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Comments for Dreamwhip #14
I first came across Dream Whip, through its tenth issue, when I was living in my parent's house in small town Maryland. This was six or so years ago, during a time when I was embarking on my first significant road trips, and Dream Whip fueled my daydreams of exploring further than Philly, New York or Toronto. I wanted to go west, as Bill Brown does, in his seemingly endless voyages throughout the U.S. I still haven't made it west often, and both times on a plane, a mode of locomotion Brown seems to avoid. Instead he opts for his car, bikes, buses, trains, ferries, and ships when traveling to Europe. And as I did as a teenager, I indulge my wanderlust with his meandering tales, as the destination, for Brown, is often of lesser interest than the trip there. Like previous issues I've encountered, issue fourteen is a thick, squat, hand-written affair, illustrated with Brown's delicate line 'portraits' of roadside motels, signs, train depots, and evocative buildings. Also included are comics accompanying the text, but fewer than before, as I recall. Other important differences are the cover and price: issue fourteen is bound in delightfully-textured card stock and costs ten dollars. Also included is a quirky index that captures the spirit of Brown's topics in a few choice, intriguing words (i.e. machine guns, hippy kids armed with; film projectionist, soviet-era; and skin rashes, patron saint of). The price hike is more than justified, as Brown's zines are packed fuller than many a book, this one clocking in at 336 pages, not including the index. Also, it's much easier to handle than previous issues, as those were secured by a fat rubber band that did little to prevent pages from slipping and curling. Content-wise, issue fourteen expands on the same themes as Brown's other works, including his short film collection The Next Best Place. His publisher, zine distro Microcosm, describes him as a “philosopher wanderer” and that fairly sums him up, though one gets the impression Brown thinks of himself more as a lay-social scientist. However, what makes his writing so poignant and funny is the gentle, reflective philosophy underscoring his observations. Brown is attracted to nooks and places fallen on hard times: to folk art sites, abandoned structures, truckstop chapels and diners on forgotten interstates. Brown is also something of an amateur historian, relating the overlooked past of sites, from a former punk rock cafe in communist Yugoslavia to a failed biosphere in the Texas desert. Issue fourteen covers several years, post 9-11, which colors Brown's reflections, especially the recent hardships resulting from stricter security. In fact, the volume is dubbed “The Homeland Security Issue”. One of his related adventures, a stand-out selection, are his trips with border activists, who leave jugs of water in the desert for Mexicans crossing into the U.S. A hostile encounter with some suspected 'coyotes' (those who transport people, in this case, but sometimes drugs across the border) highlights the tangible complexities of U.S. immigration and tightened border-guarding. As he puts it, relating the frustration of a young border activist, “People shouldn't have to risk their lives to get a job in the U.S. that nobody else wants.” Brown's musings are free of chronology for the most part (aside from his trip to Europe), structured only by place-related headings. In less capable hands, the writing could feel disconnected, but Brown's cohesive perspective and voice hold it together well, making Dream Whip a smooth and fairly quick read, despite its length. Fans of the long-running zine Cometbus should be sure to check Brown's work out, as should those who enjoy urban exploring, roadside americana, alternative histories, and well-crafted memoirs. Beatbots PrintI should just get off my duff and write Bill Brown the fan letter I've been meaning to write him for years,. I was reading Dream Whip on the train today and thinking about Bill Brown and Al Burian, and how I'd happily read about the aimless travels of crackpot smart men for...well, how long you got? Too Much KaterineRemember Big Little Books from when you where a kid? This book is what I the size and shape of those books. At least it is what I remember those books being. Because it is #14, I am guessing this is one of those things that fits somewhere between a zine and a book. This is a great little book that is to travelogues what Microcosm's Zinester's Guide to Portland is to travel guides. Bill Brown shares stories and insight as he travels across the United States, his trip on a freighter to Europe and eventually tales from Europe. I especially enjoyed the stories of when he was on the freighter. The writing flows naturally and you certainly feel as if you were along for the adventure. For a small hand written book it is dense, running at 336 pages, it takes a long while to get through it. But, it is the kind of book you don't want to stop reading. I unfortunately doubt that I will ever travel to Europe via freighter or travel to Croatia, Italy and the places Bill