Lost Issue of Avatar #25 Resurfaces
Forty Years Later Republished On Line
By: Charles Giuliano - Jul 03, 2008
In 1968 the Fort Hill Community and their spiritual leader, Mel Lyman, for a variety of reasons, decided to suspend publication of Boston's notorious underground paper the Avatar ending with Issue #24.
Until then the paper had been produced by a coalition of editors from the Lyman community and other contributors. Many individuals worked for the paper in various capacities and derived income from selling the widely circulated tabloid for a quarter. Contributors got to keep the money as their salary. Suspending publication would have a devastating impact on a community interested in sustaining the publication as an editorial resource during a time of great turbulence in American life and politics. It was the peak moment of protests against the Vietnam War. Avatar was a means of income for individuals responding to Tim Leary's mantra to "Turn On, Tune In, and Drop Out."
Initially the Avatar had been the combined effort of what came to be known as the Fort Hill Zealots and the South End Scoffers. Gradually the Fort Hill group, following the mandates of Lyman, forced out dissenting board members and editors. For a time Avatar expanded with a New York edition which is how I became involved. I ran into Mel, whom I had known for several years, at Max's Kansas City and he invited me to write for Avatar. Eventually I left New York and relocated to Boston taking on a more active role in the publication. A new issue of Avatar meant the chance to pay the rent. As well as seeing articles in print.
Some 40 years on it is difficult to recapture the flavor and significance of such a vital period. Like many of my generation I was often concerned by the social and political apathy of college level students in courses I later taught. When I recalled for them the contrast of our involvement as activists I was devastated when a student responded "Oh, Mr. Giuliano, you're so Joan Baez."
When the Lyman community pulled out there was a group of people meeting in the South End offices on Rutland Street who wanted to continue. There was no focus or leadership and the process of reorganization was chaotic. In a one on one audience with Lyman he agreed that we could put out Avatar but not use the logo on the cover.
Taking that information back to the group, after much debate, it was decided to honor the spirit and intention of that understanding by taking Avatar to a fresh and vital new direction. The process by which Issue 25 came together was spiritual and cathartic. It took enormous effort to harness all of that energy. Nobody knew where we were going. In the spirit of the time a group met and together threw coins consulting the oracle of the ancient I Ching. What emerged was the Hexagram Number 10 of Lu (Li) Treading. It conveyed the notion of one treading on the tail of the dragon which does not bite him.
With the spiritual mandate of the oracle I designed a beautiful, spiritual, abstract cover. An architect and remarkable individual, Richard Joos, collaborated on the centerfold and back cover. In exquisite script he wrote out the text related to the hexagram. He also had the idea of combining several hand prints overlapping in the centerfold as an expression of the unity that we as a group had struggled to achieve. In handwritten text he issued a call for togetherness and cooperation. Joos invited community leaders and politicians to participate in future editions. Avatar was seen as a vechicle for progress and change. Inside the issue were articles and illustrations by a number of contributors.
The graphic designer for the issue, Edward Jordan (Beardsley), however, sabotaged our efforts. On page two he reversed the Avatar logo at the top of the page. He rationalized that by inverting the logo he was staying within the spirit of the agreement. There was no text or logo on the front page which was remarkable. It was intended to be emblematic of a new era.
The paper went to press and 45,000 copies were delivered to the office. I grabbed a bundle as did some others and went home with a feeling of great accomplishment. Some 1,000 copies were actually circulated.
But Jordan's subversive act undermined our effort. When the front page is held up to the light the reversed logo reads through as Avatar. This was never the intention. It infuriated the Fort Hill community and in the middle of the night a gang raided the office and confiscated the entire edition. It was stored in the water tower on Fort Hill and eventually sold as scrap for thirty pieces of silver.
During the winter of 2007 I was contacted by Steve Trussel an archivist and historian of Avatar and the Fort Hill Community. His site posts the complete Avatar and he was inquiring about the legendary Lost Edition #25. I informed him that I had a copy and scanned the cover which I sent to him. He wanted more information and I agreed to write my version of the events for his site. Trussel requested to borrow my copy and scan it but by then we were in the process of moving from Boston and it became too complicated. There was a bit of correspondence but that seemed to be the end of the matter. We discussed the irony of "publishing" the lost issue after some 40 years.
When things fell apart then, and now, it seemed appropriate to just move on. It seemed that just the fact that we had managed to publish the issue had proved the point. Shortly after the breakdown over Issue 25 an Avatar board member, David Wilson, of the music publication, Broadside, contacted me and stated that he had the legal authority to resume publication which we did that summer. Avatar took on a new life and direction trying to respond to the events of the time including Kent State, riots in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention, protests against the Vietnam War, and the assassination of Robert Kennedy. By that September Wilson and his partner Sandy Manderville decided to return full time to Broadside which merged with the Free Press as its social and political component. I contributed to that publication and got a job as the art critic for Boston After Dark which later evolved into the Boston Phoenix.
This week I was contacted by Trussel who had obtained a copy of Issue #25 from a collector. The lost paper has been scanned and is now available on his website. He has also included my account of the events of 1968. So some 40 years later that remarkable experience has resurfaced.
Avatar and the numerous other Underground publications of the 1960s played a vital role in bringing many individuals into the field of journalism, illustration and graphic design. Too often, however, when that movement is evaluated Avatar is marginalized as a cult paper put out by the Lyman Family. When David Felton wrote a cover story on Lyman for Rolling Stone he interviewed me extensively. I became a caricature Harry Bikes in his piece. Wilson, Manderville and I were dismissed as "political types" who "took over" from the guru and his minions. This has been the tone of subsequent reporting, research and anthologies.
Now that the lost issue has been republished there is compelling evidence that our motive was in fact cathartic, amazingly spiritual, aesthetic and poetic. In hindsight, looking at the issues that followed, I wish that we had been more "political" and radical. Eventually, Lyman's group resumed publication of American Avatar which became entirely devoted to his charisma and philosophy.
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary, and the republication of Issue #25, I am producing a limited edition of 50, signed and numbered, 13 x 19" digital prints of the original I Ching cover. Those who are interested may inquire by e mailing Berkshire Fine Arts.
Link to Steve Trussel's site and Issue 25 of AVATAR
http://www.trussel.com/lyman/avatar/avatar25/av25.htm