Head Space is a quarterly zine about everything DIY in Chicago.

all content is a collaboration of a few people and submissions from lots of people submit your article,

interview, photos, how to, artwork, etc. to: e-mail headspacethezine@gmail.com

your submission could be publish in print or online at www.headspacezine.org

this issue:organizers, layerouters, printers, folders: alexis ellers, rudy orozoco, tanya nikolicfront cover artwork by dave fortunato

back cover artwork by dominic and dave fortunatoBellow photo by Alexis Ellers

clitfest interview was with CLITFest Chicago Collectiveeverything else is as credited

spring 2013 • issue 1

i finally got to see Bellow (former members of the also excellent Toil) play a show in Chicago. i feel like i should mention that i’ve been skeptical of keyboards in the past (maybe it was childhood piano lessons that were forced on me) but my mind was totally changed last night. If you haven’t seen Bellow, you’re going to want to figure it out because they seriously rule. The band is filled out with TWO keyboards, bassist, guitarist, drummer and an epic as fuck vocalist. (Not that this would ever be important to anyone else but i also especially like how symmetrical they are when they set up.) Each member of Bellow has tons of energy and stage presence and totally gets into the music they are playing. It’s an excellent show to see live and maybe its the keyboard riffing, but this shit gets stuck in my head really easily. If your looking for fast and hard its not here. Bellow is peddling atmospheric, melodic, doomy, and a little dark metal music of an excellent quality. Seriously. So good. So brutal.

written by mae blankets for www.twicexasxhard.blogspot.comDoomish Metal from Minneapolis

Q: First introduce yourself and what you do for C.L.I.T.Fest?A: We are a collective of Chicago punks, ladies, queers, people of color planning C.L.I.T.Fest Chicago 2013. We all have different responsibilities depending on the committee we are on, but we all make decisions together. We have been having countless discussions about the potential of the punk scene here and what contributions we’d like to make by hosting this fest. We’ve been tabling at shows to get the word out, hosting fundraisers to offset the cost of the fest, deciding on organizations that would best benefit from the proceeds, and just reaching out to punks who need a network of support and spaces where they’re accepted.

Q: How many people were involved in the beginning of C.L.I.T.Fest and how much has it grown since the beginning?A: In Chicago, we’ve had people join and fade out at various times of the year, but the collective is composed of about 20 members. We can’t speak for other cities; some have had large collectives, while others may have had smaller core-organizing groups.

Q: How long has C.L.I.T.Fest been around?A: This will be the ninth year, although it might have skipped a year back in 2006.

Q: What inspired C.L.I.T.Fest in the very beginning and has that goal/mission statement changed throughout the years?A: C.L.I.T.Fest began in Minneapolis in 2004 as a fest that intended to highlight the contributions of women to the punk scene. Since then, it has been hosted in different cities all over the country, including New Brunswick, DC, Portland, LA, Chicago, and Richmond. It has gone international with other countries like New Zealand organizing their own fests. C.L.I.T.Fest was initially formed to address sexism within the punk scene and stands for “Combating Latent Inequality Together” It has broadened over the years to challenge overt and latent forms of oppressive attitudes/behavior like racism, homophobia, transphobia, fatphobia, ableism. Every hosting city creates their own mission statement that’s tailored to their own vision of what C.L.I.T.Fest means to them and what it offers to their city’s scene. C.L.I.T.Fest is all about self-knowledge, -expression and -empowerment. It challenges organizers to ask the difficult questions that are hardly talked about. In Chicago, we felt like we have an awesome punk scene, but its divided and there are oppressive attitudes present that are often overlooked. We felt we needed to move away from the body-centered vibes of previous fests to combat sex and gender binaries. We even discussed changing the name, but felt that “C.L.I.T.Fest” already had a legacy of being a fest that was inclusive of all people. I hope the next city that decides to host considers this and talks about it more. Every city puts on a different fest every year, but the central goal is to celebrate people/musicians/performers/projects/organizations/etc are marginalized in the punk scene and in our larger society in general.

