Connecting all the dots to get the complete Vertical Slit picture has been a grail-like task for hundreds of record collectors since the band and its leader Jim Shepard were outed in Forced Exposure # 13 in the late '80s. Vertical Slit--at any time--were an anomaly whose live sound was unlike any other band preening around the south campus of Ohio State. They most assuredly did not nod in the direction of either NME or NY Rocker. Instead they pinned back ears Creem-style; three meth-baked