John Dandy

But whereas the material puts a welcome spotlight on local acts, Bersuch's one-man show isn't without complications. People who publish 'zines are not completely altruistic musical Mother Teresas, spreading the good word about bands as if they were helping lepers in Calcutta; 'zines are often vanity projects, overripe with self-indulgence and lacking in self-restraint.

Frequently, Dandercroft features meandering (and mind-numbing) interview transcripts. As contributor Michelle Cagle wrote in her introduction to an Ike Turner Overdrive profile, "It might be hard to read and only fairly accurate as far as who said what, but it sure was fun."

Glad you had a good time.

There is also a concern that impartiality gets brutalized like a Hitler piñata at a bar mitzvah. Some readers might look at the bands featured in Dandercroft and feel compelled to connect the dots in a Six Degrees of John Bersuch diagram. Consequently, the softball interviews and kid-gloves criticism can read like an elaborate playbill for a massive scenester circle jerk.

"I try not to make it all my friends' bands," Bersuch says. "It's not all about me ... [but] if I'm going to spend all this time doing it, I'm going to write what I want."

Fair enough. And perhaps it's ludicrous to expect a local music 'zine run by a stalwart of the local music scene to be neutral. But the real issue is how many issues Bersuch has left in him. His ambitions come at a high cost. And even though many readers support Dandercroft, most have balked at the idea of paying for it.

Thus, the short existence of Dandercroft has relied on advertising, donations and benefit shows. But goodwill can last only so long. And one has to question the life expectancy of a product that must sustain itself through charity.

But financial drain is only part of the battle to keep Dandercroft afloat. In addition to his myriad musical endeavors, Bersuch juggles a job with Guiding Light Electric. He pieces together each issue on his computer. Volunteers helped him glue each compilation album into the latest issue. He delivers papers in his Volkswagen Golf, and he paid $300 of his own money for the final push of Dandercroft's third issue. And every dollar he reaps gets sown into the next issue.

"Sixty-four pages by yourself takes a long fucking time," Bersuch says. "But I want to do it myself."

Few people can sustain that pace. Virtually all 'zines have brief shelf lives. And despite Bersuch's dedication, there's no guarantee Dandercroft will be around next year. He estimates he can produce three more issues at his current three-month pace before he'll reach a crossroads.

"If the money situation got easier, I could do it forever," Bersuch says. "I want to do it for as long as I can. But I could quit right now, and it wouldn't matter. Dandercroft has already done something good."