#alt-weekly

City Pages: The End of the Minneapolis Alt-Weekly

In October, City Pages, the last of the local alt-weeklies, called it quits. Another victim of Covid-19, the paper folded due to declining ad revenues caused by closures and downsizing of restaurants, bars and nightclubs, and live entertainment. 

City Pages was first published in 1979 as a monthly music magazine called Sweet Potato. In 1981 the scope expanded and the now-weekly publication was renamed City Pages. It was a direct competitor to the city’s other alt-weekly, Twin Cities Reader. Both alternative newspapers were purchased by Stern Publishing, owners of the Village Voice, in the 1990s and City Pages survived over the next decade as many alt-weeklies, including Twin Cities Reader, ceased publication. Then in 2015, City Pages was sold to Star Tribune Media. 

Issues of both Sweet Potato (1979-1981) and City Pages (1981-2020) are archived in the Minneapolis History Collection at Minneapolis Central Library. Find City Pages on microfilm from 1981 to 2009 and in print from 2003-2020. 

PASSAGES: THE VILLAGE VOICE (1955–2018)

Note: If you are unfamiliar with the story of how the Avatar newspaper formed, or its run-ins with classic Boston censorship, you may want to catch up. Our story starts here as the tensions between the Valley editors (those who wanted to publish an eclectic underground newspaper covering a myriad of topics) and the Hill folks (members of the Fort Hill Community who wanted the paper to chronicle their way of life and the thoughts of Mel Lyman) come to a head. The early story is in the book, but also plenty of places online too.

Fifty years ago this month, the final "authorized" issue of the controversial underground newspaper, Avatar, hit the streets of Boston. The front cover's message was clear: stay away from Mel Lyman and this is *our* newspaper.

Issue #24 was a shock to the Valley editors of Avatar as well as readers. The paper was usually chock full of essays, reporting and ads. Here we see, in issue 24, page after page of layouts devoid of text, only pics of community member Alison in the middle of an LSD trip. It was...unexpected.

FHC member Michael Kindman recalled, “What appeared in Issue Number 24 could only be interpreted as Mel and the Hill thumbing their noses at the other members of the Avatar alliance, challenging them to get with the Hill's program or split. I remember finding it embarrassing taking the new issue out on the streets to sell, somewhat at a loss to explain to readers why the format had changed so dramatically, so suddenly. But I guess I accepted the challenge, another early opportunity to face difficulty and let go of old ideas in Mel's name.”

Around a large table at 4 Fort Ave Terrace, soon after the publication of issue 24, the two parties tensely gathered around to discuss the goal of the newspaper. Charles Giuliano represented the Valley contingent, Mel Lyman, of course, spoke for the Hill people. Here were two old friends—they had gone on road trips together, once shared the same girlfriend, and reached astronomical levels of intoxication together at Richard Alpert’s house in Newton—now face to face as bitter opponents. 

There was no compromise, but there was a capitulation. The valley writers could continue publishing a newspaper, but they were no longer to use the name Avatar. That was fine with Charles Giuliano, who went immediately to work on a new paper. Issue 25 ended up containing all the best elements of non-Mel Avatar. “I decided to put no logo on the cover,” Giuliano recalled, “I designed it as an I Ching hexagram which we threw as a group...It all felt very holistic and pure.” 

During layout of the issue, Ed Beardsley, who was constantly on and off the Fort Hill Community bandwagon, made the curious decision to place a reversed Avatar logo on the inside cover. An off-again and on-again relationship with a woman on Fort Hill had made Beardsley's precise allegiance difficult to pinpoint at any given time. “[Ed] had some kind of deceptive explanation,” Giuliano said of the reversed logo. “I was too exhausted to grasp his full intent.” Readers who held up the cover of issue 25 to any source of light would then see the Avatar logo seep through the paper, like a hidden code indicating that the paper was still, secretly, The Avatar. The first person to catch it was the printer at American Colony printing plant in Worcester. Noticing the peculiarities of the issue, he called up editor and FHC member Brian Keating asking, “Is this paper Avatar or not?”

“It's not, why?” Keating asked.

