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Zero Street? Where Are We?

By Paul Pitre

In the fall of 1994 we had been in our new offices in the Lee Building at the intersection of Main & Broadway for close to three years. The old office was above Guys & Dolls Billiards, across the street, and was sort of funky. But the new premises were more impressive. Cleaner and seemingly more organized.

On a Tuesday evening some of the crew were gathered for our weekly session of plowing through the stacks of submissions along with brainstorming for the upcoming edition.

As usual, since it was after regular hours, the beer was out but there was no food in sight as we always went to Martini’s restaurant when the work session was over.

This evening we were going to have special visitors. One of the hosts of the TV show Zero Avenue, along with a couple of techies, were coming by to film an interview for a future show. Exciting! We had arrived.

Our hard work and determination were going to be recognised. Well, maybe. They arrived around six-thirty and the stiffness was soon broken with the offer of a beer, the young woman interviewer accepting, the techies declining.

I was expecting the usual questions i.e. How have you managed to hang on so long in a tough market? How do you choose what to publish in the mag? What kind of funding do you get? Etcetera. This was the way the interview started, but with the help of a couple of beers the atmosphere became less staid, the questions and the body language began to verge on the prurient. This woman was having way too much fun.

As things progressed in this vein I began to get a vague sense of unease. I had never seen the Zero Avenue program so wasn’t sure how relaxed their content was. The techies were looking amused and uneasy at the same time. I had the feeling this episode was going to stay in the can.

Well, the thing wrapped up with great bonhomie all around, but the invitation to join us at Martini’s was declined with real regret. As far as we know, that particular episode never aired. Surprise, surprise. Too much of a good time for a serious look at this interesting mag.

Zero Avenue ran from 1994 to 1997. »

From issue #65

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