WET: The Magazine of Gourmet Bathing covered a range of cultural issues and was widely known for its innovative use of graphic art. Started as a simple one-man operation that included artwork and text solicited from friends and acquaintances, the production, team, and circulation of the magazine would grow over the years. Its content also evolved to cover a wider expanse of stories that captured a smart and artsy Los Angeles attitude that was emerging at the same time as punk, but with its own distinct aesthetic. The magazine’s energetic creativity and flair for the absurd would remain a constant. As design problems arose, solutions were often improvised on the spot, creating a quirky and prescient editorial sensibility that remains one of WET's most enduring legacies. Its layout and design helped to catalyze the graphic styles (NSFW) later known as New Wave and Postmodern.
posted by Trurl
on May 4, 2012 -
9 comments
In Southern California in the 1980s, KROQ had this weird un-DJ-like guy named (seriously)
Rodney Bingenheimer, who came on late at night on Sundays and played punk records and new bands like Blondie, The Ramones, X, Joan Jett, Devo and Cheap Trick. Did this weirdo really have some influence? A 90-minute 2004 documentary now on YouTube,
Mayor of the Sunset Strip (Part 1) tells his story, and it's weirder than you may have imagined.
[more inside]
posted by planetkyoto
on Nov 14, 2011 -
24 comments
Touched By Your Presence, Dear: Ex-Blondie songwriter and bassist Gary Lachman (aka "Gary Valentine") blogs (and is interviewed) about his books on Jung, Steiner, Ouspensky, and Sixties mysticism, and his time spent toiling in the fields of Crowleyana and The Gurdjieff Work.
posted by darth_tedious
on Sep 14, 2010 -
20 comments
Paul Tschinkel is the producer and director of the series called ART/new york. -- After showing video pieces in New York galleries, he turned to the fledgling New York cable system (Manhattan Cable downtown and Warner Cable uptown), producing a half hour weekly arts program - a gallery on television. From 1974 to 1979
Paul Tschinkel's Inner- Tube was devoted to conceptual and narrative video art pieces.
[more inside]
posted by vronsky
on Aug 18, 2009 -
4 comments
It was 30 years ago today that Elvis Costello and the Attractions appeared on Saturday Night Live. They'd wanted to play
Radio Radio but SNL said no as it was thought to be 'anti-media.' So they started playing
Less Than Zero, but stopped eight seconds in and played
Radio Radio anyway, which led to them being banned from SNL for 12 years.
Tip o' the hat to the Post Punk Progressive Pop Party.
posted by carter
on Dec 17, 2007 -
85 comments
