ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author begins by giving voice to two prominent do-it-yourself (DIY) figures and zine writers from the 1990s San Francisco Bay Area DIY scene, Aaron Cometbus (zine Cometbus) and Erica Dawn Lyle (zine SCAM). They both in their own way characterize the efforts and approaches of American DIY participants and scenes to the reconfiguration of public and private spheres. The author examines the history and theory of public and private spaces, as related to music practice in the first part of the chapter, and then continues with the analysis of the author's ethnographic data, where the author discusses the publicness of the house, the body, and the scene. In this regard, he specifically scrutinizes program and space policies, as well as dance and bodily practices, at American DIY shows, and further looks at some of the social and political public engagements of American DIY participants.
