July–August 1992
A Letter to the Editor, from one Jim Crane of (predictably) Macon, Georgia:
Anita Hill! That vixen! How sweet for SPY to rescue Ms Hill from her rightful place alongside her confreres Tawana Brawley, Gennifer Flowers, Jessica Hahn, and who was that wench who tried to do in Chuck Robb? No matter. What the little minx failed to achieve in her Howard Metzenbaum–orchestrated show trial – credibility – may she now achieve through the revisionist press, including Lynda Edwards’s Soviet-style information campaign? Perhaps.
The Rising Sun Shines Hard on Hollywood
...it’s easy to see why everyone on the Sony lot is a little on edge. ¶ Guber certainly is. Consider his reaction to the weenieish carryings-on of Jay Sures, the newly-minted agent with United Talent Agency who whipped off that now-widely-quoted letter to the Sony division that sells phones. Sures wrote, “I am confident that if I sent these phones to my friend and business associate Peter Guber of Sony, or to Akio Morita in New York... they both would be embarrassed....” Guber went ballistic in his reply to the insufferable little nobody: “Please erase my name from your Rolodex, and from your memory.”
Of course, today it is so much easier to delete an entry from one’s snatchmail address book.
Women in Love: SPY’s Pocket Guide to the Best-sellers
Ivana Trump, Woman of Letters – In her novel, For Love Alone, Ivana Trump tells the story of Katrinka Graham, a plucky Czech skiert who emigrates to America and marries the rich and powerful Adam Graham. A roman à clef? No way – Katrinka is beautiful without benefit of plastic surgery, and Adam is not a bullying blowhard. Here’s how Ivana captures Katrinka’s thoughts at certain dramatic moments:
- On skiing over the Czech border to freedom: “Ayiiiiii!”
- When consoling a friend on her troublesome love life: “Ay yi yi.”
- On meeting the long-lost son she gave up at birth: “Ay yi yi yi.”
- When finally divorced from Adam: “Ay yi yi yi.”
- On hearing her friend is deserting her husband: “Ay yi yi yi.”
- When she is offered a rich chocolate dessert: “Ay yi yi yi.”
June 1991
An amusing advertisment (perverse headline orthography: DE LA SOUL. EN EL TELÉFONO) exhorts hipster, bleeding-edge SPY readers to “Call TOUCH TUNES to hear De La Soul’s new album or any of the latest releases in Rock, Progressive, Urban, and Metal before you buy.”
Chronicle of MP3 Foretold – at only $1.95 first minute, 95¢ each additional minute.
(Additionally available: The Hoodoo Gurus, the Bodeans, Xymox, Metal Church, Saigon Kick, “King Missle,” and “EMPD.”)
The Rules of Subtraction: American Psycho: The Semibowdlerized Edition
3. American Psycho contains three chapters devoted to analyzing the rock lyrics of, respecitvely, Genesis, Whitney Houston, and Huey Lewis and the News. In the published version, the lyrics themselves have been omitted.
“And Yet You Can Find Self-Immolation in the Dictionary”
Performance-Art Expert: Laurie Anderson, who has released five albums of enervating, Sprechgesangy music; has mounted several multimedia stage shows, one of which became a concert film; has publicly played her violin while wearing ice skates, the blades of which were embedded in blocks of ice Definition (provided on the condition that SPY not “twist and pervert this and make fun of” her): “I never had any idea what it was, which is why I enjoy doing it so much.”
“When Disney Ran America: A Speculative History of the Near Future”
“Eisner created a whole new kind of urbal renewal by turning central Harlem into Beatsville, a theme park devoted to black culture.”
You are here: fawny.org → Ten Years Ago in SPY → Archives → July–August 1992
Updated: 2001.08.04
See also: Interview with Alex Isley, former Spy art director