Punk Pals Unwashed
Rob Northrup published Punk Pals Unwashed from 1995 through 2000 as a forum for free pen pal ads, zine ads, and whatever fiction or articles he felt like adding. The title was meant as a parody of "Pen Pals United," a newsletter of more 'vanilla' pen pal listings. PPU was reviewed a few times in Factsheet Five.
In the kind of fairy tale that could only be brought about through zines, Northrup took a jaunt to Houston, TX in 1997 to meet and move in with his pen pal Melinda Smith, author of The Basketcase zine. They contributed articles to each other's zines for a while, put out one combined issue of The Basketcase/PPU, and got married on Halloween of that year.
In 2006, Northrup issued "Punk Pals Unwashed, Volume 1," a compilation of the first seven issues plus some bonus materials, available as a free download on lulu.com.
Taglines: "Strong enough for Iron Man, but made for Aretha Franklin." "Punk Pals Unwashed: Mail From People Who Don't Crochet."
