Thursday, August 28, 2008

Bo and Steve--Patrons of the Arts


I've been poring over issues of Ramparts at my leisure this week, courtesy of former managing editor Bo Burlingham. When I interviewed him in Oakland a while back, he said he had some back issues he could lend me. As it turned out, his collection kicked in just when Steve Keating's petered out. (Steve, the son of founding publisher Ed Keating, offered a box of early issues when I visited with him last year.) So I now have a nice run of the issues, separated into annual piles, spread out in my office. This is a huge boon for my project and will save me many trips to the Cal library.

Speaking of Steve, I met him through an interesting coincidence. He attended a book event in Palo Alto with PoliPointPress author Norman Solomon. When he introduced himself, Norman directed him to me. Lucky! This week, Steve passed along an even more unlikely serendipity. He was installing cabinets in an Atherton home and happened to mention that his father published a magazine. When his clients asked which one, he told them about Ramparts. It turns out they knew a little bit about it, since his client's father was former editor (now conservative polemicist) David Horowitz.

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