1. WHEN IS THE NEXT ISSUE OF ARTHUR MAGAZINE COMING OUT?
Arthur Magazine has been on hiatus since December, 2008, when for the first time in Arthur’s six-year history, we were unable to go to press. We expect to resume print publication in an exciting new upgraded format in Autumn, 2009. All existing subscriptions will be honored.
In the meantime, we are here for you in the digital realm, posting regularly on this here website’s blog, Twitter and Facebook.
Also, here’s the unprintable December 2008 issue of Arthur, Number 32 as a PDF, as well as links to the various articles—text and photos—in a relatively-easy-to-scroll-and/or-print-out format.
DOWNLOAD ARTHUR 32 – DEC 2008
PART 1 OF 2: Download PDF (5MB)
COMICS!: Download PDF (300k)
PART 2 OF 2 Download PDF (9MB)
Contents
Leon Kagarise was a teetotaling amateur photographer who captured the bucolic vibes of the now-forgotten country music festivals that flourished along the Mason-Dixon line in the ’50s and ’60s. Award-winning journalist Eddie Dean tells Leon’s story and shares some of his extraordinary photographs in this expanded excerpt from the new book, Pure Country. Read it here.
Oliver Hall takes an epic tea with The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde and James Walbourne. ‘Nuff said. Read it here.
“Trigger Hippies and Trimmer Girls”: A special 4,600-word report by “Do the Math” columnist Dave Reeves on life during harvest on a Humboldt cannabis farm. With an illustration by Arik Roper and photos by Daniel Chamberlin. Read it here.
Twenty-sided die? Check. Library card? Check. Frosty mug of homebrew? Check. You are now prepared to survive financial apocalypse. Joseph Remnant cartoonifies Gabe Soria’s guide to the high life during the Great Bottoming Out. Check it out here.
Ian Nagoski reports on American record labels and blogs recovering musical jewels in international waters. Read about Dust-to-Digital, Mississippi Records, Yaala Yaala, Sublime Frequencies, Excavated Shellac and more here.
A centerfold of new Arthur comics by Matt Furie, Jonathan Bennett, Lisa Hanawalt, Ted May, Anders Nilsen, Al Columbia, Tim Hensley, Joseph Hanks, Helge Reumann, Tom Gauld, Jeffrey Brown, Souther Salazar, Laura Park, Charles Burns, Dan Zettwoch, P. W. E. and M.P. Coats. Edited by Buenaventura Press.
A four-page style pictorial photographed by Jeaneen Lund and designed by Alia Penner…
Byron Coley and Thurston Moore review choice finds from the deep underground in their Bull Tongue column… Read it here.
“Weedeater” columnist Nance Klehm on bacteria, digestion and old-Time kitchen folk magic… Read it here.
The Center for Tactical Magic on death and resurrection, vanishing and banishing, Bush and Obama… with a helpful “EXORCISE DAILY” worksheet! Read it here.
“Advanced Standing” columnist Greg Shewchuk asks “Why do we skate?” Read the answer here.
“The Analog Life” columnist Erik Davis on the pleasures of slowing down financially, gastronomically and metaphysically… Read it here.
Plastic Crimewave salutes the late Jimmy Carl Black…
John Adamian reviews the dvd release of the documentary film, “The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose”…
Plus: C and D listen to new (and re-released) records by Allan Kaprow, THEUSAISAMONSTER, Chris Morris, Doug Paisley, Hush Arbors, AC/DC, RTX, Mythical Beast, Larkin Grimm, Funkadelic, Neil Hamburger, Ed Sanders, the Holy Modal Rounders, Those Darlins, Earthless, Sonic’s Rendezvous Band and Julian Cope, watch vintage live performances by Ween (’91) and Parliament-Funkadelic (’76) on dvds, read “Pop Surf Culture” by Brian Chidester and Dominic Priore, and play the board game “Playing Gods: The Board Game of Divine Domination”… (Note: Our “reviewers” C & D are refusing to release their precious insights on the internet until they’ve been published in the real world. So, you get their sorry excuse for a review column in Part 2 of the PDF. We know it’s not very satisfying. Tell them what you think by sending them actual mail to C & D c/o Arthur Magazine, 2037 Frankford Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19125. If you send some cash or a check [made out to "Arthur Publishing Corp"] or trinkets and a self-addressed stamped envelope, C & D claim they will mail you a signed xerox copy of their Arthur 32 “manuscript.” Remember: these yokels are self-proclaimed potheads, so buyer beware, etc.)
