The Resurrection Of an “Antibanalification Device”

Jennifer Maerz has fine, inspirational piece about the imminent return of Los Angeles-based Arthur magazine in this week's issue of SF Weekly. More than “merely” a great (free) music publication, Arthur was one of the few widely distributed media organs to give substantial coverage to esoteric/occult topics and unconventionally liberal viewpoints. Think of it as Punk Planet on better drugs and with a freakier soundtrack or early-era Rolling Stone updated for the 21st century.

Arthur published 24 issues in its four-year history before temporarily folding in February due to a dispute regarding finances between its publisher Laris Kreslins and editor Jay Babcock. Maerz outlines the Arthur saga and gets some good quotes from Babcock, including this one: “Culture is devolving week by week at this point . There's a basic banalification that's happening. We're an antibanalification device.”

Until the next issue of Arthur materializes, you can check out Babcock's Arthur blog on Yahoo here.