For just about everything you want to know but are afraid to ask about magazine history and production get Inside the Great Magazines, a 3-part documentary by DLI productions. Part one starts in London in 1731 with the production of the first magazine, then goes to Paris for the first published photographs and onward to Life Magazine, Vanity Fair and beyond. Watch the intro on YouTube and buy the set from DLI directly. (via Mr. Magazine)

Gawker took a cue from Magazine Death Pool and had their readers weigh in on 2008's Dead and Dying Magazines. Mr. Death Pool's response here.

Possibly a new Martha Stewart title in the works? Getting right back on the horse after the demise of Blueprint (sigh). More info here. (via MagCulture)

I'm just going to admit it, one of the reasons I'm telling you about this show is because I have a photo in it. BUT, all that aside, Famous Magazine is having a weekend full of fun events at Outrageous Look Gallery in Williamsburg. They are celebrating their New York issue: Nobody is Famous in New York. There're so many great people in this issue and most, if not all, of them have work in the group show. On the flyer, pictured here, is a photograph by Hanna and Klara Liden.

Friday February 22: opening reception for the group show. 6pm. Free.

Saturday February 23: reading by DrunknSailors, a piratey selection of tough writers including our awesome friend Jess Arndt, Anna Dunn, Peter Greiner, Mary Dowd, and Mya Spalter. 7pm. Performance by Stay High and djs. 10pm.

Sunday February 24: performance by the Callers, a band from Providence, RI. 7pm.

Outrageous Look Gallery is at 103 Broadway at Berry in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY. See below for the full list of artists involved.

Continue Reading Get Out!: Famous Magazine

Swimsuit Edition
by Logan MacDonald
4.25" x 5.5", 36 pages, stapled
Black and white inside
Edition of 100

Inside this small edition you will find a whole oceanside world, which includes banana hammocks, swim meets and swim meat, old ladies in old bathing costumes, flame-like pubic hair, hopeful mermaids, and lots of hot posing. The draw-er, Logan MacDonald, is a member of a Canadian trio of queers called The Third Leg. I like his style. It has this kind of old fashioned feeling. I'm not sure exactly what I mean by that but I see it in the gaze of the sexy gentleman holding a diving ring or the poise of the lady in the bathing cap or the strength of the bearded Poseidon-like daddy toweling off. He mixes that with some morbid humor—Let's Die! in bold lettering next to some people tanning in front of a giant crab, a man who's arms end in a weird web of veiny things, or a crossed out woman getting abducted by aliens. Also included in this, ahem, package are a cut-out of the bust of a cowboy, Mr. MacDonald's business card, and what looks like a drawing of a made-up horror pulp novel.

Buy this zine from Cinders Gallery.

Tonight: The Hamburger Eyes book is officially out and the hamburgers are having a party for it at their space, The Hamburger Eyes Photo Epicenter. Today is also the anniversary of the space opening and the birthday of the magazine. This party I'm sure will be hella fun. Too bad for me it's in SF. 26 Lilac Street, San Francisco. 5pm. Free.

Friday February 15: Albert Maysles, half of the great documentary filmmaking and brotherly duo responsible for such amazings as Grey Gardens and Gimme Shelter, will be signing copies of his book at Stephen Kasher gallery. I love this guy. Side note: I assisted on a shoot for Kate Spade once and Mr. Maysles was one of the models. He was wonderful to talk to and kept falling asleep everywhere. His book, A Maysles Scrapbook, is full of photos, stills, notes and other writings and accompanies an exhibition of Mr. Maysles photographs at the gallery. Stephen Kasher. 521 W. 23rd St. 6-8pm. Free.

Saturday February 16: A launch party for Habitus magazine's third issue. The theme is Buenos Aires. 2 Obras magazine is co-hosting and making its New York debut. Argentine artists Damian Kaliyeski and Dulce Sturla will have work on display. The Gowanus Studio Space. 119 8th Street, Brooklyn. 8-11. Free.

Also Saturday February 16: This isn't exactly something you can leave your apartment for, but worth mentioning anyway... The online shop for Swedish store Ashtray launches today. They sell books and clothes and cool stuff. I'm looking forward to having a browse.

The Beholder is a San Francisco-based webshop/gallery that sells affordable artwork by artists from all over the place. Some of the artists are represented by the gallery and others sell their stuff on consignment. The wonderful Luke Ramsey from Islands Fold has a lot of work there and so does an old SVA classmate of ours, Joyce Lee. The Beholder is a good place to start for the young collector or anyone who wants some cool art for their apt. walls. (Pictured: Luke Ramsey's Simple Spoon.)

Analogue Books, the Edinburgh book shop who makes the Running Amok zines among many other projects, has an online store that sells books, prints, and clothes. They aren't selling magazines other than Running Amok on the site but there are many good books to buy.

Dashwood Books is this kick ass bookstore on Bond Street in New York that sells only photography books. I can't allow myself to go there very often because I want to buy like everything. The shop is run by David Strettell the former Cultural Director of Magnum Photos. You don't have to be in New York to have access to all these amazing books... You can buy anything from super limited edition signed books to more affordable stuff directly from their online shop.

Friday February 8: Publish and Be Damned opens at the Goethe Institut’s Ludlow 38. Dude! Publish and Be Damned is a public library consisting of over 300 international publications, assembled since 2004. The collection includes fanzines Ziggy, Zowie, Blondiak, Dark Star, Useless; magazines Control, Pablo internacional, Inventory; critical journals Dot Dot Dot, Copenhagen Free University/Infopool, Metronome, Anarchitektur, Fucking Good Art; plus glossy periodicals such as CRASH!, Re-Magazine and video and cassette editions including Audio Theory and Audio Arts. Ludlow 38. 38 Ludlow, btw Grand and Hester. 7-9pm. Free.

