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A New feature on EP.TC:
Welcome to THE OTHER SCENES INVENTORY REPORT
Reintroducing John Wilcock's OTHER SCENES
Hello, rare documents collector! Man, have you found it. That image above is from OTHER SCENES, one of the most radicalized and interesting Underground Newspapers ever to be produced. Want it to even be stranger? That image is from Phil Proctor of the Firesign Theater. How about the early beginning for Michael O'Donoghue, who did a full size column. So much more to find within of similar tone. Uncensored 1960s radicalism. A lot to learn from within these pages. These PDF files are provided completely free and, in the UPS spirit, you are encouraged to distribute these files yourselves in any way you see fit. You now have access to the complete newsstand run, listed below. This is a sequel to The Realist Archive and a companion to John Wilcock, New York Years, a comic book biography (by myself and Scott Marshall) on the rise of the 1960s Underground Press. (OTHER SCENES was John Wilcock's paper)
If you know what OTHER SCENES is, you'll be thrilled, and if you've never heard of it, you're in for an treat.
Below is all issues from the newsstand run of the magazine. Presented for the first time in exact order they appeared, as well.
NOV 1966: "ANNOUNCING: OTHER SCENES!" Full page ad in The Village Voice. Scanned from John's surviving camera stat. Perhaps the last agreeable moment between Wilcock and Voice staff. See Ed Fancher message in O.S. #4.
JAN 1967: OTHER SCENES Premiere issue! Looks like a xerox but look close and you'll notice it's thin xerox like pink paper but printed with offset ink. Ink went on partially wet and is see-through twice on reverse side of one of the interior sheets. With "FUCK HATE" and "How to Behave at a Sex Party". Printed sheetfed offset with grey/black ink on pink paper. Great beginning.
MAR 1967: Shift of format. NOW ON VERY YELLOW PAPER, 90 GSM. Contains : "Poem for Warner Stringfellow" by John Sinclair, manager of the hard rocking MC5 and effective anti-racist activist who co-founded The White Panthers. Front cover collage is an uncredited piece by Wilcock's wife, Amber LaMann.
Art note: O.S. logo for this issue by legendary letterform artist Ed Ruscha.
Coverage of the first meeting of the Underground Press Syndicate. Large survey of first year of the UPS and available papers in circulation at the time. Odd public airing of conflict with Ed Fancher. Fancher is disowning Wilcock over O.S. #1, Page 2. THIN SKIN, ED.
Mis-numbered on print copy as issue #6 - but date and location strongly suggests this is issue number five.
Back Page: "A LOVE-IN INVENTORY"
This introduces Andy Warhol into Other Scenes with "L.A. WEEKEND WITH WARHOL" (John pictured with Andy) - Another O.S. logo by Ed Ruscha. Printed copy folds-out to one large sheet, 4 pages, double-sided. Notes on Wilcock's run on LAFP, indicated here as December 66 to March 67.
Highly sought after first appearance of a letter to John by Hunter S Thompson: Tribute to Lionel Olay.
Note: This is one of four issues (issues 6-9) collected as one sixteen page issues, in a bundle, folded together. This issue states April but is printed simultaneously with the May issues, who are all joined together. Get it?
Featuring "Lenny Bruce in LA" a memory of april 1966, when John had last seen Bruce perform days before being found dead. Sad and poignant.
Sideways issue with two pages on each landscape oriented side.
"ONE of the reasons why New York is such a bitchy place to live is that it inevitably degrades its citizens to the level of the rudest, most unfeeling specimens. Can you smile and overtip a taxi driver who snarls at you? If you ask for a drink of water and the waitress makes you walk down to the other end of the counter to fetch it can you refrain from breaking the glass? When you have to pay a dime to get into a toilet at the Airlines Terminal are you able to leave without taking the toilet roll? And what about when you're driving and the motorist behind you honks? Can you honk the man in front who's holding you up? Maybe I'm just being wistfully sentimental but somehow these problems didn't seem to arise as often in California." - J.W.
Interesting issue throughout for mix of comics, commentary on pot and censorship.
Art issue, featuring the art of Norman Rubington and "Akbar Del Piombo" - who some claim to be a pseudonym of William S. Burroughs. The two form a collective called OSP, which is described as ORTHOPHONIC SYNTAX PULLULATOR, CORP. - A.D. Piombo provides the text (does seem to match Burroughs style) Rubington provides the art. Cool item. Excerpt from "MOONGLOW" (cover art) - Additional information
Note: One of many issues marked "June 1967" - Quite a month! Last issue produced in the U.S. before O.S. heads off to London. Nice way to leave the country. Illustrations of a very pornographic depiction of Cleopatra. Note the statement of purpose on page one. Published by O.S. for The Diggers, the street art collective from San Francisco responsible for some of the more energetic and creative/punk ideas of the 1960s.
"What acid does is restore the balance of your senses. This can be pretty confusing."
Good stunner of an issue. If you've never read an issue of Other Scenes, this might be the issue to read. In a collaboration with OZ Magazine. Packs an amazing array of visual surprises (note the color choices of green ink, orange ink, yellow, pink, etc) - Letter section discusses The Process. Elsewhere: Gershon Legman's The Fake Revolt, praise for Seymour Krim by J.W., a profile on British photographer Jean Straker (who was harassed for obscenity), a self-immolation comic panel and numerous others by R Cobb, portrait of assemblist artist Daniel Spoerri, profile on anti-psychiatrist R.D. Laing, profile and interview with publishing icon/hero Maurice Giordias, and some very penchant advice: "Avoid crowds until you're used to acid." and this piece of truth: "Acid trips are more work than most jobs."
on Nam Jun Paik in this issue:
"Few artists are using television at present. It is more expensive to work with than film right now. Presumably it can be dangerous without some electronic knowledge. But many artists are making plans for using television, and the cost of videotape recorders is coming down in a hurry. An equipment salesmen here on the West Coast told me there may be a $100 recorder by 1975.
Meanwhile a sort of nightclub in New York has already started using videotape for "underground television." People pay $1.75 to see a private hour videotape. Some of this is described as looking like a "psychedelic 'Today Show'."
Readers of the Wilcock comic book will want to spot the Jean-Jacques Lebel profile inside here.
Also: in what looks like a UPS reprint from OZ, don't miss Rosetalk (Notes) by Anthony Burgess - awesome!
A note from John Wilcock on this issue, from 1967:
Three days ago I got back from London to find my phone cut off, my subtenant absconded without paying the rent and the bathroom ceiling having fallen in. I'd been away for nearly five months and it wasn't exactly an encouraging welcome back to New York. So far this year I've spent only one month here and it doesn't seem likely that I'll be spending too much time here in the future. compared to other cities and other countries, NYC is very near the bottom of the barrel: it's dirty, dangerous, bad-tempered, inhumane, cold and miserable.
In fact the main mystery to me is why, with so many better places to live, so many people choose to go on living here. Fortunntoly we're fast reaching the sort of world where more and more people realize that it's possible to live in more than one place.
OTHER PEOPLE'S HANGUPS: One of the handicaps of running a business (however little I want it to become a business) is that it's sometimes necessary to rely on other people's help -- and other people aren't always as reliable as you anticipate. For example, before I left for Greece I arranged for somebody in New York to put out an issue on Greece, with material that I airmailed to him from Athens. I fulfilled my part of tho bargain: I sent an enormous amount of copy about the new Greek government: conditions in that country, etc. and continued on my way confident that you wouldn't go newsletter-less all summer because you'd bo getting this special Greek issue. Unfortunately, my friend went to California for the summer without lotting me know. So I returned in September to find copy written in June still sitting around untouched. Some of this is now presented to you in thlo belated Greek issue. Sorry for the delay.
