Cover for the seminal book / zine "at the Post Approx Cafe" published in Sydney, March 1993
Inside front cover - copy 3/100. Only approx 30 copies were ever made due to the very high production costs being $3 each!
"at the Post Approx Cafe" was an A5 book / zine made entirely with the use of a mono-chromatic photocopier and consisted of my own pen drawings, C41 and Polaroid SX-70 photographs made between the years 1987 and 1993. Text was made with the use of an electronic typewriter, a first time for me with a keyboard where words without spell check were painstakingly put to paper, cut up and arranged as collage with accompanying images and drawings. The photo on page one was shot inside a Brisbane garage one day before demolition in 1992. The Polaroid SX-70 images were colour photocopies of the originals and feature a homemade Jerry G Doll found in a St Kilda Junk shop called ZDK in 1987 and the original Fitzroy Black Cat Cafe interior / ceiling lamps from 1992.
In September 1992 I moved from my home city of Melbourne to Sydney I got involved with the little known "Jellyheadz" Anarchist arts collective which was loosely similar to Melbourne's Pram Factory of the 1970s. Jellyheadz was located in Wellington Street, Chippendale. There I was an active member of the collective shortly after it began in mid 1992 and to its demise in May 1993.
The angle of the book "at the Post Approx Cafe" reflected my lifestyle and pessimism at the time, where text included short stories set in Melbourne and Sydney in a dystopian future from the protagonist point of view. Its title comes from a written work set in Fitzroy's original Black Cat Cafe - but in an altered universe on Page 23 (see below). The book / zine was displayed for a number of weeks in the window of Glebe Books - Sydney and Brunswick Street Books - Melbourne, where copies were sold in both shops, while later on in 1994 I managed to move about 3 copies at London's Compendium Books in a space of only three weeks. Quite a success I believed at the time. About 5 copies were given away to friends, as none of them were prepared to buy, and I kept 2 copies for myself. I even had one fan who mailed me with enthusiasm, wishing to buy a copy which he had seen in Sydney. Unfortunately after receiving his letter I was in Darwin about to depart on a round-the-world trip with no copies to send him - oh what a pitty!
The most interesting point and mystery about "at the Post Approx Cafe" was one sale I made at the Glebe markets to an interested American TV documentary filmmaker who worked at CNN. While I am not able to verify this I believe some how or other the book may have had a vague influence on The Wachowski brothers Matrix film genre due to the fact that the above mentioned person who bought it from me may have been an acquaintance of the film makers and for the fact that a number of drawings in the book feature a dystopian Sydney.
In September 1992 I moved from my home city of Melbourne to Sydney I got involved with the little known "Jellyheadz" Anarchist arts collective which was loosely similar to Melbourne's Pram Factory of the 1970s. Jellyheadz was located in Wellington Street, Chippendale. There I was an active member of the collective shortly after it began in mid 1992 and to its demise in May 1993.
The angle of the book "at the Post Approx Cafe" reflected my lifestyle and pessimism at the time, where text included short stories set in Melbourne and Sydney in a dystopian future from the protagonist point of view. Its title comes from a written work set in Fitzroy's original Black Cat Cafe - but in an altered universe on Page 23 (see below). The book / zine was displayed for a number of weeks in the window of Glebe Books - Sydney and Brunswick Street Books - Melbourne, where copies were sold in both shops, while later on in 1994 I managed to move about 3 copies at London's Compendium Books in a space of only three weeks. Quite a success I believed at the time. About 5 copies were given away to friends, as none of them were prepared to buy, and I kept 2 copies for myself. I even had one fan who mailed me with enthusiasm, wishing to buy a copy which he had seen in Sydney. Unfortunately after receiving his letter I was in Darwin about to depart on a round-the-world trip with no copies to send him - oh what a pitty!
The most interesting point and mystery about "at the Post Approx Cafe" was one sale I made at the Glebe markets to an interested American TV documentary filmmaker who worked at CNN. While I am not able to verify this I believe some how or other the book may have had a vague influence on The Wachowski brothers Matrix film genre due to the fact that the above mentioned person who bought it from me may have been an acquaintance of the film makers and for the fact that a number of drawings in the book feature a dystopian Sydney.
Inside Back Cover of "At the Post Approx Cafe" - maps showing cafes I frequented in Sydney (left) and Melbourne (right). They were as following: Sydney Cafes - "?" Cafe381 in Newtown; "RGC" Reasonably Good Cafe in Darlington; "c" Craven Cafe in Glebe (suburb where I lived at the time of the book / zine's production); "M" Cafe Mali in Surry Hills and "pb" Piccolo Bar in Kings Cross. Melbourne Cafes - "DC" Don Camilo in West Melbourne; "Bc" Black Cat in Fitzroy; "p" Pellegrinis in Melbourne; "HPK" Helen's Polish Kitchen in Windsor and "G" Galleon in St Kilda.
