BORN TO KILL FANZINE

“CHEESEBIKE AT SEA — B-SIDES FROM ISSUE 7”

BY: PAT McCARTHY

PHILADELPHIA —> ANTWERP

APRIL 2014

 

 

 

 

… Been peddling one dollar grilled cheese sandwiches in NY for years … cooked hot to order off the gasoline-burning stove mounted to the moped’s handlebars, posted rogue on whichever street corner struck my night’s interest. The dream vision has always been to go all-city, to push sandwiches in all the neighborhoods. Cheesebiking never was a lucrative hustle, though it did fully realize itself as a self-sustainable trade. The risks of selling sandwiches –– jail, fire, poison, etc. —  never outweighed the ecstasies of living an occupation so rich in adventure and completely sovereign; no manager nor pimp, nor taxman, nor landlord … I stood on my own feet, the bike on hers. I stood amongst neighbors. And they put me to work! Over the seasons thousands of sandwiches passed hands …

 

Bay Area readers may be familiar with Jack London’s famous, inspiriting creedo: “A boy can live as either a slave or a vagabond …” Well when the Cheesebike is at its best -— those hectic nights when the queue for hot wonderbread-and-kraft-cheese is 20 sandwiches long and the street’s growing loud … –– those nights I would feel closest to marrying London’s duality. A free, working, boy. A toiling-independent, indentured only to the maintenance of the moped and grill.

 

Aboard the cargo freighter MV Rickmers Tokyo, I, sick as a dog, and the bike, unheroically drained dry of gasoline, sit silent beside each other. Eventually we will reach old world Europe, a land where there are countless sandwiches not yet sold. And there, with the support of the great Delire Gallery of Brussels, the Cheesebike will be given a nouveau home; a home away from myself, away from Brooklyn, and away from this painstaking oceanic crossing that’s befallen us.

 

The Atlantic is horridly rough, the food’s piss-poor, and (aside the deck crew) the seafaring men I’m trapped with are lock-jawed toughs … For the first time the Bike and I are hustling alone. The sea is not the street, it is not a democratic public space, it is man’s greatest prison. And, as every prisoner must, I adapt; I keep my head down, eat mad cheese sandwiches, “flirt-or-fight” with cellmates, and contemplate the many abyss that rise and fall from the supremacy of the sea.

 

The photographs assembled here (below) tell an alternative narrative to that recorded in the new Born to Kill: Cheesebike 7 fanzine — the story told on paper is always of a breadth too massive and personal to translate into the format of ‘webzine’ — Here, I hope to present a more candy’d vision, a “postcard tour” of the “good days” during a simple sandwich-boy’s first travels at sea … Please enjoy. And for those interested in the 50 page zine (trade or cheap), write to borntokillzine@nullgmail.com. Merci bien.

 

 

The Rickmers Tokyo. Boosting a deck 700 foot by 60 foot, with a cargo capacity of 30,000 tons. She and crew complete a full lap around the globe every 9 months.

The Rickmers Tokyo. Boosting a deck 700 foot by 60 foot, with a cargo capacity of 30,000 tons. She and crew complete a full lap around the globe every 9 months.

 

The euphorias of craneing.

The euphorias of craneing.

 

15 minutes after arriving at Phily's docks, the bike went aboard before even I … surreal.

15 minutes after arriving at Phily’s docks, the bike went aboard before even I … surreal.

 

The garage. Dig the rope work executed by the seamen. Yes! Proving professional art craters are for dilettantes and cowards.

The garage. Dig the rope work executed by the seamen. Yes! Proving professional art craters are for dilettantes and cowards.

 

Exotic cargo.

Exotic cargo.

 

Last sight of another vessel, another anything, for 14 nights.

Last sight of another vessel, another anything, for 14 nights.

 

Morning views.

Morning views.

 

Average vegetarian dinner served (fried cauliflower and a third of a boiled potato).

Average vegetarian dinner served (fried cauliflower and a third of a boiled potato).

 

Average lunch prepared by myself (the Tokyo exclusively carried strawberry flavored ice cream, the very best).

Average lunch prepared by myself (the Tokyo exclusively carried strawberry flavored ice cream, the very best).

 

Lil Charmy, my apprentice. This is far from his first rodeo.

Lil Charmy, my apprentice. This is far from his first rodeo.

 

An emigrating songbird stowed away in the carpenter’s deckside workroom. Good luck to him.

An emigrating songbird stowed away in the carpenter’s deckside workroom. Good luck to him.

 

 We out here.

We out here.

 

Drinking like a sailor.

Drinking like a sailor.

 

Absolutely crocked. Harold, with the bowl-cut, certainly the sluttyest of the gang.

Absolutely crocked. Harold, with the bowl-cut, certainly the sluttyest of the gang.

 

New soap day for everyman aboard. 2 bars apiece. One for fighting, and one for fun.

New soap day for everyman aboard. 2 bars apiece. One for fighting, and one for fun.

 

Thinking of Lorena Lohr.

Thinking of Lorena Lohr.

 

Thinking of Mom.

Thinking of Mom.

 

My main haunt … Only brought two tapes: “Disintegration” and “Dark Twisted Beautiful Fantasy” …

My main haunt … Only brought two tapes: “Disintegration” and “Dark Twisted Beautiful Fantasy” …

 

Slinging grilled cheese to seabirds 1500 miles from the coast of western France!! Pictured are 7 gulls and a seahawk. First happy customers since pulling anchor.

Slinging grilled cheese to seabirds 1500 miles from the coast of western France!! Pictured are 7 gulls and a seahawk. First happy customers since pulling anchor.

 

Land! The beautiful coal fields of the famed Antwerp docks.

Land! The beautiful coal fields of the famed Antwerp docks.

 

The raw rigid road.

The raw rigid road.

 

La terre sainte … arrival in Brussels.

La terre sainte … arrival in Brussels.

 

Fueling the stove.

Fueling the stove.

 

Croque-monsier ici, un euro un euro … Get em while theyre hot, chaud chaud, plus de chaud, un euro, un euro ici …

Croque-monsieur ici, un euro un euro … Get em while theyre hot, chaud chaud, plus de chaud, un euro, un euro ici …