Note: TA NEA is the largest newspaper in Athens, Greece. The use of the front side of this issue to be an entire poster with the TA NEA logo can be considered a wry joke - particularly about censorship. Referenced inside the issue, at the time of being printed, all papers in Greece had to be approved DAILY by the government before being printed. (Except this one, that is) This issues is a full press sheet (11x22 inches) and folds out. Contains a lot of coup talk! - The Greek Junta had just begun.
When considering how much content on the back of the sheet is about censorship and freedom of the press, the function of this issue as a wall poster becomes even cooler.
"Power blackouts in the past few years may have been organized by the CIA to check the FBI's efficiency at combatting internal sabotage, says Thomas De Baggio in his Washington newsletter, Spectrum"
Last issue produced in the U.S. for 1967. (Next stop, Tokyo!) - Find the "Orgy Butter". Issue is full of many collage elements and appropriated headlines. Free cut-out LBJ dollar bill which asks: "Is this [dollar] worth all the murder and slaughter in Vietnam?" - Contains "How to Start Your Own Newspaper", excellent history on print production techniques and distribution methods from that era.
A Trip to Tokyo to co-edit Japan's first underground newspaper, SHINJUKU SUTRA.
A peak into the Japanese economy:
The yearly income of the Fumio Amahara family is well above the 1965 average'of $3,986, which places them in Japan's highest income group. In fact, Mr. Amahara's income is over $10,000 a year, which puts his family in the nation's top 1 percent. The family home is a 10-room house in "pure" Japanese style with a landscaped garden plus a lawn that extends about 30 feet beyond the back of the house.
Wilcock heads to Tokyo to help Alexander Besher and T Jackson King's SHINJUKU SUTRA. The first underground paper of Japan. At the time of Wilcock's visit, the paper was only a month old, and Wilcock's contributions (two issues total) will appear here in the archive.
AMERICAN Negro Cecil Roland, long-time Tokyo resident, is cleaning up as a model for ads for a white shirt maker. They pose him in a large wood washtub, or in a straight shot, and the caption (in Japanese) is usually "Pure White!" - Page 11
This first issue from December 1967 completes the first year of publishing for Other Scenes. Quite a collaborative year. Note the use of IBM type throughout, largely produced by John's wife Amber.
Saddest article inside this issue is on the destruction of Frank Lloyd Wright's Hotel Imperial
Check out COOL MURDER, a translation (with images included) of a fun Japanese sex comic by Kazuo Wakui. Wild comic with some really cool art and translated text:
He is not interested in real lovemaking. He can get sexual feeling in Go-Go, psychedelic sound, and zazen. He has a plan of happening, 'Going mad.'
Go - Go - Girls - Fun for all
Dance Band with the New Peat!
REAGAN FOR PEPSODENT
Second issue of the Other Scenes collaboration with Shinjuku Sutra, the first underground paper of Japan. While issue one (Dec 67) included a lot of John's writing, Wilcock's role in this issue seems to be more editorial and in the background. He is welcomed on the first page but none of the articles indicate a JW byline and a prominent credit on the cover:
MARK WELL YOUR DELIRIUM!
This is no ordinary Shinjuku Sutra. This issue was done in confusion with John Wilcock's Other Scenes, an irrational newsletter put out irrationally all over the world. In the past 18 months John has edited EVO (East Village Other), the LA Free Press, OZ (London) and his own paper Other Scenes. Now he has resolved to intensify his notoriety by contorting with us. The readers' comments and conclusions should be kindly kept to themselves.
Cool bookend of two issues with Shinjuku Sutra; one of the more unusual collaborations in the Other Scenes output. Look for a lovely use of red spot color on the interior centerfold.
Los Angeles, CA
(Editorial note: Prepared in Hong Kong, printed and mailed out of California)
An American Paper for the American People. Begin the Year Well. Be an American.
John returns from Tokyo with a huge trove of Japanese columns and art (including a wedding photo), which decorates this issue. 16 pages, with green spot color, and a bit of cheating on Wilcock's promise for twenty issues a year - This issue is stated to contain one twelve page issue and a single four page issue wrapped within it. Sample news includes: John Lennon's father (50) marrying a nineteen year old girl. Andy Warhol moving Factories. Seymour Krim on Mick Jagger. Great typography with font choices by Amber LaMann.
Main item, "The Pornbroker" a profile by Anthony Haden-Guest of publishing legend, Maurice Girodias. Tons of pornographic manga inside, as well. A few reprinted pieces from the OZ issue, including the pages from Anthony Burgess, and on Nam June Paik. Nice, high spirited issue that suggests things are pretty happy in John's world at the time.
Note: This book was published on the occasion of the Andy Warhol exhibition at Moderna Museet in Stockholm February-March 1968.
Final item of the first year of Other Scenes issues. The next issue (Vol 2, Num 1) initiates a huge shift in appearance with the paper. This RARE issue is not insignificant, however: A big item for Warhol collectors, as it was distributed along works of Warhol at an exhibition in Sweden. Front and back cover are uncredited photo collages in the Pop Art style (but don't resemble Warhol - though he is the subject of page one) - The back page reminds me of some of the work of Ron English, albeit fifty years early. (My guess on artist for both back and front cover is Cathe Cozzi, who does the credited cover in the following issue) - As for where this issue of O.S. appeared: Gallery visitors were likely amused/perplexed by the content of this issue, as one might expect an essay on Warhol to be inside. Instead, nicely appropriate and clever, the interior is a two page essay from Wilcock on the role of the gambler and risk taking in society - including cheating. Maybe this was the essay on Warhol, all the same. Very cool four page item. The first Andy Warhol cover (of which there will be a few).
1968 ISSUES (a.k.a. VOLUME TWO, NEW YORK SEER) NOW FULLY ARCHIVED:
Huge Counterculture item on Page 10: CONVENTIONAL CHAOS "Discussing the Youth International Party's forthcoming Youth Festival at this summer's Chicago Democratic Convention" - with Paul Krassner, Jerry Rubin, and Abbie Hoffman. - If you've read the John Wilcock comic book, you will recognize this scene from the Yippie segments with John interviewing each activist prior to leaving to Chicago. The article in this issue is the transcript of that event. Hot ticket item.
First authentic issue of OTHER SCENES in its fully formed design. Stated "First Issue" on the cover with "New York Seer" and a nice credit to John himself in the logo (John Wilcock's Other Scenes), this is a bold redesign of OTHER SCENES from a mailed newsletter to a tabloid sheet suitable for newsstands - increasing the print run from 1,000 to 20,000. Note the personal note, with photo of John and Amber, on page two. Great tribute to John on the same page by Nat Freeland. Whole issue is a joy to read. Timothy Leary on LSD and spot the hidden Ed Ruscha logo on page 14.
ORGY MYSTERY
Finally: "On March 2, Hermann Nitsch is giving a performance at Cinematheque. He call his Action Events "O.M. Theatre", the O.M stands for Orgy-Mystery."
One of my favorite Other Scenes covers of the black and white era, this second issue of the new format (sub-named THE NEW YORK SEER) has a Warhol collectible: A Billy Name cover - two women in a bathtub! (One of them looks like Viva) Inside is a wealth of cool clipart and design. Editorially, a further jump ahead in terms of politics, now including Civil Rights in a rather direct way (see article on Malcolm X, MLK, and Eartha Kitt by Hakim Jamal) - Also: Draft Dodging, Nudity, Pot Politics. Tuli Kupferberg's "Yiggers, Blonkies & Crackers" opens with: "I write this after the assassination of Dr. King" - 'Nuff said.
Note this additional item, which reprints three pages from Issue Two, into their own digest on Taylor Mead.
Man, the art credits just keep piling up here. Photos of Mead by John Chamberlain, "Black Flower" by jazz poet Ted Joans and the only page unique to this issue: a Hershey decorated back cover by Fluxus artist Al Hansen.
