The history of Cool and Strange Music Magazine

[note: this column was written in 1998]

When record collector, graphic artist and publisher Dana Countryman started to make plans for his Cool and Strange Music Magazine, some three years ago, he reckoned he could reach about 200 readers with his magazine at the most. Now, at the beginning of the third year of publication, the magazine has an edition of 2,000 copies, and is well-known to music lovers, not only in the US.

The success of Cool and Strange Music Magazine seems easily accounted for. It's simply a very attractive magazine. Furthermore, since the publication of the already legendary books on Incredibly Strange Music, there seems to have been a large need for information on artists such as Les Baxter, Esquivel and Raymond Scott.

Band leader/arranger Les Baxter, for instance, is prominently present in this month's issue. Skip Heller remembers his friendship with Baxter while band leader/pianist David Goodman relates his musical collaboration with him.

The latest issue further includes articles on Jonathan and Darlene Edwards (alias band leader Paul Weston and his wife Jo Stafford) and the Bonzo Dog Band.

A large part of Cool and Strange Music Magazine is reserved for reviews of recently released CDs and LPs. Here not only well-known names such as Les Baxter, Tony Hatch and Arthur Lyman are discussed, but a lot of attention is also paid to people like for instance Mary Schneider (yodel-versions of classical compositions!), The Fathoms (surf) and comedians Mark and Brian. Naturally, the ads as well are fully aimed at this kind of releases.

One of the most attractive parts of CASMM is the centre page, on which a large number of record covers centered around a certain theme is displayed. In this month's issue, the theme is 'naked ladies' and so this means that we can enjoy the exciting covers of for instance 'The wild humor of Rex Benson', 'The erotic delights of Lady C.' and 'Lieschen, Lieschen - Intimus vol.3' by Sexy Boys Ralf + Joe.

Besides Cool and Strange Music Magazine, there are of course dozens of smaller fanzines paying attention to the world of strange records. Cannot Become Obsolete is one, and from England there is for instance Easy, which mainly focuses on European records. In the Netherlands, Frits Jonker in particular is quite active in this field, publishing a mini-zine called Hystereo and articles in the Dutch comic magazine Zone 5300.


In february 2003 Dana Countryman sold his magazine to a gentleman named Myke O'Clock. A year went by... In early 2004 Dana issued this note:

FEB. 8TH, 2004
REVISED NOTE TO THE FRIENDS OF COOL AND STRANGE MUSIC MAGAZINE --

Please excuse this generic message, but I've gotten so many inquiries about the status of C&SM, that I'm getting writer's cramp, answering all the mail...

Here's the deal: I sold the business to Myke O'Clock in Feb., 2003, and he seemed very upbeat and confident about his dedication to putting the next issue out. However, since that time (almost a year ago, at this writing) he has not produces one single issue. At this stage, I think it is fairly safe to say that the magazine is officially "dead."

I spent a lot of energy training Myke to take over the magazine, and provided him the materials and resources to seamlessly take over when I left. I really was proud of the magazine, and of its faithful readers, like yourself. I would have loved to have seen it continue to flourish and grow over the future years, without me.

Unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way. All of us former C&SM staffers are totally bewildered by Myke's lack of output and communication. He was my former webmaster and even wrote an article for the magazine, while I was still at the helm. Every indication I saw, was that he was the perfect guy to take over the publication, and had the know-how, enthusiasm and skills (and patience) to do it. Why he never did, we'll probably never know. I'm surprised that he's still paying to keep up the web site, when there is no magazine anymore...

He alone, is responsible for it's production, and dealing with any issues owed to you on your subscription. Our deal was that I would retain only the back issues, which I am currently selling from my own web site.

You can try writing Myke at editor@coolandstrange.com, but he is not very good about answering mail. The last time I tried to write him, it appeared that his e-mail account has been disconnected.

Although it does bother me that there was not a smooth transition of putting out regular (or any) issues of the magazine, it's really out of my hands. Myke is the legal owner of the magazine, and that is that. He still owns the rights to the name, so it's really tied up, legally. He also owes the subscribers and advertisers refunds, obviously. I feel very bad for both the advertisers and subscribers, and if I'd have seen this coming, it never would have happened this way.

I'm very proud of the fact that for 7 years, I never missed a deadline. I put out a new issue every three months like clockwork. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but I took that responsibility seriously, and it was worth the effort. The magazine was solvent, making a small profit, had no debts, and had fans all over the world.

Thanks to each of you for caring about it, and sending your good wishes, and not placing the blame on me for what's happened, personally. It was always very rewarding to get positive comments about the magazine that I produced, and it still feels good to know that people still care about it.

I'm plenty busy, working on my own album, and doing prep work for the biography on Jean Jacques Perrey that I will be writing in 2004.

I hope that answers your questions about the magazine, and I'm sorry that I can't give you more specific answers.

Take Care and thanks for your support of the magazine, in the 7 years that I was publisher and editor.

Stay Cool,
- Dana Countryman
 

For the first half of 2004 Peter Cummings of Cosmictones.com and yours truly tried to contact Myke O'Clock in all manners possible, to see if we could buy the magazine and its name from him, but to no avail.

We can now safely say that Cool and Strange Music Magazine is no more...
 

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