On the fly

Subtitled "Culture that matters," Gadfly – named after an irritating mythological insect – has honorable, if subversive, intentions. And therefore, it seems a bit more identity-conscious than it is content-conscious. This current issue features Mick Jagger on the cover – mugging in eyeliner, frosty lipstick and what has aged into an antique pout. Inside, the magazine features a brazen eyewitness account from Altamont (aka "The End of the ‘60s") by Rolling Stone vet David Dalton. The middle-aged writer, who looks like he took fashion tips from Sid Vicious and freely flings terms such as "tie-dyed tatterdemalion" and "bare-boobed dancing chicks" into the same sentence, is too hip for words. A Q&A with Judy Chicago, a comparative study of David Lynch and Tim Burton, a very insider profile of literary agent Andrew Wylie, and two charming heads-up pieces on Atari and singer Marion Williams bespeak all of Gadfly’s staff’s concerns. Under a commendable effort to hand out meaning, criticism and real subject matter, you can feel them cringing at our stupidity. If the reader can exempt himself-herself from such judgments, the rest is actually refreshing.

Visit Gadfly online at www.gadfly.org.

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