We've got about half the first issue archived, some of the second, and the main feature from issue three - the guide to Kerouac's characters. They're all free, online and easy to access at our archives.
December Update
16 years ago
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Beatdom Archives
It's been a while since we started archiving our old articles, but it's still slowly coming along... Today we added the interviews from our first issue - Barry Gifford, Zane Kesey, Ken Babbs and Paul Krassner. Those were some great interviews, a wealth of information passed on to a new generation.
Sunday, 3 May 2009
Kerouac in SLO
I recently found this brilliant article about Jack Kerouac's time in San Luis Obispo, back in 1953. That was the town where I spent several months editing issue two of Beatdom, and used as my base for conduting interviews and research from San Francisco to Denver. I had NO IDEA that Kerouac actually stayed in that glorious little place.
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
We're Back
Sorry for the delay, folks, but after more than a year of waiting, Issue Three of Beatdom is finally here.
Get it for free at www.beatdom.com/Issue_Three.pdf
Thursday, 15 January 2009
Letter from the Editor
Dear Patient Readers,
It’s been a long year of constant change since Beatdom last made a foray into the public domain. Since then I’ve been doing my best to keep the magazine in the minds and hearts of its fans, but that hasn’t been easy without something for them to read…
It was February 2008 when Issue Two hit the proverbial newsstands, and now we’re in a whole new year. In that time much has happened.
Firstly there was Beatdom’s first ever public display, as we were asked to appear at Scotland’s nation poetry festival, StAnza. In typical form, your humble editor forgot about the event until the
night before, when he was playing a gig with a local band, and together, he and the band spent the post-gig night both partying and making posters. We were late to the festival, but still put on a display, selling out our stock and drawing much interest for the magazine and its website.
Ah, the website. www.beatdom.com has kept the magazine alive in the absence of any creative endeavour on the part of the staff. Through our high Google rankings, Beatdom has maintained a strong internet presence that has ensured a steady flow of fan mail and submissions. I can honestly say that without these, Beatdom would have faded into history.
But the reason for this lack of productivity and creativity was the increase of activity in my own life. In Scotland I was unemployed and partially employed, and constantly had time to write. But with no money and no job prospects, I was forced to emigrate to South Korea. I took a job teaching in a small hagwon in Daegu, and have been here ever since.
Life in Korea has been too hectic to facilitate much writing. The hours are long and the alcohol is cheap, and consequently I found myself not sleeping for five months, but instead working from 10am to 8pm, and drinking from 8pm to 5am, six or seven nights a week. No writing, no Beatdom.
When holidays came, I vanished across the seas again – to the Philippines, to Japan, to China. In 2007 I toured American like Kerouac, and in 2008 I hit Asia like Ginsberg and Snyder. Maybe one day I’ll get to Latin America like Burroughs…
Constantly the fan mail and submissions kept rolling in, and I realised that I had a duty to the fanbase I had established with the first two magnificent instalments. The people wanted more, and I had to give it to them. Out went the drinking, and back came the editing.
I started various blogs about life in Asia, uploaded old articles and essays from the first two issues to the website, and created a Beat Generation social network, all to pique the interest of the people. We’d lost too many staff members over the year of absence to rely upon the same contributors. Impatience set in. The distance became a factor. My old artists and illustrators went on to new jobs in Scotland. Eduardo Jones, our bat-shit crazy regular, was killed. Rodney Munch went missing somewhere in the Sea of Japan…
But now we’re back with an issue that takes the Beat out of the fifties and brings it right back into the ugly new millennium, where it’s needed the most. When the world changes too fast, and the hands of the diabolic wander beyond their stations, the spirit of the restless few must rise and seize the day.
It’s been a long year of constant change since Beatdom last made a foray into the public domain. Since then I’ve been doing my best to keep the magazine in the minds and hearts of its fans, but that hasn’t been easy without something for them to read…
It was February 2008 when Issue Two hit the proverbial newsstands, and now we’re in a whole new year. In that time much has happened.
