2024/04/21> not sure what po55essed us, perhaps our guilt ketching up 2 us, 4 not doing enough 2 represent Calamari authors, but we 5wallowed our pride + finely drank the instagram koolaid, or @ least Cal did > we (Cal + i, et al) are 5tarting from the biginning + chronillogically posting book covers 4 the most part so it will bee a sorta iG arↄhive of Ↄalamari ... intresting exorcise 2 go thru, mining 20 yrs baↄk 2 the early dayz of Calamari, triggering us 2 relive it in tandum, ^ veritable trip down memory lane

> on iG we started w/ The Singing Fish, didn't mine az far back az the 1st chapbooks, 4 the most part my one or co-Lab-orations, back from when i used the name given 2 me @ birth, so may-B i'll inkloot those hear in this post? + provide B-roll running commentary 2 contextualize, witch i'm trying not 2 do on iG (if i do (post selfies of my day-2-day while publishing said books) just 5hoot me) > actually, may-B this all stems from my failed attempt 2 join CLMP, this pressure 2 halve sum sorta public engagement w/ the lit community, again, at least 4 the sake of the Calamari authors ... it's 1 thing 4 me 2 bee a misanthropic hermit, but not fair 4 the collective

coinsidance there happens 2 b 8 octants of bones that i (in8 iD) M trying 2 make 5ense of?
+ Calamari have 8 arms?

> Mining in the Black Hills was technica||y the 1st Calamari public8ion, a h&-stapled chap we printed on ^ cheap ink-jet printer > B-sides ink + paper, the initial investment con5isted of a guillotine- or «belly trimmer» 2 make the edges str8 > back then we didn't blog about process, so not sure i have pics of that beast of a be||y trimmer that was prob|y the heaviest + bulkiest thing we oned @ the time, living in a 400 sq ft studio in Hell's Kitschen ... actua||y, w/ the help of the wayback machine we can track the evolution, seems we started w/ Sleepingfish.net in July of 2001 (+ have 5ince let that URL lapse), @ this point my (Derek White's) personal author site where i also «blogged» (if you cd call it that), 4 the most part travel pics (archived here) ... the original intent of iG, rite? like a virtual postcard ... do they 5till even have those NE more? NE 1 old enough 2 remember? how u always felt obliG8ed 2 send friends + family postcards whenever u were trave||ing + convenient|y there wasnt enough room 2 write much so u had 2 keep it brief > u couldnt blast 1 postcard to 100s or 1,000s of ppl @ once, so there'd be a day in yr travels where u had 2 stop + buy a dozen postcards + then fill them all out by h&, tailored 2 each recipient > those dayz are gone, nowadayz evry 1 communic8s such things 2 every 1 all @ once + u couldn't send selfies unless u wanted 2 have yr one photo printed on cardstock 2 send around 2 fiends + framily, that usually onely happened once a year when ppl wd send around xmas cards (a tradition i nvr partook in)

> fine, iG is a more convenient + instant way of doing this, but is it demasiado conveniente? + u also have this weird mix of selfies of ppl eating whatever or their pets sleeping + companies that have co-opted iG 2 promote whatever product + then u add the mindless celebrity worship + it just becomes a toxic cesspool of doom scrolling, ppl either needing validation or aspiring 2 bee something they'll nvr bee > even if Cal uses iG 2 promote Calamari Archive it falls under the category of capitalistic exploitation, witch is all so silly b/c @ the end of the day it doesn't amount 2 any noticeable blip in sails (have yet 2 $ell a $ingle copy of books mentioned so far on iG) ... it's EZier 2 just pu5h a button 2 ❤️ it + every 1 can see u ❤️ed it, why do u need 2 actually read the book? when w/ a click of the button u can «support» or endorse whatever cause or product + the awkward bit is that ¢onsumerism gets mixed in w/ lifestyle br&ing ... yet another po5t 2 file under «the hypocrisy of it all»

+ rea||y depressing 2 think of the facefucks B-hind it + how technica||y that Fuckerberg ones the rites 2 whatever u post, read the fine print, they can use Ↄalamari book covers 2 help sell SUVs or diapers if they want 2 ... but guess it's best 2 not [◼] or even press [||] 2 think about it, bite yr tongue, swallow pride

+ btw, Cal is my dad's name + also the name of my mom's dad, so seems only fitting Cal is 1 arm (of 8) of in8iD

> where was i? the 1st record on the wayback machine of Calamaripress.com is December 2003 when/where i posted links 2 get Mining in the Black Hills + 23 Text Tiles, mixed in w/ art + ¢oncert reviews (i was working @ Napster @ the time) + links 2 mine writing or whatever randum stuff, so really 5till a 5elf-publi5hing venture/blog > the 1st snapshot of 5cense.com wasn't until Aug 2004 + seemed it started az a sort of review site ... oh the dayz of web 1.0 when ppl had 2 h&-code + host their one con-10-t:

