Article by Jeff Gordinier

From Entertainment Weekly 8th April 1994

eff Fox is fishing through the mail, looking for death threats. "Some teenage girl from Philadelphia actually wanted to kill me," he chuckles. "I love this." Fox, 25, has been getting about 30 letters a day since January, when he published the first issue of Die Evan Dando, Die, a homespun, 18-page antifanzine devoted to dissing the teenidol frontman of the Lemonheads. Although the 'zine has definitely touched a nerve, it's also found an audience: After an initial printing of 200 copies, Fox sold another 800 and has inked deals to put it in book-stores, newsstands, and Tower Records nationwide. "I put it out just when the Evan Dando backlash was starting up," says the Warrington, Pa., editor, a freelance film and video producer by day. "People are sick of seeking his little naked body on the cover of every magazine. That overesposure just drives people nuts."

Unapologetically male, Die features such tidbits as shaving tips and a page of philosophy from stock-car driver Richard Petty. But it's the anti-Dando bile that's gotten notice. The latest issue lists 10 other titles Fox considered for the 'zine (including Disembowel Evan Dando and I Want to See Evan Dando's Head on a Post), calls Dando a "sissy-boy" and a "weasel," and asks: "How would you rate Even Dando? (a) pretty full of crap, (b) relatively full of crap, (c) totally full of crap."

So far, the lead Lemonhead is taking the abuse sportingly: "I haven't seen it yet, but I think it's cool that I can inspire people to be creative and express themselves," says Dando. "It's nice that people have hobbies."