Spew

SPEW , "The Homographic Convergence", was a Queer zine convention that was held on Saturday May 25, 1991.

SPEW was organized by Steve LaFreniere, Mary Jo Schnell, Lawrence Steger, Suzie Silver, Steve Marton, Susan Seizer and LaMar and it was held at the Randolph Street Gallery, 756 North Milwaukee Avenue, in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

This now legendary event was the first international meeting of queer zine makers. Posters announcing the event promised "Zines - T-shirts - Performances- Projections- Readings - Music - Drag - Dancing - Cruising - Ranting". Zine editors advertised to attend were from the zines Fertile LaToyah Jackson, J.D.s, Straight to Hell, Farm, Bimbox, Holy Titclamps, Homoture, Thing, Taste of Latex, Cunt, TGOC, Sister Nobody, Foetus Acid, Piss Elegant, Scream Box, Jane and Frankie, Nega-tiva, Chainsaw, I Pamela God, and more. The convention lasted from noon till 8 PM. The event also featured non-stop queer video, performances, as well as a reading by Dennis Cooper.

The convention was followed by the party at 10 PM featuring musical performances by Vaginal Davis and Fifth Column.

At the end of the night, organizer Steve LaFreniere was stabbed in the back by passing gay-bashers. After a brief hospital stay, he recovered from his wounds.

SPEW 2 followed in 1992, this time held in Los Angeles, and the year after that SPEW 3 was held in Toronto.

External Links

• SPEW: The Queer Punk Convention by Bill Hsu, from Postmodern Culture, V.2, N.1
• Poster flats from SPEW hosted by QZAP