The Young & The Banging

Inspired by the Ezra Petronio book Bold and Beautiful of Self Service Magazine which is packed with “Power Media” polaroids (see pics here), this fresh book is a newbie take on the same concept. The Young & The Banging is the new high-school yearbook for all the cool kids in New York City right now — roughly 200 new faces!

Polaroid contributors for the book include local favorites Tracy Antonopoulos, Sage Grazer, Rachel Smith, Philippa Price, Nicole Saldana, Louise Erhard, Laura Gerster, Katia Hakko, Kate Brien, Kathy Lo, Julia Tepper, Dana Veraldi, Carly Mark, Anna Skladmann and Amanda Merten. PURPLE Magazine called these 14 co-creator girls “a fascinating new generation”.

Dontcha love how New York turns over every 10 years?

The book is available at Colette-Paris, Supreme, Reed Space, and Printed Matter. It can also be purchased online at The Young & the Banging.
J

Graphic of the Day: Charlie Kaufman

Charlie Kaufman didn’t want to take a picture for his Vice Magazine interview, so instead they created some forensic sketches. This looks like 4 different dudes. Anyway, the interview by Eddy Moretti is personable and sweet. He comments on his new movie Synecdoche, New York and its current theatrical release.

(Forensic Sketches of Charlie Kaufman)

He’s such a damn good proven writer (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) and the guy is still a sensitive doll. You just wanna hug him, serve him hot chocolate, and say, “it’s gonna be ok Charlie”….

“It’s hard”, says Kaufman, “I’m afraid of the movie failing in the marketplace for a bunch of reasons: because my feelings are going to be hurt, because I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to do this kind of work again if this movie doesn’t get an audience, all sorts of basic reasons. If people are bored with the movie it upsets me. I wish it didn’t but you know, I’m a sensitive, nervous person, I guess.”

Read the full interview at Vice.
J

Wax Poetics

Exactly 1 year ago, we wrote about Wax Poetics Magazine and the announcement of their new business arms — a label and a book publishing company. Their first book Anthology Vol 1 was pretty much a treasure-chest of issues #1-5. They have since released another book called Cover Story which is a compilation of slick album covers for those seeking graphic eye-candy. Their next book, Anthology Vol 2 (Issues #6-10) is just out now.

(Previous issues: Al Green, Herbie Hancock)

If you’ve never heard of this magazine, it’s considered to be an archeological trek through vinyl culture, digging for obscure artists and repackaging them with beautiful photography and tight journalism. Their first issue was released December 2001. It’s been going 8 years strong ever since.

(Previous issues: Mandrill, James Brown, Rick James)

Wax Poetics does a proper job at introducing a forgotten artist, paying them due respect, and illuminating the seeds of how their particular era started. It’s the cliff-notes (or cheat-sheet) to better understand the blueprint of funk, soul, hip hop, and yes, even electro and newer genre’s that rely on sampling. The tenacious writers unearth that obscure soul singer who created the original sample to that hip-hop song you know and love so well. Wax Poetics will find “that guy” who now works at a Dairy Queen in the South, spend the afternoon with him, visit his home, and have him recount his glory days. Most of the times, some of these original artists never even saw a penny in royalties… but they do have GREAT stories to tell.

(Previous issues: Betty Davis, Lee Scratch Perry, David Axelrod)

I checked in with Wax Poetics founder, editor-in-chief, and papa bear, Andre Torres. Andre still hand-cares every decision of his growing empire and still manages to write the most touching informative editor letters in the front of every issue — the Graydon Carter, if you will, for music aficionados. With the financial market crashing and huge publications like CosmoGirl folding this month, small independents like Wax Poetics have only intensified their audience base through diversification.

Jauretsi: Tell me about the initial seeds of creating Wax Poetics and how it was born? What was the mission statement?