“The Avatar logo is on the 2nd page,” the printer informed him. Keating was stunned. This was now war. “I was revulsed,” he later wrote in an issue of the New York Avatar, “For nearly two hours I sat almost catatonic until David Gude and Eben [Given] came in.” Just a few weeks earlier, Eben Given had punched Keating in the face onstage at Club 47, but this direct action apparently had cleared the air of the particulars of the unspecified gripe, and now the two began working together again against a common enemy. Keating had an idea that they could order extra copies of the new issue of New York Avatar for distribution in Boston, but David Gude had a better plan: the Fort Hill Community should seize the unauthorized Avatar issue before it hits the streets. “Eben's eyes were burning, and David for the first time in weeks had life in his dour face,” Keating recalled of the moment they came up with the plan for the heist. “We got all the men up and went to the office...with a small fleet of vehicles.” In Michael Kindman's recollection, it was Lyman who ordered the heist: “Mel was furious. In retaliation, he ordered his 'boys' to take action.”

On May 11th, 1968 at 4:30AM, the heist began. The Fort Hill Community cars quietly rolled down Columbus Avenue in the pre-dawn darkness; the South End office was only two miles away from Roxbury. A run of 45,000 issues had just arrived at the 37 Rutland Street. Brian Kelly, a Valley-contributor to Avatar, was somehow alerted to the situation and began filming and snapping photographs as soon as the “Fort Hill Mob,” as he'd later refer to them in the Boston Free Press, arrived on the scene. Inside, the only staff present was Pebbles, the man whose unannounced Fort Hill visit had inspired the creation of the wall seen being built on the cover of issue 24; Pebbles was either working extremely late or secretly living at the Avatar office.

Below: Pebbles.

Pebbles “managed to stall them for several minutes in conversation,” but eventually the mob started loading every issue of the paper, still hot from the presses, and a good deal of the expensive printing equipment into their cars. Pebbles began making phone calls. Charles Giuliano's first move was to notify the police, who proceeded to laugh at him when they heard what had happened to his precious, controversial underground newspaper. The fleet of Fort Hill cars drifted back up to Highland Park, where they locked up 45,000 issues of the faux-Avatar inside the Cochituate Standpipe—the tower—which had been secured by their own personal padlock for over a year at this point, despite being official city of Boston property. As they loaded the confiscated papers into the tower, Michael Kindman recalled an uneasy feeling: “I remember having to simply put my own free-press, pro-constitution values out of my mind in order to tune in to the adventurous spirit of the raid and the camaraderie of working with the other Fort Hill men on something that was obviously important to them. Was this a sellout or a betrayal, or was this an oblique way of protecting the truth?”

Giuliano was devastated to see weeks of his hard work stolen and locked away. He told Brian Keating that he was a fascist and “worse than a police censor.” “Of course he was right, using the conventional terms,” Keating noted, making it clear that, nevertheless, their actions were not illegal. “I am the duly chosen editor of Avatar and am responsible for any publication bearing that name,” he wrote in New York Avatar issue #5.

“You're breaking my heart, Brian,” Giuliano said.

“I know, Charlie.”

Giuliano had worked hard to make issue #25 a piece of art. Now, nearly every copy had been destroyed. Issue 25 centerfold, which is quite beautiful --->

"For the better part of a week there were negotiations, threats, scenes," Giulianio told Rolling Stone's David Felton. "Fort Hill invited us all up for a big steak dinner at [Jim] Kweskin's house, and we tried to iron it all out.” But the dark secret of the evening was that the outcome of this meeting had already been predetermined by Mel Lyman before anyone had shown up for supper. As the two parties negotiated, Michael Kindman and some other community members removed issue 25 from the tower, drove it down the street, and sold it for scrap paper. An expensive print job was converted into thirty-five bucks. Back at Fort Hill, Brian Kelly set up a projector to run his film of the heist to prove what had happened, but this only upset Lyman who abruptly ended the meeting before it could be screened. At the end of dinner, the Valley editors were informed about what had just happened to issue 25. The message was clear: if the Lyman Family wasn't going be part of Avatar, there would be no Avatar.

“They were talking about [the destruction of the issue] for months in Boston,” Liberation News Service's Ray Mungo wrote in his memoir Famous Long Ago. 

"It was at that point I realized,” Charles Giuliano told Rolling Stone, “we were dealing with very dangerous people."

After the shock of this coup wore off, both sides consulted lawyers and bickered with each other in the letters section of the New York Avatar employing a bizarre writing style reminiscent of counts and dukes. “Charlie, great arts comes only from great men,” Keating addressed Giuliano in NY Avatar #5, “what matters pain today if we fathom a further dimension of ourselves and tomorrow we create an art greater for it?” Giuliano's girlfriend Arden Harrison shot back, “John, it was most ungallant of you to publish such false accusations.” Guiliano: “I cannot for the moment regard you with either warmth or friendship.” New York readers, who simply could not have been as aware of Fort Hill drama as Bostonians, must have found the whole thing quite baffling. 

