In just a few weeks I will be making my third trek to the Allied Media Conference in Bowling Green, OH, happening June 18 – 20. This event, which started as the Underground Publishing Conference, is an amazing meeting of the minds of independent media that keeps growing and improving this year. I’m really excited for the keynote address by Mark Hosler of Negativland and the Saturday night performance by the Evens, featuring Ian MacKaye and Amy Farina.
I saw Hosler at the Reclaim the Media Conference in 2002, where he related some engaging anecdotes and showed some of Negativland’s video work. At the AMC, Hosler will premiere Negativland’s “The Mashin’ of the Christ.”
I am preparing the second mediageek to be ready for the AMC. mediageek #1 made its premiere at the AMC last year. The kind folks at Clamor Magazine put on the AMC, and they also put out the annual Zine Yearbook, which compiles some of the best writing and illustration that appeared in zines during the last year. I’m pleased and honored to note that this year’s edition, Zine Yearbook 8, has a piece from mediageek #1.
If you can make the trip to Bowling Green, OH for one weekend, the AMC is worth the trip. Even if only to see an energetic bunch of independent media makers take over this sleepy college town for three days.