News

Arthur Magazine Calls It Quits

For freak folks everywhere, it's the end of an era. Arthur magazine editor Jay Babcock has announced that the bi-monthly publication, which he co-founded in 2002, will cease its operations, effective immediately.

During its five-year run, Arthur spearheaded a revived interest in '60s-style folk-rock, left wing politics, and countercultural arts and literature. Its contributors included Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, high-brow comics author Alan Moore, bluesman T-Model Ford, and pop culture critics Douglas Rushkoff and Erik Davis. It was also one of the first publications to champion offbeat rock bands and singer-songwriters like Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart, and TV on the Radio.

Although the magazine's finances are reportedly in trouble, Babcock blames Arthur's fate primarily on his feud with co-founder Laris Kreslins. "It's dead," a bitter Babcock told the Village Voice. "The situation can't be unf**ked."

Kreslins, however, insists that the magazine is simply on "indefinite hiatus."

--The ARTISTdirect Staff
02.28.07