SONIC IGUANA MAGAZINE - Issue #1

SONIC IGUANA MAGAZINE Issue #1 pdf 1997
In 1999, Jeff Dahl established his own irreverent fan magazine called "Sonic Iguana". Published three times a year by Jeff Dahl/Ultra Underground, the fanzine covered areas of music such as punk, trash, powerpop, glam, garage, rockabilly, and blues. He does direct-mail orders to stores by himself, and hired a distributor to make "Sonic Iguana" available internationally in Japan, Australia, Israel, South Africa, Malaysia, Tahiti, and all over Europe and the United States. "I have offers for bigger distribution and people interested in upping the circulation. But I want to keep it at this level," Dahl, who used to read "Rolling Stone" and "Creem" when those publications were still underground ventures, revealed to Smith. "This underground is like a real word-of-mouth thing, too. The thing I like about it is that it is not at all casual music fans. It is people to whom music still means something." Source
"Ya just gotta like this RnR zine that's edited and published by Jeff Dahl. It has a bad attitued and a firm policy on "NO fucking poetry" that make it a great read. Issue #1 contains an excellent artice on Johnny Thunders written by Nikki Sudden. Issue #2 has an interview with Cheetah Chrome by Jeff Dahl where he asks all the right questions. There are also informed and intelligent interviews with Donita Sparks of L7, Bebe Buell, Kim Shattuck of The Muffs and Cherie Currie of The Runaways, among others. Hey, there's even a poster drawing of Suzi Quatro! (in fact it's Joan Jett!)
It's a music zine so there's music reviews but only for discs that Jeff likes well enough to talk about. (It's his zine so he does what he fucking well wants.) Both issues also contain 'Short An' Sweet' reviews that tell you what you wanna know quickly. I've noticed that he mentions a couple of local faves 'The Viletones' and 'Teenage Head' which puts him in my good books.
These first two issues are great and set a standard that will be hard to match. I can only hope that future issues can keep up the quality..." Source
DON'T MISS "Reflections on Johnny Thunders" by Nikki Sudden !!!

2010 Mercedes-Benz Sport Cars Biome Concept

2010 Mercedes-Benz Sport Cars Biome Concept

Born out of the 2010 LA Auto Show’s Los Angeles Design Challenge, in which automotive designers are given free range to envision the future of transportation, the Biome is meant to blend seamlessly into the planet’s ecosystem. That means all components of the 2010 Mercedes-Benz Sport Cars Biome Concept car are “grown” organically, and it emits pure oxygen and is fully compostable at the end of its service life.

2010 Mercedes-Benz Sport Cars Biome Concept

The basis for the Biome Concept is a vehicle that "grows in a completely organic environment from seeds sown in a nursery." Not only that, but it's powered by a combination of the sun and a chemical bond from an imaginary liquid dubbed BioNectar4534. It's all natural, all organic and all science fiction.

"As the inventor of the motor car, we wanted to illustrate the vision of the perfect vehicle of the future, which is created and functions in complete symbiosis with nature. The Mercedes-Benz BIOME is a natural technology hybrid, and forms part of our earth's ecosystem. It grows and thrives like the leaves on a tree" according to Hubert Lee, Head of the Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Studios in Carlsbad.

2010 Mercedes-Benz Sport Cars Biome Concept

This year the competition had called for the creation of a vision of a safe and comfortable 2+2 compact car featuring good handling and a first-class design, and weighing only 1,000 lbs (around 454 kg/kerb weight).

The 2010 Mercedes-Benz Sport Cars Biome Concept symbiosis vehicle is made from an ultralight material called BioFibre and tips the scales at just 875.5 lbs (around 394 kg). This material is significantly lighter than metal or plastic, yet more robust than steel. BioFibre is grown from proprietary DNA in the Mercedes-Benz nursery, where it collects energy from the sun and stores it in a liquid chemical bond called BioNectar4534.

2010 Mercedes-Benz Sport Cars Biome Concept

The 2010 Mercedes-Benz Sport Cars Biome Concept is powered by BioNectar4534, which is stored in the BioFibre material of the chassis, interior, and wheels. In addition, Mercedes-Benz has developed a technology to equip trees with special receptors which can collect the excess solar energy and turn it into BioNectar4534. This creates a direct link with nature's energy sources and acts as an incentive to cover mobility energy requirements through more trees and at the same time maintain natural resources.

The Los Angeles Design Challenge is part of the Design Los Angeles conference, taking place from 17 to 18 November 2010 as part of the Los Angeles Auto Show.

2010 Mercedes-Benz Sport Cars Biome Concept