Subscriber to the print mag, the Patreon and the Substack here, but I will most definitely be dropping some additional shekels (hmmm, maybe not the currency reference I should be using right now) into the pot very soon. THE AMERICAN BYSTANDER and all it stands for is IMPORTANT to me and no few others, goddammit - let it be the one thing left standing when this here annus fucking horribilis is over. Thank you, thank you, thank you for it.
William, you have no idea how wonderful this is to hear; thank you.
Bystander means a lot to me and Alan and Laura, and meant a lot to Brian, too. Between some tweaking of the model and the establishment of this Fund, I think we can get to that 100 years--but it all flows from readers loving it and feeling it does something good in the world.
Hey Daniel - as it happens, we'll be dropping the long-awaited(?) second episode of Laughing At Others, subject: a certain individual very important to our present company, very soon. Still very much a novice when it comes to this whole podcast schmegegge, so what major platforms it'll be available on, not sure as yet. At the very least, it's going up on my own Substack, as actually providing some form of content appears to be a popular way to go. Thanks!
@Erb, when we figure out what we're doing with Substack, I plan on putting Mike back into harness (if he'll agree). The trick is finding him something to do that will turn into something greater and better for him than just short humor on the web -- a book, his own podcast, etc etc etc.
Hi, Neal. Details are forthcoming. For those who can’t wait for the formal announcement feel free to send an email to publisher@americanbystander.org and The Boss would be happy to speak with you directly. (And thank you! 😊)
This is great -- INCLUDING THE DEPRESSION STUFF. I subscribed to the Substack. Yeah, you'd understand how weighty that decision is if you knew my actual financial situation, but hell: I've now lived long enough to see Nazis overrun our Capitol building and then begin to inhabit its offices & the High Court & maybe the presidency. Some high quality writing and laughing is sorely needed right the fuckity fuck NOW.
As a life-long extra-uterine child, all I have to say is: Go, man, go! Stay at least a step ahead of the creeping doom and make comedy like a motherfucker.
@Richard, all of us really appreciate the subscription. Thank you.
I want to say "I never thought I'd see the day when a bunch of right-wing lunatics overran the Capitol and got away with it" but I grew up with Christofascists in Missouri. They've been aching for this--and organizing for it--since the 1970s.
To be truly Christlike, they believe you must be persecuted by the government ("the Romans") and so they seek the boundaries of civil society, and try to break them. The rest of us react badly, they claim victimhood, and the cycle continues.
Until the rest of society sets a firm boundary on them, they will pursue a more and more radical agenda, including trying to control comedy and other culture--probably via some kind of digital Comstock Laws.
Mike, it warms all our hearts to see that you've decided to shout at the devil and maintain your chutzpah for making the best damn Humor magazine in America, nay...the World!
I am beyond sorrowful to hear of Brian McConnachie's passing. That's because I have a saying - "diagonal thinking" - that I came up with in order to describe his work. In a time when television, radio, and magazines were all we really had for media and that media was dominated by humor that required carbon 14 dating to determine how truly stale it was, works like "Heading For Trouble" or "Negligent Mother" threw your brain off and shook the cobwebs out of it. He was beyond original, as "Name The Bats" will testify.
@Mark, that's a lovely way to describe Brian's work, and very accurate. He was exactly the same in person, which meant that I had to keep my mind very loose. Usually when a writer pitches or riffs on an idea, I can immediately see it in layout, with art, on the page. But when Brian spoke, I tried to stop that springing to Point B. I tried to sit and listen, and then ask the right question.
I don't think I ever did, but he was so brilliant it didn't matter. Brian McConnachie will be remembered.
As ever, I'm a bit late to the party here, but in the last few months I've gone from not being aware of The American Bystander at all, to being a new subscriber & proud owner of a quartet of physical back issues (just to get me going).
I got them in the mail the other day, spread out on the floor in my studio, and read 'em all cover to cover in basically one sitting.
I caught myself quietly whispering, "...this is so fuckin' excellent" a non-trivial number of times, and the absolute delight of the Things Themselves brought many sweet memories of being a kid who just got home with a new magazine they couldn't wait to devour.
So thanks for doing what you're doing. For what it's worth, I'm definitely along for the ride <3
Thank you, @Travis! I'm so glad you liked the issues. You have so much great stuff in store!
Laura and I are considering doing a big Best of book, to fatten the coffers, but as I'm going through all these issues to put pieces online...my gosh, there's a lot of stuff in each one. Density has always been my jam.
"... just another fucking website," is the most concise and on-target assessment of our media that I've read in a long time. I've been lurking here awhile, and I have consistently enjoyed your takes on the personalities and institutional cultures that have disappeared along with old-school magazines. I'm becoming a Bystander subscriber today. Best wishes, and good luck.
I haven't built anything for Ghost, but I've done custom themes for other web platforms. I think it's something I can do, but it would depend on exactly what you need and how fast.
Todd, as a working professional I'm sure the last thing you need is a cheaply paid gig, but if you'd be amenable, I'd like to load up a Ghost theme, make it as Bystander-y as I can, and then perhaps consult with you when I reach various impasses? Would that be okay?