Nice and prominent Black Panther logo on the front cover with a letter column opening up on rape, followed by a letter with the ingredients of a molotov cocktail - all add up to this issue likely being found highly entertaining reading for the FBI! (Look for a nice letter on that same page from Jim Haynes) Printmakers will enjoy the infusion of a three color blend technique on the cover. More Panthers material on the inside, with Panther reporting from Marlene Charyn (later Marlene Phillips Lily) following a NSFW Sex Freaks two pager. Awesome comics page by Martin Sharp: MY NAME IS NORMAN NORMAL! and GOD BLESS TINY TIM: An appreciation by Bob Garcia
DISCORDIANISM
Oh boy what a find: "WHAT TO DO UNTIL THE WORLD ENDS OR HOW TO SURVIVE WITHOUT ACTUALLY DYING" by co-founder of Discordianism, Kerry Thornley! Thornley provides these tips and more: "The economics of chaos are centered around the idea of self-sufficency ... A houseboat is a good bet ... There is lots of land in Canada ... (and) start a clandestine communication net." - Roger, that!
A jump to Italy to report on the Venice Biennale. Hops off with a delightfully staged Shunk-Kender cover - in purple ink! (Has a purple S-K on the back cover, as well - I love the storytelling and staging of props in their photos) Readability might be an issue for some with color sensitivity, as page two is printed in green ink, page three in blue, page four in red, etc. You have to enjoy the lede on Blue Page 2, though: "It is clear that America must be destroyed. There is no other way." in a piece titled LOOK OUT, WHITEY! BLACK POWER'S GON' GET YOUR MAMA! (I love it) by Julius Lester - Be sure to spot the Uncle Sam art in the right bottom corner.
The first red ink page is a spirited collage of Big Brother watches, scissors, poetry, and cartoons. And even your own cut-out LENNY BRUCE theater ticket! (likely to satirize people selling their own post-death collectibles)
This issue addresses the interesting challenges of being an American during Vietnam. Would American artists be welcome at the Venice Biennale? Some very interesting perspectives that history actively forgets (look for the red ink page number two) retained herein.
ANDY WARHOL GETS SHOT
In what could be a small exclusive, John is able to report on the recently fired upon Warhol: "Despite bullets in his head and chest, he'll be fine" - Look for other art news in this issue, including "SEX LIFE OF THE HORNY AMERICAN ARTIST" on page 21 and a pretty delightful Yoko Ono pricelist on page twelve - I want some of those snow recordings!
Personal note: My favorite comic of all time is Michael O'Donoghue and Frank Springer's PHOEBE ZEITGEIST. Note the very rare (I'd never seen) ad for the comic from Grove on page 23! (Looks very likely O'Donoghue wrote it)
Note: There is an alternate version of the Venice Biennale section printed in multi-color ink - presumably given away as a separate issue during the event. If time allows during this archiving I'll make a scan of that copy, as well.
In a year of awesome covers, this is probably the most serene. A sweet nude lady in a green ink pathway of trees. Opens up to a nice stream of consciousness letter from Allen Ginsberg. Four issues ago was COUNTERCULTURE CHAOS which hinted at the August 1968 Democratic National Convention. This issue was published during that month and has a nice PREDICTIONS FOR YIPPIE ACTIVITIES IN CHICAGO page by Ed Sanders on page three. Other Scenes is often forgotten for its role in Yippie organizing: "Remember, we are the life forms. Evolving in our own brain." - Dig it.
A rather sad page titled LETTERS, 64-65 which opens with Barbara Siegel (link, containing 1968 context) writing to book Lenny Bruce for a concert, offering $5000 no questions, so long as Lenny appeared. Others on the same page are curious cameos from John's life - many, like Stan Russell, noted in the John Wilcock comic. All letters speak to John's amicable and connected role in the world at that time.
SPOT THE I'M A lOVER DECAL! Al Aronowitz on the USAF and UFOs (including a very cute illustration, spot the UFO flight path). SPOT THE MINDSUCKER! A nice green and black page on Kenneth Patchen, including NICE DAY FOR A LYNCHING (poem) and followed by a very Tuli page by Tuli Kupferberg on HOW TO THINK LIKE THE POLICE. A second installment of WHAT TO DO UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD, this time by poet Lew Welch!
Numerous pages reprinted from the previous issue on the Venice Biennale, though this time in color inks. A super back page on FACE READING. "The square face ... Many political leaders have square faces, and square heads!"
JW: "Eventually what I'd like to do is turn Other Scenes into a truly international newspaper in the sense that I not only distribute but also print in as many different countries as possible. And once that's running smoothly, and as much as possible without my help, then I plan to concentrate more on the newsletter, which will always have a much smaller, hipper audience of, people I regard as friends. never want to get a mass circulation for the newsletter because I want it' always to go only to people who really dig it."
Hello, fellow digger! A nice hidden issue. Likely only sent to subscribers and a brief return to the eight page newsletter format. One of those rare issues! This is a shame as it has one of the cooler pieces of art for the cover: A stark black and white image that would have been great for Bauhaus or Joy Division to use on an album, credit to Pol Bury. Man, how John got these incredible artists to contribute to Other Scenes is pretty amazing. It speaks to how much a part of the creative community the paper must truly have been. Also includes ANOTHER amazing artist of that period. MORE HERE: Fluxus board game by Ben Vautier! And check out Tadanori Yokoo Speaks His Piece on page eight! (Be sure to catch up with John and the rise of the Underground Press Syndicate with the Letter from the Publisher on that same concluding page, quoted above at the top.)
Here it is. The one you'll want to rip off. The BEST COVER of all the Other Scenes covers. This wraparound fold-out collage. You just have to see it. A wonderful success of symbols, COMMENTARY, and composition. I have my opinions but what the f-ck do YOU think this one is saying? Black Man in American Flag G-String, Vietnam bombed street, Naked Woman held up. The WAY she's being stared at. WHAT AN IMAGE. A giant full use of the tabloid newspaper sheet, this folds out to 22 x 17". To make this even better, or maybe to even confuse your comprehension: Art credit is Philip Proctor of The Firesign Theater. Look how little blue ink was used! Perfect way to pay for that spot color. Most surviving copies of this one either show thumb tacks from being used as a poster or sharp fold lines indicating discretely being hidden on the shelf. Show it or don't, both ideas work!
EXCUSE ME, IS THIS THE WAY TO THE GAS CHAMBERS?
It's interesting to see how O.S. is developing into kind of a mixtape for old pieces and new ones, as John seems to like filling space (or remixing space) with previously printed content (often in new colored ink) from previous issues. There's tons of new art and writing here, as well as some repeats from Skunk-Kender, Tuli Kupferberg, and others. (Some new Tuli here, too - Look for the Fugs songs, and new Skunk-Kender, too, look for NYC) - A wonderful array of visual treats inside this issue. Very clearly prepared BEFORE the DNC riots of August 1968, this September issue is somewhat missing the elephant in the room (sure to be addressed next issue - though the first page article on THEY CALL THEM SUPER PIGS was likely thrown in right on the deadline to speak of DNC...)
But not being completely topical to that moment, this issue is less dated or attached to a moment. Just a thrilling array of ideas on every page. Wild energy here. Spot the Enoch Powell poster. Top hits: CYBERNETIC SERENDIPITY, on early computer-produced art (Page 17) and SPEND A DAY IN THE SOVIET UNION (Page 23).
A very cool look back at the mental atmosphere directly following the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Cool process camera Brown Ink cover with Allen Ginsberg and a good juxtaposed word balloon. (Credit to Yippie Clown, Hugh Romney) - Interior has DNC reactions from Abbie Hoffman (Creating a Perfect Mess), Jerry Rubin (Jerry Rubin Raps), and Paul Krassner (How to Feed Their Paranoia).
Part of the entire effort of this archive (this whole website, really) is to retain Yippie history, and this issue of Other Scenes is one of those rarely seen vital documents. Few people know about the Abbie and Jerry pieces here. A perfect unfiltered view of a very raw moment. The whole issue has a charged energy to it; a subtext that is clearly about the riot that just happened. Note the page two opener of an unfinished illustration with the caption: "Rally in Grant Park, Chicago, August 28, 1968, interrupted despite permit by full-scale police attack." - No additional elaboration needed!
