Author Archives for Jay Babcock

RIP SPAIN RODRIGUEZ

RIP SPAIN RODRIGUEZ, a truly legendary American underground cartoonist and widely beloved human being, dead Wednesday morning at age 72 after battling lung cancer.

Please, even if you have absolutely no interest in comics, or bikers, or revolutionary workers, or lovely people, read the obit below from the San Francisco Chronicle, and weep.

They don’t make ’em like this anymore, seriously.

San Francisco Chronicle – “Spain Rodriguez: Zap Comix artist dies”

TRASHMAN: The Art of Spain Rodriguez from Burchfield Penney Art Center.

Oregon’s Willamette Weekly on THE RESURRECTION OF ARTHUR MAGAZINE

From the Willamette Weekly

The Resurrection of Arthur Magazine
November 21st, 2012
By ROBERT HAM

News of any import is quick to spread on the web. But even knowing that, the number of outlets reporting on the return of Arthur Magazine was pretty surprising, especially for a print publication that focused on various strains of the counterculture: music, drugs, magic, underground comics, and organic gardening. Yet everyone from The Wire to the New York Times expended a few lines of HTML to announce that, after a four year hiatus, Arthur would be returning to print starting on December 22nd.

“Frankly, the culture is in such bad shape that even something this tiny is being taken as something significant,” says Arthur’s editor and founder Jay Babcock. “If that’s become newsworthy, that’s kind of sad. But you’re the journalist, that’s your call to make.”

I’ll gladly make the statement that Arthur’s imminent resurrection is noteworthy. During its initial run, from 2002 – 2008, the bi-monthly magazine (released for free) covered an impressive amount of territory. Its debut issue set the template: featuring BMX icon Matt Hoffman on the cover, and carrying interviews with confrontational electro-clash singer Peaches and psychedelic drug enthusiast Daniel Pinchbeck, comics by Silver Jews frontman David Berman, music reviews by Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, and an advice column from comedian Neil Hamburger. The magazine gained so much attention and fans that they were able to put on music festivals in their L.A. hometown in ’05 and ’06, and released a batch of DVDs and CDs, including the Devendra Banhart-curated compilation Golden Apples of the Sun, which introduced the world at large to the burgeoning freak folk movement.

Read more: Willamette Weekly

The Fader: Why do Arthur again?

Arthur Founder Jay Babcock on the Magazine’s Return to Print
STORY BY: Emilie Friedlander

Jay Babcock, founder of Arthur Magazine (for which I once interned), made a surprise announcement last week that the longrunning music and culture periodical, perhaps best known for its dual embrace of psych-folk and radical lifestyle politics, is coming back into print after a four-year hiatus. Among other factors that made the magazine’s return possible, Portland, Oregon’s Floating World Comics is coming on board as a publisher, resurrecting the glossy of yore in the form of a broadsheet, part black-and-white, part color newspaper, which is available for pre-order for the very reasonable price of $5 of issue and hits homes on December 22nd. Babcock jumped on the phone with us from his desert home in Joshua Tree, CA to tell us why Arthur is coming back, and how, even if print may seem a risky prospect these days, the medium is kind of the message.

…

“A: How do you make the best of the analog? How you do what can’t be done in digital? Why do analog if you can just do it in digital for cheaper? Well, do something that digital can’t do, something that takes up a big field of vision. We’re doing Arthur as a newspaper but a newspaper with only ads on the back, so that each page is gigantic, and each two pages is a spread. When you put that in front of your eyes, it’s much, much bigger than a computer screen. The art director gets to take full advantage of that space. We can have things that are suitable for putting up on the wall, which is another thing you can’t do with your computer. And when you’re done with it, you can compost it.

Q:Or you might want to save it, right?

