Media/Jerry Bledsoe

TBE UNDBBGBOUND'S
'ACE' IN TBB BOLE
"... 'We just want to write,' they say at The Ace, 'and have fun
and smash capitalism and pull the country out of the war.'. "
When The East Village Other, one of
the ea rly underground papers, collapsed
in confusion and bitterness last winter,
The New York A ce arose, phoenix-like,
from the wreckage. The Ace, the city's
most recent, possibly most ambitious,
attempt at an alternative newspaper,
was the idea of Rex Weiner, a sallow
21-year-old city native with long curly
locks and brooding looks.
After The Other folded, Weiner start-
ed thinking about a paper of his own.
So he got together with Bob Singer,
another former EVO writer, and they
called a meeting of all the writers and
artists they knew, most of whom had
worked for The Other. rt was a boister-
ous meeting, as such events tend to be.
Some wanted the new paper to besom-
ber and filled with hard-hitting report-
ing. Some thought it should be highly
political-"OIT the pigs!" Others want·
ed a paper of columnists, a crazy
pape r full of sa tire and spoof. a paper The underground emerges; the scene outside "The Ace's" basement office.
of the arts. " What we came up with,"
says Weine r, " is a blend of all these." Edgar Hoover died, the Ace staff mem- sic came from the radio, and the air
That blend could be more aptly term- bers began drifting into the office. It was pungent with mariju ana and tobac-
ed a mishmash. In the first eight edi- was as if they had been summoned, al- co smoke. The staff me mbers laughed
tions there was little original reporting, though they had not. There was just a and talked. The Wicked Witch o f the
mostly warmed-over news heavily spiced need to be with friends at such a time. West was dead, and everybody was
with personal opinion. There were a The office is a dreary place, smaU feeling good.
few attempts at spoof, some heavy- and dingy, crowded with four battered But somehow a mere party did not
handed satire, a lot of grotesque car- desks, an assortment of decrepit chairs, seem appropriate to the occasion. Some-
toons. Unlike most other underground and two weary, sagging couches with thing more was needed. Some public
papers, The Ace even had television serious gash wounds bandaged by tape stateme nt was demanded. And so when
and sports columns. But essentiaUy it and reopened by abuse. There is but A. J. Weberman, the wire-haired music
was a paper of columnists whose favor- one typewriter in the place, an aging columnist and noted Esquire analys t of
ite subj ects seemed to be themselves. IBM Executive. superstars' garbage, said, ''No, man ,
Since the paper was started wit h a The place was a mess. The walls what we ought to do, see, is hold a
few hundred dollars that the two had were haphazardly decorated with post- mock funeral," the idea was seized
managed to get together, Weiner was ers, handbills, signs, a few scenic calen- with zest.
the publisher, Singer the editor. The dars, and copies of the eight issues of "We could get a coffin, see. 1\ 11d we
first issues were put together in Wein- The Ace that had appeared since its could get what's-his-na111e's hearse. No,
er's Thompson Street apartment with birth. If the floor had ever been swept, it got towed i11. Well, a11y1vay, we co11/d
a bootleg telephone on which calls it was not in recent times. It suffered get a coffin <md carry ii down to the
could be made but not received. After the usual rubble of cigarette butts, beer F.B.I. Building-where is tire F.B.I.
the first issue, the paper fell under the cans, and decaying cockroach carcasses. Building?-and everybody could go by
influence of Al Goldstein and Jim Mixed in with a ll of this were the paste and spit in it, or piss in it, or ... Hey,
Buc kley, publishers of Screw and other and paper remnants from the recent gross, man! Bea11tiful! Somebody's got
such literary efforts (both became Ace assemblage of a 40-foot papier-mfiche to give a eulogy. Right. I'll write a
columnists). The design changed dras· ma rijuana cigarette which had bee n eulogy. No, let me. Somebody write a
tically and color was introduced . A hoisted down Fifth Avenue for a May eulogy. The11 we could take the coffi11
$5,000 no-strings-a ttached investment Day Smoke-In in Central Park. down to the Staten Island ferry and
by a Columbia University student gave The staff itself was now slumped in dump it into the river. Great!
the staff an office in a basement on 17th the couches and on the chairs and What about the media? So111ebody's
Street and the wi ll to struggle on. hunkered on desk tops under the sput- gotta let the media know. No se11se in
Late in the afternoon of the day J. tering fluorescent light tubes. Rock mu- doing it if the straight media don 'I