A nicely pissed off anger can be felt on every page, even the paste-up seems a little pissed off. There's a good diagram on HOW TO SPOT YOUR ASS FROM A HOLE IN THE GROUND, a John Lennon / Yoko cameo, two great Black Power pieces and by Claes Oldenburg provides a few amusing penile juxtapositions.
More pissed off layouts include a cautionary piece on Scientology, what looks like a Leonard Cohen tribute on black ink, including a matching blue ink page of caligraphy titled THE LADIES OF LEONARD. A pretty wild tribute to Mr Cohen. Appropriately, jumps into a four page advertisement supplement for TINY TIM, specifically: YAWYE, or You Are What You Eat, which also starred Del Close and David Crosby.
Not to be missed: Second Wave Feminism: FUCKING AROUND with MISS AMERICA (Page 25) and photo of the issue: PROTECT YOUR SELF, YOUR HOME, AND YOUR FAMILY (Page 26, Sunday in the Suburbs)
Be on the lookout for UNCLE SAM WANTS YOU. Spot the R CRUMB comic page, and don't miss GEORGE WASHINGTON WAS A LYING M/FUCKER by Eldridge Cleaver. A really nice, pissed off issue, indeed.
Continuing a printed typo for "Volume One" from last two issues (So, now that it's happened THREE times, it's intentional?) ... but have you even noticed on the last two issues having the wrong volume number? Same error on Vol 2 Issues 6 and 7. How could you have missed that, or really how could THEY have? Easy to not see the volume number, though. Here you would instead be focusing on the Spaghetti-O A-Z letters falling out of the naked woman's ass. No matter how you spell it, it all goes in the soup. This one is clearly the most LURID of all the Other Scenes covers. I love it. Though it might change your perspective on spaghetti-o's. But maybe the O'S in spaghetti o's is for Other Scenes!
There's another cover on the back page, if you'd prefer. Softer. Friendlier. I think it's Edie Sedgwick on that one. Talk about juxtapositions! A truly incredible issue. Robustly militarized pre-election vibe and packed with Black Power elements. VOTE FOR NOBODY. DICK GREGORY FOR PRESIDENT! Look inside. Each copy, a genuine Dick Gregory Dollar Bill! Before that, Ted Joans liberally N-Bombing, and for a literal point. With: WHEN I AM ELECTED PRESIDENT and NOBODY FOR PRESIDENT. Activist Paul Johnson of the War Resisters League. American Anarchist Association centerpiece on Page Five.
Just look at the three page centerspread that begins on page eleven. Much of it the work or words of Fluxist Ray Johnson! Suburbia Sucks and Clip the Black Panther Coupon/Petition. KEEP ELDRIDGE CLEAVRER OUT OF PRISON. It looks like the caligrapher from last issue's Leonard Cohen tribute has returned. Is this the best issue of Other Scenes? We'll have to see if it can top itself. Doubtful, though! It's that complex and communicating as a historical document.
Yet Again: Misprinted on printed copy as Volume 1!
"SAFE ART NEVER KILLS ANYONE"
I think a key difference between the 1960s and today: While both eras are focused on civil rights, the 60s fought for you to say WHATEVER word you wanted and this current era fights for us to NOT be able to say or print many words that contain a certain heat or variety. Subsequently, it can be a very nice liberator to read through something like Other Scenes. SPOT ALL THE WORDS INSIDE! But first, there's this big Bob Dylan draw, making this the single most collected/sought-after issue of O.S.
"THE YOUNG DYLAN"
The cover feature of this issue is a collection of unpublished interviews with Bob Dylan, ca 1961-1962. "Let me die in my footsteps before I die underground!" Great read throughout if you're even the slightest bit a Dylan freak. (who isn't)
FUCK THE DRAFT! A declaration on the indicia that John will be in India for much of 1969 (Will be fun to see how these issues change) and also that editorial has taken on a contributor: Lannes Kenfield - who it seems contributed to Dynamite Chicken! While on that page, here's a phrase: "WATCH OUT FOR THE CUNT MANDALA"
More glorious Ted Joans appearances with Black Pride and Copious N Bombing. Yippie Post-Election Day Lament with NOTHING WRONG WITH AMERICA THAT A GOOD ERECTION WON'T CURE - by the great radio dramatist David Mairowitz! An update on the Dick Gregory bill (Seized by the feds!) and then a series of truly inspiring tripped out pages. Very clear shift into more mysticism. Peaks with a multi-color Ken Weaver centerspread!
A genuinely disturbing full size artificial penis, juxtaposed with an ad for The Realist! Spot the blue ink FUCK (different than the green ink FUCK) - Spot that one, too! - Look for the scarecrows - Determine your readiness for Mike Lessac, Update your list of Political Prisoners, Learn Karate, Become a Gypsy, and end your 24 page trip, peacefully blissed out to the KICKS on back cover. Sort of a watercolor image via offset printing. Wild issue!
Special Digest Issue! Most issues of Other Scenes are Tabloid Size (roughly 11x17") and this is a nice portable sized issue, an 8.5 x 11" sheet folded in half, so about 4.25 x 11" pages. Technically, a small challenge in making a PDF: Most of the pages are either portrait OR landscape in how they are to be read, switching it up on each page - which wouldn't have been much of a challenge in the print era; you would have just rotated the page. A small thing we've lost with digital distribution. This is havoc on making a digital file. (Tech help: If you're using a PDF viewer it's easy to rotate the pages) At least these aren't MAD Fold-Ins! But this is a small 'best of' issue, compiling a few new items with a majority of the issue republishing articles and images from 1967-1968. Nice purple ink, however! The notorious Phil Proctor cover is redone as background art on a piece: WATCH OUT WHITEY! (That's the title, didn't mean to alarm you). Other fun: ACID Underground and tilt your laptop or phone over to read JOIN THE MOVEMENT.
Misprinted (yet again) on printed copy as Volume 1
"THE FINAL VOLUME-ONE-LABELED VOLUME TWO"
Completing the typographically complicated second year of issues, this is the final issue of Volume Two, which shares another indicator of being a chronically mislabeled Volume One! It won't make better sense next issue: The next issue starts off Volume Three, but calls itself Number Two (of that third volume) - Who can keep up! Though, cover stamp ignored, this archive is beginning to assemble a pretty accurate sequence order for these many issues, regardless of what is stated on the cover.
Headline: JOHN GOES TO INDIA!
Visually this issue is a total treat. Just check out the centerfold! Wow. An intention of Other Scenes was to always provide a sense of travel for its readers and this one finally feels like a success. You are in India with John on many pages, just check out the use of printers ink and a different kind of overprinting with text over graphics and photos (example on page nine - something I wouldn't see on newsprint until the 1990s with Quark XPress and other digital design tools) - that's quite daring!
From BAPI'S TRUTH to the HIMAYLAYAN OBSERVER, some rarely seen clippings from around the world; and perhaps this issue of Other Scenes is the only document to retain them. A very nice Santa Claus closer and be sure to look for TEAR GAS WANDS (advertisement) and PERSPECTIVES OF THE REVOLUTION - pardon the white text on gradient color - very worth it though for contributions from Anita Hoffman, Lannes Kenfield, Tuli Kupferberg, Wolfe Lowenthal, Hank Williams (Jr), Israel Young, and Jerry Rubin.
1969 ISSUES (a.k.a. VOLUME THREE, 'THIRD BATTLING YEAR') NOW FULL ARCHIVED:
VOLUME THREE:
NEW FORMAT: "THIRD BATTLING YEAR" (1969)
no where
no date
Issue 01
(Volume 3)
FIRST ISSUE OF THIRD VOLUME UNAVAILABLE! - DOES NOT EXIST! - A TRULY INVISIBLE ARTIFACT! NEVER HAPPENED! Move on to next issue!
