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So I finished reading the latest issue of “Cometbus,” In China with Green Day, recently. It’s rare to read a zine that should be considered Literature with a capital “L” but this issue earns that label. If you’re not familiar with Aaron Cometbus, he was the founder-drummer of Crimpshrine (one of the most influential Bay Area punk bands — if not THE most), and he has semi-regularly published a zine called “Cometbus” since 1981 (I’ve been reading it religiously since I was 13). In China with Green Day chronicles his recent trip to Asia with Green Day (ironically, they don’t make it into China), a band he briefly drummed and roadied for in the early-’90s before they exploded. It’s a fascinating look at a bloated arena rock band in 2011 through the eyes of a punk who harshly criticized them for selling out 20 years ago.  Last weekend, Melissa and I were walking through Williamsburg and we stopped into a little used bookstore called Book Thug Nation. As I browsed, I noticed that the labels on each section (Philosophy, Fiction, Politics, etc.) were written in Cometbus’ unmistakable handwriting (For years, Cometbus wrote each issue of his zine by hand). It then dawned on me that Cometbus must be the owner of the store — I’d heard that he migrated from Berkeley to NYC and opened a used bookstore, but I didn’t know the shop was in my own backyard. Then, when I went to pay for our books (Lester Bangs for me, Kierkegaard for Melissa), I realized that none other than Cometbus himself was manning the cash register! He looked up from the copy of Madame Bovary he was reading and took my money. I was so nervous to be face to face with him that I walked out of the store and forgot my books and change on the counter. (Melissa went back inside and got the books and money and explained she has an idiot for a boyfriend). Anyway, if you want to read an excellent zine, seek out a copy of In China with Green Day. You can even buy it from Cometbus himself at Book Thug Nation. 

So I finished reading the latest issue of “Cometbus,” In China with Green Day, recently. It’s rare to read a zine that should be considered Literature with a capital “L” but this issue earns that label. If you’re not familiar with Aaron Cometbus, he was the founder-drummer of Crimpshrine (one of the most influential Bay Area punk bands — if not THE most), and he has semi-regularly published a zine called “Cometbus” since 1981 (I’ve been reading it religiously since I was 13). In China with Green Day chronicles his recent trip to Asia with Green Day (ironically, they don’t make it into China), a band he briefly drummed and roadied for in the early-’90s before they exploded. It’s a fascinating look at a bloated arena rock band in 2011 through the eyes of a punk who harshly criticized them for selling out 20 years ago. 

Last weekend, Melissa and I were walking through Williamsburg and we stopped into a little used bookstore called Book Thug Nation. As I browsed, I noticed that the labels on each section (Philosophy, Fiction, Politics, etc.) were written in Cometbus’ unmistakable handwriting (For years, Cometbus wrote each issue of his zine by hand). It then dawned on me that Cometbus must be the owner of the store — I’d heard that he migrated from Berkeley to NYC and opened a used bookstore, but I didn’t know the shop was in my own backyard. Then, when I went to pay for our books (Lester Bangs for me, Kierkegaard for Melissa), I realized that none other than Cometbus himself was manning the cash register! He looked up from the copy of Madame Bovary he was reading and took my money. I was so nervous to be face to face with him that I walked out of the store and forgot my books and change on the counter. (Melissa went back inside and got the books and money and explained she has an idiot for a boyfriend). Anyway, if you want to read an excellent zine, seek out a copy of In China with Green Day. You can even buy it from Cometbus himself at Book Thug Nation. 

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