matthew le grand magistery: it isn't a weekly.

lara nik-l-nip: not making it on to your crush's crush list.

connie the pacific ocean/containe: it hasn't gotten me any dates. I thought it was a dating service.

shawn belschwender: its fanzinishness.

scott tall cedars: at the risk of offending the editress who I respect and value as a dear friend, the tone of the magazine is sometimes a bit too juvenile for my taste. I do enjoy the cheekyness of the zine, but the overuse of words like "cute," "swinging," and "swell" (used in an ironic sense) tends to wear on me at times. kitschy '50s jargon can be "nifty" but not a steady diet of it.

pam ex-cf: the thing that makes me most uncomfortable about it is you doing record reviews of my records. I have no problem with being self-referential, I mean if we weren't going to write reviews of our friends' bands, we wouldn't have any reviews to write.
gail: does that makes everyone think we're a bunch of cliquey snobby bitches?
pam: I do think that. I don't think it's true, but I think a lot of people think it's true. which isn't to say that's a bad thing, cause who cares what other people think. I don't know if that's the worst thing.

stephin merritt: its distribution.
cf: what about its distribution?
stephin: insufficient distribution. it's not reaching the masses to which it has a right.
cf: that's all you can think of? you must have other complaints.
stephin: one-color covers.
cf: how many colors would you like? four?
stephin: four plus metallic.

gerard air traffic controllers: I think the single worst thing about chickfactor would have to be--aside from the whole bias against men--the elimination of last names. people are referred to as, you know, like, "joe def leppard." I think thatšs dangerous because I think it gives some people the feeling--some people look at that and they see it as this whole world of bands, zine people, whatever, who are all pals and we're not a part of it. rather than making it familiar to them or bring these people down to a human level, they find therešs something kind of smug about that. and I think you need to address that in some way.
cf: is that why people think it's snooty and elitist?
gerard: yes. and gail, the worst possible thing is to have people think you're snooty and elitist. the way you need to address that is by giving everyone special nicknames, and you can issue a glossary once a year that will tell everybody whose nickname is what. but only do that after seven or eight issues. that's my suggestion.
cf: the lowercase thing doesn't bother you?
gerard: I don't like the all-lowercase thing, but if your typewriter is broken, who am I to tell you to buy a new one?

gail cf: pam quitting. carrying boxes of them around. people hating me, especially pavement boy. people calling for ad rates at 2am.

edna cf: handing my stuff into gail. worrying that she's going to think I'm a crappy writer.

dan walt records: that pesky sideways layout.

gilmore the yips: well, I've wished you'd write essays before about music, seems like you're in the eye of the hurricane but have a good mix of enthusiasm and cynicism so it'd be interesting reading. james dump/yo la tengo: not enough coverage of pop acts.

chan cat power: that it's not in color.

fontaine containe/versus: the cartoons.

franklin bruno: ubiquity of lowercase, sad (though hardly surprising) fact that no one names me as a crush, dearth of informed deathmetal coverage.

lydia cf: having to meet my writing deadlines for it, and the guilt associated with not doing it!

david newgarden: not enough recipes.

rebecca spilt milk: it's not my zine; hence, I live an empty meaningless sort of life--dreaming that I was the one who asked brilliant burning questions, got stephin merritt to dis 7"s in a jukebox jury, threw the swinging cf party/concerts, and so on...my life is nothing. and itšs all chickfactor's fault!

dawn cf: not enough chickfactor merch. where are the stickers, postcards and dolls?

claudia the magnetic fields: I suppose the purpose of this question is to get feedback. I actually donšt find anything in particular wrong with chickfactor. I adore it, especially the fonts, which whenever I see anywhere else I think "oh, the chickfactor font." but, if I must stretch my critical brain to the max, I have always found it irksome to replace musician's last names with band names, making me claudia magnetic fields honeybunch the future bible heroes, and stephin the magnetic fields the 6ths future bible heroes the gothic archies. and I wonder how andrew feels being andrew eggs; kind of a silly name. stuff like that seems sort of snotty and in-crowd to me. on the other hand, it's certainly not particular to only chickfactor. all indie rock mags seem to do it.

andrew tall cedars: its use of all lower-case lettering doesn't allow for proper display type.

gene drag city: the difference between "fusion" and "fission." best thing: the difference between the late late show host and guest (incommunicado). saddest thing: the uniformed "no."

gerard matador: unfair treatment of saturnine--last review they got, the guy didn't even talk about their music!!

candice k: there is nothing bad about chickfactor!

sue run on: worst thing about chickfactor is it isn't delivered to my door on sunday mornings to be read with coffee and toast.

harry the pulsars: the stupid polls.

jeffrey honeybunch/velvet crush: that it comes out once every three years.

carrie stay free: too much crap about "chicks," "girls," "ladies," etc. chickfactor doesn't do enough to appeal to women my age--more nudity!

mike caught in flux: the worst thing about chickfactor is the lowercase, e.e. cummings-style prose. and the landscaped format of the pages.

paul beer frame: not enough lower-case letters.

elisabeth vincentelli: no fuzzy photos of the british royal family; horrendous lack of industry gossip.

jason summershine: the fact that I didnšt see a copy for ages (I think I saw more when I lived in australia!) and canšt get it in seattle...

paul ashby: lessee....much more standoffish than, say...bunnyhop?

mike slumberland: that it's over.
cf: it's not over!
mike: the fact that we get the ad rates two weeks before the ads are due.

nommi slumberland/kalx: I'm trying to figure out how to say it diplomatically, but I guess the sort of nepotism, where certain bands are getting reviewed...I kind of support that too, I mean, why not? if that's part of your scene to support that. like pam interviewing the heartworms.

rebecca gates: it's too short. not enuff guys. (HA!)

isaac matador: sideways action makes my neck sore, makes it hard to read in bed, it's totally annoying.

robert tono-bungay: never getting asked to be on the cover.

tim harriet: insiderism, which is also the best thing about chickfactor. go figure. also, that "rider" thing. it took me three issues to figure out what a "rider" was.

dave the pulsars/ashtray boy: sideways covers.

ira robbins, famous rock critic: it doesn't come out often enough.

jeff kickstand: I was very disappointed when I recently picked up a copy of your publication. the title chickfactor is totally misleading. when I opened your publication I expected to find lots of pictures of naked chicks. not only were they not naked but there was not even a bunch of anorexic, waifed out, gen x fashion chicks in tight faded jeans with belly buttons and those tight little boo boo kitty t-shirts with no bras, and the heavy '70s eyeshadow and pouty lips, and barrettes and ankle bracelets that are not really ankle bracelets but tatoos that look like fresh rosemary and pierced eyelids and cheeks and noses and glazed over baby blue junkie eyes--you know--that whole ditch barbie look that is so in and right and perfect--get with it! no one wants to read about music--especially these marginally talented so-called artists you insist on featuring that no one has ever heard of. where would you even find these CDs? I for one have never seen them at my local sam goody or anywhere else for that matter. you're obviously just not very in touch with the '90s.

bill meyer: not getting the last two issues in the mail despite buying advertisements in them. of course, that's all water under the bridge. CF