A: Yeah, if you want to save it, it’s easily saved. It’s not going to disappear when Google fails. It’s not going to disappear when the power goes out because of a climate change hurricane. It’s there as long as you can keep it physically near you. With Arthur, we acknowledged that we live in a world that is being overrun by technology, and we use that technology for our own purposes, but we want to have as little to do with it as possible in everything we do. We use every tool that the tech world has put there, but you the know, the tech world has been a really bad thing for the culture. I’m forty-two years old; I watched this happen in my lifetime. I watched [as] the tech nerds and the capitalists behind them always claimed, Just wait. Journalism would come back, everything would resolve, and they were completely wrong. Everything they destroyed has not come back. And that’s in all fields. That’s in journalism. That’s in art. That’s in music. That’s in every single artistic or cultural field you can think of. The internet nerds and the venture capitalists behind them, they said all the destructive work that they were doing was going to get rid of the gatekeepers and open everything up. What’s it’s done is replace the old gatekeepers with new, worse gatekeepers called Apple, Google, Facebook. Worse than ever.”

Read more: The Fader

JON M. ASHLINE R.I.P. by Jason Ross

JON M ASHLINE R.I.P.
May 8, 1951–November 11, 2012
It’s with a heavy heart that we report the passing of a St. Louis music icon and one of the true, original punks, Jon Ashline. Jon was half of the legendary Screamin’ Mee-Mees, one of the earliest proto-punk basement rock outfits. Along with partner-in-crime Bruce Cole, the Mee-Mees recorded their brand of racket since the late 60s in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, MO. What started out as drunken/stoned goof-off recordings quickly morphed into paint-peeling Kraut Rock/noise-inspired jams which they dubbed Warp Music. The Warp name was soon supplanted by the Screamin’ Mee-Mees moniker, and they went on to record countless hours of original material, much of it written spontaneously as they were taping it. Jon played drums, handled most lead vocals, and contributed the occasional guitar, organ, slide whistle or other backing part, as Bruce led the songs with his drunken guitar wailing.

The Mee-Mees saved up and unleashed their first piece of vinyl on the world in late 1976, though it sported a 1977 date, as not to seem too “last year’s model.” The Live From The Basement EP stands as one of the crudest, most mind-boggling Midwestern D.I.Y. rock slabs of the original punk era. Plans for more records followed, but a lack of funds, marriages, jobs and other real-life stuff got in the way. The Mee-Mees stayed silent for most of the 80s, but enjoyed a resurgence starting in the early 90s, releasing two LPs and a string of 7-inchers on several different labels. Wowing even the most hipper-than-thou fanzine and indie-band folks, the Mee-Mees had more fans than ever.

Jon had moved from Ferguson to Topeka, KS shortly after the release of their first album in 1992, but they continued to record new material on his holiday visits back to St. Louis. Starting in the early 2000s, Slippy Town and then Gulcher Records helped bring even more attention to their music with several reissues and collections of unreleased material. In 2007, Gulcher released what would be the last “new” Mee-Mees album, Plastic Hong Kong Doorbell Finger. Affirming there is still an audience for the Mee-Mees, Rerun Records released two cassette/CDR releases just this year, with many more to follow from Bruce’s vast basement archives. Gulcher Records is also reissuing the two Mee-Mees 90s LPs on compact disc, remastered from the original tapes.

Diagnosed with bone marrow cancer in 2002, Jon wasn’t about to leave this world without a fight. After ten years, it finally got the best of him. Never giving up on playing the music he loved, Jon had a new, Topeka-based musical duo during the last few years called the Don’t Wait Arounds. A CDR-EP and other new recordings proved he hadn’t lost his sense of humor or mellowed with age. Jon Ashline was a one-of-a-kind and will be greatly missed. If there’s an afterlife, we’re sure he’s keeping time for Captain Beefheart or jamming with other fallen heroes.