(Above: No issue one of Volume 3 was ever published.
The Cheaters!
BEGINNING OF "THIRD BATTLING YEAR"
Minus one typographic error on the cover (See: Complaint ↓↓↓ ), Other Scenes begins its third year of issues in Peak form. Great layout. Unique content. Nice typography and cool collage work! I really like the titling of this upcoming set of issues as "Third Battling Year". The newspaper nicely documents a few significant cultural wins for radical causes in that third year of battling, too. Let's go on a trip!
But First: → → → As stated in the sidebar, there doesn't seem to be a Volume 3, Issue ONE. January 1969 ends the Volume 2 run of issues. That was last issue. So this should begin the third Volume and be Issue One. Instead, it is titled Issue Two. Possibly 2 for February. But not 2 for 1. That would be January. This is definitely 2 for 2, for February. Next is issue number 3, for March. Makes sense in terms of month numbering, but boy does that make my completist nerve flinch. Anyway, there is no Issue Number 1. It's your paper, do what you want, I guess. And it's kind of funny if intentional. Have you ever thought about how high everyone was making these papers? What a fun way to be high! Let's hop to it:
"INDIA TODAY!"
Hinted at with the previous issue, this is a compilation of clippings and news reports from John and his wife Amber's trip to India. An amazing selection of newspapers, stickers. A lot of nudity. Strong and Intelligent reading and very political. From a unique moment in time: Pre-Internet information network newspaper. Talk about freedom! Lots of loud headlines to cover up what was being discussed. Targeted subscriber audience and a little newsstand distribution. Only the people who really need to be reading it are reading it. THE LAMP INSIDE THE SPHERE!
Really lovely photo of John and Amber on page eleven. And a framable Eldridge Cleaver FBI poster, redone in blue and red ink on the back cover. Note the small text: "eldridge cleaver welcome here". Nice.
AUROROVILLE: Where Science Meets the Wisdom of the Past
Wild. Lots of odd phrases like that throughout. Nice view into Wilcock as a travel reporter if you've never read the $5 a day books. The Synthesis of Cybernetics and Yoga: with the Space-Ship Technology! Ha, I love it. A great family planning comic strip on page eight. And is that Alf on page fifteen?
You can't help but look for Alf, can you. Page 15. I'll wait, go do it. (Sorry.)
First up: I know you're as connected to the question of missing issues as I am (aka Volume 2/Volume 1? Volume 3/Issue 2, etc) regarding volume and issue numbers. Perhaps this was in discussion back then, too. So, jump to a nice cover gallery on the last page of this issue displaying all the issues of the last year. Nice to see confirmation that all are included here! We can continue along, confident no issue has been left behind.
Highlight for me is this seems to be the beginning of a regular "Michael O'Donoghue Page"! AWESOME. (Page 16) More in future issues.
Look at Christo on the front cover! A bottomless John Lennon is joined by a topless Leonard Cohen (Page 2, then Page 3, bottomless Yoko in butt-tween) - Cool advertisement for an original Ampeg Scrambler! - And behold the beauty of an all-page White Panther manifesto from John Sinclair:
"...for the first time in America there are a generation of visionary maniac white mother country dope fiend rock and roll freaks who are ready to get down and kick out the jams - ALL THE JAMS - break everything loose and free from their very real and imaginary prisons - even the chumps and punks and hunkies who are always fucking with us. We demand total freedom for everybody! ... As Brother Eldridge Cleaver says, the shit is going fown and there's only two kinds of people on the planet: those who make up the problem, and those who make up the solution ... We are LSD-driven total maniacs in the universe. We will do anything we can to drive people crazy out of their heads and into their bodies."
I dig it. The whole issue is full of this kind of crazed confidence. As with many issues, this is a solid time capsule. Look for Julius Lester on WBAI, a cool ad from Something Else Press, THE SUBURBAN RACISTS, Martin Bormann's Home Address, Opium-Free Cigarettes. Very funny Life Buoy Soap ad parody on page 15. Wild "Fun in Bed" collage on 13. Morality is a Private Affair! And, for the curious, an answer to: How Do Swingers Find Each Other? FIND OUT INSIDE.
What looks like a classic photo on the front cover from the 1920s is revealed on closer inspection to be a hallway report from the Chelsea Hotel. To have walked those floors during its prime! (Wilcock produced a daily newspaper for residents at one point, which I hope to include here in future posts)
Nice assemblage of protest signs, followed by a very topical and awesome article: USING THE BRAIN AS A COMPUTER! (Check out the included artwork) Talks about the flaws in the human mind as a power for thought, that to think is to make mistakes and distortions, which is easy for humans but difficult (still) for computers. Very cool.
CHECK OUT THE ADS: New from Canada, The Collectors! (check out their psychedelic rock history) also: ROCK COLLAGE and, a few pages further, don't miss the 100% FREE Randy Newman album. Incidentally, according to that Randy Newman ad, a normal Randy Nerman record back then was $4.98. That is $42.00 today in 2022. PER ALBUM. $42 DOLLAR RANDY NEWMAN ALBUM! (I can't stand those Randy Newman songs in Judd Apatow films so this cracks me up)
Michael O'Donoghue: LIP RIPPED OFF, EATEN BY DOG, STITCHED BACK ON GIRL'S FACE!
CHANGE YOUR JOB CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Enjoy perusing opportunities for The Village of Free Souls, School of Living, Playground on Wheels, and the Teaspoon Door. I like the ad for RADIO FREE PEOPLE!
A few pages of gratuitous nudity and offensive (fun) phrasing followed by a completely unexpected full front page from El Grito del Norte - WOW!
Another transgender-positive collage humor by Claes Oldenberg, an ad for Warhol's latest Lonesome Cowboys film and other great artifacts from the era. Note the small photo of Wilcock on page 20 - along with a column for Witchcraft on page 21, which might be his first foray into publicly discussing the topic (would become the Witches' Almanac in the 1970s, co-edited by John with Elizabeth Pepper)
Do you think they got 1,000 people to write in for that Randy Newman record? I'd hate to think people got shorted.
A very naked issue! We have a yellow-inked couple nude on the cover and an ad for The New York Review of Sex right on page two. Same page has a 69-word manifesto (get it?) from controversial sex criminal Jefferson Poland. And it only gets nuder from there!
Stop the clothing presses, note the Underground Cinema Eroticism and Visual Poetry Supplement in the middle. Is it a pun to call this a pull-out? Large section put together by Gerard Malanga and George Abagnalo. Excerpts of Stan Brakhage's Lovemaking and Warhol's Fuck (with Viva and Louis Waldon. Also has a few stills from Andy Warhol's Secret Eroticism Films, Circa 1964. FRANCE NEEDS HIM! PRISON BARS CANNOT HOLD THE MURDEROUS POSSIBILITIES OF HIS MIND! LIBERATE THE RUST! - I love it.
Fun stream of words and consciousness by Liza Williams (Pg 9)
Don't miss the un-classified ads on Page 23! They're all crazy and great. Also, a sane piece on responsible garbage handling on Page 17, "How to Dispose of Garbage" by city-rights activist Jane Jacobs.
More incredible and inspired derangement from Michael O'Donoghue (Page 7) - with nudity!
Note the ad for AMBER TYPE, which was the typography service run by Other Scenes, administered by John's talented wife Amber. And on your way out of this very nude issue don't miss your PENIS TAX, Page 22.
Highly collectible Andy Warhol cover, showing him and Brigid Polk filming together, in pink ink! A solid four page profile of Polk, who is best known as Brigid Berlin, in the first section.
Don't miss: "The Perversion of the Legal System" by William Kunstler (Page 5) and a profile on Phil Spector, complete with Karate and Guard Dogs, on Page 20.
You may have noticed last issue had a cover-up on a centerfold. You will find the explanation for this on Page 14!
