I finally got my mitts on a copy of the February 1994 issue of Vibe. The mag isn’t that rare, but to find it in readable condition for under $100 is tough — probably because memorabilia dealers still do a very brisk business in Tupac Shakuriana, and he’s the cover boy on the issue.
But the Tupac article by Kevin Powell (yes, “that one”) isn’t the reason I’ve had my eye on a decent copy of the issue for so long; it’s another longread therein, on the murder of Michael Jordan’s father. I’ve come tantalizingly close to scans of it, read the same summary of it half a dozen times, even marveled at the fact that the author, Kathy Dobie, is now a writer for Law & Order: SVU…but I’ve never actually read the damn thing. I couldn’t. It’s not online; it’s not in a collection.
Vibe, February 1994. Archival gloves free with purchase! (hee)
I can think of a number of pieces like that from the 1989-1995 period, that stuck with me as hall-of-fame pieces of magazine writing but somehow missed the digitization window, and didn’t end up in any anthologies somehow (I’ve heard several examples on Listen To Sassy of pieces from a bit earlier that nevertheless only exist in the LTS visual aids). There’s also a handful of old-school pieces like Truman Capote’s so-called hit job on Brando in The New Yorker that aren’t true crime, but in the genre that concerns US around here, what’s your long-lost magazine issue? What Vanity Fairs do you wish you’d saved?
If we put together a Best American Crime Writing: Goddammit Ma I Told You Not To Recycle That Pile, what articles or issues go in the book? — SDB
I worked in my college library during summer 2005 and one of my tasks was to copy microfiche articles for ILL. As soon as I learned how to do that, I copied Stephen Glass’s “Spring Breakdown” for myself. I believe all his TNR articles are online now (not through TNR.com, you have to google), but in 2005, it was exciting to copy them from microfiche. (Yes, I’m a nerd in so many ways.)
Wow … what I wouldn’t do to spend an afternoon surrounded by all of these magazines and my softest pillows.
I was a teenager when MJ’s dad was murdered, but I was really removed from sports and I didn’t follow that story at all. I watched the “How It Really Happened” episode on HBOMax (that title - ha!) and that was a useful, if repetitive, primer.
One of my earliest true crime obsessions was the Watergate case . I was about 14 at the time, and watched the hearings and read everything available. So much so that for my birthday I received a subscription to Newsweek, which was a legit news source at the time. I kept most of the issues about Watergate for all these years - moved the stack from Illinois to California to Colorado to Florida and back to Colorado! A few years ago I did send a few to AG of the Mueller She Wrote pod because she was so interested in that history. And my family will just trash them if I get hit by a bus!
Anyway if there are crime stories of the mid 70s you are interested in, let me know and I can search the archives! Or of course if you are a Watergate buff I’d be happy to send along the box I have left.
I worked in my college library during summer 2005 and one of my tasks was to copy microfiche articles for ILL. As soon as I learned how to do that, I copied Stephen Glass’s “Spring Breakdown” for myself. I believe all his TNR articles are online now (not through TNR.com, you have to google), but in 2005, it was exciting to copy them from microfiche. (Yes, I’m a nerd in so many ways.)
Wow … what I wouldn’t do to spend an afternoon surrounded by all of these magazines and my softest pillows.
I was a teenager when MJ’s dad was murdered, but I was really removed from sports and I didn’t follow that story at all. I watched the “How It Really Happened” episode on HBOMax (that title - ha!) and that was a useful, if repetitive, primer.
One of my earliest true crime obsessions was the Watergate case . I was about 14 at the time, and watched the hearings and read everything available. So much so that for my birthday I received a subscription to Newsweek, which was a legit news source at the time. I kept most of the issues about Watergate for all these years - moved the stack from Illinois to California to Colorado to Florida and back to Colorado! A few years ago I did send a few to AG of the Mueller She Wrote pod because she was so interested in that history. And my family will just trash them if I get hit by a bus!
Anyway if there are crime stories of the mid 70s you are interested in, let me know and I can search the archives! Or of course if you are a Watergate buff I’d be happy to send along the box I have left.
This is an anthology I'd happily buy.