and thought about what exactly is success in the music industry. If you missed it, don’t stress, we have a speed-dating night and movie screening happening when we come back through town on Nov 8th, to show ‘A Piss In The Ocean’, a doco that covers the Rocky punk and hardcore scene in the 80′/90′s. We can’t wait to see it ourselves !

After a bit of downtime, mainly checking out the old gold mining township of Mount Morgan, and all its quirks ( a suspension bridge, the locals, the running of the cutter and more!), we stepped up to the zine making event at the Rockhampton Library. Again with around 15 people taking part, zines on the local haunts, square dancing, magpies, speed cars and more were created. The Rocky Library is a huge state of the art centre like the Walter, all class. The day wouldn’t be complete without finding a new typewriter at the local dump shop for under a fiver to add to the collection, and being caught eating the food in the community organic garden.

Where to now ? After another 4 hour drive (stopping off at ‘The Caves’) we’ve hit Mackay, and as you can see from the photo, already made ourselves at home. This afternoon is the zine fair with Smells Like Zines, Gocco print making and more at CrossRoad Arts, a quirky artspace in the middle of town, situated on the top floor of an op shop. Can’t wait.
Elouise Quinlivan
Smells Like Zines

photo: JiÀhn Art Fotografie

To celebrate the launch of Bizoo’s final release: The Best, The Worst and the Trash That Never Made It’, Bizoo, Smells Like Zines and CrimInAll Records invite you to a free swag of events, workshops to be held throughout QLD.  So if you live or know someone who lives in the following towns. Give them the heads up and stay tuned for all the updates from the road. We’ve got a flip cam, a photocopier,  a Gocco printer, fireworks and fun!

- 20 Oct: Rockhampton – Song writing and Community workshop @ Walter Reid Centre (6-9pm)

- 22 Oct: Rockhampton – Zine Workshop @ The Regional Library (10am-1pm)

- 24 Oct: Mackay – Zine Fair @ Crossroad Arts (3:30pm-5pm)

- 27 Oct: Palm Island – Zine workshop (invite only)

- 28 Oct: Townsville – Zine workshop (invite only)

- 29 Oct: Cairns – Zine workshop @ Crate59 (10:30-1pm), Music Workshop @ MOFO 3:30-5:30pm + Gig

- 4 Nov: Townsville –Michelle and Natasha’s opening (6pm-9pm) Gig w/Chinchy (9pm-10pm) @ Artspaced/Dance North

- 6 Nov: Townsville – Zine workshop & BBQ @ Artspaced/Dance North (12 – 3pm)

- 7 Nov: Mackay – Zine meet up and Gocco printing @ Crossroad Arts (3:30-5pm)

- 8 Nov: Rockhampton – A venue and Bizoo presents a music networking night w/screening of ‘A Piss in the Ocean’ @ Walter Reid Centre (6-9pm)

- 11 Nov: Longreach – Music Workshop @ Youth Club (4-7pm)

- 12 Nov: Longreach – Zine Workshop @ Youth Club 12:30-3pm)

- 13 Nov: Blackall – Music/Zine workshops & BBQ @ Blackall Memorial Hall (12-5pm)

- 16 Nov: Roma – Zine workshop @ Community Hall (4-7pm)

- 17 Nov: Roma – Music workshop @ Community Hall (4-7pm)

- 19 Nov: Dalby – Zine Workshop @ Dalby Regional Gallery (10am-2pm)

All the workshops and events are free, the book will be available throughout each town a few weeks before each launch event. The book will also be available to pick-up at each event.
For more information, questions or bookings please email: bizoozine @ gmail.com

Bizoo’s regional and north Queensland tour is proudly supported by The Edge.

Review by: Linda Coates.
On Saturday, the 8th of October I made the trek from the not-so-sunny Gold Coast up to Brisbane for the Bizoo Book Launch presented by Bizoo, 4zzz and The Paper Cuts Collective. Despite the terrible weather, spirits were high as a makeshift roof was created to provide shelter from the rain. Luckily the sky cleared up and once that happened, more people arrived.

‘Bizoo: The Best, The Worst and the Trash That Never Made It’ is a book covering the ups and downs involved with the Toowoomba arts and music zine, Bizoo. It’s free and it’s carbon-neutral! I haven’t read all of it yet but so far it’s given an insight into what things were like for the arts and music scene in Toowoomba and how exciting it was for young people to have this resource and network to contribute to and be involved in.

There were many fun things to do in the 4ZZZ carpark including a collaborative zine open to anyone willing to add to it, badge making, a typewriter to play on, a gocco printer and general arts and crafts. The badge maker was incredibly popular and I admit to having made at least four badges. The free copies of Bizoo enticed many shy passersby to come in and partake in the festivities.

The zine fair upstairs showcased some really interesting art and zines by local artists including Philip Dearest, who designed the event flyer. He also had some zines, stickers and posters available and was very generous with discounts. There was a great spread of local artists, anarchist resources, cute crafts (like handmade moustaches) and old punk magazines.

The first band Gunk was riot grrrrl and they were totally awesome. After they played I pounced on the guitarist and singer Alex to ask where I could get their CD. During their set I was captivated by a man I now know to be Emmanuel Hernaez in the audience frantically sketching with a Sharpie under their influence. After Gunk was the Giants of Science with a rocky AC-DC sound and some nice guitar solos. Unfortunately I was led astray by the offer of free beer and left just before the end of their set. It was an awesome day and I was totally inspired to start my own zine!