Andre Torres: The original idea behind Wax Poetics actually began as a documentary. I was interested in creating a film which showed the subculture of beat digging as a vital part of hip-hop culture. Once I began doing research for books and articles on some of these artists, I was surprised and disappointed how little information there was on bigger soul and funk artists like James Brown and Sly Stone, much less more the obscure artists that I was really interested in exploring. So it was at that point that I realized (before a documentary about this subculture could be put together) that there needed to be a journal/magazine that collected the many stories about artists and records that had become oral legends. The idea was to show the connection between old vinyl records, and the birth of hip-hop through the DJ. Also, how DJs spinning double [records] of break beats at hip-hop’s inception led to the birth of the culture. Then the idea was to show how these same records made their way into the sampler to become the foundation of sampled hip-hop in the 80’s and 90’s into the present day in the form of other sample based music stretching beyond hip-hop into all forms of music.

(Current issue: Shuggie Otis. Previous issue: Bad Brains)

JS: In a quest to remain independent, do you find that the latest extension of your brand (the record label and book division) are entities that are helping one another sustain themselves?

AT: Yes, as an independent in today’s publishing industry, it’s important to not get stuck on the old model of just sticking magazines on the newsstand. That model no longer works, as evidenced by the demise of so many magazines in the last few years. The idea behind building our brand through our record label and book division is to extend our reach across different media in hopes to diversify our message so we’re not dependent on any one thing in particular to stay successful. Of course, everything is born out of the content in the magazine, but the books and records are natural extensions of the brand.

(Wax Poetics Album Re-Issues: East of Underground, Melvyn Price’s Rhythm and Blues)

JS: Now that a few years have passed and you’re looking back, what do you see as the big difference between Anthology #1 (issues 1-5) and Anthology #2 (issues 6-10)

AT: I think the biggest difference between the two books has to do with the preparation we had for the second book. The first book was definitely trial by fire and we really didn’t have any idea what we were doing. We included a lot of illustration in the first book, which we chose not to do in the second book in favor of getting really strong photography to make a much bolder statement this time around. We were a little hipper to what were doing by the time we were into issues 6-10 of the magazine, as opposed to the earlier issues, so we had a little easier time putting this Anthology together as it didn’t require as much editorial finessing.

JS: What’s next on your plate regarding a project you are truly inspired to work on?

AT: Well we just launched our digital download store, Digital.WaxPoetics.com, a couple of months ago, so we’re spending a lot of time growing that right now. That really is the future for us, and is another extension of our brand outside of the magazine, but again, intimately connected to it — especially for newer readers who may not be as familiar with some of the artists we feature in the magazine. This gives them the opportunity to listen and purchase what they’ve been reading about. We’re also working on a documentary about our first record East of Underground which will tell the story of how this obscure limited release U.S. Army band record became so highly collectible in the soul and funk community. So with this project we really come full circle, entering into the documentary film world which is where the Wax Poetics idea was born in the first place.

(Wax Poetics Books: Left: Anthology Vol 2 has tons of artist interviews including 45 King, Incredible Bongo Band, Scientist, DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Roy Ayers, Eddie Bo, Eddie Fisher, Montgomery Express, Sun Ra. Right: Cover Story, Album Cover Art)

Order back-issues or Subscribe to Wax Poetics magazine at WaxPoetics.com.
Then you can purchase a full playlist from your favorite issue at Digital.WaxPoetics.com.
J

Gawker’s Worst Mag Covers

Gawker did a bitchy poll with their readers to send in the worst magazine covers of all time… Luckily, Starworks didn’t book any of these. Whew.

See the Gallery here on Gawker.com.
J

RIP Cosmo Girl

(Breaking News: Another One Bites the Dust)

CosmoGirl is folding! Statement from Hearst, quoted by Mr. Bercovici:

“Hearst Magazines has made a strategic decision to consolidate its teen publishing activities into Seventeen, the largest-selling monthly teen magazine on newsstands. Effective with the December issue, CosmoGirl will cease as a print magazine, remaining online only at cosmogirl.com. CosmoGirl’s subscriber base will be folded into Seventeen.”

Another loss for Print. Another win for New Media.
J