–Jason Ross, Rerun Records

SCREAMIN’ MEE-MEES DISCOGRAPHY:

Live From The Basement 7″ EP (Dog Face, 1977; Bag Of Hammers, 1995)
Clutching Hand Monster Mitt LP (Dog Face, 1992; Slippy Town CDR, 2002; Gulcher CD, 2012)
“Pull My Finger!” b/w “Family Tree” 7″ (Electric Records, 1993)
“Life Never Stops” b/w “Oscillations” 7″ (Dog Meat, 1994)
Home Movies 7″ EP (Bag of Hammers, 1995)
“Cartoon Land” on Twinkeyz Tribute Split 7″ (New World Of Sound, 1996)
“Answer Me” b/w “Arthritis Today” 7″ (Brinkman Records, 1996)
“Squawk, Squawk, Squawk” on Whump! Fanzine Double EP Comp (Whump, 1996)
Nude Invisible Foot Phenomenon LP (Bag of Hammers, 1996; Slippy Town CDR,2002; Gulcher CD, 2012)
The Screamin’ Mee-Mees & Hot Scott Fischer / Warp Sessions 1973 CDR (Slippy Town, 2000)
The Screamin’ Mee-Mees & Hot Scott Fischer / You’re Now In Our World: Warp Sessions 1972 CDR (Slippy Town, 2001)
Prenatal 1972-1976 CDR (Slippy Town, 2003)
Live From The Basement 1975-1997: Complete Singles & EPs Collection CD (Gulcher, 2003)
Garbage Collage CD (Gulcher, 2004)
Live From The Basement 1975-1996 LP (Hate/Vulcher, Italy, 2005)
The Screamin’ Mee-Mees & Hot Scott Fischer / Warp Sessions 1972-1973 Double-CD (Gulcher, 2007)
Plastic Hong Kong Doorbell Finger CD (Gulcher, 2007)
Comedy Hour CDR/Casette (Rerun, 2012)

http://gulcher.bigcartel.com/jon-ashline-r-i-p

PORTLAND MERCURY talks to Jason Leivian of Floating World Comics about his role in Arthur’s return to print

From The Portland Mercury:

Arthur Magazine Raised from the Dead, with Help from Floating World
Posted by Ned Lannamann on Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 3:44 PM

The news spread quickly this morning that late, lamented Arthur Magazine has been resurrected. Arthur was a free, bimonthly music and culture publication that also dabbled in incisive political commentary, and when it departed the physical plane—it ceased publication in 2008 and existed on the web for a few years, before publisher Jay Babcock officially pronounced it dead in 2011—a gaping, literate hole was left in the landscape of music discourse. (That last, terrible sentence reminds us of why Arthur was so important.)

Now Arthur is back! (Arthur 2: On the Rocks, perhaps?… hello?) It ain’t free anymore ($5), and it will be on newsprint instead of sleek, paper-cutty magazine stock, and its publication costs will be predominantly reliant on the purchase price rather than advertisers to stay afloat. The new version of Arthur is due in large part to a new partnership forged with Portland’s own Floating World Comics and its proprietor Jason Leivian. We asked Leivian about the new Arthur, and how both he and Portland will be involved in the new incarnation.

The new Arthur (Issue No. 33) will be available December 22, and can be pre-ordered now. (UPDATE) There will be a First Thursday release party for the new issue at Floating World Comics (400 NW Couch) on Thursday, January 3 at 6-10 pm. Leivian says Babcock may fly up to make an appearance, although that is not yet confirmed. [I can’t be there, unfortunately! —Jay]

 

MERCURY: How did you get involved?
JASON LEIVIAN: I am really excited about Arthur’s comeback. It was such an influential and important magazine to me when I used to find them at Jackpot Records (usually) back in the day.

It’s interesting for me to recall the steps that brought Floating World and Arthur together. I discovered this bizarre Steve Aylett project ‘The Caterer’ in the pages of Arthur. I went on to reprint that comic. I was publishing a newsprint anthology called Diamond. I submitted an issue to Bull Tongue and they reviewed it. I was so stoked! So Jay knew who I was just from those two projects.

When the magazine was online only I took over as the comics editor for Arthur Magazine. That was how I first started working with Jay. That was a fun gig. It led to more publishing on my end and I think Jay was looking at the newspapers I was publishing as a potential format for Arthur’s resurrection.