Photographed by Benno Friedman NEW YORK 55

 ".. .Unfortunately, the trouble with putting
out an anarchic paper is all the chaos ... "
come 10 tell everybody about it. Bui anger and frustration, and the best of
will they come?" them are able to rise above it. The
" They got to give us coverage," said most eUective of the underground pa-
Weiner_ pers-the GJ. papers, for instance-are
" lt's too sick, man," said Weberm an, those that have a specific reason for be-
shaking his head . " They'll say it's sick." ing, some outside force that binds them
Bob Singer had no t taken part in together. But The A ce was not born
much of this discussion. Not that h e so muc h of anger and frustration, al-
was opposed to the idea. Just that h e though they were certainly there. And
had one of his own. He is a young man its only reason fot· being seems to be
who always manages to look busy and to serve the egos of its writers and
worried. H e is tall and dresses like artists. " It is," says Weiner, " a writer's
his publisher, in the uniform of the newspap er_" Precisely the problem. A
revolution: boots, faded jeans, blue writer's newspaper and not a reader 's.
work shirt and a denim jacket that is In its four-month existence, The Ace
coming apa rt at the seams. But while his had not only failed to win a wide and
hair is long on the sides, he is growing ardent readership, it had committed a
bald on top, which must surely be a worse s~n . It had failed to win adver-
traumatic experience for a long-haired tising. Which was, of course, the cause
eighteen-year-old revolutionary. of a lurge p art of the present problem.
While the planning for the mock The return from street sales of The
fune ral was going on, Singer went Ace's 6,000 copies would not even pay
out for a while, and when he returned, the printing bill.
he strode purposefully to his desk in And while eve rybody waited to see
the rear corner of the room and hud- when the next edition would come out,
dled in discussion with Rex Weiner Weiner and Singer talked vaguely of
and a couple of other staff members. " some mon ey w e're supposed lo get."
A decision was made. It is clear th at the staff members of
The Ace would publish its first The Ace consider themselves the liter-
EXTRA, a special edition in celebra- ary avant-garde of the new generation.
tion of Hoover 's death. It would be Weiner admits that there is a sort of
a quickie mimeographed street sheet, Paris-in-the-twenties feeling about the
three pages, front and back, to be place. The sta(f members are mostly
passed out free. And it would advertise young, ambitious, bright, and even tal-
the mock funer al. O'Rourke would do ented. They support themselves by
a funny piece, La timer would come up writing for other papers, such as The
with an editorial, and " Yossarian " Herald, for rock magazines, and by
would produce an appropriate cartoon . hacking for the sex pa pers. But the
With those editorial decisions behind things they produce for The Ace are
him, Singer rea red back in his chair and the things they consider their real work.
pu t his foot on the desk. " Whatever we do," says Bob Singer,
" The reason thi s demonstration is " we try to do good. There is very
important," he obser ved, " is because little now that the underground press
it's the most tasteless demonstration in can do that's original or shocking other
years." tha n being a free press, a free place
The Ace's fu-st special edition would for journalists to work. There's more
actually be a face-saving edition. Since freedom here than any place else . . .
its inception as a bi-weekly, the paper We ca n maintain a good journalistic
had not missed a publication date by reputation and at the same time we' re
many days. But another edition was free to perpetuate any outrage or bad
now due, and it would not be forth- taste that catches our fancy."
coming. The reason was simple: The In one of the early editions of The
New Y ork Ace was broke. The last A ce, Jim Buckley, who writes a medi a
issue had been printed on credit, and column, wrote about the new paper.
the printe r, a New Jersey company, " What is it?" he asked. " Where's it
had refused to produce another edition going? What's it going to do? ft's an
until the last had been paid for . No- amalgam of writers bent on one goal-
body was sure when the next regular to wipe out The Village V oice. That's
edition might appear. So a mimeo- all. And believe me, Lhat is a worthy
graphed extra would fill the void nicely, and noble goal- but The Ace's editors
and at a cost of only a few bucks, espe- want to push tha t fact to the side and
cially if some movement group could proclaim The A ce as something bigger,
be found to donate the use of a mimeo- filling a greater need-although they
graph machine. don't know wha t it is_"
Underground papers are bom of " A lot of people a re confused about

"Ii NFW YO RK
our goals," ndmits Rex Weiner. "Ace is There were other problems. Hand-
creating a new audience. We're writing bills advertising a benefit movie show-
what we feel is the temper of the times. ing for The Ace were supposed to have
"It's almost like a magazine-I can been plastered around town the night
see it becoming the paper to read in before. They had not been.
New York to find out what's happen- Weiner was disgusted. " Maybe we
ing. I see it changing the style of under- can do it this afternoon," said Singer,
ground papers around the country. and Weiner blew up .
There's a need in New York for a real "We got other people on the paper,"
newspaper." he said, his voice rising. " If they want
Weiner and Singer would like to see to have a effing paper, let them do :1
r
- -
-
-~

The Ace become successful enough to effing something! "

support the people who work on it. Singer could not stay. He had other
" All of us are pretty sick of starving," work . He is trying to start a new mag-
says Weiner. "I don't see The Ace azine called Speed, and it demands his
making us a million dollars. We just attention, too.
want to write and have fun, and also The rest of the day did not go well .
smash American imperialism and capi- Coca Crystal, a girl reporter and mem-
talism, and pull the country out of the ber of the militant Emma Goldman
war, and keep people laughing." Brigade who had recently gained a de- p . .

