Creem turns sour

There's a book been published for the Christmas market pulling together the best bits of Creem, the closest thing Rolling Stone had to competition. it's been put together by Robert Matheu, who bought the trademark with a crazy dream of reviving the magazine he once took photos for.

JJ Kramer, son of Creem founder Barry, is less than thrilled at this - he's seeking to regain title to the title in the courts.

It was something of a surprise, then, when Kramer turned up at Matheu's New York book signing:

According to one witness, a longtime friend of Mr. Kramer’s named Elizabeth Houlihan, Mr. Matheu shouted “What the fuck are you doing here?” at Mr. Kramer when he saw him. When Mr. Kramer walked over, according to Ms. Houlihan, Mr. Matheu grabbed him by the shirt and pushed him.

“J.J. pushed him back in self-defense,” Ms. Houlihan said. “And then Robert pushed J.J. again, grabbed his face and drew all over it with permanent marker.”

Security was subsequently called and Mr. Kramer was escorted out of the building, Ms. Houlihan said.

Matheu tells a different story, claiming he was the innocent victim:

“I think my behavior was flawless,” Mr. Matheu told The Observer. “Had he come into the party and maybe had a different demeanor about him, we were all prepared to simply say, ‘Listen, we have a lawsuit pending, we have nothing to say to you, but feel free to visit with some of your dad’s friends here, as there are probably some people here who would like to meet you.’”

The actual question of who hit whom is probably as impossible to unpick - and as hard to care about - as the question of if Matheu agreed to give Kramer 30% of the magazine in the first place. It's an astonishing amount of fuss over a magazine that hasn't published in nearly twenty years.