porkmagazine: PORK #7 HITS THE STREETS TODAY!!! Open publication - Free publishing - More arturo vega I have a one-page article/interview with Al Goldstein in this issue. Last year I visited the King of Porn way the fuck out in Far Rockaway to interview him for my book about the sixties underground press, On the Ground. He was living in squalor, but was in good spirits, and though we ended up talking for a few hours, only a small amount of the interview made it into the book. I knew that it would be criminal to keep the rest of the content to myself, and thankfully the good people at Pork were of the same mind.  Pork has been killing shit consistently and this issue is no exception. Cop it where you live (it’s free!) or check it out online. Mad original, so refreshing. Much love to Sean Aaberg and the Pork crew.
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porkmagazine:

PORK #7 HITS THE STREETS TODAY!!!

Open publication - Free publishing - More arturo vega

I have a one-page article/interview with Al Goldstein in this issue.

Last year I visited the King of Porn way the fuck out in Far Rockaway to interview him for my book about the sixties underground press, On the Ground. He was living in squalor, but was in good spirits, and though we ended up talking for a few hours, only a small amount of the interview made it into the book. I knew that it would be criminal to keep the rest of the content to myself, and thankfully the good people at Pork were of the same mind. 

Pork has been killing shit consistently and this issue is no exception. Cop it where you live (it’s free!) or check it out online. Mad original, so refreshing. Much love to Sean Aaberg and the Pork crew.

(via porkmagazine)

Excerpt from my book, On the Ground: An Illustrated Anecdotal History of the Sixties Underground Press in the U.S. (PM Press). In four short years (1965-1969), the underground press grew from five small newspapers in as many cities in the U.S. to over 500 newspapers—with millions of readers—all over the world. Comprised of stories told by the people involved and over 100 full-color images taken from a broad range of underground newspapers, On the Ground provides a true window into the spirit of the times.Now available at: amazon, b&n, your local indie bookstore, pm press, powell’s, and I have signed copies in my webstore AL GOLDSTEIN Screw, Gay, Bitch, Gadget, Mobster Times, Cigar In the early issues of Screw (which is 1969), the cops arrested my blind news dealers. I had just been arrested again, and I’m in the Tombs with blind news dealers whose canes are going across the cement floor, and I’m thinking I don’t want these guys to know that I’m the reason they’re here. The charges against them were dropped, but it was severe enough that a lot of my news dealers stopped carrying Screw. The harassment was unbelievable from the FBI and the Irish cops. Occasionally, you’d find a cop that’d say, “Go get ’em, Al, you’re doing a good job.” But we also had Catholicism, which was fucking me up because the Church was very powerful. Now with the harassment of children, the Church has lost its power; people spit on the Church. But when I started in 1968 it was a very powerful lobby, and it really hurt us. It’s a good thing we had advertising money or we would have gone out of business. But the cops were harassing us, and the Irish cops would basically say, “Jew bastard, we’re gonna close you down.” The more they said that the more I stood erect. What the government didn’t realize was that every time I got arrested, when they said United States of America vs. Al Goldstein, I was so starved for attention and recognition that that encouraged me. If they’d only been quiet maybe I would have gotten bored, but every time they busted me it only made me say, “Fuck you.” I’m so ornery and insane that I wouldn’t accept it. The Mafia was good. The Gallo brothers took me over on issue 12. The good thing about them is they hated the cops, too, so whenever I got arrested they didn’t run, they continued to distribute Screw. I had a good Mafia gang; I liked them. Donald Gray was the officer that arrested me every other week, and I remember I had a little bag with a toothbrush and talcum powder and stuff. I felt like Jesus Christ carrying the cross. I said, “No one has given this to me, I earned it.” And so on one hand I’m getting arrested twenty-one times, and on the other my distributors are Mafia and I’m dealing with Joe Gallo, who got shot, and I’m thinking my life is not easy. The cops want me to testify against the Mafia but I’m not going to. Just my belligerence in the face of all this adversity made me feel like I really deserved it. I don’t walk around saying, “Thank you, thank you.” I deserve every bit of fucking praise I get—I paid the price. 
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Excerpt from my book, On the Ground: An Illustrated Anecdotal History of the Sixties Underground Press in the U.S. (PM Press). In four short years (1965-1969), the underground press grew from five small newspapers in as many cities in the U.S. to over 500 newspapers—with millions of readers—all over the world. Comprised of stories told by the people involved and over 100 full-color images taken from a broad range of underground newspapers, On the Ground provides a true window into the spirit of the times.

Now available at: amazon, b&n, your local indie bookstore, pm press, powell’s, and I have signed copies in my webstore

AL GOLDSTEIN
Screw, Gay, Bitch, Gadget, Mobster Times, Cigar

In the early issues of Screw (which is 1969), the cops arrested my blind news dealers. I had just been arrested again, and I’m in the Tombs with blind news dealers whose canes are going across the cement floor, and I’m thinking I don’t want these guys to know that I’m the reason they’re here. The charges against them were dropped, but it was severe enough that a lot of my news dealers stopped carrying Screw. The harassment was unbelievable from the FBI and the Irish cops. Occasionally, you’d find a cop that’d say, “Go get ’em, Al, you’re doing a good job.” But we also had Catholicism, which was fucking me up because the Church was very powerful. Now with the harassment of children, the Church has lost its power; people spit on the Church. But when I started in 1968 it was a very powerful lobby, and it really hurt us. It’s a good thing we had advertising money or we would have gone out of business.

But the cops were harassing us, and the Irish cops would basically say, “Jew bastard, we’re gonna close you down.” The more they said that the more I stood erect. What the government didn’t realize was that every time I got arrested, when they said United States of America vs. Al Goldstein, I was so starved for attention and recognition that that encouraged me. If they’d only been quiet maybe I would have gotten bored, but every time they busted me it only made me say, “Fuck you.” I’m so ornery and insane that I wouldn’t accept it.

The Mafia was good. The Gallo brothers took me over on issue 12. The good thing about them is they hated the cops, too, so whenever I got arrested they didn’t run, they continued to distribute Screw. I had a good Mafia gang; I liked them. Donald Gray was the officer that arrested me every other week, and I remember I had a little bag with a toothbrush and talcum powder and stuff. I felt like Jesus Christ carrying the cross. I said, “No one has given this to me, I earned it.” And so on one hand I’m getting arrested twenty-one times, and on the other my distributors are Mafia and I’m dealing with Joe Gallo, who got shot, and I’m thinking my life is not easy. The cops want me to testify against the Mafia but I’m not going to. Just my belligerence in the face of all this adversity made me feel like I really deserved it. I don’t walk around saying, “Thank you, thank you.” I deserve every bit of fucking praise I get—I paid the price.