describes, but his descriptions are so clear and so matter of fact, I feel like I already have. 410 MediaA fat little publication that can easily fit into a hoodie pocket to be read on a train ride, Dream Whip is a travel-story focused personal zine. There are a few dozen tales of adventure in Europe and North America. The layout is simple and easy to read--mostly text with a few illustrations and newspaper clippings thrown in. The writing itself flows well and avoids the usual pitfalls of personal zine-dom, resulting in a decent easy read. Profane Existence, #54More than a travel guide, [Dream Whip #14] sets out the ways in which experiencing different cultures can have an effect on your belief systems and make you question your own ideologies. Riot 77 MagazineDREAMWHIP ranks up there with BURN COLLECTOR as one of my favorite voices in the small press. Xerography Debt #21This little book is mostly a collection of travel and couch-surfing stories through weird little towns and a few big cities in the US and Europe. Written not too personally, and really pretty hilariously, it's a zine that does service to weeks-long boat trips and one-mans haunted house by not over-inflating their uniqueness but just telling the story as it happened, which makes everything a lot funnier anyway. It's occasionally illustrated, largely with line drawing of houses and bus stations, but there are some good comics too. Overall it's really well written, and this is seriously a great zine. DRUTechnically, this is a zine. But it feels like more of a book. A book that is 1/4 sized and has large type. It sort of made the 300 plus pages in it go a lot faster and made me feel like a bit of a speed reader. So take that, those critical of my slow reading style! All that aside, I have heard of, but never actually read, Dream Whip. I really enjoyed it. The writer details numerous short stories, little anecdotes, nuggets of wisdom, and tiny life lessons wrapped around the theme of traveling from the Southwest, to the East Coast, over to Europe via cargo ship, through the old country, and back to the U.S. over the span of who knows how long (though I'm guessing it's a little over a year). It makes me want to wantonly travel again with no real agenda, and no real timeframe. Along the way there are little illustrations (mostly of motels, cafes, and architectural oddities), as well as some rather humorous strips. In the end, he ends up taking residence in Detroit of all places. But the general theme of traveling is almost secondary, rather background, to the interesting foibles and stream-of-consciousness happening on the surface of these tales. An excellent read that encompasses my (sort of) life motto, No matter where you go, there you are. Ryan Canavan, Hanging Like a HexBill Brown's Dreamwhip #14 is a travel zine in book form. I'm in love with this little book. Furthermore, I have no idea how I've missed the previous thirteen issues of Bill Brown's zine. I have some catching up to do. While initially flipping through Dreamwhip, I was instantly charmed by the illustrations, including painstaking sketches of train stations, motels, and diners, and amusing cartoons. The index was also promising, with entries such as "corn dog, as trade for pot" and "jacuzzi, trucker" and "skin rashes, patron saint of." I read Dreamwhip in two sittings, because I couldn't bear to put it down. I also read at least half of it out loud because I just had to share it (Sorry Cam). This book is, to say the least, right up my alley. Bill seems to appreciate inhabiting dusty little corners of the world a little longer than most people would prefer, and is able to convey an engaging combination of humor and loneliness. If that sounds bleak, think again. The result is often laugh out loud funny. I was tickled by Bill's fear that a friend's cat considered him a mooch. "Of course, it takes a lot of nerve for a pet cat to be calling anyone a mooch, but that's beside the point." Another highlight was Bill's illustrated account of a visit to a haunted house in Illinois that had me laughing so hard that it was difficult to read aloud, and simultaneously wondering if a trip from Reno to Illinois simply to go to a wacky (and possibly dangerous) roadside attraction is impractical. That story alone is worth the price of the book. Get this! Tress, Maximum Rock and Roll #286Having been a fan of this zine for a while, I knew it would not disappoint, despite it also having graduated to a perfect-bound paperback form. Bill’s words are like fibrous lengths of jute, and he threads them around and through your mind until you’re all bound up in his sprawling travel tales. He’s quietly opinionated, and although he never divulges too much of himself, by the end of his stories he’s dropped enough strategic hints that you get some kind of picture of who he is. Maybe it’s not always the same portrait, but I think it’s probably pretty close. Straightforward, calming yet wistful prose that reads well under a big cottonwood tree in the waning afternoon light, or anywhere, really. The tales are interspersed with Bill’s little descriptive drawings. Highly recommended! Sean Stewart, Newpages
