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File:Creem December 1977 Grace Slick.jpg December 1977 cover featuring Grace Slick |
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Categories | Music magazine |
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Monthly | |
First issue | March 1969 |
Final issue | 1989 |
Country | United States |
Based in | Detroit |
Language | English |
Creem (whose trademark is capitalized CREEM - despite the magazine's masthead appearing in lower case letters), "America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine," was a monthly rock 'n' roll publication first published in March 1969 by Barry Kramer and founding editor Tony Reay. It suspended production in 1989 but received a short-lived renaissance in the early 1990s as a glossy tabloid. Lester Bangs, often cited as "America's Greatest Rock Critic," became editor in 1971.[1] The term "punk rock" was said to have been coined by the magazine in 1971, and the term "heavy metal" was also first used in its pages.[2]
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Creem was based in Detroit, Michigan, and later the Detroit suburb of Birmingham. This geographical separation from the entertainment industry in the United States, then focused primarily in Hollywood and New York City, along with the British upbringing of original editor Reay, resulted in a certain irreverence, a deprecatory and humorous tone that permeated the magazine throughout its existence. The magazine became famous for its comical photo captions, which poked fun at rock stars, the industry, and even the magazine itself. Its location also meant it was among the first national publications with in-depth coverage of many popular Detroit-area artists, such as Bob Seger, Mitch Ryder, Alice Cooper, The MC5, The Stooges, Iggy Pop, and Parliament-Funkadelic, as well as other Midwestern acts such as Raspberries and Cheap Trick.
Creem picked up on punk rock (which many claim the magazine, and especially Bangs, helped to conceptualize if not invent) and New Wave movements early on. Creem gave massive exposure to artists like Lou Reed, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Blondie and The New York Dolls years before the mainstream press. In the 1980s, it also led the pack on coverage of such upcoming rock icons as R.E.M., The Replacements, The Smiths and The Cure, among numerous others. It was also among the first to sing the praises of metal acts like Motörhead, Kiss, Judas Priest, and Van Halen. Kurt Cobain once stated to RIP Magazine that he had first learned about punk rock from reading Creem as an adolescent.
Editors and writers for Creem included Lester Bangs, formative early editor Dave Marsh, Billy Altman, Bob Fleck, John Morthland, Ben Edmonds, Ed Ward, Richard Riegel, Ric Siegel, Robert Christgau, Richard Meltzer, Nick Tosches, Greil Marcus, Jeffrey Morgan, Richard C. Walls, Rob Tyner, Patti Smith, Peter Laughner, Cameron Crowe, Linda Barber, Charlie Auringer, Judy Adams, Jaan Uhelszki, Penny Valentine, Susan Whitall, John "The Mad" Peck, Robot A. Hull, Edward Kelleher (aka, Edouard Dauphin), Rick Johnson, Bruce Malamut, Lotta D. Blooz, John Mendelssohn, Jon Young, Lisa Robinson, Vicki Arkoff, Deborah Frost, Cynthia Rose, Mike Gormley, Sylvie Simmons, Gregg Turner, Chuck Eddy, Mark J. Norton, Dave DiMartino, Alan Niester, Robert Duncan, Alan Madlane (as Alan Madeleine), Bill Holdship and John Kordosh; the latter two edited the last versions of Creem in the late '80s.
The magazine moved its base of operations to Los Angeles shortly before it ceased publication. Holdship and Kordosh were both involved in Creem's move to Los Angeles after it was purchased by Arnold Levitt, but both had already left the magazine before its move to New York City after Levitt licensed the name to a publisher there, and its ultimate demise. Former William Morris agent, musician and journalist Mark J. Petracca (aka Dusty Wright) became the editor during its New York City residence from 1992 - 1993. And Chris Nadler was the last editor before the magazine was shut down. Steve Peters and David Sprague were the last members remaining in the original editorial chain that reached back to 1969.
The CREEM logo was designed by Bob Wilson, who also wrote a regular comic strip, "Mike and Barney". The "Mr. Dreamwhip" and "Boy Howdy" icons were designed by underground cartoonist Robert Crumb, reportedly for $50. Both appeared on the cover of the second issue as a black and white drawing titled Detroit 1969. For the December 1971 issue, Wilson colored the drawing, which appeared in every following issue in a Creem's Profiles, a parody of the then-popular Dewar's Profiles, featuring musicians and bands holding cans of "Boy Howdy" beer.[3]
Robert Matheu, a regular Creem photographer since 1977, and his business partners, Ken Kulpa and Jason Turner, who together formed Creem Media, Inc. in 2001, led an online resurrection with a new staff.
Matheu and Brian J. Bowe, original managing editor of the Creem website, compiled an anthology of Creem articles and photographs into a large-format book published by Harper Collins in October 2007. There has been some controversy surrounding the book and its selection of material, although it has received numerous positive reviews.[citation needed]
There is currently a dispute being litigated between J.J. Kramer, New York-based lawyer and son of Creem founder Barry Kramer, and Creem Media, Inc.[4]
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Albert DeSalvo | |
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Background information | |
Also known as | Boston Strangler, The Green Man, The Measuring Man |
Born | September 3, 1931 Chelsea, Massachusetts |
Died | November 26, 1973 |
Cause of death | Stabbing |
Penalty | Life in prison |
Killings | |
Number of victims | 13 |
Country | United States |
State(s) | Boston, Massachusetts |
The Boston Strangler is a name attributed to the murderer (or murderers) of several women in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, in the early 1960s. Though the crimes were attributed to Albert DeSalvo, investigators of the case have since suggested the murders (sometimes known as the silk stocking murders) were not committed by one person.