Most curious item here is the sales/investor idea on page 10 for THE DAILY PAPER which is described by John Wilcock here as a daily morning paper for hippies (to compete with other NYC dailies) but pitched in tone for the radical/activist community. Could have been incredible! Too bad it didn't happen. Page 10 retains the idea. Lovely purple and green ink.
Rather fun piece on Billy Graham, aka America's Preacher, during the cresting rise of his political power - the next decade will put Graham at the forefront of the Religious Counterculture Movement, a twisting of the ideas of radicalism, that ultimately becomes the heavy Evangelical hammer we're currently enduring. When done with Graham don't miss YEAR OF THE COCK by french cartoonist Siné!
Really beautiful use of overprinting of various orange and green pieces on the centerfold achieving a kind of screenprinted feeling with sheet fed offset - Impressive!
Page two has a letter to the editor on the military state of LA police during peaceful protests - Seems all too consistent with the current military state of all police and peaceful protests.
More early Discordianism! Check out the green inked ESCAPING THE CAGE by Kerry and Cara Thornley. SPOT LEDA AND THE SWAN (oh my, Leda). Great ad for Horseshit Magazine on Page 18. Wild page on HIP COPS and other visuals, Page 22. "FOR SENTIMENTAL REASONS" a poem by Walasse Ting - And I have really enjoyed becoming familiar with Nicola Cuti's comics, whose Pussywillow page adorns this issue's full back page.
One closing note: Be sure to spot the ad on Page 23 for the League Against Cruel Sports, which I (being in the U.S.) had never heard of before. Interesting history and regards to them.
Wonderful blank issue - $250 prize contest - Make your own magazine!
As underground papers go, or any newspaper really, I consider this issue of Other Scenes to be fairly unique. It's blank! Readers were challenged with paying for a copy and decorating it with whatever they wanted (news or art) and to send in as a contest entry. Winner would receive $250! - That's about $2,000 in today's money.
There's a PDF (linked at the left) but this is nicely also experienced in this viewer mode on archive.org. Flip through the pages! Our thanks to Letterform Archive for already having uploaded this issue! (and in a perfect viewable format, at that)
Only one thing to point out: The viewer here does not accurately represent the blank pages. There is the cover, the centerspread, and the back cover, and then MANY blank pages. It's a 24 page issue. The viewer here does not show a bunch of blank pages, but it should be: Cover, five sets of blank page spreads, centerfold, five more sets of blank page spreads, then the back page. You'll see that in the PDF.
Two cool television sets on the front cover (and a very politically playful back cover, last page) but first take a look at the Spacematic Label on that Cooper Black adhesive type on page two! (Cooper Black being responsible for nearly any custom made t-shirt made in the 1970s-1980s) This is obviously the only historic example of a typographic iconic font being juxtaposed right next to a Witchcraft column. But that's John Wilcock for you. Shows an increasing focus on two of John's passions. Other Scenes will slowly shift in tone, partly, into the Witches Almanac over the coming two years. Respect to that.
SEXSCOPE SEXSCOPE! SEXSCOPE ON PAGE FIVE! The gamut of Lewdness on Page Six! EQUITY FOR NUDITY! And other great phrases you've probably never seen combined together in print.
AWESOME HISTORY ALERT: Check out the How a New Sound Is Born (Biography of the Simeon Synthesizer) on Page Nine! I'm geeked. Paging Silver Apples!
Another headline you've likely never read before: HOW MY UNCOVERED COCK FREAKED OUT THE ART STUDENTS' LEAGUE. You'll find the answer to that one on Page Eleven.
Readers still here after just reading that sentence will want to not miss the Abe Peck editorial on page 21. I'm still sad that the daily hippy paper never seemed to take off. And a pretty fun and kinky BRIEF POEM on Page 23 by Stephen Morris - originating here but decades later became a viral hit on the web.
Instructions in the centerfold for the ongoing MAKE YOUR OWN NEWSPAPER contest. Looking forward to reading the winning entry!
"OUR DO-IT-YOURSELF NEWSPAPER CONTEST HAS BEEN EXTENDED INTO AUGUST"
Man can I relate with that! Mr Wilcock is offering $250 in 1969 money (that's $2K in 2022 money!) for you damn hippies to decorate a blank issue with whatever the hell you want. Clearly a lack of entries here. The finished product (coming up) is awesome but gosh the bohemian culture can be bad with deadlines, do you feel us!
WHY NOT GO LIVE IN THE WOODS
A very cool pull-out section beginning on Page Five: A yellow and green ink reprint/remix of one Issue 4, Volume 1. To pull out this section you need to remove five page spreads on top of it. Symbolism! (It's an underground paper, get it?) - Awesome to see the UPS still thriving and growing at this point.
Wild lengthily written advertisement for a newspaper called PLANET from Robert Gold on Page 14. Seems five issues had already been published. Anyone ever heard of it?
Another Michael O'Donoghue page on Page Sixteen! And LET'S END THESE ARCHAIC FEUDS (Thank you) by F.M. ESFANDIARY aka FM-2030! aka TRANSHUMANIST, Page 18.
In the mid-1970s F.M. Esfandiary legally changed his name to FM-2030 for two main reasons: firstly, to reflect the hope and belief that he would live to celebrate his 100th birthday in 2030; secondly, and more importantly, to break free of the widespread practice of naming conventions that he saw as rooted in a collectivist mentality, and existing only as a relic of humankind's tribalistic past.
It's fun to consider the sense of freedom for an underground paper when most other publications of that era were bland (LOOK or TIME) - what an open field for experimentation with words and images.
This August 69 issue has a full page of just the word MOON followed by a lovely page of offset overprinted color, purple and orange! Followed immediately by a green page. This is something missing from Internet news. Hoping the digital future returns to colored inks for text. But something about the format isn't as right for that as you find with newsprint. And the need to now be able to copy the text and understand exactly what you're looking at. Text in photos can now be selected! It's nice from an accessibility concept but really challenges what is possible to get inside someone's thoughts through confusion. I love what Other Scenes has done with confusion. Very serious here. It changes your mind to read these issues. Makes you want orange ink, at least!
THE BIZARRE CARTOONISTS!
Highlight of this issue is a great early profile of Kim Dietch! Scroll a few pages further for a nice two color RUFUS strip by Bill Crawford and inbetween some nice pornographic Photo Comics with WAVE HILL POETRY EVENTS - Followed by "Fascism is Just a Phase" by Justin Green! (Page 19)
Key History Item: More coverage of the Chicago 8 Trial with a Defend the Conspiracy on Page 10. And check out the "Write for more information" ad on a small upcoming music festival, some show at a pig farm, called Woodstock. Page 18!
Pleased to always point out Michael O'Donoghue's contributions to O.S. - HIS MIND MUST HAVE SNAPPED, Page 21.
I conclude stating I thought that was a penis in the center of the Slum Sity board game on the backpage cover. But it looks like it's a bullet.
Man remember when possibly killing someone (and by accident - or at least ambiguously, at that!) caused you political fall-out? Simpler times. Great frameable cover of Ted Kennedy, wordplay makes this one of the best O.S. covers in my opinion, along with the nice use of Purple and olive Green. I'm just now realizing Wilcock's time spent around Warhol likely influenced these ink colors, as they are very uncommon with other underground papers. Perhaps Andy even suggested a few combinations? The Kennedy photo on the cover makes this one look even more Warhol-esque.
This issue is billed as THE SUMMER RE-RUNS ISSUE - and a lot of the content is recycled, though with much of it given a kind of remix with printing inks. (Do check out the Warhol red/blue on Page 22 which reimagines the black and white photo cover from before in a very cut-out colorful way.) There's some new cartoons. Most notably however, I think this issue is the only appearance of PARADISE NOW by Tom Forcade! (Making that article unique to this re-run issue) The incredible Mr Forcade who left the world too soon but would establish HIGH TIMES. Prior to High Times he worked with Wilcock on the High Times fore-runner, NATIONAL WEED. (EASTER EGG. Link on the Ntl Weed title is video of John describing issue three.)
