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The 'A Show of Fans'
Fanzine Archive |
In the Summer of 1991, just a few months ahead of the release of Rush's fourteenth studio album Roll the Bones, a new Rush fanzine was released. Produced in the United States by Steve Streeter, 'A Show of Fans' was touted as the "...Rush fanzine for and by Rush fans...". The notion of a Rush fanzine was not unheard of at the time. The UK's incredibly popular 'The Spirit of Rush', which launched in 1987, had already produced fifteen issues at the time of 'A Show of Fans' inaugural issue. Another lesser-known USA-based fanzine, titled 'The Necromancer', also had numerous issues in circulation at the time.
When 'A Show of Fans' or 'ASOF', as it became to be known, was released however, it immediately stood apart from other fanzines, thanks to its polished and professional format. Each issue was filled with incredible content, including articles, reviews, news, artwork, photographs, letters, advertisements, and more. Yet unlike other fanzines of the time, ASOF was printed, not photocopied, on high-quality glossy paper, typically in multiple colors. So much style with substance.
It didn't take long for ASOF to garner a significant following, thanks in part to a mutual cooperation with the aforementioned 'The Spirit of Rush' fanzine. Streeter also brought an infectious appreciation of Rush into the fanzine by posting numerous reviews and ruminations about the band across many of the issues. That led to his readers ? and contributors ? to follow suit with thought-provoking letters and articles. All of this activity didn't go unnoticed, either. The fanzine actually received a letter from none other than Neil Peart, congratulating Streeter and those associated with the fanzine, on a job well done. In a later issue of the fanzine, Streeter had the opportunity to interview Peart after the release of 'Test for Echo'.
'A Show of Fans' published a total of seventeen issues, from the Summer of 1991 through the Summer of 1997. However even though the fanzine ceased production in print form, Streeter launched the official 'A Show of Fans' website soon after (www.asof.com). The website, though very popular, never quite lived up to the same expectations of the fanzine. Unfortunately, the website ceased operation in April of 1999 and, like many other fanzines of the time, 'A Show of Fans' slowly faded into obscurity...until now.
Given the importance of the fanzine in the overall history of Rush, Cygnus-X1.Net is proud to resurrect ASOF into a new online archive.
Incredible thanks go out to Steve Streeter for producing such an fantastic fanzine, and for allowing its resurrection on this website. Huge thanks also go out to Rob Silverberg, who loaned us each of the issues so they could be carefully scanned and reproduced for this archive.
I hope you enjoy this fantastic look back at Rush during the 90's era.
-John