Q: What issues if any have you run into trying to set up C.L.I.T.Fest and how have you overcome these issues?A: During the first couple of months, we tried to figure out a collective vision for the fest. This entailed discussing what we thought was wrong or could be improved in Chicago, what a “successful” fest meant for us, the role we wanted (cis) men to play, who we were including and excluding in the organizing process (intentionally or not). Of course, everyone had different opinions about these things, but hashing it out was immensely beneficial to us. It made us feel like we were all on the same page, working towards a common goal. Another issue we have is bridging our divisions in the city, getting people from all over the city to come out to our events. We know it’s hard because everything is sort of scattered and the city is huge, but people have noticed the need for solidarity within the punk scene.

Q: What are your future plans with C.L.I.T.Fest? And how can people help and get in contact with the fest?A: We’d like C.L.I.T.Fest to go to smaller towns around the country and globe, where punks could really benefit from discussions around racism, sexism, homophobia and all other forms of oppression. The next city that wants to host it in 2014 can contact us at chicagoclitfest@gmail.com. Thanks!

Q: How is C.L.I.T.Fest funded?A: It is completely volunteer-run and sustained through donations. We try to host fundraisers frequently, table at shows, sell food, posters, cds, etc. We just got a paypal going on our website so if you’d like to donate visit chicagoclitfest.org. The more funds we raise now, the more we can donate to our beneficiary!

HERE WE GO• first cook veggies on a separate pan• then find another pan, melt your cheese• while cheese is melting, pour half a cup of sauce into cheese, also one shot of siracha• put veggies in• then grab your tortilla, roll your mix• wrap burrito in tin foil, throw it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes• enjoy your totally rad and awesome pizza burritoMade by yours truly Rodolfo Orozoco

Pizza Burrito

+

STUFF YOU NEED•tin foil •tortillas•cheese(lots) •pizza sauce • sriracha•toppings: veggies / meat don’t hesitate to be creative

take the hooks off broken bungee cord or use cheap carabiner clips

cut rings about 1/8" the thinner the stretchier they'll be and quicker they'll snap. make some different sizes for different uses

cut big enough to more than cover hole. use sandpaper to rough up what was once the inside of the tube. rough up where the patch is going to be applied. put rubber cement on patch and around the hole. let dry. push together.

tie a knot including basket & rack. weave tube through holes in basket, wrapping around rack each time. tie knot at other end. do both sides.

sleeve the chain through a tube. it’ll keeps out water preventing rust. it’ll protect the paint on your bike too

cut long thin stripes. put into shoe lace holes. cut long thin stripes. with a big enough needle and the right fabric you can use inner tube to to sew.

6 things to do with a busted bike inner tube

what year and how did diseased audio start?

Started as a joint operation between Omar Gonzalez (Machismo, Rectal

Hygienics,Socially Retarded) and I as an excuse to self release the Sea

of Shit/Socially Retarded split 7” back in 2010, then I took it over after

some creative differences.

what kind of music does diseased audio promote?Mostly powerviolence/grind oriented stuff, put out a power electronics tape early on too but that was for vanity purposes as well.

what bands could we possibly see in the near future on

diseased audio?

I don’t really seek out bands, just kind of go along my

usual life until a band really jumps out at me and piques

my interest. That’s how I’ve gone about all of my releases

generally but right at this very moment I have an affinity for

Gas Chamber from Buffalo, NY (members used to play in

Running for Cover). I have corresponded with them a few

times via email and hopefully will be doing a release of some

sort down the road, no time frame on that at all though.

what audio formate do you prefer to work with? Vinyl preferably, tapes too (pro dubbed or bust), depends on the magnitude of the release to determine proper format really.

is there anything you would like to tell people personally who are reading this?Thanks for caring enough to read this far, you’ve reached the end.

Q&A with diseased audio

how can people get in contact

with diseased audio?

Diseasedaudio.blogspot.com

I’ve been a photographer for a long time, but I never had an interest in taking pictures at shows. Then, in January 2013, my friend Yly was playing his first show ever. I was so excited to see him perform that for the first time I wanted to photograph a show. So I did. I went to the Rockpile for Georgia O’Queef’s first show with my camera. I was happy with the results of the photos from the show and began to think that maybe photographing shows could be fun after all. Friends, family, and strangers ask me for advice on photography all the time as a “professional” photographer and Teaching Artist. Here are some things I do that I think are helpful. These suggestions are specifically for taking pictures at shows, but a lot of it could apply to any type of photography.

