Crank #6

I've come to regard Crank #6 as inferior to previous issues. I'm not sure why. Much of this issue seems like filler, at least compared to previous work I'd produced. The cover is fucking amazing, that's for sure--the best in the wee history of Crank. When I actually read the damned thing, cover-to-cover, I'm struck, these days, by the good parts. There are some snoozy bits, but overall, I think it's a decent issue. Jeremy Braddock's contribution about Elvis, in particular, is misleading along those lines--it's long and intimidating, but quite fucking good.

Where the fuck is Jeremy??

I was working at home at the time of Crank #6's production. Sometime around February of 1997, I left my job at the ad agency and began a 1.5+ year freelance adventure, which ended when I took a full-time job at New York Press (see Crank #7, here). I wrote most of this issue at the start of that stint.

After Crank #6 was released, I went into hiding. Essentially, I stopped writing altogether. I also lost touch with many, many people in my life. The combination of frustrated creative process and emotional isolation, I'd set myself up nicely for the inevitable dramatic changes in life that would come in late 1999.

-Koyen