| In 1991, I discovered the found sound/noise group NEGATIVLAND. Later, I bough their infamous U2 single and, a week after THAT, the shit it the fan that resulted in a butt load of lawsuits and noise between the group, SST Records, U2 and Casey Kesem. The same probably can be said of Bob Nelson. However, unlike me, he got productive about his enthusiasm with the band and put together Negativfan; a simple hand made zine of the band and all found sound points in between. ...and then came the U2 single and the dirty fan. So much for keeping it simple. To the right is the original cover of issue #2 (spring 1991), note no mention of the lawsuit avalanche....yet... Instead of shooting my foot off any further, I'll let Bob himself state his side for the record.. |
"I'm Bob Nelson and i started the Negatifan fanzine, which I later gave over to Don-O. He was more professionally
printed than my crudely (pre-word processor/computer) version but I had fun doing it. In those pre-Web days I felt
I should try to do a fanzine about them (nobody else wanted to), I had played their stuff on collage radio in the
80's, with the Helter Stupid (and to some extent Escape From Noise) really attracting my attention. From there it
was OTE highlights on cassette, a couple concerts, and so on. While I moved on to other fanzines, Don-O was
nice enough to take it over. I did an "interview by mail" with Don Joyce and both he and Mark Hosler praised my
work, amateurish though it appeared. Once the Web attracted me, I left zines behind but this media about media
about media was an early effort by me which found me making new friends - including Don-O."
printed than my crudely (pre-word processor/computer) version but I had fun doing it. In those pre-Web days I felt
I should try to do a fanzine about them (nobody else wanted to), I had played their stuff on collage radio in the
80's, with the Helter Stupid (and to some extent Escape From Noise) really attracting my attention. From there it
was OTE highlights on cassette, a couple concerts, and so on. While I moved on to other fanzines, Don-O was
nice enough to take it over. I did an "interview by mail" with Don Joyce and both he and Mark Hosler praised my
work, amateurish though it appeared. Once the Web attracted me, I left zines behind but this media about media
about media was an early effort by me which found me making new friends - including Don-O."
| ABOVE: NegativBob gets personal with this extract from issue #6. water stain courtesy of me and my poor storage situation. BELOW: Bob placed this on the bottom of the front cover of #16, the final issue. Even more sad is that the Mofo Outreach Ministry would go out of business as well in a couple of years. Bonus 'thanks' goes out to Otis Fodder for that wonderful operation! NOTE: I read a Weird Al Yankovic interview that even with the official mp3 download format, the label still uses the CD pay scale! The more things change, the more they stay the same..... |
| ABOVE: Bob reviews Negativland's 1993 tour, which can be heard in it's entirty and unofficially in the 2 CD bootleg set, 'Negativconcertland' and officially in two track excerpts in one of the group's OTE highlights CD set, 'Dick Vaughn's Moribund Music of the 70's' (vol. 4). |
| Bob may have given up the zine and web jazz, but he's still going strong with his long running bi-monthly blues radio show 'The Juke Joint' on WMWM-FM 91.7 in Salem State Collage in Salem, MA. |