" I'm really interested," says Singer, gree of underground notoriety by re-
" in what the paper can be historically, leasing rats and creating bedlam at the
which is a newspaper of the left, an- S lst Annual Republican Women's
archist, alternate culture, which is su-
perior in reporting and litera ry attrac-
Luncheon in Washington, called to say
she was quitting. She didn't like the
Boodles
tion to any other publication."
A worthy aim, to be sure. But the
way the paper was going; she thought
Weiner and Singer didn't respect the
The most expensive
trouble with putting out an anarchic
newspaper is all this damn chaos.
stuff she was doing, and she feared that
the new girl in the office was trying to
British gin in the world.
It had been hoped to get the special
move in on h er. Steve Kra us, who at
42 is the oldest Ace writer, pleaded
It costs a little more
edition onto the streets on the day fol-
lowing Hoover's dea th. That afternoon,
with h er over the telephone. " Oh,
Coca, come on. That's ridiculous, you
to taste the very best.
94.4 PROOF· 1003 G.N.S.
as Hoover lay in state in the Capitol dropping out. I mean, we've all been PARK AVENUE IMPORTS CO ., N.Y., N.Y.
Rotunda, Rex Weiner was hunched together for years on EVO and now
over the typewriter in the Ace office. we've got this paper ... I really wish
The writers had brought in their copy, you wouldn't feel this way. Especially
and Weiner was trying to set it in un- now, you know, when we're kind of
justified columns for the stencil. He regrouping. This is not the time to drop Bet
was making a lot of errors. Since he
was the only person working on it, it
out. I know how you feel, but it's not
as important as keeping together and • you ~
can't~
was obvious that the paper would not not letting the paper fall a part."
be out this day. Tomorrow morning, Weiner was not able to get the
Weiner said .
Later in the day, Singer came in and
they struggled with headlines and page
money, nor the paper on which to
print the special edition, nor sympa-
thetic copying facilities. That night he
love just one.
layouts. "Man," he said , " I w ish we and Singer argued bitterly. They're St. Croix's foremost beachfront
twosome. Stay at one. Ge t all g u est
were doing something industrial, mak- The mock funeral for J. Edgar Hoov- privileges at the other. Your choice.
ing tire chains or something." er was :iot held at 1 l a.m. Friday as Gorgeous accommodations. Lively In-
On Thursday morning, the day of scheduled . It would never be held. formal f un and action. And delightfully
Hoover's funeral, Rex Weiner shuffied Neither did the J. Edgar Hoover spe- cool t radewinds for the most perfect
weather in the Caribbean.
down 17th Street and opened the Ace cial edition of The New York Ace ap-
office a little before noon. He went in- pear that day. It had been scrapped.
side a nd flicked on the lights and looked " It's the same old story," said Wein-
around. He was not feeling well. er. " Nobody did the work on it. As
The special edition was no nearer simple as tha t."
publica ti on than it had been the day He spent much of that day wandering
before. " We're having coordination around in search of a " drive-away" car Gra~etree
problems," he said. to take him to Miami. He had reports B ay Hotel
A few minutes later, Bob Singer that the Zippies were already descend- •
came in. " Look, man," he said to ing on Miami to begin planning activi- B€ACH HOT-eL OF GRAP£TR£E BAY
Weiner, " we're a little short. We only ties for the Democratic convention and ON THE WONDERFUL BEACHES
got seven bucks in the bank-$6 .99, to he wanted to get there before they OF BEAUTIFUL GRAPETREE BAY.
be exact." mucked the whole thing up. P.O. Box " Z", Christiansted.
Weiner nodded. " This whole week was one of blown St. Croix. U.S. Virgin Islands 00820
" How much do we need ?" said things," he said. See your travel agent . write direct or call
HETLAND & STEVENS, INC.
Singer. Had the events of the week blown New York: (212) 867-1450
" Maybe 40 bucks." the future of The Ace as well? " I don 't Boston: (617) 266-1370 •Chicago: (31 2) 372·4383
" Well, I'm not paying it this time." Al so in Dallas, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and Toronto.
think .i t's significant," said Weiner. The
" l know, man, I'll try to get it." Ace, he said, would survive. -

NEW YORK 57