PARADISE NOW on Pages 12 and 13 is a nice existing example of Forcade's own style of Modern/New Journalism (or Gonzo), which can keep up with the best of them. I particularly like the restrained section headers: THE ZONE IS ORGANIC, THE ORPHEUS BUS, ORGANIC FINANCING, UNDERGROUND PRESS LIBRARY, MAKING ANARCHY WORK, and others. Be sure to not miss PARADISE NOW.
(let's call it Winners - Multiple Entries Compiled Together!)
"Special Prize Winning Issue" And really satisfying to see. A paper is known equally by its readers as it is by its staff, and it's no surprise to see Other Scenes fans are really wildly creative and full of charged energy. Every page is worth looking at and enjoying. I love the hidden Mickey Mouse ears (look for them) and the marked up centerfold of the original rules - see a few issues back for the original blank issue from which this originates, including the same rules in the center.
John had to be delighted with the results here, as these pages resemble Other Scenes but, in the way that inviting something else into your ecosystem, there's new ideas here, too.
THE WINNERS: Claude Pelieu. Who appears to be a very accomplished French Poet, Translator, and Artist. Gabrielle Bennett, who has no Internet history and is humbly a German born NYC resident. And Ira Haber, who also seems Internet Anonymous - but has a darling photo. And check out the other participants, full list, on page two.
Many great comics and typography experiments. Be sure to see WILL THE MORMONS FIGHT (Pg 15), JOIN THE CONSPIRACY (Pg 16) and The WEIRD WORLD OF CHARLES BUKOWSKI, Page 14.
This had to be a really invigorating issue for John to put out. You feel the good mood. Be sure to know the context going in (June 22 issue, 1969) This reader-contribution issue is not to be missed.
Lots of great visuals in this issue, including the front cover which seems to be mirror-image of a women balled up to resemble a red pepper. Be sure to check out the Norman Mailer item on page two (readers of the Wilcock comic will notice the editorial perspective there, an indication that the feud was still hot in 1969) - STOP THE WAR ON PUBERTY! (Another great ad from The New York Review of Sex and Politics) and look at that stunning collage page by Ira Haber! - Followed by what appears to be a tutorial on bike repair on page six.
More Discordian loveliness from Kerry Thornley on page 14 and ROCK CRITIC COLLECTIBLE OF NOTE! - Check out GROOVING ON VELVET an early piece on the Velvet Underground, by Robert Somma of Fusion Magazine, on page 15.
Andy collectors, don't miss DAVID BOURDON TALKS ANDY WARHOL, page 22. Awesome Philip Proctor back cover, too. LOOK THIS FELLOW STRAIGHT IN THE EYE!
Always love any writing from Abbie. This one is a touch less focused than other pieces of his (Everyone should read Revolution For the Hell of It, if you haven't) - This column on the market controls on marijuana feels initially indirect in tone, but I found myself just flying through it by the end of the first paragraph, locked into every word like whenever I read any of Abbie's writing. Hoffman's charisma is so special. He's very missed.
Also not to be missed: TO THINK ABOUT AT WOODSTOCK by Tom Forcade, SPOT RONALD REAGAN "ACE" by Victor Moscoso, and an ad for INTER/VIEW issue number one!
My favorite item of this issue is the COVER THE EARTH centerspread on Pages 12 and 13. Wow on that one. Go take a look.
Quite a cover, here. I love the idea of the end of summer, 1969, when a bunch of tripped out naked hippies just run into a sculpture garden to pop each others genitals on top of a gigantic stone man. What is the memory for the participants, even today? This has to be one of those moments you recount when your life flashes by during death. The use of green and blue ink makes it even seem more like a memory. Beautiful weird image that evokes more ideas the more you look at it. I wonder if the statue was smiling like that before this? And then to see the caption that this was taken on the sculpture grounds of MOMA. Ha! Great image. Sculpture Orgy.
Key item this issue is an interview with Lennox Raphael, followed by a full page Robert Crumb HEAD COMIX which seems sadly botched by two color printing and bad separations. I'm wondering if the light green and dark red got swapped in the print instructions, as the spot color drowns out much of the actual line art. I'm sure this really upset Crumb - Will be curious if this was his last contribution to Other Scenes. Also wonder if anyone even noticed? You had to be there back then, they say!
Look For: FALSE ALARM ON DISCO PILLS - And a lovely Pyramid Back Cover, signed "DeRicco", which I currently can't match to any name from the era. DERICCO!
We've made it to November! The next few issues count down to the conclusion of OTHER SCENES on newsstands. It will become subscriber-only for the next year and far less easily discoverable. The 1960s have a really sharp line to much of its psychic zapping intelligence (bring on the drab and dumb unchallenging 1970s, ASAP!), and Other Scenes is included in that disintegration, going properly underground near the end of 1969. A real shame, to be honest. But here we are in November with another fine issue.
The front cover of two blue-inked people f-cking is hilarious if you peek in for the small description on the bottom:
Whatever happened to BRAND X! Here's an IMDB listing for it. But what about BALLING! It looks like more information might be found on this facebook page on the Brand X film. Why do people consent to put so much information onto a Facebook page? It might be lost or not accessible by the time you read this. It's a shame as the world needs more Balling News! Facebook is a war crime on accessible information and fooling people to use its content creation tools. If you're ever thinking of posting rare information on Facebook, please get a blog instead. Maybe link to it from a Facebook page, but otherwise it's like handing off gold to Darth Vader. They own it!
100 of the most EXOTIC NUDIST PUBLICATIONS EVER PRINTED!
Gotta love that book ad from "PANU-CO" on page two. (quoted above)
Nice interview with Joseph Chaikin and early rock journalism by Bill Sarill (a guess on Mr Sarill being this same person) on the WHO's TOMMY on pages 12-13. Fun to see excitement over Pete Townsend's odd effort (psychological projection) on molestation and pinball at the time. People were really thinking rock was going to reinvent literature.
Numerous pages on Japan throughout by John and others. Spot the Ted Joans writing. Spot the guest editorial by Lennox Raphael. Spot the unreadable black ink on purple ink page. Your guess is as good as mine on that one. Spot the awesome Grove Press ad for The Chicago Conspiracy vs. The Washington Kangaroos! Spot it all ladies and gentlemen.
In a few months, like other offers of clarity and wisdom, Other Scenes will sink to the background of subscriber-only culture and you'll find your newsstands sanitized back to the dull and compromising offerings of Nixon Nixon, U.S.A. (If you're curious what that Nixon time was like, it's the same as Modern America Today, 2022)
Says it right there on the cover. What a bummer! But it's right next to four attractive rear ends. What a bum rush! A mix of emotions as the newsstand run of Other Scenes comes to a close. Archiving those newsstand items was the initial goal of this archive. There are additional items in the queue, which will be focused on after this page gets a little cleaned up. And the last issue of Volume 3 will be included here, as well. As for this last issue on the newsstands, what can we say about it:
Note the publisher's letter on page two, which alludes to struggles John had been feeling competing with other less artful magazines. Really nice photo of Brigid Berlin blessing a few issues with her exposed breast. Cut to print!
What I'm most struck by with this image, which was published in 1969, is how much its format and aesthetics resemble 1990s newsprint zines. The next decade will include John exploring xerox machines and other new technology and I have to observe he was decades ahead of punk and DIY in terms of presentation and content. Check out the gorgeous use of orange/red ink on page six.
DOGS CARRY HIDDEN DRUGS FOR RACKETEERS!
I really want to try yelling that headline out in public. Won't someone stop the dogs! There's also some additional copy here on Woodstock, along with another non-sequitir screaming of SMUT FILMS loudly on one page. And an amusing Hong Kong idea: PUT SHORTER SKIRTS ON POLICE WOMEN. Do it!
