Erick Lyle

[Review originally published in 2002 on NewPages.com]

What can I say about Scam in order to properly do it justice? First of all, I guess I should say that it’s probably not for everyone. There are countless stories in here of punks breaking the law repeatedly in a joyful and carefree manner. But the spirit of Iggy Scam’s writing is infectious, and I don’t think you can help but be on his side. Tales of hitchhiking, biking, trainhopping, squatting in abandoned houses and buildings, playing punk rock music, and, above all, scamming in order to survive life on the streets. Each issue is full-sized, packed cover to cover with a mix of handwritten and typed articles and stories by Iggy and his cohorts.… (más)

"A zine of resistance and protest and punk and art and stuff, out of San Francisco. In this special issue: "The Epicenter of Crime: The Hunt's Donuts Story." The story of the Mission district donut shop, with the famed "25 Hours" sign, that became either the "focal point for undesirable elements in the Mission" or "a celebration of all that was undomesticated in the Mission," depending on who you talk to." - http://www.lastgasp.com/d/28678/… (más)

"Scam was always the zine in which the Miami punk, Iggy, showed us examples of creative resistance and fun in a world run rotten with poverty and war. Whether it was handing out fake starbucks coupons for free coffee, dropping flyers on mall-goer's heads that say "aren't you glad this isn't a bomb?" or having punk shows in laundromats, Iggy has shown us over the years that you can resist capitalism and have fun AND have a sense of humour at the same time. It's almost six years later but this issue is no exception, except he no longer goes by the name Iggy. Instead his real name, Erick, is signed to this cut and paste gem. Now he seems, more than ever, preoccupied with the passage of time and articulating an affirmative vision of the type of society he'd like to live in and fight for. In his piece on reagan's death he writes "...I think my relief came from realizing that by the time reagan had actually died, my teenage rage had quit being the motivating factor in my life,...what keeps me going [now] is the sense of what I wish the world actually looked like." With age comes wisdom and a sense that Erick wants to fight for the things he's for and not just rage at the things he's against. He talks for public art, squats, free breakfast programs, illegal peace demos in san francisco, punk holidays (joey ramone day, in which people gather and do a secret santa exchange of mixtapes), a booklist and various interviews with community activists and artists that round out this hefty issue nicely. Erick asks "How did it happen that we went from non-stop fighting eviction and gentrification to fighting against the new president's vision of perpetual worldwide war, without even a slight break?" While marking the passage of time erick gives us inspiring examples of living defiantly in those times." - http://www.microcosmdistribution.com/catalog/zines/1278/… (más)