a
Can 'The Bugle' blow~ffieTiorndnwhat it sees?
- . . . _:_.L.__-k/>rt
New magazine seeks
to fill editorial void
So you want to start a magazine? It's not
an uncommon wish. Current research car
ried out by "Folio Magazine" indicates that
300 new magazines start up every year. Of
those, about 10 percent make it to the se
cond year. And of those measly 30, it takes
about four years to break even. Perhaps
there are no fail-safe formulas for success,
but there are some irrefutable requisites: a
strong editorial focus, a specific audience
and money — lots of it.
Mocking the odds, a new Eugene
magazine has gotten its first issue off the
ground with none of the above. "The
Bugle" is the brainchild of Ken Babbs, a
self-employed writer perhaps best
recognized for his close connection with
Ken Kesey. The two of them edit another
literary endeavor,"Spit in the Ocean."
Last April Babbs got together with a
group of his friends and a few rounds of
beer at the Vets Club to talk about his plans
for the magazine. At the time, he wasn’t
overly concerned about money. The
meeting coincided with the demise of
"Running Magazine" and, according to
Babbs, there was a lot of unattached talent
Story by Angela Allen Morgan
Photo by John Bauguess
around. Bui instead of talking finances,
Babbs talked sports.
"It was more like forming up a softball
.earn in the City Leagues," Babbs recalled.
"Most people get the money together and
all that, but we just had all these players
who weren't playing on a team at the time."
One of the players without a team, who to
his surprise found himself listed on "The
Bugle's" masthead as Travel Editor, is Paul
Perry, former editor of now-defunct "Runn
ing Magazine." Perry, an established
freelance magazine writer, has a lot of faith
Ken Babbs, a local writer best known through his association with Ken Kesey, has started a
new Eugene magazine, "The Bugle."
in the idea of a Eugene-area magazine, but
little faith in the future of “The Bugle."
“This area needs a magazine," Perry said,
“and Babbs has always wanted a magazine
ever since I've known him. A lot is going on
that's not dealt with by the standard media,
and Babbs is right about that. But he needs
to get a handle on 'The Bugle.’ The
magazine's lagging in graphics, it has no
organization or focus, and it needs to find
its audience."
The magazine is an unpaged black and
white 8x5 publication, stuffed with fiction
and reviews of such things as an old Bob
Dylan movie and a Grateful Dead concert. It
ran several photo-essays, one which
chronicled a '63 Mercury convertible, an
unusual car that belongs to the editor
himself. The writing is lively and reminis
cent of lack Kerouac's; the design is
amateurish, error-ridden and disorderly. In
short, "The Bugle" is rough around the
gills, but Babbs insists that the magazine
fills an editorial void that the established
press has created.
Perry agrees with Babbs on this point, but
making a magazine work takes more than
finding an editorial void.
"You can't just say 'Hey, hey hey, I want
to start a magazine,' and make it happen,"
Perry said. "Babbs doesn't care about his
market or try to understand it. Maybe it will
happen — but only once or twice."
Several readers mention that the
locally produced fiction-writing that they've
read for years. But others have harsher
criticism for the fledgling publication.
"It's an exercise in journalistic masturba
tion," said writer Cort Fernald, who con
tributed to the first issue. "It seems to be
for a very small, isolated group of people —
Pleasant Hill Mafia or washed-up Merry
Pranksters."
Whether Ken Babbs is aware of this
criticism, his enthusiasm for the publica
tion is unflagging. He sees himself as a
"player-coach,” passing the ball from one
talent to the next, but participating in all the
action himself.
Babbs helped type the copy on Ken
Kesey's IBM composer, strip negatives,
design ads. He layed out the book and
wrote many of the articles. (There are
rumours that other stories were dictated to
him in rough form over the phone, and he
wrote them up in final draft.)
With all the work, there were still typos
and production glitches. Little care was
taken with submitted manuscripts accor
ding to Fernald and another contributing
writer, Cindy Hanson. Perry claims that one
of the pages of his manuscript wasn't
'It's a concept connected with
jazz and improv.You don't
have to have prepared
anything. You just blow from
the tip of your tongue and the
top of your mind/
— Ken Babbs
typeset. And there were problems with
photo releases and credits. Though seem
ingly naive about the process of magazine
making, Babbs remains undaunted.
"I don't want 'The Bugle' to be ugly, but
circumstances dictated it," Babbs said.
"You worry about it, but what are you going
to do about it? It's like having a big zit on
Continued on Page 10B
Ghosts and Goblins!!
rfh
Join Us All Hallows' Eve
ii M
o
6
6
6
Halloween
Costume
Party
for the thrill
of your life!
Come in costume and get
x/i off cover
Fall Under the Spell of O'Callahan's
Special Witches Brew
Enter the Halloween Costume
Contest for the Best Original
Costume
Have Your Picture Taken
Special Quests
k The Gayle Rose Band
•Come in Costume Friday &
Saturday and get l/i off Cover
and Dance to Formula!