What happened next requires a visual aid, as to not be needlessly confusing.

Out of all of these Avatar-publications, American Avatar would be the last one standing. Dave Wilson quit Avatar II early summer '68 to refocus on Broadside of Boston (which had now merged with another paper called The Boston Free Press). “I had hoped that in helping to create Avatar that it would address the social political arena and Broadside could concentrate on the music,” Wilson later wrote. “It did not work out that way.”

With Dave Wilson no longer by his side, Charles Giuliano couldn't keep Avatar II going on his own for much longer. He went on to work for Boston After Dark, and then The Herald Traveler. “My girlfriend [Arden] accused me of selling out when I did that,” Giuliano tells me, “which perhaps I did. But I had this idea about earning my own money.” He adds sarcastically, “What a dumb idea. As I said at the time your were a rich hippie or joined a commune/ cult. It was better to starve.” 

Below, Giuliano holding the 1971 issue of Rolling Stone in which his former friend was on the cover, and which he was quoted extensively under the pseudonym, Harry Bikes.

Read Part Two Here.

Get the book at AstralWeeks.net

Alt-Weekly #47: 20syl

On Alt-Weekly I have spoken about a couple of French rising music producers like Dream Koala (#8) or Phazz (#43) [here is a full list]. There is a common factor – they love juicy beats. Then what is the thing that differentiates them?

Dream Koala has dope lyrics – he really is a “Saturn Boy”. Phazz is a juggler of a rhythm. What about 20syl? He likes to go on with repetable phrases. He is an esthete, because in his music everything is on its place. There aren’t any bad tunes or mistakes. Furthermore I could say he’s a perfectionist. I can’t find any “bad” songs – ones that would be badly made, mainstream or boring. They may not represent the highest level of creativity, but all of them are perfect.

By making this piece he gained a lot of respect in the environment. That’s good, because it’s one of the best songs recently made. It’s outstanding, however it’s definitely the best what 20syl have made. Many of his songs aren’t that good. It’s sad, because if all of his art would be on that level – he would be the best music producers known to men on earth.

:: Everything in the text is my personal feeling. It’s not a professional point of view. You shouldn’t lean your opinion on a non-professional. ::

// 20syl – Sylvain Richard, music producer. Born in Nantes (France) in 1979. Has affairs with French hip-hop.

Labels: On and On Records

Albums: Malade (2001)[EP], Motifs (2014)[EP], Coffret Collector 20Syl + Metropolitan (2014)[EP], Fixpen Sill X 20Syl - Obsession (2014)[EP], Motifs II (2015)[EP].//

Alt-Weekly #46: Blank Banshee

“Did that really happen?” “Or am I just dreaming?" 

MEGA has subjective meaning to me, but so does all music.  It generates unique imagery inside all of us.  So me telling people what I think MEGA is about will only impede their ability to figure out what it actually means to them. Which is what really matters. MEGA is your album—when you download it or stream it and listen to it and walk around with it, you’re inyour world, not Blank Banshee’s. I’m just providing the soundtrack.

Alt-Weekly #45: Leukocytowaty

Today is one of the most import ant moment for ours blog and being more specific – for Alt-Weekly! This article is an interview!

Alternative music makers are usually a mystery. One that I talk to recently (!!!) is also a one. Or maybe I should say – was?

Editor in Chef: I don’t know a thing about as your listener, what shouldn’t be such a surprise. However, can we know something more about you, or you’d like to remain a mystery for your listeners?

Leukocytowaty: It depends on what somebody wants to know about me. If it’s about me, I don’t have it like wanting to know about somebody more than it’s needed. Let’s assume that I listen to some artist – then I care about his music and I don’t delve into anything more. If somebody cares about knowing me better, I invite you on my fanpage. I’ll have a talk with pleasure.

EC: Do you live in Poland?

L: Yes, I do.

EC: Do you have any musical education or you’re self-taught?

L: I’m an autodidact, however I used to help myself via internet when It came to programs problems or something connected with music strictly.

EC: What’s your attitude to making music? Is it more a hobby or you link your future with it?

L: I treat it more like a hobby, but if I got a chance for a world career I’d try to squeeze (make a use) from it till the last drop and connect my life with music.

EC: How does it feel to be a music maker? Do your friends know about it?

L: On one hand it’s nothing special, human just like any other, but on the other hand I fulfil myself, because i like creating since always. Yes, my colleagues know about it, maybe not all, but closer friends do.