Firstly there was Beatdom’s first ever public display, as we were asked to appear at Scotland’s nation poetry festival, StAnza. In typical form, your humble editor forgot about the event until the
night before, when he was playing a gig with a local band, and together, he and the band spent the post-gig night both partying and making posters. We were late to the festival, but still put on a display, selling out our stock and drawing much interest for the magazine and its website.Ah, the website. www.beatdom.com has kept the magazine alive in the absence of any creative endeavour on the part of the staff. Through our high Google rankings, Beatdom has maintained a strong internet presence that has ensured a steady flow of fan mail and submissions. I can honestly say that without these, Beatdom would have faded into history.
But the reason for this lack of productivity and creativity was the increase of activity in my own life. In Scotland I was unemployed and partially employed, and constantly had time to write. But with no money and no job prospects, I was forced to emigrate to South Korea. I took a job teaching in a small hagwon in Daegu, and have been here ever since.
Life in Korea has been too hectic to facilitate much writing. The hours are long and the alcohol is cheap, and consequently I found myself not sleeping for five months, but instead working from 10am to 8pm, and drinking from 8pm to 5am, six or seven nights a week. No writing, no Beatdom.
When holidays came, I vanished across the seas again – to the Philippines, to Japan, to China. In 2007 I toured American like Kerouac, and in 2008 I hit Asia like Ginsberg and Snyder. Maybe one day I’ll get to Latin America like Burroughs…
Constantly the fan mail and submissions kept rolling in, and I realised that I had a duty to the fanbase I had established with the first two magnificent instalments. The people wanted more, and I had to give it to them. Out went the drinking, and back came the editing.
I started various blogs about life in Asia, uploaded old articles and essays from the first two issues to the website, and created a Beat Generation social network, all to pique the interest of the people. We’d lost too many staff members over the year of absence to rely upon the same contributors. Impatience set in. The distance became a factor. My old artists and illustrators went on to new jobs in Scotland. Eduardo Jones, our bat-shit crazy regular, was killed. Rodney Munch went missing somewhere in the Sea of Japan…
But now we’re back with an issue that takes the Beat out of the fifties and brings it right back into the ugly new millennium, where it’s needed the most. When the world changes too fast, and the hands of the diabolic wander beyond their stations, the spirit of the restless few must rise and seize the day.
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
Massive Update
Well, it's a whole year now since the last issue of Beatdom magazine was released, and almost two years since the Rodney Munch Project. In that time a lot has changed for this writer. I've lived on three different continents, visited eight countries, held four jobs, and made and lost many, many friends. Inspiration has come and gone and continues to cycle thusly, but I'm taking this little burst of enthusiasm to finally move towards assembling that near ridiculous idea: My Chinese Democracy, Beatdom Issue Three!
So go ahead, writers and artists, and beginning bugging me with submissions so that I have as little writing to do myself. Send me everything you've got on the Beat Generation and the counterculture.
Also, as a little treat, to whet your Appetites for Destruction, I'm in the process of a massive update. I'm finally throwing all of the articles and features from the first two issues onto the website, where they can be read in classy black & white for free, forever. That's let everyone see the quality of Beatdom and let them buy an issue when they so choose.
Also, I'd like to thank the visitors to www.beatdom.com for keeping the counter rising, and to all the well-wishers who still keep finding this already outdated publication and reading and loving it. Your kind words keeping me going.
Yours, always, David S Wills
So go ahead, writers and artists, and beginning bugging me with submissions so that I have as little writing to do myself. Send me everything you've got on the Beat Generation and the counterculture.
Also, as a little treat, to whet your Appetites for Destruction, I'm in the process of a massive update. I'm finally throwing all of the articles and features from the first two issues onto the website, where they can be read in classy black & white for free, forever. That's let everyone see the quality of Beatdom and let them buy an issue when they so choose.
Also, I'd like to thank the visitors to www.beatdom.com for keeping the counter rising, and to all the well-wishers who still keep finding this already outdated publication and reading and loving it. Your kind words keeping me going.
Yours, always, David S Wills
Wednesday, 16 January 2008
Bohemian New Orleans: A Review
It was through my love of the work of Hunter S Thompson that I came to watch Wayne Ewing’s films, and through his films that I came to learn about Loujon Press and the Outsider.