MERCURY: Will Arthur be markedly different from its first incarnation?
JASON LEIVIAN: The first few issues of Arthur were on newsprint, so this is a return to that form in some ways. Although you’ll see the dimensions and format of the new issue are larger and laid out differently. I haven’t seen the Indesign files yet but I imagine it’ll be more like a daily newspaper, the way it folds over, etc… I believe this issue that we’re releasing was actually in production before Arthur went on hiatus before. [It’s a different & fresh animal, actually. — Jay] So it will probably have a similar feel to the previous run, but with an all new layout. Anticipate that the next issue after that will be built fresh from the ground up. Jay’s handling all the editorial but I suspect I’ll be sharing suggestions like “Hey Jay, have you heard this new Psychic Ills record? Hint hint.” I want to think of something cool for new comics content.

MERCURY: Will it be published in Portland? Do you know if there will eventually be Arthur CDs/DVDs as well, or other supplements?
JASON LEIVIAN: I’m using a web press printer in Oregon, the same printers that I’ve worked with on most of the newspapers I’ve published. I’ll be handling the distribution from Floating World. Jay and I definitely hope to do more, but we’ll have to review the sustainability after this issue hits the stands. If we can find a magazine or book distributor to help us with shipping and handling I feel like that would take a huge load off my shoulders.

NEW YORK TIMES ON ARTHUR’S IMMINENT RETURN TO PRINT

November 15, 2012, 1:45 pm

A Counterculture Totem to Return as a Leaner Magazine

By BEN SISARIO

From 2002 to 2008, Arthur was music’s version of a literary-minded “little magazine.” Distributed free in record stores and coffee shops, it celebrated underground culture of all kinds and attracted writers like Alan Moore (“Watchmen”), Douglas Rushkoff and even Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, who wrote a reviews column with the critic Byron Coley.

Like magazines of all sizes in the digital age, however, Arthur struggled to stay in print. It briefly suspended publication, and then resumed it, in 2007 before disappearing completely the next year.

Now Arthur is back, with what its publisher and founding editor, Jay Babcock, says is a more stable business model. It will cost $5 an issue and be published on newsprint, with ads only on the back covers of its two sections, a move intended to shield the magazine from fluctuations in the economy and the ad market…

Read more: New York Times

ARTHUR RETURNS TO LIFE DECEMBER 22, 2012

After a four-year sabbatical (faked death?), your beloved revolutionary sweetheart Arthur returns to print, renewed, refreshed, reinvigorated and in a bold new format: pages as tall and wide as a daily newspaper, printed in color and black and white on compostable newsprint, with ads only on the back cover(s). Amazing!

In partnership with Portland, Oregon’s Floating World Comics, Arthur’s gang of goofs, know-it-alls and village explainers are back, from Bull Tonguers Byron Coley and Thurston Moore to radical ecologist Nance Klehm to trickster activists Center for Tactical Magic to Defend Brooklyn‘s socio-political commentator Dave Reeves to a host of new, fresh-faced troublemakers, edited by ol’ fool Jay Babcock and art directed by Yasmin Khan. You want a peek at the contents? Sorry, compadre. That would be saying too much, too soon. Wait ’til Dec. 22, 2012: that’s right—THE DAY AFTER THE NON-END OF THE WORLD!

Please keep in mind… Arthur is no longer distributed for free anywhere. Those days are (sadly) long gone. Now you gotta buy Arthur or you won’t see it. Our price: Five bucks cheeeeeep!

Arthur No. 33

Broadsheet newspaper, 15″ x 22.75″

Available Dec. 22, 2012

NOW YOU MAY PRE-ORDER ARTHUR NO. 33 HERE.

Retailers: Contact us for the information you require on ordering mass quantities.

Advertisers: Contact us for the information you require. Please note that our terms are strict.

Illustration by Arik Roper.