Issue 399 is an oozy boy. We get a magical trip to North Texas to get the latest what’s what deets. These include: longest running venue—1919 Hemphill; place to lurk on Jeff Burke—Mad World record store; list of local bands and including one with an allusive name—Pavel Chekov. What follows is a fine as wine interview with darkrockers, Massive, and the underpass talk with Black Panties, collector of model bridges and light-up shoes. He keeps a positive attitude and gives some life advice that doubles as a how-to for solo artists who want to make young punkers slog as their backing band. Legitimately cool, sweet, and uplifting was the interview with Skate Witches, an all femme skate crew. Aside from all the me/me/me performative shit that is unavoidable with rock scenes of all kinds, the interview points out the Skate Witches’ nice-as-hell community work. Namely, making skate parks and skate culture friendlier spaces for young girls who want to shred without being bro-tally intimidated. And near the end, a bittersweet piece on ABC No Rio’s loss of its original location. Maximum gives a eulogy of sorts and graces us with pre-deconstruction day photos of the space’s beautiful textures and grimy ambiance. Were there any comics in this issue? (How will my mom know it’s still cool?) A toothsome read as always. Onward to #400! –Jim Joyce (Maximum Rock’n’Roll, PO Box 460760, SF, CA, 94146, maximumrocknroll.com)