A few columns from John close out this issue, along with a terrific final poem from Ira Haber on the back cover. So long newsstands, you never knew how good you had it!
What a ride! It took about a year (maybe two?) but the complete run of OTHER SCENES' newsstand appearances is now archived and notated here in full. Below is a list of extra issues and items that follow after this final December 1969 issue. Note the front cover here statement, which reads, roughly: "Dear Reader, Now that I'm not on the newsstands I can put anything I like on the front page..." And with that begins the last issue of Other Scenes for the great 1969 era, dated Christmas Dec 25.
Interesting visuals abound, scrolling to Page 7 you'll find an interview with Jim Buckley, who co-founded SCREW with Al Goldstein. A 'sister' tabloid was also edited by Buckley, titled GAY. What a time for tabloid titles! I wouldn't mind EAT, CHEW, or TUNE. Were any of those ever done?
ABOUT THOSE SWINGING VIRGINS
I really think few papers handled headlines quite like OTHER SCENES. Spot the STONE HEADS. Spot the PROVINCES. Check out the oral sex on Page 14! Don't stop spotting til you ge to PAUL AND MARY. Man, that film ages in an interesting way. It's really difficult to separate Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow from their actual real life personas. Is this really about Paul and Mary or the completely unlikely pairing of Hoffman and Farrow pretending to be romantic with each other? Was that method acting on their part? Is this a comedy? Who is Paul and who is Mary! Don't trust the advertisement. Spot the amazing Press Conference Invitation List for the Rolling Stones on Page 18! - Man, John likely got in trouble for that one. Was that invite ever intended to be made public? What a fun piece of news conference voyeurism right there. Looks like John was in attendance, too. I regret never asking him about it.
LIBERATING THE ADULT TOY SHOPS
Check out the Beatles parody art juxtaposed with the very crude SDS Amerikan Komiks art!
ON THE PLANET EARTH
And then, with a final Astrological Forecast on the back page, we come to the close of Volume Three. What a nice ride, OTHER SCENES. Glad you existed.
1970 ISSUES (a.k.a. VOLUME FOUR, 'FOURTH BATTLING YEAR') NOW FULL ARCHIVED:
VOLUME FOUR: No longer on newsstands
fully free-form!
Well here we are, off the grid. No more newsstands. Great looking BON VOYAGE cover of a wine bottle. And what an interior treat, too: Hard to believe this one is hidden inside the Subscriber Only issues, but that's OTHER SCENES for you! This issue contains HOW THE FREAKS ALMOST TOOK OVER THE TOWN, by Hunter S. Thompson, which recounts his famous run for Sheriff of Apen.
"Your query about me writing something for the Xmas Issue came at a weird time. I just finished a wild election campaign here..."
Like much of the writing HST did for OTHER SCENES, this was co-opted by Rolling Stone - who took the same material and republished it with a few edits as THE BATTLE FOR ASPEN about ten months later. But read it here first! - In a sharper voice directly after the events.
Look also for the fun phone sex illustrated Letter From the Editor, which is on visiting Vegas, and look throughout for a few other Vegas hints (like the introduction of the Las Vegas Free Press and a big VEGAS page) - Not sure if that might have been an influence of sorts on Fear and Loathing, but who can really say. SPOT THE HOWARD HUGHES. SPOT HOOVER. SPOT THE NUDE ON NIXON'S HEAD.
Interesting complaint column called HEAVY STUFF that shows a cracking of unity between older radicals and (presumably) younger ones. Yippie to Zippie! I see both sides, or try to see 'em. Back cover is a kind note from a subscriber on much of John's achievements.
This had to feel like a great paper to receive as a subscriber. Almost a secret club on one of the coolest publications of the time. Read this one cover to cover.
Nice SPOOKY EYE cover with illustration and design that feels decades ahead (this resembled 1990s zines - particularly page two with the fuck copyright exclamation)
"Swept with con, the millions stood under the signs" - William Burroughs
Awesome comic: JOIN THE DYKE BRIGADE!
Most of this issue is visual with the majority of it being comics and photos. HIGHLIGHT: WHITE MAKES RIGHT (The Story of Law and Order in the Ghetto) by Steve Gilbert, and The Richard M. Nixon Coloring Book.
"The hallucinations are starting again!" - I believe it! Just another great forward-looking design of red-ink photo collage and a mix of elements that looks much more DIY 1980s than March 1970. Cover credit: Claude Pélieu.
Interesting piece on page two of CENSUS RESISTANCE '70:
Gentlemen:
I join the thousands of other Americans refusing to cooperate with the 1970 census by —
◻ Answering the Census under protest
◻ Refusing to answer the non-head count questions
◻ Refusing to answer any of the questions
Pretty curious piece. Followed by THE YEAR OF THE BIG LIE. Back cover: SUBSIDIZE PSYCHICS!
A very visual issue, all worth looking through.A ton of counterculture gossip (pieces on Krassner, John Lennon and Yoko, Ed Sanders) - and I've grown to love spotting the HORSESHIT ads. NOW YOU CAN BUY HORSESHIT NUMBER FOUR. Great ad, look for it on page 22.
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
NONE!
NONE!
NONE!
NO ISSUE SEVEN!
(Volume 4)
Discovering another very likely error in numbering. No Issue Seven of Volume Four seems to exist anywhere. Investigating. THIS SPACE HELD FOR BLANK!
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
TO BE CONTINUED! THANKS FOR STOPPING BY.
ENJOY YOUR VISIT. THIS IS RARE STUFF.
BONUS MATERIALS (Additional Projects, Items of Note, Etc)
NOTE: LINKS BELOW (with no image thumbnail) ARE SLOWER TO DOWNLOAD
One year after co-founding The Village Voice, John Wilcock interviewed Marilyn Monroe in New York for Canada's Liberty Magazine. These are scans from John's personal copy of the issue.
WFMU has two terrific posts on ECHO MAGAZINE "The Magazine You Play on Your Phonograph!" which John edited and co-produced in 1958. (See Chapter 4 of the Wilcock biography)
Most effective part of this is the word "Drugs" written by an unknown writer in semi-cursive pencil on the top corner. Document NAR-98 from the Texas Dept of Public Safety, Narcotics Division. Reference Item from John's personal collection. LEARN THE SIGNS.
John was not only one of the earliest Underground Paper publishers, he was also one of the earliest cable access TV personalities. Here is a mailer to his O.S. subscribers for the 'John and Joanna Show' which he co-hosted on Manhattan Cable Channel D with Joanna Walton.
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
(Extra copy of the Sex Supplement) Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
Speeding up our process to more than one issue a week. This file is scanned and cleaned up. Now available for download at link to the left. Commentary forthcoming.
LIST OF NOTABLE WORK FOUND HEREIN (cited as discovered in each new posting)
ISSUE
CONTRIBUTOR(S)
DESCRIPTION
PDF LINK
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Andy Warhol Items:
"L.A. WEEKEND WITH WARHOL" - Pg 4 CHELSEA GIRLS (film review) - Pg 3 VINYL (film review) - Pg 11
Souvenir Item, Warhol Exhibit LONESOME COWBOYS (article) - Pg 9
Front cover by Billy Name with Viva
Tribute issue to Taylor Mead
Andy Warhol Shot (recovery) - Pg 19 LONESOME COWBOYS (advert) - Pg 21
Underground Cinema Eroticism - Pg 9
Warhol Cover & Brigid Berlin profile
Norman Rubington and "Akbar Del Piombo" — a possible pseudonym for William S. Burroughs?
Under the possible pseudonym of Akhbar Del Piombo, WSB may be the writer for ORTHOPHONIC SYNTAX PULLULATOR, CORP in this 1967 excerpt from Olympia Press' MOONGLOW
CONVENTIONAL CHAOS - Hugely significant interview with Abbie Jerry and Paul, prior to heading to Chicago for the culture-changing 1968 DNC. Interview by Wilcock.