Saturday February 9: Co-editor of North Drive Press, Sara Greenberger Rafferty has an installation in the show that's opening Saturday at D'Amelio Terras gallery in Chelsea. The press release says, "Rooted in Vaudeville, slapstick, and 1960's stand-up routine, Sara Greenberger Rafferty's work uses comedy as an accessible language through which one can investigate political, social, historical, and interpersonal concerns." It also mentions Carol Burnett and an overturned table. I'm into checking it out. 3 Rooms. D'Amelio Terras. 525 W. 22nd St. 6-8pm. Free.

Sunday February 10: Heeb, the new jew review, presents an evening of readings at Joe's Pub. Billed as a chatty get-together, this event's theme is “Sex, Drugs & Gefilte Fish” which is also the name of their upcoming story anthology. Featured writers include Rachel Shukert (Have You No Shame?) and Alix Strauss (The Joy of Funerals). Joe's Pub. 425 Lafayette St. 7pm. $15.

(pictured: an image by Sara Greenberger Rafferty.)

Magazine We Love Capricious is hard at work on their ninth issue and asked me to share with you their call for submissions. They're going one step further from their signature style of perforated pages of photos and creating a poster issue. The theme is Animals and the deadline is March 1st, 2008. Here is their statement and guidelines for sending:

The Animal issue is a tribute to the Animal world, but also an examination of how we exist with Animals today. They were our beginnings. They were the first. We owe them our bodies and the structure of our minds; prove us wrong, if you don’t agree. They are a remedy to our terrible loneliness. Where do we belong in nature now? Where do they belong? This is a research of your best friend, your fear, your dinner, or desire. You tell us your story.

Continue Reading Submit: Capricious #9

I know I get all high-minded about magazines, so some people might wonder why the hell I like Blueprint. Blueprint does not meet all of my criteria for quality (It could have used at least ONE feature length article), but for what it was... it was quite good. The typography was truly excellent, the layouts uncluttered, the information well conveyed and digestible. It was the greatest magazine to read on the john or train, with recipe's, cocktails and crafts one might actually attempt. And I have.

Unlike it's retarded competition Domino, Blueprint had a higher level of design taste and less emphasis on consumerism, with more placed upon creativity and inventiveness. It was cute, fluffy and only $3.50! I'm totally annoyed that it's folding! Martha Stewart, who publishes the mag, says that it's demographic (25-45 year old women) prefers getting their info online, which is total baloney. On the big shelter blogs like apartmentherapy and Design* Sponge, everyone talks about Blueprint. Now what magazine can I buy at Wallgreens when I go to buy cat food! What will satisfy my lust for decor porn!? And what the hell am I going to read on the toilet?!? Oh yeah... Straight to Hell (alas, not available at Wallgreens).

Continue Reading R.I.P Blueprint

Thursday, January 31: Happy Ending, the once fun now strange and boring night club on Broome St., has been hosting several reading series in the early evenings for some time now. Tonight they've got a special event brought to us by literary forces from the windy city, including Make Magazine, featherproof books, and Danny's Reading Series. Writers/readers include Joel Craig, Matthew Zapruder, and Zach Plague. Happy Ending. 302 Broome St. 7:30. Free.

Saturday, February 2: Artist Barbara Bloom is showing more of her collections of made, found and organized objects at Printed Matter. Her work is also on view at ICP right now. You could have a Barbara Bloom day and hit them both! Printed Matter's opening is also celebrating her new book, The Collections of Barbara Bloom just out from Steidl/International Center for Photography. Highlights of this show include one of my favorites, Playboy Vol XLI No. 1 (1994), a braille edition of Playboy—to which Bloom added a fold-out photographic insert of Marilyn Monroe reading James Joyce’s Ulysses as well as a rare edition of Weimar a box of chocolates mimicking a book, which the artist designed for the city of Weimar in 1996. Printed Matter. 195 10th Avenue, 5-7pm. Free.

Sunday, February 3: Totally awesome playwright Richard Foreman will be at Housing Works bookstore and café to talk to playwright/Law & Order guy Eric Bogosian about his new book Bad Boy Nietzsche! And Other Plays as well as to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his Ontological-Hysteric Theater. Also on right now is Foreman's play Deep Trance Behavior in Potatoland at the St. Marks Church. Go see it, and feel free to bring me with you. Housing Works. 126 Crosby St. 7pm. Free.

Music Portraits
By Rachael Cassells
Published by The Spring Press
36 pages, full color, soft cover.
Edition of 1000.
$15

Rachael Cassells uses whatever is around to illuminate her subjects—in the case of this book, people who make music. They are lit by street lights, car headlights, window light, lamps, and lonely hallway bulbs—glowing in the soft colors these ambient light sources make. The result is dark and pretty and grainy. I like seeing these people in quiet moments alone, away from stages and fans and other bandmates. Looking at some of them, I'm reminded of certain phrases from their songs. It seems like Cassells had the same idea because she includes a song quote for each portrait.

Cassells' Music Portraits is the second offering from The Spring Press, a new small publisher from Australia and friend of "magazine we love" doingbird. Cassells is a contributing editor there and I've seen her shots of many of these musicians in doingbird's pages, including Bat for Lashes, our pal Jana Hunter, and the wonderful Bill Callahan ((smog)).

This slim volume is very nice. I'm excited to see more from The Spring Press as well as Rachael Cassells. You can buy their stuff directly from their site.

Continue Reading Music Portraits