Dishwasher

[gordonzola]

I was so excited by the release of Dishwasher: One Man's Quest to Wash Dishes in All Fifty States that not only did I pre-order it, I read half of it last night. Go buy it! It's awesome.

Dishwasher Pete was one of the great zinesters of the great '80s/'90s zine era. I'm pretty sure that, like Cometbus, Dishwasher Pete somehow managed to scam a ciculation of 10,000 readers per issue by the time he stopped publishing. I know we couldn't keep in on the shelves at Epicenter, it was one of our best sellers, right up there with Cometbus, Doris, i'm so fucking beautiful, and Pathetic Life.

The general theme was working class kid attracted to dishwashing because of the opportunities for free food, slacking, travel, and quitting on a moment's notice, decides that his quest should be to wash dishes in every state. It's a class-conscious and funny memoir/travelogue. Lots of drinking, dish-breaking, leftover eating and finding better things to do than work. Go get it!

Comments

[mriotnrrd.livejournal.com]

oh man, i loved this zine!

[m-dash.livejournal.com]

I was going to type that very sentence.

Now if they could publish every issue of Craphound online with individual downloadable images... that'd be sweet.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

you saw there's a new (ish) Craphound, right? Buy it from Chloe at the best zine store in the country.

[m-dash.livejournal.com]

For real? I'm off!

[trixiefirecat.livejournal.com]

oh yeah! in my great quest to listen to all the old this american life episodes, i heard a few of his stories & he's very interesting. thanks for the reminder!

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

I didn't even knoiw he was on that show. awesome.

[trixiefirecat.livejournal.com]

they have pretty good show summaries on the site if you want to look for him. i think it's only 2-3 shows, but one is about faking out david letterman and putting his friend on in his place.

[fatfeistyfemme.livejournal.com]

Wow. Thanks! I love this stuff. It's amazing the kind of life you can have if you...you know...decide to have it. It's about sacrifice on some level, but wow - the freedom!

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

yeah, I've always been a homebody myself. But I love those zines.

[abrichar.livejournal.com]

That sounds fabulous. I've just ordered it. Thanks for the recommendation!

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

yay!

[lli.livejournal.com]

I can't wait to get my paws on a copy. When I took off to wander around the country, Dishwasher (along with Cometbus) were my inspirations and travel guides. Probably for many others as well.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

yeah, they were definitely two oif the most influential zines, I think. Cuz they were so damn good.

[lizallium.livejournal.com]

I read it all yesterday. What an opportune day to be stuck in bed, sick! It made me wish I had all the old copies of the zine, though, for the handwritten uality and all the parts that were left out. STILL! Good damn book.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

this post really brought out lots of the zinesters, eh?

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

Man, published by Harper? What a disappointment. I'm still going to get it though.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

because of Harper? or because it's put out by a big publisher?

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

Because it's a big publisher. There are many indies that could have taken this on: Atomic just published China's Future Generation book*, Last Gasp published the Cometbus book. AK Press has a good network. I just feel let down when zinesters make that jump when other indie options exist, but anyway. More power to him.

* alright, their first title, maybe Pete didn't know Atomic was now putting out books. :]

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

I don't agree. Though I worked at MRR and Epicenter, the whole indie-label issue was not really my main thing. I think if he could sell Dishwasher to a major press, good for him. The book certainly looks better than many indie press books (AK, for example, only very recently is publishing books that look good and are decently-edited). I think most writers need good editors. Those aren't always available at indie presses.

I have no idea of Pete's details, but a major press advance also can buy a lot of time to write and edit. I'm glad he got a pay day (I guess I should say "I hope he got a pay day") for all those years of writing for basically nothing.

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

A major press advance for a first book? His main claim to fame is to have fooled the Tonight Show into thinking his friend was him. Let's just say I'm skeptical. The editor part I agree with. The part with the bigger publisher though is that once the editor's done, he's one small book among many books, whereas at a small press they'd try much harder to push it. I don't know.

I have in mind Jim Munroe dumping HarperCollins after his first book to go DIY, but he's a really good self-marketer and he seems to enjoy the business part of the whole deal.

[cheekytubemouse.livejournal.com]

Damn you! Yet another addition has been made to my Amazon wishlist!

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

haha

[jessicaem.livejournal.com]

Dishwasher Pete somehow managed to scam a ciculation of 10,000 readers per issue

Like the time he scammed me out of two bucks I sent that he never sent me the zine for???

It's cool. Now I'll go to Barnes and Noble, the total antithesis of zine publishing, and pay the corporate pigs for a copy. :P

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

ha, no I didn't mean it like that at all. He actually had a really good reputation for fulfilling orders. Or at least he didn't have a bad one. Word gets out around that type of thing.

Be sure to ask for a $2 discount at B & N.

[lizallium.livejournal.com]

if it was #16 you never received, a page in the back of this book says he'll send one to you now. I pictured 10,000 people writing for their $2 zine, and poor, poor Dishwasher Pete.

[jactitation.livejournal.com]

Quick, read the other half tonight and loan it to me tomorrow!

Pretty please? Sugar on top?

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

but wait, we were going to hang out Sunday!

[jactitation.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but I finished my book today. See?

Actually, any chance I could get you to help out with a couple things on Saturday morning? This 5 lb weight restricition is the pits.

[lovelikeyeast.livejournal.com]

Pathetic Life: Diary of a Fat Slob was one of my favorite zines of all time! I was just thinking about it yesterday, weirdly enough. Where is Doug now?

Thanks for the book review. I look forward to reading it.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

yeah, I really wish he had put it out in book form. I have many, but not all of them.

Where he is now is a secret. and I don't know it. Haven't seen him since he left SF.

[lovelikeyeast.livejournal.com]

You know, I have Pathetic Life #18-23, and would be really into swapping with you (on loan, of course) for other issues at some point. Since I'm packing books away for a move to pdx, it's not a good time for me to receive anything, but I could send these your way if you promise to return these and (hopefully) lend others out later in the year! Or you may already have these same issues.

If you want me to mail them out, just drop a line & send me your addy to lovelikeyeast at gmail dot com.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

ha. those are pretty much exactly the issues I have. oh well

[lovelikeyeast.livejournal.com]

Eh, wouldn't you know it. Somewhere out there is a treasure trove of 19 or so more issues. Argh!

[fluxions.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the heads up. That was one of my favorite zines. Must go order now.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

everyone loves a Dishwasher...

[yooniehatesyou.livejournal.com]

whoo hoo! i love dishwasher so much i *still* think of it every time a see a reference to dishwashing in a book or movie. i always meant to transcribe the pivotal "i was a dishwasher" scene from "honor thy father and mother: the true store of the menedez killings" for him!

[nunofthat.livejournal.com]

Yay for Dishwasher Pete! I'm going to hear him read later in the month!