EC: What does it look like to be such an artist? Do you go to work from 8-16 and in the evenings – create?

L: Now I study, fool around, from time to time, if willingness comes to me, I’ll do something in musical direction. Recently I have deep sleep and can’t wake up to create something that will entrance me.

EC: Do you DJ in clubs? Do you make any money on your music? Because, as far a s I know, you sell your beats.

L: I don’t. Money from selling comes to the pocket once in a while, but you wouldn’t survive from it.

EC: You have been releasing a new piece of “Skyline” series on your birthday for 3 years now. What was the idea for it?

L: [laughs] I see that you’ve prepared yourself. It comes from nowhere, I named one “Skyline”, I got positive feedback and I decided to make it into a series of pieces released on my birthday. However, I’m afraid that’s the end of “Skylines”.

EC: Are you going to stick to instrumentals or are we going to hear your voice on recording someday?

L: [laughs] I respect my listeners, I wouldn’t do them such a harm putting my vocal on the backing track.

EC: What are your plans for  the future career? Fame, women and money or not necessarily so?

L: Hm… I’d like to be recognizable and have something more than complacency from music. One woman would be enough, but it’s more like my dreams than plans. With my laziness I won’t achieve them in a long time.

EC: What’s your musical taste? I may assume that’s similar to what you create, but what do you listen to in your free time?

L: Since nearly year I haven’t been listening music, but I respect every genre and if something is catchy I just listen to it. However majority of pieces that are on my playlist are tracks… well, I won’t describe them by genre but by climate – reflexive, light, sometimes dark, sometimes “joyful”. I rather avoid heavy sounds.

EC: What kind of person are you? Some kind of romantic, am I right? ;)

L: By all means romantic, thinker, calm (but not always, sometimes I can irritate), witty, laid-back. I like to spend time by myself, but there are moments when I need a contact with people. Everything in moderation.

From this talk we have so many information about Leukocytowaty. However, he still is wreathed in mystery. But isn’t it the thing that defines artists like this? Isn’t it better than Kim Kardashian who has showed us everything only to stay on the top?

For the end, I’d like just to thank Leukocytowaty for this interview. The talk was, as always, very pleasant :).

// Leukocytowaty – polish music maker and graphic designer.

Labels: Self-releases

Albums: Ahimsa (2014)[EP].//

Alt-Weekly #44: medasin.

Today’s artist is one that I got across on Become Supreme. He’s another music maker who has only his own style, that cannot be mistaken. While we’re about it – that’s kinda cool, doesn’t it? It’s not a bad thing, every artist should be “unmistakeable”. Back to the topic – this guy is a person who I got madly in love with. To be more specific – with his music, duh.

I find his tunes very “optimistic” – funny, funky, smiley, happy… That just can lighten up your day and boost your humor (“Daydream”). A simile that comes on my mind is a sun on your face on a windy day (“Motion”) – situation that brings smile on your face. However, on another hand – he likes to hoop on hard trap pieces with super juicy beat drop (“Got That.”). It’s so weird compared to his other songs, but he kills it in such a magnificent style, that it makes it completely gorgeous.

I don’t know why, but I find so many girls in his music. For example – “sesh” – this one is very emotional, slow and melty. This song is like a kiss on the forehead on a windy day, from your pretty girl who has a lovely smile. Another example – “purgatory” – it’s like a dancing with a girl or here “Honey” (Kučka) – can I call it even erotic? I don’t know if this whole thing is true, it’s just my very own personal feeling, but… Interpreting what author had on his mind is hard even for the author.

With many his songs that I listen to one thought comes on my mind. Vlogs. I don’t know why, we should probably analyze what is the linking factor then. However, it’s no doubt that this music has the climate and is on very high level. Medasin is just a cool guy who creates great music and totally hunted my heart.

PS Isn’t it Japanese inspired?

:: Everything in the text is my personal feeling. It’s not a professional point of view. You shouldn’t lean your opinion on a non-professional. ::

// medasin. – 18 year old (1998) Dallas-based producer. He started making beats at 12. "My beats sucked ass," Medasin says. After commandeering the family computer and putting it in his room, he obsessively started making beats. It wasn't long before he put his music on MySpace using a hilarious alias he would prefer not to mention. "I was blind," he continues. "I thought I was the dopest producer ever." (source)

Labels: Soulection

Albums: Microdose Vol. 1 [Drum Kit], Microdose Vol. 2 [Drum Kit], Microdose Vol. 3 (2016) [Drum Kit].//