+ seams back then i called myself «Ñ eyeore» ... 4got all abt whoever that was, just another alter ego weave folded in2 in8 iD > but guess the mi55ion st8ment holds true 2 this day, 1147 posts L8er > the only thing that'5 ¢hanged is that i've stopped calling them «reviews» + the humun behind this has only 1 working ear + 5hitty eyesite ... i'm losing mine senses 4 the sake of 5cense, that's the con5ensus

04/23> 8 @ sushi W (local fave, good deal 4 omakase) then rewatched Magnolia 4 may-B the 10th time, that's what we injested 2day > what books 2 «review» this di5patch?

> hard 2 tell what the book on the left is, but it's issue #3 of Amalgam, «an ad hoc journal that explores the intersection of typography, language, and power» > i'm not even sure ware i got it, may-B @ Printed Matter, but the D-zine chops = dope > 5peaking of Printed Matter, inc., they now carry Zebulon House's The psychic surgeon assists (along w/ 2-byte βeta Ei8ht ½-Loopƨ, 1/ 4 i am ĐNA, Ark Codex ±0 + P.S. At Least We Died Trying...) + the NY Art Book Fair is going on az we 5peak, we plan on hitting it mañana, nos vemos?

sum pgs from Amalgam #3

> also red Who Cares Anyway: Post-Punk San Francisco and the End of the Analog Age by Will York ... an account of the underground SF music scene, thereabouts when/where we gradu8ed high shcool, so spurning all sorts of memories 2 come flooding back, the shows @ Mabuhay Gardens + On Broadway ... Flipper, Toiling Midgets, Avengers, Tuxedo Moon, Dead Kennedys (tho they're scarcely mentioned), Glorious Din, etc. > the author didnt move to San Fran until 1999, so unfortunately not from the horse's mouth, mostly pieced 2gether interviews + articles about the scenesters from around that time + it's not that well written (4 eggsample, starting sentences w/ adverbs " «Sheepishly, ...») nor fact-checked (4 eggsample, he says KFJC/Foothill College was in Sunnyvale, when it's in Los Altos Hills ... not only do i know b/c i went 2 Foothill College, but it was engrained in the hourly station identification (at least '82-89 when i listened in religiously) ... 1 day may-B i'll write my one version of the 5tory, suffice 2 say if it weren't 4 KFJC + the fab Mab perhaps Ↄalamari wdn't Ǝxist

04/25 > walked down to Chama Mama (along the way passing Frances McDormand + Joel Cohen taking pics of cherry blossoms in Riverside Park), this time the Chama Mama in our hood + this time got the adjaruli khachapuri > afterwords went 2 Scarlet (Michael Imperioli's bar) 4 a cocktail

04/27 > been working on the next Calamari title, another 1 by Kelly Krumrie, No Measure > we're not planning on releasing it until the fall, but Calamari signed up 4 the Bklyn Bookfest again + the deadline 2 get a reading slot @ the bookfest is June 1 @ u have 2 send a galley so trying to get something 2gether b4 then + also a slot 4 Steven Alvarez so trying 2 get galleys of those soon, 4 what it's worth ... likely it will be like last year when we did the same w/ Michael Salu's Red Earth but then whatever committe @ BKBF didnt deem it worthy enough + then u find out Liz Koch is behind the BKBF ... oh, the hypocrisy of it all

> but what else u going 2 do? keep yr head down + put out books that @ least u think are cool, tho u can't seem 2 convince NE-1 else otherwise ... @ the end of the day, books, art + music = con-10-t that matters, who wants 2 be remembered 4 their social media feeds? witch is a whole nother story, in trying to get iG «followers» weave come across more than a few dead ppl, witch is creepy, or not, i dunno, having the dead mixed in w/ the living? guess it's kinda cool u can 5till communic8 w/ the dead but seems most ppl do it so others can see their adoration on display ... oh, the hippocrazy of it all

> foke us, con-10-t that matters > we're not reddy 2 show the cover of No Measure, but hear's a mockup of the baↄk witch sorta looks like the front:

> the astute 5cense reader may recognize the img, an inverted pic of eucalyptus tree bark in Canberra (so cd qualify az an insta-po5t¢ard from Oz) > tho who nose if it will even make the final cut > nice thing about POD is that nothing = set in 5tone, we can have whatever whipped up az a galley + then D-side 2 change the cover or whatever else L8er, even after the book is printed