[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Creem Magazine to return
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."