''Arthur'' magazine was a bi-monthly

periodical A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a journal are also example ...

that was founded in October 2002, by publisher Laris Kreslins and editor Jay Babcock. It received favorable attention from other periodicals such as ''

L.A. Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

'', '' Print'', ''

Punk Planet ''Punk Planet'' was a 16,000 print run punk zine, based in Chicago, Illinois, that focused most of its energy on looking at punk subculture rather than punk as simply another genre of music to which teenagers listen. In addition to covering music ...

'' and ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

''. ''Arthur'' featured photography and artwork from Spike Jonze,

Art Spiegelman Art Spiegelman (; born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman on February 15, 1948) is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel '' Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazines ''Arcade'' and '' Ra ...

Susannah Breslin Susannah Breslin is an American journalist and writer. She is the editor of Forbes' Vices section. She has been a reporter for the Playboy TV program ''Sexcetera''. Her blogging and television work deals with sexual and pornography-related topic ...

Gary Panter Gary Panter (born December 1, 1950) is an American cartoonist, illustrator, painter, designer and part-time musician. Panter's work is representative of the post- underground, new wave comics movement that began with the end of '' Arcade: The Com ...

and

Godspeed You! Black Emperor Godspeed You! Black Emperor (sometimes abbreviated to GY!BE or Godspeed) is a Canadian post-rock band which originated in Montreal, Quebec in 1994. The group releases recordings through Constellation, an independent record label also locate ...

. Arthur's regular columnists included

Byron Coley Byron Coley is an American music critic who wrote prominently for ''Forced Exposure'' magazine in the 1980s, from the fifth issue until the magazine ceased publication in 1993. Prior to ''Forced Exposure'', he wrote for '' New York Rocker'', '' B ...

Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American musician best known as a member of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label. Mo ...

Daniel Pinchbeck Daniel Pinchbeck is an American author. His books include '' Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism'', ''2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl'' , and ''Notes from the Edge Times''. He is a co-founder ...

, Paul Cullum,

Douglas Rushkoff Douglas Mark Rushkoff (born February 18, 1961) is an American media theorist, writer, columnist, lecturer, graphic novelist, and documentarian. He is best known for his association with the early cyberpunk culture and his advocacy of open sourc ...

, and T-Model Ford. Some of the magazine's influences included Joan Didion, Thomas Paine, William Blake, Lester Bangs, Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Wolfe, and Greil Marcus, as well and the exhibit and book ''A Secret Location on the Lower East Side: Adventures in Writing, 1960-1980''. ''Arthur'' magazine was particularly drawn to noise music,

stoner metal Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Slee ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

and other types of

psychedelia Psychedelia refers to the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic music and style of dress during that era. This was primarily generated by people who used psychedelic ...

. The first issue of ''Arthur'' featured an interview with journalist and author

(author of ''

Breaking Open the Head ''Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism'' is a book written by author and journalist Daniel Pinchbeck, founding editor of the literary journal ''Open City''. Published in 2002, ''Breaking Open th ...

''); artwork by

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including '' Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', '' The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and '' From He ...

(''

Watchmen ''Watchmen'' is an American comic book maxiseries by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 and 1987 before being collected in a single-vo ...

'', ''

From Hell ''From Hell'' is a graphic novel by writer Alan Moore and artist Eddie Campbell, originally published in serial form from 1989 to 1998. The full collection was published in 1999 by Top Shelf Productions. Set during the Whitechapel murders of ...

'', ''

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

''); and an interview with Arthur C. Clarke. Previous to creating the publication, Laris Kreslins created the popular music journals '' Sound Collector'' and '' Audio Review''. Jay Babcock was a contributor to ''Mojo'' magazine and the ''

''. ''Arthur'' magazine also released CDs and DVDs under the imprint of their label. On Labor Day weekend in 2005, they curated

Arthurfest ArthurFest was a two-day music festival curated by Arthur Magazine. The festival took place September 4 and 5, 2005 at the Barnsdall Art Park in Los Angeles, California. The lineup included such acts as: Yoko Ono, Sonic Youth, The Black Keys, Modey ...

Barnsdall Park Barnsdall Art Park is a city park located in the East Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California. Parking and arts buildings access is from Hollywood Boulevard on the north side of the park. The park is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument ...

; in February 2006, Arthur Ball in Echo Park; and in October 2006 Arthur Nights at The Palace Theater, in downtown Los Angeles. On February 25, 2007, it was announced on the magazine's web site that it would be ceasing publication indefinitely. The hiatus was due to a breakdown in negotiations between Lime Publishing (''Arthur''s original publisher) and another unnamed publisher. In April 2007, it was announced that the magazine would return as ''Arthur Vol. II'' in the near future. The magazine resumed publication in September 2007. In June 2008, owner Jay Babcock moved Arthur's headquarters from Los Angeles to New York, the seat of North America's publishing industry. On March 6, 2011, Jay Babcock announced that the magazine would cease to exist in any form as of March 15, 2011, though its archive and store would remain active for an unspecified period thereafter. In November 2012, the ''Arthur'' website announced the return of the magazine as of December 22, 2012. However, this resurgence proved to be brief, and in March 2014 the magazine once again announced that its online and print versions would go dormant. As of April 20, 2017, Jay Babcock announced the start of Landline bulletin, a continuation of Arthur Magazine email bulletin. As Babcock describes it, "What is this stuff? Ideas and nudges, hopefully forming a small bailiwick outside the unceasing current of cruddiness — irregular epistles intended for friends, colleagues, Arthur heads, pastoral people, plant people, rural country people, dharma people, herbalists, gardeners, wild people and other curious sweetfolk."

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.arthurmag.com
''The Meter''
- article about ''Arthur'' magazine
Arthur Nights ForumSelected press for ''Arthur Nights'' (.pdf format)''Pitchfork Media'' article on ''Arthurs demise''Village Voice'' article on the future of ''Arthur''''Arcane Candy'' article on ArthurFest 2005''Arcane Candy'' gallery on ArthurFest 2005

Audio Interviews

Expanding Mind: Desert Homesteading (March, 23rd, 2017)Interview with editor Jay Babcock on Douglas Rushkoff's ''Media Squat'' (May 4th, 2009)KCRW: ''Dragnet'' conversation with Jay Babcock (Oct 16th, 2006)The RU Sirius Show: Show #26: Arthur! Arthur! (December 8th, 2005)CalArts MFA Writing Program Visiting Artists Series 2005-11-02: Jay Babcock, Trinie Dalton & Daniel Chamberlin (November 2, 2005)
2002 establishments in California 2014 disestablishments in California Bimonthly magazines published in the United States Defunct magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 2002 Magazines disestablished in 2014 Magazines published in California Music magazines published in the United States