Marc Fischer

It was fun scanning lots of obscure things for Tumblr and casting them out into the world digitally and I met some great people, but I wasn't making many Public Collectors publications back then. Making printed things is a better direction for me and creates an actual economy for living.

I picked up Knock Knock. Very good! The record itself sounds excellent - so clear and quiet.

I just logged into my original Public Collectors Tumblr account and learned that it's now old enough to drive. Still tons of great stuff on there: publiccollectors.tumblr.com. I never reblogged content from anyone.

That is really heavy. Take care of yourself however you do it. Writing is a good thing, I think if it helps you process and feel your way through this.

Thanks for this recommendation. And oh man, Bill Orcutt is fantastic and that is a DAUNTING back catalog. Be sure to see him live if you can. I love watching him play.

Re: “Prince Alone In The Studio”, those lyrics are something special. Guy writes some amazing and unexpected lines and seems to be having an obviously great time writing, even when the delivery gets deeply sad.

Days at 58 is especially excellent right? I only read a couple reviews but it seems like folks are very taken with it. What I heard grabbed me on first listen immediately, and what he does is not the kind of music I run to on impulse unless it really strikes something in me.

Thank you! Tone Deaf Records has a mountain of his stuff in stock. I want the new record for sure. I should put together a stack of stuff to trade and then see what I have to work with.

I'm impressed by how well-recorded all of the solo stuff I've heard so far is. It's so clear and every detail seems audible—every inflection in his voice and in each instrument is perfectly discernible.

True to form, for me, I got into him immediately after he played in Chicago. This is one of my talents.

And if you have albums of his that are favorites, please let me know.

It occurred to me that he might be someone you are into. I'm clicking through various albums on YouTube trying to see what's what. Have you heard the new album? I heard it at Acme in Milwaukee and thought it might be Lou Reed but couldn't be. I eventually figured out what it was based on lyrics.

I have photographed a bunch of examples of this person's work throughout our neighborhood but I don't know who they are. Do you? Some of the drawings are pretty great. I think I've found maybe 6 examples so far - all on dumpsters I think. There's one by Windy City Market.

Getting into a prolific person's music a million years too late is both a blessing and an expensive curse if you like physical recordings. This is my way of saying that the new Bill Callahan record is quite compelling and I know nothing of his MASSIVE catalog of solo records and Smog records. Oof.

Morning Walks: Second Set of 5 Booklets A follow-up second collection of 5 new Public Collectors booklets (2 sheets / 8 pages) created through walking, filled with dozens of photos and short contextual writings, collected together inside a ...

Morning Walks is a series of short photo-zines I've been making. So far there are two sets of 5 booklets—one printing only. The first set is sold out; the second is still available. The third should be finished by April. Get the second five before they're gone: halfletterpress.com/morning-walk...

It's impossible to measure the depth of the awfulness, and yet somehow they always find a way to make the hole just a little deeper, which creates a new bottom to push past.

A question: Does it feel fair to say that ICE agents are the most roundly despised group of people in any occupation in America since forever? Is there some other group that's similarly present in our daily lives that inspires similar vitriol that I'm forgetting?

Thank you to a bunch of people that ordered Mariame's booklet today. Almost all packed up and everything will ship tomorrow.

Fish-Ins & Black/Native Solidarity in the 1960s Mariame Kaba's publication about Dick Gregory and Black/Native Solidarity in Civil Rights organizing in the 1960s.

After an ambitious print run of 2,000 copies, we are down to our last 70 copies of Mariame Kaba's Fish-Ins & Black/Native Solidarity in the 1960s, with illustrations by Jon Bailiff. Don't miss out! It's a beautiful booklet. @prisonculture.bsky.social. Just $7.00 from: halfletterpress.com/fish-ins/

Oooh, thank you!

ZineMap - Drop Your Zines, Find Your People Explore a global map of the zine universe, track your zines, and discover new places to share your work.

Check out zinemap.com. This international map of zine shops, libraries and events is a stellar resource - lots of community input and some interviews too. Thanks to its creator CJ for telling me about it this morning. Happy to boost this, as it's filled with useful information.

Nice! I love finding reams of paper in thrift stores. I've found some great stuff this year including a ream of 24# 11x17 paper for $2.99.

This squirrel and I had a good little staring at each other session the other day. I am always down for this.

This is one of those things there might be a reddit forum or Youtube video about.

Can you check the copy count on it? I also wonder about hacking the old toner cartridges to add more. I have a Brother (maybe 7 years old?) and I bought a Brother cartridge that makes really dirty prints and has a lot of toner left and I wonder about transferring the toner to another cartridge.

Did Eazy E finish his borscht?

That maybe should go in the medical expenses column. I'd have to correlate the day that I bought the records and what was happening in the news, but I think in 2025, it's safe to say that it was always stress buying and therefore medical.

Usually the bad coffee, chai lattes from the machine, or breakfast sandwiches. Maybe only 3 or 4 Slurpees. My rule with Slurpees is only if it's 90 degrees or higher, usually.

Our combined gas bills for the year were more than I spent on records by probably at least 25%.

I also learned that I spent less on records than I might have thought (though I sometimes paid for those with cash). I'm off to a heavier spending start in 2026 though.