Shooting a ShowAlexis Ellers

Figure out what you like about photographs you likeAs a teenager, I really wanted a copy of Glen E. Friedman’s book Fuck You Heroes, but with my parents’ war on swearwords I was never able to get a copy of it. By the time I was living on my own it was out of print and too pricey. After the Georgia O’Queef show I looked up his photographs again: think of every iconic photograph of 1980’s punk music. Especially in D.C., Glen E. Friedman took most of them. Hell, I wear a Minor Threat shirt and didn’t even realize it was one his photographs until I looked him up again. Then I did the least punk rock thing ever and I made myself a private Pinterest board so I could collect photos I liked and look at them next to each other. Copying them to a folder on your computer would work just as well and doesn’t make you feel like a suburban, but if you don’t have a computer of your own, it’s easy to log in to Pinterest at the library. Once you’ve got a collection of photographs you like, take some time and really look at them. What do you think makes you drawn to those photographs? Is it the movement being captured? The use of light? Is it the perspective they used? What part of the composition is your eye drawn to? It’s not always going to be something you can pin point, but having an idea of what draws you to a photograph helps you to create photographs that you’re excited about.

Think about what is in your frameThat’s all photography is: what you have chosen to put in the confines of your photograph. I could get into a bunch of “compositional rules” but that take up too much space and you can use the internet to look that up on your own. I will tell you what I tell the kids I teach: watch your edges. Is there a part of hand sticking in the dead space on the left side of your image? Well, there shouldn’t be. You control what is in your photo so actually choose what’s in your photograph. That’s what makes you the photographer.

Shoot like you can’t edit, but then yeah, edit it a littleCompose your photo in the camera when you’re shooting. This is a more traditional photography concept, and maybe it’s outdated, but I still strive to do it. I do make tiny little edits; mainly a little cropping here and there, adjusting for the flash, washing things out or the exposure being off a little.

I use Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to edit my photos - its not hard to “find” a copy. If you’re not into that, try using Gimp. It’s a free, open-source software for photo editing. If you don’t have a computer of your own, Photoshop Express is available online for free (although the free account has some limitations). These programs seem super complicated but you can tackle them one task at a time. I regularly type questions into google about image editing, and it’s amazing how many easy to follow directions there are. Give it a try. Type “how to crop in gimp” into google you’ll get lots of step-by-step directions and videos. Image editing software is pretty amazing, but things can get out of control really fast. Little adjustments tend to look the best and prevent your photo from looking over worked.

Shoot a lot, show a fewThere is no magic ratio or golden triangle, but you shouldn’t be showing every photo you take. At the last show I shot about 150 photos and got 13 images I thought were worth sharing with the world. With the endless space of the internet, you may ask yourself why not show all 150? Because only 13 of them were good. Just because you’re shooting a lot doesn’t mean you should be turning your camera’s flash into a strobe light. Actually pay attention to when and why you’re shooting or you’ll end up with thousands of shitty photos and a room full of irritated people.

Get a good spot, or two or threeAs thrilling as it might be to seem to having a thousand pictures of the back of the crowd, its really not. You gotta go were the action is. If it’s a small space and the crowd is rough I try to have a wall or something behind me because I’m not really aware of what is going on directly in front of me this way I don’t get pushed all the way to the ground.As awesome as your photos might be, if you stand directly in front of the singer and take pictures in his or her face you’re an asshole. Getting good photos of a show shouldn’t come at the expense of the show being good. If you want to get good shots of everyone in the band, you’ll probably have to move from one side of the room to the other. Even if you don’t care about the whole band you’ll have more variety. Don’t just move around the space, also change your perspective; shit looks a lot different when the camera is pointed down vs. straight on vs. looking up. If you don’t believe me, try this exercise I do with the kids: take an object and time yourself for 2 minutes, taking as many pictures from as many angles as you can. There, now you know I’m right

OneWay toBuild aTallbike

aaA somewhat instructional guide to building a tallbike brought to you by Max the Jeeferson Chapter & Alexis Patrol

Put it Back Together