From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Dear Beloved Friends,
This is a hurried note during the countdown to the re-appearance of
the L.A. Free Press as a printed newspaper (preview edition to appear
Thursday, December 17 with regular weekly publication planned to start in
January).
For those of you who didn't see the L.A. Times article about the new
Free Press and learn about my lecture on the history of the Freep this
Friday, I am appending the article to the end of this email. I had planned
this lecture before firming my plans for re-publication but, when the L.A.
Times asked me for more information about the press release Angel City
Bookstore had sent out, I was able to tell them of the publication plans.
(Friday, December 11, 8:30 pm, Angel City Bookstore, 212 Pier Avenue,
Santa Monica).
The Times writer immediately caught the sense of what we are doing
and described it in a few sentences: that the large number of people who
don't really like Democrats or Republicans -- but won't vote for a third
party candidate because the way things are set up that seems to be a
wasted vote -- are experiencing a political vacuum that the Free Press can
again begin to fill; and that this same group, inspired as they have been
by the 60's vision of a more just and humane society, is also experiencing
a CULTURAL and SPIRITUAL VACUUM as well --that again the Free Press can
fill. I know that some of you think it is crazy to be moving ahead as fast
as we are but please help us experiment; we are just making a little test
of these political, cultural and spiritual waters!
The following morning (Saturday, December 12, 11am at the Novel Cafe,
218 Pier Avenue, Santa Monica) there will be a meeting of staff and
friends to discuss the upcoming print issue: editorial contents, printing,
distribution plans, financial realities, etc.)
Next Sunday and Monday (December 13 and 14) we will be in
production, by Wednesday we should be printing and out on the streets
Thursday, December 17. AND WE WILL MEET AGAIN ON SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19,
11AM AT THE NOVEL CAFE TO MOVE AHEAD WITH DISTRIBUTION PLANS.
Please do come to the staff meeting on Saturday. We will need all
the help we can get to fulfill this schedule.
The most pressing thing is for you to send letters of no more than
250 words about your memories of the old Freep, your recommendations for
the Freep now or anything you would like to vent about. I would like to
publish about two pages of such letters because the preview issue will be
out there for several weeks, we need to include editorial material that
will remain fresh over this period, and these letters will continue to be
of interest to those picking up the newspaper. You can email the letters
to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or snail mail them to The L.A. Free Press, 115
South Topanga Canyon Blvd, Suite 166, Topanga, CA 90290 or fax them to
310-454-0705. If you have trouble with this new fax number, call me at
310-455-2451 or send out an astral call for help.
The next pressing thing (and maybe this is really number one) is for
you to send in your subscription if you haven't already done so: $35 for
one year or $20 for 26 issues. Come on, boys and girls! The printer is
going to have to be paid next week and we will need all the money we can
put together. There are about 100 people on this email list, and this
weekend I will roll-out another 1000 internet names, and if EVERYONE
subscribes there will be plenty of funds to push ahead. I anticipate that,
if we now work very hard to contact the community that WANTS the Free
Press back (but won't really know their "want" until they see an actual
paper), in a short time we will have the cash flow to guarantee weekly
publication but right now your subscription money is absolutely necessary
to keep us going. And if you can afford to help out with more than $20 or
$35 (those are really such small amounts of money considering the
satisfaction that the Free Press will bring into our lives and the
community as a whole!), please contact me by one of the above methods or
at a staff meeting.
AND IF YOU WANT TO RECEIVE THE PREVIEW EDITION OF THE PRINTED FREE
PRESS IN THE MAIL PLEASE BE SURE TO EMAIL ME YOUR SNAIL MAIL ADDRESS. I
PROBABLY DON'T HAVE IT!
So, it is the middle of the night, I still have things to do, so here
is the L.A. Times article I promised:
Headlines: "Back to the future: L.A. Free Press Returns."
"For ten years after the assassination of President Kennedy in
1963, the Los Angeles Free Press helped to establish the era's political,
social and spiritual agendas."
(Note by Art: The fact that this appears in the L.A.
Times--'political, social and spiritual agendas'--is proof of what I have
been saying about people inspired by the 60's vision and by the old Freep
now occupying key positions throughout society. I get a lot of strength
and energy from this insight!). But back to the article:
"Founding publisher, editor and rebel with a cause Art Kunkin
announced this week he is reviving the Free Press, which began publishing
in 1964. It went bankrupt in 1972.
"The first edition of the new Free Press is set for December 17.
"'A lot of people are clearly upset with the Democrats and
Republicans,' says Kunkin, who decided to bring back the paper after the
November elections. '(The Free Press was) the alternative political voice
in the 1960's and can be again.'
"The paper was one of the first to publish now-legendary poets and
writers, including William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg.
"Friday, at 8:30pm, Kunkin presents, 'Rebel Rebel: The history of
the L.A. Free Press at Angel City Bookstore, 218 Pier Avenue, Santa
Monica. 310-399-8767. --Booth Moore."
I'll see you Friday and/or Saturday the 12th and/or Saturday the
19th or any of the days between while we are working on producing,
printing and distributing the Freep. One final note: it's going to be a
lot of fun! It is a lot of fun! Art (Please forgive me if you get more
than one copy of this. I'm too tired to sort the list out out so that
there is no duplication).
---
Art Kunkin
Publisher and Editor, The World Wide Free Press
http://www.wwfreepress.com (& see our hot-links!);
Publisher of The Big Issue, Los Angeles
Senior Editor: Los Angeles Free Press (http://lafreepress.callme.net)
Editorial Board Member: GLUE L.A. ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Contributing Editor: Alaska Free Press (http://akfreepress.com);
Haight Ashbury Free Press (http://www.webcom.com/~haight;
Washington Free Press (http://www.speakeasy.org/wfp/);
Change-Links (http://www.labridge.com/change-links/),
Phone: 310-455-2451 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
115 South Topanga Canyon Blvd, #166, Topanga CA 90290
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