Welcome one and all to this,the first official issue of The Rabid Dog-It's been a long time coming but it's finally fucking here.Spent the better part of the last month compiling and sorting.Writing,barking at people to take part and just basically losing my mind.I've been at this zine thing for centuries it seems but this is the first e-zine for me.Why an e-zine??Well,for one thing,it ain't gonna'end up in a landfill somewhere when you're done with it.I've already added my share of empty styrofoam chinese food containers,beer bottles,cigarette packs and no-longer-able-to-provide-the-needed-stimulation-discarded-porno-mags to fill five landfills.(I have rather large appetites at times....) I live in New England and have finally started to see the full effects we are having as a species on the environment.We just experienced the mildest winter I can remember out of the forty or so that I can remember(some are rather fuzzy due to the,uh,appetites)and,after years of truly believing that it's too late to do anything,that we are simply and completely fucked,it dawned on me that maybe every little bit we can do to slow that slide towards total global meltdown DOES FUCKING MATTER.Yes,I still deal with paper media and yes,I still prefer the experience of holding a book while I read(as compared to endlessly scrolling down the screen or clicking next a thousand times....)but I'm trying.And don't forget that it takes some kind of fuel/electric/gas or otherwise to power up my computer.And yours and yours and yours etc. so,no method of passing on information ,short of a completely oral transmission (and we all know how well that worked out for,say,Bill Clinton) comes without having some impact on the environment.Just ask the bees as they disappear from the planet.Long may those cell towers beam.......

why an e-zine??-part two-AND WHY NOT I RESPOND... Well,to make an already long welcome even longer, my entry into the zine world began back in the late 80's-early 90's with something called Charette's Eye View,the history and current state of which are more clearly explained and delineated elsewhere on the Riverrats Press website proper.The long and short of which states that C.E.V. lasted about ten issues originally before it's demise.Life got in the way and I moved on to other things.Never stopped creating art just didn't have all the time needed to do everything that I wanted to....ABout three years ago,circumstances changed and I decided to re-enter the land of the underground/independent/ alternative press. C.E.V. was reborn.I put out two issues before I sensed something was missing.I then proceeded to put out A.D.D. Comics,Random Nation and a few others(still available through Riverrats Press-hint hint)but something still wasn't right.Then it hit me like a ton of fucking shit house bricks while I was building the Riverrats Press website.While it was indeed called "Charette's"Eye View it wasn't just about me....it was full of other people's work that I'd come across that made me go,"Wow,holy shit,look at this.That's fucking cool,no?!".It is with that in mind that this little e-zine was created.With the instantaneous connectivity of the internet before me the potential to connect with millions of people as never before in our collective history gives me all the reason in the world to do it up as best I can.I will continue to spout my little diatribes on whatever hits me as important at the moment and I will introduce you to a few electronic versions of some of my own creations.But,this e-zine will be,and is,about exposing you to some artists and writers that you may not have heard of just yet.They are all at various levels in their respective careers,some further along than others etc. but no one among them is quite a household name yet.And you know what,they keep doing what they're doing because they're all insanely dedicated to what they do.They inspire me.I hope that they all go through the roof with their careers.And if I can help by giving them another showplace for their work then I will have done my job.

and now,why The Rabid Dog??

MANKIND IS A RABID FUCKING DOG

CHAINED TO A STAKE IN THE BACKYARD OF THE UNIVERSE.

I WROTE THOSE WORDS OVER TEN YEARS AGO AND I FEEL THAT THEY APPLY NOW MORE THAN EVER.JUST LIKE A FROTHY MOUTHED CANINE,STUCK OUT IN THE HOT SUN ALL DAY WITH NOTHING BETTER TO DO THAN SHIT AND BARK,WE ALL CRAVE A LITTLE BIT OF ATTENTION.WE ARE ALL RABID FUCKING DOGS BUT,FOR THE VAST MAJORITY OF 'HUMANITY',IT IS JUST ENOUGH TO GET THAT PROVERBIAL GOOD-JOB-BOY-PAT-ON -THE-HEAD AT THE END OF THE WEEK IN THE FORM OF A PAYCHECK.EASILY SATISFIED WITH LEARNING THE NEEDED RESPONSES TO A SET OF COMMANDS TO ENABLE THEM TO EARN THEIR PLACE ON THAT WONDERFUL TWO DAY TRIP TO MECCA OTHERWISE KNOWN AS 'THE WEEKEND"....THIS E-ZINE IS NOT MEANTFOR THAT SILENT MAJORITY .FOR THOSE OF YOU OUT THERE THAT CAN'T SIT DOWN AND BE QUIET,WHO AREN'T WILLING TO SIT,BEG AND/OR GIVE THE PAW THIS E-ZINE IS MEANT FOR YOU.FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO CAN'T FUCKING BELIEVE ,EVEN FOR A MOMENT,THAT THAT IS ALL THERE IS,THIS E-ZINE IS FOR YOU.IF YOU'VE BEEN DOING WHAT YOU DO FOR AS LONG AS YOU CAN REMEMBER AND CAN'T IMAGINE THE DAY COMING WHEN YOU WON'T BE DOING IT REGARDLESS OF THE FACT OF WHETHER OR NOT SOMEONE IS PAYING YOU TO DO IT,THENTHIS E-ZINE IS FOR YOU.IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR THE ADORATION OF MILLIONS WELL,WHO KNOWS HOW BIG THIS'LL GET BUT AT THE VERY LEAST,YOU'LL KNOW YOU'RE AMONG FRIENDS.RABID AS ALL SHIT BUT,AS THAT RABID DOG HIMSELF FRANK ZAPPA ONCE SAID,"YOU ARE WHAT YOU IS.".

JIM CHARETTE

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED HEREIN ARE NOT NECESSARILY THE OPINIONS OF THE OTHER ARTISTS/WRITERS INVOLVED.THEY'RE MINE.BUT THIS IS MY E-ZINE,I AM THE RABID DOG-SO FUCK OFF ALREADY AND PLEASE ENJOY.

LEGAL BULLSHIT-ALL WORK CONTAINED WITHIN THE RABID DOG IS THE LEGAL PROPERTY OF ALL ARTISTS INVOLVED.IF YOU ENTERED THIS YARD TO STEAL THEIR WORK AND USE IT WITHOUT THER RESPECTIVE PERMISSION THEN YOU WILL HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE CONSEQUENCES.IT'S EASY ENOUGH TO CONTACT THEM AS THE CREDITS PAGE LISTS ALL OF THEIR RESPECTIVE WEBSITES.OTHERWISE A CRACK TEAM OF ELITE COMMANDOS ARMED WITH VARIOUS TORTURE DEVICES AQUIRED OVER YEARS OF EXTENSIVE INFORMATION GATHERING WILL VISIT YOU IN THE DARKEST HOURS OF NIGHT.SO DON'T BE A DICK.