Michael, that arrangement suits me fine. I'd be happy to consult if needed. If that means I have to download a copy of the Ghost server so that I can tinker with it, that would not be terrible. Good luck!
This made for invigorating morning reading. I could even overlook the variable spelling of choad, which always has an a in it. Glad to here you’re continuing on this venture, though remember Lampy’s message: always good clean fun, harmless joshing, gentle ribbing, and Eisenhower jokes (which can be refurbished for Ol’ Joe who will defeat Dr Goldfoot and his Treason Machine
Thank you! I have actually seen it spelled choad AND chode. I am happy to bend to the Will of the People. I always thought it was a generic insult like the UK’s “git,” but have been informed it refers specifically to a short, wide penis.
I actually used that word, which I got from an S. Clay Wilson comic, in a song about the Google busses hauling coders from San Francisco to the Silicon Valley. Mi mi mi (blows pitch pipe)
The best non-Beatles band of all time said it best: 'Rock is dead, long live rock.' Bon courage my friend - the Internet sucks but at least I found you through it 🙂
As I texted MG early this morning: Fuck it we ball. 🤘
Subscriber to the print mag, the Patreon and the Substack here, but I will most definitely be dropping some additional shekels (hmmm, maybe not the currency reference I should be using right now) into the pot very soon. THE AMERICAN BYSTANDER and all it stands for is IMPORTANT to me and no few others, goddammit - let it be the one thing left standing when this here annus fucking horribilis is over. Thank you, thank you, thank you for it.
William, you have no idea how wonderful this is to hear; thank you.
Bystander means a lot to me and Alan and Laura, and meant a lot to Brian, too. Between some tweaking of the model and the establishment of this Fund, I think we can get to that 100 years--but it all flows from readers loving it and feeling it does something good in the world.
Hey Daniel - as it happens, we'll be dropping the long-awaited(?) second episode of Laughing At Others, subject: a certain individual very important to our present company, very soon. Still very much a novice when it comes to this whole podcast schmegegge, so what major platforms it'll be available on, not sure as yet. At the very least, it's going up on my own Substack, as actually providing some form of content appears to be a popular way to go. Thanks!
Loved reading this! Except for the depression stuff. Glad it's lifting, Michael. Hooray for the Bystander!
Thank you, David. Still too often wake up wondering, "Why am I?" but I assume it will pass. :-)
Bystander yes!!!!!!!!
Michael Pershan yes as well!!!!
Michael we miss you. Where you been?
@Erb, when we figure out what we're doing with Substack, I plan on putting Mike back into harness (if he'll agree). The trick is finding him something to do that will turn into something greater and better for him than just short humor on the web -- a book, his own podcast, etc etc etc.
STOP ENSHITTIFICATION NOW!
AND STOP INJECTING THINGS INTO YOUR DONG!
SUPPORT THE AMERICAN BYSTANDER!
(These slogans may need work, Mike.)
look my dong needs all the help it can get, even super soldier serum
Don't talk to me, I'm Irish.
I want that button for St Patrick’s Day
Could use details about sending donations. Just in case the mood strikes. Which it may very likely do. Probably.
Hi, Neal. Details are forthcoming. For those who can’t wait for the formal announcement feel free to send an email to publisher@americanbystander.org and The Boss would be happy to speak with you directly. (And thank you! 😊)
@Neal, you're a peach. What @Laura said -- get in touch and I'll tell you how we've arranged it. So many people will be helped by this Fund.
This is great -- INCLUDING THE DEPRESSION STUFF. I subscribed to the Substack. Yeah, you'd understand how weighty that decision is if you knew my actual financial situation, but hell: I've now lived long enough to see Nazis overrun our Capitol building and then begin to inhabit its offices & the High Court & maybe the presidency. Some high quality writing and laughing is sorely needed right the fuckity fuck NOW.
As a life-long extra-uterine child, all I have to say is: Go, man, go! Stay at least a step ahead of the creeping doom and make comedy like a motherfucker.
@Richard, all of us really appreciate the subscription. Thank you.
I want to say "I never thought I'd see the day when a bunch of right-wing lunatics overran the Capitol and got away with it" but I grew up with Christofascists in Missouri. They've been aching for this--and organizing for it--since the 1970s.
To be truly Christlike, they believe you must be persecuted by the government ("the Romans") and so they seek the boundaries of civil society, and try to break them. The rest of us react badly, they claim victimhood, and the cycle continues.
Until the rest of society sets a firm boundary on them, they will pursue a more and more radical agenda, including trying to control comedy and other culture--probably via some kind of digital Comstock Laws.
Yay! Kind of an It's-a-Wonderful-Life moment, doncha think?
"Clarence, I had a loose $20 in my pocket. Do you know where it went?"
CLARENCE shrugs.
If It's a Wonderful Life was remade by the Coen Brothers.
Mike, it warms all our hearts to see that you've decided to shout at the devil and maintain your chutzpah for making the best damn Humor magazine in America, nay...the World!