2. WHEN IS THE NEXT ARTHURFEST?
We did three music festivals in Los Angeles in a 14-month period: ArthurFest (September, 2005), ArthurBall (February, 2006) and ArthurNights (October, 2006).
We’ll do another one when the time is right, and when we have a suitable partner.
3. WHAT ARE PEOPLE SAYING ABOUT ARTHUR?
“Arthur combines the good/old countculch with the good/new same more smoothly than any periodical I know about.” —Peter Stampfel (Holy Modal Rounders)
“Arthur re-awakens the vigilante in me.”— Miranda July
“There is no other periodical I look more forward to arriving than the new Arthur.” —Rick Rubin
“Arthur is really something singular and much-needed.” —Dave Eggers
“[Arthur has] its finger on America’s eccentric and softly anarchic countercultural pulse.” —The Sunday Times, 2007
“The central voice of the new scene” — The New York Times, 2006
“Arthur is free, colorful, patchouli-scented but whip-smart, unapologetically political, sometimes silly, often anarchist and always willing to listen to voices way, way outside the mainstream. Above all, it is prophetic, usually about two years ahead of the rest of the country in its loves and obsessions.” — The Village Voice, 2007
“One of the best music magazines on the terrasphere is back… Now in full-color, Arthur remains all about…saving the parts of the planet worth saving. And: free. Life is short, art is long, Arthur isn’t done.” —RJ Smith, Los Angeles Magazine, 2007
“Arthur [is] the most eclectic, thoughtfully designed periodical I have encountered. Arthur [is] clearly drawn to psychedelic music and [is] always a good place to look for fresh acts but to say it [is] a music magazine would be a misnomer. This free publication presents contemporary artwork, photography, political essays and literary reviews with admirable disregard for categorisation. I [have] never picked up a copy of Arthur without finding something intriguing and informative and I believe that magazines of which this can be said are all too few and far between…. In drawing attention to what is being produced under the radar and discussing its merits, magazines like Arthur have a nurturing effect on great music and art. They connect artists with audiences and provide an outlet for intelligent discussion and detailed criticism. It would be great to see the example taken up [in Britain].” — Alan McGee (Creation Records, etc.)
“Arthur bears the blazing light of the psychedelic sun through the nightlands of the early 21st century. Great regular columns by Dave Reeves and Doug Rushkoff, new music, old dissent and cold, clear sanity. Although I don’t get to see them often enough, these people are among my dearest friends and they make life worth living on the Planet of the Damned.” — Grant Morrison
“(F)orceful and singular in its vision…” —SFWeekly, 2007
“The American counterculture’s answer to the New Yorker” — The Guardian
“Arthur has become the place where the ideas meet the music; where Derek Jensen’s freefall apocalyptics can sit with total aptness beside a piece on nouveau hippie swooners Brightblack Morning Light…. Arthur has saturated itself in the ’60s, via features on the Weather Underground, the MC5, the 1967 March on the Pentagon, and also in the post-psychedelic slant of the music coverage. But there’s nothing regressive here. From the freaky folkers to the acid rockers, Arthur bands have their eyes on the advancing historical horizon…” —James Parker, The Boston Phoenix, 2006
4. IS IT TRUE THAT ARTHUR EDITOR JAY BABCOCK USED TO WORK FOR CONGRESSMAN HENRY A. WAXMAN?
Yes, Jay Babcock, who earned a degree in political theory from UCLA, worked on staff in Rep. Henry Waxman’s district office in Los Angeles from mid-1992 through to January, 1994. He worked in constituent affairs and was District Office Chief of Staff Howard Elinson’s aide. His biggest achievement was authoring a position paper on the North American Free Trade Agreement (”NAFTA”) for Rep. Waxman, recommending a “No” vote. (The Congressman voted against NAFTA, but it passed anyway.)