Mike Edison, I HAVE FUN EVERYWHERE I GO author and former High Times editor: Mr. Media Audio Interview

In his new book, I Have Fun Everywhere I Go, Mike Edison does for sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll what Hulk Hogan did for wrestling!

No, scratch that. Edison hates Hogan. Saying that will just piss him off.

How about:

Mike Edison does for sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll what Lennon & McCartney did for elevator music!

Damn, that won’t work either. Edison hates the Beatles, too.

Here’s a thought:

Let me just read the subtitle of Edison’s book. It’s so long, people will think it’s an introduction and not notice that I left out all the stuff about him being a former editor of High Times, Cheri, and Main Event, a contributor to Screw and Hustler magazines, and drummer in bands such as Raunch Hands, Pleasure F*ckers, and Rocket Train Delta Science Arkestra.

Please welcome my guest today, Mike Edison, author of I Have Fun Everywhere I Go: Savage Tales of Pot, Porn, Punk Rock, Pro Wrestling, Talking Apes, Evil Bosses, Dirty Blues, American Heroes, and the Most Notorious Magazines in the World.

You can LISTEN to this interview by clicking the BlogTalkRadio.com audio player below!

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© 2008 by Bob Andelman. All rights reserved.

Chris Gore, "Film Threat" editor: Mr. Media Interview Classic

Originally published in 1996

No more "Casting Couch" tales from would-be starlets.

No more midnight prank calls to Chevy Chase about non-existent films. And instead of crashing film festivals, Chris Gore will be sponsoring them. These are just some of the changes readers will note when Film Threat magazine returns to newsstands in September.

What Spy magazine was to the New York establishment in the 1980s, Film Threat was to the Hollywood film community. Gore, then a film student, started the irreverent magazine on a Xerox copier in Detroit in 1985. It fast developed a loyal, if sometimes illiterate, following. Letters to the editor — "hate mail," Gore called them — were published as they arrived, handwritten, packed with misspellings and bad attitude.



He went Hollywood in 1989 and sold the magazine two years later to Larry Flynt's LFP Publications. Over the years, Gore developed several new magazines for Flynt, the publisher of Hustler, including Film Threat Video Guide, Wild Cartoon Kingdom and Sci-Fi Universe, among others. A falling out with Flynt caused Gore to resign last fall and briefly pursue a career as a developer of films and CD-ROM games.

"I didn't leave Film Threat," Gore says. "I left Flynt."

Why?

"Go see the movie," is all he'll say, referring to the upcoming film The People vs. Larry Flynt, starring Woody Harrelson as Flynt and Courtney Love as his wife, Althea.

Flynt canceled Film Threat this summer and sold the rights to it and Wild Cartoon Kingdom (which will relaunch next spring) back to Gore.





Gore is excited about his return to publishing what he calls "America's #1 Independent Movie Magazine." The publication has traditionally paid tribute to directors such as John Waters (Polyester, Cry-baby, Pink Flamingos), Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction) and whoever Gore may anoint "the flavor of the
month."

"The original mission of Film Threat was to be an alternative movie magazine, a reaction to Premiere, to champion alternative films — midnight movies, underground and adult films," he says. "And unlike when we started a decade ago, there's now a large consumer demand for
alternatives."

Gore, now a ripe old 30 and writing a book about Film Threat's infamous stunts and acerbic history, promises that his magazine, which once declared all-out "war" on establishment
rival Premiere, has matured. "Film Threat's attitude is retained but the magazine has grown up," he says. "A lot of that prankster stuff will be there, but below the surface; we won't burn our bridges so easily."

© 2007 by Bob Andelman. All rights reserved.