Cometbus #51: The Loneliness of the Electric Menorah

Sorry to who I took this image from!

My cousin lent me* my first issue of Cometbus. When she lent it to me and what issue it was is now a cloudy memory, but really that’s not important. What is important is that after that moment, my life was changed forever. Yeah I know that sounds as cliche and trite as every other statement from someone on when they came of age, and music saved them, blah blah blah. Regardless, since that moment I’ve scoured far and wide for any issues that I may have missed, and I’ve made sure I’ve purchased any issues that may have just come off of the press. And over those many moons that have passed since that first issue that my cousin has lent me, I’ve watched Cometbus expand from just a zine to something else. Something more sizeable than a zine. Something more important.

This time around Aaron threw a slight wrench in the gears. Instead of writing in the style that he is most well known for; that is to say realistic fiction, The Loneliness of the Electric Menorah, is a non fiction novel about Berkeley. More so, it’s about the rise of many pivital businesses (used paperback bookstores, used record stores, poster shops, etc) and even potentially yuppies, stemming from an argument between two bookstore owners in 1963. Though this issue not loosely about his life, you know where the names and places are changed, the relatability factor is not missing. In fact, this issue makes me want to go out and find out more about the city I call home. That Cometbus inspires many people to find themselves (geographically or otherwise) is a testament to how important this little zine is to the people that read it.

Aaron must have spent tireless hours compiling a great number of interviews with Berekely locals; the friends and families of the business owners that have passed away, current business owners, and other notable people integral to the story herein. As with every issue of Cometbus, Aaron offers insight on many things discussed. It definitely helps that he is not an outisder looking in on Berkeley, making this story far from dry or boring.

Cometbus has always been important to the punk rock subculture as it stood, and still stands, as a historical document of the last 25 years. Though this issue is not focused on punk rock or the trappings of life surrounding it, The Loneliness of the Electric Menorah, is no less important or significant. I’ve always felt it to be important to find out the history of where you come from before you put it down, and with this issue Aaron has done just that.
Available from No Idea Records

*Sorry I never returned that issue Chrissy, but surely you understand!