Illegitimi non carborundum!
I am beyond sorrowful to hear of Brian McConnachie's passing. That's because I have a saying - "diagonal thinking" - that I came up with in order to describe his work. In a time when television, radio, and magazines were all we really had for media and that media was dominated by humor that required carbon 14 dating to determine how truly stale it was, works like "Heading For Trouble" or "Negligent Mother" threw your brain off and shook the cobwebs out of it. He was beyond original, as "Name The Bats" will testify.
@Mark, that's a lovely way to describe Brian's work, and very accurate. He was exactly the same in person, which meant that I had to keep my mind very loose. Usually when a writer pitches or riffs on an idea, I can immediately see it in layout, with art, on the page. But when Brian spoke, I tried to stop that springing to Point B. I tried to sit and listen, and then ask the right question.
I don't think I ever did, but he was so brilliant it didn't matter. Brian McConnachie will be remembered.
Congratulations on the funding!
And by the way, I just posted this on The Red Abbess and it's directly relevant to what you wrote above. So I'm sharing it here.
https://theredabbess.substack.com/p/22424-bc8
No funding, yet. But a place to put it, and a determination to ask.
I will listen to that post, Faith! Thank you for piping up.
As ever, I'm a bit late to the party here, but in the last few months I've gone from not being aware of The American Bystander at all, to being a new subscriber & proud owner of a quartet of physical back issues (just to get me going).
I got them in the mail the other day, spread out on the floor in my studio, and read 'em all cover to cover in basically one sitting.
I caught myself quietly whispering, "...this is so fuckin' excellent" a non-trivial number of times, and the absolute delight of the Things Themselves brought many sweet memories of being a kid who just got home with a new magazine they couldn't wait to devour.
So thanks for doing what you're doing. For what it's worth, I'm definitely along for the ride <3
Thank you, @Travis! I'm so glad you liked the issues. You have so much great stuff in store!
Laura and I are considering doing a big Best of book, to fatten the coffers, but as I'm going through all these issues to put pieces online...my gosh, there's a lot of stuff in each one. Density has always been my jam.
Enjoy!
Polish that deck and hit the money people. There’s an audience for this. Thanks for all that you do.
Thank you, Lee! And how are you?
I just can't stand by as everything goes to shit. Books and words and jjokes MATTER.
"... just another fucking website," is the most concise and on-target assessment of our media that I've read in a long time. I've been lurking here awhile, and I have consistently enjoyed your takes on the personalities and institutional cultures that have disappeared along with old-school magazines. I'm becoming a Bystander subscriber today. Best wishes, and good luck.
Thank you, Todd! Do you have any experience building Ghost themes?
I haven't built anything for Ghost, but I've done custom themes for other web platforms. I think it's something I can do, but it would depend on exactly what you need and how fast.
Todd, as a working professional I'm sure the last thing you need is a cheaply paid gig, but if you'd be amenable, I'd like to load up a Ghost theme, make it as Bystander-y as I can, and then perhaps consult with you when I reach various impasses? Would that be okay?
Michael, that arrangement suits me fine. I'd be happy to consult if needed. If that means I have to download a copy of the Ghost server so that I can tinker with it, that would not be terrible. Good luck!
This made for invigorating morning reading. I could even overlook the variable spelling of choad, which always has an a in it. Glad to here you’re continuing on this venture, though remember Lampy’s message: always good clean fun, harmless joshing, gentle ribbing, and Eisenhower jokes (which can be refurbished for Ol’ Joe who will defeat Dr Goldfoot and his Treason Machine
Thank you! I have actually seen it spelled choad AND chode. I am happy to bend to the Will of the People. I always thought it was a generic insult like the UK’s “git,” but have been informed it refers specifically to a short, wide penis.
I actually used that word, which I got from an S. Clay Wilson comic, in a song about the Google busses hauling coders from San Francisco to the Silicon Valley. Mi mi mi (blows pitch pipe)
What’s that sound of thunder?
My wheels along the road
Got a truck load of high tech douches
And we’re headin for the Mother Lode
Glory Road, Oh, Glory Road, Glory Road!
With 18 tons of Choads
Hush now boys, they’re sleeping
Bet they’re dreaming in code
Off to San Francisky
With 18 tons of choads
From Bangalore to Stanford
We don’t care where they’re found
We just rack ‘em and pack ‘em and stack ‘em
And now we’re Frisco bound
Glory road (etc)
18 tons of choads!
You rounders and you oldsters
You’d better move along
We need your space, we bought your place
So join us in our song
Say farewell to the city
And shoulder up your load
With a taste in your mouth like you just et
18 tons of choads!
You know, a simple country trucker
Can’t understand’em much
Buncha evil-smelling poindexters
Never known a woman’s touch
All I know is they’re worth gold
Until the day they’re not
So haul em up to the city
And sell ‘em while they’re hot
The best non-Beatles band of all time said it best: 'Rock is dead, long live rock.' Bon courage my friend - the Internet sucks but at least I found you through it 🙂