RE:  Busted Book in Santa Barbara I surrender at last to performance art. ASK ME ABOUT THIS

Jules, OK, I'm asking.  Just guessing, it sounds like you may have experienced in Santa Barbara, what John Waters did in Florida with them banning some of his early books.  You've peaked my curiosity.  Please tell me more. Judi Hanford

Actually, it's crazier.

In January, I got a message from a guy in Santa Barbara who wanted to buy a color copy of Mad Laughter. I had just gotten started on lulu.com and I wasn't sure how good the color printing would be. Although they are a bitch to print here, the out-of-pocket production cost is about the same. The feasibility depends on the current condition of a Xerox Docucolor 50 at the local NewspaperDirect newspaper distribution service. NewspaperDirect.com hosts the latest edition of 173 different daily world newspapers re-formatted as tabloids to print on-demand. The machine runs 24 hours a day. Let us politely say that quality varies.

This is the fief of Luis Castillo, a fiery Basque journalist who publishes the Cancun edition of Ultimas Noticias. He also distributes the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and many other newspapers as far away as Belize and Cuba. I called and was assured that the printer was in tip-top shape. I like working with the operator, the unflappable Manuel J. Marquez May. He gives you today's Xerox Docucolor 50 usability factor good or bad. It's always fun to go to Luis's place, which has a bit of the feeling of a Socialist underground print shop during the Spanish Civil War.

...to be continued tomorrow morning

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