Berkeley Barb
The 'Barb'
The Berkeley Barb was an underground newspaper that was published in Berkeley, California, from 1965 to the early 1980's. It was one of the first and most influential of the counterculture newspapers of the late 1960's, covering such subjects as the anti-war and civil-rights movements as well as the social changes advocated by the youth culture.
The newspaper was founded in August 1965 by Max Scherr. Quill Max was editor from the newspaper's inception until the mid-1970's.
One of the Barbs' most famous covers showed a boy with a chain around his mind. Another cover showed in green ink the body of a dead hog. The headline read Pig Slain!. This issue sold rapidly as readers sought additional information on what they thought would be an article on a cop-killing. Search as they might, there was nothing in the paper that related to the cover. The entire thing was to sell more papers, and it worked.
In March 1967 the Barb, hoping to trick authorities into banning bananas, ran a satirical story which claimed that dried banana skins contained "bananadine", a (fictional) psychoactive substance which, when smoked, induced a psychedelic high similar to opium and psilocybin. (The Barb may have been inspired by Donovan's 1966 song Mellow Yellow", with its lyric "Electrical banana/Is gonna be a sudden craze"; Donovan, in turn, was inspired by a banana-shaped vibrator.) The hoax was believed and spread through the mainstream press, and was perpetuated after William Powell included it in The Anarchist Cookbook. Runs on bananas at supermarkets occurred, reminiscent of those that had occurred with morning-glory seeds a few years earlier. A New York Times article on illicit drugs by Donald Louria, MD, noted in passing, that "banana scrapings, provide - if anything - a mild psychedelic experience. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was forced to make a serious investigation, and concluded that banana skins are not psychedelic. Interestingly enough, the skins do contain a measurable amount of toluene, which is also found in airplane glue. It was thought at the time in certain quarters that the so-called bananadine might have been a hoax, but since sniffing airplane glue most definitely did supply the user with a high, smoking the skin of a banana would release enough toluene to give one a high. It usually only took one cigarette of dried and toasted skins to give one a high roughly equivalent to a marijuana cigarette, although the effects did not last as long. This might have simply been a placebo effect or even oxygen deprivation since toasted skins did not burn very well.
The Barb and similar papers were used as a means to obtain eating money by the street people. One could stand in line in the wee hours of the day until the office opened. Then you would show them something you valued, usually your backpack with your clothing, poems and such. If they felt your goods were valuable enough that you would return to get them, they would hand you a bundle of papers to sell on street corners. The paper sold for 15 cents and you got to keep half of that. When all your papers sold you would return to the office, buy back your backpack and another bundle of papers, and then return to the street corner to sell enough to buy some food. Since fish and chips cost 30 cents for a single portion and 60 cents for a double, this business was a good way to make sure you didn't starve or otherwise become too sick to last on the street.
The Spectator
In 1978 the numerous sex ads were separated out into a separate publication, The Spectator. The Barb went out of business, and The Spectator ceased publication in October 2005.
References
External links
A Personal Note from Robin
It might be noted that during the time that BackDrop was on University Ave and in Hayward, I owned an advertising company named "Sigma Phi". Our primary service was to act as an advertising agency for most of the adult entertainment industry in the Bay Area, placing ads in the Barb, Saturday Evening Swinger, the LA Free Press {FREEP) and other advertising media. At one time, Sigma Phi handled over 80% of all ads placed in the Barb.
During that time, the BackDrop club ads were run in the "Models" column. Because I wanted to separate the club from the "models", I personally placed (and paid for) the white text on black background, a one-column inch banner that read "de Sade".
It might also be noted that Bill Burns was one of the primary distributors of the 'Barb' and 'The Spectator'
Over the years, The Barb and The Spectator have run quite a few articles about BackDrop, our events and our staff. Several of those articles are archived at the BackDrop Club History archives or Club History here at SM-201.org.
See also [ Spec1392 ]
Chat rooms • What links here • Copyright info • Contact information • Category:Root