Joe Biel
Joe Biel (aka Abner Smith, Boe Jiel, Beau Gheale) is a zinester, videomaker, and founder of Microcosm Publishing, Cantankerous Titles, and co-founder of the Portland Zine Symposium. He grew up in Cleveland and Pittsburgh before resettling in Portland, OR in 1999. He currently splits his year between Bloomington, IN and Portland, OR. Between living the folk-punk dream and building his liveable shack on wheels, he rides his bike most places and eats out a lot these days while reading zine submissions or doing accounting work.
Joe was first introduced to zines in 1994 when Jake Kelly was selling copies of his zine "Summer" at the Euclid Tavern in Cleveland. Joe had given up on reading as a result of high school, and "Summer" was the best thing he had read to date. As a result he pursued all zines he could find and soon started writing his own.
Joe founded Microcosm Publishing in 1996 in his large bedroom with a small adjoining office and a couple boxes of zines, books, and records; he was its sole employee for the first 5 years. In the late 90s he could frequently be seen hauling milk crates full of zines to sell/trade/give away at punk shows at the Euclid Tavern and Speak in Tongues. This is how Microcosm Publishing was born and was a jumping off point to meeting the active zine-making community in Cleveland at the time, including Rob Tuff, Mike Rodemann, Danny Noonan, Liz McAdams, Jake Kelly, Krissy Gregory, Brad Petrigala, Al Karpinski, and Rae Nester. Going to More Than Music Festival was also a big early inspiration for Joe to work more actively with zines and organize events like the Portland Zine Symposium.
Joe was the roadie for bands like Chalkline, Fla Flas, Cripple Kid, Bedford, and Mid Carson July where he would distro zines at punk shows around the US. He recently toured with Propagandhi and The Bouncing Souls. Microcosm has also recently toured with Against Me, Strike Anywhere, and Defiance, OH. Joe co-founded the Portland Zine Symposium with Nicole Georges and Eleanor Whitney in 2001. In recent years he has been a major driving force behind the concept of the "zine tour".
2009 was spent teaching workshops about how to start locally based co-op distribution models for print publications and touring for his latest documentary "If It Ain't Cheap, It Ain't Punk: Fifteen Years of Plan-it X Records".
Current projets include "Bipedal, By Pedal" #2 about violent exchanges between motorists and cyclists and a new book for Garrett County Press, "Beyond Resistance and Community" wherein he interviews people who grew up in punk but persued things other than playing music.
Bibliography
Columns
- Joe Biel Builds His Microcosm in Broken Pencil #30
- "Is Business Killing Punk Rock?" in Maximum Rock 'N' Roll #276
- Regular zine reviewer in Punk Planet
- Regular interview submissions to Maximum Rock n Roll.
Contributions to Compzines
- Best Zine Ever
- Make Something
- Stolen Sharpie Revolution
- PO Box zine
- Things are Bad
- Vamped / Thurteen
- Coffeeshop Crushes
- Sick: A Compilation About Physical Illness
- Alternative Media Handbook
Documentaries/Talkies
- $100 & A T-Shirt, 2004, 2005, 2007
- A Post-Critical Mass Portland, 2010
- If It Ain't Cheap, It Ain't Punk, 2009
- Record Playerz, 2007
- Time, Place: Bloomington, 2007
- X Ray Visions, 2007 (Editor)
- Tennessee State Prison, 2007
- Central Kansas, Canvas Central, 2006
- Last Train Out of North America, 2006
- Of Dice & Men, 2006
- Martinis in the Bike Lane, 2006
- Do You Copy?, 2002
- A Cowboy Hat & A Cane, 2005
- Anavlog, 2008, 2009
Podcasts/Audio Recordings
- An Interview with Alan Lastufka for the Zinester Podcast series.
- KBOO Bike Show Interview about bike artists with Sara Stout and Ayleen Crotty.
- Acknowledged on the 410media.com feature about on the DIY Portland show
- Podcast Interview on ZineVox
Interviews
Powell's Website Readers Guide to the Underground Press #25 Punk Planet #42 Maximum Rock n Roll #251
Zines & Books
- Make A Zine: When Words & Graphics Collide 1997, 2009
- Beyond Resistance & Community: Post-Punk Ethics Applied in art, theory, and practice, 2010
- The Perfect Mix Tape Segue 2003-2009, 5 issues
- You Can Work Any 100 Hours Per Week You Want (In Your Underwear)!! 2006, 2008, 1 issue
- Take Off Your Fucking Dress and Go Bowling 1999-2000, 4 issues
- EyeCandy 1997-2000, 21 issues
- The CIA Makes Science Fiction Unexciting 2002-2008, 5 issues
- Fully Loaded Semi 1998, 1 issue
- Mullet 1997-2000, 5 issues
- If Reagan Played Disco 2000, 1 issue
- Stink in Public 1995-1997, 3 issues
- Bipedal, By Pedal, 2007, 2008, 1 issue
- Cars in the Bike Lane, 2002, 1 issue
- Mediocre Punkhouse, 2000, 1 issue
Zine Tours
- Copy & Destroy, 2003
- Cut & Paste, 2003
- Cocoon: The Road Trip, 2004
- Thinkin', Stinkin', Rarely Drinkin', 2006
- Canadians Are Smarter, 2007
- Tall Tales, 2008
- DIY Skillshare Tour, 2009
