Creem Magazine to return

["Jeff House" <whocasa@hotmail.com>]

Excerpted from 
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/printedition/calendar/la-000080050oct07
.story

CREME DE LA CREEM: Say "Boy Howdy" to many veteran rock fans and you'll 
evoke an irreverent, passionate spirit that helped to define the 
alternative-rock world from the breakup of the Beatles through the punk 
years and almost up to grunge. It was the slogan of Creem magazine, 
associated with a cartoon depiction of a tipsy beer bottle. Now a team has 
formed with plans to bring back that spirit into today's rock world.

Robert Matheu, who as a teen photographer in Creem's original Detroit base 
became a regular contributor to the magazine under legendary editor Lester 
Bangs, has acquired the rights to the name of the publication and its 
archives. Plans are to establish an online entity featuring classic pieces 
and photos, and then launch a print monthly in the spring. (Creem folded in 
1988, and was revived in 1990 for 18 months.)

Among features coming will be early writings by Patti Smith, a Creem 
contributor well before she became a musical artist. Smith offered original 
copies of her work when Matheu told her of his revival plans--although she 
asked that they be run in full, without the edits and trims Bangs had made.

Matheu, 44, who will serve as publisher and CEO, plans to tap a number of 
veteran journalists who are former members of the Creem family, among them 
Dave Marsh, Launch editor Dave DiMartino, New Times contributor Bill 
Holdship and SonicNet's Jann Uhelszki. But his goal is to find new writers 
and editors to tackle current music with the same colorful attitude Creem 
had in its glory days.

"I'm approaching it from where [Creem founder] Barry Kramer and Lester did, 
that there's a lot of new stuff out there that can be deemed 
counterculture," L.A.-based Matheu says. "The 14-and 15-year-olds need to 
know that it's OK to take a guitar lesson rather than a dance class if you 
want to be in music."

He cites such acts as the Strokes among bands the magazine could highlight, 
with a balance of old and new comparable to England's Mojo monthly--which 
took inspiration (and some regular contributing writers) from Creem's pages.

"I need someone smart and on the ball as editor, someone not long out of 
college who is hungry and fresh," he says. "We can have the angry old man 
section too, but if Creem isn't aimed at younger people, I'm not in 
business."