Remembering Wet...

On this sweltering August afternoon, I'd like to take a moment to remember WET, the LA based magazine of "gourmet bathing". It really did start off as one man's (Leonard Koren's) obsessive, visually innovative love letter to the simple pleasures of submerging one's self in water. But it became so much more - a cultural catch-all and barometer of "New Wave" values. It was much more of an emotionally driven "style press" rag than a serious tome dedicated to activism and clean living, like say, Stewart Brand's Whole Earth Catalog. The 70's and 80's were uncluttered enough to sustain both sorts of independent publications and find legions of followers in both camps. Of course you could argue that the Internet is a direct extension of these self-willed publishing ventures, and that this very blog, for example, is one of the millions of ornery and egotistical grandchildren spawned in the converging rivers of WET, RAW, EMIGRE, RAY GUN, DAZED & CONFUSED, I-D, COLORS, ISSUE, VISIONAIRE, ZEMBLA, BOMB, PURPLE, VERY, BIG, and so many others that escape this editor's melting melon...