This one still remains largely a mystery for me. It's from 1994, #2 and covers all the requisite bases for an underground American music publication of the time: lo-fi noise, improv, no-fi singer-songwriters, Drag City bands, micro 7" labels, some Matador sprinkled on top and please serve. Woolly Bugger (sometimes one word, sometimes two) came out of the '90s hot spot Olympia and was published/edited by Jeff Fuccilo. His name doesn't really ring a bell, but I hope he is doing well. Contributing here are two names I do recognise: Shrimper/Refrigerator main-man, Dennis Callaci, and Jeff Smith of Feminist Baseball 'zine.

Callaci was quite omnipresent during this era of cultural life on earth, releasing a ton of weird and wonderful tapes, 7"s and LPs on his ever-prolific Shrimper label (I was quite obsessed, too, and interviewed him in '93), and Jeff Smith was annoying many people w/ his FB publication, which I covered here (or there, on the Instagram page), a number of months ago. I was and remain a big fan of his writing from the era, so his presence here is welcome. I can't pinpoint where or how I got this very issue, but I'm guessing it was via Ajax mailorder.

WB is strictly a meat & potatoes music fanzine from the Clinton era, capturing all that was good in 1994. T'was a time to be alive, but surely now is, too? I generally dislike nostalgia, though there was something about perusing this near-30-year-old publication that made me kinda wistful for a bygone age, and then I slapped myself out of it because one must live in the here and now. But it's nice to trace where we've been. WB has a letters section, interviews and record/live reviews. And then it finishes. A good fanzine needs nothing more. What's happening in the world of music? Please read. If you desire vegan soup recipes, check out Profane Existence. I think it's OK to focus on one thing, coz let's face it, if you're picking up a 'zine like Woolly Bugger, you're a dedicated, fixated maniac.

There's an interview here with guitarist Loren Mazzacane Connors, a gent whose career was largely resurrected c/o Forced Exposure's ramblings, as well as Olympia guitar/fiddle noise duo, Noggin. I had some Noggin back in the day - in fact I had just about everything this mag covers back in the day - and at least something written on the likes of Blowhole or Noggin or Coffee or Couch seemed almost de rigeur for any self-respecting, noise-worshipping fanzine at this juncture, though I'll be damned if I or anyone of you have listened to any of these records since the clocked ticked over to the 21st century. And if you have then that's fine and well, though I just can't see myself doing it, and I say that as someone who covered all of the above at the time. None of this is a diss, it was just something of a place and time (for me), and you're welcome to call me an old square, but on the other hand, can we now all just agree that Borbetomagus were absolutely fucking horrible and that only a stone-cold maniac would truly consider them musically interesting let alone a band they REALLY WANT TO LISTEN TO at this point in their life? Thank you and amen.

Dennis Callaci provides quite a bit of the artwork throughout (and his handwriting and art was always instantly recognisable), and again, I enjoy Jeff Smith's reviews because he'll cover everything from Harry Pussy to NOFX and give them all a fair shake, no matter what your prejudices regarding said artists may be. There is also a review from Tucker Petertil, giving great kudos to Slayer's Divine Intervention CD, a review which almost mirrors Jeff Smith's in Feminist Baseball from the same year, although Jeff's was more gushing. Again I have a real soft spot for this album! There's also some reviews for various Shrimper product *cough* and the Supreme Dicks' The Unexamined Life (still one of the best albums of its era) gets a rightful thumbs up, as do many other goods I can still vouch for in the here and now. Maybe one of these days I'll even 'get' Thalia Zadek's Come, but it ain't happened yet...

Woolly Bugger won't change your life and it certainly didn't change mine, but I'm sure it meant a lot to the creators and it's a keeper for posterity and/or research. File next to: Tuba Frenzy.