Prelude to a Lick: The Editor’s Rant – Column
by Scott Hefflon
photo by Pia Schachter
Welcome to the Revolution: Admission is FREE.
Like a favorite store closed for remodeling and then reopening, better than ever, Lollipop took a break, remodeled, and is back, better than before.
After 13 years, reinventing and restructuring by necessity and desire every so often along the way, here’s The New Way. The mag is now FREE, from coast to coast, you lucky suckers.
We started out as a free mag in Boston, we grew to a free mag in New England, paying some trucking company to drop copies off in different places, we went to newsstand cuz a distributor said we should. It made us feel all legit and shit. We pulled in a new partner, and we made the leap.
Without mentioning names, that distributor turned out to be lying sacks of shit, like most distributors, and we stopped using them within a year. But we were on newsstands, with a glossy cover, soon a full glossy magazine, and distributor after distributor carried us, paid us some of what we were entitled to, didn’t work us very hard, and either got fired, replaced, or we just ate the fact that people were buying the mag, but we weren’t getting paid for most of it.
To be fair (and avoid getting sued), our most recent distributor sucked a lot less than others, which is why we stuck with them for as long as we did. But after getting banned from various major chains because we’re honest and mouthy and, ya know, made decisions like interviewing Suicide Girls and the other handfulla alt porn pioneers who did it before them, back when that shit was new and cutting edge, ya get kinda sick of distributors and chains telling you what you can’t cover.
I fully expect some stores to tell us we can’t drop off copies for their customers to pick up for FREE. It’s already happened while dropping off a few teaser copies and promotional postcards.
Lollipop is a rock mag. We argue about what bands are worth listening to, which are full of shit, what new bands are building it up and worth checking out. We cover “rock culture” stuff like DVDs and comics and books and games and fashion in the least douchebag pretentious way we can. We try to not be to too snobby or insult people (too much) for having a limited musical knowledge, cuz hell, we all learn about new stuff at different times. You’re welcome to disagree on some points or a lot of points. You’re welcome to think you’re a freakin’ potted plant, too. It’s everyone’s right to have their head up their ass.
To tie up a loose end left dangling, when the mag went to newsstands, I pulled in a new partner. Now that we’re going free again, I’m pulling in a new partner and a new ad sales guy. I may’ve gotten Lollipop to the 13 year mark, but I’m not so blindly proud that I think I can do this shit alone. Next issue, #70, will be our 13 year anniversary issue (perhaps we’ll celebrate by coming out on time), and in that issue, the staff list (and other things) will change.
If yer interested in how we’re actually pulling this off (or you wanna read the other 9/10ths of this essay/rant), check out the website. It’ll be constantly adjusted to show where the mag is available — and where it’s not available — as more street teamers join and find cool places to drop off the mag, and we line up more and more networking deals and sponsorships with stores, venues, and tours.