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Between June 14, 1962 and January 4, 1964, 13 single women (between the ages of 19 and 85) were murdered in the Boston area. Most were sexually assaulted and strangled in their apartments. Without any sign of forced entry into their dwellings, the women were assumed to have either known their assailant or have voluntarily allowed them into their homes, believing them to be an apartment maintenance man, delivery man, or some other service man. Despite enormous media publicity that would presumably have discouraged women from admitting strangers into their homes after the first few murders, the attacks continued. The killings panicked and frightened many Boston-area young females, causing some to leave the area. Many residents purchased tear gas and new locks and deadbolts for home doors.[1]
The murders occurred in several cities, making overall jurisdiction over the crimes unclear. Massachusetts Attorney General Edward W. Brooke helped to coordinate the various police forces.[1][2] He controversially permitted psychometrist Peter Hurkos to use his alleged extrasensory perception to analyze the cases, for which Hurkos claimed a single person was responsible.[1] When Hurkos provided a "minutely detailed description of the wrong person," the press ridiculed Brooke.[2] While the police were not convinced that all the murders were the actions of one person, much of the public believed so; the connection between a majority of the victims and hospitals was widely discussed.[1]
On October 27, 1964, a stranger entered a young woman's home posing as a detective. He tied the victim to her bed, sexually assaulted her, and then suddenly left, saying "I'm sorry" as he went. The woman's description led police to identify the assailant as Albert DeSalvo. When his photo was published, many women identified him as the man who had assaulted them. Earlier on October 27, DeSalvo had posed as a motorist with car trouble and attempted to enter a home in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. The homeowner, future Brockton police chief Richard Sproules, became suspicious and eventually fired a shotgun at DeSalvo.
DeSalvo was not initially suspected of being involved with the stranglings. It was only after he was charged with rape that he gave a detailed confession of his activities as the Boston Strangler. He initially confessed to a fellow inmate, George Nassar. Nassar reported the confession to his attorney, F. Lee Bailey, who also took on DeSalvo's case. The police were impressed at the accuracy of DeSalvo's descriptions of the crime scenes. Though there were some inconsistencies, DeSalvo was able to cite details which had not been made public. However, there was no physical evidence to substantiate his confession. As such, he stood trial for earlier, unrelated crimes of robbery and sexual offenses in which he was known as The Green Man and The Measuring Man respectively. Bailey brought up the confession to the stranglings as part of his client's history at the trial in order to assist in gaining a 'not guilty by reason of insanity' verdict to the sexual offenses but it was ruled as inadmissible by the judge.
DeSalvo was sentenced to life in prison in 1967. In February of that year, he escaped with two fellow inmates (one of them a bank robber named George Harrison from Westford MA) from Bridgewater State Hospital, triggering a full scale manhunt. A note was found on his bunk addressed to the superintendent. In it DeSalvo stated that he had escaped to focus attention on the conditions in the hospital and his own situation. The next day he gave himself up. Following the escape he was transferred to the maximum security Walpole State Prison where, six years later, he was found stabbed to death in the infirmary. His killer or killers were never identified.
Doubts remain as to whether DeSalvo was the Boston Strangler. At the time he confessed, people who knew him personally did not believe him capable of the vicious crimes. It was also noted that the women killed by "The Strangler" came from different age and ethnic groups, and that there were different modi operandi.
DeSalvo's attorney Bailey believed that his client was the killer, describing the case in Defense Never Rests (1995).[1] Susan Kelly, author of the 1996 book The Boston Stranglers, accessed the files of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts "Strangler Bureau". She argues that the stranglings were the work of several killers rather than a single individual. Another author, former FBI profiler Robert Ressler, said that "You're putting together so many different patterns [regarding the Boston Strangler murders] that it's inconceivable behaviorally that all these could fit one individual."[3]
In 2000, Elaine Sharp, took up the cause of the DeSalvo family and that of the family of Mary Sullivan. Sullivan was publicized as being the final victim in 1964, although other stranglings occurred after that date. A former print journalist, Sharp assisted the families in their media campaign to clear DeSalvo's name, to assist in organizing and arranging the exhumations of Mary Sullivan and Albert H. DeSalvo, in filing various lawsuits in attempts to obtain information and trace evidence (e.g. DNA) from the government and to work with various producers to create documentaries to explain the facts to the public. Sharp pointed out various inconsistencies between DeSalvo's confessions and the crime scene information (which she obtained). For example, she observed that, contrary to DeSalvo's confession to Sullivan's murder, there was no semen in her vagina and that she was not strangled manually, but by ligature. Forensic pathologist Michael Baden observed that DeSalvo also got the time of death wrong — a common inconsistency with several of the murders pointed out by Susan Kelly. She continues to work on the case for the DeSalvo family.[4]
In the case of Mary Sullivan, murdered January 4, 1964 at age 19, DNA other forensic evidence were used by Casey Sherman to try to track down her presumed real killer. Sherman wrote about this in his book A Rose for Mary (2003), stated that DeSalvo was not responsible for her death. For example, DeSalvo confessed to sexually penetrating Sullivan, yet the forensic investigation revealed no evidence of sexual activity.