The story of the Webbs and their press is a fascinating one, and certainly one of which Beatdom has lapped up any and all information. After all, it’s not easy starting up and running a small magazine.
So when the opportunity arose to review the beautifully presented Bohemian New Orleans: The Story of the Outsider and Loujon Press, I was as eager to read it as I was to travel to Denver and back for The Outsiders documentary.
Bohemian New Orleans is well researched and informative, yet intimate and charming. Before coming to the creation of the press and magazine that made the Webbs famous, we are taken through their lives separate and together, but always fascinating and romantic in the face of constant and almost comical hardship.
The introduction takes us through the history of the small press and of the underground literary magazines that began with the modernists, stumbled in forties, and flourished post-war with the Beats and the ‘mimeograph revolution.’
We’re then taken through the life of Jon Webb – his constant aspiration to be a great novelist, followed by his ingenious armed robbery.
And then there is the story of Jon and Lou, the two lovers who would sit and get drunk together every Thursday and tell the other exactly what they didn’t like about them. If either of them was not entirely honest, or got angry at the other’s complaint, then they weren’t allowed to drink.
Weddle presents these unique characters beautifully, using their story to weave the history of magazines, and then of New Orleans. When they move briefly to Hollywood, their lives again become the story against which an informative history is narrated.
When the Webbs return to New Orleans, we are given stories about Whitman, Faulkner and Williams’ escapades in the city, building a picture of the city’s artistic and literary heritage.
Then through Lou and Jon we are presented with the artistic output of the French Quarter as Lou begins painting, becomes Gypsy Lou, and Jon takes the role of editor and founds Loujon Press.
Against all this we are given a frightening and literary picture of the racism prevalent in even the most liberal parts of the city. Lou and Jon’s run-ins with the New Orleans police are stark departures from the usual comedy of their tragedy, as Lou’s comments and outlooks always lighten any situation.
The Outsider published the work of Charles Bukowski, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Robert Creeley, Denise Levertov and Walter Lowenfals, and stories about the their relationships to the Webbs abound in the latter half of this excellent book.
The story of the Webbs and their press is a fascinating one, and certainly one of which Beatdom has lapped up any and all information. After all, it’s not easy starting up and running a small magazine.
So when the opportunity arose to review the beautifully presented Bohemian New Orleans: The Story of the Outsider and Loujon Press, I was as eager to read it as I was to travel to Denver and back for The Outsiders documentary.
Bohemian New Orleans is well researched and informative, yet intimate and charming. Before coming to the creation of the press and magazine that made the Webbs famous, we are taken through their lives separate and together, but always fascinating and romantic in the face of constant and almost comical hardship.
The introduction takes us through the history of the small press and of the underground literary magazines that began with the modernists, stumbled in forties, and flourished post-war with the Beats and the ‘mimeograph revolution.’
We’re then taken through the life of Jon Webb – his constant aspiration to be a great novelist, followed by his ingenious armed robbery.
And then there is the story of Jon and Lou, the two lovers who would sit and get drunk together every Thursday and tell the other exactly what they didn’t like about them. If either of them was not entirely honest, or got angry at the other’s complaint, then they weren’t allowed to drink.
Weddle presents these unique characters beautifully, using their story to weave the history of magazines, and then of New Orleans. When they move briefly to Hollywood, their lives again become the story against which an informative history is narrated.
When the Webbs return to New Orleans, we are given stories about Whitman, Faulkner and Williams’ escapades in the city, building a picture of the city’s artistic and literary heritage.
Then through Lou and Jon we are presented with the artistic output of the French Quarter as Lou begins painting, becomes Gypsy Lou, and Jon takes the role of editor and founds Loujon Press.
Against all this we are given a frightening and literary picture of the racism prevalent in even the most liberal parts of the city. Lou and Jon’s run-ins with the New Orleans police are stark departures from the usual comedy of their tragedy, as Lou’s comments and outlooks always lighten any situation.
The Outsider published the work of Charles Bukowski, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Robert Creeley, Denise Levertov and Walter Lowenfals, and stories about the their relationships to the Webbs abound in the latter half of this excellent book.
Saturday, 5 January 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
